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<DATE>2014-02-13</DATE>
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<NAME>Mona Logarbo</NAME>
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<DIV1 TYPE="petition">
<PB REF="1">
<PB N="1" REF="1" MS="y">
<HEAD>FOR THE KING AND HIS COUNCIL, THESE.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>OH King <HI>CHARLES,</HI></SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>our de&s;ire is, that thou maye&s;t live for ever in the fear of God, and thy Council: we be&s;eech thee and thy Council to read the&s;e follow|ing Lines, and in tender Bowels and Compa&s;&s;ion to read them over; for we write in love and compa&s;&s;ion to your &s;ouls, and for your good.</P>
<P>And this con&s;ider, we are above four hundred impri&s;oned in about this City, of men &amp; women from their Families, in clo&s;e Holes and Pri&s;ons, be&s;ides in the Countrey Gaols above ten hundred: And this we de&s;ire, that our Meetings may not be broken up, but that all may come to a fair Tryal, that our innocency may be cleared.</P>
<P>Oh! how have you given us up, who are innocent, to be butchered, who wrong no man, nor lift up a hand again&s;t a|ny man, neither again&s;t you nor your Souldiers! But oh how have you let all men, that have neither rea&s;on, nor mercy, nor di&s;tinction upon us, which we are known all along, by all the Powers before you, to have been trodden upon by them, as
<PB N="2" REF="2">&s;heep for the &s;laughter; and now we are brui&s;ed; &s;toned, pri|&s;oned, men and women knocked down, trodden down in the &s;treets, and dirt crumbled in our mouths; the &s;imple, innocent and harmle&s;s, that envies no man upon the earth, cannot pa&s;s up and down in the &s;treets: And its known, that our Princi|ple is, and hath been, not to revenge our &s;elves; &amp; it's known, that them that you have numbred us among&s;t, who never de|nyed the bearing of Sword nor outward Weapons, but who&s;e Principle is to avenge them&s;elves.</P>
<P>Oh that you &s;hould make no more di&s;tinction, and &s;hould have no more con&s;ideration! For it's Sin, and Wickedne&s;s, and Filthine&s;s that we have alwayes declared again&s;t, that brings people to Ryots, and Plots, and tumultuous Meetings: Therefore, oh that the innocent &s;hould be numbred among&s;t &s;uch, even we who &s;eek the peace of all people, and the good of all men; and the Lord God Almighty judge for us, betwixt us and them that we are numbred among&s;t, and plead our Cau&s;e; for we are given up to all the wild people in thy Domi|nions, that have neither mercy nor manhood, but lo&s;t the &s;tate of very Nobility; for we have been a People known in all thy Dominions, and in all thy I&s;lands about it, and in ma|ny other Nations, to whom the Lord hath made many to go out of this Nation, where they have had their pa&s;&s;age among&s;t the heads of other Nations, and had liberty to preach the Go&s;pel, &s;o that many have through the Go&s;pel been turned to God, yea the very Heathens. And now that we &s;hould be reckoned among&s;t a people who&s;e Principle is to fight and &s;wear upon occa&s;ion, and to avenge them&s;elves, which a&s;to|ni&s;hes all them which know it; I believe your own con&s;cien|ces tell you, that we are harmle&s;s, and would do you no harm nor hurt, but wi&s;h your good: Therefore how can you now make us amends, and clear your &s;elves in the &s;ight of God, for bringing guilt of the innocent upon you, who are in God's hand, to whom we do commit our &s;elves, our &s;ouls, and cau&s;e, and innocency? and if we be thus wronged, the Lord is our Helper, and we know we are in his hand; therefore can we give our backs to the &s;miter, and our cheeks and hair to them that will &s;mite, and pluck it off.</P>
<PB N="3" REF="2">
<P> But oh how we are grieved for you, who hath thus numbred us, and given us up to be a prey to the Wicked, and are put in your Declaration to be among&s;t the Plotters and Fighters, &s;o that in all parts, without Mercy or Compa&s;&s;ion of Men or Women, young or old, with Swords and Pi&s;tols, Clubs and Staves, Dirt and Stones, they fall upon us; yea before Thy Declaration came out again&s;t us; but now the wicked rejoi|ces.</P>
<P>But oh! our &s;orrow and grief is for your own &s;elves, though we do &s;uffer on every hand; and many of our friends are made a prey upon by armed men, drawn out of hou&s;es, and taken up in the &s;treets to get money of them, under a pretence as taking of them up in &s;u&s;pition, and making thy Name for a cover; and for money might many have their liberty: This is for the liberty of all bad people, now to &s;poil, and to make havock, and to make a gain upon the Inno|cent: Oh that we &s;hould be thus &s;old! and oh that violent men without mercy, and compa&s;&s;ion, and di&s;tinction, you &s;hould put the Sword into their hands: Therefore who &s;hould order the multitude, who &s;hould order the rude people, who &s;hould give under&s;tanding to the placing of Souldiers, and di|&s;tingui&s;h unto them what they &s;hould lay the Sword upon, but you that have the Authority? Vengeance is the Lords, and he will repay it; we cannot revenge our &s;elves, though by your Declaration we are publi&s;hed as among&s;t the Plotters, to all Nations; but the Lord &s;hall plead our Cau&s;e, to whom we commend our &s;elves, and to the hearts of all People our Innocency appears, who trieth us: Therefore our de&s;ire is, let all the Pri&s;oners be brought forth to a Tryal, out of their Holes and Dungeons; And all that lye in the Common|wealths Name before you; For there is a Te&s;timony that we have been &s;ufferers by the Powers before you; for that is for your honor to do Ju&s;tice, and let Ju&s;tice be done, and let the Offenders be puni&s;hed, and let the Guiltle&s;s be &s;et free. And now we mu&s;t not meet to Wor&s;hip God, neither mu&s;t we meet together to Edifie one another, according to the Apo&s;tles Doctrine, and &s;tir up the gift in one another; they that feared
<PB N="4" REF="3">the Lord &s;poke often together, as you may read in <HI>Malachy;</HI> but this is forbidden, wee mu&s;t not meet. And did not the Council forbid the Apo&s;tles to &s;peak any more in the Name of Je&s;us? and did not they preach up and down from hou&s;e to hou&s;e? and had not they Meetings in &s;everal hou&s;es? And did not <HI>Paul</HI> preach together two years in his own hired hou&s;e, in the &s;eat of the Emperor at <HI>Rome.</HI></P>
<P>And now if you &s;u&s;pect us, or have jealou&s;ie of us, which you need not, let men come in all our Meetings without vio|lence, and &s;ee our Order and manner of our &s;peaking in our Meetings. For it cannot be &s;aid that we have forfeited our liberties which was given unto Tender Con&s;ciences, &s;o as to be numbred among&s;t them that are Fighters; Therefore take not away the Liberty that You have given to Tender Con&s;ciences, that cannot defend them&s;elves with outward Weapons: For they that Fight and Kill, and ri&s;e up with Carnal Weapons, and plot and ri&s;e up again&s;t Brethren to kill; they cannot be &s;aid to love Enemies. Therefore expo&s;e us not to all Kingdoms upon the Earth, nor number us among the Plotters; when many of us are to go into many Kingdoms and parts of the World, to declare the Everla&s;ting Truth and Go&s;pel, which is no di&s;grace to thy Kingdom and Family, that there &s;hould be a family of Prophets in it of the mo&s;t High GOD: But if we be numbred among&s;t Plotters and Fighters, who never were any Plotters, which was never our Principle; yet in truth we are the Sufferers, and have &s;uffer|ed all things for Chri&s;t the Elect &s;ake, and do keep to <HI>Yea</HI> and <HI>Nay</HI> in all our Communications; who de&s;ires that our lives onely may preach to all people upon the Earth. So this we de&s;ire, &s;top the violence of the rude people, this will not be to Your di&s;grace: Stop the violence of the Souldiers, that wee may not be made a prey upon, nor abu&s;ed, who cannot de|fend our &s;elves again&s;t them; for you have our Tribute and A&s;&s;e&s;&s;ments: And you know this, we might have our liberty in <HI>Turkey,</HI> as both Chri&s;tians and Jews have, and other parts of the world: And let not our Meetings be broken up, but let us have our Meetings peaceable in the fear of the Lord God,
<PB N="5" REF="3">and edifie one another to pray in the Holy Gho&s;t, and to build up one another in the holy Faith: For what good will it do you to ca&s;t us into Pri&s;on, and to make your &s;elves Ex|amples to other Nations and Kingdoms for &s;o doing? Would you &s;eparate us from the love of God which we have in Chri&s;t Je&s;us?</P>
<CLOSER><DATELINE>London, <DATE>16 day, 11 Month, 1660.</DATE></DATELINE>
<SIGNED>From friends of Truth and Innocency,
<LIST>
<ITEM><HI>G. F.</HI> &amp;</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>J. S.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="petition">
<OPENER><SALUTE>Oh KING!</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>WE would have thee to do nothing again&s;t thy Pro|&s;perity and Nobility. Oh! Hath the like ever been done, as is done to us, (who are an inno|cent People, and Thy Friends, and not Thy Enemies) among all the Princes in Chri&s;tendom, to mingle the Innocent among the Tran&s;gre&s;&s;ors? Oh! thou &s;hould&s;t have &s;ent for half a do|zen, or half a &s;core of us, and have examined us, that Thou might'&s;t have been further &s;atisfied concerning our Fidelity and Principles, and that would not have been again&s;t Thy Nobility: But oh! how is the Innocent mangled by mercile&s;s men, as though they neither feared God nor man! Oh! limit not the holy One, and quench not the Spirit; nor go about to take away the Lives of the Ju&s;t and Innocent from the earth; Let none per&s;wade Thee to root out the Saints of the Mo&s;t High God, nor to de&s;troy the Meetings of &s;uch who meet in the fear of God, and call upon his Name from a pure heart, and are gathered together in the Name of Je&s;us: Nor let none per&s;wade Thee to de&s;troy the Heritage of God; for that will not be for thy own comfort with the Lord in the end, for to de&s;troy and wa&s;te, and let up the rude people upon the meek and innocent. Neither lay the Law upon &s;uch as it was not made for, tha &s;eek the Peace of Thee, and all Men upon the Earth. Oh &s;top tho&s;e ha&s;ty Decrees, Declarations, or Procla|mations, and call them in that doth offend the Righteous and
<PB N="6" REF="4">upright in heart; for what could You have done more again&s;t us, if we had been as the Plotters and Fighters, and &s;uch as wil take Covenants, and &s;wear, and break them upon occa&s;ion? For our Principle is known (I believe) throughout all Chri|&s;tendom, and many other parts of the World, That we can neither bear Arms, nor Swear; And I believe that Thou in Thy Con&s;cience hath a Te&s;timony &s;o for us, and believes the &s;ame. And now the Pri&s;ons in every place is filling, and many now full with the innocent and meek of the Earth, and the Lambs of Chri&s;t, which cannot defend them&s;elves, which many now in Thy Name will di&s;honor them&s;elves with, or through their violence and cruelty again&s;t them; and hone&s;t men com|ing out of the Countrey about their bu&s;ine&s;s, being Trade&s;|men, are taken up, and the Oath put to tho&s;e whom they know for Con&s;cience-&s;ake cannot &s;wear, and &s;o are ca&s;t in pri|&s;on, and made a prey upon.</P>
<P>Oh that any &s;uch things &s;hould proceed from tho&s;e called Chri&s;tians, &s;eeing that the Chri&s;tians in the primitive times, were not to &s;wear at all, being forbidden by Chri&s;t, <HI>Matth.</HI> 5. and by the Apo&s;tle, as <HI>Jam.</HI> 5.</P>
<P>But the Lord is our God, who will plead our Cau&s;e, who hath the hearts of all Kings and men in his hand: But oh that we &s;hould find &s;uch things among you that have been &s;uffer|ers by the &s;ame as we have &s;uffered before you! And oh that &s;uch cruel impri&s;onments &amp; havock &s;hould be found among&s;t them that are called Reformed Churches! But we do appeal in our Cau&s;e to God, and to the Witne&s;s of God in all your con|&s;ciences, that the&s;e things will not be to your honor in the &s;ight of God, in the end: Neverthele&s;s, if thou wilt do that favour, as to let half a dozen, or half a &s;core, or what num|ber thou plea&s;e&s;t, come before Thee, that Thou maye&s;t be fur|ther &s;atisfied concerning us, before You act &s;o again&s;t us. Oh the violence that is acted in the Countreys and Cities! for now have the wicked people their hearts de&s;ire; this is the day they looked for; they would have had this of the changeable Pow|ers that were before Thee, though under cruel &s;ufferings and whippings, and bani&s;hments, and impri&s;onments until death,
<PB N="7" REF="4">which we &s;uffered by them; and many Petitions and Addre&s;&s;es there were to them, again&s;t us, whom God did re&s;train from a general falling upon us. Neverthele&s;s, we cannot look that the&s;e things are altogether in thine own heart to be inflicted upon us; For if thou did&s;t but know the u&s;age of men and women, which is not within the bounds of mode&s;ty to menti|on; and if thou did&s;t but know what a prey we are made of, it could not but break Thy heart, or the heart of any Chri&s;tian Prince upon the Earth. Is not the Seed of the Church known in Per&s;ecution? Con&s;ider, what would&s;t Thou have done to <HI>Peter</HI> and <HI>John,</HI> when they &s;poke in the Name of Je&s;us after the Council had forbidden them, and they met in &s;everal Hou&s;es, which is called the Infancy of the Church? But that the&s;e things &s;hould be found among&s;t them that think they are in fuller age! Oh that Chri&s;tians &s;hould &s;top Chri&s;tians for meeting together to wor&s;hip God! Oh that ever it &s;hould be &s;aid that &s;uch things &s;hould be among&s;t Chri&s;tians in Chri&s;tendom! that they &s;hould be re&s;trained from meeting together, to build up one another in the mo&s;t holy Faith, which is according to God and Chri&s;t, and the Apo&s;tles Commands, as it is declared in the Scriptures of Truth. Therefore let the&s;e things be con|&s;idered; for Pri&s;ons and Dungeons are &s;o full, that Friends can &s;carce &s;it or lye. Therefore, oh that hone&s;t men, and &s;uch as love Peace and Righteou&s;ne&s;s, and Thy good, and all mens, &s;hould &s;ee this day! We are again&s;t violence and plots, and <HI>we that be ri&s;en with Chri&s;t, &s;eek tho&s;e things which are above,</HI> where Wars and Fightings, Strife and Plots are not, but they are below, and in the Fall from God. And this we &s;ay, which is more to us then an Oath.</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Henry Fell.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
<TRAILER>THE END.</TRAILER>
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