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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A76750	The Cry of blood. And Herod, Pontius Pilate, and the Jewes reconciled, and in conspiracy with the dragon, to devour the manchild. Being a declaration of the Lord arising in those people, of the city of Bristol, who are scornfully called Quakers, and of the manifold sufferings, and persecutions sustain'd by them from the priests, rulers, professors and rude multitude, contrary to law, liberty, justice, government, the righteous ends of of the wars, and the Scriptures of truth. Together with a true account of the material passages in substance between the rulers and them at their several examinations, and commitments, and at two general sessions of the publick peace: and of the tumults, and insurrections, with other necessary observations, and occurences. Gathered up, written in a roll, and delivered to John Gunning late mayor of that city (being the fruits of his year) for the private admonition, and conviction of himself, and brethren concern'd, and named therein: with a letter declaring the end, and reason of what is so done, (of which a copy followes in the ensuing pages) / Subscribed by Geo: Bishop, Thomas Goldney, Henry Roe, Edw: Pyott, Dennis Hollister. And now after five moneths space of time published, for the reasons hereafter expressed.	Bishop, George, d. 1668.	1656 (1656)	Wing B2990; Thomason E884_3; ESTC R27277	101,853	169

The CRY of BLOOD AND Herod Pontius Pilate and the Jewes reconciled and in conspiracy with the Dragon to devour the Manchild BEING A Declaration of the Lord arising in those people of the City of BRISTOL who are scornfully called Quakers and of the manifold Sufferings and Persecutions sustain'd by them from the Priests Rulers Professors and rude multitude contrary to Law Liberty Justice Government the righteous ends of the Wars and the Scriptures of Truth TOGETHER With a true Account of the material Passages in substance between the Rulers and them at their several Examinations and Commitments and at two general Sessions of the Publick Peace And of the Tumults and insurrections with other necessary Observations and Occurrences Gathered up written in a Roll and delivered to John Gunning late Mayor of that City being the fruits of his Year for the private Admonition and Conviction of himself and Brethren concern'd and named therein with a Letter declaring the end and reason of what is so done of which a Copy followes in the ensuing pages Subscribed by Geo Bishop Thomas Goldney Henry Roe Edw Pyott Dennis Hollister And now after five moneths space of time Published for the Reasons hereafter expressed And they cryed with a loud voyce saying How long O Lord holy and true dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth Rev. 6. 10. And shall not God avenge his own Elect which cry day and night unto him though he bear long with them I tell you that he will avenge them speedily neverthelesse when the Son of man cometh shall be find faith on the earth Luke 18. 7 8. And the same day Pilate and Herod were made friends together for before they were at Emnity among themselves Luke 23. 12. For of a truth against thy holy Child Jesus whom thou hast anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together Acts 4. 27. And the Dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered to devour her child as soon as it was born and she brought forth a man child who was to rule all Nations with a rod of Iron and her child was caught up to God and to his Throne and the Dragon was wroth with the Woman and went to make war with the remnant of her seed which keep the Commandements of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ Rev. 12. 4 17. And the Devil shall cast some of you into Prison Rev. 2. 10. London Printed for Giles Calvert at the Black-spread-Eagle at the West-End of Pauls 1656. To you John Gunning late Maior Joseph Jackson Richard Vickris Miles Jackson John Lock George Hellier Henry Gibbs William Cann George Knight and Gabriell Sherman Aldermen of the City of Bristoll WEE with the rest of the people of God in this City who are in scorn and derision called Quakers have for many moneths together patiently and in silence born and suffered manifold persecutions from your selves and the people of this Town thorough your encouragement without seeking reparation though with a very high hand and with exceeding hard measure they have been executed upon us waiting when the witnesse of God in every one of your Consciences with which we are One and which one day will witnesse us and our sufferings and the Truth for which we suffer eternally upon you except you repent would have been hearkned unto which would have opened the eye in every one of you which the God of this world hath blinded and have shewn you Jesus whom without a cause in us you persecute and have filled your faces with shame for the evill of your doings and have caused you to mourn over him whom you have pierced with a bitter lamentation even as a man that mourneth for his onely son and have raised up in you the righteous principle of God from whence true Judgement would have proceeded that so the Cruell mockings bitter revilings illegal bonds and imprisonments and other grosse abuses with which we have been by you and thorough your means exercised might have ceased and you led to repentance and the Salvation of your souls which are pretious in this great and notable day of the Lord Jesus After which we long and our Bowels earn the Lord is our witnesse even that you might come to the knowledge of the truth thorough Faith in his blood for which things sake all that we have received from yor hands would have become to us sweet and pleasant But seeing neither the forbearance and long suffering of God nor our patient and long abiding under all your wills and lusts nor the fear of man to the penalty of whose Lawes you lie very obnoxious nor naturall affection nor Common humanity which would lead you to tendernesse and mercy and Justice and to do to others as you would be done unto your selves nor the Consideration of what hath been our carriage especially of some of us to you notwithstanding that we have received alwaies the worst of usages at your hands above what you could think of expect or hope for have not prevailed with you but instead thereof you are become more hard rewarding Evil for Good and Cruelty for Kindnesse declaring your sin as Sodom the shew of your Countenance witnessing it against you and having breathed forth new and fresh persecutions against the witnesses of Jesus in which † Temperance Hignell One of them hath lately suffered to the losse of her life When as wickednesse rageth in the streets And who is there found amongst you that doth it punish We have gathered up much of what the Truth and we and our friends for witnessing thereof have suffered by you into one body and have demonstrated how contrary your actions therein have been to Law and Scripture the Rules by which you pretend to order all your affairs and to Liberty and to Justice And although you can expect no such thing at our hands yet that it may appear that another spirit ruleth in us than the spirit of this world and how desirous we are that you should know and be convinced of the evill of your way and turn unto the Lord We do herewit hin the Close of the year before we publish it present it to you even to that of God which is pure and just in every one of your Consciences to which we speak that as in a glasse with the light of Jesus Christ by whom the world was made wherewith he lightens every one that cometh into the world which convinceth you of sin you abiding still and cool therein may come to see what you have done and the spirit and principle from which it hath proceeded to wit of Darknesse and of the Prince of this world who throughout all Ages as now by you hath raised persecution against the Principle of Light the Seed of God as the Scriptures testifie and that by him you may be delivered out of the snares of the Devil by

whom you are led Captive to do his will And this is that which we wish and long for even your salvation For you must die and if the tree fall towards the South or towards the North in the place where the tree falleth there it shall be and sad will be your portion if it falleth in opposition to Jesus the Judge of all whom we bear witnesse you now persecute Nor Rocks nor mountains will in that day cover you from the wrath of the Lamb And therefore have we laid things plainly and clearly before you But if ye shall still harden your hearts and go on in the perversenesse and stubbornnesse of your spirits in opposition to the truth We call Heaven and Earth yea the Righteous God and Judge of all this day to record against you that we are Clear of your blood and your destruction will be upon your own heads Remember that ye are thus warned in your life-time Witnessed by those who are true Lovers of your Soul 's eternal good though reproachfully called by you and the world Quakers and persecuted as such Geo Bishop Thomas Goldney Henry Roe Edw Pyott Dennis Hollister Bristoll the 12th day of the 9th month 1655. For John Goning late Mayor Joseph Jackson Richard Vickris Miles Jackson John Lock Geo Hillier Henry Gibbs William Cann Geo Knight and Gabriel Sherman Aldermen of the City of Bristoll The foregoing Letter with the following Epistle and Declaration was delivered to John Goning aforesaid the 18th day of the tenth moneth 1655 since which a patient and silent waiting there hath been to see whether upon this gathering up of the wickednesse which from them hath gone forth into the earth and returning it convicted and judged by the light of Jesus Christ and the Lawes of this Nation to that of God in every one of their Consciences shame would cover their faces and they turn unto the Lord But seeing they still resist the witnesse of God and of late have again and do still continue to run on greedily in the way of Cain persecuting and imprisoning the just who witnesse the Sacrifice that is respected of the Lord which testifies against that unto which he hath no respect for their so testifying in obedience to the movings of the Lord neither regarding Justice or Mercy the Law of God or the Nation contrary unto which are their actions as may appear when what they have done therein shall be brought forth and made publick nor having respect to the widow or the fatherlesse whom they afflict and oppresse though the Lord hath said Thou shalt not afflict any Widow or fatherlesse child if thou afflict them in any wise and they cry at all unto me I will surely hear their cry and my wrath shall wax hot and I will kill you with the sword and your wifes shall be widowes and your children fatherlesse Exod. 22. 22 23 24. Nor their own souls but despising the riches of the goodnesse of God and his forbearance and long suffering not knowing the goodnesse of God leading them to repentance are after the hardnesse and impenitency of their hearts still treasuring up unto themselves wrath unto the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous Judgment of God which shall destroy the adversaries who will render to every man according to his deeds That we may stand clear of their blood and leave nothing unattempted to which we are directed of the Lord that may be for the stopping of them in their way and recovering them from the evil thereof that so repenting and being converted their sins may be blotted out and their souls saved in this day of refreshing which is come from the presence of the Lord which is the longing of our souls even that not one of them should dye but rather that he should turn from his iniquity and live Therefore as we have for above a years time patiently endured what their wills have exercised without resisting without seeking any reparation Though after such a manner have been the sufferings as in the following declaration of them is rehearsed waiting when the witnesse of God in every one of them would have been by them minded and they wearied in their manifold persecutions of the innocent And as when we saw after so long forbearance that they neither considered what they had done nor laid it to heart nor said it is Enough We drew up together and set in order before them much of what they had done and shewed how contrary it was to the Law of God and Man and to Justice and Humanity to the end that seeing their nakednesse therewith as in a glasse by the light of Jesus Christ shame might cover them And as we have since waited for the space of five moneths to see whether their iniquities being so laid before them and so testified to their faces they would blush or be ashamed that so their transgressions might be hid and their sins covered and what they have done against the truth be no more remembred by the Lord or be rehearsed before man which was and is the desire of our Souls the Lord is our record and the end both of our forbearance and spreading of what they have done before them So now through a deceived heart which hath led them aside and a rebellious mind which still carries them on against the truth those ends being hitherto frustrated and instead of them a Violent persecution having been and being still prosecuted wherein they have imprisoned divers for the testimony of Jesus whereby that which we drew up together and privately delivered to them and intended for the raising up of shame as a garment to cover their nakednesse being by them thrown aside and that which should be their shame coming to be gloried in which is all we have hitherto heard from them in relation thereunto We have brought forth to publick View at once what hath been done by them at severall times not in secret but before the Sun And thus openly do we reprove those who have thus sinned openly and rejected private admonition if so be shame may yet overtake them and they smite upon their thigh and say What have we done And of their blood are we clear in the presence of the great and terrible God of Heaven and Earth whose witnesse what we have done shall stand for him against them in the day when he shall come to judgment which on them hastens apace And to that of God in every mans Conscience shall we be made manifest that we have not dealt with Them as they have dealt with Us or as men use to deal with an enemy but with another spirit rewarding Them good whereas they have rewarded Us evill To the Reader Reader THou wilt perhaps marvail That in these dayes wherein Religion seems to have ascended the Throne and Justice and Righteousnesse to have sate down on her right hand and on her left as the glorious issue of many bloody wars Wherein Liberty of

to him as the Magistrates was to them and therefore where they required things contrary to Law they must not expect therein obedience All which he spake with much mildnesse So they departed the Tumult being made up of some hundreds who continued filling the streets and whooping and hollowing beating the door with other abuses the Constables permitting them so to do About the fifth hour the meeting rose and a little before they departed a Chief Constable being in the house observing the Ryot and hearing the former passages went forth at the desire of the man of the house to require the Peace and to cause every man to depart for the Ryot was very high expecting their coming out but they regarded him not and so they violently assaulted the people of the Lord wirh blowes kicks dirt stones and other vile abuses and reproaches and clamours following them up the streets During this time which from the coming of the Officers was above two hours did neither the Constables nor the Magistrates keep the Peace though the Councel house where they sat was at the upper end of the same street where the meeting was and though some of the Aldermen saw the tumults and abuses yet so far were they from doing their duty therein and causing their own order of Sessions to be observed that Alderman Joseph Jackson and John Knolles Priest laughed openly on the Tolzey as they stood and looked thereon Then the Tumult returned on the house where the meeting was with more violence than before assaulting the door and giving very opprobrious language to the man of the house with great clamor and rage till the 7th hour and in what danger he was could they have gotten in may be well understood and did manifestly appear by their words and actions But during all this time the Magistrates did not endeavor the preservation of the Peace or require any so to do though it was in the view and hearing of several of them Now because so much is rehearsed concerning the Warrant with which the Officers came to search as aforesaid Here follows a true Coppy thereof and whether sufficiently le al to warrant such proceedings let the understanding Judge To all the Constables with in this City City of Bristol and to every of them The Coppy of the Warrant FOrasmuch as information hath been given us that John Camm and John Audland two strangers who were Commanded to depart this City have in contempt of Authority come into this City again to the disturbance of the publick Peace These are therefore to vvill and require you forthvvith to apprehend them and bring them before us to be examined according to Law Given this 22 th January 1654. Signed William Cann Joseph Jackson Gabriel Sherman Richard Vickris Dept. Maior Henry Gibs John Lock This Warrant gives no power to search private or any other houses or signifies any such Crime as Fellony or Treason in which cases only the Law allowes private houses to be searcht Nor doth it mention by nam● George Fox James Nayler Francis Howgill or Edward Burrough whom the Officers demanded to search for nor was it directed to the house they came nor to any other house nor to all houses in general And for the Crimes laid down therein as to John Camm and John Audley whom it mentions they are wholly false For first they were never commanded to depart the City by the Magistrates themselves before whom they were never or by any other at their command either for a time or not to return again Nor did they return to this City again in contempt of their Authority for as they were not commanded to depart and there can be no contempt where there is no command So if they had commanded them it would have been without the Law and the not observing of an unlawful Command is no contempt of Authority But they contemn Authority who Command in their own wills not according to the Law Nor had the Command been just according to the Law of the Nation and they had returned notwithstanding in obedience to the Command of the Lord were it a return as to them in contempt of Authority any more than in the Apostles who were charged to speak no more in that name and to depart their Coasts to return again and to speak in the Will of God whom to obey or man replyed they to the powers is i● better judg ye Nor are they men of that spirit to do any thing in Contempt to any much lesse to Authority though to their persecutors But to pray they may be forgiven And for that clause To the disturbance of the Publick Peace that is untrue for they are charged to make appear the least disturbance of the Peace on their part which the Law calls so and they 'l present their bodies to the punishment the Law provides But disturbed they were and Tumults raised on them threatning their Lives and the Peace broker as aforesaid The Warrant aforesaid being invalid and not carrying with it scandal enough the Magistrates cause another to be formed upon an information found out of one George Coolishaw in these words To the Constables of the Peace of the City of Bristol Ward of and to every of them FOrasmuch as information hath Warrant for apprehension c. as Franciscan Fryers been given us upon oath That certain persons of the Franciscan Order in Rome have of late come over into England and under the notion of Quakers drawn together severall Multitudes of people in London and whereas certain strangers going under the names of John Camm John Audland George Fox James Nayler Francis How gill and Edward Burrough and others unknown have lately resorted to this City and in like manner under the same notion of Quakers drawn multitudes of people after them and occasioned very great disturbances amongst us And forasmuch as by the said Information it appeareth to us to be very probable and much to be suspected that the said persons so lately come hither are some of those that came from Rome as aforesaid These are therefore in the name of his Highnesse the Lord Protector to will and require you to make diligent search through your Ward for the aforesaid strangers or any of them and all other suspected persons and to apprehend and bring them before us or some of us to be examined and dealt with according to Law Hereof fail you not Given the 25th of Jan. 1654. Signed 25th 11th month 1654. John Gunning Mayor Gabriel Sherman Henry Gibbs George Hellier Gabriel Sherman William Cann Joseph Jackson John Lock Richard Vickris Hereunto were there Seals affixed and that Alderman Sherman might be sure his name was down he wrot it twice and Alderman Hellier his Hand and Seal though he was not then sworn a Justice for which and for his acting upon the Bench at the Sessions the 16th of the eleventh moneth 1654. as a Justice and for other his proceedings when he was Maior

Feb. ensuing Yea it was manifest that most men were either acted in or pleased with these tumultuous proceedings such language also passed and threatenings tending to the shedding of blood that even the Rulers themselves at length were in great fear thereof Rulers afraid that blood would be shed and therefore send to those Friends that they could not secure them and therefore sent their Sword-Bearer to diver● those friends from passing into the Town for tha● they could not undertake to secure them who through the Providence of the Lord were preserved with a very great deliverance the spirits of the multitude being that night so full of fury and such mutterings At night of the listings of hundreds of men that the whole City was in a great affrightment Had Order and Government the discharge of their Duty and their Reputation been regarded by these Magistrates or the freeing themselves from the suspition of having given secret Countenance and approbation to the Ryots aforesaid they would have made their Insurrections as exemplary in punishment as they exceeded in outrage breach of the Peace any thing of that nature that this Nation hath afforded But to this day neither hath any one person of the Ryoters been punished or called to an accompt except the three aforesaid through occasion of the Officers who were not committed or punished but rather encouraged by what Joseph Jackson said in their hearing in the Councel Chamber to the Officers of the Garrison in the height of the Tumult nor any Constables for not discharging their duties as they were required according to Law Nay as men concerned in the Tumults and the guilt thereof writing there is to have it extenuated and excused with those in chiefest Authority being not ashamed falsely to charge those as the cause and the Designers upon whom the Tumults were raised and whose lives were thereby endangered And two of the Councell were appointed to ride to White-Hall And a Petition of those Ryoters to O. P. was prepared hastened and subscribed And so far were they from protecting the Innocent aforesaid that they met together and sent to John Audland and John Cam who the seventh day of that week being moved of the Lord came boldly into the City going in the chief parts thereof and from house to house without the least disturbance to desire them to depart the City though the Town was quiet without signifying any Law that they had broken which deserved such a violation of their just Liberty in answer to their desires in their letter to that purpose sent the Magistrates the 22. of the tenth moneth Now for Tumults and Insurrections to take upon them to make Lawes And in a ryotous manner for more than one dayes continuance to seek to put them in execution on innocent and peaceable freeborn Englishmen who had fought for the Liberties of their Countrey and had broken no Law nor were charged with any such things to the hazard of their lives which were sought after and the endangering of the setting a whole City into blood contrary to and in contempt of Law Liberty and Justice and tending to the subversion of all order and Government And for Magistrates not to make enquiry into or to punish one offender though hundreds sometimes acted highly therein before their faces according to the * 13 Hen. 4. c. 2. Law which require the Justices of the Peace with the Sheriff to suppresse a Ryot in their view and to Record the same which record amounteth to a Conviction on which the offenders may be punished And if the Ryoters are departed requires the Justices and Sheriff within one moneth to enquire by a Jury and to hear and determine according to Law upon pain of 100 l. a piece every one making default But to endeavour to excuse it to the chief in Authority pleading the part of the guilty and falsly to suggest the cause and design of those Tumults on the Innocent upon whom the Tumults were raised And to send to and resolve the turning the Innocent so injured out of the City instead of protecting and doing them Justice is such a shamelesse President of abominable injustice and misgovernment as outstrips Sodom it self who drew together about Lot's house to abuse two strangers come into their City whom they took to be men but indeed were Angels sent to execute the Judgment of God upon them in fire and brimstone for their wickednesse And that wherein every man is concerned for who is certain of his Liberty and who can judge himself safe if the rude multitude have a mind to infringe the one or endamage the other and the Magistrates instead of doing Justice on such offenders shall make up wherein they miscarry and if it be lawful to do thus to one they may do it unto all for One would think that Masters should never let loose cherish and uphold the unbridled youth of their servants not knowing how soon it may turn on themselves And that Magistrates should blush to bear the name of Governours where the multitude command not themselves much more to countenance and encourage such But are they ashamed who commit Jer. 6. 15. such abominations as these Nay they are not at all ashamed neither they nor the Priests nor the People Is this the Justice and the Rule of Bristol for equity against which and Judgment whosoever pleadeth and for Just Liberty and righteousnesse he must be accounted an Enemy to the Government and the Town and so be represented understood and prosecuted Is this the quiet and peaceable City of which the Magistrates do so loudly boast And are not See Ralph Farmers mystery of Ungodlinesse pag. 22 94. these the horse-heels of Priest Farmer with which he answered his adversaries whom he calls Quakers as his other businesse to dispatch then to confute this doctrine though he published a book for that purpose Whilest those friends aforesaid were in the City Friends of the City abused c. when Friends of the Country were departed they were made the pretence of all the miscarriages hitherto particularized but if they were once departed the Citizens it was said shall find no disturbance But the enmity being at the Seed it ceased not after they were out thereof in order to a meeting before appointed in Leicestershire For the 25th of the 10th moneth they were up in Tumults 25th 10th month 1654. again severall hundreds attempted a friends house at the Tolzey but were dispersed by some Troopers and as friends were found in the streets they were kickt by them dirted and otherwise abused And not onely in the streets but in the steeple-houses were these outrages committed and the Magistrates adde thereunto their injustice and oppression For On the first day of the 11th moneth Henry Warren First of the 11th month 1654. Henry Warren speaking to Priest Longman being moved of the Lord went to Thomas's steeple-house where one Longman a malignant formerly Chaplain

up the Prophets of Baal to be cut off by the people whom they have deceived And the Lord will Malach. 2. 9 1. 2 2. make them contemptible and base before all the people according as they have not kept his wayes but have been partiall in the Law And now O ye Priests this Commandment is for you If you will not hear and if you will not lay it to heart to give glory unto my Name saith the Lord of Hosts I will even send a Curse upon you and I will curse your blessings yea I have cursed them already because ye do not lay them to heart Behold I will corrupt your seed and spread dung upon your faces even the dung of your solemn feasts and one shall take you away with it And ye shall know that I have sent this Commandment unto you Order of Sessions That the Constables do once in every fortnight make diligent search within their severall Wards for all strangers Inmates and suspitious persons and to present their names and those who entertain them within two dayes following to the Mayor and Justices to the end such course may be taken with them as is agreeable to Law Reply Had what the Law requires of them in this particular been effectually executed the Town had not been so full of persons who ought to be enquired after as it is at this day But all lyes asleep in this particular till the hopes to catch the Messengers of truth and to keep the Town clear of such awakened their blind zeal as another expedient to effect their ends upon those servants of the Lord But it s fallen asleep again since it hath not proved a snare to catch the Innocent Order of Sessions That all people do take special notice and be hereby forwarned not to be present at any tumult or other unlawfull Assembly or on any pretence to assemble or gather into Companies or multitudes into the streets or elsewhere or to conduct and follow offenders either to the Magistrates houses or other places of Justice unlesse they be thereunto lawfully called And the Constables and all other publique Officers are hereby required to apprehend and arrest all such boyes and Apprentices and other people that shall assemble or gather together as aforesaid And to bring them before the Magistrates to be punished according to the Law Reply Lesse then this they could not do in colour of Justice but whether they meant any such thing will appear in that they never to this day have punished one offender although Hundreds at a time have transgressed therein and that before their faces and at their very doors as the instances hereafter to be mentioned will demonstrate Nor hath a Constable discharged his duty therein required But it seems these Magistrates Constables and people know one anothers minds well enough in this thing and can agree together in injuring the Innocent though their orders seem to speak the contrary Preamble to the Orders of Sessions aforementioned And the ground of all these Orders is premised to be several great Tumults and unlawfull Assemblies lately hapned and arisen within this City as well on the Lords dayes as at other times and as the Court is informed upon pretence or occasions that some disturbed the Congregations and Ministers both before and after the Publique Exercises in the Churches have been fully concluded And likewise by the comming of strangers to the City who can render no good accompt of their being here whereby the Lords day hath been much prophaned the Inhabitants greatly affrighted and the Publick Peace safety and welfare of the City very much endangered to be broken and disturbed which the Court taking into serious consideration and well weighing the manifold mischiefs and sad effects which may grow thereupon did Order c. Signed Aldworth And Ordered by John Gunning Mayor John Lock Richard Vickers William Cann Joseph Jackson Henry Gibbs and George Hellier Aldermen Reply 'T is well we have got the Confession of the Bench under hands that those afore mentioned were great Tumults and unlawful Assemblies prophaning the Lords day greatly affrighting the Inhabitants endangering the disturbance of the Publick Peace safety and welfare of the City whereupon manifold mischiefs may grow and sad effects And ought not such a great Tumult and unlawful Assemblies to have been strictly enquired after and severely punished Ought they not to have been discountenanced and supprest Hath any Master or Servant Officer or Inhabitant been called to accompt and punished for them according to the Law to this day though hundreds have oft times appeared and acted them before their eys When a friend of the Common-wealth was called before the Mayor and Aldermen upon information of some words which was said he should hear one of the Apprentices to say and sworn before them to speak the truth was what he informed them upon his Oath to this effect viz. That the said Apprentice being asked how the Apprentices could be so bold to rise as they had done and be so long from their Masters businesse unless they had leave from their Masters or some other encouragement He heard him say they had leave from their Masters and were encouraged for that Alderman Hellier came into them whilest they were at the Tolzey and said that he would dye rather then any of the Apprentices should go to Prison which he offered to prove further by two of his servants Committed to writing and prosecuted according to the concernment every way of a thing of that nature Or did not the Mayor forbid the Clark to write and took he not under his hand only what he could not say viz. That he heard the said Apprentice to speak that they had 400 horse in the Town ready for the King Hath it not lay husht to this day But Henry Davis a friend to the Common-wealth he and his brethren Committed to Newgate and continued him a Prisoner from the 20th of the 10th month 1654. to the 16th of the 11th month following being the next Sessions for that upon his hearing in his shop in the High street at the hight of the Ryot Decemb. 20. aforesaid when the Proclamation was read at the High Crosse in the name of the Lord Protector requiring every one to depart these words spoken by some of the Royters who then filled that part of the street viz. What do you tell us of a Protector tell us of King Charls He immediatly gave notice thereof to the Officers of the Garrison and not to them some of them telling him he had committed Treason in so doing And James Hill another friend to the Common-wealth they bound over at the same time to answer at the Sessions for speaking the words so heard as aforesaid Do ye not stand guilty O ye Rulers of the tumults disorders aforesaid in the eye of the Law and amongst all wise men shall it be said in not enquiring after in not suppressing in not correcting nay in encouraging

and also of his Brethren he and they are yet to reckon to the easing somewhat of the charge of the Common-wealth What the Information of Coolishaw is upon which this Warrant is grounded may be seen in a scandalous Paper published by William Prin stiled The Quakers unmasked and clearly detected and in the answer thereunto by John Audland one of those mentioned in the fore-recited Warrant in his book entituled The Innocent delivered out of the snare and the blind guide fallen into the Pit and likewise in his book entituled The Schoolmaster disciplined In all of which it is word for word rehearsed to which the Reader is referred who in the two latter may see the Information found a Lye and so the foundation of the Warrant fallen to the ground And yet on this Information of apparent lyes and confusion have the Magistrates grounded their Warrant aforesaid and William Prinn his Paper against them It is very strange reasoning and even rational men will judge it so Because such and such an evil person might come amongst a Company and Society therefore all that Company must be suspected to be such and so understood apprehended and prosecuted Upon this foot what society of men in England would be free What would become of and how clothed with all the ignominy and offences imaginable would the Priests and their Steeple houses appear whose Assemblies are made up of the worst of men should this stand for a good argument In drawing it upon others and that † See The Innocent delivered out of the snare p. 40. affirmed by 10 witnesses that no such persons as Franciscan Fryars spake amongst them and that they know the names of such as have spoken at their meetings falsly too for no such Franciscan Fryars were speakers amongst those whom they in reproach call Quakers how do they bring the Conclusion on themselves So blind doth envy and malice render men that so it may hit whom they maligne they mind not though the same dart strike thorough their own Liver The Informant saith that Coppinger told him he had been at all the Churches and meetings publick and privat that he could hear of in London besides th●se whom he calls Quakers Why are there not Warrants issued out upon the suspition aforesaid to apprehend such strangers as have spoke at the Independent Anabaptist Presbyterian and other Churches so called and meetings in Bristol as well as for those whom they call Quakers for of all these there are Assemblies in London and Coppinger as the Informant saith was at all he could hear of and strangers have and do speak at each of these Churches so called and meetings prerending to be of each of their opinions And those Assemblies are made up of great numbers Coppinger spake in London what is that to Bristol were the matter of the information in that particular to be credited But it seems the blind zeal of Bristol Magistrates as Priest Farmer hath effected it can raise matter for persecuting the truth as it is in Jesus out of that which the Magistrates of London whom it properly concerns as the Informer hath laid it have seen neither cause nor Warrant sufficient for so doing As it hath caused them so to assign a lye in their VVarrant aforesaid viz. George Fox and James Nayler amongst others have lately resorted to this City and in like manner under the same notion of Quakers d●awn multitudes of people after them and occasioned very great disturbances amongst us when as George Fox and James Nayler were never in Bristol nor did ever any of those others mentioned in this VVarrant give any occasion of disturbance on their part that the Law calls so Now the partiality of the Magistrates in the Warrant aforesaid is apparant for had they indeed intended the searching for and apprehension of Franciscan Fryars and such Jesuits as to deceive form themselves into a Converse with all opinions and the discharge of the duty the Law layes upon them they would have secured the Informant Coolishaw aforesaid according to Law for concealing Coppinger who he swears told him he was of the Franciscan Order and such a person as his deposition rehearseth with Confiscation of his whole estate and perpetuall imprisonment as guilty of misprision of Treason in concealing a Traytor till he was departed instead of issuing out such a Warrant for the securing the Innocent upon such groundlesse suspition Whereby it appears that the indignation of the Dragon lay not at the Jesuits but at the Ministers of the everlasting Gospel to trouble whom cause is sought when those against whom there is reall cause are let free and unmolested And it is further manifest in that when some of the Constables being sent for to execute the Warrant aforesaid informed the Magistrates that Masse was said in Backstreet and for that desired No Masse without a Priest in Orders a Warrant they all refused so to do though one of them viz. Alder. Joseph Jackson confessed he believed it to be true 'T is hard William Prinn could not see this flaw in his quick perspective thorough which he pretends to have clearly detected the Quakers and so have given notice thereof to his good friends the Magistrates to keep close the Information for their Credits sake instead of publishing his erring expositions thereupon And thereby recording their transgression as well as his malice and weak understanding But how otherwise should his and their folly have been made manifest and those whom he and they maligne and slander be befriended with the Copy of the Information upon which the Warrant aforesaid is said to be grounded It is an honour for a man to cease from strife but every fool will be medling saith the Wiseman Prov. 20. 3. But as they conceived iniquity so they brought forth a Lye and their birth proved as the untimely fruit of a woman for John Audland at that time was out of Town and John Camm who was onely here sick and a friend of the City having before enquired and informed himself concerning them all gave an accompt under his hand to the Town-Clerk Jan. 29. of their birth habitations and Conversations and that they had never been out of this Island whereby that suspition was taken off and the Net was broken and the Innocent escaped as a bird out of the snare of the Fowler though it walk'd from Ward to Ward and diligently sought to have taken them Yet something must be done with this Warrant Thomas Murford first of the 12th month 1654. and George Salter a Malignant Constable will make the experiment And therefore having an information of a meeting in Redcliffe-street he hasteth thither therewith but being a little too early there were but a few come together out of which he took Thomas Murford as a taken out of a Meeting as a suspected Franciscan Fryar for having on a Hair Coat Examined suspitious person and brings him before Alderman Hellier who examines

him and sends him to the Maior before whom being brought and some of the Aldermen they demanded of him for what he came into the City after that manner He answered he was commanded of the Lord to come and mourn in sackcloth and ashes for them and to warn them to let the Lords people alone as they would answer it at the day of Judgment and not to persecute or imprison his Saints Whereupon they commanded his Coat of hair to be taken off and Henry Gibbs cryed out with great rage Whip him out of Town but said others Let him be gone out of the City now but if he come in again we will whip him out at the Horse-tail so they ordered their Officers to turn him out of the Town who Turn'd out of Town executed their Commands but he by and by returned at the same gate not daring to do otherwise He returning Committed because of the dread and terrour of the Lord that was upon him within which he was no sooner entred but the same Officers who waited for that purpose apprehended him again brought him before the Maior who committed him to prison where after he had been a few houres his hair Coat was brought to him again which he put on the next day on his other Clothes but the third day of his imprisonment he was inwardly required again to strip himself stark naked and to put the hair Coat next his skin and so to abide till he spoke with the Maior so he girded the hair-cloth to his loins and was bare-foot till the second day of the next week on which being released he immediately in that manner went directly to the Maior who commanding his hat to be taken off the ashes on his head flew about which he shaked from him and told the Maior That the Lord of Hosts would stain the Crown and glory of all his pride and strip him naked and bare before him and charged him again in the name of the Lord to let the Lords people alone for they were a righteous holy people whom he had redeemed to himself who were not against Magistrates but owned them in their places as a terrour to evil d●e●s and a praise to them that do well And thus was he turned out of his Native place imprisoned and oppressed in his person and his property contrary to Law and to that frame of spirit which ought to be in men professing themselves Christians which is to hearken to such unusuall Signs and Admonitions at least not to punish those who are made so to appear unto them upon a Warrant as a suspected Franciscan Fryar though he was born and bred in the Town holds some estate of the City is there well known and hath sometime lately been an Officer therein and a man of an unblameable and professing conversation yet Citizen or stranger guilty or not all is one with this Generation for this is such an offence to them yea the very meeting of those who come together to se●k the Lord that Alderman Hellier swore to a Relation of his that if they met at his the said Relations house he would pull them out by the ears As his brother Alderman Lock swore the same oath to a Centry in the Castle because he discharged his duty By this time had the Magistates made such a 1. of the 12th month 1654. John Comberbatch for going along with T. M. to s●e that the Rabble whom be heard threaten to hurt him did him no injury progresse in their illegal and unjust proceedings that inferior Officers took the boldnesse to act as if they were Magistrates and to imprison where the Magistrates had discharged as having done nothing contrary to the Law For John Cumberbatch being at his standing of wares in the Fair called Pauls fair and hearing some of t●e Rabble threaten to throw Morford into the Horse Pool without Temple gate when he was turned out of the Town as aforesaid lest they should do the man any violence he went after them and when Morford returned came back into the City with him Whereupon William Butts a malignant Constable laid violent hands on Comberbatch and haled him before the Mayor charging him with inviting Morford in again when he urged him to no such thing but out of pitty as aforesaid went after him nor could Butts prove any thing against him whereupon the Maior bad Comberbatch go about his businesse but as he was forth of the Maior's door Butts laid violent hands on him again saying he should go to prison Comberbatch told him he was not Committed ●y the Maior and therefore he would not go Said Butts Drag'd to Prison by W. Butts a Malignant Constable after the Mayor had dismist him thou shalt go and so haled him by force Comberbatch call'd to him for a Mit●imus Butts answered he would be his Mittimus and so drag'd him to Newgate not suffering him to speak with any friend by the way and there charged the Prison with him having thrust him in at the door first for Comberbatch said he would not go in unlesse Butts delivered him to the Keeper and so he delivered him to the Keepers son Notwithstanding the Mayor never punisht Butts for so doing though complaint thereof was made unto him by some honest men who were eye witnesses From this new kind of persecution they return Thomas Robertson and Josiah Cole 4th of the 12th moneth to the former of Tumults and unlawful Assemblies for on the fourth day of the twelvth month Thomas Robertson of Grayrigge near Rendal in Westmerland and Josiah Cole of Winterborne near Bristol being at Nicholas Steeple-house in the time of the Divination of Priest Hazzard many people gathered about them and gave them many affronts though they both stood still nor did either of them speak a word But when Thomas Robertson began to utter his voice after Priest Hazzad had Speaking to Priest Hazzard ended all and dismist the people whilest the word was in his mouth unspoken by him he was struck on the head by many as was also Josiah Tumulted c. Cole though he was silent and attempted not to speak which blowes they both received patiently without any resistance Afterwards Thomas began to speak again and said Tremble before the Lord and the words of his holiness Whereupon the Tumult was so great that they permitted him to speak no more but hurried him and Josiah out of the Steeple-house and in great Companies with much rage drew them towards the Maiors and having taken away Thomas his hat they drag'd him under the spouts bar-headed it raining hard the water running down the end of his Locks yet he suffered it and their rage with unmoved chearfulnesse The Tumult having thus btought him and Josiah to the Maiors house he Examined demanded wherefore they were brought thither the Constables replyed for disturbing Mr. Hazzard Thomas desired the Maior to do Justice without respect of persons and told him