Selected quad for the lemma: law_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
law_n	judge_n	king_n	people_n	8,480	5	5.1510	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A65857	The conscientious cause of the sufferers, called Quakers pleaded and expostulated with their oppressors in this nation of England, and particularly in and about the city of London : and those in power that go about to transport, banish, or suppress them for their meetings, innocently informed, and impartially cautioned, from the innocent and oppressed seed of God, which herein calls for justice and equity, and utterly exclaims against severity and persecution for matters of conscience or religion : wherein first and principally is shewed, the use and end of the publick assemblies of the said sufferers, in answer to several objections against them, 1. with respect to their conscientiousness, as it being their duty to meet, 2. with respect to their innocency and peaceable deportment both to the nation and government therein / by G.W.	Whitehead, George, 1636?-1723.	1664 (1664)	Wing W1918; ESTC R20036	11,816	16

be to God you have no such thing of any criminal matter against us in this case whatever you pretend for 't is evident we suffer for a matter of Conscience towards God and for his Worship though you would not be seen to persecute us upon that account but some of you would surmise some criminal matter or heineous things against us which you had never any proof or evidence of but only your suppositions of what may be So let the Righteous God and his Witness in your consciences judge between you and us in this matter but we see that such as persecute tender consciences are no competent judges in consciencious matters And it will neither be the pretence of Law or of Order from the King or of doing his Service as some have pretended that will excuse you in Persecuting or going about to Exile an Innocent People For as you ought to do Justice equal Law and Right and to judge for God and not for man so not to impugn the Law of God by any Law or Order from man whatsoever for Gods Law hath no man of what estate or degree soever power to dispense withal nor ought any Law or proceedings of man to oppose or contradict the Law of God which we own and this hath been owned as a maxim both in Law and Divinity that whatsoever Laws are Contra Verbum Dei be void As also the Judges or King's Justices so called ought not to proceed against Innocent men either to banish or otherwise to oppress them either under pretence of obedience to him or otherwise but truly to counsel and warn the King for the best both for his own and the Nations good and not to joyn or assent to him in any thing or commandment which may turn to his damage or debar the Subjects of having Justice or Right done them but lawfully to counsel him to the contrary if they shall have occasion therein from him and this is according to their own Law see the King's Judges Oath Anno. 18. Edw. 3. Stat. 3. viz. Ye shall swear That well and lawfully ye shall serve our Sovereign Lord the King and his People in the Office of Justice and that lawfully ye shall counsel the King in his business and that ye shall not counsel nor assent to any thing which may turn him to damage or disherison by any manner way or colour And that ye shall not know the damage or disherison of him whereof ye shall not do him to be warned by your self or by other And that ye shall do even Law and execution of Right to all his Subjects Rich and Poor without having regard to any person And Stat. 20. Edw. 3. c. 1. We have commanded all our Justices that they shall from henceforth do even Law and execution of Right to all our Subjects rich and poor without having regard to any person and without letting to do Right for any Letters or Commandment which may come to them from us or from any other or by any other cause As also according to the Petition of Right which K. Charles the first Anno 3. fully assented to the Parliament or Nations Request for Right to be done upon their complaint of some violation done against the Fundamental Laws of the Land Is it not apparent therein that according to Magna Charta or the great Charter of the Liberties of England provision is made That no Free-man shall be taken or Imprisoned or Disseised of his Free-hold Liberties or Free-Customes or be Out-law'd or Exiled or in any manner destroyed but by the lawful judgment of his Peers or by the Law of the Land c. As also in the said Petition mention is made that in the 28th year of King Edw. 3d. it was declared and enacted by Authority of Parliament That no man of what Estate or condition that he be should be put out of Land or Tenements nor taken nor Imprisoned nor disherited nor put to death without being brought to answer by due Process of Law c. Complaint hereupon was That divers of his Subject were Imprisoned without any cause shewed but when they were brought before his Justices to undergo as the Court should order no cause was certified of their detainer by the Keepers but that they were detained by his Majesties special command c. And now but compare the present proceedings against us with Magna Charta the Petition of Right and the Fundamental Laws of the Land and the Reason thereof which they are said to be grounded upon and see how they 'l hold parallel For how many of the harmless Innocent People of God particularly in and about this City of London are haled by violence out of their peaceable Meetings and sent to Prison for certain dayes many times without any further Tryal till they be tried for the third supposed Offence that they are accounted to deserve Exilement or Transportation without any just cause or criminal matter being shewed against them of any injury or offence done by them or proof of any transgression of any Just or Righteous Law whatsoever but a late Act which is said in the Title and Preamble to be made to prevent and suppress Seditious Conventicles and for the providing speedy remedies against the growing and dangerous practises of such who under pretence of tender consciences do at their Meetings contrive Insurrections c. Which doth not at all reach us nor ought in either Equity or Reason to be prosecuted against us for seeing the Law of the Land is said to be grounded upon Reason and to receive principally its grounds from the Laws of God and the Law of Reason and Reason the life of the Law See 28. Hen. 8. ch 7. Prisot Doct. St. lib. 1. ch 6. Co. 3. 46. Fi. 3. Dalt Just. Pas. and nihil quod est inconveniens est licitum as also nihil quod est contra rationem est licitum See Cooks Commentaries upon Littleton p. 106. Confider can that be truly said to be the Law of the Land which in the prosecution contradicteth both Reason and Law and on that consideration especially is repugnant to the Fundamental Laws and debars the Subject of having due Process according to the Ancient Law of the Land which requires that No Free-man shall be Imprisoned Exiled c. without due Process fair and legal Examination and Tryal and lawful Judgment of his Equals or Verdict of twelve lawful honest and competent men c. See 37. Ed. 3. ch 8. and 28. Ed. 3. chap. 3. and 42. Ed. 3. ch 3. and Cook 2d part Inst. pag. 49. and 50. But this manner of proceeding as is now against Innocent men and persons to imprisoning and banishing them out of the Nation is both inconvenient and prejudicial to the Nation many wayes though they whose hearts are hardened in sin and emnity will not see it but whilst our Plea for Right by the Law as Subjects may not be heard I shall say the less

upon that account and refer our Case to mens Consciences in the sight of God And we find that those chiefly set themselves against us as to profecute and sentence us are so far from being impartial and competent in their proceedings or our Peers or Equals that they are both in prejudice and emnity against us and want the Moderation and Reason as to suffer us to have a fair tryal according to the very reason form and letter of their own Law who reckon they have enough proved against us for conviction if it be proved that there was any Religious Exercise in our Meeting as Preaching Praying c. not questioning whether the Exercise was true according to the Scripture or Saints practices in it self Yea or Nay and yet when it is laid home upon them that we suffer for worshipping God according to our consciences and his requirings they would not hear of that but charge us with Obstinacy Sedition Rebellion or the like in our Meeting wherein we are apparently injured as also sometimes when there can be no proof made of any exercise of Religion nor colour or pretence thereof in our Meetings but we are taken in silence wherein our minds are often exercised towards God simply without any such outward colour or pretence as they would accuse us of Thus our being taken simply in a Meeting in silence they proceed against us for in order to Banishment Let the Prudent judge of these things And whereas sometimes the Soldiers or Red-coats and sometimes Halbert-men and other persons who have violently haled us out of our Meetings and guarded us with Musquets and Halberts c. to Prisons and of late some of Newgate Goalers are made use of to inform and give Evidence against us These and such mercenary men we cannot look upon to be any competent or impartial Witnesses And some of the Magistrates so far debase themselves as to come in person to Meetings as the Mayor R. Brown c. to break them up from thence supposing their seeing us met to be the notorious Evidence of the Fact and thereupon causing Innocent persons to be driven both men and women to Newgate or other Prisons like Sheep to the slaughter when no evil harm or prejudice they could ever yet prove by our Meetings that ever they produced yet notwithstanding they hasten their work to rid the Nation of us and so bring peaceable honest men into competition with Thieves Felons or such like who sometimes after they are condemned are reprieved to be sent over Sea to save them from hanging And many others of our Friends upon their Imprisonment being crouded up so many together in a noysome Prison have been so stifled and oppressed in their natural spirits and vitals not having room enough to lye down in and many have been forced to walk all night without upon Newgate on the Leads divers times the Prison being crowded so full that presently after they have been let out of Prison have sickened and dyed as did many both men and women in this year 1664. and some in Prison besides many that died Prisoners in the year 1662. And now you that are so eager or forward in sending so many innocent persons to Prisons without either respect to sex or shewing so much as natural affection Is it not high time to lay this Oppression to heart Is this the Priviledge of Free-born Englishmen and women that fear and worship God thus to be oppressed stifled or destroyed or any of them exiled or banished Do you do as you would be done by What is all Tenderness Compassion and bowels of Mercy lost amongst you that such inhumanity and cruelty it self appears against your fellow creatures who when you have cast them into Holes and Prisons into the hands of hard-hearted men who can cast them into what holes they please either among the rude Felons to be abused or into as bad as they can find to put men into as some of us have sometime been used when we could not gratifie the Goalers covetous and unreasonable demands then some of you care not or take no notice what becomes of these innocent Sufferers though some others in Authority that are more moderate may be a little touched sometime when these things are laid before them O! what a blemish is this Cruelty to this Nation and this Persecution and greivous Oppression to the profession of Christianity Oh! the Righteous God takes notice and will visit for these proceedings O you that persecute the Innocent in this wise whom you have nothing against but what concerns the Law of their God as the more it will appear and be sounded out the more we suffer for the same and the lowder will the cry of this greivous Oppression be Repent Repent and remember your latter end who have a hand in this work against us for you must dye like men and your Pomp must come to the grave you being but men and not God who ought not to assume his Prerogative upon you as to seek to lord and rule over mens Consciences by carnal Force or Impositions by pretence of penal Laws or otherwise And this Hard-heartedness Cruelty Persecution Oppression and inhumane proceeding and going about to exile or destroy a People or Persons for their Religion and Conscience is never the way to perswade or make us believe that you are Members of the True Church nor to induce any that are rational to comply with you or conform to you in your way or worship neither will Violence Oppression Take him away Goaler Banishing or threatning Hanging against men that are conscientious towards God ever prove any effectual Argument for you to end the Controversie that 's now in hand nor ever to make your Church glorious or renowned for we cannot believe that a Persecuting-Church is a True Church for from whence sprung and broke forth this Imprisoning Persecution and Hatred for matters of Religion and Conscience but from Devil Cain false Prophet Antichrist Whore Beast and Dragon and not from the Christian Spirit in the true Church and Saints And the like proceedings as are now we find mentioned in the large Volumn of the Book of Martyrs pag. 431. in King Richard the 2d's time from Pope Gregory in his Bull against John Wickliff where in several things he dissented from the Church of Rome where the Pope in his Bull directed to his Sons the Chancellor and University of Oxford Commanding them that they should not suffer his pestilent Heresies and subtil and false Conclusions and Propositions as he called them any longer to be disputed or brought in question and that they apprehend immediately the said John Wickliff and deliver him to be detained in the safe custody of the Pope's welbeloved brethren the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London or either of them c. and in like manner to apprehend those that were corrupted with his Errors that should obstinately stand in them as he said And is not