the Steeple-house after the Priest had ended his prayer John Aray committed the same day for going with him and saying nothing Francis Howgill committed 4 of Sept. 1653. for speaking in the Steeple-house after all was ended Mary Collison committed 28 Aug. 1653. for saying while the Priest was speaking Tremble before the Lord. 11 September 1653. Margaret Smith committed for speaking to the Priest Robert Newby for speaking to the Mayor Dorothy Waugh for speaking to the Priest Agnes Wilkinson for speaking to the Mayor Mary Dodding for speaking to the Priest Edmond Adlington for speaking to the Priest A Maid in Lancashire whose name I know not committed at Lancaster for speaking to a Priest Thomas Holm 28 August 1653. Alice Wilson 1 September 1653. Margaret Newby 1 Septem 1653. Jane Waugh 4 September 1653. Mary Howgil 4 September 1653. Agnes Wilkinson 3 Septemb. 1653. Dorothy Waugh 6 Septemb. 1653. Mabel Warriner 6 Septemb. 1653. Anne Tompson 4 September 1653. Eliza. Levens 4 September 1653. Eliza. Bateman 4. Septemb. 1653. All these persons being moved to go to a Justice of Peace in Kendal to speak to him against his persecution and Tyranny and to warn him of the evil to come were by him commited to Prison The words spoken by them severally to him as also the substance of what the others spoke in the Steeple-houses might have been set down but this is not intended as an accusation of any nor to shew forth their ignorance or weakness Oh ye Heads and Rulers of the people raised up to do Righteousness and Justice Look upon these poor despised Creatures what evil is found in them what wickedness have they committed not one of six and thirty comitted for a vice is it not time to appear for the innocent and to save him from the seed of evil-doers what are the offences laid to their charge they will not put off their hats no not to a Magistrate are not men ashamed to call themselves Christians and pretend liberty for tender Consciences and yet stand upon such trifles and to fine and imprison for it is not obedience to the Magistrate and a chearful ready performance of his just commands his greatest honour that he may say to this man go and he goeth and to another do this and he doth it but now the life of all Religion is placed in outside shadows and formalities Some of them are punished because they were Strangers in the place where they were apprehended what would these men that punish them have done with Christ that had not whereon to lay his head and doth not the Scripture require respect to them above all others were they chargeable to any but their friends who entertaiend them with joy but it seems the Capital Crime is to speak in the publike Assemblies of the People and was it not the practice of Christ and his Apostles to speak in the Synagogues and where the people were met together I know it makes the Priests rage because they are thereby detected and it is they that fill the world with uproars and tumults and so they have done in all Generations what have they been doing all their lives and their Predecessors that have still such brutish raging people to their flocks wolves and not Sheep but they run and were never sent therefore do they not profit the people and down shall the false Prophet and the Beast that holds him up his time is at hand al the Powers of the earth shall not save him some say it s not contrary to Law to speak after the Priest hath done Why then are so many of these people in prison for it but why is it an offence to speak before he hath done there are intervalls between his several exercises It is answered it breeds tumults and distraction among the people Let the Magistrate look to his duty to punish him that breaks the Peace or offers violence to any that will soon be prevented are they Churches then may all prophesie and if any thing be revealed to him that sits by let the first hold his peace Are they assemblies of the world then why doth the Magistrate interpose his Authority to hold up their false worship and not suffer the Messengers of the Lord to call people to the truth and leave all men to manifest the power of the spirit they speak from For great is the truth and will prevail and God neither needs nor requires the help of man to uphold or spread his Gospel The Priest many times speaks those things to which if a present answer might be made before the peoples minds and memories were distracted with a multitude of vain Notions the truth might be made manifest and things that differ discerned And let all that fear the Lord consider is it any thing but a carnal humane invented story they tell studied and brought forth by their own wit and learning And is not the word of the Lord a more divine thing doth not he that hath his own time when to speak what to say and when to be silent stand in the will of man be silent oh reason thou knowest not the mind of the Lord. Doth not the Minister of God speak the word of the Lord from his own mouth When where and how the Lord please For it is not he that speaks but the Holy Ghost that dwells in him He that hath his words from his own wit and memory may speak and be silent when he will he that hath them from the Holy Ghost must speak as he is moved and as they are brought to his remembrance by the spirit of truth be carefull how ye meddle in these things Oh ye powers of the Earth men have long been taught one by another but now the Lord is come to teach his people himself the Scriptures abundantly witness that in the last times shall be the greatest pourings out of the Spirit men shall not need to run to the broken Cisterns of Universities and humane Studies for all the people of the Lord shall be taught of the Lord if you say yea but it must be by means I answer by no other but his own Spirit whence have they their words that speak to you which you think must be the means are they not from their own brains but that wise eye by which they search and find out what they preach knows not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to it and to it they are hid and a mystery not to be found out Cease then from man oh all ye people of the Earth and hearken to the voyce of the Spirit of the Lord which you may hear in your consciences rebuking and reproving you for sin and wickedness and minding and obeying that it will bring you into the fear of the Lord which is the beginning of wisdom and the fear of the Lord is to depart from all iniquity so will you come to know what a tender conscience means and ye wil then
TO THE PARLIAMENT OF THE Common-wealth OF ENGLAND Christian Friends I Am moved of the Lord to present this Paper to you it requires your speedy consideration and therefore as you love your own souls defer it not the crying sin of persecuting the righteous Seed of God it now brought to your door and you must account for every days delay arise stand up and execute Justice and Judgement that you may be hid in the day of the Lords fierce wrath which is at hand I come not to you to clamour or complain nor to petition any thing from you but to discharge my duty in obedience to the command of the Lord in laying before you the afflictions and sufferings of the innocent by the hands of your Ministers and Servants that so you may acquit your selves lest the guilt fall upon your own heads IN the Northen Parts of this Nation God hath raised and is raising up his own Seed in many people according to his promises which hath layen in bondage in a strange Land for many generations and is daily encreasing their number to the praise of his own name which gathers their hearts out of all the worlds Wayes Worships Customs Riches and Pleasures to live with the Lord in Spirit and to be taught of him alone Whereat the formal Professors of the world and the carnal-religious of these dayes are so much enraged that in every place to the utmost of their power they beat wound stone imprison and persecute them as it was in all Generations as the Scriptures witness He that is born after the Flesh will persecute him that is after the Spirit And the reason why these People above all others are hated by all sorts of men is because the righteous Spirit of God that rules in them as it will not comply or have fellowship with the wicked in their Pride lusts pleasures customs Worships fashions and unfruitful works of darkness so will it not wink at them but reprove them where and in whomsoever they are it spares not a man because he hath a flattering Title nor passeth by him that is rich or decked with gay clothes but reproves all yea in the gate without respect of Persons and therefore is it that snares are laid for them in every place to make them offenders for a word And as the wicked are thereby provoked so are their cruel minds encouraged by the Lamb-like dispositions of these people for having the same Spirit that was in Christ Jesus they are like-minded they do not resist the evil but like Sheep are led to the slaughter and open not their mouthes being cursed they bless he that takes their cloak may take their coat too to him that smites one cheek they offer also the other And as they save not themselves but cast their care on the Lord so they seek not for relief to any man but patiently wait on the Lord for his deliverance bearing stripes wounds Prisons reproach and shame with joy knowing that through many tribulations they must enter the Kingdom praying even for their Persecutors that their sin may not be laid to their charge And being raised up with Christ and made partakers of the Life which is eternal their hearts burn with love to all Creatures and therefore in the Spirit and Power of the Lord they are carried into the publike meetings of the world to declare his word and to reason and dispute against their outside profession to bring them to repentance that they may know the true God whom they ignorantly worship which dwels not in Temples made with hands but in the humble and contrite hearts that tremble at his word as the manner and practise of Jesus Christ and his Apostles was And for these things did about 30 of them lie in Prison when I came lately from thence and I hear six more are since committed those that are set to do justice being of the same nature and spirit with the rude world take part with them in their wickedness encouraging their hands and laying the blame upon the innocent calling them disturbers of the peace movers of Sedition turbulent persons when it s onely the man of sin they disquiet and all the uproars of the brutish people that live in wrath anger and quarrels are laid to their charge as it was in all Generations A List of persons imprisoned in the Counties of York Cumberland and Westmerland for the testimony of a good conscience and for witnessing the truth of the Lord with the time of their commitments and what offences are pretended against them Yorkshire Thomas Aldam committed the 15 of May 1652. for disturbing a Priest as is pretended though he spoke nothing till the Priest spoke to him Eliza. Hooton committed the 14 of June 1652. for the like Mary Fisher committed the 2 of Aug. 1652. for the like Jane Holmes committed the 24 of Aug. 1652. as a wanderer Christop Gilburn committed the 12 of November 1652. for several misdemeanors but nothing mentioned John Harwood committed the 12 of Novemb. 1652 as disordered persons living contrary to the Law but nothing mentioned Mar. Lambert committed the 12 of Novemb. 1652 as disordered persons living contrary to the Law but nothing mentioned Thomas Townroe after three Moneths imprisonment for speaking to a Priest recommitted 19 July 1653. Because he would not make submission to the Priest and find sureties not to do so again Thom. Goodyear committed the 22 of July 1653. for refusing to finde Sureties for good behaviour At the Assizes held after Lammas in the year 1652. Thomas Aldam was called before the Judge of Assize and for not putting off his Hat was fined 40 l. Eliz. Hooton Mary Fisher Jane Holmes for speaking to the Judg was fined each-200 l. At the Assizes held after Candlemas in the beginning of the year 1653. John Harwood were called before the Judge of Assize and for not putting off their Hats were fined each 5 l. Christop Gilburn were called before the Judge of Assize and for not putting off theit Hats were fined each 5 l. Mar. Lambert were called before the Judge of Assize and for not putting off their Hats were fined each 5 l. These are detained in prison for their Fines Cumberland George Fox committed 1 Aug. 1653. for saying he was the Son of God and other words which they say are blasphemy and yet no one particular within the Act. Westmerland Jo. Morland committed by the Judge of Assize at Apleby in August last for refusing to be sworn on a Jury and fined 5 l. Miles Halhead committed 14 Aug. 1653. for speaking in the Steeple-house after the Priest had done Margaret Gilpin committed the same day for speaking in the Steeple-house before the Priest had done Tho. Casley committed the 21 of Aug. 1653. for speaking in the Steeple-house when the Priest was silent Henry Ward committed he 28 of Aug. 1653. for speaking in the Steeple-house after all was ended Christop Atkinson committed 4 Sept. 1653. for speaking in
suffer all manner of torments rather then defile your consciences by the pollutions and vanities of the world and the mysterie of Faith is held in a pure conscience which worldly Religion knows not and loving and obeying that voyce and walking in the light that shews you sin and evil you will be brought to understand the Scriptures and to have fellowship with God and Jesus Christ and with one another in the Spirit and to have your mindes purified and the holy Seed will be raised up and the body of sin destroyed and Christ will reign and rule in you Many of these people are committed because they will not finde Sureties to be of the good behaviour and I hear some saying Are they not accessary to their own sufferings that will not do it when they intend to be of good behaviour I Answer They are persons of no ill behaviour but are bound to good behaviour by the righteous law of God written in their hearts and therefore they may not confess themselves guilty by submitting to a punishment the Law intends the restraint of evil doers Again they are required to finde Sureties either because they have spoken in a Steeple-house or to a Magistrate who dare binde himself not to obey the command of the Lord shall Moses be bound not to go to Pharoah Shall Tyrants trample on the Lords people and shall not the Lord by his Prophets reprove iâ— shall the Lord have people in a Congregation and shall he not send his Messengers to call them out men may imprison and restrain the body but they cannot stop the mouth nor may the Saints stop their own How shall all the wickednesses of the earth be reproved but by the righteous spirit of the Lord in his people By the Act of Queen Maries after three months imprisonment a submission must be made to the Priest and Sureties be given for good behaviour that is not to offend so again Oh ye Members of the Parliament that fear the Lord Consider shall the righteous bow to the wicked or shall the seed of God be bound not to reprove the man of sin The great work of the Lord is not to throw down one man to set up another But to throw down the unrighteous seed that the holy seed may be raised up and have dominion If you restrain the Lord in his work all the Armies in the World shall not save you all these witnesses are now raised up to shew you where the way is stopped and the Lord hath herein made it known to you it s not the release of the Prisoners alone that he requires but to make a free way for the Sons of Zion Here you are brought to a strait look to it For as you deal in this matter so shall you be established Should I tell you in all particulars how far the ignorant zeal of Judges and Justices hath transported them beyond the bounds of Law of reason Nay of humanity you would wonder and say these men are not fit to be Judges of things pertaining to the Conscience Should I Relate the Beatings Woundings Stonings Baitings with Mastiff Dogs and Imprisonments that these poor people have suffered in Cities Towns Villages and Steeple-houses I might fill a volumn but I come not to make complaints against any in particular and therefore I have concealed all the persecuters names Be not affrighted by reports were not the best of men always accounted the worst the off-scouring of all things they are above all others I know it Innocent harmless peaceable they dispute not Authority with any man nor question Forms of Government nor trouble their heads what becomes of the World but as Strangers and Pilgrimes they have their conversation on the earth wandring to and fro seeking another City Some of them are committed for other things one because he would not swear Doth not Christ and his Apostle James positively forbid all swearing and where do we find any of the Saints swearing after the comming of Christ It s not long till a light will shine in this Nation to shew the deceits of this and many other like things I cannot herein say more to particulars I have done my duty the sin lyes at your door Do what seems good to you consider scruples of conscience are not obvious to every mans reason if they were no liberty need be pleaded for tender consciences A Servant of the Truth Anthony Pearson The moneth called Octob. 3. 1653.