Selected quad for the lemma: peace_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
peace_n	justice_n	offence_n	session_n	2,982	5	10.4743	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A52396	The Norffs president of persecution (unto banishment) against some of the innocent people call'd Quakers, for meeting in the name and fear of the Lord, or, A relation of the proceedings of the court at the quarter sessions holden at the castle in Norwich the 20 day of the 12. moneth call'd February, 1665 where Francis Cory, Recorder of the city of Norwich sat for judge with John Crafts, Dean of Norwich, with other justices of the peace (so called), upon Henry Kittle Jun., Edmund Rack, Richard Cockerel, and Robert Elden, call'd Quakers.	Kittle, Henry, defendant.; Rack, Edmund, d. 1682, defendant.	1666 (1666)	Wing N1229; ESTC R15877	12,032	15

you will not hear us the Lord judge between you and us and remember the eye of the Lord is upon you and seeth the intent of your hearts and if you pass upon us thus and condemn us the Lord God will assuredly require it at your hands The Jurymen went forth and in a little time returned Clerk Are you all agreed of your Verdict Jury All but one Man Judge Why do not he agree Jury He desires to give his Reasons to the Court. Judge No no you must all agree Judge Swear them another Bailiffe and let them be shut up and have neither meat drink fire nor Candle till they be agreed Some in the Court said to the Prisoners when the Jury was gone out why did you not answer wherefore you were met he have askt you several times and you will not answer Pris I was not aware of his Asking me so often if I had I should have given him an answer I can give him an Answer yet if he will hear me Judge Well what is it Pris We are Christian men and the Lord hath begotten us into one life and we love one another and desire often to be together that all Men may know and see that we love one another The Jury went forth again and soon after the Court sent after them to hasten them to agree and shortly the Jury return'd again and brought them in all Guilty Pris What of the whole Inditement Clerk Yes yes of the whole The Prisoners were return'd to Prison again and about half an hour after were commanded again to the Bar. Pris All Honour and Glory be given to the Lord. Judge beginning a long Oration of the Mercyfulness of the Law Pris The Law of God is a Mercyful Law It was in another Prisoners heart to say but the Executioners of the Law are very unmercyful And when the Prisoners perceived the Judge crept in to sentence one cried hold hold I have something to offer before Sentence be past as to arrest of Judgment but the Judge went on Then the Prisoners cried again hold hold if you will not hear me take my Exceptions and read them and so held his Paper forth but the Judge went on and passed Sentence that they should be carried from this place to Yarmouth and from thence to be Transported to the Barbados for seven years Then one of the Prisoners said But where shall the Lyer and the Drunkard go And when he had passed Sentence askt a Prisoner saying Come what have you now to proffer Pris I had something to offer before Sentence was past as to arrest in Judgment but thou wents on and would not hear Judge Now it is too late Judgment is past Pris I call'd before and offered my Exceptions but thou wouldst not stay Judge Let us hear what they are Pris First that the two first Offences were not Recorded under the Hands and Seals of the two Justices of Peace before the 29th of October last the time mentioned in the Inditement for the third offence but since this present Sessions namely upon Friday last so that the persons concerned did not stand convicted of the two first offences urged against them at the time limited for the last offence Secondly That the Inditement upon which they went was not the same to which the Prisoners did plead Thirdly That the Prisoners ought not to be punished for any offence against the late Act because above three Moneths are passed Judge But you were committed presently in order to your Prosecution Prisoner But we were to have been Prosecuted and not Prosecuting Clerk Your Commitment was your Prosecution Pris That could not be by the Judges own words for he said we were committed in order to Prosecution and if in order to Prosecution then it could not be the Prosecution its self A POSTSCRIPT AS to the Courts proceedings against the Prisoners The unreasonableness and unjustness thereof is so apparent and will so plainly appear to every indifferent and impartial Reader that little need be paraphrased upon it to manifest that spirit of envy and persecution which thus rigorously and cruelly shewed it self against innocent Persons even to banish or separate them from their Native Countries and Relations We never yet knew any Law extant or in being that Men should be reckoned such deep Offenders for meeting together in a Christian spirit singly and spiritually to wait upon and worship God as the intent of our Meeting is And where the evidence was that they were neither saying nor doing any thing and yet for this thus severely to be sentenced by the Judge whose prejudice and enmity against divers of our Friends in Norwich in persecuting of them has so much appeared that little better then what he has done against the Prisoners could be expected nor yet from the Deane who is so deeply concerned with his Bretheren of the Clergie who make use of the Magistrates as their servants to terrifie and compell People to come under their worship and Ceremonies and to worship by their Liturgie but many are gathered out from them by the Power of the Lord God and come to worship and serve him in the newness of the spirit and the spirit of Prayer and Supplication being poured forth wherein the People of God pray to him and which Spirit sometime intercedes with sighes and groans which cannot be uttered so this is not to be limited to an imposed form of prayer nor to Mens wills who in Anti-Christs spirit go about to hinder and limit the spirit of truth and to keep the Creature from the freedome of it as the Deane in his asserting that the Common Prayer does not allow People to worship but by it which is a very strange and unreasonable doctrine and appeares both contrary to the Common-Prayer-Book and the Priests practise for the Common Prayer-Book or allowance of the Liturgie extends further then the Bishops and Deans allowance for that it allows of the Scriptures and that they are written for our Learning and so are to be practised and fulfilled by us and of the Worship of God at all times and in all places and therefore they had need to consider their Liturgie a little better and peruse the several Collects and Epistles in it and see how the Scriptures is both allowed of and made use of therein and consequently how that way and Worship which the Scriptures own which was before the Liturgie was is allowed of by the Liturgie which how the Deans Assertion and the Liturgie herein should hang together does not appear whiles he would make the Common-Prayer allow of no Worship but by it self which also does contradict and disallow of his own Generation the Priests when they use a long Prayer before Sermon which is not exprest in the Common Prayer-Book and besides divers particular occasions of Praying to God many times do and have fallen out which are not mentioned in the Common-Prayer as also it doth not follow that the

Common-Prayer disallowes of all manner of Worshiping that is not by it self because not in its own express form for diversities of things where no prohibition is does not disallow one of another because they are divers in the manner and form of them Much might be said in this particular to shew the absurdity and ignorance of the Dean's Assertion but whiles we know the leadings of the Spirit of Truth and the Worship of God therein for which many of us at this day suffer We must not be tyed to their allowance in Worship who by their wayes and proceedings against the Innocent have as much as in them lies opposed limited and withstood the Spirit and Truth of God which will outlive all their enmity and cruelty against the Righteous Here followeth a Letter sent to the Judges of the Assizes holden at Thetford from the Prisoners aforesaid to spread before them the illegal Proceedings against them so that Ignorance of Injustice cannot be pleaded To the Judges of the Assizes These in humility present WEE whose Names are here under written who lay under a sentance of transportation finding our selves grieved by the proseedings of the Sessions holden at the Castle in Norwich which we think were not reasonable nor Legall And not knowing the Law how wee may be releived yet thinking the Law have not left us without relief in case there be error in judgment desire in humility to spread these our grievances before you who are judges of the Law and know the Law and are sent as wee think by the King as well to relieve his subjects that are oppressed as to minister judgment First That we were indicted in the first part of the inditement for being convicted upon the 30. or 31. of January so called in the sixteenth year of the King which was almost half a year before the Act came in force this wee think a mistake and error in Law But wee were forced to plead and could not make our exceptions to this and many other errours Secondly That wee pleaded to an inditement in the forenoone and in the afternoone had an other inditement brought forth against us to which wee had not pleaded and were forced upon Tryall by it although wee made our exceptions against it Thirdly That wee have great cause to suspect that the Jury or most part of them were not indifferent persons but men pickd on purpose Fourthly That the Jury was commanded from the Bar before wee had made our defence and we were hindred from our just though plain plea And some of us not suffered to speak at all in our defence Fifthly That the Records produced to prove the first and second convictions so cal'd were not made by the Justices of Peace but by the Clark of the Peace or some other by the procurement of Thomas Wright our prosecutour and sent to the Justices to seal but a week before the Sessions Sixthly That Thomas Wright was both our Accuser Witness against us and one of the Judges upon the Bench and also helpt the Clerk to translate the reading of our inditement which we think unreasonable if not Illegall Seventhly Wee believe the Act doth intend our relief by the third proviso in regard wee were not prosecuted within three moneths These things we desired to lay before you in short as part of our grievances but if the Law do allow us to come before you as we are desirous to doe if you please to grant an Habeas Corpus for that purpose wee hope to clear the matter more fully or if the Law doe allow us any relief we desire the Benefit of it but if not then we quietly yield our bodies to the execution of the sentence and return as prisoners of hope to the rock of our Salvation where the Lord hath planted us there to repose our selves until the Lord arise and plead our cause and bring forth our innocency in brightness and our Righteousness as the light that goeth forth Edm. Rack Henry Kittlesmior Robert Elden Richard Cockerel From Norwich Castle The 28th of the 12th moneth 1665. THE END

THE NORFFS PRESIDENT OF PERSECUTION VNTO BANISHMENT Against some of the Innocent People CALL'D QUAKERS FOR Meeting in the Name and fear of the Lord. OR A RELATION OF THE Proceedings of the Court at the Quarter Sessions holden at the Castle in Norwich the 20 day of the 12. Moneth call'd February 1665. where Francis Cory Recorder of the City of Norwich sat for Judge with John Crafts Dean of Norwich with other Justices of the peace so call'd upon Henry Kittle Jun. Edmund Rack Richard Cockerel and Robert Elden call'd Quakers Printed in the Year 1666. The Norffs President of Persecution c. FIrst the Prisoners presented a Letter to the Grand Inquest because they understood they were to pass upon them and not to hear them personally to make their defence to state the Innocency of their cause to them Which was as followeth Friends We who are Prisoners in the Castle who are reproachfully call'd Quakers understanding that you as the body of the County are to pass upon us either to be our Accusers or Excusers and that our Cause must pass through your hands without hearing of us personally to make our defence We desire to lay these few Considerations before you First That the Sessions lately past were sufficiently known and that our Prosecutors were here and if they had any thing justly to have charg'd upon us they ought to have proceeded then Secondly That we being Prisoners at Common Law or a penal Statute ought if any thing had been charged upon us to have been tried forthwith at the next general Sessions and Goal delivery and that by the ordinary Jury that served upon other Prisoners and not to have a particular Sessions and Jury picked on purpose for us but if nothing had been charged upon us we ought to have enjoyed the benefit of the Goal delivery Thirdly We have cause to believe that our Prosecutors have misinformed the Court thereby to procure an Adjournment that so either they might bring some new evidence or procure some other to joyne with them that so their evidence might appear more specious Fourthly We desire you to take notice that the Records for the first and second Convictions so call'd were not made in Parchment and so no Records in Law And those Writings that were made were not made under Seal as we remember and so no evidence or conviction in Law And if any other then such shall be presented to you we desire you to require proof of them Fifthly At the second Conviction so call'd we conceive there were not a sufficient number of persons to bring us under the Act although an exercise in Religion had been proved against us in other manner then is allowed by the Liturgy or practice of the Church of England Sixthly We desire you to consider the third Provizo in the Act which saith that no persons shall be punished for any offence against this Act unless such offenders be prosecuted for the same within three Moneths after the offence committed And there being above three Moneths passed since we were charged and committed as offenders whether we be not to be discharged by the said Provizo in the Act For it doth not say you shall be prosecuting such offenders within three Moneths but that such offenders shall be prosecuted within three Moneths or else not to be punished for any offence against this Act. Seventhly We desire you carefully to examine such Witnesses as shall be brought in against us to prove what Religious Worship they see us in the exercise of and whether it were contrary to what the Liturgy of the Church of England doth allow of For the Law is not against meeting to worship God according to the Liturgy which saith See Communion upon the Feast of Trinity so call'd It is very meet right and our bounden duty that we should at all times and in all places perform duty to God But against such as under pretence to meet to worship contrive Insurrections as late experience had shewed Which can never be proved against us These things we desire to lay before you not with any desire or intent to divert you from justice and equity but that you may in some measure understand the innocency of our Cause and where the Law provide for our Acquital you might not be our accusers but that justice and equity may run in its right chanel and judgment and loving kindness and Righteousness may be exercised by you in which the Lord doth delight and so the Blessing of the Lord may be upon you Which is the desire of us who seek the good of all Men Edmund Rack Richard Cockerele Henry Kittle Junior Robert Elden A Relation of the Proceedings of the Court c. THe Court being set the Prisoners were call'd to the Bar. The Clerk read the Inditement the substance of which was for being at an unlawful Meeting under colour and pretence of exercise in Religion contrary to the Liturgy of the Church of England with force and aimes contrary to the peace of our Soveraign Lord the King his Crown and Dignity and against the Statute in that case made and provided Clerk What say you Guilty or not Guilty Prisoner I desire to be heard a few words Judge You must first plead Pris I desire to be heard I stand here as a Prisoner and not barely as a Prisoner but as a free born Englishman and conceive I have right to all the Privileges of the Law of England which have a tender care of the life of Man and also their liberty Now I conceive we have had very hard measure that we have been Prisoners almost four Moneths and the Sessions past over and we not call'd I desire to know what was the reason that the Sessions past over and we not call'd as well as other Prisoners Judge You must plead Pris I desire to know a piece of a Reason why we might not enjoy the benefit of the Goal delivery as other Prisoners did Clerk The Court is not bound to give you a Reason Judge You must plead the Question is but short Guilty or not Guilty Pris I desire to know why we were not tryed the last Sessions Judge It is the same Sessions will you plead Pris But I desire some information about the Inditement that I may know what I am to plead to What do you mean by the Liturgy of the Church of England for I understand I am indited for an exercise not allowed by the Liturgy The Dean By the Liturgie is meant the Common Prayer Book with its Appurtenances Pris Doth not the Common Prayer allow of that which it layeth down as a duty And which it seems to pray for The Dean The Common Prayer doth not allow People to Worship God but by it Judge You know the Penalty will you plead or not Pris I desire to be heard for my Information Judge When you have pleaded you shall be heard Pris Well then I am content to plead I am not