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<NAME>Emma Leeson Huber</NAME>
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<STC T="T">669.f.14[83]</STC>
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<HEAD><HI>The Innocent Man's fir&s;t Proffer. OR,</HI> The <HI>Propo&s;ition</HI> of <HI>Lievetenant Collonel John Lilburne,</HI> Preroga|tive Pri&s;oner, in the Tower of <HI>London,</HI> made unto his pre&s;ent Ad|ver&s;aries, and to the whole Nation of <HI>England,</HI> <DATE>Octob. 20. 1649.</DATE></HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">For <HI>William Hevenningham</HI> E&s;q. of <HI>Hevenningham,</HI> in <HI>Suffolk,</HI> the&s;e Pre&s;ent.</HEAD>
<P>HAVING &s;omtimes the oportunity to di&s;cour&s;e with you, there appeared that in you unto me, that gives mee incouragement to pick you out above all men that now remaine &s;itting in your Hou&s;e, to write a few Lines unto, in as moderate a way, as my Condition and my Provocations will permit me: I have now within a very few daies been &s;even Mo~neths <HI>a Pri&s;oner,</HI> the Legallity or Illegality of which I &s;hall not now <HI>di&s;cour&s;e,</HI> having already of late &s;aid <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">o much in my owne Defence <NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">See my <HI>Salva Libertate</HI> &s;ent to the Lievetenant of the Tower in <HI>September</HI> la&s;t, and my Di&s;cour&s;e with Ma&s;ter <HI>Prideaux,</HI> In|tituled, <HI>Strength out of Weakene&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="2 letters">.</HI></NOTE> grounded upon the Law, your owne Declarations, and the Armies; which with other things (it &s;eemes) hath occa&s;ioned your Hou&s;e to pa&s;&s;e a &s;peciall <HI>Com|mi&s;&s;ion</HI> of <HI>Oyer</HI> and <HI>Terminer, to Try mee;</HI> which whether &s;uch a <HI>&s;peciall Commi&s;&s;ion,</HI> made by never &s;o unque&s;tionable an Authority, bee not contrary to the <HI>Petition of Right</HI> (which you have &s;o often &s;worne, and particularly Declared to maintaine inviolably) I &s;hall for brevities &s;ake not now di&s;pute; only give me leave (and I hope without any of|fence) to put you in minde of that <HI>excellent and Printed Argument</HI> (in &s;peeches and pa&s;&s;a|ges of Parliament 1640. 1641. <HI>page 409, 410, 411, to</HI> 417&punc;) of Ma&s;ter <HI>Hides,</HI> your <HI>quondam fellow-Member,</HI> before the Lords in Parliament, as the then <HI>Mouth</HI> of the <HI>Commons-Hou&s;e,</HI> in <HI>Aprill</HI> 1641, upon the <HI>&s;peciall Commi&s;&s;ion</HI> of <HI>Oyer</HI> and <HI>Terminer,</HI> that was exerci&s;ed in the five Northern Counties at <HI>Yorke,</HI> in which argument, be&s;ides many <HI>excellent</HI> and <HI>ob&s;ervable pa&s;&s;a|ges</HI> about th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter"> mid&s;t of it hee Interrogates and &s;aith: <HI>What hath the good Northern people done, that they only mu&s;t bee disfranch<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">zed of all their Priviledges by</HI> Magna Charta <HI>and the</HI> Petition <HI>of</HI> Right, <HI>for to what purpo&s;e &s;erve the&s;e Statutes if they may bee fined and impri&s;oned without Law, according to the di&s;cretion of the &s;aid Commi&s;&s;ioners</HI> (of &s;peciall <HI>Oyer</HI> and <HI>Terminer) what have they done? that they and they alone, of all the People of this (then) happy I &s;land, mu&s;t be di&s;|inherited of their byrth right, of their Inheritance?</HI></P>
<P>I &s;h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="2 letters">l at pre&s;ent make no application for my &s;elfe, only I &s;hall add a few more of his Lines towards the conclu&s;ion of hi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter"> Argument in <HI>page</HI> 415, which I hope cannot bee offen&s;ive, being &s;poke by him that was &s;o eminently Authorized thereunto&punc; where hee &s;aith to the Lords:</P>
<P><HI>Truly my Lords, the&s;e vexed, w<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">rne, People of the North, are not &s;uitors to you<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter"> Lord&s;hips to regulate this Court</HI> (of &s;peciall <HI>Oyer</HI> and <HI>Terminer) or to refo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">me the Judges of it, but for exti<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">pa<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">ing th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;e Judges, and the utter aboli&s;hing this Court; They are of</HI> Catoes <HI>minde, who would not &s;ubmit to</HI> Cae&s;ar <HI>for his life; &s;aying&punc; hee would not bee beholding to a Tyrant for Inju&s;tice; for, it was Inju&s;tice in him to take upon him to &s;ave a mans life, over whom hee had no Power.</HI> Which Court of <HI>&s;peciall Oyer</HI> and <HI>Terminer</HI> was ab&s;olutely and totally aboli&s;hed by that excellent <HI>Act that aboli&s;hed the</HI> Star-Chamber being the 17 of the late King <HI>an.</HI> 1641.</P>
<P>But Sir, If it &s;hall be objected again&s;t me that you are nece&s;&s;itated to take &s;uch an extraordinary cour&s;e with me, as a &s;peciall Commi&s;&s;ion of <HI>Oyer</HI> and <HI>Terminer</HI> is, becau&s;e I will not own your authority: Yea, and i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter"> I &s;o continue, to deale with me as you dealt with the late King. Unto which at pre&s;ent I an&s;wer, Fir&s;t, <HI>the Kings Ca&s;e and mine is different,</HI> for hee refu&s;ed to an&s;were to his Charge principally out of <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">his con&s;ideration, <HI>Becau&s;e hee had inherent in him an old received Principle</HI> (as appeares in his An&s;were to the <HI>Petition</HI> of <HI>Right anno</HI> 1627 and in many of his Declarations made &s;ince the beginning of the late Warres, and by his Speeches at his Death, <HI>by virtue of which, hee judged him&s;elfe as not liable o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter"> capable of being Judged by any Power on Earth, but only by God alone:</HI> And as being in any &s;ence, not in the lea&s;t, for any Action he did <HI>(though in it &s;elfe never &s;o vile)</HI> &s;ubject to the puni&s;hing part of the Law.</P>
<P>Now, for my part, I <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">oe not in the lea&s;t, refu&s;e to be tryed out of that con&s;ideration, for I acknowledg my &s;elfe but a bare <HI>Engli&s;hman, &s;ubiect to the Lawes</HI> thereof, as well in the <HI>Penal</HI> as in the <HI>Directive</HI> part of them, unto the ordi|nary rule of which, with all my heart, I am willing to &s;toope, and wi&s;h my adver&s;aries would doe the &s;ame, and then I beleeve the Controver&s;ie would not long la&s;t betwixt us.</P>
<P>But &s;eeing betwixt my Adver&s;aries and my &s;elf there is a difference about the <HI>Legallitie and Ju&s;tices of Power,</HI> which in &s;ome late printed Papers and popular Di&s;cour&s;es, is made u&s;e of again&s;t mee, as though I had a &s;elfe conviction in my own Con&s;cience, of my own guilt, and therefore to avoid, as much as in mee lies, a Tryall.</P>
<P>To <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">ake off which, and to lay my &s;elfe, and my Adver&s;aries nakedly, and fully open to the Judgement and Cen&s;ure of all ingenious and rationall men in <HI>England. I doe hereby, under my Hand and Seale</HI> (for that end it may be &s;hewed to your Hou&s;e) <HI>Proffer you,</HI> be&s;ide what I lately <HI>Proffered</HI> Mr. <HI>Prideaux,</HI> which is contained in the 18, and 19, <HI>pages</HI> of the &s;ub|&s;tance of that Di&s;cour&s;e now in Print, and here inclo&s;ed; <HI>That I am willing and ready, if they plea&s;e, to choo&s;e one of your owne twelve Judges, that &s;it in one of the three publique Courts at</HI> We&s;tmin&s;ter, <HI>and all or any of my Adver&s;aries &s;hall choo&s;e which of the eleven remaining they plea&s;e, and I will freely and voluntarily, Obliege and b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">nd my &s;elfe under my hand and Seale before witne&s;&s;es, to &s;tand to their finall and ab&s;olute determination (upon <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">he P<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="2 letters">nciples of Law) for all differences betwix them</HI> (or any of them) <HI>and me, although it reach to banni&s;hmen<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">, lo&s;&s;e of E&s;tate, Limb, or Life, &s;o my adver&s;aries will doe the like:</HI></P>
<P>Provided, the hearing may bee open, publique, and free, indifferently for both parties, and that the Judges give their Judgement in writing under their hands, with their rea&s;ons for their &s;o doing to every point of their Judge|ment. And,</P>
<P>Provided I may for my owne benefit, u&s;e, or advantage; choo&s;e two&punc; friends, freely to take, as well as their pennes will enable them, all that pa&s;&s;eth, <HI>pro</HI> and <HI>con,</HI> without danger to their Per&s;ons, Liberties or E&s;tates; or without hazard of having their papers (by force or Authoritie) taken from them; and this I thinke is as faire as any rationall man under Heaven can de&s;ire, and which I cannot believe you can judge to the contrary, e&s;pecial<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">y con&s;idering it is &s;o con&s;onant to that righteous Rule of the Sonne of God (Je&s;us Chri&s;t) contained in the Scripture (the volumne of truth) <HI>viz. to doe as you would bee done to,</HI> which is the &s;um of both the Law and Go&s;pell, and of all righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e among&s;t men.</P>
<P>And I hope this is &s;o faire, that tho&s;e that mo&s;t thir&s;t after my blood cannot, nor will not refu&s;e it. <HI>But to make it more f<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">e if they judge it inconvenient to fix upon two of your owne Judges</HI> (who in Intere&s;t are po&s;itively ingaged again&s;t me) <HI>I will bee content they &s;hall choo&s;e one Sch<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="2 letters">ller, commonly called a Clergy man,</HI> and I will choo&s;e another, or <HI>a Cittizen, or a Countreyman</HI> (which they plea&s;e) and I will doe the like.</P>
<P>So with my humble &s;ervice pre&s;ented to you, craving pardon for my boldne&s;&s;e in troubling you, with whome I have had &s;o little face to face acquaintance, earne&s;tly intreating your utmo&s;t Intere&s;t &s;peedily in acquainting your hou&s;e here|with, in the publique&s;t manner you can: I commit you to the Lord my God, my protector and pre&s;erver, and re&s;t,</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Yours (de&s;irous particularly to be engaged to &s;erve You) JOHN LILBURNE.</SIGNED> <DATELINE>From my Captivity, &amp; Bodily-<HI>Bondage</HI> in the Tower of <HI>London,</HI> <DATE><HI>Octob.</HI> 20. 1649.</DATE></DATELINE>
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<OPENER><SALUTE>Courteous Reader,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>SInce I &s;ent the foregoing Epi&s;tle, I under&s;tand that <HI>Wedne&s;day</HI> next being the 24. of <HI>Octob.</HI> 1649. is po&s;itively re&s;olved by my Adver&s;aries, to be the day of my Triall, and therefore I cannot chu&s;e but publi&s;h this in print, and be|cau&s;e a late Pamphlet-&s;cribler, and pretended vindicator of S. <HI>Arth Ha&s;lerig,</HI> &s;aid to be Mr. <HI>Thomas May,</HI> the Councell of States Pentioner, renders me in his late fal&s;e and lying book to be an Athei&s;t, a denier of God and the Scripture, and gi|ven up to all Lice&s;iou&s;ne&s;&s;e, and an ab&s;olute Confederate with Prince <HI>Charles,</HI> to &s;et up his ab&s;olute Will and Prerogative in this Nation; &amp; therefore not knowing whether my Life will bee mine &s;o long till I am able to publi&s;h a Vin|dication at large, again&s;t his ba&s;e calumniations, I &s;hall de|&s;ire you to take this at pre&s;ent, and if I die before more come, let the con&s;tant Series of my Actions and Writings bee my future te&s;tators) That if to be|leeve con&s;tantly all that is contained in the Law and the Go&s;pell, and to have confi|dent hope of the Re&s;urrection of the Dead and the Life to come, and particularly of my owne, and to live Con&s;cienti|ou&s;ly in all good Con&s;cience, as in the &s;ight of that God that &s;earcheth and knoweth the hearts of all the &s;ons of Men, both before God and Men, be &s;ufficient cau&s;e to be judged an Athei&s;t, &amp;c. then I am one. And if to oppo&s;e, with all my might and &s;trength, all Inte|re&s;ts what&s;oever, that would &s;et up a &s;ingle man, or more, to rule and govern by Will and Plea&s;ure, without bounds, li|mits, check or controle, be &s;uf|ficient grounds to be judged a <HI>Cavaliere,</HI> and for Prince <HI>Charles,</HI> then mu&s;t I Ingenu|ou&s;ly confe&s;&s;e I am &s;uch a <HI>Ca|valiere, &amp;c.</HI> and I hope &s;o to dy, for which I ble&s;&s;e God I am ready and fitted, let it bee by what butcherly hands it will.</P>
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