Selected quad for the lemma: justice_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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B08409
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A letter to a person of quality written by Mr. Edward Bagshaw, the day before his commitment close-prisoner to the gatehouse.
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Bagshaw, Edward, 1629-1671.
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1663
(1663)
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Wing B414C; ESTC R172542
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4,859
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8
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a Letter whilst I stayed at Morton I constantly preached and that in the Church so oft as the place was unsupplied by others and that I might give an Evidence to the World how little factious or humoursome I was in my Opinion although I have but little reverence for Church Holy-days yet that I might be instant out of season as well as in it I did on Christmas-day give the Parish a Sermon though there hath been none for above twelve years before Thus far I enjoyed a quiet a greater than which I could not be ambitious of when on the sudden I was alarmed first with flying Rumors then with certain Information that there were Warrants issued out to apprehend me and this I heard above a fortnight before that any was actually served upon me I had time and leasure enough in this interval to take advice what in that juncture of time would best become me to do and though many of my Friends did counsel me to with-draw my self urging that of Solomon A prudent man foreseeth the evil and hideth himself but a fool rageth or rusheth on and is confident and this they enforced both by our Saviours advice to his Apostles when they persecute you in one City fly to another and by his practice in himself who frequently concealed himself from the Peoples rage and at last when the Pharisees had fully concluded of his Arraignment and Tryal it is said expresly That Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Jews but went thence into a Country near to the Wilderness and there continued with his Disciples Joh. 11.54 These Examples joyned with the Entreaties of my nearest Relations might have warranted me should I have taken that way to secure my self which the Law of Self-preservation without any other inducements doth prompt most others unto Yet with me none of these Arguments did prevail but I continued fixed in my Resolution to abide where I was and wait the issue of all these Reports and that First Because I was not conscious to my self that I had done any thing to deserve either death or bonds and therefore I would not by flight betray my own innocency or by concealment give too just an occasion of suspition Secondly Because I had writ many things concerning matters now in controversie for which perhaps I might be questioned and should I have fled from the Tryal I could never make amends to the Truths I had formerly asserted since he scarcely deserves the name of a Christian Writer who in the things of God is not willing to die for what he hath once upon good grounds defended Thirdly I had frequently exhorted others not to decline Afflictions but if the cause was for Righteousness sake to look upon all such Tryals as marks of honour and should I my self have flinched and because trouble was near I should not only have contradicted the truth of my Doctrine but likewise amongst all my hearers at least have discredited the sincerity of my Profession Fourthly I found upon survey and measuring of my own strength I mean my own no otherwise than as given me by God that death was not at all terrible to me but a Prison was very dreadful for having been so long used to the air of liberty I could scarcely with any patience think of Confinement This Weakness I durst not indulge and therefore resolved to wait and see what God would call me to of whom I might the more confidently beg assistance when I had done nothing for my own ease to avoid his disposal Nor had the contrary Arguments much weight in them For First That Speech of Solomons as most of his Proverbs holds true only in Political Distempers or State Commotions then indeed it is prudence for a wise man to escape the danger but hath no place at all in Christian Tryals where he that suffers when he is called to it is alwayes on the safest side as acting most sutably to Gospel Principles Secondly Our Saviours advice to his Apostles was only temporary for that season till they had finished their Ministry in Judea and possibly at that time there might be some respect had to their weakness by comparing this place with that in Matth. 9.15 17. but after our Saviours Resurrection we read no more of their flying but of their persisting in Jerusalem even when the violence of the Persecution had scattered others Lastly Our Saviour knew the exact and critical manner and minute of his death and therefore it is said more than once that he did this and that because he knew all things that should befal him and his time was not yet fully come and this might occasion his frequent removal whereas our ignorance of what is to come ought to make us conceive that every Tryal which God in his Providence brings upon us ought without demur to be encountered and undertaken by us as that whereby he intends himself some glory which by careing for our selves we may intentionally at least defeat him of Being thus resolved I waited with patience to see what would be the issue of all these Rumours but after a fortnights stay finding no effect of them I concluded the whole fame to be false and frivolous and therefore went on Saturday Jan. 3d. to a Noble Kinsmans house of mine whose Name and Worth you know to fetch home my Sister who had there spent her Christmass within less than an hour after my arrival there one that was Clerk to Sir John Bernard a Justice of Peace in our County brought the Warrant to me and that very night about eight a clock without more a-do in obedience to it I rode six or seven miles to Sir John Bernard's house and now from thence to use the Apostle Pauls words with a little alteration I go bound in the Spirit to London not knowing the things that shall befal me there save that my Friends are ready to conjecture that bonds and afflictions abide me But none of these things move me neither count I my life dear unto my self so that I may finish my course with joy and the Ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testifie the Gospel of the Grace of God Acts 20.22 24. Thus wishing you all happiness and begging your Prayers that I may be endued with courage equal to my innocency I rest ever Noble Sir Your most affectionate and humble Servant Edward Bagshaw Dunstable Jan. 5. 1662. POST-SCRIPT SIR I Have read this Letter though hastily writ once over and in case you are not satisfied with the Reasons I give against flying from Persecution pray consider them not as universally intended for all Persons but only to shew what grounds I had for my stay hereafter if it please God to give me life and liberty I may state the whole Question more fully FINIS