CHAPTER IX (8)

“Take heed what ye do, for ye judge not for man, but for the Lord, who is with you in the judgment. ‘Wherefore now, let the fear of the Lord be upon you; take heed, and do it: for there is no iniquity with the Lord our God, nor respect of persons, nor taking of gifts,’ said Jehoshaphat to the judges of Judah. Pride and fury, passion and rage, reviling and threatening, are not the Lord’s; these, and the principle out of which they spring, are for judgment, and must come under the sword of the magistrate of God; and it is of an ill savour, especially such an expression, as to threaten to ferk us. Is not such a saying more becoming a schoolmaster with his rod and ferula in his hand, than thee, who art the chief justice of the nation, who sittest in the highest seat of judgment, who ought to give a good example, and so to judge that others may hear and fear? Weigh it soberly and consider, doth not threatening language demonstrate an inequality, and partiality in him, who sits as judge? Is it not a deterring of a prisoner from standing to, and pleading the innocency of his cause? Provides not the law against it? Saith it not, that irons and all other bonds shall be taken from the prisoner, that he may plead without fear, and with such freedom of spirit, as if he were not a prisoner? But when he, who is to judge according to the law, shall beforehand threaten and menace the prisoner contrary to the law, how can the mind of the prisoner be free to plead his innocency before him? or expect equal judgment from him who, before he hears him, threatens what he will do unto him? Is not this the case between thee and us? Is not this the measure we have received at thy hands? Hast thou herein dealt according to law? or to thy duty? or as thou wouldst be done unto? Let that of God in thy conscience judge.

“And didst thou not say, there was a law for putting off the hat, and that thou wouldst show a law? and didst not thou often so express thyself? But didst thou produce any law, or show where that law might be found? or any judicial precedent, or in what king’s reign, when we so often desired it of thee, having never heard of, nor known any such law, by which thou didst judge us? Was not what we demanded of thee reasonable and just? Was that a savoury answer, and according to law, which thou gave us, viz., ‘I am not to carry the law-books at my back, up and down the country; I am not to instruct you?’ Was ever such an expression heard before these days to come out of a judge’s mouth? Is he not to be of counsel in the law for the prisoner, and to instruct him therein? Is it not for this cause that the prisoner, in many cases, is not allowed counsel by the law? In all courts of justice in this nation, has it not been known so to have been? And to the prisoner has not this been often declared when he demanded counsel, alleging his ignorance in the law, by reason of which his cause might miscarry, though it were righteous, viz., ‘the court is of counsel for you’? Ought not he that judgeth in the law, to be expert in the law? Couldst thou not tell by what act of parliament it was made, or by what judicial precedent, or in what king’s reign, or when it was adjudged so by the common law (which are all the grounds the law of England has), had there been such a law, though the words of the law thou couldst not remember? Surely, to inform the prisoner when he desired it, especially as to a law which was never heard of, by which he proceeds to judge him, that he may know what law it is by which he is to be judged, becomes him who judgeth for God; for so the law was read to the Jews by which they were to be judged, yea, every Sabbath-day; this was the commandment of the Lord. But instead thereof to say, ‘I am not to carry the law-books at my back up and down the country; I am not to instruct you:’ to say, ‘there is a law,’ and to say, ‘thou wilt show it,’ and yet not to show it, nor to tell where it is to be found; consider whether it be consistent with truth or justice?

“Have not thy whole proceedings against us made it evidently appear, that thy desire was to cause us to suffer, not to deliver us, who, being innocent, suffered; to have us aspersed and reproached before the country, not to have our innocency cleared and vindicated? Doth not thy taking away our books as aforesaid, and perusing them in such haste before our trial, and accusing us with something, which thou said was contained in them, make it to appear, that matter was sought out of them, wherewithal to charge us, when the Et Cetera warrant would not stand in law, by which we stood committed, and were then upon our delivery, according to due course of law? Doth it not further appear, by thy refusing to take from our hands a copy of the strange Et Cetera warrant, by which we were committed, and of the paper for which we were apprehended, to read it or cause it to be read, that so our long sufferings by reason of both might be looked into, and weighed in the law, whether just or righteous, and the country might as well see our innocency and sufferings without a cause, and the manner of dealing with us as to hear such reports as went of us, as great offenders, when we called upon thee often so to do, and which thou ought to have done, and said, thou would do, but did it not; or so much as take notice before the country that we had been falsely imprisoned, and had wrongfully suffered? But what might asperse and charge us, thou brought in thyself, contrary to law, and called to have us charged therewith. Is not this further manifest, in that thou didst cause us on a sudden to be withdrawn, and the petty jury to be called in with their verdict, whereupon Peter Ceely’s falsely accusing George Fox with telling him privately of a design, and persuading him to join therein, it was by G. Fox made so clear to be a manifest falsehood, and so plainly to be perceived, that the cause of our sufferings was not any evil we had done, or law that we had transgressed, but malice and wickedness?

“And is it not abundantly clear from thy not permitting us to answer, and clear ourselves of the many foul slanders charged upon us in the new-found indictment, of which no proof was made; but when we were answering thereunto, and clearing ourselves thereof, thou didst stop us, saying, ‘thou minded not those things, but only the putting off the hat’ when as, before the country, the new-found indictment, charged us with those things, and the petty jury brought in their verdict, ‘guilty of the trespasses and contempts mentioned therein;’therein;’ of which (except as to the hat) not one witness or evidence was produced; and as to the hat, not any law, or judicial precedent, upon the transgression of which all legal indictments are only to be grounded? Now the law seeks not for causes whereby to make the innocent suffer, but helps him to right who suffers wrong, relieves the oppressed, and searches out the matter, whether that, of which a man stands accused, be so or not, seeking judgment, and hastening righteousness; and it saith, ‘the innocent and the righteous slay thou not.’ But whether thou hast done so to us, or the contrary, let the witness of God in thee search and judge, as these thy fruits do also make manifest.

“And, friend, consider how abominably wicked, and how highly to be abhorred, denied, and witnessed against, and how contrary to the laws such a proceeding is, to charge a man with many offences in an indictment, which they who draw the indictment, they who prosecute, and they who find the bill, know to be false, and to be inserted purposely to reproach and wound his good name, whom with some small matter which they can prove, they charge and indict; as is the common practice at this day. Prove but one particular charge in the indictment, and it must stand (say they) for a true bill, though there be ever so many falsehoods therein, purposely to wrong him, who is maliciously prosecuted: this is known to the judges, and almost every man who has to do with, and attends, their courts. How contrary is this to the end and righteousness of the law, which clears the innocent, and condemns the guilty, and condemns not the righteous with the wicked! Much it is cried out against; but what reformation is there thereof? How else shall clerks of assize, and other clerks of courts, fill up their bags (out of which perhaps their master must have a secret consideration), and be heightened in pride and impudence; that even in open court they take upon them to check and revile men; men without reproof, when a few lines might serve instead of a hundred? How else shall the spirit that is in men, that lusteth unto envy, malice, strife, and contention, be cherished and nourished to feed the lawyers, and dependents on courts, with the bread of men’s children, and the ruin of their families, to maintain their long suits and malicious contentions! For a judge to say, ‘I mind not these things; I will not hear you clear yourselves of what you are falsely accused: one thing I mind in your charge, the rest are but matter of form, set there to render you such wicked men before the country, as the thing that is to be proved against you is not sufficient to make out.’

“O!“O! abominable wickedness, and perverting of the righteous end of the law, which is so careful and tender of every man’s peace and innocency. How is the law in the administration thereof adulterated by lawyers, as the Scriptures are mangled by priests! And that which was made to preserve the righteous, and to punish the wicked, perverted to the punishing of the righteous, and the preserving of the wicked! An eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth; life for life; burning for burning; wound for wound; a stripe for a stripe; he that accuseth a man falsely to suffer the same as he should have suffered, who was falsely accused, if he had been guilty; this saith the righteous law of God, which is agreeable to that of God, in every man’s conscience. Are not such forms of iniquity to be denied, which are so contrary to the law of God, and man? which serve for gendering strife, and kindling contention? and of this nature was not that, with which thou didst cause us to be indicted? and this form didst thou not uphold, in not permitting us to answer to the many foul slanders therein; saying, ‘Those things thou mindest not.’ Will not the wrath of God be revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; who are so far from the power of godliness, that they have not the form, but the form of iniquity, which is set and held up, instead of, and as a law, to overthrow and destroy the righteousness of the righteous, and so to shut him up, as by the law he can never get out? Is not the cry, thinkest thou, gone up? ‘It is time for thee to set to thine hand, O Lord, for thine enemies have made void thy law!’ Draws not the hour nigh? Fills not up the measure of iniquity apace? Surely the day is coming, and hasteneth. Ye have been warned from the presence, and by the mouth of the Lord; and clear will he be when he cometh to judgment, and upright when he giveth sentence. That of God in every one of your consciences shall so to him bear witness and confess, and your mouths shall be stopped, and before your Judge shall ye be silent, when he shall divide you your portion, and render unto you according to your deeds. Therefore, whilst thou hast time, prize it, and repent: for verily ‘Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence; a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth that he may judge his people; and the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God is judge himself. Consider this, ye that forget God, lest he tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.’