in great rage and gavest an interruption but when the Court vvas quiet and cool again he spake on and said And forasmuch as it is oft-times proposed in Courts of Judicature to the prisoners at Bar to be tryed by God and the Country in vvhich vvords it is acknowledged that God is the supreme Judge and that the Verdict and Sentence ought to be of the Lord mind the Lord therefore and his presence vvith you and Councel to guide you that the Lord may judge among you that so your verdict concerning us may be of the Lord to vvhich some of the Jury answered That they would do us right and there vvas a sence in many of them which thou couldest not take off though thou endeavouredst it and madest a long narration of the penal Laws against vvhat vvas called Conventicles and the not coming to Church and vvhat fine it vvas to have Mass said in a mans house vvhich related to Papists and not to them and what vvas in thy head came forth but not a word to the purpose The Steward also viz. John Robbins kept a great adoe and turned over the Statute book which to consider it seems he had been up as is said till about three in the morning that he might be ready to assist thee according to vvhat is said he said to thee the night before that he vvould but it signified nothing It vvas not to the point in hand for they were indicted at the Common Law and thou and thy Council kept adoe about the Statute and vvhat 's this to the purpose said one of the Prisoners And neither thou nor he so much as shewed the Jury vvhat vvas an unlawful meeting at Common Law See how you were blinded and what hand vvas upon you And the Steward most unworthy of his Master the King as whose Council he appeared made a great Oration how that we and our meetings were that which did shake his Crown and that the King vvas afraid of us and that he had been in the west and what he had heard there he told on purpose to incense the Jury but all vvould not do the Jury had another thing in their Consciences and matter of Law not stories was that vvhich they vvere to Hearken to especially such large Expressions vvhich rendred the King and his Crown so vveak and his Government so tottering that the meetings of a few people in Comparison to England to vvait upon the Lord who used not Arms nor resisted and who were in good will to him did shake it and make him afraid but this is not all the unworthiness he then used to the prisoners also of which he was was well told but now is pretermitted The Jury being to vvithdraw the prisoners moved for a special verdict in these vvords viz. That the matter of fact might be found specially according to what the Witnesses had spoken and that might be left upon the whole matter to the determination of Law whether it amount to the making good of the Indictment vvhich thou opposedst for thou fearedst the sequel vvhich vvas that thou shouldest not then have whereupon to pass Sentence upon them So the Jury withdrew and after some time delivered their verdict and the foreman said a special verdict and it was this Guilty of being at an unlawful Assembly according to the law of the Land but not of force and Arms or to the terror of the people The prisoners demanded the record of this to be read the record being read it appeared that but the first half was set down vvhich thon hadst caused no doubt so to be for that served thy mind viz. Guilty of an unlawful assembly according to the Law of the Land But the other half vvas omitted as not being to thy purpose but against it viz. But not of force and Arms c. The prisoners called to have the whole verdict recorded thou vvouldst not grant it and saidst they brought it in as it vvas recorded But that the prisoner that spake viz. G. B. had drawn the latter out by questions G. B. denied it and affirmed that the Jury delivered their verdict as aforesaid and called to the fore-man to answer vvhether it was not so the fore-man said it was and so did one or two more of the Jury testifie The Steward to palliate the matter would make the latter by consequence the former being found that is to say that it being an unlawful assembly it was by force and armes but herein he was mistaken for first it was a special verdict which stated the matter on the one hand and the other for to be pleaded at Law whether the evidence made good the Indictment then the Indictment was at Comon Law and there is no unlawful assembly at Common Law but what is by force and arms Thirdly they said it was not by force and arms viz. Not guilty of force and arms Now if they had said Guilty of an unlawful assembly according to the Law of the Land and no more there had been some colour of the latter of force and arms which the Steward would have made by Consequence but they cutting off force and arms in the latter without which it could not be an unlawful assembly in the former they made the former of no force and by consequence adjudged viz. that it was not an unlawful assembly seeing that which only could have made it so they brought them in not Guilty of and so the verdict was a Contradiction to it self Yet a great adoe thou and the Steward made about it but G. B. told ye both that they must have no wrenching the Juries verdict but must have it in their own words And for the consequences he said it mattered not and therefore demanded that the Juries verdict might be recorded as they brought it in or that they might have pen and ink and paper given them to write their verdict themselves or if none of these that they might go in again So the Jury withdrew again and staid somewhat long yet at length came and brought in the same verdict as before Now whilest they were in the second time thou its like fearing least they should bring in a through not guilty as the Jurie the night before did in the case of Thomas Speed c. who in a manner delivered a verdict the first time much like to this thou tendrest to Edward Pyot the Oath of Allegiance that is to say thou having used reflecting words to him of what he had been heretofore viz. in armes in the Citie as a Captain and so looking upon him as an enemie who was a friend to the King and thee Demanded of him whether he would take the Oath of Allegiance He replyed as to the clearing of himself and how he was in principle and otherwise in good-will to the King and them all and how his practice had been answerable and that you should be as Fathers to Children that should not seek the hurt of them who were
under the Law but their preservation rather And that as to the thing demanded of him he was upon another issue and till he understood vvhat that was and was cleared from that he should not answer Well saidst thou shewing what lay rancoring in thy brest as sure as I sit here if the Jury bring ye in not Guilty I will put it to you And not let all that are sober judge in this matter and whether as a man most resolvedly concerned in the ruine of us right or wrong thou hast not proceeded in this whole transaction hitherto and whether ever in the Guild-Hall of Bristol in this generation such partiality hath been used and downright persecution in a Judge And whether we are not as to men hard bestead when as for our Conscience we are thas hurried up and down from one Law to another from one penalty to another if the first will not serve the turne or cannot be accomplished who stand before the Judgment seat of such a Judge as hath shewed himselfe as thou as aforesaid But to close up this part of this relation and therein this present sitting of the Sessions the next day they were had to the Hall again but not called but the day after viz. the 15th of the 11th moneth they were brought to the Bar and then thou gavest sentence upon them as followeth viz. George Bishop Edward Pyott 50 l. John Gibbons and Nicholas Pool 5 li. each John Spoor George Oliver James Sterridge Thomas Morris Benj. Cottle 40 s. apiece and to continue in Prison till payment Thomas Speed also Charles Jones and W. Taylor thou committedst to Newgate though cleared by their Country where thou keptst them til the 27th of the 12th mon. and hast so much of wrong imprisonment upon thy back as to them for thee to answer Now how couldst thou in law proceeded to fine George Bishop Edward Pyott c. when as the verdict was special before the Evidence was stated and had Councel debated whether the Evidence amounted to making good the Indictment which it could never do Therefore thou thus carriedst it who carries all things according to thy will and humour and yet thou cryest up the Law and thy Sovereigns Laws when as under the cry and pretence of thy Sovereigns Laws thou ushers in thine own and servest thy pleasure upon people that are innocent But this covering will not hold thee long for the Judges at Westminster may come in time to see farther through thee who shortly hereupon saw cause to say one of the Judges of the Kings Bench expressing it to this purpose What will they have the King to be King of England and not of Bristol And so an Attachment was ordered against thee though thy Council Robbins said thou wast a Member of Parliament and Alderman Creswick as to the Affidavits then read against you and presented by the Kings Soliciter General who in his speech set forth that such things as by those papers were charged against you did not only invade the Law but seek to justle the King out of his Courts at Westminster of which that was the Chief and Superintendent over other Courts of Judicature in case of their going without the bounds of Law as it had cognizance of what applications was made to them and so consequently as is said out of England So that it seems for thee and Alderman Chreswicke an Atachment was ordered though thou wast a Member of Parliament and so whilst here thou cryest out thy Sovereigns Laws to cover thy doings against the Laws of thy Sovereign there they find cause to proceed against thee as one that doth that which tendeth to the unkinging of thy Sovereign and justling of the King out of his Courts at Westminster and so out of England The truth is thou would'st be Sovereign thy self that is to say thou wouldst fain have thine own brittle peevish hot and malicious will to rule which when thou hast no other shift to excuse thou seekest to place it under the skirt of thy Soveraign but the Lord hath and vvill find thee out and render unto thee according to thy deeds Thus far proceeded the business of the Sessions in reference to our friends in the relation of which many things are omitted which might appear of consequence to be set down least this little manuel should appear a volume Now we shall proceed to speak of something that was pretermitted in point of time but not unfit here to be brought in which concerns Thomas Smart one of the grand Jury aforesaid of whom some hint hath been already a little given This man being on the Guard as Captain Lievtenant to a Colonel of the Militia Regiment on the 25th of the tenth Moneth 1663. commonly called Christmas day unknown to his Colonel caused three of our friends servants to be unmercifully tied neck and heels together with half hundred weights and musquets hanging about their necks in the bitter extremity of the cold wether till the eyes of some of them were observed to be drawing out and their faces were growing black and the natural spirits of one of them ready to fail which some who were not of the Guard coming in and seeing took upon them to out the cords and set them at liberty The Executioners of this inhumane butchery were George Whitherley a Liter or Barge man and one John Boone These having been abroad that morning with other musquetiers saw the Shops of some of our friends open who in conscience to their Testimony against such Popish observations could not cause them to be kept fast vvhich caused their rage to arise and to the Guard to bring Samuel Hollister servant and kinsman to Dennis Hollister William Sawcer servant to Robert Nokes and Richard Mercer servant to the Widow Loverell Samuel Hollister was in his uncles shop vvhen Witherley came vvho required him to shut down the door of the shop for the windows were down before and the door they used to go in at and out at Samuel answering that he did not use to put it up and now should not put it down away Witherley had him to the Guard where Thomas Smart and Henry Joiner Marshal were who ordered him to be tyed neck and heels together and a half hundred weight Smart ordered two but it seems but one was hung on Witherley did it presently and set him so tied upon the stone bench walking between him and Smart and watching least he or any should ease the vveight on his breast or the bench which hung about his neck and if it happened so to be either through the friendliness of any or his own endeavours to bear it a little on his knees Witherley with a swinge would turne it off again to the endangering of his neck and back and then tauntingly vvould come and looke in his face and mock him saying What you look very chearfully yet The space of time of this his cruel Execution was neare the length of an hour William
self and the Deputy Lievtenants who some of them that very night denyed that any such thing was ordered by them had ordered them to be sent to Bridewel so to Bridewel they were brought a place of reproach appointed for Rogues and no Prison of the Kings though they were pretended to be the Kings prisoners though some of them were Citizens and men of quality therein Now it is to be noted That Sheriff Streamer being Major of the Regiment and so having command of the Guard coming to the Guard and understanding who were brought thither whereof one was his near relation viz. his Brother-in-law and his friend viz. George Bishopp if so be his business was to have him up and that that was the end of that dayes work came not into the Guard understanding him to be if not seeing him there but went his way to to the meeting house and there in person dismist the rest without making so much as one a Prisoner Which unnaturalness and high ingratitude he learnt no doubt of thee who as the sequel of this relation signifies wast well skilled in things of that nature and his orders no doubt he received from thee who as thy Buffoon or Martin-ape as men use to say most artificially followed the dictates of thy mad and hasty spirit who hadst not nor had he learnt that moderation which the whole series of transactions in this generation the most remakable of any that had been in the world vvould have taught thee as vvould also the saying of him vvho lives for ever vvho is the Judge of all viz. To do to others whatsoever you would should be done unto your selves that is to say when you are in power so vvarily to extend it as that you may live with your Neighbours and have their love when your power is gone and gain the good reputation of moderate men For the vvheele turns round and as the history of former ages have proved on this Date obulum Belisario For Gods sake give a half-penny to Belisarius comes to be the portion of many which befel that great Captain Belisarius vvho in the dayes of Justinian the Emperor did so behave himself in Persia Affirica and Italy that he had the honour of this Effigies on the other side of the Coin vvith this inscription Gloria Romanorum decus The Glory and Grace of the Romans And of this you vvanted not vvarning if you would have taken heed nor good Examples before you but as it was said in another case in a wrong spirit by Balack to Balaam may be said truly of you The Lord hath kept thee back from honour Numb 24.11 Or the infatuation of the Almighty because of your lust to oppression hath been so upon you that in your day you have not known the things that belong unto your peace that is to say you have not taken the course that wise men have steered in all generations upon the guidance of their observation of the revolutions of this World viz. so to behave your selves whilst ye are in Power as hath been said as that you may live in good reputation with your Neighbours vvhen you are out of it that is to say that you may be men when you have no power And this let us say to you all who are joyned together in this persecution of the innocent if such a hand had been carried toward you and this City in former dayes as you have done in this neither you had been so nor this City that is to say neither had you nor this City been so as at this day And some of them whom with so much despight and ignominy you now rule over have been instrumental that you and the City have not been otherwise and this is the requital you make of all that which hath sought to and hath saved you thus to do But this your work will be your shame and the day is at hand wherein you shall hear of it with both your ears that is to say the Lord will so work as that you shall see both where you are and what you have been doing when repentance with some of you we fear may be too late and the place of repentance you will not find though you seek it carefully with tears But to proceed for thou must throughly be dealt with ere this is finished Having lodged the aforesaid Prisoners at Bridewell the next morning thou hadst them to the Council house the Keeper of Bridewell being their leader and having set guards of Musquetiers at the Tolzey door contrary to Law which is that Courts of Justice and Proceedings at Law be open keeping out whom they pleased thou saidst to them what came into thy mind And though they in moderation told thee that they had done no new thing but what they had many years before even ever since they had been a people And that experience had shewn in the greatest revolutions that had been in this Nation that they and what they professed and did was not inconsistent with the publique peace but that they and the peace of the place and Nation might be And that what they did was not in obstinacy and contempt as thou wouldst have rendred it but in Conscience to the Lord whose worship was in Spirit and he sought such to worship him viz. in Spirit and in truth Joh. 4. And that their suffering Chearfully whatsoever might be done to them in reference to this thing who had Estates Relations Families Callings who knew as your selves might judge what it was to get and to loose their Estates Libertie Countries did speak that there was something more in it then of this world that made them willing thus to offer it up And though they told thee moreover that as to Government they were not against but did own the Second Table as well as the Frst Masters Parents Magistrates c. but all in the Lord and that where they could and not sin against the Lord they were obedient and where they could not they did quietly suffer And that ye had experience of them in such things as they could do that they rather went before you then otherwise And though they asked thee what thou would have them to do seeing their Conscience was not satisfied Suppose said they to thee that we are mistaken which said they we are not but are certain of what we do wouldst thou have us to do that which our conscience is against because of what may be done to our bodies before we are convinced of the contrary Said not the Apostle Happie is he that condemneth not himself in the thing that he allows Yet thou wouldst not hear and though thou pretendedst to a great deal of fairness at first and that thou hadst received a Letter from the Kings Council giving thee direction to take up the Heads of us and secure them till the Assizes unless they should give Security for their appearance And told that there vvas the ‖ Not
this latter but the former New Act for Banishment and didst bid Edward Pyott chuse which he would have thee to proceed with him against either the Councils Letter or the said Act yet thou puttest him to the Oath of Allegiance though when thou puttedst the question he said there is the mercy of the Law and the Rigour of the Law before thee if we must chuse let us have the mercie of the Law thou saidst vve should have the mercie of the Law he told thee That thy fruits would make it manifest being sensible of thy deceit And this was the mercie of the Law or that which thou mightest think too much mercie viz. the severitie of the Law or rather the severitie which the Law doth not require for that Law was made for Papists and so we are not the people which that Law intends as Edward Pyott told thee which is thy mercy and these thy fruits made thee manifest And so thou didst commit him though a free-man of the Citie whom thou wouldst make a stranger because he lived within a mile without it and George Oliver John Gibbins James Sturridge Thomas Morris John Spoore Benjamin Cottle and Nehemiah Poole because strangers for being at an Vnlawful meeting and for not taking the Oath of Alegiance and for refusing to find Sureties to be of the good behaviour for which thou signedst the Warrant and with thee John Lock Nathaniel Cale and John Lawford who were sent to Newgate and the other five that were of the City viz. George Bishopp Jeremiah Hignell John Summers Joseph Jones and Lewis Rogers thou dismissed upon their promise of appearance at Sessions so the first eight were detained in Newgate until the fifth of the tenth moneth following who were then set at liberty by thee upon the promise of two of their friends that were of the Citie because they dwelt without the limit thereof that at Sessions they should appear Thus far matters proceeded at that time Yet thou wast not satisfied but as a man restless to accomplish the end thou hadst determined viz. the rooting of us and the generation of us out of this City we our families and Relations who as hath been said are no inconsiderable company of men therein as is well known to the Citie thou didst work with the Deputies Lieutenants what with Arguments what with Threatnigs to represent them to the King as persons not well affected to his affairs if they would not assist thee and vvith them didst prevail to come down the next first day of the week viz. the 6th of the 10th moneth vvith the Sheriff to the meeting vvhich vvas then before the door of their own hired house being kept out of their own hired house by Armed men But the Deputy Lievtenants being men of more moderation seeing no matter for their arms to work on after they had sent some few to Bridewell and some others to the Court of Guard to see thereby how they might affect the rest came away making no farther manner of proceeding in the case then to set those on the Guard and at Bridewel at liberty And indeed it was a thing preposterous and contrary to reason as it was against Law that armed men in times of peace should take upon them or suffer themselves by thee to be over-ruled to execute the parts of Civil officers in the execution of the Law suppose there had been the breach of any law which yet is not granted except of what was old and obsolete when the Civil themselves might well accomplish it especially on a people who one of the Officers might as well lead as a Regiment that is to say would make no resistance For the times of peace differ things in cases of that nature according to the old maxime Cedant Arma toge Let Arms give place to the Gown that is to the Civil administration of the Law for Arms are not things natural to Law but where the execution of Law by the hand of the ordinary Officer is weak and cannot be by reason of Armed insurrections or designs of War there arms are levied and made use of as things extraordinary as poison in Physick to cut off that exuberance that so the body be not hazarded that the whole part be not endangered according to that saying of the Poet Cuncta prius tentanda sed imedicabile vulnus ense recidendum est ne pars sincera trahatur that is All things are first to be tryed but an incurable wound must be cut off with the sword least the sound part be infected Thus according to your Law But this thou didst not do for as hath been said there was no need of Arms against them who had none whom one Officer might order as well as a thousand as thine own practice mentioned in the ensuing relation hath made good and which is a reproof viz. what thou hast done in the case to thy self And was it not a thing abominable that thou shouldst set the Citizens in Arms to pull their peaceable fellow Citizens from their peaceable meetings waiting on the Lord into Prisons and so to ruine as it might fall out by the tender of the Oath of Alegiance and the prosecution of the penalty on them that could not swear vvhich Oath was not made for such For when it vvas made there was none that could not swear at all But for the Papists it vvas made that could swear but would not swear Alegiance to the King holding the Pope Supreme as the preamble of the Act and the whole reason of it leads and shews Now if thou stumblest at this word peaceable and peaceable meeting so it is and vvill stand for ever and the Lord knows it who will one day plead for us and render unto thee according to thy deeds and this their Neighbours were well satisfied in who when occasion presented cleared them of any thing to the contrary more then once or twice when thou hadst them Jurors that is to say of meeting with force and arms or of being a terror to the people notwithstanding thou industriously sought to and wouldst have had it othervvise And for this purpose bespakest some of the men concerned thy self not like a righteous Judge or Magistrate and contrary to the Law of the Land vvhich is That no man be a prosecutour and a Judge But of this more hereafter Moreover vvas it not a thing most unreasonable that Arms should be required for a people to find and they to be imprisoned for not so doing and to be fined and distresses to be taken for that purpose vvhose principle is not to fight vvho cannot do it in defence of themselves cannot resist evil because of him that hath said I say unto you resist not evil but if the enemy smite thee on the one cheek turn the other Those arms also being made use of to keep them out of their own hired house and to break their meetings waiting upon the Lord and to keep them in prison
thronged at the door of the Hall that the Prisoners could not get in but in the street and about the door were forced to stay in the wet and cold vvho were somewhat in an ill capacity to bear it having been before some of them so long in Prison till thou camest which was about the fourth hour from thy feast where thou hadst the Bishop and the Dean and other of the Clergy to replenish thee and so being fully frought with mischief and envie and prepared as thou thoughtst for thy work and in some kind of certainty in thy self that thou shouldst accomplish thou mountedst thy Throne and thy brethren sate by thee and the Candles being lighted in affectation of the Grand Assizes when Witches are to be tryed thereby to draw the more the wonderment of the people thou didst cause an O Yes to be made and required silence to be kept which thou mightest have forborn for the people in the Hall being willing to hear did of themselves and some of the Prisoners being set to the Bar viz. Thomas Speed Charles Jones and William Taylor who were in one Bill put together an Indictment was read unto them at the Common Law Charging them with being at an Vnlawful Assembly under the pretence and colour of Religion on such a day with force and Arms and to the Terror of the people c. To which they pleaded Not guilty before the Jury which were Thomas Walter Foreman who was Lieutenant to Capt. Adams aforesaid who had the command of the Guard when some of the Prisoners were had from meeting thither and in person with a guard without a Warrant conducted them to Bridewel as hath been said Thomas Ballard Richard Lucket Samuel Lloyd John Towgood waterbayliff one of thy officers Prebend Towgoods Son a bitter enemy of theirs and a man so invenomed and prepared before-hand to make them suffer that when G. Bishop was committed being in the lower Tolzey as he came down out of the Council house he said behind his back after he was passe him in the audience of the people which were many That he hoped to see him hanged who never did him wrong for which the people reproved him and when the Sessions drew near he was so replenished having been as he said with thee and coming then from thee that he could not contain himself but alowd in the Kitching of the new prison and in the presence of some and hearing of other the prisoners in their Chamber over-head vented himself after this manner viz. That he had been with the Major and that he came from him then and that the Major had spoken to him to be one of their Godfathers viz. the Prisoners and that he would warrant he would do their work for them on Tuesday next which was the day or words to that purpose and now it seems was made one of them But William Willett a moderate man was refused by thee though called and present all which shewed what thou intendedst to do and how thou wast a party in this matter for which thou wilt receive thy reward from the hand of the Lord. James Millard William Hartford John Clarke the younger William Holmes Thomas Lewis John Tizon and Thomas Standfast whose father was then a Prebend Having pleaded Not Guilty as aforesaid and sworn the Witnesses were produced which were some of the false sworn men aforesaid in the case of Miles Dixon at the time of their commitment and there was no other viz. Lodowick Poole and _____ Sloper both Serjeants to the Militia and parties who without a warrant with force and arms took them from their peaceable meeting and Tho. Speed from the door of the meeting house at which in the street he was quietly sitting which men passed with thee as good evidence some of these being sworn anew spake what they pleased The Council pleaded against the commitment because it was without a warrant which the witnesses confessed they had not and so not according to due course of Law which was to have been by Civil officers and not by military in time of peace without a warrant and this the Council made out whereby all their work in troubling meetings that were quiet was overthrown which is something for thee and them to remember The Prisoners confessed two of them that they were in the meeting house and the other that he was at the door of the Meeting house in the street sitting quietly having not been in the Meeting house for out of it he and others were kept as aforesaid and they witnessed a good Confession as he did then before Pontius Pilate that is gone before and acknowledged the matter and spake of the ground upon which they did it And one of them viz. Tho. Speed delivered it to the Jury in these or words to this purpose To you that are our Neighbours and fellow Citizens of the Jury I have a few words to offer we might justly except against some of you as men unfit to pass upon our liberties or estates and particularly against thee John Towgood vvho didst lately speak things touching us not fit to be named in this Court but we freely forgive thee and desire the Lord to forgive thee also to whom we commit our selves and our cause That we were at a meeting in Broad-mead the place expressed in our Indictment we may not deny but do confesse being there in the fear of the Lord and in good will towards all men in good will to the King against whom we are accused to be trespassers to vvhom from our hearts we vvish this happiness That he may so reign and rule in the fear of God that he may live in his favour and die in his peace and may have a habitation with him when time shall be no more You have families relations and estates we have families relations and estates vveigh well out of all prejudice and consider what you are now about to do as touching us Suppose with your selves that the verdict you are now going about to consult of may be the last that ever you may give in in this would and that when you have brought in your Verdict on us you your selves should immediately appear before the high Tribunal of the God of Heaven go therefore and do that wherein you may have peace with your maker when you shall go hence and be seen no more And so said it on the Consciences of the Jury whether that were any breach of the peace nor indeed was there any proof that the peace was broken on their part nor was it or that their being there was vvith force and arms or to the terror of the people but the force and arms was on the other part who by force and arms contrary to law had to the Terror of many that were not of us thus taken them away Hereupon the Jury after some time brought in their verdict not guilty of force and arms and to the terrour of the
people but guilty of an unlawful assembly with which thou being not satisfied they withdrew again and thus delivered themselves Not guilty according to the Inditement This gave so great a satisfaction to the Hall and the generality of the people that were therein which was very many that some manifestation thereof was given the people then present being glad in their hearts that innocent men and such as these were and those unto whom they appertained were not found guiltie and that the City thereby so far was unconcerned in a verdict against them it being to their great grief and consternation of spirit that such men for their Consciences should be thus put upon the wrack and sought to be destroyed but this their joy and gladness of spirit vexed thee to the very heart that thou wast so baffled which thou couldst not forbear to manifest and so to prove undeniably thy self what hath been here asserted viz. that thou designedly soughtst their suffering for upon the general shew that past the Hall upon the publication of the verdict as aforesaid thou as a man sensible of thy disappointment in that which thou hadst so designed and laboured to accomplish couldst not contain thy self such was the over-ruling hand of the Almighty for his truth and his people that in vehement passion as a man concerned in the contrary and so didst appear as an unjust Judge which sought the suffering of the Prisoners and was not indifferent which a righteous Judge ought to be and rather inclining which the law doth to the acquitment than to the suffering of the Prisoners saidst tthou couldst not endure to sit there and see thy Sovereigns Laws trampled under soot or words to that purpose who didst trample thy Soveraigns laws under foot in seeking to make them to suffer who by thy Sovereigns laws were acquitted and so didst demand of them whether they would take the oath of allegiance which thou before toldest them thou wouldst do if the Jury did acquit them but in this thou wast disappointed also for the rest of the Justices would not yield to it as judging it a thing unreasonable then to put the Oath to them when they vvere cleared of vvhat they stood indited by their Countrey This dissatisfied the Hall exceedingly to see thee sitting on the Bench as Judge to act so contrary to Justice for thou shouldst rather have shewn thy self as glad of their liberty the law acquitting them hadst thou been unconcerned than to have manifested thy desire to have had them to suffer and hadst thou been a wise man in thy generation thou wouldst have so done But oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments and his wayes past finding out he knew thy heart and therefore would not suffer thy fig-leaves to cover thee but brought thee forth stark naked to the worlds view in thy Wolfs dresse and then stop'd thee in thy course so that thou couldst not neither prevail in this of the oath yet their liberty thou didst detain who should have been acquitted and to the next day adjournedst them yet neither then nor to this day suffered he thee to have what thou wouldest upon them who bore Testimony to his name for which we glorifie his name for ever Thus passed the proceedings of the first day the next day being the 13th of the 11th month George Bishop Edward Pyot John Gibbons Nehemiah Pool George Oliver Thomas Morris James Sterridge Benjamin Cottle and John Spoor were set to the Bar and an Inditement of the same nature exhibited against them before the Jury who were Richard Codrington foreman Francis Little John Clark the elder William Loop Hump. Barecroft Walter Payne Thomas Wright Peter Rosewell John Collins Dep. Marshall John Bradford Roger Willoughby and Rich. Legg and they were demanded to answer guiltie or not guiltie to which they pleaded not guilty of the Inditement in manner and form as was therein expressed which their plea being entred the Town Clerk asked them whether they would proceed to Tryal now or traverse it they answered presently if they pleased so the witnesses were called to prove them at the meeting and thou calledst for the Depositions that were taken at their commitment as if thou wouldst have had them read the Prisoners said that there must be nothing produced in Court but viva voce by word of mouth the Town Clark said to thee it was so whereupon the reading of them was forborn the witnesses then being called upon to be sworn the prisoners desired that it might be a little laid aside because they had somewhat to say which happily might save them some labour and so they began and said and confessed that they were at the meeting in Broad mead and upon the day mentioned in the Inditement and that they were there to wait upon the Lord and in obedience to him and to testifie to his sovereignty over the Consciences of men as to worship who was Lord of all and soveraign in the conscience who was a spirit and would be worshipped in spirit and in truth not at Jerusalem nor in this mountain as Christ said to the woman of Samaria and that such the Father sought to worship him whose fear towards him is not to be taught by the precepts of men and so began to shew and would have done from the three childrens time and so throughout all Histories to this day how that there were a people that bowed not to the worships of the times but gave testimony unto and sealed with their blood the dominion that is everlasting in the Conscience and the soveraignty of him there who is Lord of all against the laws of men that sought to infringe and did usurp upon his dominion in the conscience who lives for ever and would have given reason and undeniable demonstration for this and have made it out but thou interruptedst them and wouldst not suffer them to speak but with much vehemency didst cry out that thou couldst not endure to sit there and hear a Religion instilled into the Court a Religion contrary to the laws of the Kingdome and that the laws of England were the supreme Conscience of England and suffered them not to speak further as to this ground or reason of their so being there though the attention of the Hall was very great and in deep silence though very full being willing to hear that great point opened viz. the soveraignty of God in the conscience as to worship which was so near to them all for conscience is in every man and every man would worship God according to his Conscience and would not have it dealt withall nor thou thy self to the witnesse of God in thee we speak as thou didst to them This being the matter so much in controversie onely they had so much liberty further to speak and to shew that their meeting was not in contempt of the lawes or with force and arms to
viz. the sending of all away notwithstanding all this bussle and the violence of some of thy Officers particularly John Jones thy Sergeant vvho because Thomas Winfield answered not presently his Command to come down he violently threw him down the stairs from top to bottome with such a fall as had like to have spoiled him the fear whereof seized on many thus breaking of the peace above whilest thou wast below as seeming to sit and keep it yet we say thou didst not accomplish thine end to put up all and so to make clear work for though thou sentest away of Men Women to Newgate 24. and to Bridewel about one hundred forty and six and satest at it so long yet thou wast forced to arise and depart as a man quite tired saying Thou couldest do no more and so there was many of whom thou tookest no notice So thou hadst thy Belly full of Prey this day and as great an opportunity in this kind against the Innocent as thine heart could wish and with thine hands thou didst the desire of thine heart till thou couldst do no more for which the Lord vvill give thee thy reward even blood to drink for thou art worthy and in the Cup wherein thou hast filled shalt thou be filled double as John saw in his Revelations who prophecied of thy day in the fall of Babilon who had made he self drunk with the blood of the Saints and Martyrs of Iesus Rev. 18.6 In the cup which she hath filled to you fill to her double saith he vvhich shall be thy portion from the hand of the Lord except thou repent And now the City was full of sorrow and much trouble affected the sober people therein vvho before never saw such a day nor heard of in Bristol vvherein their quiet peaceable sober innocent and substantial fellow-Citizens were thrust in heaps into holes after such a manner for their Conscience Bridewel being full of them like the place of a great Fair five and fifty Women in Bridewel not having above four or five beds to lie on about the Bed of vvhich in one Chamber lay about 30 on the form and floor which by reason of the uncleanness of that house in many places of it being cast in there in such numbers on a suddain so that the house could not be cleansed before vvas so filled with vermine that through the going up and down of such multitudes in every place vvho in a manner filled every place was contracted so that sleep could not rest in the eyes of many who had not been exercised vvith such hard lodging and troublesome guests Who were people of Quality many of them and Credit and lived otherwise in the world And in Newgate several such viz. some Merchants some Shop-keepers were constrained to lie on straw that night above Twenty lying in the Circumference of one narrow place for such a number called the Traytors ward and indeed that prison was so full what with our friends before and now committed and what with old and new debtors and felons the time of the Asizes and Gaol delivery drawing on that they were cast thicker in proportion than a man that had regard to his creatures would put his dogs and swine as if so be thou intendedst by infection to have dispatcht them in that noysome hole which is scarce fit for dogs much lest for men such men as they were and had been bred and lived though thou thereby shouldst hazzard thy self the City it being the hot season of the year and in that respect the more dangerous much like to Nero whom Histories report to have caused Rome to be set on fire in several places whilest he standing on a Tower with his Musitians made sport thereat Yet this effected not what thou thoughtst to bring to pass viz. by these things to withdraw the love of the City from us or to deter them from their visiting of us for it increased their love and people by heaps came to visit those of us whom thou hadst cast into prison some by the sixth hour in the next morning were there to visit them viz. at Bridewell and by continual entercourse both there and at Newgate and expressions of their love shewed how much their hearts were touched with their sufferings and let us tell thee it reached further than any thing of this nature had reached before and many were pained at the heart and knew not vvhat to doe such large furrows had these thy cruelties made upon their souls vvhich shevved thee an unwise man in thy Generation thus to Act raising the fire so much the more vvhich thou soughtest hereby to quench and making those the more considerable and to have a deeper root in the City then ever whom thou wouldest and endeavourdest to have rooted out for as was wrote thee aforesaid they being interwoven in the City as a mans spirit is in his flesh and his flesh in his body the suffering of them proved as a mans flesh in his body and his spirit in his flesh and thou camest to be abhorred hereby and thy name to be as stink in the City which as it never before saw such heaps of violence So it never hated a man more that thus did exercise it and so whilest ages and generations lasts this thy work will be thy shame and in the perpetual Monuments of time will brand thy name with ignominy for ever Thou shalt not avoid it except thou repent Nor was it onely in Bristol that these things thus ran but in the Countrey about and in London yea throughout England which whilest it generally stood in a modest sensibility and loathness to such Acts as these had the leisure to hear the sound of these cruelties and to abhor thee so that thou becamest the general talk in City and Country especially at London and not without the like at Court which thought thee hadst gon beyond the limit of the discresion of their affaires and mad man like hadst set all on fire when as two or three sticks some of the principle of them as the Law directs might have tried how that smoak would have proved and ' its like thou hadst no thanks from thence for so doing Yet the Lord was with his people who kept them in prison amidst all these sufferings praising and glorifying his name as he was with them at the meetings and in the sence of his presence gave them the seale of his Apobation that that their testimony to him was accepable in his sight and that they bore testimony to him Whose Names are Newgate Men. Thomas Gouldney Charls Jones Miles Dixin Charls Harvord Will. Taylor Rich. Marsh Will. Taylor of the Castle George Gough Rich. Snead Rich. Belshar Hen. Dedicote Jos Owen John Cole Andrew Sole Erasin Dole John Hunt 16. Women Mary Gouldney Eliz. Pyet Magd. Love Ann Sole Joyce Dole Eliz. Moore Eliz. Gibbons Joan Hiley 8 24 in all Bridewell Men. John Moon John Batho Thomas Lewis Nath.
Day Edw. Bifield John Neeves Will. Davis John Ivear John Dole Ben. Maynard Rich. Gotly Phil. Cook Hen. Moor Rich. Nelson Hugh Hobhouse Tob. Dole Thomas Hilman John Bedford Charls Sanders Jer. Hignell Rog. Oldstone Liming Dickason Will. Noble Will. Hill Art Hyat Iohn Summers Rob. Summers Rowl Dole Nath. Allin Sam. Gibbons Charls Bowen Dan. Gibbons Edw. Payne Iam. Slaughter Rich. Horsman Iohn Styant Iohn Saunders Iohn Cox Ed. Daniel Rob. Weale Iohn Neve Thomas Whitturne Will. Wells Will. Tippet Will. Peachy Sim. Cadle Isa Partridge Cananuel Britten Iohn Price Lew. Rogers Iohn Herne Griff. Bowine Iohn Martin Sam. Rogers Tho. Lofty Will. Cawson Iarvis Wallis Iohn Crump Robert Gerish Iames Toghill Morris Williams Bern. Lidman Anistop Bennet Rich. Griffen William Lane Sim. Potter Iohn Morgan Iohn Hart Will. Maynard Will. Blackway Iohn Bennet Tho. Bowes Tim. Hardiman Tho. Bayly Will. Atkins Rich. Moor Tho. Winfield Bartho Crocker Richard Willis Tho. Stockman Will. Collins Iohn Warwick Tho. Window Calib Hill Step. Cormell Will. Gotby William Williams Will. Saweer Iohn Love Abra. Cole Tho. Watkins 91 Women Mary Prince Han. Iordan Mary North Susan Pearson Mary Nokes Eliz. Sturridge Eliz. Iaques alias Iackson Gartrude Boyte Elen Cole Ioan Tucker Ann Chaffin Ruth Davis Marg. Thomas Mary Naylor Ann Brinckworth Sara Cattle Fran. Styant Ione Holister Dor. Lord Ann Phillips Ione Lippiat Eliz. Child Alice Norden Briget Francis Mary Cole Elen Maud Eliz. Maynard Brightward Geffries Hest Reinolds Briget Wory Mary Turner Mary Hampton Ione Willy Kath. Davis Eliz Morgan Ione Williams Fran. Hobhouse Han. Pitt Ann Bateman Sara Maynard Mary Neve Mary Rice Ione Iones Kath. Hughes Susan Gotby Mary Willis Ioan Weale Barb. Blackdown 48 More were committed of the women which made the number 55. whose names the Mittimus had not who before the mittimus or warrent came might be at liberty for it came not till the 18th of the same month and then it was to keep them Prisoners till the 3d of the 6th month called August following at which time they were set at liberty the Warrant being not to suffer any during that time to joyn with them under the pretence of the exercise of their Religion under the penalty of the Act. Signed John Knight Mayor John Lock John Lawford The next day being the 4th of 5th month thy Sergeant Jones and the Town Clerks man came both to Newgate and to Bridewell and demanded of them to pay 2 s. 6 d. a piece who the day before were fined many of them 6 d. each and committed for non-payment as many were who were not fined at all nor asked to pay as aforesaid and so were fined twice for one offence and committed twice and some committed and then fined and committed and this is the manner of thy wild proceedings which said fine each refusing to pay were committed as aforesaid the Tenor of the Warrant or rather Mittimus for this was not like a warrant though it should have been a warrant according to the Act being the same in both places and coming as aforesaid which hath been a usual thing with thee though without it there is no legal commitment and an Action lies against the Sheriff for so detaining them yea some hereafter to be mentioned were committed and confined many dayes Prisoners and no Warrant of Commitment to this day being contrary to Law yea after thou wast out of thy year several dayes came a Warrant to Newgate for the last 22 committed thither before the expiration of thy Government and what if it were signed John Knight Mayor after thy date was out And this is the trade and this is the work thou drivest at Bristol than which what more arbitrary and this is thy conscience to the Law to the execution of the Law unto which thou pretendest When thou art spoken to about this cruel persecution O the Law sayest thou my oath I must execute the Law I cannot help it I am sorry for it for Gods sake consider of it and do not ruin your selves which if it were a truth it would as well extend to Prisoners under the restraint of the law or rather thine own under the pretence of the Law for Conscience rightly informed and working as it should works uprightly to the one as to the other but these are but shifts of thine by which thou wouldst make people to believe such as are so weak so to do and there are but few of them in this City as if Conscience sate at the Helm and steered these proceedings and that nothing but Conscience was the cause of what thou doest unto us who suffer for our Conscience Now Conscience is not against Conscience vvhere indeed it is so but vvhat Conscience thou hast is in part already manifest and shall further be demonstrated ere we have done vvith this Relation for vvhich purpose viz. to make manifest to thee thine own vvork and to bring it back again upon thee it vvas in part undertaken To give one instance before we go any further in the Case of Mary Gouldney vvhose mother and thine vvere own sisters as thou knovvest and hovv her mother vvas as a Nurse unto thee for her Conscience thou committedst her and her husband T. Gouldney both on the day aforesaid who have as thou also knowest a Shop and great Trade as to Grocery and several children It so fell out that a relation of hers unknown to her laid down half a crown which thou hadst fined her whereupon she was ordered to be set at liberty with which she not being satisfied but fearing some underhand work took the under-keeper with her and went down to thy house and understanding there by thee how the fine was paid and that it stood as her first Conviction being without her knowledge and consent for to consent was all one as to pay it and thereby she should have made her self a Transgressor and by her own action have spoiled her Testimony she declared it to thee and demanded the money to be deliver'd back again which being done thou wast so unconscionable to her who did what she did in tenderness of Conscience lest sheshould sin against the Lord rather than do which she vvillingly offered up what she had in this World that thou deniedst her the liberty to walk sometimes in her own Garden vvhich vvas near the Prison there being no out-let to the Prison vvhich ought to be for the health of the Prisioners for her Milk sake vvho vvas a Nurse to her little Boy it being hot Weather vvhen she asked it of Thee No not for 500 l. thou vvouldst not do it saidst thou to the Keepers Wife and to John Saunders his Wife vvho spake to thee about it not for 300 l. vvhen she vvas vvith Thee about her husband John Saunders his liberty vvho vvas a Grocer also and a man of much business and had many children though her Father Alderman Deyes was thy Mothers own Brother and bred thee up nor vvouldst thou do any
instructed in the case of the Prisoners that they departed before they had heard and would not return to hear what they had to say in their own behalves as aforesaid though they did not understand to vvhich the Town-Clerk reply'd to this purpose That it vvas not against any Statute but the Common Law Nevertheless the Lord over-ruled him and them having a regard to his Name and People who were Innocent of any such thing as force and armes c. both in heart and hand in principle and practice vvhich thou endeavouredst still notwithstanding to fix upon them We say the Lord over-ruled them so as that they brought in a verdict in Writing as the Prisoners heard for they saw not the Jury nor heard what they delivered which ought to have been otherwise to this purpose Guilty of an unlawful meeting but not of force and arms and to the terror of the people The same in effect as had been by all the Juries in their Verdicts as aforesaid The Prisoners understanding that a Verdict was delivered demanded What it was The Clerk answered Guilty of an unlawful assembly They said They understood it was also but not of force and Arms c. He answered It was force and arms by consequence being found an Vnlawful assembly the same which thou hadst answered in the like case before for the Clerk is but the servant of the Court But you are mistaken in the Point as before in the case of Geo. Bishop Edw. Pyott c. is declared at large Then thou didst fine them 10 s. a piece and committedst them to Prison till payment Now the Letter wherein their hard usage was rehearsed to thee of which something hath been hinted was as followeth Friend I Am constrained for the clearing of my Conscience towards God and towards Man to write these few lines unto thee in regard that on the 12th of this instant I with many more of my friends were called before thee at the Quarter-Sessions being a full moneth and more in Prison for no other cause but for being at a Meeting to Worship the Lord who will be worshipped in Spirit and in Truth out of which all the Worlds Worships are We being then willing to come to our Tryal expecting that we should have been fairely delt withall and we have refer'd our cause to that of God in our Juries consciences which we knew right well would have given Virdict according to the righteous Law which ought to be a Perfect guide to all men but they being incensed by thy many false accusations and the false evidence given by thy servants carried them I mean the Jury probably to manifest themselves so wickedly and so unreasonable towards us For was it ever known that a Jury should refuse to hear the Prisonners or that a Magistrate should suffer a Jury to deale so wickedly and unreasonably contrary to Law since that it was so much desired by my selfe and others which had very much to say to them Was it not like that thou and they were agreed to ensnare the innocent Thinkest thou that the Lord will not visit for these things and that the wicked shall goe unpunished Is this for the Honour of the King or shall it be laid to his charge Remember how thy servants when they gave evidence against us how on their Oathes that they said that they made Proclamation twice in thy Name and thou reprovest them and said they should have done it in the Kings Name Yet when we were brought to our Tryal they on their Oath 's said It was in the Kings Name I declared their deceit to thee thou end eadeavourest to blinde it over by thy consequences declaredst that they being thy Officers and thou being a Subordinate Magistrate under him they declaring in thy Name it was in the Kings Name but these things will not hide thee neither doe I believe that the King will own the evil actions of evil Magistrates which by such evil consequence might be turned upon him but the Lord will in his time finde you out and make you manifest and plead the cause of the innocent in righteousness and avenge himselfe of of his enemies Friend It is well known that we are a people which are of a good life and conversation in this City and thou in thy conscience knows that we have not as to the Common Law deserved either bonds or imprisonments but if for conscience sake we must suffer it is not more then we can exspect from the unrighteous and the disobedient for they always did so and by that character are they known for saith Christ They shall hall yee out of the Synagogues and persecute and dispitefully use you and speak all manner of evil against you for my Names sake and he that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution Did ever the righteous persecute search the Scriptures and be not deceived Was it not he that was born after the flesh that persecuted him that was born after the spirit And was not he that was born after the flesh an envier and a murderer a scoffer and a scorner and a persecutor And is it not so now and was not hee that was born after the spirit Meek and Gentle and of a Lowly heart being persecuted suffered it resisting not evil but doing good for evil Search thy selfe and trie which of these states are thine for assuredly the day will come when thou shalt not hide thy selfe in pretenching only that thou art sworn to keep the Kings Laws and to put them in executions But what Laws is it that thou puttest in execution How doth wickedness abound in this City even almost all manner of profaness How doth Oathes sound in the streets How doe Drunkards reile from Alehouse to Tavern and Alehouses and Taverns and Kettle Allies swarm with profane Persons Take heed that thou art not found to turn the edge of the sword which is for the wicked and for the transgressor against the righteous and so bring innocent blood on thine own head for thou mayst remember that when thou wast speaking of the Law thou saidst it was grounded upon the Scripture then consider our indictment was not proved against us for it was false we having no force of Armes neither was we a terrour to any people and as for our meetings we know rightwel it is according to the will of God and agreeable to the Scriptures it was the practice of the S t s of old who met often together in private houses and in the fields and on the mountaines in season and out of season for the edifying of the body not having any regard to the worshipping in Temples and Synagogues which Christ prophesied against But one thing more concerning our Tryal Is it not according to the Law that the Iury should have given their Verdict in open Court in our hearing and so have been Recorded but it we never heard neither did they all appear in open Court when the
the Terrour of the people it being a thing contrary to their principle and practice So the witnesses were sworn and examined who testified that they were at the meeting at such a place and at such a time but as to force and armes c. proved nothing for though thy Sergeant Jones would needs have argued the matter being put upon it by thee in the Court and no doubt had before received from thee his instruction and thus would have brought it about viz. that it was a Terrour to him to see the Kings laws broken and he thought it being so with him that it could not but be so to every good subject or words to this purpose which signified nothing for it was pleading and so he was told that he pleaded and so his testimony in that particular signified not for thereby he shewed himself a party and not a witness who ought to be a person in his Testimony leaning to neither side but declaring the certain truth in certain words and not by argumentation and so to leave it to the Court. And though thou endeavouredst to make something of the Testimony that was against one Samuel James who coming up the stairs at the time when thy Sergeant Jones aforesaid and and the Musqueteers were at the meeting aforesaid and being presently commanded down and he not in the very minute observing it but looking about him being somewhat agast at that unusual company was endeavoured to be knocked down the stairs so musquets being about his ears and many men upon him and he not knowing what they meant to do with him it seems as the witnesse swore he laid hands on one of the souldiers sword in the scabbard and endeavoured to draw it which thou wouldst have converted as an act of theirs and so wouldst have had it to bear the interpretation of a Riot which no doubt was the reason why thou causedst them to be indicted on that dayes meeting and not on that in the street at which they were taken when last committed But this proved not to thy purpose for unawares its like in thee but otherwise in the ordering of the Lord thou droppedst this word when the matter was in Examination speaking of James and what he was a Ranter saidst thou which was observed afterwards by the Prisoners to the Jury besides it could not bear such an interpretation in Reason or Equity that a mans action and what the action was hath been said in a publick meeting where none are kept out who was none of the people which usually there met should be attributed to be the Action of that people whose principle and practice is contrary to to that action and who owned it not nor abetted it and it being transient not between those people and him or he and those people with the officers but between the officers and him and that chiefly down the stairs and in a lower room where they say the sword was endeavoured to be drawn by him not in the place where those people were met But this strained interpretation would serve for little else than to shew how eager thou wast and industrious to find something that indeed might have a reflection upon them so the matters being turned up and down and many things being spoken the Jury came at length to be addressed unto to whom the prisoners summed up the Evidence and repeated how that nothing of force and arms was proved against them for there was indeed none and how that that of James had no other reflection nor could have but as between himself and the officers the Mayor himself as was said to them telling them that he was a Ranter and so none of those people and how that their having been at the meeting they had confessed and upon what ground viz. that it was in obedience to the Lord and not in contempt to them or to the Law moreover that they had considered of the matter and if any thing on this side their peace with the Lord would have done it they had not been at that which vvas the occasion of their being thus brought thither that the son of God was the soveraign of the Conscience and the worship of the Father was in spirit and truth and his fear was not to be taught by the precepts of men but here thou interruptedst him that spake which was G. B. of that any further but he turning to the Juay said to them Neighbours and Friends we have nothing now to do with these and so turned his hand to the Court and to you I shall speak you have Consciences of your own according unto which you would worship God and you would not take it well if some such thing as hath been done and is now doing to us should be done to you for worshipping God according to your Conscience Now what saith the Judge of all whatsoever yee would that men should do unto you do even the same unto them for this is the law and the Prophets And so I shall leave you Edward Pyot also spake to the Jury and said you by the Court are made our Judges and the matter of fact for which we are called in question this day is nothing criminal nor any matter of dishonesty but onely for our meeting together in the worship and service of God and nothing more than barely meeting together is proved against us to which our selves have confessed before proof vvas made and as our meeting together in such manner and to such ends as is declared in the Inditement hath been by us denied so it is altogether without proof to you that which you are chiefly to consider of in order to your verdict is whether or not we were met together in manner and form according as is declared in the Inditement As to the manner of our meeting it was not with force and armes as you your selves in your own consciences know but we meet together in the fear of the Lord and to no other end than onely in Gods Worship and Service and therefore take heed what you do lest you be found striving against the Lord for God vvill be worshipped and served as himself pleaseth and by his own direction and prescription in spirit and in truth and not as man pleaseth nor by mens prescriptions and directions for things may be highly esteemed amongst men which are abomination in the sight of God and it is not in the power of any Creature to prescribe to his maker how his maker shall be served and worshipped It is enough for the greatest of men to prescribe their own Homage and to direct their own service and to leave that which concerns the worship and service of God unto God himself and to his own prescription and direction who alone is Law-giver to all and the Judge over all in all the matters and things which concerns his own vvorship and service and vvhom we chuse to obey rather then men Here thou rosest from thy seat