In the beginning of the year 1680, it happened that George Whitehead and Thomas Burr coming to Norwich, and preaching there in the meeting of their friends, were iv. 16, and elsewhere, "I charge you by the Lord, that this epistle be read-unto all the holy brethren," 1 Thess. v. 27. Yea, did not Christ also say, "O fools, and slow of heart, to believe all that the prophets have spoken," Luke, xxiv. 25. "How can it possibly be, that your common people should believe those things which Christ, the prophets, and apostles have spoken, unless it be granted them to read or recite the same in their own tongue, to the end they might both hear and understand them by the Spirit which gave them forth? Why then do ye take away the use of the holy Scriptures from the common people? Are ye afraid lest the truth should appear manifest, whereby they might see and believe what is written in the law and prophets, and by Christ and his apostles? Had not the Jews the law and the prophets in their mother-tongue, that their children might read them? Ought not therefore all Christians likewise to have the New Testament, that makes mention of Christ and his apostles, in their mother-tongue? But if not, why do ye not show us where Christ or his apostles have forbidden it? 6. But what do ye say of the sacrament of the altar, as it is called? Why have ye slain many, and burnt others alive in England, France, the Low Countries, and other places, because they could not approve or receive it? Ye assert it as a thing certain, that the bread and wine, as soon as ye have consecrated them, are made Christ, yea, whole Christ, consisting of soul, spirit, flesh, blood, and bones. sides ye boldly affirm, that all who receive that sacrament do receive whole Christ, and that after your consecration, that very thing becomes immortal and divine. Be Wherefore come, O pope, cardinals, and priests, let us take a bottle of wine and a loaf of bread, and equally divide the wine into two basons, and cut the bread into two parts: then let the pope, cardinals, or priests consecrate one part, which they please; which being done, let us lay up the consecrated and the unconsecrated together, in some close place, and secure the same with seven locks and keys on your part, and with as many on ours, both papists and protestants keeping watch over it. But if it plainly appear, that the consecrated bread and wine are immortal and divine, and lose nothing of their virtue and savour, nor grow mouldy or sour, as though they had been unconsecrated, then we will come over to you: but if they lose their property, quality, and savour, and both parts of the bread do alike grow mouldy, then it will be reasonable for you to come over to us, and confess that your sacrament of the altar, so called, is neither Christ nor his flesh, nor any thing immortal or divine; for his flesh saw no corruption, Acts, ii. 27. 31.-xiii. 35. 37, and his precious blood, which delivers from sin and corruption, cannot be corruptible. ⚫ Let trial then be made hereof; but let judgment be left to just and taken prisoners, as it was said, under a frivolous pretence, as if G. Whitehead might have been a Jesuit: and being brought before justice Francis Bacon, who then was re equal arbitrators, both papists and protestants, and that in a place where the protestants may have the same power that ye have: for it would be unjust to make this trial or experiment, where ye have the whole administration of the commonwealth, and an equal liberty is denied the protestants. This thing will make the truth manifest, and turn to the honour of God: for ye have shed much blood upon this occasion. Wherefore suffer your Christ, whom ye have made, to be tried, that it may be seen whether he be the true Christ, or antichrist; whether be be the true God, or a false one? For it would be somewhat hard that Baal's prophets should outdo you, for they were willing to have their god tried, though they had before slain many of the people of God, because they would not worship their god; as ye also have often done. 'Come ye forth therefore publicly, and make trial; that it may ap pear at length to all Christendom, whether yours be the divine and immortal Christ and God, or no? Or is not rather that mortal and corruptible Christ, which ye yourselves have made, and for whose sake ye have slain multitudes of the people of God, because they could not believe or comply with you? 7. Further, where did Christ or his apostles ever speak to the saints of purgatory, wherein men should be purged from their sins after death. Show us where it is written in the New Testament. Is it not therefore a plain denying that Christ's blood purgeth from all sin, to tell the people a fable of a certain purgatory to purge them from sins after death? Is it not likewise a denying of Christ's baptism with the holy Spirit, and of spiritual circumcision, and faith in Christ, which purgeth in this life, and giveth the victory? 'Did not Christ answer some that desired fire might come down from heaven and consume those that would not receive him; "Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of ?" Did not he rebuke them. saying, "That he came not to destroy men's lives, but to save them ?" Luke, ix. 54, 55, 56. "Ye therefore who have destroyed such a vast number of men and women for their dissenting from you about rites and ceremonies, and taken away their lives by such kind of instruments, racks and fires, as were never sent down from heaven, but devised and invented by yourselves; are ye not worse than they, who desired fire to be called from heaven to destroy men's lives? And seeing Christ told them, that they knew not what manner of spirit they were of, do ye know what manнer of spirit ye are of, who have devised so many ways and torments for the killing of men, and have actually made use of them? With what front can ye persuade us to commit our souls, bodies, and lives to you, who know not of what spirit ye are children, neither have the mind of Christ, who said, "He came not to destroy men's lives, but to save them?" corder of the city, he after some odd examination, demanded of them, as preachers, the fine of twenty pounds a man; which they refusing, he asked them, whether they would take the oath of allegiance; and they answering, 'Are ye not all therefore, as many as take away men's lives for worship devised by you, obnoxious to the rebuke of Christ? For when did Christ or any of his apostles ever give command, or by their example teach, that any one that was disobedient to them, or rejected their doctrine and religion, should be persecuted and imprisoned, or punished by any carnal weapons? Tell us where any thing of this kind is contained, either in the four evangelical histories, or in the epistles written to the Christian Churches? 'Did ever Christ or his apostles go to the rope-makers to buy whips and halters, to whip and hang men for dissenting from them as ye have done? Did they ever go to the blacksmiths to make chains, fetters, bolts and locks? Or to the gunsmiths to buy guns and muskets; or to the sword-cutlers to buy swords and halberts? Did they ever build prisons, or get holes and vaults dug, to force men by such means to their religion? Show us an example and precept given by Christ or his apostles, which commands and makes the use of such weapons and instruments lawful. 'But if ye cannot make proof thereof, it is necessary for you to confess and acknowledge, that ye are fallen and degenerated from the true Christian weapons, which the apostles and primitive Christians used, saying, "The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God," that is, spiritual, 2 Cor. x. 4. To Innocent XI. Pope of Rome, S. G. FOX.' BEHOLD, great prelate, a few questions written for the sake of thee, and thy adherents, a copy whereof we sent thee by the post, about three months ago; but being uncertain whether it was delivered into thy hands or no, we thought good to write the questions over again, and send them to thee, that it might not belong to us, that thou dost not read them. For we think it convenient, that thou shouldst earnestly concern thyself to inspect what was printed in Dutch, and inscribed to the pope and his adherents, which if thou shalt please to do, and also vouchsafe thy pains in answering them both by fact and writing, it will satisfy the author's desire, and remove a doubt or scruple out of many persons' minds. Farewell. This I have written in the name of some Amsterdam, the 24th of the month called July, 1679. that they could take no oath for conscience-sake, he said, if they would neither pay the fines, nor take the oath, he would commit them to jail. They having showed that they were no vagrants, but men of competent estates, that had settled habitations, as was well known, Bacon said, De non apparentibus, & non existentibus eadem est ratio: i. e. Of things not appearing, and things not in being, there is the same reason: just as if he had said, your estates that are at London, where G. Whitehead lived, and Ware, where T. Burr dwelt, appear not at Norwich, and therefore they are not in being. Now though they showed the absurdity of this strange kind of logic, yet Bacon would not hearken to it, but called them seducers, and seditious, and told them, there was a statute yet in force, that was made in queen Elizabeth's days, to hang such persons as they were. And they asking him, if he could prosecute them upon that law, or execute it upon them, he answered, 'Yes, if the king should give order to have it put in execution, I would do it, and have you hanged, if you would not quit the realm.' From this it may appear what a violent man this recorder was, and that the prisoners could not expect any good treatment from him. So night being come, he sent them to the jail. About a month after, at the quarter-sessions, they were called into the court of judicature to be tried; and being brought to the bar, George Whitehead said, 'We have been five weeks in prison; it is meet the court should know for what; pray let our mittimus be produced.' But the recorder who sat as judge in the court, said, "There is no need of your mittimus to be read here: I will give an account of the cause.' And then he told the court. how they had gathered together a company of about two hundred, and that officers went from him to dissipate them, but could not; that thereupon he sent the sheriff, who took them away; and that they being brought before him, he proffered them, if they would pay their fines, he would not commit them; and that they refusing, he tendered the oath of allegiance to them; which they not being willing to take, he sent them to jail.' And though G. Whitehead with good reason said, that they being Englishmen had a right to travel in any part of the nation: and T. Burr added, that he being a person that was concerned in trading in corn, by the law of England he might travel from place to place about his concerns; yet this so displeased the recorder, that he said, Had not you better have been turning your malt at home, than to come here to preach? The Scripture says, God added to the church such as should be saved; but ye draw from the church: and,' said he further, the church of England will never be at quiet till some of you be hanged.' G. Whitehead then showing how unreasonably the recorder behaved himself, and that a judge ought not thus to inveigh against the prisoners, and threaten them, alleged to that end a notable instance, how, in the case of Humphrey Stafford, an arch traitor, the chief justice Hussey had been unwilling, (in compliance with the king's desire,) to declare his opinion concerning him before he was judicially proceeded against. The recorder then asked, what king's reign was that in? In king Henry VII.'s' replied George Whitehead. I perceive you are read,' returned the recorder. And so he was indeed; and he defended his cause so well in the court, that the magistrates seemed at a loss; for he showed so evidently that he was unjustly committed to prison, that the mayor, (to whom, and to the justices he had appealed,) said, You have appealed to me; truly we are tradesmen, and no lawyers: we leave matters of law to the recorder; he knows the law, and we must acquiesce in his judgment.' If I should repeat here all that was spoken pro and contra, so as I find it extant, I should be fain to be almost as large as I have been in the relation of the trials of John Crook and William Penn: and therefore I will only say briefly, that, after much reasoning, the recorder tendered the oath of allegiance again to thein, that so by their refusal he might get occasion to premunire them. But this recorder, before the whole process came to an end, being turned out by the magistrates, it did not come to that pitch; though it was a good while yet before the aforesaid George Whitehead and Thomas Burr were released, after they had shown the illegality of their imprisonment; first, by more than one warrant from VOL. II. 49 |