the Spirits of men and was of savour and sound judgment though in weaknesse of the man-hood expressed for he answered not mens Wisdom in excellent stile of words but the witnesse of God in sincerity of speech he was a Person of sound judgment in divine Mysteries and of good experience in the operations of the power of God and knew the passing through divers conditions of the inward man and was able to speak to many estates of man passing under the dispensations of the Grace of God he could well inform the mind of a person in an afflicted and tossed state of terrour and judgment and his Ministry was often savoury and seasonable and felt in the pure life though his words were plain and homely and no beauty in them to mans Wisdom and God made him and his service a blessing to many who shall speak for him in their own Consciences He was of a loving gentle and good disposition and acceptable was his Company to them that knew him and were like-minded a good Companion in all Conditions not soon moved into passion of either grief in Adversity or of joy in Prosperity nor had he a Spirit taking offences upon light occasions against any but watched for Good over all and not for Evil He was a man of peace and loved it and walked peaceably among his brethren in honest kind familiarity And I am perswaded in my Soul according to the experience I had of him for many years he abhorred dissention and strife among Friends and was never the real occasion intendedly by himself of any difference and dissention among brethren and what further is Truth of him I leave it to the just God whose testimony is true and never fails Among many others that were taken from Meetings and sent to Newgate according as ye have heard This same Person of whom I am now treating was in like manner rudely and violently taken on the 22th day of the 4th Month last out of a Meeting in the Bull at Aldersgate and carried before Rich. Brown who used violence to him with his own hands in pulling his Hat down upon his head so that he brought his head near the ground and then he Committed him to Newgate where he remained till the Sessions and was then Indicted among the rest for being at an unlawful Meeting c. as it is said and he being throng'd up in Prison among the rest of us it pleased the Lord to visite him with sicknesse of body and in 10 dayes space alwayes growing weaker and weaker in that time he disceased and laid down his body in peace About two dayes before his departure some of his dearest Friends went to visite him and sat by him a space and spoke somewhat to him and asked him if any thing was upon his Spirit he might now speak it to his Friends His answer was That there was no need to dispute matters for he knew the ground of his Salvation and was satisfied for ever in his peace with the Lord God and we know said he one another well and what each of us can say about those things and spoke no further And the 17th day of the 6th Month he departed this life and was gathered up to his Fathers the Generation of the Just and though he be gone in that bodily appearance and his person removed from us yet is his new-Name written among us and his Memory can never die for his Spirit still lives to praise the Lord and the life which breathed forth through that vessel cannot be removed far away for it is the Infinite Immortal Eternal Life which dwells in Sons and Daughters now upon the Earth and though his outward man be put off yet he lives alwayes in Spirit for he was a Servant of the living God upon Earth in his day In about six Weeks time there died of the Prisoners that suffered for Conscience sake in Newgate these Persons named as follows who were honest sincere men of truth that loved the Lord and served him with their upright hearts and gave up their lives for the Testimony of Jesus as faithful Martyrs and Witnesses for him And 't is verily believed their close and throng'd Imprisonment in the Summer Season was the occasion of their sicknesse and violent distemper and so consequently of their Death which amounts to innocent blood being men whose lives were destroyed causelesly by reason of the wickednesse and Persecution of ungodly men and their Death will be inquired into by the Lord when he comes to judge all men according to their deeds and gives unto them after the fruit of their own doings John Stanton Thomas Kirby Richard Hubberthorne Anthony Skellington John Giles William Watson John Shutt William Eldredge Richard Bradley And Humphrey Bache and Humphery Brewster died in a short time after their Release These men laid down their lives for the Testimony of Jesus Christ and suffered for Conscience sake till death and left good Testimonies behind them spoken on their death-beds One of them said This body of mine must go for the Truth this body must be laid down for the Testimony of Jesus Christ as a Witnesse against this persecuting Generation and he rejoyced in the same at the point of death Another of them said The terrible day of vengeance is at hand upon the wicked Wo unto the persecuting Rulers of this City the Lord is nigh unto them in the stroak of his Judgements c. Another on his death-bed Exhorted earnestly all Friends to be faithful to be bold and valiant for the Truth of God and to suffer patiently to the end till deliverance come which the Lord will bring unto his people in dispight of all their enemies c. These and such like Testimonies were given by these Servants of God on their death-beds which will be fulfilled in the Lords season for the words of dying men are serious and certain Oh! that this City would take notice of the same That the Rulers and People thereof would Repent and turn unto the Lord ere his wrath break forth against them for their wickednesse which is great this day in the fight of the Lord and before him for which his wrath is kindled to burn as a flame and it will reach unto the high and lofty and all flesh shall feel the indignation of the most high Oh! that men would remember the long-suffering of the Lord and Repent and return before it be too late for nothing can save this City and her People from the Wrath of the Lord except speedy and true Repentance and returning with all the Heart and with all the Soul wherefore let the people become Meek and Humble Lowly and Poor Holy and Just before the Lord let them break off their sins by Repentance The day of the Lords sore Judgements are at hand and Breaking and Destruction and Misery will surprize the Workers of Iniquity Concerning the Imprisonment and proceedings of the Court and release of above fifty of our
Priviledges in our callings and to follow our employments as we are men nor yet our liberties as Christians in the exercise of our Christians duties according to the perswasions of our Consciences and example of Scriptures but are imprisoned and persecuted and all our rights both as we are men and Christians violated and taken from us Seing it is thus how can it in common equity and reason be put upon us or expected from us that we should be charged with any such service and duty or perform the same either in our persons or estates there is no equity nor reason in it that men should be charged with a service for the good of the City as this is professed to be and yet not permitted to enjoy any portion of the end of such a professed service but quite the contrary imposed and this is our case It is professed that the Trained Bands are raised and goes out for the good and peace of the City and we are commanded to joyn with them for that good end and yet we are debarred and restrained of every part of that end and quite the contrary end is made our portion and therefore it is unequal and unreasonable in our selves as well as in them that expect it from us that we should joyn in such duty and service like as if a person should adventure to Sea such a sum of mony in the hand of a Merchant trusting him with the improvement of it for the end to bring in gain and at the return the Merchant keeps both Principle and Produce from the Adventurer and not only so but he makes use of the said mony to put the man to as much more needless charge and expences Would not all men say it were contrary to both equity and reason that such Adventurer should ever credit such Merchant more and much more unreasonable that such Merchant should put such Adventurer in Prison because he will not give him credite and trust him with more stock This Parable shews the truth of our Case and proves the truth of both the Reasons aforegoing First That it is contrary to the Law and Principle of Nature Secondly It is contrary to common Equity and Reason as the case standeth for us to go out our selves or send men on the occasion mentioned and for these Reasons we do refuse to do it Also let it be rightly considered how unreasonable this thing is that we should now Suffer for not going forth in Arms yet divers of our houses have been searched for Arms and taken away from us where any were found and we threatned to be sent to Prison for having any Arms in our houses if but an old Sword and yet now must Suffer because we will not keep Arms and go out in a War-like way with them Also how unequal it is that we are sometimes threatned to persecution because we are feared to fight and at other times threatned and made to suffer because we will not go out with carnal weapons to fight and thus are we made to suffer on the one hand and on the other and afflictions are our portion on every side from the men of this Generation and many are our Troubles till the Lord deliver us out of them all 3. Because we are true Christians and Redeemed and Restored and Sanctified by the Lord Jesus Christ and are men of Peace and Love and good Will towards all men and lives in it and seeks after it and are not men for War and Strife and Debate but are Redeemed out of that Spirit which is in the fall from God and delivered from the working of such works and now we cannot war with carnal Weapons our selves nor uphold it in others but do give witnesse against it by such our refusal to rise up and go out with Carnal Weapons for all such things are in the fall from that estate in which God placed man in the beginning and wars and fighting are in the enmity and Spirit of Iniquity which is contrary to God as saith the Apostle Wars and fightings do arise from the lust that wars in the members Jam. 4. 1. and from that estate of enmity in the fall and out of these works are we Redeemed and Sanctified by the Lord Jesus Christ and do walk in his Doctrine who hath exhorted us to love our Enemies to do good for evil and to reward no man evil for evil but when we are smitten on the one cheek to turn the other and to be reconciled with our Neighbours these and many such exhortations we have in the Scriptures to the true Christians which we desire to be found walking in and therefore we do deny to go out with Carnal Weapons to war against any much lesse against our own selves and our Friends as this case is as before is shewed And we are come to the Spirit of Christ Jesus and to the Son ship to be heirs of God and Joynt-heirs with Jesus Christ Which State is greater then the State of the Kings of Israel who sometimes went out to war and were Righteous men and justified of God in so doing yet that State was short of the State of Christ who was the Heir of God to which State in measure we are come and so are Redeemed from wars and fightings with Carnal Weapons not onely in their worst State but in the best Estate of such Wars not onely in an evil and wrongful quarrel we cannot war but in the best kind of quarrel we refuse out of Conscience to war our selves or to send others for us to war with Carnal weapons and that because we are true Christians and believes in Christ Jesus and abides in his Doctrine and loves peace with all men and can do good to them that hate us and are come to the end of wars and would have mens lives saved and not destroyed and are of the Spirit of Christ Jesus which warred with Spiritual Weapons against the evil lusts and evil affections within and against that spirit of transgression in mens hearts that he might kill and destroy that Spirit and save the Bodies and Souls alive and such war do we make this day with the Weapons of the Spirit of God that sin may be slain and unrighteousnesse destroyed in mens hearts and that Body and Soul may live but other kind of war we cannot make for the Reasons aforesaid therefore we are excusable in the sight of the Lord in refusing to go out with carnal Weapons though yet we suffer Imprisonment and are persecuted because of the same If from hence it be Objected by any That this principle and practise of denying to fight at all is dangerous and of evil consequence and if all were of this principle and practise then we might be exposed to ruine and destruction by other Nations who would come upon us and take our Country from us and enslave us and all this while we deny to fight against them and will not defend our selves by
him whether he took this woman out of the Meeting and what she was doing Lovel said He took her upon a form speaking and the Judge said What a woman speak The Jury and some other of the Bench said They never heard of a Woman to speak before She asked them If they had not read the scriptures she told them Phaebe was a Prophetesse and Phillip had four Daughters that prophesied and Paul wrote to his Brethren that they should take care of the women that were fellow labourers with him in the Gospel The Judge said That was a great while agoe she told him It was when the Church was in her Beauty and Glory but since darknesse hath covered the Earth and grosse darknesse hath vailed the Kings and Rulers so that it is become a strange thing to the Apostates to hear of a Daughter to prophesie she told them also that they might read in the Acts of the Apostles and in the book of Joel That God had promised to pour out of his Spirit upon Sons and Daughters in the latter dayes c. The Judge said She should ask of her Husband at home she said If her Husband should be a Drunkard or a sot what should she learn of him to be wicked as he was R. Brown asked If her Husband were so she said No but if he were so what could she learn But Christ is my Husband and I learn of Him said she Alderman Brown said she had left her Husband two years and went with a young man into other lands she told him That was not his business to judge at this time nor was it fit for him to accuse her but she went with three Women as she was moved of the Lord. The Judge asked the Witnesse whether there were but five in the Meeting The Witnesse said He did believe there were about two or three hundred but he could not bring them all but said he did prety well clear the room She told the Court That this man came into our Meeting said she where we were quiet and still more like a mad-man then a sober-man with his Sword drawn and a Cane in his other hand and so he came up where I stood and set his Sword toward my Face and pluck'd me down said she Then said R. Brown It seems you were up then Then she said she was never in such a Meeting mentioned in the Indictment but she was in the Meeting and she should never deny it but shall stand for it whilst I have breath said she and this man gave his Souldiers charge of me and he laid on with both hands upon our Friends they thrust me to the door and threw me down and trod upon me and if the power of the Lord had not preserved me said she they might have killed me And she asked them Whether they owned that And R. Brown said If they had handed her up they had served her well enough And she said to him Thou art a wicked judge Thou saidst to me when I was at thy house said she that the best work thou couldst do was to persecute such a wicked Generation as we And then she said Why shouldest thou sit there as a Judge He said It was the best work he could do yet And he said If he hath done you any wrong meaning the Witnesses you may sue them at the Law and write in your Indictment against them That they pulled your Tongue out by the roots She told him That was a Lye and asked him if he would have her be a liar They said Take her away And then they called Sarah Cobbet and Frances Cole and Elizabeth Sartyn and John Ratten S. C. was asked whether she was guilty or not guilty Afterward the Judge asked her whether she was in the Meeting or no She said she was moved of the Lord to go thither She was asked what she did there She said She was Commanded of the Lord to speak then said R. Brown and I command you now to be silent Then they called Frances Cole and asked her whether she was Guilty or not Guilty She said she was not Guilty Then the Jury brought in their Verdict that they were Guilty Then Esther Biddle again desired to know what they had done R. Brown told them they were in an unlawful Meeting Then she said Richard Dost not thou remember that thou Prayedst in the Camp by Abingdon and was that an unlawful Meeting was not that a good Day with thee I am afraid thou wilt never see such another R. Brown said He had no other Place then but now he went to Church and so must ye too said he She told him The day was at hand wherein God would destroy the Temples and the the Worshippers thereof unlesse they repented R. B. asked her if she meant her own Temple And the Judge asked her if she meant Temple-Bar She said she had been in many Nations and before Judges and Benches but never was before such a wicked Bench as this R. Brown replied And many Nations have been in you They said She had said enough and then bid the Keepers take them away Then she was pulled away to go to Prison and after a little time she went up to the Bar and said Friends I desire to know what you have done with me Then the Judge said Woman you are young and the Court hath considered you and we hope you will be of another mind and so we have put a small Fine upon you To which she replied This is not the way to make me of another mind then it is sign that liberty of Conscience is ceased within these few years Then she said Friends keep to that pure Principle which drew you forth at first from the Idols Temples and Idolatrous Worship if you do not the Lord will sweep you away with the Beesom of destruction into the pit of everlasting perdition One upon the Bench said She remembers us of the Old Cause And then the Judge bad the Goaler take her away to Prison She said There is Mercy with the Lord but there is little with men So she was had away Lovel who Witnessed against her whispering to the Goaler bad him have her to Bridewel Whereupon she step'd back to the Bar and said Friends have you Ordered me to be sent to Bridewel They looking one upon another the Judge said No Then she said This Witnesse is an envious man for he bad the Goaler take me to Bridewel and for ought I know he standeth here to suck my blood said she The Judge said It did not concern my life Then she said If it were not the mighty power of the Lord that preserveth us who hath the hearts of Kings and Rulers in his hand and turneth them as a River of Water which way he pleaseth you would murder us all Then they were fined 13. s. and 4. d. a piece and so carried away to Prison to lye till payment ABout this time There was divers of
the Prisoners sick of violent Feavers and distempers by reason of that Exceeding throng which they were forced into so many together in narrow Rooms that they had scarce liberty to lie down one by another which brought many great Inconveniencies upon them and occasioned dangerous sicknesses insomuch that many lay sick at one time and though some recovered yet many died to the number of Eight honest Persons who were two and two together in one week carried to their Graves from New-gate which made the people cry out It was pity that these things should be That honest men for their Conscience sake should thus perish in Prison and no doubt but the knowledge of these things That many were sick and divers died and being publickly seen carried from New-gate two and two together in a week made many stand amazed working dislike in the hearts of people against these proceedings and though the prisoners laid their case of want of prison-room and the dangerous distempers that were occasioned amongst them thereby and that divers died because thereof before the Rulers of the City who had power to redress these grievances yet notwithstanding no notice was taken of it no though above twenty of the prisoners Friends went to the Mayor and Sheriffs of the City to Reason the Case soberly with them of the great straits inconveniences and dangers that the Prisoners their Brethren were liable unto especially in the Summer Season by being so many thronged up together in noysom places and also proferred body for body and that a certain number of them would become prisoners and goe into their places for the relief and comfort of so many of their poor afflicted and sick Brethren that they might not perish in prison according as in The second part of our cry of the Innocent for Justice is more at large published yet no bowels of Mercy not pity could be found nor could the humblest proffers penitrate into their hearts to grant relief to the oppressed but lie in close prison they must whether they would die or live as if they deserved no pity of any Well for some weeks every day some fell sick and in particular that good man of God Richard Hubberthorne unto whom in this place t is not unseasonable to give a Testimony as of duty we are bound The same Person was born in the North part of Lancashire and was of very honest Parents his Father was a Yeoman of the Country and had a good Report of his Neighbours for uprightnesse in all his dealings and Richard was his onely Son who was Inclinable from his youth upwards to Religion and to the best way alwayes minding the best things and following the company of good men and was never known to be addicted to any vice or malignity nor ever followed any evil course of life from his Child-hood but feared the Lord and walked uprightly before him and was faithful according to the Light and knowledge received in all things and his natural disposition and temper was meek and lowly and loved peace among men he was brought up with his Parents in good education according to the custom of the Country and in the time of the late Wars he was disposed to go into the Army and was in Scotland most of the time till the Land was reduced and he had some office in a Regiment and did sometime preach among his sincere and sober Companions that loved him wel according to his knowledge and judgement at that day and he obtained a good Report amongst such as were lovers of Religion And when it pleased the Lord God everlasting to raise us up to be a People in the North parts and through great Tribulations and extream distresses within and without which we passed through were we raised up of the Lord to be a holy and chosen People This same Person was one among the first of us whose heart the Lord touched with the sence of his Power and Kingdom and amongst us he had the mighty operation of the Power of God experienced in his heart Great afflictions and tribulations for many weeks was he exercised in through the dispensation of the Grace and Spirit of Christ Jesus he was in that state and while therein exercised for many dayes a wonder to all that beheld him as one passing out of the body as one under the deep sence of the hand of the Lord under the operation of his Power thus it was with many of us and particularly with him Till such time as the same Power that killed made alive as wounded also healed as brought down also raised up and then being raised up in the holy Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ he was made a Minister of the Everlasting Gospel to preach Repentance Conversion Salvation and Remission of sins and accordingly went forth in the Name and Power of the Lord Jesus the Saviour of mankind and was a Minister of the glad Tydings of Salvation in many parts of this Land and elswhere to the conversion of many Souls to God for his Ministry was made effectual by the Almighty Power of the Lord to turn many from darknesse to light from the power of Satan to God and there are thousands who can in the Spirit of the Lord bear Testimony to the power and verity of his Ministry in many Countreys where he travelled for he laboured much in divers places and was very diligent and faithful in the work of the Lord and suffered imprisonment divers times and was hardly dealt withal and persecuted in Chester Cambridge and in Norwich prisons and other places and he was found faithful in all his Tryals among his Brethren and alwayes ready to do his service in what he was called unto with a willing mind being truly in body soul and spirit given up to the service of the Gospel of Christ Jesus a dispensation of which was committed unto him that he might serve the Lord in his Generation and though he now hath finished his Testimony in this World yet the remembrance of him lives with us in the Spirit of Jesus and he is accounted among the faithful Sufferers a Martyr for the witnesse of the Truth which ever liveth And for the space of nine years he laboured and travelled in the work of the Gospel aforesaid in most of the Counties of this Nation and was well known for his faithfulnesse among the Churches of Christ He was but little in stature in his outward man and of weak Constitution of body and was slow of speech and often more ready to hear then to speak he made little appearance in the man-hood of Excellency or Authority but was contemptable among men yet he was very wise and knew his season when to speak and when to be silent and when he spoke it was with much discretion and deliberation in weaknesse of words many times yet reached perfectly the matter intended by him and his speech was with Grace and in the fear of God and had Authority in