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<DATE>2009-01-05</DATE>
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<NAME>tcpstaff</NAME>
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<ITEM>Proofed and reviewed as part of batch B090026.pdcc.</ITEM>
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<IDG S="marc" R="UM" ID="B05453">
<STC T="W">s1588</STC>
<BIBNO T="oclc">52612286</BIBNO>
<VID>179586</VID>
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<DIV1 TYPE="proclamation">
<PB REF="1" MS="y"><!-- PDF PAGE 1 -->
<HEAD><FIGURE>
<FIGDESC>royal blazon or coat of arms</FIGDESC>
<HEAD>C R</HEAD>
<Q><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 span"></Q>
</FIGURE> <HI>A PROCLAMATION,</HI> again&s;t Field-Conventicles.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SIGNED><HI>_CHARLES,</HI> by the Grace of GOD, King of <HI>Great-Britain, France</HI> and <HI>Ireland,</HI> Defender of the Faith;</SIGNED>
<SALUTE>To  <GAP DESC="blank">  Our Lyon King at Armes, and his Brethren Herauld, Macers of Our Privy Council, Pur&s;evants, Me&s;&s;engers at Arms, Our Sheriffs in that part, conjunctly and &s;everally, &s;pecially con&s;titute Greeting:</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P> Fora&s;much as Field-Conven|ticles, which were in Our Laws, by the univer&s;al con&s;ent of all the Repre&s;entatives of this Our Kingdom, declared to be <HI>the Rendezvou&s;es of Rebellion;</HI> are now found, by the undeny|able experience of all &s;ober men, to have bred up the unwarry Commons unto a mo&s;t athe|i&s;tical giddine&s;s, to the owning of tho&s;e murdering principles, which are a reproach to the Prote&s;tant Religion, and incon&s;i&s;tent with the &s;ecurity of every private man, and to the con|temning of their own Ma&s;ter and Landlords; We therefore, with advice of Our Privy Council, Re&s;olving to &s;ecure, not only Our Government, and &s;uch of Our Subjects, as live peaceably under it, but even to re&s;tore the&s;e very Ma&s;ters and Landlords to their ju&s;t Rights, over the&s;e their Tenants and Servants, which they &s;o ju&s;tly lo&s;t by &s;uffering them to frequent Field-Conventicles, in which they were &s;o debauched in their duty to them; Do hereby Command and Or|dain, that how &s;oon &s;oever any Field-Conventicle, or other Conventicles, under&s;tood to be Field-Conventicles by con&s;truction of Law, &s;hall be kept, the Heretor in who&s;e Lands or Hou&s;e the &s;ame is kept, whether the Lands belong to them in Propperty or Commonty, if they be pre&s;ent, or their Baliffs or Factors if they be ab&s;ent, or their Tutors or Curators, and their Baliffs or Factors if they by Minors, &s;hall immediately adverti&s;e the Sheriff of the Shire, Lords of Regality, Stewart of the Stewartry, Bailiff or Bailirie, and the Magi&s;trates of the Burghs, within who&s;e Juri&s;diction the &s;aid Field-Conventicle was kept, within three dayes after the &s;ame is kept; certifying them, if they fall to give the &s;aid Adverti&s;ement, they &s;hall be fined in the fourth part of their valued yearly Rent; Upon which Information, the &s;aid Sheriffs and other Magi&s;trates fore&s;aids, &s;hall be oblieged, and are hereby commanded and required, to order the Heretors of the Paroch to meet, and to take trial who were at, or in acce&s;&s;ion to the &s;aid Conventicle. And to the end, they may be the better able to proceed in the &s;aid trial, the the &s;aids Heretors are hereby Impowered to Examine upon Oath, &s;uch as they &s;hall &s;u&s;pect, or who &s;hall be be&s;t able to give Information therein, and to return to the Sheriff, or other Magi&s;trates fore&s;aids, the trial &s;o taken by them, and that with all po&s;&s;ible expedition; and which trial, the &s;aid Sheriffs and Magi&s;trates, or ther Deputes, are here|by required immediately to cite before them, tho&s;e contained in the &s;aid return, or any others whom they have rea|&s;on to &s;u&s;pect to have been at the &s;aids Conventicles, and to fine &s;uch of them as compear, and amerciat &s;uch as are ab|&s;ent, as accords of the Law: upon which Sentences, Hornings and Captions being rai&s;ed, under the Signer of Our Privy Council, by the &s;aids Sheriffs, and the other Officers fore&s;aid, (to whom the half of the &s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">ids fines and amerciam <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 word">s, are for their pains and expen&s;es, hereby declared to belong) the Heretors and Ma&s;ters of the &s;aids Rebels, are hereby oblidged to concur with the Sheriff or other Officers, their Deputs or others whom they &s;hall name, to the poinding the &s;aids Rebels Goods, apprehending their Per&s;ons, and that under the pain of being lyable to the fine, and penal<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">s in|po&s;ed upon the Delinquents. Likeas, the &s;aids Sheriffs and others fore&s;aids, are hereby required to give an account of their diligence in the Premi&s;&s;es, to Our Privy Council, upon the fir&s;t Council of <HI>July</HI> and <HI>December</HI> yearly, under the pains contained in the eighteenth Act of the third Se&s;sion of Our &s;econd Parliament; all which &s;hall be with or pre|judice to Us; and Our Officers of State in Our Name, to rai&s;e pur&s;uits before the Lords of Our Privy Council again&s;t &s;uch who have been pre&s;ent at Field-Conventicles (though without Arms) for an Arbitrary puni&s;hment, or to in&s;i&s;t before Our Criminal Court, again&s;t &s;uch who have been thereat in Arms, for underlying the Crime of Trea&s;on, con|form to the fifth Act of the fir&s;t Se&s;sion of Our fir&s;t Parliament, and Our Proclamation, dated the thirdenth day of <HI>May,</HI> one thou&s;and &s;ix hundred &s;eventy and nine years. And to the effect, Our Plea&s;ure in the Premi&s;&s;es may be made known; Our Will is, and We charge you &s;trictly and Command, that incontinent, the&s;e Our Letters &s;een, ye pa&s;s to the Mercat Cro&s;s of <HI>Edinburgh,</HI> and Mercat Cro&s;&s;es of the Head Burghs of the &s;everal Shires within this Kingdom, and other places needful, and therein Our Name and Authority, by open Proclamation, make Publication of the Promi&s;&s;es, that none pretend ignorance, according to Ju&s;tice, as ye will an&s;wer to Us thereupon; the which to do, We commit to you cojounctly and &s;everally, Our full Power, by thir Our Letters, delivering them by you duly execute, and ind<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="3+ letters"> again to &s;he bearer. And ordains the&s;e Pre&s;ents to be Printed.</P>
<CLOSER><DATELINE><HI>Given under Our Signet at</HI> Edinburgh, <DATE><HI>the eight day of</HI> April, <HI>One thou&s;and &s;ix hundred eighty and one, And of Our Eaign, the threity three Years.</HI></DATE></DATELINE>
<SIGNED><HI>Per actum Dominorum Secreti Concilii.</HI> WIL. PATERSON. <HI>Cl. Sti. Concilii.</HI></SIGNED></CLOSER>
<CLOSER>GOD &s;ave the KING.</CLOSER>
</DIV1>
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<P><HI>Edinburgh,</HI> Printed by the Heir of <HI>Andrew Ander&s;on,</HI> Printer to His mo&s;t Sacred Maje&s;ty, 1681.</P>
</DIV1>
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