Selected quad for the lemma: law_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
law_n	common_a	england_n	king_n	8,307	5	3.8915	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A84839	The West answering to the North in the fierce and cruel persecution of the manifestation of the Son of God, as appears in the following short relation of the unheard of, and inhumane sufferings of Geo. Fox, Edw. Pyot, and William Salt at Lanceston in the county of Cornwall, and of Ben. Maynard, Iames Mires, Ios. Coale, Ia. Godfrey, Io. Ellice, and Anne Blacking, in the same gaole, town, and county. And of one and twenty men, and women taken up in the space of a few dayes on the high wayes of Devon, ... Also a sober reasoning in the law with Chief Justice Glynne concerning his proceedings ... And a legall arraignment for the indictment of the hat, ... And many other materiall and strange passages at their apprehensions and tryals ...	Fox, George, 1624-1691.	1657 (1657)	Wing F1988; Thomason E900_3; ESTC R202187	140,064	174

the Administration of the Law ought not accusations to be by way of Indictment wherein the offence is to be charged and the Law expressed against which it is Can there be an Issue without an Indictment or can an Indictment be found before proof be made of the offence charged therein And hast not thou herein gone contrary to the Law and the Administration thereof and thy dutie as a Judge What just cause of offence gave G. F. to thee when upon thy producing of a paper concerning swearing sent by him as thou said'st to the grand Jurors and requiring him to say whether it was his hand-writing He answered read it up before the Country and when he heard it read if it were his he would own it Is it not equall and according to Law that what a man is charged with before the Countrie should be read in his and the hearing of the Country When a paper is delivered out of a mans hand Alterations may be made in it to his prejudice which on a sudain looking over it may not presently be discerned But hearing it read up may be better understood whether any such alterations have been made therein Couldst thou in justice have expected or required him otherwise to do considering also how he was not unsensible how much he had suffered already being innocent and what endeavours there were used to cause him further to suffer Was not what he said as aforesaid a plain and single answer and sufficient in the Law though as hath been demonstrated contrary to the Law thou didst act and thy Office in being his accuser therein and producing the paper against him And in his liberty it was whether he would have made thee any answer at all to what thou didst exhibite or demand out of the due course of the Law for to the Law answer is to be made not to thy will Wherefore then wast thou so filled with rage and fury upon that his Reply Calmly and in the fear of the Lord consider Wherefore didst thou revile him particularly with the reproachfull names of Jugler and Prevaricator wherein did he juggle wherein did he prevaricate Wherefore didst thou use such threatning language and such menacings to him and us saying thou wouldst firk us with such like Doth not the Law forbid reviling and rage and fury and threatning and menacing of Prisoners soberly mind Is this to act like a Judge or a Man Is not this transgression Is not the sword of the Magistrate of God to pass upon this as evill doing which the Righteous Law condemns and the higher power is against which judgeth for God Take heed what ye do for ye judgo not for man but for the Lord who is with you in the judgement Wherefore now let the fear of the Lord be upon you Take heed and do it for there is no iniquitie with the Lord our God nor respect of persons nor taking of gifts said Jehosaphat to the Judges of Judah Pride and Fury and Passion and Rage and Reviling and Threatning is not the Lords It and the principle out of which it springs is for judgement and must come under the sword of the Magistrate of God and is of an evill savour especially such an expression as to threaten to firk us Is not such a saying more becoming a Pedant or School Master with his rod or ferula in his hand than thee who art the Chief Justice of the Nation who sits in the highest seat of judgement who oughtest to give a good example and so to judge as others may hear and fear weigh it soberly and consider Doth not threatning language demonstrate an unequalitie and partialitie in him who sits as a Judge Is it not a deterring of a Prisoner from standing to and pleading the innocencie of his cause Provides not the Law against it saith it not that Irons and all other Bonds shall be taken from the Prisonor that he may plead without amazement and with such freedome of spirit as if he were not a Prisoner But when he who is to judge according to the Law shall before-hand 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 equall judgement who before he hears him threatens what he will do to 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 thy duty or as thou wouldst be done unto Let that of God in thy conscience judge And didst not thou say there was a law for putting off the Hat and that thou wouldst shew a law and didst not thou often so express thy self But didst thou produce any law or shew where that law might be found or any judiciall president or in what Kings Reign when we desired it so often of thee having never heard of or known any such law by which thou didst judge us Was not what we demanded of thee reasonable and just Was that a savory answer and a●cording to law which thou gavest us viz. I am not to carry the law books at my back up and down the Country I ●m not to instruct ye Was ever such an expression heard before these days to come out of a Judges mouth Is he not to be of Counsell 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 at all allowed Counsell by the law In all Courts of justice in this Nation hath it not been known so to have been and to the Prisoner hath not this been often declared when he hath demanded Counsell alledging his ignorance in the law by reason of which his cause might miscarry though it were righteou● viz. the Court is of Counsell 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 judiciall President or in what Kings reign or when it was adjudged so by the common law which are all the grounds the law of England hath had there been such a law though the words of the law thou couldst not remember Surely to informe the Prisoner when he desires 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 Jevvs hy which they were to be judged yea every Saboath day this vvas the Commandement of the Lord But to say instead thereof I am not to carry the lavv books at my back up and down the Country I am not to instruct ye To say there is a lavv and to say thou wilt shew it and yet not to shew it nor tell where it is to be found consider whether it be consistent with savouriness or truth or

be taken away If the bound of the Law be broken upon a mans property on the same ground may it not be broken upon his person And by the same reason as it is broken on one man may it not be broken upon all sithence the liberty and property and the beings of all men under a Government is relative a Communion of Wealth as the members in the body but one guard to all and defence the Law one man cannot be injured therein but it redounds unto all Are not such things in order to the subversion and dissolution of Government Where there is no Law what is become of Government And of what value is the Law made when the Ministers thereof break it at pleasure upon mens properties liberties and persons Canst thou clear thy self of these things as to us To that of God in thy conscience whi●h is just do we speak Hast thou acted like a M nister the Chief Minister of the Law who hast taken away our Goods and yet detainest them without so much as going by lawfull Warrant grounded upon due information wh●ch in this our case thou couldest not have for none had perused ●hem whereof to give the information Shouldest thou exerc●se violence and force of Arms on Prisone●s Goods in their Prison-chamber instead of orderly and legally proceeding which thy place calls upon thee above any man to tender defend and maintain against the other and to preserve the Guard entire of every mans being liberty life and livelyhood Shouldest thou whose duty it is to punish the wrong doer do wrong thy self Who oughtest to see the Law be kept and observed break the Law and turn aside the due administration thereof Surely from thee considering thee as Chief Justice of England other ●hings were expected both by us and the People of this Nation And Friend when we were brought before thee and stood upon our Legal Issue and no Accuser or Accusation came in against us as to what we had been wrongfully imprisoned and in Prison detained for the sp●ce of nine weeks shouldst not thou have caused us to have been acquitted by Proclamation Saith not the Law so Oughtest not thou to have examined the cause of our commitment and there not appearing a lawfull cause oughtest not thou to have discharged us Is it not the substance of thy office and duty to do justice according to the Law and C●st●me of England Is not this the end of the administration of the Law and of the General Assizes of the Goal deliveries of the Judges going the Circuits Hast not thou by doing otherwise acted contrary to all these and to Magna Charta cap. 29. which saith We shall sell to no man we shall deny or deferr to no man either Justice or Right Hast not thou both deferred and denyed us who had been so long oppressed this Justice and Right And when of thee Justice we demanded saidst thou not If we would be uncovered thou wouldst hear us and do us Justice We shall sell to no man we shall deny or deferr to no m●n either Justice or Right saith Magna Charta as aforesaid We have commanded all our Justices that they shall from henceforth do EVEN Law and execution of Right to all our Sub ects rich and poor without having regard to any mans per on and without letting to do Right for any Letters or Commandments which may come to them from Us or from any other or by any other cause c. upon pain to be at our Will Body and Lands and Goods to do thereof as shall please us in case they do contrary saith S●at 20 Ed. 3. cap. 1. Ye shall swear that ye shall do EVEN Law and execution of Right to all rich and p●or without having regard to any person and that you deny to no man common Right by the Kings Letters nor none other mans nor for NONE other cause And in case any Letters come to you contrary to the Law that you do nothing by such Letters but certifie the King thereof and go forth to do the Law notwithstanding those Letters And in case ye he from henceforth found in default in any of the points aforesaid ye shall be at the Kings will of Lands Body and Goods thereof to be done as shall please him saith the Oath appointed by all the Judges 18. E● 3. Stat. 3. But none of these nor none other Law hath such an expression or condition in it as this viz. Provided If he will put off his Hat to ye or be uncovered Nor doth the Law of God so say or that your persons be respected but the contrary From whence then comes this new Law If ye will be uncovered I will hear ye and do ●e Justice this hearing complaint of wrong this doing of Justice upon condition Wherein lyes the equity and reasonableness of that When were those Fundamental Laws repealed which were the issue of much Blood and War which to uphold cost the Miseries and Blood of the late Wars that we shall now be heard as to Right and have Justice done us but upon condition and such a trifling one as the putting off the Hat Doth thy saying so who art commanded as aforesaid repeal them and make them of none effect and all the Miserie 's undergone and the blood shed for them of old and of late years Whether it be so or no indeed and to the Nation thou hast made it so to us Whom thou hast denyed the justice of our Liberty when we were before thee and no Accuser or Accusation came in against us and the hearing of the wrong done to us who were innocent and the doing us Right and Bonds hast thou cast and continued upon us to this day under an unreasonable and cruel Jaylor for not performing that thy condition for conscience sake But thinkest thou that this thine own Conditional Justice maketh voyd the Law or can it do so or absolve thee before God or Man or acquit thee of the penalty mentioned in the Laws aforesaid unto which hast thou not sworn and consented Viz. And in case ye be from henceforth found in default in any of the points aforesaid ye shall be at the Kings will of Body Lands and Goods thereof to be done as shall please him And is not thy saying If ye will be uncovered or put off your Hats I will hear ye and do ye justice And because we would not put them off for conscience sake the denying of us justice who had so unjustly suffered and hearing of us as to wrong a default in thee against the very essence of those Laws yea an overthrow thereof for which things sake being of the highest importance to the beings of men so just so equal so necessary those Laws were made and all the provisions therein to make a default in any one point of which provisions exposeth to the said penalty Dost not thou by this time see where thou art Art thou sure thou shalt never be made

to understand and feel the justice thereof Is thy state so high and thy fence so great And art thou so certain of thy time and station above all that have gone before thee whom justice hath cut down and given their due that thou shalt never be called to an account nor with its long and sure stroke be reached Deceive not thy self God is come nearer to udgement than the workers of iniquity in this age imagine who persecute and evil intreat those who witness the Just and Holy One for their witnessing of him who is come to reign for ever and ever Saith he not he will be a swift Witness against the false Swearers God is not mocked Surely Friend that must needs be a very great offence the not forbearing of the doing of which deprives a man of justice of being heard as to wrong of the benefit of the Law of those Laws before rehearsed the justice and equity of which for to defend a man hath adventured his Blood and all that is dear to him But to stand covered or with the Hat on in conscience to the command of the Lord is made by thee such an one which is none in Law and rendred upon us who are innocent serving the living God effectually though the Laws of God and of Man and the Oath and Equity and Reason saith the contrary and on it pronounceth such a penalty If ye will be uncovered I will hear you and do you justice But justice we had not nor were we heard because the light of Jesus Christ who is the higher power the Law-giver of his people in our consciences commanded us not to respect persons whom to obey we chose rather than man And for our obedience into it hast thou cast us into Prison and continued us there to this very day having neither shewed us Law for it nor Scripture or instance of either or example of Heathens or others Friend come down to that of God that is just in thee and consider Was ever such a thing heard of in this Nation What is become of Seriousness of Judgement and of Righteousness An unrighteous man standing before thee with his Hat off shall be heard but an innocent man appearing with his Hat on in conscience to the Lo●d shall neither be heard nor have justice Is not this regarding of persons contrary to the Laws aforesaid and the Oath and the Law of God Vnderstand and judge Did we not own Authority and Government oftentimes before the Court Didst not thou say in the Court thou wast glad to hear so much from us of our owning Magistracy Pleaded we not to the Indictment though it was such a new found one as England never heard of before Came we not when thou sentst for us Went we not when thou bidst us go And are we not still Prisoners at thy Command and at thy Will If the Hat had been such an offence to thee couldst not thou have caused it to have been taken off When thou hadst heard us so often declare we could not do it in conscience to the command of the Lord and that for that cause we forbore it not in contempt of thee or of Authority nor in dis-respect to thine or any mans person for we said we honoured all men in the Lord and owned Authority which was a terrour to evil doers and a praise to them that do well And our souls were subject to the higher powers for conscience sake as thou causedst them to be taken off and to be kept so when thou calledst the Jury to finde us Transgressors without a Law What ado hast thou made to take away the Righteousness of the Righteous from him and to cause us to suffer further whom thou knewest to have been so long wrongfully in Prison contrary to Law Is not Liberty of Conscience a Natural Right Had there been a Law in this case and we bound up in our Consciences that we could not have obeyed it was not Liberty of Conscience there to take place For where the Law saith not against there needs no Plea of Liberty of Conscience But the Law have not we offended yet in thy will for our consciences where the Law requires no such thing hast thou and dost thou yet cause us to suffer And yet for Liberty of Conscience hath all the blood been spilt and the miseries of the late Wars undergone and as O. P. saith this Government undertaken to preserve it and a Natural Right he saith it is and he that would have it he saith ought to give it And if a Natural Right as it is undeniable than to attempt to force it or to punish a man for not doing contrary thereunto is to act against Nature which as it is unreasonable so it is the same as to offer violence to a mans life and what an offence that is in the Law thou knowest and how by the common Law of England all Acts and Agreements and Laws that are against Nature are meer nullities and all the Judges cannot make one case to be Law which is against Nature But put the case our standing with our Hats on had been an offence in Law and we wilfully and in contempt and not out of Conscience had so stood which we deny as aforesaid Yet that is not a ground wher●fore we should be denyed Justice or to be heard as to the wrong done to us If ye will not offend in one case I will do you Justice in another this is not the language of the Law or of justice which distributes to every one their Right justice to whom justice is due punishment to whom punishment is due A man who doth wrong may also have wrong done to him shall he not have right wherein he is wrongd unless he right him whom he hath wronged The Law saith not so but the wrong doer is to suffer and the sufferer of wrong is to be righted Is not otherwise to do a denying a letting of even Law and execution of justice and a bringing under the penalties aforesaid mind and consider And shouldst thou have accu●ed when no accuser appeared against us as in the particulars of striking P. Ceely and dispersing Books as thou saye'st● against Magistracie and Ministrie with which thou didst accuse on● of us Saith not the Law that the Judge ought not be the accuser much less a false accuser and w●s't not thou such a one in affirming that he dispersed Books against Magistracie and Ministrie when as the Books were violently taken out of our Chamber as hath been said undispersed by him or any of us Nor didst thou make it to appear in one particular wherein those thou so violently didst cause to be taken away were against Magistracie or Ministry or gavest one Instance or Replie when he denied what thou charg'st therein and spake to thee to bring forth those Books and make them to appear Is not the sword of the Magistrate of God to pass upon such evill doing And according to

not the crie 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 iniquitie apace Surely your day is coming and hastneth warned you have been from the presence and by the mouth of the Lord and clear will he be when he cometh to judgement 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 you be silent when he shall divide you your portion and render unto you according unto 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 devoure 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 least he tear you to pieces and there be none to deliver And Friend shouldst thou have given judgement against us wherein thou didst fine us 20. marks apiece and imprisonment till payment without causing us being Prisoners to be brought before thee to hear the judgement and to move what we had to say in arrest of judgement 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 judgement is given and is not the Indictment to be read and the verdict thereupon and is not libertie to be given him to move in Arrest of judgement and if it be a just exception in the law ought not there to be an Arrest of Iudgement 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 cr me in law ●r the Jurors may have been corrupted or menaced or set on by some of the Iustices with other particulars which are known to be legall and just exceptions And the judgement ought to be in his hearing not behind his back as if the Iudge were so conscious of the error thereof that he dares not give it to the face of the Prisoner But none of those Priviledges of the law this Iustice 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 sight or Copy 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 judiciall president that made it so though two friends in our names and behalves that night and the next day and the day following often desired it of the Clarke of Assize and his Assistant and servants but it they could not have nor so much liberty as to see it And 't is like it was not unknown or unperceived by thee that had we been called as we ought to have been or had known when it was to be given three or four words might have made a sufficient legall Arrest of that new-found Indictment and the verdict thereupon Therefore as our liberties vvho are innocent have not been worth in thy account the minding and esteemed fit for nothing but to be trampled underfoot 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 judgement to be given thereon is to be had onely where thy self is chief of vvhom such complaint is to be made and the error assigned for the reverse of thy judgement and vvhat the fruit of that may be well expected to be by what vve have already mentioned as having received at hy hands thou hast given us to understand And here thou mayst think thou hast made thy self secure and sufficiently barr'd up our way of relief against whom though thou knowest we had done nothing contrary to the Law or worthy of Bonds much less of the Bonds and sufferings we had sustaind thou hast proceeded as hath been rehearsed Notwithstanding that thou art as are all the Judges of the Nation intrusted not with a Legisllative power but to administer Justice and to do EVEN Law and excecution of right to all high and low rich and poor without having regard to any mans person and art sworn so to do as hath 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 may'st not be ignorant that to deny a prisoner any of the priviledges the Law allowes him is to deny him justice to try him in an arbitrary way to rob him of that libertie which the Law giveth him which is his Inheritance as a freeman and which to do in effect is to subvert the fundamentall Lawe and Government of England and to introduce an Arbitrary and tyrannicall 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. E. 3. 1. H. 4. 1. 2. M. see O. St. Johns now Chief Justice of the Common Pleas his argument against Strafford fol. 65. c. in the Case And these things friend we have laid before thee in all plainess to the end that with the light of Jesus Christ who lighteth every one that cometh into the World a measure of which thou hast received which sheweth the evill and reproveth thee for sin for which thou must be accountable thou being still and coole may'st consider and see what thou hast done against the innocent and shame may overtake thee and thou turn unto the Lord who now calleth thee to repentance through his servants who for witnessing his living truth in them thou hast cast into and yet continuest under cruell Bonds and Sufferings From the Gaole in Lanceston the 4. day of the 5. month 1656. Edward Pyot By which Letter it is manifest that upon their tryall no accuser nor accusation came in against them as to the cause of their Commitment nor indeed could any of the allegations in the Warrant ETCETERA bear weight in Law as hath been demonstrated Nevertheless set at libertie they were not though they suffred nine weekes wrong Imprisonment and such other abuses as hath been mentioned but after all the diligent searchings of whatsoever could be thought on wherewithall to accuse them in order to their further sufferings nothing appearing as to what they could be charged that the Law of the Land found fault with matter was sought after as to the Law of their God in

to many to be seduced and misled to embrace and entertain the dangerous superstitious and Idolatrous Doctrines of Popery We. c. And all Popery and Popish points they to him denyed and gave him a Printed Book wherein they had so declared to all the Nation As also for the Paper aforesaid because of which they suffered so much by him makes to appear And they told him that O. P. whose Proclamation that is had said that Oath was not intended for them And further declared that onely in respect to the Command of Christ who saith swear not at all they refused to take it And as to impriso●ing of those who refuse to take it So in this he shews his iustice and are intended thereby T●a● Proclamation gives no power but onely to return their Names and places of habitation to the Exchecquer 7. After he had mustered up and drawn together his black Troops and Companies aforesaid of lyes and ignorances and of abusing of the Law to assault and destroy the innocent under his hand and seal that he might be sure never to want additional supplyes of the like forces and qualifications it to accomplish in the seventh place by a familiar spirit he raiseth up the ghost of the great Monster ET CETERA whose mouth is as large as Hell and whose depth is as the pit that hath no bottome and whose smoke ascends up for ever and ever who was begotten by the late Bishops on the Whore of Babylon of whom he is a branch and damned by the Parliament with that whole generation that brought it forth of whom it was the sudden overthrow and destruction root and branch And now after their dayes is brought up from the depths of the Earth by this Officer of the new raised Horse and Commissioner of the Militia and as he calls himself Justice of the Peace of the County of Cornwall who is a shame to the Government When by the Law of the Land all Warrants of Commitment ought expresly to mention the name the habitation the calling of the person committed and the certain offence which must be such as is so in Law according to which the Prisoner is to have his Issue But whether this be such let him who reads and understands judge and whether P. Ceelyes Warrant ET CETERA be not the Monster of this age in the Law as was the Bishops Oath ET CETERA of the preceding generation in Religion and deserving the same yea a greater condemnation that it may rise no more henceforth even for ever Being delivered in custody to the Goaler at Lanceston they were there detained Prisoners by vertue of the aforesaid Warrant ET CETERA till the general Assizes for the County of Cornwall held at Lanceston on the second day of which being the 25. of the first month 1656. they were brought before the Bench where John Glynne Chief Justice of the Upper Bench sate Judge Multitudes of people being in and about the Court and in the Town who having heard very strange reports concerning them expected some great thing to be laid to their charge and proved equivolent thereunto and to the misusages and impri●onments they had sustained of which the whole Countrey was ful● as the prisoners considering their innocency and sufferings had also cause to expect and justice of him who was in Commission Chief Justice of England unto whom in case● o● wrong judgement appeals are made from other Judges and J●●●●ces and Ministers of the Law according to the Law and his place and oath and a suitable care and t●nderness of the liberties of men according to the Law and Equity whats●ever had been the contrary proceedings of others in Commission to the truth and the Friends thereof But what was produced as to the one and done by the other and what justice they received will appear to the sober and wise in heart when those few of the passages of that Assizes in reference unto them as they are rehearsed and managed in the Law in their following Letter sent by them and delivered the last Assizes at Gloucester where he sate Judge as to his carriage towards them shall onely be considered and weighed in judgement For John Glynne Chief Justice of England Friend WE are Free-men of England free born our Rights and Liberties in and with our Countryes with the Laws the defence of them have we in the late Wars vindicated in the Field with our blood and therefore with thee by whose hand we have so long and do yet suffer let us a little plainly reason concerning thy proceedings against us whether they have been according to the Law or agreeable to thy duty and office as chief Minister of the Law or Justice of England and in meekness and in lowliness abide that the witness of God in thy conscience may be heard to speak and judge in this matter for thou and we must all appear before the Judgement Seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to what he hath done whether it be good or bad And so Friend in moderation and soberness weigh what we have here to say unto thee The afternoon before we were brought before thee at the Assizes at Launceston thou didst cause divers scores of our Books violently to be taken from us by armed men without due process of Law which being perused if so be any thing in them might be found to lay to our charge who were innocent and then upon our legal issue thou hast detained to this very day Now our Books are our Goods and our Goods are our Property and our Liberty is to have and enjoy our Property and of our Liberty and Property the Law is the defence which saith No Free-man shall be disseized of his Free-hold Liberties or Free-customes c. nor any way otherwise destroyed nor we shall not pass upon him but by lawfull judgement of his Peers or by the Law of the Land Magn. Chart. cap. 29. Now Friend consider is not the taking away of a mans Goods violently by foree of Arms as aforesaid contrary to the Law of the Land Is not the keeping of them so taken away a disseizing him of his property and a destroying of it and his Liberty yea his very Being so far as the invading the Guard the Law sets about him is in order thereunto Calls not the Law this a destroying of a man Is there any more than one common Guard or Defence viz. the Law to Property Liberty and Life And can this Guard be broken on the former and the later be secure Doth not he that makes an invasion upon a mans property and liberty as he doth who contrary to Law which is the Guard acts upon either make an invasion upon a mans life since that which is the Guard of the one is also of the other If a penny or pennyes worth be taken from a man contrary to Law may not by the same rule all a man hath

then commanded every one by name to put off his Hat This they could not do for conscience sake Wrath and fury presently appears that in rage he commands the Gaoler to have them away who with violence pull'd thrust them suffer them to speak for themselves he would not nor enquired what were their offences or the cause of their imprisonment or wherefore they were brought before him but caused them with such misusages to be sent and returned to prison And this was what generally they all received at his hands as they were brought before him and thus evilly were they all intreated The morrow after such returns in custody were ●hey brought before him again and placed amongst the Fellons and Murderers By that time Bills of Indictment as to the breach of his will were made ready Their Hats now he commands to be taken off which the day before he commanded not to be taken off that he might charge them with contempt His Bills are read and with many false accusations are they charged therein as being men of an ill name fame life and reputation and that they came into the Court with their Hats on in contempt when by constraint they were forced thither and much more filth too noysome to rake up And to these their Indictments he demands of every one particularly guilty or not guilty thus numbring them amongst transgressors A Copy of the Indictment whereunto to plead was by one of them demanded as the Law required this he denies the Prisoner replyed that he was an Englishman and had served the Common-wealth of England from the beginning of the Wars till Worcester fight at which he was and had suffered imprisonment by the enemy and the loss of his goods and was driven from his outward being by the enemy four years together and now desired as to all but the priviledge of the Law and that if he had come violently into the Court there seemed to be some ground for their Allegations but by constraint he was brought in Whilst he was thus speaking the Judge kept talking to the people to keep them hearing of him and then commanded him to be taken away whom they had away throwing him before them and whilst he was away he fined him 20. marks and imprisonment till payment he said then he thought he should lye long enough upon which word the Judge bad them fine him 20. pound which was done accordingly Nor was there a Copy of this Indictment granted to any of them though every one of them answered to the demand guilty or not guilty in meekness and in the fear of God to this effect that they were innocent and had broken no Law and that they were not guilty of the things charged in the Bill which they denied And libertie they desired to speak further and to the Jury to whom he spake much whereby to incense them against the Prisoners and told them the Hat was the chiefest matter they were to enquire into but the Prisoners he would not permit to speak to the Jury as he vvould not let them make in their own defence commanding the Gaoler to keep them silent when they attempted to speak in their own behalf and calling for a Gag he commanded the Gaoler to Gag them onely one of them who was last called being required to answer whether he came in with his Hat on or no saying if he might have libertie to speak he should not onely declare freely and honestly and with vvords of soberness and in the fear of God as to his having his Hat on but also why he did so and as to things charged against them having got a little liberty so to do said I shall declare freely from the light and life of Christ in my heart and soul that I came not in with my Hat on in contempt of the Court or of any man therein neither had I come there if I had not been brought and I am free from any prejudice in the least toward any man and authority I own and such as rule well ruling for God according to the righteous Law of God and are for the punishment of evill doers and the praise of them that do well such I honour in my heart but as for putting off my Hat it is that which never was required by any that ruled for God nor yet of the Heathenish Kings and Emperors as we read of and in obedience to God I stand and the same nature that commands us to put off our Hats the same commanded to Preach no more in the name of Jesus and such commands of men we cannot obey for conscience sake and the Heathenish Customs which are contrary to the holy men of God and to the righteous Law of God and to all Scriptures and also to all naturall Laws I cannot be subject to but unto God the higher power which is of God which rules over all but the Customs of the people are vain Jer. 10.3 But longer the Judge would not permit him to speak and called for a Gag as aforesaid and he attempting to speak a word or two farther he and the rest were all forced with violence from the Bar and neither suffered to speak for themselves or to stay their tryall And the Jury being in confusion some said they were young in it and desired time to consider but the Judge asking others and they saying guilty he presently commanded them to be fined in 20. marks a piece and to lye in Prison till payment which Judgement being called and standing without the Bar for he said they needed not to come any further the Judge pronounced upon them but as to the Infringement of any Law or miscarriage in word or deed in particular nothing was laid to their charge And as for the women who vvere taken up and imprisoned as aforesaid against whom he could not have the advantage of a Hat he returned to Prison till they should find sureties of the good behaviour being taken up they and the rest as they were peaceably travelling the high way to visit the Prisoners and imprisoned as hath been said whereby the Law was every vvay broke upon them who ought to have been protected and justice to have been done them upon those who robb'd them on the high way and not to be instead thereof further oppressed Thus hath this Judge headed the Justices and to their Arbitrary Law aforesaid and the wicked executions thereof added another of his owne made after the act was done when they came before him to have been righted according to Law by which will of his he causeth them further to suffer as hath been said not so much as enquiring or asking wherefore they were imprisoned or what was the cause of their being brought before him nor permitting them to speak for themselves or of the usages they had received but commanding that their Hats should not be taken off that he might have occasion against them then commanding their Hats to be taken off

spoken to and vveighed in the ballance of lavv and equitie and to be handled even this new found monstrous instrument of crueltie into and by which so many of the servants of the living God have been cast and continued fined and bound and under the sufferings of vvhich this relation to say nothing of what hath been done to others and in other parts of this Nation bears Record which since the foundation of the earth vvas layd vvas never heard of before this day nor such an unexpressible piece of sottish Irreligion pride and tyrannie unto vvhich vvhosoever doth not conforme be his sufferings vvhat they will and his innocency the priviledge of the law of England he must not have nor be heard nor have Iustice but be bound under the Chains of further sufferings and oppressions because thereof Nevertheless this burning fiery flaming furnace can be walkt in loosened and untoucht whilst the men of the powers of Chaldea who take up the Children and cast them bound thereinto lye slain with the flame of the urgencie of the command of that vvill by which it is made so exceeding hot as to the sober and wise in heart vvill by and by appear and be made manifest The Indictment of the Hat is insufficient in lavv in short thus Every Indictment which hath not contained in it an offence either against the Common lavv or Statute lavv is void But there is not in the Indictment of the Hat any offence either against the Common lavv or any Statute lavv If the matter of the Indictment be said to be an offence against the Common lavv then it must appear so either amongst the Records of this Nation or the judiciall determinations and conclusions of the Chief Courts of Iustice If against the Statute lavv then it must appear so either amongst the Parliament Roles or the Printed Books But that it is an offence either against the Common law or Statute lavv there is not so much as the least tittle of lavv to prove it Those Adverbiall Words in the Indictment viz. Irreverently uncivilly scornfully maliciously contemptuously with such like filth of which it is full and not worthy the raking up are and have been alwaies taken to be added onely in an Indictment the more fully to describe an offence and to aggravate the same But if the act charged in the Indictment be not an offence without these words then these words cannot aggravate or compleate a description of that which is not It is said to be done against good manners evill communications corrupt good manners and whatsoever is more than yea and nay cometh of evill saith Christ Jesus the Son of God and as to good manners which you say it is against produce your Law for such good manners and let us see what it is O sottish Generation It is said to be done against the usage and custome of England It is the usage and custom of England for men and women to salute one another with a kiss and to speak one to another and to come into Courts with Cloaks and Coats and Gloves and Boots and yet not an offence to leave it undone or to come without any of there coverings Things which are in a mans power to give or not to give and which he is content not to receive from others when he gives not the same to others as such things as these are take them in the best sense as they are peculiar to every man and at his choice whether he will give them or not cannot be made criminall if he doth not give them And therefore the adding any of these vvords in the Indictment doth not make the not putting off the Hat to be an offence And as their refusing to put off the Hat or to be uncovered is not an offence against the Law of this Common-Wealth so neither is it an offence against the Law of God or the Law of Nature Not against the law of God for there is neither precept or president that makes it so but the contrary as hath been and might further be said Not against the law of nature for nature makes no man free or a servant but man is either free or a servant according to the spirit that rules and hath command over him And although it be said in the Indictment that they being enjoyned to be uncovered refused so to do yet this makes not an offence for the Justices sate there onely to put the laws in being in execution and it was not a contempt to deny to obey their command in a thing which neither the law of God nature or of this Nation required to be done This act of putting off the Hat hath been in this Nation alwaies taken to be an act of civill curtesie and not of duty and so the practice of it amongst people of all sorts high and low rich and poor and in all places as well in the high ways as elsewhere doth manifest and it is no other in effect than a meer volentary complement the occasion whereof was never held to be an offence till this present time and that by some few particular persons 'T is true that people for the most part stand bare in all Courts of Justice in this Nation but this is more than is required by any law either of God or man for that which is required to be done to Magistrates is honour and obedience which is demonstrated by a submission to all lawful commands and not by any complement or act of curtesie Besides to command any person to put off his Hat is absurd for that is to use it contrary to the end for which it was made vvhich is to cover the head and to keep it warme whereby sickness may be prevented and not to be held in the hand and a wise man beginneth from the end of a thing and weighs every thing as it is there Again whether the condition of a mans nature will give him leave to stand bare or not the Magistrate is not the Judge and therefore it is against reason that it should be in his power to command the Hat to be put off whose nature cannot bear it from him that requires it and is the same as to command him to put off any of his other Garments From all which it is clear that this Indictment and the proceedings therein are neither warranted by the law of God nature or of this Nation but on the contrary are meerly arbitrary against reason and very absurd and an invasion upon the liberties of the Freemen of England And by what hath been said for to argue further is not necessary in so frivolous a thing the reasonable may see what there is in this business of the Hat which hath made such a noise and kindled such a fire in this Nation by which so many of the innocent servants of the Lord have suffered without mercy as hath been in part related The tyrannicall wills and lusts of men being in this trifle set