of Fact is persons meeting under colour and pretence of Religion whereby it plainly appears they intended not to punish those that have no other Intention in their religious Exercises but what appears but such as only pretend Religion for Seditious ends To such indeed where that Seditious mind is discovered and manifest the punishment may be proportionate but for persons that have no other intention in Meeting or at least in whom no other intention can any way be made manifest but to please God and satisfie their own Consciences for them to be punished in this manner is like as if a Parent should banish one of his Children out of his presence and from his table into Jamaica or Barbados to be educated among his Cow-herds and Hog-herds for seven years because he hath a weak stomach and cannot eat the wholsome food of the other Children Therefore it is wholly to be held that either this is not the punishment or that is not the offence for there is no proportion between them Again how can it be imagined the Parliament would forbid all religious Meetings save at the Parish Church because thirty men once came out of such a Meeting to make a Sedition and Tumult Can any man suppose that Insurrections are contrived in a Meeting of eighty or an hundred People of all sorts Men Women and Children Surely no State or Kingdom need fear such Plots Are not Insurrections rather contrived in secret chambers where questionless there are not above five besides those of the houshold why should it not therefore be prohibited for men to come together upon any occasion whatsoever in any number You will say this cannot be for it will destroy Trading and Society But what I pray is not trading for Heaven and religious Society as necessary as civil commerce and wordly Commodities But you will say They may meet at the Parish Church for Religious Society But I have shewed before that many things are to be done in Religion which cannot be done there neither is it permitted if it could And besides Sedition hath been moved and acted at the publick Church witness Scotland in the beginning of the late Wars and Dr. Duck at Magnes A common thing to preach Sedition in the Pulpit Must we therefore be prohibited from meeting at Church and commanded to worship God at home every Family by it self if some persons abuse of a thing could have made it unlawful we should by this time have had nothing lawful The preaching of the Gospel was in the purest times done by some out of envy and yet that did not hinder others from doing it out of good will The Grace of God was by some turned into Lasciviousness yet it taught others to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts c. Those that met Seditiously were therein as offensive to those that meet now peaceably and religiously as they were to the King and Parliament Now Sir upon the whole matter that I may draw to a conclusion Can you believe in your conscience that the Quakers and others that come before you for religious Meetings have seditious Intentions and Contrivances under the pretence of Religion Do you think it possible for any Witness or Judge on Earth to satisfie your sworn conscience that the Exercise of Religion among the Quakers or any other profession among us is not allowed by the Scriptures Lyturgy or Practice of the Church of England Mistake me not I say not that you cannot be satisfied in conscience that some professions do err in some matters of Doctrine or Practice so as that you can neither consent with them nor do as they do But can you take your Oath that they err maliciously Can you venture your Eternal Salvation on it that their exercise of Religion is a sin that deserves to be punished with seven years Banishment Suppose the Witness say they were met together at a private house and prayed together and exhorted one another but did not reade either their Prayers or Exhortations out of a Book called the Lyturgy and the Judge tell you that this is sufficient as to matter of fact can you hereupon pawn your Soul and all your earthly comforts that they are guilty according to the Indictment They shall be banished out of their Country for seven years Will you freely be banished out of Heaven evermore if they be not sufficiently proved guilty They shall be sent to Jamaico or Barbados Will you be sent to Hell if they be not sufficiently proved guilty They shall be separated from their Wives Children Parents Kinsfolk Friends and Neighbours for seven years will you willingly be separated from the presence of the Lord and his holy Angels and Saints for ever if they be not sufficiently proved guilty They shall be damnified in their Trades and in the comfortable enjoyment of their Families and Friends are you willing to be cursed by God in your Trades Families Friends and in whatsoever is dear to you if they be not sufficiently proved guilty They shall be hanged up as Felons if they return without Licence in seven years space can you appeal to God with a good conscience and say before the great and dreadful Judge of Heaven and Earth Lord let me suffer Death and Damnation as a Murderer if these persons be not sufficiently proved guilty Whoever understands the nature of an Oath and Verdict this is the Case between the Jury-man and the Prisoner But you will say Perhaps the Judge will be angry threaten and say My Masters will you make a nose of wax of the Law and suffer the Law to be baffled those that think to deceive the Law the Law will deceive them and perhaps I shall be sent for to the Court and imprisoned in the Gatehouse and so be undone by great Charges and loss of my Trade But such a thing as that would be such Injustice as never was heard of and it cannot be imagined that his Majesty would suffer it It is altogether improbable that any man should suffer in this kind I only suppose the worst that can be supposed and if the worst is to be endured how much more when it shall be only a chiding I ask thee again Whether thou hadst rather incur the displeasure of God or of man Whether thou hadst rather suffer from men in thy Trade Family and Liberty or be cursed by God in them all Whether the Gatehouse or Hell be worse Whether it be not better to trust God with a good conscience than to trust the Devil with a bad one If thou dost believe that God rules the world that he favoureth and blesseth the Righteous and punisheth the Wicked both in this world and that which is to come then keep thy conscience clean doe righteously though thou suffer by it Fear not them that kill the body and have no more that they can do But rather fear him which is able to destroy both body and soul in Hell But why do I use such severe expostulations with you of whose tenderness of conscience I have so great and clear evidence I know you can sooner dye upon the place then bring in any such peaceable person Guilty as well knowing that there is a heavy Wo pronounced against him that shall offend the least of Christ's little ones it were better for him that a Milstone were hanged about his neck and he cast into the depth of the Sea I know you do approve of that most prudent counsel of that most Famous Doctor of Law amongst the Jews Gamaliel Act. 5.38 39. Refrain from these men and let them alone for if this Counselor this Work be of men it will come to nought but if it be of God ye cannot overthrow it lest happily ye be found even to fight against God I cannot but much wonder with what conscience two Justices of Peace or one Cheif Magistrate can play the parts of Judge Jury and Witness against these poor men and condemn them for Meetting Seditiously because they meet simply to exercise Religion according to their conscience I appeal to you whether this Oppression doth not call for the Judgments of God upon the whole Nation The Lord give them that are guilty in this kind Repentance and Remission of Sins and deliver you from partaking with them either in their Sin or Punishment I am Your affectionate Christian Friend H. E. THE END
The Jury-man charged OR A LETTER To a CITIZEN of London VVherein is shewed the true meaning of the Statute Entituled An Act to prevent and suppress Seditious Conventicles As also the false Glosses and Interpretations detected And it is evinced by Undeniable Reasons that the Quakers and others that are ordinarily committed to Prison by Justices of the Peace and Chief Magistrates of Corporations upon that Statute are not guilty of the breach of it and yet in reason it is impossible to convict any man among us of being present at a Meeting under pretence and colour of any exercise of Religion in other manner than is allowed by the Lyturgy or Practice of the Church of England except those that in then Meetings are manifestly Seditious or otherwise notoriously wicked And that that Juryman that finds any other person guilty is himself guilty of Perjury and liable to the Vengeance of God upon his Family and Trade Body and Soul in this world and that to come Hales of Schism For indeed all Pious Assemblies in times of Persecution and Corruptions howsoever practised are indeed or rather alone the Lawful Congregations and Publick Assemblies though according to form of Law are indeed nothing else but Riots and Conventicles if they be stained with Corruption and Superstition London Printed in Year 1664. The JURY-MAN Charged OR A LETTER to a Citizen of LONDON c. Dear SIR AS it is the nature of true Love and Friendship both to wish and endeavour the Good and VVeal of those we have registred in our hearts for Friends so it cannot be but that the happiness of the one will redound to the other and there will need nothing to the making your Friend partner in your Joyes but the knowledge of them But among all Goods that can beautifie a Fâ—…nd none is comparable to that of a mind habituated to Holiness 〈◊〉 delighting to do the VVill of God And because God speaks to us by our Consciences it must needs be our necessary duty to walk according to the Light we find in that Divine Closet And inasmuch as the Light and Knowledge at least a great part of it comes from without through the windows of our senses we ought by all means to keep those Mediums pure and untinctured for otherwise the Light in our Souls wil not be clear orient How can I then but greatly rejoyce in you whom I find not only willing to obey but diligent to know your Heavenly Masters Wil the former of these Divine Qualities separates you from the multitude of the world that lies in wickedness and disobedience the latter distinguishes you from ignorant Zealots and blindly obedient Not but that I confidently believe that God that gave his Son for us when we were Enemies will much more pardon and save us being weak and in some things ignorant Friends but many and lamentable are the sad Consequences even of pardonable Ignorance much more of the damnable Ignorance of those that in killing and casting out the Servants of God think they do God good Service And I have no slender grounds of fear lest this may be the case of many of those that are forward in executing penal Statutes upon Religious persons for matters relating properly to their Religion and Conscience And lest you may in the least offend through ignorance of any sort you are pleased to ask my advice what you should do if it should be your lot to be called forth on a Grand Inquest or other Jury for the putting in execution the late Act entituled An Act to prevent and suppress Seditious Conventicles I could wish you had made use of some other in this Question that had been well-skilled in the Laws of England rather than of me that am wholly ignorant in that study but however being assured you will pardon what you know flows from a sincere intention I shall not be afraid to give you my private judgment as a Christian whatever it is in a case that may be my own as well as yours though likely to be yours first We have seen the Title of the Act already it proceeds thus For providing therefore of further and more speedy remedies against the growing and dangerous practices of Seditious Sectaries and other disloyal persons who under pretence of tender Consciences do at their Meetings contrive Insurrections as late experience hath shewed Be it enacted by the Kings most excellent Majesty by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Common in this present Parliament assembled and by the Authority of the same That if any person of the age of sixteen years or upwards being a Subject of this Realm at any time after the first day of July which shall be in the year of our Lord 1664 shall be present at any Assembly Conventicle or Meeting under colour or pretence of any exercise of Religion in other manner than is allowed by the Lyturgy or Practice of the Church of England in any place within the Kingdom of England Dominion of Wales or Town of Berwick upon Tweed at which Conventicle Meeting or Assembly there shall be five persons or more assembled together over and above those of the same houshold Then it shall and may be lawful to and for any two Justices of the Peace of the County Limit Division or Liberty wherein the Offence aforesaid shall be committed or for the Chief Magistrate of the place where such Offence aforesaid shall be committed if it be within a Corporation where there are not two Justices of the Peace And they are hereby required and enjoyned upon proof to them or him respectively made of such Offence either by Confession of the Party or Oath of Witness or notorious Evidence of the Fact which Oath the said Justices of the Peace and Chief Magistrate respectively are hereby impowred and required to administer to make Record of every such Offence and Offences under their Hands and Seals respectively which Record so made at aforesaid shall to all intents and purposes be in Law taken and adjudged to be a full and perfect Conviction of every such Offender for such Offence And thereupon the said Justices and Chief Magistrate respectively shall commit every such Offender so convicted as aforesaid to the Goal or House of Correction there to remain without Bail or Main prize for any time not exceeding the space of three months Unless such c. Now Sir give me leave to tell you that there are some that except against the whole Act as null and void in it self as all Statutes are that are made against Piety as this seems to them to be but then they that thus judge take it for granted that it forbids some exercise of Religion which God commands or allows and in that case all Lawyers will readily confess it to be of no more force than King Darius his Decree Dan. 6. against asking any Petition of God or man for thirty dayes save of himself and which Decree
England doth not this allow Again I would fain know whether a man may not invite six poor People to his House and there feed their hungry bodies and instruct their ignorant souls in the knowledge of the Gospel without incurring the penalty of this Law Is not this an Act of Religion Can any man be saved without Charity Doth the Church of England not allow us to go in the way to Heaven except it banish us to Barbados or Jamaico It shall be lawful there to obey God and be Merciful but not in England The holy Apostle Paul bids us Rom. 12.15 Rejoyce with them that rejoyce and mourn with them that mourn and the Apostle James bids us Confess our faults one to another and pray one for another Jam. 5. 16. that we may be healed What must we not do it five or six together without Banishment Doth not the Church of England allow it Have we not just cause to say to these as our Lord said to the Scribes and Pharises Thus have ye made the Commandment of God of none effect by your Tradition Statute Nay besides the Contradiction to our Saviour's Commands Doth not such an Interpretation of this Law forbidding all Religion of six persons but what is performed at Church by hearing a Parson reade the Lyturgy as the never-to-be-forgotten Judge Bridgman expounded it to the ever-to-be-remarked Hartford Juryes Doth it not I say make us inhumane beasts as well as irreligious men and women for how can a man in prudence suffer his wife to go to her neighbours labour when she cryes out for her help lest perhaps there should be four more and they all be taken for Conventiclers for certainly in such extremities it is usual for the Labouring woman to cry to God for help which is a plain Act of Religion nay I hear it is common to the good Women after they have finished their work for the Midwife or some other to give thanks and pray solemnly in other manner than is any where to be found in the Lyturgy Let it therefore be considered that the Travelling-woman or any other for her be henceforth prohibited to pray unto God in such cases lest she bring upon her Neighbours for their good-will and humanity the penalty of three or six months imprisonment or Banishment for seven years Or for better security let the Parson alwayes be sent for as soon as the Midwife to act his part among the good women till their work be finished Again how will it be safe for a man to go to his deceased Neighbours funeral lest some body should salute the surviving Relative with a I pray God comfort you or I pray God give you Joy after your Sorrow and so make the whole company liable to a penalty The like may be said for praying Joy to a new married Couple or saying God be with you to our friend taking a Journey by Land or a Voyage by Sea or much more for five persons going to their neighbours to dinner except the Priest be there to say Grace But lastly I know not how any persons meeting together upon any Occasion whatsoever can escape taking Judge Bridgman's Sentence for Law that is saith he You must not expect a plain punctual Evidence against them for any thing they said or did at their Meeting for they may speak to one another though not with or by auriculer sound but by a cast of the eye or a motion of the head or foot or gesture of the body c. if you find or believe in your hearts that they were in the Meeting under colour of Religion in their way though they sate still only and looked upon each other seeing they cannot say what they did there it was an Unlawful Meeting c. If they are sworn to give Verdict according to Evidence may proceed to condemn men without Evidence according to what they believe in their heart and if they may without hearing or seeing what they did judge them according to what may be in their hearts or gestures then may the Judge have his skin pulled over his ears for false Judgment for it may be he knows in his own conscience it was so But saith he their use and practice was not according to the Lyturgie of the Church of England for it allows and commands when people meet together in the Church that Divine Service should be read c. Is it not rarely well argued the Lyturgy commands that when people meet together in the Church Divine Service shall be read therefore it doth not allow that when people are met together in a private house Divine Exhortations should be given or that people should sit together without saying or doing any thing This is not Lawyers Latin but Lawyers Logick and the great and dreadful God of Heaven and Earth will try it whether it be made in any true mode or figure of Justice I have proved to you that in many cases and might in many more that if the Lyturgy be not contrary to the Scriptures and it self it allows of Meetings and Acts of Religion the manner whereof is not determined by the Lyturgy of the Church of England The Judge might as well have argued thus The Lyturgy allows men to eat and drink Bread and Wine given by the hand of a Priest at Church Therefore men may not eat and drink Bread and Wine with thanksgiving at their own Tables If a Sophister in the Schools should use such a Fallacy he might be hissed at for a Dunce and there 's an end on 't but to delude God and Jury-mens Consciences and to banish harmless and meek men from their Native Country Husbands from their dear Wives Parents from their tender Babes Kinsfolk from Kinsfolk and loving Neighbours and Friends from the sweet society of their Neighbours and Friends this is intolerable and a Judgment that God will judge and I perswade my self you will ever keep your self from partaking in such gross Iniquity And this leads me to the consideration the Equitableness of the punishment and the proportion that is between that and the Offence for in all just Laws the penalty is not greater than the nature of the Fault requires Now supposing the Fault to be such as the Interpreters would make us believe that is that men and women from an erroneous perswasion do meet together to worship God in other manner than is allowed by the Church of England can it be imagined the Parliament would punish such an Error as this with horrid Banishment for seven years far be it from us to think so unworthily of an English Parliament No the Intention of the Parliament is manifest from the Title and Preface of the Act the Title An Act to prevent and suppress seditious Conventicles but what Sedition in worshipping God erroneously The Preface For remedy against Seditious Sectaries and other disloyal persons who under pretence of Tender Consciences do at their Meetings contrive Insurrections c. and therefore the matter