aiding and assisting of the said Constable or other such known legal Officer or Officers as aforesaid and all Millitary Officers and Souldiers are hereby commanded to be aiding and assisting to such Constable or other legal Officers being by them or any of them thereunto required And We do hereby declare that as well all those who shall hereafter be so hardy as to offend against this Our Proclamation shall not onely not receive Countenance from Us therein but shall be left to be proceeded against according to Our Laws and incurre Our high displeasure as persons doing their utmost to bring Scandal and Contempt upon Our Government In all which there are these things Considerable First That the King was very sensible of the great abuses done to many by the illegal and lawless proceedings of Souldiers at that time and the great dis-service they did him in it Secondly The King from the aforesaid sence gives a strict Charge and Command to all Officers and Souldiers and all other Persons that they presume not to Seize the person or persons of any c. without Warrant under the Hand and Seals of such mentioned in the Proclamation Thirdly That no Officer or Souldier is to meddle or interpose in the Execution of such Warrant if granted against any except called by a Constable or other legal Officers to their assistance in serving the same Fourthly That the King will be so far from countenancing any that shall be so hardy as to offend against this his Proclamation that they shall be left to be proceeded against according to Law Fifthly Such persons so offending shall incurre his high displeasure as persons doing their uttermost to bring Scandal and Contempt upon his Government And yet these abovenamed men would be thought to be high promoters of the Kings Honour and Government when their actions so declared to be by the King himself in his Proclamation have been high and bold atempts made against and Scandal to his Government It is true if drinking his Health in Bowles of Ale and Beer and Glasses of Sack till they become brutish Swearing and Blaspheming the holy Name of God and such like Debauchery will Honour the King and make his Government as famous as Solomons was then they are the men that will do it If their breaking his Laws and abusing the good People of the Land as abovesaid will Honour him they will do it Such as I take it being all the Love to or Valour they can shew for him or his Interest But not to enlarge I will now return to speak of what Dealing these sober men have sound from the hands of these Justices The Souldiers they seize contrary to Law as you have heard and away they carry them it may be to John Robinson Lieutenant of the Tower or Thomas Bide Ale-Brewer in Shoreditch or some other man called a Justice as the Souldiers please And when they are before them though no matter of Fact be laid to their charge none accusing them to their faces of the breach of any known Law Seeing they cannot find any thing against them worthy of Bonds they presently come to this point Will you take the Oath of Allegïance If any refuse they send him away to Goal pretending great matters against them which they insert in their Mittimus in general as dangerous persons Plotting speaking Treason and the like Which he that knows any thing in Law knows that a general Charge is no Charge the Law requiring That no free born English-man be kept in durance without some particular Charge be expressed in the Warrant by which he is committed and held By which it is manifest that these Justices have as little regard to the Honour of the King as the Souldiers For whereas by Law they ought to rebuke and punish those Souldiers that so illegally seize the persons of these civil men they justifie their unwarrantable doing and in stead thereof commit the poor men to prison contrary to Law also making no matter of such arbitrary actions but willingly swallow them And further it is evident That no one Justice hath power to minister the Oath to any though some of them will not stick to do it for I my self was in place when Thomas Bide ministred the Oath to two persons and never a Justice there but himself making them manifestly forswear themselves contrary to the expresse letter of the Law which enables no one Justice to require any person to take the Oath much lesse to minister it to any For saith the Statute Intituled An Act for administring the Oath of Allegiance the seventh Year of King James That it shall and may be lawful c. And for any two Justices of the Peace within any County City or Towne Corporate whereof one to be of the Quorum to require any person or persons of the age of eighteen years or above under the degree of a Baron or Baroness to take the said Oath By which it is manifest that no one Justice hath power to tender the Oath to any And if it be no tender in Law it is no denial in Law though the Prisoner do refuse to take it For if one Juctice will be so hardy as to require any to take the Oath contrary to Law yet none that are conscientious dare to be so wicked as to take it from him whom the Law doth not intitle and impower to minister the same unlesse he will forswear himself for he that taketh the Oath must swear amongst other things that it is lawfully ministred to him as appears in these express words mentioned in the Oath it self Which I acknowledge by good and full Authority to be lawfully ministred unto me c. When one Justice by himself hath no more authority than hath a Collier and yet notwithstanding some have been committed two or three times within this twelve moneths for refusing as they call it to take the Oath when they were never required to take it by any lawful Authority And at this day several lie in Goal and have done some moneths whose persons were seized contrary to Magna Charta and the Kings Proclamation as abovesaid for refusing the Oath as they are not ashamed to say and to charge them with in their Mittimus when they never at any time of their commitment were required to take it according to their own Law which they make no conscience to break though they cry out against others so much for the breach of And further though they say they are Christians the very Heathens may rise up in judgement against them For they would suffer Paul to speak for himself in his own defence Acts 21.39 40. Chap. 24.10 But these men that say they are Christians and Ministers of Justice will not suffer any of these sober men they thus persecute to speak for themselves not so much hardly as to give a reason why they cannot Swear Nay when in time of Sessions they are called before their Tribunal where though
A Complaint OF THE OPPRESSED AGAINST OPPRESSORS OR THE Unjust and Arbitrary PROCEEDINGS of some Souldiers and Justices against some Sober Godly Persons in and near London who now lye in stinking Goals for the Testimony of a good Conscience With Some REASONS why they cannot Swear Allegiance to obtain their Liberty Faithfully Collected by JOHN LOVEWEL A constant Observer of their Patience in Suffering and of the Injustice of their Persecutors Zeph. 3.1 Wo to her that is filthy and polluted to the oppressing City Isa 33.1 Wo to thee that spoilest and wast not spoiled and dealest treacherously and they dealt not treacherously with thee when thou shalt cease to spoil thou shalt be spoiled and when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously they shall deal treacherously with thee LONDON Printed in the Year 1661. A COMPLAINT Of the OPPRESSED AGAINST OPPRESSORS THe Unjust proceedings of some in present power against many in this Nation fearing God cannot but be manifest to such sober men that do or will take a view of the same I having knowledge of the Sufferings of many Godly Persons especially in and about London whom their very adversaries cannot blemish justly with the least spot of Infamy dare not but let the World know the Innocency of the men and the Tyranny of their Oppressors And in what I shall say I dare appeal to the Consciences of all sober judicious persons of what Perswasion soever except the proud Prelate Whether it be not Tyranny to the height for men to be seized and taken out of their Beds at midnight by Souldiers in a Hostile manner with their Swords drawn by means of which their Wives and Children have been much affrighted to their great detriment in point of health and this done in a time of Peace and without Warrant from any no not so much as a Warrant from a Justice of the Peace Others taken from their peaceable Meetings when they have been in the Lords service in a publick manner the doors being open for all that would to see what they did and hear what they said Others attached as they have passed along the streets about their lawful Imployments and all this done by Souldiers without Warrant from any and by them carried before some men called Justices but such only in Name and Title nothing so in truth For They afflict the just and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right Amos 5.12 But leaving them a while Reader take notice that these Souldiers to wit one Liuetenant Wilton a man very well known where he lives but not for any vertue he hath and Ensigne Spike a man so well educated that he scarce knows what Law or Religion is and as to the business of a Souldier he is also a stranger as I in charity judge of him For these men with the assistance of Serjeants and Souldiers like themselves have contracted that guilt upon themselves that had they known Law been Religious or Souldiers they would have scorned to have defiled themselves so much as with a touch with a finger But their actions have been such as above said and how contrary to Magna Charta and the fundamental Laws of the Nation I leave to the Judicious and how liable they are to be punished by Law for their so doing will appear as followeth Magna Charta Cap. 29. Anno 9. Hen. 3. saith No free man shall be taken or imprisoned or be disseized of his Free-hold or Liberties or free Customs or be Out-lawed or Exiled or any ways Destroyed nor we shall not pass upon him nor deal with him but by the lawful judgement of his Peers or by the Law of the Land We shall not sell to any man we shall not deny nor deferre any man Right or Justice Againe No man of what estate or condition that he be shall be put from his Land or Tenement or taken imprisoned or dis-inherited or put to death without being brought in to answer by due process of Law Anno 28. Ed. 3. Cap. 3. Thus he that hath but little sight may see how contrary to the good and wholsome Laws of the Nation these men have acted and how dishonourable it is to the King and his Government for such wicked Fellows to be suffered in such arbitrary and villanous proceedings against sober men as they have from time to time practised For if no man of what estate or condition soever shall be taken or Imprisoned without a due process of the Law then to seize any man without Warrant from some Minister of Justice is to take and Imprison him at the Wills and Lusts of these base and inferior fellows who matter not the Honour of the King the Violating of Law nor the Liberty of the Subject then will not these things cry loud to Heaven for Vengeance Besides these mercinary fellows cannot excuse themselves by pleading ignorance for the King by open Proclamation hath strictly charged and commanded all Officers and Souldiers and all other persons whatsoever that they shall not molest nor trouble any of his good Subjects without Warrant or lawful Authority as appears by his Proclamation Intituled A Proclamation prohihibiting the Se zing of any persons or Searching Houses without Warrant except in time of actual Insurrection Bearing date the seventeenth of January one thousand six hundred and sixty The which Proclamation so much of it as is to our business in hand I shall here insert for the better satisfaction of the Reader as followeth And we being given to understand that during those late Commotions several persons have been imprisoned by Souldiers and others their Houses Searched and their goods taken away without lawful Anthority and that thereupon opprobrious words and terms of discention and discrimination of parties have been used and given to Our great dis-service contrary to the before said Act of Pardon and Oblivion and not withstanding Our Royal pleasure so often published and declared to the contrary These are therefore strictly to charge and command all Officers and Souldiers and all other Persons whatsoever unlesse it be upon inevitable necessity of suddain and actual Rebellion and Insurrection to forbear to molest or trouble any of our good Subjects either in their Persons or Estates and not to presume to Apprehend or Secure any Person or Persons or Seize any Armes what soever or to search any Houses without a lawful Warrant under the Hand and Seal of some one or more of the Lords of our Privy Council or under the Hand and Seal of some one or more of the Lords Lieutenants Deputy Lieutenants or Justices of the Peace in their respective Liberties and Precincts within the several Counties Cities and Towns Corporate in our Kingdom of England Dominion of Wales and Town of Berwick upon Tweed And we will that the said Warrants be alwaies directed to some Constable or other known legal Officer and that no Souldier do otherwise interpose or meddle with the Execution of the said Warrants then by
they desire and intreat them to let them know what they had been kept in Prison for or what they or any other had against them they nor no man else can charge them with ought that they had done against the Law which being so they might hope to be heard and those Abuses redressed but there they can as little be heard also nor no notice taken by the Bench of the Illegal proceedings of those men called Justices but in stead of Judgement behold Oppression and in the place of Righteousnesse behold a Cry Isa 5.7 For when at the time of the Goal Delivery as they call it they ought by Law and according to their Oathes do right impartially to all free born English-men that is let every one speak freely for himself in the face of the Countrey that all may know his Guilt if Guilty or his Innocency if Innocent and if nothing be found against them by such proof or sufficient witness as the Law requires in such cases they are sworn to deliver them and to do them right answerable to the wrongs they have sustained by those Mercenary Souldiers that seize them contrary to Law and the Kings Proclamation and those unjust men called Justices for their false Imprisoning them or at least to leave both Souldiers and Justices open to the Law which could honest men have the benefit of against these Tyrants it would sufficiently repaire them And further let them not think to excuse themselves by tendring the Oath of Obedience to them against whom they can charge no matter of Fact for it is neither Reason Law nor Equity that men should lie in Prison several moneths as many have done in New-gate and elsewhere and no Crime committed by them nor none accusing them of any that they should then have the Oath tendred to ensnare them and hold them fast For if it be a fault in Law to refuse the Oath when tendred in Court the fault was but then contracted all the former Imprisonment by their own proceedings appears to be manifestly false And this is all the Justice they can have Will you Swear if you will not you shall lie in Prison still Thus is Judgement turned away backwards and Justice standeth afarre off For Truth is fallen in the Streets and Equity cannot enter Yea Truth faileth and he that departeth from Iniquity maketh himself a prey or as it may be read is accounted Mad or a Phanatick and the Lord saw it and it displeased him that there was no Judgement Isa 59.14 15. The Lord God without doubt sits in Heaven and seeth their proceedings who saith to them How long will ye Judge unjustly and accept the Persons of the wicked Defend the poor and fatherless do Justice to the afflicted and needy deliver the poor and needy rid them out of the hands of the wicked Psal 82.2 3 4. But surely they have not God in all their thoughts For it may be said of such as the Lord said by the Prophet Amos They turn Judgement to Wormwood and leave off Righteousness in the Earth Amos 5.7 And again For behold the Lord commandeth and he will smite the great house with breaches and the little house with clefts Shall Horses run upon the Rock will one plow there with Oxen for ye have turned Judgement into Gall and the fruit of Righteousness into Hemlock Amos 6.11 12. And although they may say in their hearts The Lord will not do good neither will be do evil Zeph. 1.12 Yet let them know he that sits in Heaven shall laugh the Lord shall have them in derision he shall speak to them in his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure Psal 2.4 5. Therefore Wo unto them that decree unrighteous decrees and that write grievousness which they have prescribed to turn aside the needy from Judgement and to take away the right from the poor of my people Isa 10.1.2 Little do these unjust men know who thus pervert the Law what woes and judgements hang over their heads for their cruelty to the Lords People The Word of the Lord shall surely be performed and though he suffer the wicked for a time to afflict his People yet The Rod of the Wicked shall not rest upon the Lot of the Righteous Psal 125.3 And though for a time the wicked may spring as grass and all the workers of iniquity do flourish and tread upon the necks of the godly it is that they should be destroyed Psal 92.7 For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it and it shall certainly come to passe For saith the Lord I will undoe all that afflict thee and I will save her that halteth and gather her that was driven out and I will get them praise and fame in every Land where they have been put to shame Zeph. 3.19 Oh that these men that persecute the Lords people would break off their sins of Tyranny Oppression and Injustice before the Decree be gone forth against them by righteousness Thus having given an account to the World of the unjust and Tyrannical proceedings against the peaceable of the Land I shall now give because they are not suffered to speak for themselves the Reasons why they cannot take the Oath of Obedience as I have collected from them in my frequent conversation with them For the refusing of which as their Enemies who are their Judges say they lie in stinking Goals deprived of the comfortable society of their dear Relations which God and Nature alloweth them and made thereby uncapable of making such good provision for them as their necessities call for Choosing rather with Moses to suffer afflictiou with the People of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season knowing in themselves that they have in heaven a better and more enduring substance The Reasons are as followeth First Because it is a Promisary Oath Now Oathes of such a kind are forbidden by Christ the Prince of the Kings of the Earth Rev. 1.5 Who onely is head of the Church the great and onely Law-giver Isa 33.22 James 4.12 That it is an Oath of such a kind is manifest to all that read it That such Oaths are forbidden by Christ see Mat. 5.34 But I say unto you Swear not at all c. From which place I know that many say That Christ forbids Swearing vainly and Swearing by Creatures and the like and doth not forbid Swearing of any kind provided it be by the Lord and solemnly done That Christ forbids in that place vain Swearing in common talk or communication and Swearing by Creatures though never so solemnly performed is true But that this is not all that is forbidden is as true For Christ forbids some kind of Swearing that was in the time of Moses approved as appears in the 33. vers Ye have heard that it hath been said to them of old time thou shalt not forswear thy self but shalt perform unto the Lord thine Oathes Which was no gloss as some would have it but by the