Selected quad for the lemma: justice_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
justice_n	aforesaid_a	say_a	time_n	2,821	5	4.1767	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A54125	The continued cry of the oppressed for justice being a farther account of the late unjust and cruel proceedings of unreasonable men against the persons and estates of many of the people call'd Quakers, only for their peaceable meetings to worship God : presented to the serious consideration of the King and both Houses of Parliament : with a postscript of the nature, difference and limits of civil and ecclesiastical authority, and the inconsistency of such severities with both, recommended and submitted to the perusal of Cæsar's true friends / by the author of England's present interest, &c.	Penn, William, 1644-1718.	1675 (1675)	Wing P1270; ESTC R18856	19,683	36

William Barber being informed against by John Gibbs a Priest of Glissing for Meeting had Cows Carts a Plough Harrows and Hay taken from him to the Value of Fifty Pounds the said William's House hath been rifled TEN Times and he is now a Prisoner upon a Writ of Excommunicato capiendo At Fakenham several Persons have been fined Wat the Informer and his Wife being the only Witnesses against them Goods have been taken to a great Value they left one Joseph Harrison not so much as a Bed to lye upon but he his Wife and Children were fain to lye on Straw Cambridge FOR a peaceable Meeting at the House of William Brasier Shoemaker in Cambridge he was fined Twenty Pounds by John Hunt Mayor and John Spencer Vice-Chancellor upon the Information of Stephen Perry a Tinker The Officers that came to distrein for this Twenty Pounds said They had Warrants for Fifty Five Pounds more They took his Leather Lasts and the Seat he workt on wearing-Clothes and Sheets where he lay though on Straw having taken his Bed before not leaving him any Thing to cover him withal so that he was fain to lodge abroad till he could get some old Things to cover him at Home And there hath lately been taken from several Persons for meeting in and about Cambridge Goods and Cattel to the Value of Sixty Three Pounds and upwards At Littleport Ely and other Places in the Isle of Ely several Persons were fin'd had their Goods taken for their peaceable Meetings viz. Cloth Stuff Houshold-Goods and Cattel from one Woman the very Bed she lay on in all to the Value of One Hundred Ninety five Pounds and upwards Edward Partridge and his Favorite Thomas Richman the old Informer used great Violence to several Edw. Partridge struck Samuel Cater twice and being at Prayer pulled him down by the Nose beating Men and Women till he broak his staff He also struck one Person standing quietly at the Meeting-house Door and felled him that the Standers by said There is one knockt on the Head yet he revived in a little Time but within six Moneths after dyed and to his dying Day complained of that Blow Note William March Justice fined one Man no Quaker Five Pounds for refusing to help to carry away the aforesaid Sufferers Goods which Five Pounds the poor Man paid but wanting but Two Pence thereof the said Justice forced him to borrow it to make up the sum and shortly after the poor Man dying on his Death-Bed he much rejoyced That he had no Hand in taking away his Neighbour Adams his Goods Witnesses William Brasier Samuel Cater Oxford-Shire FOR a Meeting at Alvskoet near Burford Walter Powel Priest of the Town being Informer who before the Meeting had spoak to the Justices at their Peril to be at the Meeting several Persons were fined and had Goods taken away to the Value of Forty Four Pounds and upwards Sommerset-Shire THirty two Persons were fined for being at a Burial for which they had taken from them in Cows Corn and other Goods to the Value of Eighty Two Pounds and upwards by Warrant from Fra. Pawlet Justice who when none else would buy the distreined Cattle he sent Men to buy them for himself One Margery Osmond who was not at the Buryal and yet was fined by F. Paulet went to him to know the Names of them that had sworn against her and desired Justice of him he said It was a Mistake by which it did afterwards appear he was willing to excuse the Informers howbeit he then read in a Book in the hearing of several Persons in which Bayner and Withey were recorded Informers against the said Assembly at the Burial and said withal That she should prosecute them for Perjury at the next Sessions and that the Record at the Sessions should be Evidence against them or to that Effect but he was not so good as his Word for at the Sessions Witnesses were present to testifie that she was not at the said Burial but Fra. Pawlet in Favour to these Informers left Withey's Name out of the Record and put in another's Name who was not present and also left out her Name so there could be no Proceedings against the Informers for their Perjury albeit he had issued out his Warrant to levy the Fine imposed on her The said Justice Pawlet for the same Burial fined several persons Twenty Four Pounds for an unknown Preacher yet sent a Certificate to the Mayor of Bridgwater to distrein Twenty Pounds on the Goods of John Anderton for preaching at the Burial that Day so he would have Forty Four Pounds in all Note this is Twenty Four Pounds more then the Rigour of the Law allows of admitting it had been a Conventicle for the Preacher known one unknown when in Truth there was none spoak but John Anderton that Christianly exhorted the People to consider their latter End And when Mary Tyler the Widdow of the deceased who was fined Four Pounds for being at her Husband's Burial and had Goods taken for it spoke mildly to him to shew him his Injustice he told her It did not become Women to go to their Husbands Burials And several Persons for being at Meetings at Glastenbury and Gregory Stoake in this County have lately had Cattle Corn and Goods taken from them to the Value of One Hundred Forty Five Pounds and upwards by Warrant from two Persons called Justice Waldron and Justice Cross At this Day there remain Prisoners in this County for the Testimony of Jesus Twenty one Persons And there hath dyed in Prison Sufferers for good Conscience sake in this County since the Year 1660. Eighteen Persons Witnesses John Cuff Henry Clothie George Taylor Berk-Shire THomas Curtis fined Three Pound Fifteen Shillings had a Mare taken from him worth about Seven Pounds by Warrant from Justice Craven and though an Appeal was tendered according to the Act it was refused and though the Officers voluntarily offered the Justice the Fine yet he would not take it but had the Mare valued at Four Pounds and kept her The 7th Day of the 8th Moneth 1675. William Armourer and George Goswel Mayor of Reading came to the Meeting and because the Women came not forth so soon as they would have them W. Armourer pluckt out of his Pocket a sharp Instrument and prickt several of them in a Shameful Manner till it fetcht Blood and afterwards tendered the Oath of Allegiance to seven of them on purpose to ensnare them and because for Conscience sake they could not swear at all they were sent to Goal where they now remain And the Mayor Thrust some Women in a very Abusive Manner perticularly an Antient Woman without regard to Age or Sex Of which Cruelty and much more many in Reading are Witnesses Cheshire JUstice Daniel of Daresbury hath fined one Meeting near him several times over and hath taken from T. Briggs and other the Value of One

THE Continued Cry OF THE OPPRESSED FOR JUSTICE Being A farther Account of the late Unjust and Cruel Proceedings of Unreasonable Men against the Persons and Estates of many of the People call'd Quakers only for their peaceable Meetings to worship God Presented to the Serious Consideration of the KING and both Houses of PARLIAMENT With a Postscript of the Nature Difference and Limits of Civil and Ecclesiastical Authority and the inconsistency of such Severities with both Recommmended and submitted to the Perusal of Caesar's True Friends By the Author of England's Present Interest c. Seek Judgment Relieve the Oppressed Judge the Fatherless and Defend the Widdow Isa 1. 17. Printed in the Year 1675. FOR THE KING AND Both Houses OF PARLIAMENT FOrasmuch as the Maintenance of Justice and Preservation of the Peace of Civil Societies have in all Ages been the great End of Government and since it hath pleased Almighty God to cast our Lot in a Kingdom whose Constitution is more then ordinarily caresil of the Liberty and Property of its free-born Inhabitants And because several Laws have been made upon Occasion of Dissent in Matters of Religion to press an Uniformity to the Religion now established that in the Execution of them have generally interferred with those Laws that give and preserve English Freedoms in that Hundreds of us have been Imprisoned and our Goods frequently spoiled to the utter Ruine of many Families without any Legal Process or Tryal by Peers and This not for refusing Conformity to the State or denying Caesar his Due or being chargeable to Parishes or useless to the Government but only because of our conscientious Dissent from the present Church And since this seems to be an Alteration in the ancient English Government by making an ECCLESIASTICAL CONFORMITY the Grand and Necessary Qualification in English Men to the Peaceable Enjoyment of their NATURAL and CIVIL INHERITANCES and forasmuch as this Course tends ●o a manifest Decay of Trade the Political Life or this Island Discouragement of Strangers Depopulation of the Country Impoverishing of many Thousand Vseful Inhabitants as well as that such Severities about Matters of Conscience are Inconsistent with the Doctrine and Example of Christ and his Followers in all Ages and repugnant not only to the very VVay of true Conviction but the Doctrine of ancient Protestants whose Protestation at the Diet at Spira against Coertion in Matters of Religion was the Occasion of their being called Protestants And because many malicious and covetous Persons under Pretence of doing God the King Country Service have taken advantage by these Laws to vent their Passions act their Revenge and pursue their VVorldly Interest beyond all Law and Humanity as wofully appears by the anexed Particulars ready to be proved VVe therefore intreat First That it would please you to peruse the anexed Particulars for your better Information of the Nature of our Case and Allegations Secondly That you would be pleased for the Removal and Prevention of the like Mischiefs to repeal or qualifie those Laws whereby the Persons and Estates of many Thousands of the peaceable People of this Kingdom are hourly exposed to Ruine in this VVorld for meer Conscience about Things relating to the next VVorld that being assured the sweat of our Brows and hard-gotten Bread for our Families shall not be made a Forfeit for our peaceable Consciences we may be better encouraged for the Time to come to all virtuous and industrious Living under the present Government as hath hitherto been through God's Grace our daily Practice A few Instances out of many which might be given of the great OPPRESSIONS and CRVELTIES lately acted upon Innocent Persons and Industrious Families chiefly in Persuance as is pretended of the late Act against Conventicles for their meeting in peaceable Manner to worship God Read Consider and Redress Leicester-Shire FOR a Meeting at Long Claxton or Clawson four persons were sent to Prison and so much Goods at divers Times taken from some of the said Meeting that they had not a Cow left to give their young Children Milk their very Bed-Clothe wearing Clothes and working-Tools escaped not the Violence or Avarice of their Persecutors the total Sum amounts to above Two Hundred thirty six Pounds nor did this satisfie our Persecutors for they cruelly dragg'd some Women in the Streets by the Necks till they were neer stiffied tearing the Clothes off their Heads and Backs One Woman that gave Suck was so bea●●n and bruised on her breast that it sestered and broke with which she hath end●red many Weeks Misery and Torture Another Woman of seventy five Years of Age was violently ●●rown ●own ●pon the Gro●n● by one W 〈…〉 Constable the Men w●●● sorely beaten drawn and dra●ged out of the Meeti●● some by the Heels some by the Hair of the Head and 〈◊〉 so br●ised that they were not able to follow their Day 〈…〉 others they whip● on the Face till the Blood ran down there was one they furiously trod upon till Blood gusht out of his Mouth and Nose To compleat the Matter the Informer took away from one of the Prisoners his Purse and Money as if he had not been a quiet Neighbour but a Prisoner of VVar Nor was this accidental but Designs no short Fit of Cruelty upon an extraordinary Provocation for at this bitter Rate have they treated them for several Moneths Witnesses Edward Hallam William Marryott John Wilford William Smith Richard Parker Nottingham-Shire UNder Pretence of prosecuting the late Act against Conventicles One Peniston Whaley a Justice and one Colgrave a Bum-Bayly and one Walker both Informers have utterly ruin'd many poor Families in this County in their Estates having taken or caus'd to be taken from several Persons about Seven Hundred Pounds the Justice bidding the Officers take three or four Times the Value of the Fines that they mig●t sell good peny-worths never returning as we are informed any one Record of Conviction into the Sessions except forced by persons appealing John Godrick and William Hudson of Little G●e●ly appealing to the Sessions the Sessions ordered them their Money again but the aforesaid Peniston Whaley still detains Sixty pounds in his Hands contrary to the Orders of the Sessions notwithstanding it ha● been divers Times demanded T. Sampson by Warrant from G. Nevil Justice for two Meetings had taken from him nineteen Head of Beasts and Goods to the Value of sixty Pounds and upwards as was vallued by the Neighbours so that they left him not a Cow to give his Children Milk That ever these Things should be done by such as count themselves Christians and Followers of Christ Jesus who suffered but would have none to suffer for his Religion Witnesses Abraham Sampson Francis Hawksmore Robert Porter Norfolk FOR several Meetings in and about Cockley Clay several Persons have had Goods taken from them to the Value of fifty three Pounds William Wat being Informer John Patterson had Two Hundred Sheep taken from him worth Eighty Pounds

Hundred and Sixteen Pounds Fifteen Shillings and Ten Pence in Kine and Horses which the Justice keeps to his Own Use and Work as his own also Corn Brass Pewter Bedding and such like Goods William Hall of Congleton Shoemaker was fined Twenty Pounds by Will. Knight Mayor and two Justices for having a Meeting at his House for which his Mare was distrained when his Wife was riding on her And some time after they seized on his Shoes in his Shop And another time in his Absence with Mathooks brake open the Doors of his Dwelling House and took away Two Cart-Loads of Goods whereupon William tendered an Appeal but the said Magistrates denyed it Sometime after the Mare of her own accord came Home in his Absence his Wife let her in now notwithstanding that upon their Crying the Mare he went with two of his Neighbours and acquainted the Chief Magistrate that he had the Mare and she was in the Field without any Lock to hinder them from her and if they had more Right to her then he they might fetch her otherwise if they pleased he would joyn Issue with them to try whose the Mare was which they refused and committed him to the Goal and Arraigned him for his Life as a Fellon but was acquitted by the Judge and Jury Taken from several in and about Nantwich by Warrant from Justice Manwaring for Eighty Seven Pound in Fines Goods to the Value of One Hundred and One Pounds in Kine Bacon Bedding Brass Pewter Corn Cloth Shoes and Cheese And from one Man was taken the very Beds they lay on to the Dunghil which they also carryed away Some of the Sufferers appealing the Jury acquitted them but the Justices would not receive their Verdict but at the next Sessions the Justices gave Judgment for the Informers and not contented with this they gave them TREBLE Cost Note the Cheif Informer in these Sufferings was one John Widdowbury of Hanklow called an Esquire who did it to be revenged on Thomas Braisey one of the Meeting for demanding Forty Pounds of him which he owed unto Thomas Braisey upon Bond which that he might as appears defraud the said Thomas Braisey of he hath since by reviving an old Excommunication sent him to Prison and swears he will send his Wife after him from her four SMALL Children Witnesses Henry Fletcher Jonathan Fletcher Samuel Ellis York-Shire HAving in a former Narrative acquainted you that Goods to the Value of Two Thousand Three Hundred Eighty one Pounds Ten Shillings by the late Act against Conventicles have been taken from us with some other of our heavy Pressures and Sufferings in the County of York for the Exercise of our Consciences towards God and having yet obtained no Redress but rather an Increase of our Sufferings One having since dyed in Prison at York where Twenty four yet remain Prisoners and some Hundreds of Families like to be ruin'd by Prosecutions both in Temporal and Ecclesiastical Courts because for Conscience sake we cannot conform to the Religion and Worship imposed on us nor deny the Religion and Worship which we have been taught by the Spirit of God according to the Holy Scriptures and our constant adhering to the Religion and Worship in Spirit which we believe God requires of us can injure no Man but the Denyal of it would greatly injure us because every Man must give an Account to God for himself Oh why then should we by Law be exposed to Ruin and Destruction for the Exercise of our Consciences towards God since by our Ruines none are like to be raised unless it be a few Informers Paritors and other inferior Officers in the said Courts but the Dammage that may come to the King and the whole Nation by Discouraging Persecuting or Ruining an industrious innocent People is like to be very great Therefore we desire that you would be pleased to put a Stop to the vexatious Proceedings of the said Informers and Courts and confirm to us your selves and Posterities the Liberty of our Consciences towards God that we all may worship and serve him as we believe he requires us so shall we be accepted of him and receive his Blessing and Peace and Tranquility in the whole Nation Witnesses John Whitehead John Hall In divers other Counties in this Nation there are many more Instances both of great Havock and Spoil of Goods impoverishing and ruining many innocent Families in their Trades and Livelihoods which for Brevity sake is at present here omitted A Postscript Wherein The CIVIL and ECCLESIASTICAL AVTHORITY is briefly considered in their Natures Difference and Extents not Vnseasonably to the present Posture of Affairs OUR Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ did long since distinguish the Things of Caesar from the Things of God in his plain and notable Answer unto that ensnaring Question of the Jews about paying Tribute to Caesar Render saith he unto Caesar the Things that are Caesar 's and to God the Things that are God's that is Divine Worship and all Things relating to it belong unto God Civil Obedience to Caesar God can only be the Author of right Acts of Worship in the Mind this is granted by all therefore it is not in the Power of any Man or Men in the World to sway or compel the Mind in Matters of Worship to God where this is attempted God's Prerogative is invaded and Caesar by which VVord I understand the Civil Government hath all for he doth not only take his own Things but the Things appertaining to God also If any should ask me What are the Things properly belonging to Caesar I answer in Scripture-Language To love Justice as Judgment relieve the Oppressed right the Fatherless be a Terror unto Evil-doers and a Praise to them that do well for this is the great End of Magistracy but perhaps my Answer shall be reckoned too general and ambiguous and a fresh Question started Who are the Evil-doers to whom the Civil Authority ought to be terrible But this ought in my Judgment to be no Question with Men that understand the Nature of Civil Authority for those are the Evil-Doers that violate those Laws which are necessary to the Preservation of Civil Society as Thieves Murderers Adulterers Traytors Drunkards Cheats Vagabonds and the like mischievous and dissolute Persons Men void of Virtue Truth and Sincerity the Foundation of all good Government and only firm Bond of human Society whoever denies me this must at the same Time say that Virtue is less necessary to Government then Opinion and that the most Vitiated Men professing but Caesar's Religion are the best Subjects to Caesar's Authority consequently that other Men living never so honestly and industriously having else as good a Claim to Civil Protection and Preferment shall meerly for their Dissent from that Religion a Thing they can't help for Faith is the Gift of God be reputed the worst of Evil-doers which is followed with exposing their Names to Obloquie their Estates