Selected quad for the lemma: soul_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
soul_n	body_n	bring_v	spirit_n	5,327	5	4.9299	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A31659	A true relation of the unjust proceedings, verdict (so called) & sentence of the Court of Sessions ... against divers of the Lord's people called Quakers, on the 30th day of the 8th month, 1662 / published for the honour of God, the vindication of the innocent, and the information of people, by John Chandler.	Chandler, John, 17th cent.	1662 (1662)	Wing C1929; ESTC R35804	14,248	24

us And whereas we declared against the Forgery contained in the Indictment they said we were uncivil We said it was not uncivil to say a Lye was a Lye The Jury being called and sworn they also swore two Witnesses The first swore we were at a Meeting at Horsey-Down to the number of about three-score The Court demanded what we were doing He said we were doing nothing nor he heard nothing spoken The second Witness whose name is Crosswell he swore we were met at Horsey-Down to the number of about an hundred and that a Woman was preaching before he came into the Meeting and continued speaking a good while after he came in although the former Witness being asked how long he came in after Crosswell He said he came in within three minutes after him and heard nothing spoken And when it was demanded of Crosswell what was spoken he could give but a slender account but said she spoke out of Jeremiah But this Testimony was forged by the Devil the father of lyes in the heart of this his servant which was signified to the Jury and also that this Crosswell who lives at the Horns in Kent-street is generally known to be a very wicked man and to keep a wicked house of entertainment for Drunkards and all manner of wicked persons who was a Constable at the time when we were brought to Prison he took us out of our peaceable Meeting where we were in silence waiting upon the Lord which was testified in open Court and this false Witness was objected against as not being a Competent Witness because he is known to be a man of a wicked Conversation and one that is a Common Swearer and not making conscience of an Oath It was also pleaded to the Jury that they ought to take notice of the Confutation of the Witnesses the first affirming that nothing was spoken the last affirming that a Woman spake It was also questioned whether that Court had any lawful Authority to proceed against us seeing it is enacted in a Statute made and provided in the first year of Queen Elizabeth That no matters of Religion or Causes Ecclesiastical shall be judged Errour Heresie or Schism but by Ecclesiastical Authority by especial Commission by Letters Patents under the Great Seal of England The Court said that Statute of the thirty fifth was since To which it was answered that this Statute of the first of Queen Elizabeth is not repealed but is yet in force John Lenthal said that should not hinder their proceedings John Lenthal asked us wherefore we were met together We said the end of our meeting together was to wait upon the Lord to feel his Power and Presence in our hearts and that we were neither wicked seditious nor Hereticks but were in the fear and counsel of God bearing Testimony against those things in our Conversation whereof we were accused in the Indictment Then John Lenthal said directing his speech to the Jury that one Witness said we were at the Meeting and the other said that a Woman spake and thirdly that we confessed that we were there worshipping of God which he charged against us as matter of fact They also charged us of obstinately refusing to hear the Common-Prayer Some of us said we were in Prison before it was in being Others of us bid them produce Evidence that we did not hear it They answered that we should prove that we did hear it We said that did not belong to us nor the Law doth not require it Then we directing our speech to the Jury bid them take notice of the Confutation of the Evidence and that it was a weighty matter they went upon that not only our Liberty but our Lives also were concern'd in it for they sought our Blood and that the End and Issue of it was to take away our Lives for we see the end of their Proceedings by this Act is to make us abjure the Realm which is to swear which we must rather die than do Oh! must you so said the Cryer We said we were innocent men fearing God and because of that they sought our lives but if we had been Drunkards or Swearers we might have our Liberty They said if we would conform we might have our Liberty It was answered we might obtain our Liberty for our bodies for a time and bring our souls in bondage to all eternity So they sent forth the Jury who remained together till the Court adjourned to Dinner and after they were set again the Jury came down the Court asked them if they were agreed They said No. Some of them questioned whether a Woman speaking might be called the Worship of God John Lonthal said it was all one for that whether Men or Women But after some time the Jury came in again and brought us in guilty as the Court said We demanded their Verdict but they would give us no answer Then John Lenthal pronounced the Sentence That we must return to Prison for three months without Bail or Mainprize if in that time we did not recant we must abjure the Realm We asked them what benefit we might obtain by such Submission They answered we might have our Liberty We answered that they could afford us no more than the Divil offered Christ All this will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me One of them said that was not a fit comparison Whereupon we answered If we should say that with our mouthes which we did not believe with our hearts we should be Hypocrites and Children of the Devil falling down to worship him So as we passed from before the Court we bid them remember Cain who was the first that persecuted about Sacrifice and Worship who flew his righteous Brother Now let the impartial Reader take notice of the slender ground that either the Jury had to bring us in guilty of that Indictment or the Court to pass such a cruel Sentence there being only two Witnesses The first swore that a Woman was speaking before he came into the Meeting and a good while after and the other came within three minutes after and heard nothing spoken This was all the Evidence that was against us as the Auditors that were present at the Court can witness Now whether this Evidence was a sufficient ground for such a Verdict so called and Sentence let all sober-minded people judge they could not prove us either wicked dangerous seditious nor Sectaries neither have the effects of our meeting ever at any time tended to any such consequence but our Meetings do and alwayes have tended to Peace and to the rooting out the ground of Wickedness Sedition and Heresie therefore not guilty of this Indictment Secondly There was no Evidence against us that we did obstinately refuse to hear Common-Prayer neither was it in being at those places which they call Churches and Chappels till after we were in Prison therefore we are not guilty of this Indictment Thirdly They did not swear that we were

to forswear one of the Justices so called preventing the Prisoner said smilingly or laughingly And ye cannot swear at all as though he was delighted that we were taken in such a snare as to our lives Other things were uttered amongst us as christianly witnessing a good Confession before their Judgment-Seat and if any one particular of us through a forward Zeal rather than from any evil desire toward the Court of Jury for we do pray for our Persecutors uttered any words that might give our Enemies any just occasion for the honour of Truths sake we declare a disowning of it and that the Light of Jesus Christ to which our minds and hearts are turned judgeth and condemneth it But whereas Richard Onzlow about the beginning of our Tryal voluntarily said unto us that at Kingston we complained that we had not Justice but now they had brought the Sessions hither that we might have Justice and we found the matter so far otherwise that we concluded as in the Scripture is said Their words are as smooth as Oyl but they have War in their hearts A few Words to the Jury who contrary to their Oaths brought in a false Verdict so called against the Innocent TO every Individual as well the Promoters of as Consenters unto that unjust Verdict these few lines are directed desiring that ye may reade them with patience and moderation and consider what you have done and repent and humble your selves before the Lord before it be too late even before the Anger of the Lord who is patient and long-suffering break forth upon you and you be utterly cut off and perish in your sins and you be for ever deprived of the presence of the Lord and have your portion amongst Murderers and Unbelievers which will assuredly be your portion except you repent And truly this I can say that my soul hath been grieved and my spirit full of heaviness for you and with tears have I besought the Lord never to lay this sin to your charge having learned to bless them that curse and pray for them that despitefully use us But truly your sin is very great for you have not only made your selves Murderers if the Lord prevent it not of twenty two Persons to the ruining of our Wives and Children but also have made your selves a President unto others in the like case you being the first and most hardly that ever durst bring in such a Verdict amongst us in our Generation And now I desire to expostulate a little with you to know what was the very ground and cause of your so dealing seeing there was no Evidence to prove any thing against us And first you the Promoters Was this your end to have the Righteous cut off from the Earth that so you might live in Swearing Drunkenness Whoredom and all manner of Prophaness and Debauchery without once being reproved Or was it for fear of Finement or hope of Favour or did you expect some Reward or did you believe that your bringing us in guilty would as it did extend to the depriving of us both of Liberty Life and Estate and did you hope to be sharers thereof or to advantage your selves by destroying of us Which of these was the reason deal plainly with your own hearts and consciences and think not to hide any thing from the all-seeing eye of the Lord nor from such as walk in his Light and abide in his Counsel And now to you the Consenters who for a season withstood your fellows I have a few words to write That although your end was not so bad nor your envy so great as the others yet your reward will be the same and you must drink of the same Cup except you speedily repent and it is well if a place of repentance be found for you for you have not only betrayed the Lives of honest men but also have betrayed your own Consciences and done despight against the Spirit of Grace that strove in you and through cowardise and slavish fear consented to condemn the Innocent for the Scribes and Pharisees could not compass the death of Christ until Judas betrayed him no more could those blood-thirsty-men have compassed ours but by your consent Oh that you would consider and lay these things to heart and remember the saying of the Servant of the Lord What is required of thee O man but to do justly shew mercy and walk humbly with thy God but you have dealt unjustly you have shewed no mercy and now for you to repent and walk humbly with your God would indeed be the rejoycing of my soul who desires that the Lord may shew mercy unto you all though you have not done justly towards me nor the rest of my Brethren Written at White-Lion-Prison by one who knoweth well and also is well known unto many of you by name Nathaniel Robinson A Collection of some of the Particulars of the Proceedings of the Court at Quarter Sessions holden at Margarets Hill in Southwark upon the 11th day of the 9th Month 1662. as followeth THe Court being sate there was brought before them thirteen of the People of God called Quakers who being brought to the Bar an Indictment was read which was grounded upon an Act of Parliament of the thirty fifth year of Queen Elizabeth for the punishment of wicked and seditious Sectaries The Indictment being read the Prisoners were asked Guilty or not guilty Several of the Prisoners seeing their wicked intent had not freedom to answer to that limited form of words viz. guilty or not guilty we said it was all one whether we plead or not seeing they had determined what to do as we had experience in the former Tryal yet we spake to the same effect denying the substance of the Indictment and declaring it to be a pack of lyes and forgeries Then several of us being suffered no further to plead were committed back to Prison and but five only remaining whose Plea the Court accepted whose Plea could hardly be received for when they asked us Guilty or not guilty some of us answered That we did believe that they knew in their own consciences that we were not guilty of that Indictment and that it was lies and forgeries and that we were not guilty of that Charge They said it was a sign our Cause was not good we were so loth to put our selves upon a Tryal We answered we did not question the honesty of our Cause but we did question the honesty of those that were to try our Cause and that we knew that such men who feared God and trembled at his Word could not judge us Evil-doers in this matter Reply was made Were not those men that feared God meaning the Jury We replyed to John Lenthal that if he could say in Truth and Righteousness that he was a man that feared God and trembled at his Word we would refer our Cause to him but if he was not such a one he was not fit to sit there as Judge over