CHAPTER IX (9)

“And, friend, shouldst thou have given judgment against us (wherein thou didst fine us twenty marks a-piece, and imprisonment till payment), without causing us, being prisoners, to be brought before thee, to hear the judgment, and to move what we had to say in arrest of judgment? Is not this contrary to the law, as is manifest to those who understand the proceedings thereof? Is not the prisoner to be called before judgment be given? and is not the indictment to be read? and the verdict thereupon? And is not liberty to be given him to move in arrest of judgment? And if it be a just exception in the law, ought not there to be an arrest of judgment? For the indictment may not be drawn up according to law, and may be wrong placed, and the offence charged therein may not be a crime in law; or the jury may have been corrupted, or menaced, or set on by some of the justices; with other particulars, which are known to be legal and just exceptions. And the judgment ought to be in the prisoner’s hearing, not behind his back, as if the judge were so conscious of the error thereof, that he dare not give it to the face of the prisoner. But these privileges of the law, this justice, we (who had so long and so greatly suffered contrary to law), received not, nor could have at thy hands; no, not so much as a copy or sight of that long and new-found indictment (which in England was never heard of before, nor that the matter contained therein was an offence in law, nor ever was there any law, or judicial precedent, that made it so); though two friends of ours in our names and our behalf, that night, next day, and day following, often desired it of the clerk of the assize, his assistants, and servants; but they could not have it, nor so much liberty as to see it. And it is likely not unknown or unperceived by thee, that, had we been called, as we ought to have been, or known when it was to be given, three or four words might have been a sufficient, legal arrest, of the judgment given on that new-found indictment, and the verdict thereupon.

“Therefore, as our liberties, who are innocent, have not (in thy account) been worth the minding, and esteemed fit for nothing but to be trampled under foot, and destroyed, so, if we find fault with what thou hast done, thou hast taken care that no door be left open to us in the law, but a writ of error; the consideration whereof, and the judgment to be given thereon, is to be had only where thyself art chief; of whom such complaint is to be made, and the error assigned for the reverse of thy judgment. And what the fruit of that may be well expected to be, by what we have already mentioned, as having received at thy hands, thou hast given us to understand. And here thou mayest think thou hast made thyself secure, and sufficiently barred up our way of relief, against whom (though thou knew we had done nothing contrary to the law, or worthy of bonds, much less of the bonds and sufferings we had sustained): thou hast proceeded as has been rehearsed: notwithstanding that thou art (as are all the judges of the nation) entrusted, not with a legislative power, but to administer justice, and to do even law and execution of right to all, high and low, rich and poor, without having regard to any man’s person; and art sworn so to do, as has been said: and wherein thou dost contrary art liable to punishment, as ceasing from being a judge, and becoming a wrong-doer, and an oppressor; which what it is to be, many of thy predecessors have understood, some by death, others by fine and imprisonment. And of this thou mayest not be ignorant, that to deny a prisoner any of the privileges the law allows him, is to deny him justice, to try him in an arbitrary way, to rob him of that liberty which the law gives him, which is his inheritance as a free man; to do which is in effect to subvert the fundamental laws and government of England, and to introduce an arbitrary and tyrannical government against law; which is treason by the common law; and treasons by the common law are not taken away by the statutes of 25 Edw. III. 1 Henry IV. 1, 2, m. See O. St. Johns, now chief justice of the common pleas, his argument against Strafford, fol. 65, in the case.

“These things we have laid before thee in all plainness, that (with the light of Jesus Christ, who lighteth every one that cometh into the world, a measure of which thou hast, which showeth the evil, and reproveth thee for sin, for which thou must be accountable,) thou mayest consider and see what thou hast done against the innocent; that shame may overtake thee, and thou mayest turn unto the Lord, who now calleth thee to repentance by his servants, whom, for witnessing his living truth in them, thou hast cast into, and yet continues under, cruel bonds and sufferings.”

By this letter the reader may observe how contrary to law we were made to suffer; but the Lord, who saw the integrity of our hearts to him, and knew the innocency of our cause, was with us in our sufferings, bore up our spirits, and made them easy to us; and gave us opportunities of publishing his name and truth amongst the people; so that several of the town came to be convinced, and many were made loving to us. Friends from many parts came to visit us; amongst whom were two out of Wales, who had been justices of peace. Also Judge Haggert’s wife, of Bristol, who was convinced, with several of her children; and her husband was very kind and serviceable to Friends, and had a love to God’s people, which he retained to his death.

Now in Cornwall, Devonshire, Dorsetshire, and Somersetshire, truth began to spread mightily, and many were turned to Christ Jesus and his free teaching; for many Friends that came to visit us, were drawn forth to declare the truth in those counties; which made the priests and professors rage, and they stirred up the magistrates to ensnare Friends. They placed watches in the streets and highways, on pretence of taking up all suspicious persons; under which colour they stopped and took up the Friends that travelled in and through those counties, coming to visit us in prison; which they did, that they might not pass up and down in the Lord’s service. But that by which they thought to stop the truth, was the means of spreading it so much the more; for then Friends were frequently moved to speak to one constable, and to the other officer, and to the justices they were brought before; and this caused the truth to spread the more amongst them in all their parishes. And when Friends got among the watches, it would be a fortnight or three weeks before they could get out of them again; for no sooner had one constable taken them and carried them before the justices, and they had discharged them, than another would take them up, and carry them before other justices; which put the country to much needless trouble and charges.

As Thomas Rawlinson was coming out of the north to visit us, a constable in Devonshire took him up, and at night took twenty shillings out of his pocket; and after being thus robbed, he was cast into Exeter jail. They cast Henry Pollexfen also into prison in Devonshire for being a Jesuit, who had been a justice of peace for nearly forty years before. Many Friends were cruelly beaten by them; nay, some clothiers that were going to the mill with their cloth, and others about their occupations, were taken up and whipped, though men of about eighty or a hundred pounds a year, and not above four or five miles from their families.

The mayor of Launceston, too, was a very wicked man, for he took up all he could get, and cast them into prison; and he would search substantial grave women, their petticoats and their head-clothes. A young man having come to see us, who came not through the town, I drew up all the gross, inhuman, and unchristian actions of the mayor (for his carriage was more like a heathen than a Christian,) to him I gave it, and bid him seal it up, and go out again the back way; and then come into the town through the gates. He did so; and the watch took him up, and carried him before the mayor, who presently searched his pockets and found the letter, wherein he saw all his actions characterized. This shamed him so, that from that time he meddled little with the servants of the Lord.

Now from the sense I had of the snare that was laid, and mischief intended, in setting up those watches at the time to stop and take up Friends, it came upon me to give forth the following, as—

“All ye powers of the earth, Christ is come to reign, and is among you, and ye know him not; who doth enlighten every one of you, that ye all through him might believe in him, who is the light, who treads the wine-press alone without the city, and whose feet are upon it. Therefore see all, and examine with the light, what ye are ripe for; for the press is ready for you.

“Before honour is humility. You that would have honour before ye have humility (mark, before ye have humility), are ye not as the heathen are? Ye would have honour before ye have humility; did not all the persecutors that ever were upon the earth want this humility? They wanted the honour, and yet would have the honour before they had the humility, and had learned that. So ye that are out of the humility, are out of the honour; and ye are not to have the honour, who have not the humility; for before honour is humility; mark, before it.

“Now ye pretend liberty of conscience; yet one shall not carry a letter to a friend, nor men visit their friends, nor prisoners, nor carry a book about them, either for their own use, or for their friends. Men shall not see their friends; but watches are set up to catch and stop them; and these must be well-armed men too, against an innocent people, that have not so much as a stick in their hands, who are in scorn called Quakers. Yet by such as set up these watches is pretended liberty of conscience; who take up them, whose consciences are exercised towards God and men, who worship God in their way, which is the truth; which they that are out of the light call heresy. Now these set up the watches against them, whom they in scorn call Quakers, because they confess and witness the true light, that lighteth every one that cometh into the world, amongst people, as they pass through the country, or among their friends. This is the dangerous doctrine which watchmen are set up against, to subdue error, as they call it, which is the light that doth enlighten every man that cometh into the world—Him, by whom the world was made; who was glorified with the Father before the world began. For those whom they in scorn call Quakers, have they set their watches, able men, well-armed; to take up such as bear this testimony either in words, books, or letters. So that is the light you hate, which enlightens every man that cometh into the world; and these that witness to this light you put in prison; and after you have imprisoned them, you set your watches to take up all that go to visit them, and imprison them also; so that by setting up your watches, ye would stop all relief from coming to prisoners.

“Therefore this is the word of the Lord God to you, and a charge to you all, in the presence of the living God of heaven and earth; every man of you being enlightened with a light that cometh from Christ, the Saviour of people’s souls; to this light, all take heed, that with it you may see Christ, from whom the light cometh, to be your Saviour, by whom the world was made, who saith, ‘Learn of me.’ But if ye hate this light, ye hate Christ, who doth enlighten you all, that through him (who is the light) you might believe. But not believing in, nor bringing your deeds to the light, which will make them manifest and reprove them, this is your condemnation, even the light. Remember, you are warned in your life-time, for this light is your way to salvation, if you walk in it; and your condemnation, if you reject and hate it. You can never come to Christ, the Second Priest, unless you come to the light, which the Second Priest hath enlightened you withal. So ye that come not to the light, ye go to the priests that take tithes, as did the first priesthood: and hale out of your synagogues and temples (as some call them), as that priesthood did that took tithes; which they that were of the second priesthood did not. Was there ever such a generation! or did ever such a generation of men appear, as in this age, who are so full of madness, envy, and persecution, that they stand up in watches, with weapons against the truth, to persecute it, as the towns and countries do declare; which rings as Sodom, and like Gomorrah! And this hath its liberty, and truth is stood against; and to reprove sin is accounted a breach of the peace, as they say who are out of the truth, and set up their watches against it.”