Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	call_v	church_n	holy_a	7,200	5	5.2401	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A77941	A declaration of the sad and great persecution and martyrdom of the people of God, called Quakers, in New--England for the worshipping of God. Wherof 22 have been banished upon pain of death. 03 have been martyred. 03 have had their right-ears cut. 01 hath been burned in the hand with the letter H. 31 persons have received 650 stripes. 01 was beat while his body was like a jelly. Several were beat with pitched ropes. Five appeals made by them to England, were denied by the rulers of Boston. One thousand forty four pounds worth of goods hath been taken from them (being poor men) for meeting together in the fear of the Lord, and for keeping the commands of Christ. One now lyeth in iron-fetters, condemned to dye. Also, some considerations, presented to the King, which is in answer to a petition and address, which was presented unto him by the general court at Boston : subscribed by J. Endicot, the chief persecutor there; thinking thereby to cover themselves from the blood of the innocent.	Burrough, Edward, 1634-1662.	1661 (1661)	Wing B5994; Thomason E1086_4; ESTC R13926	22,607	32

commanded to preach no more in the Name of Jesus Did they at all obey it for fear of Man And when the three Children were commanded to bow to the Image did they do it for fear of Man Or if they had dyed for their disobedience of the Kings Commandment could it have been said That their Blood was upon their own heads and that they rushed themselves upon it and this is in part the like case that our Friends suffered under the Injustice of these Petitioners who would now cover themselves like men of guilty Consciences but the God of Heaven will let them know one day and the King may justly do it That the blood of our Brethren lyeth upon the heads of the Magistrates of New-England and they are guilty of their cruel death for they put them to death not for any evil-doing between man and man but for their obedience to God and for good Conscience sake towards him Again The Petitioners say The Quakers dyed not because of their other Crimes how capital soever but upon their superadded Presumptions and incorrigible Contempt of Authority breaking in upon us notwithstanding the Sentence of Banishment had they not been restrained there was too much cause to fear that we our selves should quickly have dyed or worse and they would not be restrained but by death Nay had they at last but promised to depart the Jurisdiction and not to return without leave from Authority we should have been glad to have said they should not dye In Answer to this it is considerable 1. What these other Capital Crimes were which the Sufferers were guilty of here is a secret Charge of Crimes without nomination and this is the part of Slanderers to accuse in general without particular proof but this is still to extenuate their own horrid fact of putting the Innocent to death and that the King may believe better of them than indeed he hath cause and the superadded Presumption and incorrigible Contempt of Authority What was it any more than that unjustly and without reason they commanded them to depart or if they did not they should be put to death when as no reason could possibly be rendred for such Law and Commandment but because they were called Quakers and were different in matters of Faith and Judgment concerning Spiritual things for as I have said no Sedition evil-dealing Drunkennesse Lying nor any of these things could be charged against them and therefore the Law and Commandment of Banishment was unjust and could not be actively obeyed by our Brethren but they returned again not in contempt of Lawful Authority but as they were moved and upon their occasions which was lawful and just in the sight of God and Men deporting themselves harmlesly towards all people and this is stiled Superadded Presumption and Incorrigible Contempt of Authority but they must needs put a Good Name upon their Bad Work and render the Innocent as high Offenders as excellency of speech can demonstrate 2. There can be no just cause rendred wherefore they should fear our Brethren except the Guiltiness of their own Consciences for as I have said they were never seen with any Sword or Staff amongst them nor any Carnal Weapon nor ever held Designs of Mischief and for them thus wickedly to suggest unto the King as if they would have killed them or worse this is back-biting and slandering in the highest degree and punishable by the Laws of God and Men and it 's true them whom they have killed are restrained but the Principles and Practices of the Quakers so called hath entred into New-England and passes thorow the Consciences of people without restraint and it 's a shame for themselves to mention how all the Pastors and the whole Church of Boston overcame three Innocent persons and what weapons they overcame them by not the weapons of the Spirit of God but the weapons of Cruelty and Hard-heartedness even as Cain overcame Abel and as the Jewes overcame Christ and so did the Church of New-England overcome our Brethren And this is all the confession they can make of Restraining our Friends that they cruelly put them to Death and thereby overcame them And it is not known to us that the Court at Boston hath such Absolute Power as that the free Subjects of England may not come and return again and again according to their lawfull occasions without leave from the Authority of Boston Court I say this seems to be usurped Authority rather than lawfully established upon them by CHARLES the First but it is apparent and the King knoweth it that in this case the Magistrates of Boston have taken too much upon them and proceeded further than they can justifie either before God or the King in Imprisoning Whipping cutting off Ears Banishing and putting to Death the good Subjects of England without either President Example or any Power derived from the Lawful Authority of England And we have cause to say They were so far from desiring to spare their lives as they would suggest to the King that they thirsted for their blood and nothing else could satisfie them but the extinguishment of their lives by shameful torture Again The Petitioners fawn and flatter in these words say they Let not the King hear Mens words your servants are true Men fearers of God and the King and not given to Change zealous of Government and Order We are not seditious to the Interest of Caesar c. In Answer to this many things are considerable 1. Why should the Petitioners seem to exhort the King Not to hear Mens Words Shall the Innocent be accused before him and not heard in their Lawful Defence Must not the King hear the Accused as well as the Accusers and in as much Justice I hope God hath given him more Nobility of Understanding than to receive or put in practice such Admonition and I desire it may be far from the King ever to condemn any Person or People upon the Accusation of others without full hearing of the Accused as well as their Enemies for it is Justice and Equity so to do and thereby shall his Judgment be the more just 2. They pretend to be Servants to the King and that they fear him and are not given to Change I shall not seem to intrude into the Matters to which I am a stranger but I leave this Case to the King to Consider what their former Actings and the Current of their Spirit hath been towards the King I shall only instance one Particular well known to me in a Letter to one Gurden dated at Boston and Subscribed by some of these Petitioners where they say There is more Danger in these Quakers as they call them to trouble and overcome England than in the King of Scots and all the Popish Princes in Germany these be the Petitioners own words whereby it is manifest what the current of their Spirit was against the King then though now they have changed their Tale and call

be not works contrary to the Scriptures and the Spirit that gave them forth and contrary to a good Conscience I am yet ignorant and must leave it to the Judgment of the King before whom this matter is brought to receive his Judgment 2. Let the King consider how they have ignorantly condemned themselves in the same things for which they have judged others for while they seem to Complain of the Imposi●ions of the Bishops which they stile prevailing Hierarchy If it was Transgression in the Bishops in dayes past to impose upon these Petitioners and to persecute them for Non-Conformists How much more are these men guilty of Imposition and Persecution of tender Consciences Nay they have exceeded in the same Transgression and become seven-fold guilty of the sins themselves which they Complain against in others for they have gone further in Cruelty and Persecution towards the innocent Quakers than ever the Bishops proceeded against them even so far further as the murthering of a Man is more than cutting off his Ear and the Cause of the Quakers towards these Petitioners hath been as Innocent as ever theirs was towards the Bishops Oh Hypocritical generation who are Condemning of others for that whereof themselves are guilty and Imposing upon others in a far higher degree than ever the Bishops imposed on them witness their Law in New-England which judgeth every man to pay 5 s. per day who come not to their Assembly and imposing Fines of 40 s. and 50 s. a piece on such as meet together to Worship the Lord which are evident Signes of an evil Conscience as themselves speak The next thing that I note upon which the King ought to Consider the Petitioners say concerning the Quakers open Capital Blasphemers open Seducers from the Glorious Trinity the Lords Christ the Blessed Gospel and from the Holy Scriptures as the Rule of Life open Enemies to Government it self as Established in the Hands of any but men of their own Principles malignant Promoters of Doctrines directly tending to subvert both our Church and State By way of Answer to this let the King Consider 1. The envious and detestable Spirit of maliciousness of these Accusers and how vehement and fervent their persecuting Spirit is drawn forth with reproachful tearms in the highest degree like as if they could not utter sufficiently the Envy of their hearts or as if they wanted words to demonstrate their malignity and devouring malice against that People whom they in scorn call Quakers and all this to present us odious and abominable before Thee O King I say but this of them unto thee The Lord forgive them if they have not sinned unto death and unpardonably I have no desire of Revenge towards them but I leave vengeance to the Lord who will recompence in his season neither do I desire to provoke or incense the King against them only duty to God and the King teacheth me and love constraineth me and an absolute necessity presseth much upon me to spread our denyal of their bitter and malicious Accusations against us before the King unto whom we are thus fowly accused And I say I am Confident That the King hath better experience of us than to believe these our malicious Accusers And I do Appeal to him from the knowledge which he hath already of us that he believes we are Innocent and not guilty of those things thus unjustly Charged upon us and I question not but he will rightly understand that these Accusations are more out of Hatred and Envy against us than out of desire to benefit the King by such presentation 2. I do Testifie unto the King and before the whole World That we do profess and believe concerning the Father Son and Spirit and the Lord Iesus Christ and the blessed Gospel and the Holy Scriptures I say We do believe and make Profession in Truth and Righteousness concerning all these things and by our Doctrines and Instructions do perswade all People to believe and not Seduce any from these Truths of the Gospel And this is known through these Kingdoms concerning us though we stand now Accused falsly concerning these Matters before the King But as for the Scriptures being the Rule of Life We say The Spirit of God that gave forth the Scriptures is the Rule of Life and Faith unto the Saints and leads not contrary but according unto the Scriptures in the beleif and practice of whatsoever the Scripture saith and if these Petitioners did make the Scriptures the Rule of their Lives and Practices for the denial of which they here accuse us they would not have Cut off Ears Banished and put to Death for the Cause of Conscience which is contrary to the Scriptures and proceedeth from another Spirit than that which gave forth the Scriptures 3. Concerning Government our Principles and Practices are known to many and partly to the King We are not Enemies unto Government it self as these our Accusers do charge us but it is our Principle and hath ever been and is our Practice to be subject to whatsoever Government is set up over us either by doing or suffering and neither to vilifie nor rebel against any Government or Governours by any malicious Plots or Contrivances but to walk in meekness and humility towards all being subject for Conscience sake as I have said either by doing or suffering and I doubt not but the King is sufficiently informed hereof and believeth this Testimony 4. As for our Doctrines tending to subvert both Church and State this is also a false Accusation and Slander for our Doctrines are to convert and not to subvert even to Convert to God and Truth and Righteousness that men should live in these things and forsake all that which is contrary and this effect our Doctrines have wrought in the World as the Testimony of many Consciences shall bear witness Oh let the King Consider of our Defence as well as of our Enemies Charge who have thought it not enough to whip most cruelly banish cut Ears and put to death the Innocent but must still accuse them falsly and seek to cover themselves by fawning and flattering Addresses unto the King like as if they had done no evil when as the God of Heaven is witnesse to whom we can Appeal That our Brethren suffered the Tortures of shameful Death in New-England through their unjust Lawes and Sentences as Saints and Servants of the living God for the Name of Christ Jesus and for his Truth which they held until Death and not for evil-doing And the Executioners of these inhumane cruelcies seem so far from Repentance for their Evil doing that they rather Justifie themselves in what they have done and cease not to Smite and Wound and Reproach the Innocent and that before the King and that after they have martyred them Again These Petitioners say After all other means for a long time used in vain We were at last constrained for our own Safety say they to pass a Sentence of

Him High and Mighty Prince and Dread Soveraign and such like and that they are the Kings Servants c. when as not long since they have signified by their words quoted against them That there was Danger in the King of SCOTS as they called him and reputed him a Troubler of ENGLAND and numbred him with the Popish Princes of Germany or amongst them Let but the King Consider their own words and he shall plainly read as well the temper of their Spirit against him not long since as he shall see their Hypocrisies and fawning flatteries at this time and he may fully perceive that these Petitioners are given to Change though they would make him believe otherwise And this their Address unto the King is like the approach of the uncircumcised Gibeonites unto Joshua ch 9. who wrought wilily and deceitfully using the same words to Joshua We are thy Servants as these Petitioners have used to the King whose deceitful Address is equally parallel with that mentioned The Case is worth observing Joshua 9. vers 4 6 9. 3. As for being Zealous of Government and Order not Seditious nor Schismaticks as they say it is to be Considered That their Government and the Order thereof is not only different and contrary to the Goverment and Order of the Churches of Christ but different and contrary also to the wholsome Constitution of the Civil Government of England who have made Laws and executed them to Banishment and Death without any Power derived from the lawful Authority of England which is absolute contrary to their Pattent by which they Hold their Jurisdiction which saith They shall make no Lawes contrary to the Lawes of England c. And I shall not Charge them in the Kings Presence further of Sedition and Schism than Himself believeth concerning them Again The Petitioners say They could not live without the Publick Worship of God and they were not permitted the use of Publick Worship without such a Yoak Subscription and Conformity as they could not Consent unto without sin c. In Answer to this this is to be Considered That these Petitioners have laid heavier Yoaks of Subscription and Conformity upon others than ever was laid upon themselves Witness their Imposing Fines upon such as cannot conform to their Worship some ten shillings some forty shillings and some five pounds if any shall be absent from their Assembly it is so much a day and if any keep any Meetings different from their Way of Publick Worship it is so much a time and these are unjust and illegal Impositions and it is a heinous yoak of Tyranny put upon the neck of the Kings good Subjects without any Power derived in this case from the King This they themselves do and yet are Complaining of such Impositions and Yoaks laid upon them by the Bishops which were not compareable to these which discovers their own just Condemnation in the same Matters for which they Accuse others And thus these CONSIDERATIONS are Presented to the King in Vindication of that Innocent People called Quakers whom these Petitioners have Accused as Guilty of heinous Crimes that themselves might appear Innocent of the Cruelty and Injustice and shedding of the Blood of Iust men without Cause being men of Guilty Consciences upon whom the Terror of God and of the King seems to be because of what they have done But now let the King rightly Consider of the Case between Us and Them and let him not hide his Face from the Hearing of the Cry of Innocent Blood And for a further Testimony of the Wickedness and Enmity of these Petitioners and to Demonstrate how far they have Proceeded contrary to the good Lawes and Authority of England and contrary to their own Pattent Hereunto is Annexed a Breif of their unjust Dealings towards the Quakers so called E. B. A DECLARATION Of some part of the SUFFERINGS of the People of God in scorn called QUAKERS from the Professors in NEW-ENGLAND Only for the Exercise of their Consciences to the Lord and Obeying and Confessing to the TRUTH as in his Light he had discovered it to them 1. TWo Honest and Innocent Women stripped stark naked and searched after such an inhumane manner as modesty will not permit particularly to mention 2. Twelve Strangers in that Country but free-born of this Nation received twenty three Whippings the most of them being with a Whip of three Cords with Knots at the ends and laid on with as much strength as they could be by the Arm of their Executioner the stripes amounting to Three hundred and seventy 3. Eighteen Inhabitants of the Country being free-born English received twenty three Whippings the stripes amounting to two hundred and fifty 4. Sixty four Imprisonments of the Lords People for their obedience to his Will amounting to Five hundred and nineteen weeks much of it being very cold weather and the Inhabitants kept in Prison in harvest time which was very much to their losse besides many more Imprisoned of which time we cannot give a just account 5. Two beaten with Pitched Ropes the blows amounting to an hundred thirty nine by which one of them was brought near unto death much of his body being beat like unto a jelly and one of their own Doctors a Member of their Church who saw him said It would be a Miracle if ever he recovered he expecting the flesh should rot off the bones who afterwards was banished upon pain of death There are many Witnesses of this there 6. Also an Innocent man an Inhabitant of Boston they banished from his Wife and Children and put to seek a habitation in the Winter and in case he returned again he was to be kept Prisoner during his life and for returning again he was put in Prison and hath been now a Prisoner above a year 7. Twenty five Banishments upon the penalties of being whipt or having their Ears cut or branded in the Hand if they returned 8. Fines laid upon the Inhabitants for meeting together and edifying one another as the Saints ever did and for refusing to swear it being contrary to Christ's Command amounting to about a Thousand pound besides what they have done since that we have not heard of many Families in which there are many Children are almost ruined by these unmerciful proceedings 9. Five kept Fifteen dayes in all without food and Fifty eight dayes shut up close by the Jaylor and had none that he knew of and from some of them he stopt up the windows hindring them from convenient air 10. One laid Neck and Heels in Irons for sixteen hours 11. One very deeply burnt in the right hand with the letter H. after he had been whipt with above Thirty stripes 12. One chained the most part of Twenty dayes to a Logg of wood in an open Prison in the Winter-time 13. Five Appeals to England denied at Boston 14. Three had their right Ears cut by the Hangman in the Prison the Door being barred and not a Friend suffered to