Selected quad for the lemma: judgement_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
judgement_n	according_a	judge_n	lord_n	1,508	5	3.6617	3	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A96961	The wounds of an enemie in the house of a friend. Being a relation of the hard measure sustained by Miles Halhead, and Thomas Salthouse, for the testimony of Jesus: particularly in a long, and sore, and close imprisonment, first at Plymouth, and then at Exeter in the county of Devon, though they have neither offended the law of God, or of the nation. Published for the clearing of their innocency from the cloud of transgression, of which they are supposed highly guilty, and by reason of their silent abiding such sharp, and long, and cruell sufferings.	Halhead, Miles, 1613 or 14-1689 or 90.; Salthouse, Thomas, 1630-1691.	1656 (1656)	Wing W3665; Thomason E870_7; ESTC R2977	52,373	80

as aforesaid for provoking words to him the said G. Brookes as it is falsly alledged without a Tryall are they fined 5 l. a piece and committed to the House of Correction till payment and finding Sureties for their good behaviour And not only so but for refusing to take the Oath of Abjuration out of conscience to the Command of Christ Jesus none appearing to testifie to their faces that they suspected them to be Papists or Popishly affected as an addition to the former as if what hath been already expressed had not been enough suffering they are told by the Bench that therefore to the North would they send to have their estates sequestred according to the Proclamation and so in Prison they are judged to lye till they pay five pound a piece where they owe nothing and their Estates to be sequestred out of which they can only have money where withall to discharge it and whether this intended any other then a perpetuall imprisonment let the reasonable judge And that the abominablenesse of these illegall and oppressive proceedings may seem to have som cover in the Record of the Judgement given against them without a hearing as aforesaid 't is inserted who refused to be tryed by the Country when as they pleaded to the Indictment not guilty and although his Answer was enough in Law yet being demanded further by whom they would be tryed they answered again and again By you the Bench whom the Lord God of power hath set in Authority to judge righteously between man and man and to put a difference between the precious and the vile and to set the oppressed free from whom we doe expect Justice and Equity and desire that our Accusers may be brought in that we may have liberty to speak for our selves and make our defence against the fals accusations laid to our charge And upon what issue they pleased might the Court have put them for though they being asked by whom they would be tryed gave no other Answer then hath been expressed And for the Reasons aforesaid could they be in Law or equity expected any otherwise to doe yet plead they did and to Tryall they submitted by the bench whom they owned to be set in Authority by the Lord God of power to Judge righteously between man and man c. And desired that their accusers might be brought in and their liberty to speak in their own defence and had Witnesses in their own behalf ready and from them expected an issue according to equity and Justice and refused not to be tryed by the Country but submitted to be tryed by those whom God had set in Authority to Judge righteously and such Judgement is the Lords for God is Judge and no other Judgement can the Children of light put themselves upon but his upon which as it rules man they put themselves but not on the wills and lusts of men as added or equall unto God or joyned with him for man not guided by the ligh● of Jesus Christ is blind and dark and erres in Judgement and is as the Beast that perisheth though even the wills and lusts of men in imposing sufferings upon them in their bodies they doe not resist as all parts of the Nation sadly testifie and particulary the Town of Plymouth and City of Exeter and County of Devon the black Habitations of cruelty and persecuting of the Just Nor is this the end but rather the beginning of their sufferings for the 16 of the said fifth Month called July being removed from the common Goal in the Castle of Exeter to Bridewell in Thomas Parish near Exeter over and above the Order of Sessions a Guard of Souldiers under the Command of Col. Coppleston High Sheriff of the County who was formerly a Commander for the late King in the Wars against the Parliament was placed upon them with strict Warrant in writing signed by one Joyce a Captain to detain all such Prisoners who came to visit them whom in the Warrant he in scorn calls Quakers giving the Prisoners aforesaid no other Name therein especially such as they should suspect to be such who having shut them up in a close dark room where they lay on the ground many dayes kept them close Prisoners and with much violence intreated and detained Prisoners those who came to visit them whether of the Town or Country and to relieve them with necessaries though they were strangers in that place and above two hundred miles from their outward Habitations yea such as looked in but at a hole where they lay did they so use And whereas there was a friend in the Town who came to see them him they imprisoned though he knew not of any Order for their close restraint and notwithstanding that he was then a Constable of the Parish and a man known alwayes to be faithfull and active for the Common-wealth and its Army and of a godly and sober conversation whom also they sometime afterwards imprisoned again for coming in to them though he was there upon the perswasion of the Officer who when he asked for them being unwilling to goe in told him he might see them freely without danger and went in with him and stood between the Souldiers and him but being there private notice presently was sent to an Attendant of the Sheriffs who Ordered his detainment and being kept in Prison that night the next morning he prevailed with the Souldiers to bring him before the Sheriff who at first Ordered him to Prison again but having heard him released him with Threatnings what he would doe unto him if he came there once more And a woman of Totnes in the same County they kept two dayes and two nights on the Guard for coming to see them And though upon the cry of these their sore oppressions several friends to the truth from divers parts of the Nation came to see them and to search whether after all the blood that hath been shed such sufferings could possibly dare to be exercised amongst whom was some who had been Members of the Army and in places not of the least trust and eminency in the Nation men of activity and service and of unspotted integrity and of considerable estates as to the outward in the world yet have they received the same uncivill and barbarous usage some of them have been threatned to be taken into Prison for being in the outward court and speaking to them others detained on the Guard and to their Inns hath the Mayor of the Town sent his Officers to know their Names as if they were some dangerous persons and when they have asked to see his Warrant when his Officers have required them to come before him a company of Butchers was got to bring them thither by force in case they had refused though when they came before him he had nothing to say unto them wherefore they were thus dealt with and some have been had up to the Castle and kept in custody there and searched

the men in severall parts who are summoned by Prelaticall Malignant and Presbyterian Justices so called to abjure Popery or their Names and Habitations to be taken and returned into the Exchequer for the Sequestration of their Estates and these are the men who are taken up in the Country as they are upon their lawfull occasions against whom there being no accusation in Law this Oath is put to them which because they refuse to take out of conscience to an Oath not daring to swear at all because of the Command of Christ Jesus the great Law-giver are imprisoned where many of them have a long time layn and doe yet lye though contrary to Law not unknown to the Chief in Authority some of whom have personally pressed it And not only is this exercised upon men but on women also who till this day since the times of Popery were never known to be so used but have been forborn as that which hath been accounted below the dignity and spirit of a man to exact And the next word now to any one who is reproached with the name of Quaker who are known out of Conscience not to dare to Swear at all is usually give him or her the Oath of Abjuration of Popery though he be their Neighbour whom they know to be and their Consciences tells them is far from any such thing and there they are sure to catch him and to have their revenge on him for Witnessing the Truth as it is in Jesus when otherwise they cannot get him into the compasse or pretence of any Law and having fast here there he may lye for the Eternall Truth for which he suffers seeks not to man for deliverance and those who should regard care little for the matter and the cry of their oppressions seldome enters into their ears Thus in all Ages hath Error sought to support it self against the Truth and to ensnare the Consciences of those of her Children with Oaths when other manner of Persecutions have not reached that so she might be secure and never know sorrow Which Oaths as they are out of the Doctrine of Christ so a Curse have they proved instead of a Defence and the beginner and certaine Fore-runner of the Destruction and Finall Overthrow of that Kingdome as these and former Generations have witnessed though before in never so promising and flourishing condition and seeming in its own eye to want nothing but Oaths to establish it And now the Witnesse of God is drawn forth against this and all manner of Swearing and it is Witnessing in sufferings at the hands of those on whom was pressed the Oath c. And the Covenant and who in their time Suffered by and Testified and Fought against those who imposed and sought to establish both and also against the Bishops Oath Ex Officio which required a man to Swear against himself and Whether the imposing of an Oath upon a man to abjure what is supposed to be his conscience wherewithall to worship God upon the penalty of loosing his Estate if he refuse be lesse let the Wise in heart judge And Whether upon the same ground and by the same Rule the like Oath may not be imposed as to any other thing and exacted upon the same penalty The Witnesse of God hath its time of Raigning as well as Suffering and will as certainly Raigne as it doth Suffer it was ever so in all Ages these later above any have known it so and so it will be in this and in the Ages to come Let those whom it concerns who have had a time of Suffering and Reigning and now cause others to Suffer consider before it be too late The Judge standeth at the door and according to the Greatnesse and Majesty of the Truth that is witnessed and the Sufferings that attend its Testimony and the condition of those who cause it to Suffer as having been Witnesses and Sufferers themselves and the Sword of the Lord upon that which hath caused to Suffer and have known his Presence and Mighty Power therein wonderfully and his strange Overturnings whereby to cause to Raigne what hath been so testified unto by Sufferings will be the Judgement Except they repent You only have I known of all the Families of the Earth therefore will I punish you for your iniquities saith the Lord Whilst they are the sufferings of Sion who is there that considereth or layeth them to heart but the Rod of the wicked shall not alwayes lye on the back of the Righteous there 's a time when the Testimony of the Truth in sufferings will be finished and other men will have their Day who have cryed Aha and nagged the head and stamped with the feet and helped on their sufferings and caused them to suffer and looked on their brethren in the day of their distresse wherein the Lord will mock at their calamity and their sorrowes which shall come upon them as on a woman in travell and they shall not escape whilst the righteous who have mourned in Sion joy in the Lord and rejoyce in the God of their salvation having beauty for ashes the Oyle of joy for mourning and the Garments of praise for the spirit of heavinesse for God is Judge The next day they were brought before the Bench again Court Will ye confesse that you wronged G. Brookes in calling of him Thief and be sorry for it and make him satisfaction Answ One of us did not speak one word to him and therefore I deny to make him satisfaction or to be sorry for it and what was spoken was no such thing therefore we will not lye for our liberty nor confesse that we are sorry for that which we never spoke Court You are fined five pound a piece and must goe to the House of Correction till payment and to find Sureties for your good behaviour and for refusing to take the Oath we shall take course to send to the North to seize on your Estates according to the Proclamation And so to Prison were they returned and what followes entred as the Record of their proceedings A Calender of the Prisoners Tryed and Delivered at the Generall Sessions of the Peace publick holden at the Castle of Exon. July 10. 1655. THomas Salthouse and Miles Halhead for provoking words against George Brooks Clerk who refused to be Tryed by the Countrey fined 5 l. a piece committed to Bridewell till payment and finding Sureties for their good behaviour And thus as the day before they were returned to Prison instead of being admitted to a Tryall according to Law after the Indictment against them was read and they had made a sufficient Legall Plea thereunto and Desired their Accusers might be brought in and they liberty to speak in their own Defence as aforesaid so now Judgement is given against them without a Tryall or Hearing or bringing in so much as one Accuser and yet the Record saith A Calender of the Prisoners Tryed Have such things as these before these dayes been

and fighting for them and having had to doe in obtaining the Victory or in fearing the Lord and being peaceable in the land and living in the principle that leads out of transgression and not resisting evill with evill but bearing all things and suffering all things both from those who have been friends and enemies though contrary to Law and liberty and common humanity and the righteous ends of the Wars are their sufferings leaving vengeance to the Lord whose it is and who will repay it and laying their bodies as the ground and as the street to them that say bow down thy body that we may goe over And wherein consists the vertue merit or prerogative of the other by which they may in equity or right claim such a priviledge Is Law and Justice and Liberty and Right changed in the ending of the Wars for them into peace that those must be denyed either and the contrary inflicted on them in such a manner of cruelty that the presidents of former times have not parallel'd whose lives in the field and whose All hath been so often engaged for the effecting thereof Is this Generation delivered to commit greater abominations and Cruelties then those who for these things sake and by their hand have been so lately Destroyed Is the Weight of the Blood of these Nations a small Matter and all the Garments rolled in blood the mangled and dead Carkasses of so many Thousands the Plundering burnings Devastations Ruines of Multitudes the Barbarous and the unheard of Cruelties and Murthers executed especially in Ireland the Cryes of the Great Companies of Fatherlesse and Widowes for Liberties and Justice a pleasant sight that Men so Lightly Gird it to their loynes and goe over their Graves in acting higher Wickednesses then what were the Causes of those Miserable Destructions God is not unrighteous so severely to punish Offences in some and to let others goe free who transgresse in the same and act more wickedly Shall not the Judge of the whole earth doe right God is true and every man a lyar and at his hands every man shall receive according to their deeds If he spared not the Angels that sinned but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chaines of darknesse to be reserved unto Judgement Nor the old world bringing in the flood upon the World of the ungodly nor Sodome and Gomorah but turned their Cities into ashes and condemned them with an overthrow making them Ensamples to them that afterwards should live ungodly nor the Kingdomes of Israel and Judah in whom the iniquities and mighty sins afore-mentioned were found but suffered for those things sake Sion to be plowed as a field and Jerusalem to become heaps and the mountain of the house as the higher places of the forrest and removed them both out of his sight and upon whom the wrath is come to the uttermost And if he spared not those in these three Nations upon whom some of these things were found but hath spread them before this Generation as the remarkable and sad Examples of his Vengeance Justice who renders to every one according to his works then what can they expect who having all these examples before their eyes and having bin the Instruments of his indignation upon those of their Age doe not only the same things but over-passe their deeds in afflicting the just and persecuting the witnesses of the living God the God of their mercies who hath wrought all their wonderfull deliverances whom of their brethren he hath raised up and sent amongst them to turn their feet out of the wayes of destruction into the path of peace and to direct them to that which if hearkned unto will guide them out of all deceipts and subtilties and power of darknes up to the Kingdom of his Son whose Throne is for ever and ever and the Scepter of whose Kingdome is a righteous Scepter which is the substance of what the late wars were a figure the principle from whence alone Justice shall spring up from the earth righteousnes shall slow down from heaven who shall rule the Nations with a rod of iron and break them in pieces as a potters vessel whose kingdome is begun to be set up which shall never have an end I say what remaineth for such but a fearfull expectation of the revelation of the righteous judgements of God which shall destroy the adversary and bring upon themselves swift destruction beyond the measure of those that have gone before them except they repent For God is not mocked as men sow so shall they reap and those that follow their pernicious wayes their judgment lingreth not nor doth their damnation slumber the testimony of his Elect in sufferings is finishing the measure of the iniquity of their persecutors is filling up apace and the Judge standeth at the door Judgement hastneth and vengeance is preparing her self and destruction is making ready and woe unto you ye potsheards of the earth who strive with your Maker What will ye doe in the day of visitation and in the desolation that cometh from far To whom will ye flee for help and where will you leave your glory Can your hearts endure your hands be strong in the days when the Lord shall deal with you Be wise therefore O yee Kings be instructed O yee Judges of the Earth serve the Lord with fear and rejoyce with trembling Touch not his Anointed and doe his Prophets no harm Kiss the Son lest he be angry and yee parish from the mid way when his wrath is kindled but a little and it is kindling blessed are all they that trust in him But sing O Heavens and be joyfull O Earth and break forth into singing O Mountaines for God hath comforted his people and will have mercy on his afflicted FINIS G Hughes Government Art 37. Acts 16.17 Ephes. 4.8 John 10.1 Jer. 23.10 a John 3.16 b Joh. 1.3 10. c John 8 12. d John 1.9 e Luke 11.31 f Psal. 110.1 Mat. 22.43 45 g Rev. 27.16 h John 8.56 i Heb. 1.6 k Rom. 10.4 l Heb. 7.23 m Heb. 8.6 n Heb. 13.20.12.24 o Deut. 18.15 Acts 3.22 23.7.37 p Mat. 24.35 q Mat. 5.17 r Luke 1.73 Å¿ Rom. 2.8 9 10. t Rev. 3.14 u Acts 10.42.17.32 2 Tim 4.1 Rom. 2.16 x John 10.17 Mat. 5 33 34 35 36 37. z James 5.12 a Prov. 8.15 b Psal. 62.11 c Phil 2.10 11. d Rom. 2.9 A close Imprisonment is directly contrary to the 23 H 8. Cap 2. which provideth that Prisons shall be in the most eminent and populous Townes where is most resort of people that the Prisoner may be the oftner visited and relieved And though the Statute of Westminster 2. provides for a safe Imprisonment yet for a close Imprisonment there is neither that nor any other Law and above all things doth the Law value the liberty of a man Loe hear what a filthy worker of iniquity this Priest is for denying of whose spirit before the people these long and cruell sufferings are inflicted on the innocent What a defiler of the flesh is this in whose behalfe these men make war against the Lamb Is not this Priest who not onely prophecies of but fills himselfe with wine and strong drink a fit Prophet for these people What think you had they a Spirit of discerning who comprehended this Priest and his root and principle and denying his spirit before the people though he spake so high in the praise of what they had said Would not these men plead Barabas his part against Jesus were he on the earth Devon

as they pleased they asked them whether they would be Judges in their own case when as they desired no such thing but to be tryed by them who were in Authority and turned them aside for a thing of naught and called to the Jaylor to take them away which command of theirs was presently executed And here let all that are sober and who calmnly weigh things in the balance of equity judge whether innocent men in a case of this nature wherein without a cause and contrary to the Law of the Land they were Imprisoned and so hardly dealt withall and wickedly Indicted and stood before enemies having largely experienced that neither Law nor justice had took place in their behalfe but oppression and cruelty as hath been mentioned should for their parts being demanded by whom they would be tryed make in reason equity and justice any other answer then by those whom the Lord God of power hath set in Authority to judge righteously between man and man and to put a difference between the precious and the vile and to set the oppressed free from whom they expected equity and justice or to put themselves on any other issues without being guilty of a manifest wilfull throwing away of their innocency and of a continuation of sufferings by their own consent If those in Authority will have a tryall by other manner of men that they cannot help and of their sufferings that might follow thereupon they are not accessary nor will it by such men be judged a contempt of Authority in that they submit to a tryall A man will in reason chuse to have right taken away from him by force rather then to put himselfe upon an issue from which he can expect no other and so as it were by his own consent to give it away And to that of God in the consciences of those then present and of all others who seriously observe with what rage and malice these innocent people are prosecuted and how contrary to Law and justice proceedings are every where had against them as if they were fit onely to be destroyed yea even to that of God in the consciences of their enemies themselves doe I appeal whether righteous judgement can be by them expected from those whom the Lord God of power hath not set in Authority to judge righteously between man and man and to put a difference between the precious and the vile in things relating to the kingdome of Jesus Christ which can onely be seen and judged in his light to whom all judgement is given both in Heaven and in Earth And the children of light can give consent to no other judgement and tryall nor from any other can they expect right and judgement but where that is But to put this matter out of doubt and to manifest how instead of seeking judgement and relieving the oppressed which the Lord requires who is a God of judgement the needy are turned aside from judgement and the righteousnesse of the righteous taken from him Those who understand the Law know that as to all Indictments of trespasse of which nature this is pretended to be of misdemeanor and breach of the peace to answer not guilty or to put in a Traverse is a sufficient legall plea and the Clerk of the peace is to record it and joyne issue and is punishable if he doth it not and that onely in cases of life the Law or custome of England requires the person Indicted to joyne this issue of saying by the country when after he hath pleaded not guilty it is demanded of him by whom he will be tryed And here all People may take notice what measure of injustice these innocent Servants of the Lord receive who are sent to Prison instead of being heard in their just defence and their accusers brought forth when after they had legally pleaded these things were by them lawfully demanded and how contrary to Law and justice and to the libertyes of Englishmen lately vindicated with so much blood is this proceeding how plainly doth it speak as if no other thing were intended in bringing them to the Bar then to asperse and destroy their innocency as their libertyes had been before injured by above seven weeks Imprisonment and by arraigning them as abominable offenders in the face of the country to endeavour to render them odious to the people who had heard so much of their oppressions and thereby amongst them to seek to beget a beliefe that their sufferings were just from which least they should clear themselves and in so doing their long sufferings come to an end which to lengthen and make grievous to the purpose resolutions were had to Prison they are sent and the benefit of the Law denyed them in a tryall What greater injustice can there be then this and oppression what higher violation of Law and liberty of these things the Roman heathen were not guilty and to be so dealt withall the worst of their adversaryes would cry out against were it his own case as justly he might Yet this is the measure which the witnesses of the great and living God receive from this adulterous generation and who is there that regardeth or layeth it to heart though it is every mans concernment and may become the condition of others how soon they know not To close this particular let the wise in heart judge whether amongst those a man is found whom the Lord God of power hath set in Authority to judg righteously between man man to put a difference between the precious and the vile who thus turne aside the needy from judgement and take the righteousnesse of the righteous from him And whether they had not cause to say being asked by whom they would be tryed that they desired to be tryed by such whom the Lord God in power had set in Authority to judge righteously as aforesaid About the space of an houre after they were called in again Court It is thought fit that you take the Oath of Abjuration because of your contempt of Authority which accordingly was to them tendred and a Bible holden to them that they might swear Answer In the presence of the eternall God and before all this people we doe deny with as much detestation as any of you doth the Pope and his Supremacy and the Purgatory and all therein mentioned and declare freely against it and we doe not deny to swear because of any guilt that is upon us but in obedience to the command of Christ who saith Swear not at all and we will not come under the condemnation of an Oath for the liberty of the outward man after which they were returned to Prison The Mayor of Plymouth when he first apprehended them tendred them this Oath which when they had refused and given the reasons of their so doing he sent them back to Prison and afterwards signifying that as the cause of their detainment to a friend they sent him in writing more fully their answer

and others detained in their Inns as they have lodged there passing into the country and searched and their papers taken from them though onely of private concernment and when any friends have obtained liberty to see them the Souldiers stand by to hear what they say And lately seized them on all the papers of those two Prisoners and took them away And to this day are they continued Prisoners and the Guard of Souldiers upon them who Imprison friends as aforesaid according to their pleasure though divers of them confesse that what they doe is against their conscience and that they know no law for what they doe and that it is contrary to the liberty they have fought for but they must obey the orders of their superiour Officers or they shall be turned out of their places and livelyhood and even when those cruelties have been exercised upon them the Cavaliers in the same Prison in custody upon the late Insurrections have had no Guard upon them nor their friends hindered from visiting them and bringing them necessaries and out of the Prison have they leave to walk to friends houses without any one to attend them onely those two innocent servants of the Lord who have been constant faithfull friends to the Common wealth are thus guarded kept close Prisoners and dealt withall as is aforesaid beyond the example of the highest offenders whether of Thieves Robbers or Murderers in that County of which particulars could be instanced were it not too large for this short Relation Nor during the time of their long Imprisonment to wit for near seven Months under this close restraint and above seven weeks before at Plymouth and the Castle of Exon have their persecutors administred unto them or caused any to take care that they had those accomodations that were necessary for men but as if nothing else were intended but the starving of them and causing them to wear and wast and to dye in a miserable languishment far from friends and reliefe in the heat of summer and sharp cold of winter such hath been the cruell dealing with them as hath been rehearsed without naturall affection or common humanity and contrary to all Law and justice and liberty and the righteous ends for which the late blood hath been shed and the many and solemn Ingagements made before and to God and this Nation And had not some broke through their violence and other difficulties and resolvedly watched all opportunities to relieve them nothing had been expected as to men but that they had long since perished with famine and necessity If a man hath broken the Law it is something to him that the Law is to be known and the punishment that it inflicteth for the breach thereof by which he understanding the extent of the Law and having satisfied what it requires may come to the end of his trouble Or if a man suffer being innocent upon a pretence of a Law which he hath not offended it is something to know what that Law is and what it requires of those who offend it But neither to have offended the Law of God or the Nation but to have both broken on him even by those who are in Commission as Ministers of the Law for the protecting of the innocent and punishing of the guilty who thereby become themselves transgressours of the law and lyable to the penalties thereof and yet neverthelesse being innocent to be by such punished as guilty beyond the direction of any law and contrary thereunto in long and cruell Imprisonments and when brought before the Bench to be denyed hearing and tryall according to law and yet judgement to be given wherein are exactions of such fines of other performances for such causes expressed as are utterly untrue and the Imprisonment to continue till there be a satisfying thereof and such an Imprisonment as from it Appeals cannot be had to the Higher Courts for Justice as House of Correction are which are no Prisons in law and therefore without the Cognizance of the Judges in the Circuits or the Vpper Bench by Habeas Corpus and which to satisfie a man cannot without an acknowledgement of guilt and giving away the righteousness of his cause which is to be prized above all things will be accounted very hard and grievous even by every man who seriously makes it his own condition as indeed it is every mans for what is done to the injury of one mans liberty is done unto all But to have hereunto added guards of Souldiers who have fought for liberty with whom and in the same cause of liberty and justice a man hath ingaged his life and what is dear to him in the time of peace after that cause hath prevailed by such as have drawn the sword and been in command against it and by Souldiers who formerly were the reliefe of the oppressed to be oppressed and kept close Prisoners from friends and accomodations contrary to the Law for in no case whatsoever doth it require a close Imprisonment but provides against it in a strange place some hundreds of miles from his outward being for many Months together in heat and cold of which he can understand no end as he can know no reason for their so doing and during all this time having not so much as an accuser brought to his face nor he heard in his own defence against the manifold false accusations and shiftings from one lye to another as the pretence of his sufferings and such friends as come to visit him whether from far or near at hand citizen or stranger violently to be intreated and detained in Prison yea for but looking in at a hole where he lyes and if any obtain leave to see him not to be permitted to speak with him without a Souldier by to hear what is said and to have his Friends searched and his and their Papers and Letters of private concernment only taken away as if there were some dangerous treason by him designing though he stands onely a Prisoner of innocency and never had any such thing layed to his charge when as at the same time and at the same Prison those in custody who have been Cavaliers and clapt up as having had to doe in the generall Insurrection have had no Guard upon them but liberty of Friends and accomodations and of going forth to their Friends houses without so much as a Keeper and during this long and close Imprisonment to have none appointed by those who cause him so to be kept to take care of him and to administer the reliefe that is fitting to a man nor to have any reliefe to be administred to him by such or in such a way would be esteemed highly oppressive and unsupportable even by the chiefest of their Persecutors were it or did he make it his own condition and the soule of every English man would it greatly afflict who retaines the sence of another mans condition as of his own and is not blinded with prejudice

being destitute afflicted and tormented of whom the world was not worthy as these doe by thine suffer imprisonment and as is afore mentioned What are their wicked and sad opinions destructive to the true Religion and power of godlinesse that as thou sayest indeed Sir they hold and have vented in all parts What are their irregular practises in the breach of peace and disturbance of good people that they have discovered they are yet to name that are indeed so But thou hast in this Letter and thy Warrant and thy whole carriage towards these innocent servants of the Lord vented and manifested thy sad opinions conceivings and actings and discovered thy irregular practises though thou art in Commission to doe Justice and wouldst be esteemed as a Magistrate in the breach of the peace and disturbance of good people to give an account hereof to Generall Disbrow thou doest not blush to say to him it is thy duty on whose patience and Justice as bearing the sword of God against evill doing thou mayest well fear thou hast trespassed and beg excuse for thy trouble and for thy self and Brethren desire by thankfully acknowledging his former favours to retain such an opinion of you as those that desire to doe nothing unbecoming Christians and persons that desire the welfare and peace of this Common-wealth and Government when under thy hand and as aforesaid against the innocent thou hast so plainly manifested the contrary and yet for thy self and Brethren art not ashamed of him to desire it who is in Justice you have obliged to visit the more your transgressions upon your heads by reason of the ill use you have made of his former favours in acting contrary to the welfares and peace of this Common-wealth and Government and so unbecoming Christians in disturbing good people and oppressing the innocent and in belying and slandering them when you have so done and in considerations of his favours and neverthelesse to his face when you have so offended to wipe your mouth as if you had none iniquity in confidence to entreat him to understand you as aforesaid Now to that of God in thy conscience and in the consciences of thy Brethren and of all who shall read this Relation whose carriage was not becoming men much lesse Christians theirs or thine and thy Brethren and who contemn Authority and despise Dominion and discover their irregular practises in the breach of the peace c. Thou and thy Brethren who being intrusted as Ministers of the Law thus break the Law or those who being innocent have the Law thus broken upon them by thy self and brethren The Magistrate of God is a praise to him that doth well a terror to the evil doer Rom. 12. And he that breaketh the righteous Law on him the Law is added as a contemner of Authority and a Transgressor and Transgression especially such as this is tendeth to the destruction of the Nation and is a reproach to any people And who hold many sad and wicked opinions destructive to the true Religion and power of godlinesse they are thee who doest thus act and write and art not come so much as to the bridling of thy tongue and so all thy Religion is vain And if thou wilt not yet take shame behold these lyes and false Accusations in this one Letter of thine to murder the innocent set in Order before thee On their refusall to give Bayle for their appearance the next Generall Sessions to be held for the County of Devon One And they still refusing to give Bayle for their appearance as aforesaid Two Indeed Sir their carriage here was not becoming men much lesse Christians Three And besides their contempt of Authority Foure All the while they were in Prison they never sought God by prayer at any time Five Nor desired a blessing on any Creature they received Six Nor gave thanks for them Seaven And they shew no occasion to come to these parts Eight But wander up and down in all parts Nine To vent their wicked Opinions Ten And discover their irregular practices in the breach of the Peace and disturbance of good people Eleven Indeed Sir they hold and vent many sad Opinions destructive to the true Religion and power of Godlinesse Twelve And let these convince thee and give judgement against thee that thy tongue is bent like a Bow for lyes and art not valiant for the truth upon earth but proceedest from evill to evill and knowest not the Lord And all lyars shall have their part in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death Rev. 21. And the Devil is the Accuser of the Brethren Rev. 12.10 And false Accusers are they who make the dayes perillous 2 Tim. 3.3 And the Lord shall cut off all flattering lips Psal. 12.3 And he that respecteth persons committeth sin and is convinced of the Law as a Transgressour James 2.9 And the wages of sin is death Rom. 6.53 And woe unto them that call good evill and evill good and put darknesse for light and light for darknes Isa. 5 20. And blaspheme that worthy name by which the children of light are called James 2.7 And of these things are thy Letter made up and these things are found on thee and the judgement cannot be avoyded for the Lord is righteous and not one jot or tittle of his word shall passe away and thy soule is precious Therefore turn within and consider thy condition and repent whilst thou hast time before thou goest into the Pit and it be sealed on Thee out of which there can be no redemption The Answer of Miles Halhead Thomas Salthouse to the Accusations in the aforesaid letter John Page Mayor of Plymouth WE have seen a copy of a Letter which we hear you sent to Major General Disbrow in reference to us Thomas Salthouse Miles Halhead wherein thou hast manifested thy self to the children of light to be of the same generation by thy flattering of him in feigned humility and thy rayling accusations against us we say to be of the spirit of Tertullus Acts 24. who accused and informed the Governour against the Apopostle Paul to be a pestilent fellow c. And so thou hast laid open thy Ignorance in imprisoning us because thou conceivest we are offendors which indeed is nothing but thy conceiving and thou sayest The cause of our confinement is because we refused to give Bayle to answer at the Sessions Here be witnesse against thy self and for us that we refused not to give Bayle but had sufficient men Robert Cary and Arthur Cotton which thou wast content to take and we were willing to appear upon thine own conditions that if we were any way disabled to come either by sicknesse or any other restraint we being to goe out of the County thou promised us that a Certificate from the next Justice of the Peace where we were so disabled should set our Recognizance void and clear us and our friends

Spirit of Truth doe we exhort thee to take heed that the spirituall man judge all things in righteteousnesse and truth So we remain Prisoners of the Lord not as evill doers our conscience bearing us witnesse in the presence of the Lord in whom is everlasting strength who are friends of the Truth and of the Common-wealth of England Known to the World by the Names of Thomas Salthouse Miles Halhead For the hands of John Page Mayor of Plymouth The copy of another Letter to the Mayor of Plymouth concerning Swearing John Page Mayor of Plymouth FOrasmuch as it hath pleased thee to cast us into Prison and hast Examined us and hast found no breach of any Law by which thou can'st lawfully punish us but under a pretence hath tendred us an Oath to swear against the Supremacy and Purgatory We doe in the presence of the Lord God of Heaven and Earth deny the Pope and all things therein mentioned with as much detestation as thou thy self or any in the world can or doth our consciences also bearing us witnesse in the presence of our God who is able to deliver us although we are cast into a Prison nay if we be cast into a Den of Lyons and a fiery Furnace with the three Children as you may read in Daniel that would not fall down to worship the Image neither will we disobey the Command of Jesus Christ who saith Swear not at all and the Apostle James saith Above all things my brethren swear not neither by Heaven nor by Earth nor by any other Oath but let your yea be yea and your nay nay lest you fall into condemnation And all that doth the will of God shall know of the doctrine of Christ and whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ hath both the Father and the Son If any come unto you and bring not this doctrine receive him not into your house nor bid him God speed and this we doe affirm that swearing is out of the doctrine of Christ although you may alledge many Scriptures for Swearing as in the first Covenant and that an Oath among men for confirmation is to them an end of all strife but he that is made the Surety of a better Covenant who hath put an end to all strife where it is witnessed saith Swear not at all although that you may alledge that the Angels swore yet know this that when he bringeth his first begotten into the world he saith Let the Angels of God worship him So we lay it upon thee to witnesse for us or against us whether Yea or nay is not to be preferred before swearing by all those who professe Religion seeing that Jesus Christ hath commanded not to swear at all and he saith If yee love me keep my Commandements and if we suffer imprisonment for keeping the Commandements of Christ it is not grievous to us for we refuse not to swear for any guiltinesse that is in us or that can be charged upon us for we are against all false wayes false worships false Lawes but we deny swearing because Jesus Christ hath commanded us not to swear at all So if we be kept in Prison let it never be said by you That it is for any thing but because we dare not swear knowing that to disobey the Commandements of Christ is the way of Cain who was driven out from the presence of God and became a Fugitive and a Vagabond and this some of you would charge upon us to be Vagabonds who in tendernesse of conscience and in the obedience to the light of Jesus Christ and in love to him our lives are not dear to us to lay down if it be required for the confession of him before men and the keeping of his Commandements for to this end are we called and our rejoycing is in this that in simplicity and godly sincerity our conversations hath been and is honest as many can witnesse for us against those who in their wisedome goe about to entrap and ensnare the innocent And this we write not to justifie our selves but for the sake of the simple ones who have heard many lyes and false reports of us of this doe we put thee in mind not that thou art ignorant that all the glory and honour belongeth to the Lord God who hath said He will not give his glory unto another and Vengeance is mine and I will repay it saith the Lord who will ease himself of all his Adversaries and recompence tribulation to them that trouble afflict or offend one of the least that believe in his Name So in love to thee and all people for the eternall good of all doe we heartily wish that grace and peace may be multiplied so we rest in the will of our father to doe or to suffer that he may be glorified by us to whom all glory belongeth for evermore and pray that the sin of Persecution may not be committed by thee nor any that professe to be the friends of Englands Whose Names are known to be Thomas Salthouse Miles Halhead For the hands of John Page Mayor of Plymouth HEar ye this O Priests and hearken ye house of Israel and give ye eare O house of the King for judgement is towards you because you have been as a snare on Mizpah and a net spread upon Tabor And ye revolters are profound to make slaughter though I have been a rebuker of them all Hear I pray you O Heads of Jacob and yee Princes of the house of Israel Is it not for you to know Judgement Shalt thou reigne because thou closest thy selfe in Cedar Did not their Father eate and drinke and doe Judgement and Justice and then it was well with him he Judged the Cause of the poor and needy then it a as well with him was not this know me saith the Lord And hear yee Rulers who hate the good and love the evill who pluck the skin from off the people of the Lord and their flesh from off their bones yea who abhor Judgement and pervert all equity who turne Judgement into worme wood and leave off righteousnesse in the Earth who decree unrighteous decrees and write grievousnesse which ye have prescribed Woe unto you for Judgement is turned away backward and Justice standeth afar off for truth is fallen in the street and equity cannot enter yea truth faileth and he that departeth from evill maketh himselfe a prey a man is made an Offender for a word a snare is laid for him that reproveth in the gate the just is afflicted and turned aside for a thing of nought and the poor in the gate from their right The righteousnesse of the righteous is taken from him he that rebuketh in the gate is hated he that speaketh uprightly is abhorred iniquities are conceived are travelled withall are searched out A diligent search is accomplished the inward thought and the heart is deep they dig as low as

hell the pit is made into which to cast and destroy the innocent the workers of iniquity make insurrections they whet their tongue like a sword they bend their bowes and make their Arrowes keene and ready on string and shoot at the perfect at the upright and fear not there are who incourage themselves in an evill matter that commune of laying snares privily that lye in waite in the lurking places of the Villages in the secret places as he that setteth snares to murther the innocent that set a trap that catch men as a cage is full of birds so are their houses full of deceit therefore are they become great and wax in rich they are waxen fat and shine yea the deeds of the wicked are over passed The rod hath blossomed pride hath budded violence is risen up into a rod of wickednesse Sion is built up with blood and Jerusalem with iniquity the stranger is vexed and oppressed which the Lord hath commanded shall not be but be beloved as a mans selfe for the Lord loveth the stranger and turned aside from his right and dealt wrongfully withall his Judgement is perverted and upon him is violence and cruelty exercised The people of the Lord are sould for nought and there are none that inquire after their blood they are eaten up as one would eate breath they whom the Lord hath smitten are persecuted the spoyled is not delivered out of the hand of the Oppressour the Lord is not feared this people are broken in pieces and his heritage afflicted yet they that doe these things say in their hearts the Lord shall not see neither shall the God of Jacob regard it God hath for gotten he hideth his face he will never see it God is contemned they say he will not require it yea every one in the darke in the chambers of his Imagery saith the Lord seeth us not the Lord hath forsaken the earth how doth God know is there knowledge in the most High Thou hast seen it O Lord for thou beholdest mischiefe and spight to requite it with thy own hand the poor committeth himselfe unto thee thou art the helper of the fatherlesse Vnderstand ye bruitish among the people And ye fools when will ye be wise He that planteth the eare shall not he hear he that formed the eye shall he not see he that chastiseth the heathen shall not he correct he that teacheth man knowledge shall not he know Surely the Lord seeth it and it displeaseth him that there is no Judgement and he sees that there is no man and wonders that there is no Intercessor therefore his arme is bringing salvation unto him and his righteousnesse it sustaineth him for he is putting on righteousnesse as a breast plate and a helmet of salvation upon his head and he is putting on the garment of vengeance for a cloathing and is clading with zeal as with a cloak he will awake as one out of sleep and go forth as a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine he will stir up jealousie like a man of war he will cry yea roare he shall prevaile against his enemies he hath a long time holden his peace and he hath been still and refrained himselfe he will cry like a travelling woman he will devoure and destroy all at once he he will make wast mountains and hills and dry up all their herbs he will make the rivers Islands and he will dry up the pools and according to their deeds accordingly will he repay fury to his adversaries recompence to his enemies For these things shall I not visite saith the Lord shall not my soule be avenged on such a generation as this Shall not God avenge the sufferings the blood of his Elect who cry Night and Day unto him how long O Lord holy and true dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the Earth Though he bear long with them I tell you he will avenge them speedily And hath he said it and shall he not doe it hath he spoken it and shall it not come to passe he hath avenged their blood from the dayes of righteous Abel to the Times of this generation and shall he not avenge it on this generation hath this generation witnessed this word of the Lord to be true above many generations before whose Eyes and by whose hands the righteous God hath executed his dreadfull Judgements on the Enemies of his Elect and shall this Generation who have exceeded what hath been done by their Fathers go unpunished Hath he despised the Image of the King and Princes and Nobles and the great ones and many of the people of these Nations and their pomp and glory and powred forth their blood as water on the Earth and made them a fearfull desolation in the cause of his people and of Justice and Equity and shall those whom he hath made the rod of his Anger and the staffe of his Indignation upon these doing the same things for which he judged and cast them out escape Hath all this blood been shed that unrighteousnesse may reigne and oppresssion hath not God spared the glory and beauty and excellency of these Nations and the goodlinesse of them but in the Iniquities that they have committed and in the sins wherewithall they have sinned hath cut them off and made them the dreadfull examples of his vengeance to make way for others to rise up and to commit greater abominations Was persecution of tender consciences unjust in the Bishops and is it righteous now in them who suffered by the Bishops for the tendernesse of their consciences and shed so much blood for a secure provision therein and put it to this Issue by the sword either they and theirs not to be or not to be without it to outstrip the Bishops yea the latter Ages in a cruell and barbarous persecution of their Brethren because of the tenderness of their consciences Was the Infringement of Liberty the endeavouring to subvert the fundamentall Lawes of the Nation and the violation of right unrighteous in the King and Strafford and Canterbury and that generation and Judged Tyrannicall and Trayterous and Justice executed upon them for so doing and the Kings Family rooted up and thousands of Families destroyed and the three Nations made fields of blood and hazarded in many years fierce and cruell Wars to bring it to passe and is it just now in inferiour Ministers who are in Commission and sworn to execute the Law to preserve liberty and to defend right as saith also the Instrument of Government to exceed them all in the violation of Law and the destruction of right and liberty as if so be the Cause and the Justice of the Wars were to destroy one Generation for another to exercise the same and far greater violences and oppressions upon those who were instrumentall in the destruction of the other when lost their liberties or by what Law Contract or Conquest have they lost them in suffering