Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A44360
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Due order of law and justice pleaded against irregular & arbitrary proceedings in the case and late imprisonment of George Whitehead and Thomas Burr in the city and county gaol of Norwich, from the 21st day of the 1st moneth called March, 1679, to the 12th day of the 5th moneth, called July, 1680 being an impartial account of the most material passages and letters to the magistrates relating to the said proceedings with the prisoners above said : wherein the people called Quakers are vindicated and cleared from popery : published for information and caution on the behalf of true Protestants and English-mens birth-rights.
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Hookes, Ellis, d. 1681.
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1680
(1680)
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Wing H2660; ESTC R7941
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74,567
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109
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begun the 19th Day of April so called 1680. Adjourned until the 26th and continued the 27th and 28th of the same And again Adjourned until the 17th of May 1680. The aforesaid Prisoners G.W. and T.B. were called into Court the 27th of April in the Year above said nothing said to them then by the Court but they returned back immediately to Prison upon pretence of a mistake about their being called forth At the Quarter Sessions for the City and County of Norwich the 28th Day of April so called 1680. 1. THe Prisoners were brought to the Bar. 2. Their Hats ordered to be taken off 3. Their Hats taken off 4. G.W. standing up to the Bar begun thus viz. The Law of England requires two things of the Court with respect to the Prisoners viz. 1 st The patience of the Court And 2 dly The Indifferency of the Court towards the Prisoners That their Case may be patiently heard and considered without Prejudication before any Judgment pass against them This we expect from the Court. We have been five Weeks in Prison 'T is meet the Court should know for what Pray let our Mittimus be produced and read in Court that it may be understood what Charge we suffer under Our Suffering is two fold 1 st Above five Weeks confinement 2 dly The Charge that 's against us in the Mittimus We request that the Mittimus may be produced and read in Court Recorder There 's no need of your Mittimus to be read here I 'le give Account of the Cause I 'le inform the Court. These Persons had been two ‖ An Untruth Moneths from home and had been up and down the Country in Suffolk * Not true of T.B. 't was only G.W. at a Burial c. And then they came hither and here they gathered a company together of about two Hundred and the Officers went from me to dissipate them but could not whereupon I sent the Sheriff and he took them away and put them in Prison †The Prisoners had not opportunity to speak to all this Account And then they were brought before me and after Conviction made I proffered them That if they would pay their Fines I would not commit them to Prison but when they would not I tendred the Oath of Allegiance to them And after they would not take it I sent them to Goal as I think I very well might G.W. We are English-men and have right to Travel in any part of the Nation c. T.B. I am a Person that have been concerned in Trading in Corn as well in this County as in others and by the Law of England a Man may Travel from place to place about his Concerns and ought not to be molested while he walks peaceably c. R. Had not you better been turning your Molt at home then to come here to Preach The Apostle Paul exhorts to follow the Vocation whereunto ye are called The Scripture says God added to the Church such as should be saved But ye draw from the Church Prisoners Note The Prisoner heard not these Words but some others affirmed they did However had the Prisoner heard this Reflection before upon a fair debate upon the Point he might have answered the Recorder That to be a Trades-man or Lay-men so called is not inconsistant with being a Preacher of the Gospel When God added to the Church it was through Lay-mens preaching such as Fisher-men Handicrafts-men and such like 'T is Popery and the Popish Spirit that would hinder Lay-men and labouring men being indued with the holy Spirit from being Preachers of the Gospel and not the Spirit of Moses who wisht that all the Lords People were Prophets nor the Spirit of the holy Prophets Christ or his Apostles who did not go about to exclude Lay-men or Mechanicks so called from preaching the Gospel for the best Preachers were generally such in the Prophets and Primitive Christians dayes R. There is a Law And the Church of England will never be at quiet till some of you be Hanged by that Law or till such fellows as you are Hanged G.W. The Court may see the frame of the Recorders Spirit towards us and that he stands not as a Person Indifferent but a party against us Thou oughtest not to inveigh against the Prisoners nor threaten us That stands not with the indifferency of the Court nor yet thy determining or resolving afore-hand against us as thou hast done Judges ought not to declare their Opinions afore-hand against the Prisoner Hussey the Chief Justice would not do it to the King in the Case of Humphry Stafford the Arch Traytor but begged of the King He would not desire him to declare his Opinion afore-hand that the Prisoner might come Judicially before him and have Justice done him See Cook 3 part Inst fol. 29. And the King accepted his Request in the Case Interrupted R. What King 's Reign was that in G.W. In King Henry the sevenths R. I perceive you have read or are read G.W. Seeing that none of the Court have as yet had any Hand against us except the Recorder we may charitably hope that the Court will stand indifferent towards us and let us have a fair hearing before any Determination For as the Laws of our Nation require a due process a due course of proceeding before men be Sentenced or Condemned So there ought to be a due hearing As where a process or proceeding consists of several parts each part ought to be enquired into and answered in due order without confounding one thing with another or putting that first which in course is last Let us have a fair hearing and Tryal Let 's be tryed before we be Hanged Let 's not be Hanged first and then Tryed 'T will be too late to try us after we are Hanged c. R. You were sent to Prison for refusing the Oath of Allegiance G.W. That 's a mistake We were sent to Prison for being at a Meeting charged to be against the Peace which is the Premisses in our Mittimus to which we are here to Answer And therefore that all may know what is laid to our Charge we desire our Mittimus may be read that so if there be any Persons that will undertake to prove the matter in Charge let us see them and have liberty to answer the Premisses contained in the Mittimus R. I will shew you that when a Person is committed to Prison he may have several Actions laid upon him if new Charges be brought against him c. Prisoner I grant that But that 's not our case for we presume the Recorder had no new matter brought against us after he committed us to Prison and therefore could not lay any new charge upon us T.B. There could not be any new Charge against us to render us suspitious of being Jesuits or Papists but instead of that we have Certificates to take off any Jealousies of that kind that might be in any concerning us