<!DOCTYPE ETS PUBLIC "-//UMDLPS//DTD EEBOPROOF 2.0//EN">
<ETS>
<TEMPHEAD>
<REVDESCR>
<CHANGE>
<DATE>2014-07-16</DATE>
<RESPSTMT>
<NAME>John Pas</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
</RESPSTMT>
<ITEM>Proofed and reviewed as part of batch B140524.pdcc.</ITEM>
</CHANGE>
</REVDESCR>
</TEMPHEAD>
<EEBO>
<IDG S="marc" R="UM" ID="B25984">
<STC T="W">L2109A</STC>
<BIBNO T="umi">99828426</BIBNO>
<VID>207813</VID>
</IDG>
<TEXT LANG="eng">
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="text">
<PB REF="1">
<PB N="1" REF="1" MS="y">
<HEAD>For the Wor&s;hipful, Mr. <HI>Steel</HI> the Recorder of <HI>London.</HI> TO BE Communicated to the re&s;t of the Bench or Goal-Delivery at <HI>Guild-hall:</HI> The&s;e with &s;peed.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>Mr. Recorder,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>YOur Profe&s;&s;ion being a Lawyer, and as you are Recorder of <HI>Lond<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">n,</HI> you are often the mouth of the Court in <HI>Old-Bayly,</HI> and have &s;everal days been &s;o in my ca&s;e; and as I hear, you are like to be &s;o again upon Wedne&s;day next: In which con&s;ideration I judge it the mo&s;t prop<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">r for me in my pre&s;ent condition to writ<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> unto you, and to acquaint you, that I finde <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> the mouth of God, charging the Judges of <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> that they &s;hall hear the cau&s;es between their brethren, and judge righteou&s;ly betwixt every man and his brother, and the &s;tranger that is with him: <HI>Ye &s;hall not,</HI> &s;aith he, <HI>re&s;pect per&s;ons in judgement, but ye &s;hall hear the &s;mall as well as the great, you &s;hall not be a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rai<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> of the face of man, for the judgement is G<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ds,</HI> Deut. 1.16, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">7. and in Deut. 16.18, 19.20. they are expre&s;ly commanded to do that which is al|together ju&s;t, that they may live long, and inherit the Land which the Lord hath given them.</P>
<P>And &s;aith the wi&s;e man by the Spirit of God, <HI>Prov.</HI> 28.4. <HI>A Land is e&s;tabli&s;hed by Judgement.</HI></P>
<P>Sir, by the Law of <HI>England,</HI> I know you know a Judges Office, and a Pri&s;oners right by Law; and according to Law, you have, as my right, a&s;&s;igned me Coun&s;el, to fit my &s;elf to plead matter of Law for my life.</P>
<P>Yet while I am a pur&s;uing my bu&s;ine&s;s according to your late Or|der at the Se&s;&s;ions, and am peaceable and quiet in my impri&s;on|ment, and neither indeavoring to make an e&s;cape, or any way quar|relling with my fellow pri&s;oners, or my Keepers: I am by Capt. <HI>Dike</HI> the Keeper of Newgate, &s;erved with an Order in the&s;e words:
<FLOATEXT LANG="eng" TYPE="Parliamentary order">
<PB N="2" REF="2">
<HEAD>Tue&s;day the &s;econd of Augu&s;t, 1653.</HEAD>
<P>ORdered by the Parliament, That Lieutenant Collonel <HI>John Lilburne</HI> be kept cl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;e Pri&s;oner, and that the Keeper of Newgate do take care the &s;ame be done accordingly.</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED><HI>Henry Scobel, Clerk of the Parl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ament.</HI></SIGNED></CLOSER>
</FLOATEXT></P>
<P>Upon which Order the &s;aid Mr. <HI>Dike</HI> was plea&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">d to take upon him to render &s;uch an interpretation of it, as I dare pre&s;ume my head to a farthing teaken, that is no way warranted by the Law of <HI>England,</HI> in any kinde what&s;oever; <HI>(viz)</HI> Tha<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> I mu&s;t be &s;uch a clo&s;e Pri&s;oner, as that he mu&s;t keep all my friends <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">om m<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">, and he and his under Keeper with &s;trictne&s;s ha<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">h accordi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">gly ex<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">cuted it ever &s;ince; although truly, I cannot in r<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">a&s;on and c<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ity b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">l<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">eve, that the Parliament them&s;elves by the &s;aid Order intend any &s;uch thing, becau&s;e in their late Declaration of the 12 of July la&s;t, and the &s;econd page thereof, they declare, <HI>That they will dem<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">an them|&s;elves in all things, as becometh tho&s;e who are &s;et by God for the go<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">d of all, and in all, to be as tender of the lives, e&s;tates, liberties, ju&s;t rights and pr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">perties of all others, as we are</HI> (&s;ay they) <HI>of our &s;elves and po&s;terities.</HI> But if this clo&s;e re&s;traint of mine from the vi&s;its of my Friends, Law|yer<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">, Atturneys, Solicitors, or Me&s;&s;engers to go up and down about my affairs, be their int<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">n ions by the &s;aid Order, I mu&s;t not only a|ver their &s;aid Order to be again&s;t all the d<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">clared Laws of Liberties and Freedom in <HI>England,</HI> again&s;t the Rules of Ju&s;tice among&s;t Hea|thens, Pagans and Tyrants, but again&s;t the very tenor of their own fore&s;aid promi&s;es, and thereby them&s;elves rendred to be men void of faith or truth, who&s;e &s;olemn words and promi&s;es are not in the lea&s;t to be regarded, &s;hould it be &s;uppo&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">d that &s;uch an interpretati|on by their con&s;ent, &s;o contrary t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> Law, &s;hould be rendred of their fore&s;aid Order, as to keep me clo&s;e Pri&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ner from &s;peaking with my Friends, Coun&s;ellors, Solicitors or Me&s;&s;engers, when I am upon tryal for my life.</P>
<P>Sure I am, the late Parliament in the pure&s;t of their days, before they were corrupted and defiled, in their grand and fir&s;t Remon|&s;trance of <HI>December,</HI> 1641. complains of &s;uch cl &s;e impri&s;onment, acted upon my &s;elf and &s;everal oth<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rs by the la e King and his Mini|&s;ter<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">, as the acti<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ns of mo&s;t barbarous <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">nju&s;tice, oppre&s;&s;ion and ty|ranny, as y<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">u may read in the fir&s;t part of the Parliaments Books of Declarations, page 8. although neither my &s;el<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> then, nor any of my there menti<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ned fellow &s;ufferers, were then in the lea&s;t upon tryal for our lives, when &s;uch cl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;e re&s;t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">aint as is there complained of was exerci&s;ed upon us; neither were any of us there in that Decla|ration
<PB N="3" REF="2"> mentioned, in the lea&s;t condemned by the &s;aid King, or his Male Admini&s;trators of Ju&s;tice, without &s;ome Proce&s;s of Law, even in mi&s;deamenors; as I have been for Felony by the late Parliament without any proce&s;s of Law at all, if the Act of Bani&s;hment upon which you &s;trongly endeavor to take away my life, &s;hould concern me in the lea&s;t.</P>
<P>And &s;ure I am, the then Parliament or Hou&s;e of Commons, up|on the fourth of <HI>May</HI> 1641. voted &s;uch unju&s;t clo&s;e impri&s;onment, and other the like illegal proceedings again&s;t me (which yet never rea<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">hed to any &s;entence for the lo&s;s of life) to be not only illegal, but al&s;o bloody, wicked, cruel, harbarous and tyrannical, and that I ought to have reparations there ore.</P>
<P>And &s;ure I am, at the Tryals of <HI>Strafford, Canterbury, Hamilton</HI> or <HI>Capel,</HI> and that for Acts of the highe&s;t of Trea&s;ons, the late Pa<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">lia|ment never exerci&s;ed any &s;uch cl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">e impri&s;onments upon them as is now done upon me.</P>
<P>And al&s;o &s;ure I am, that although <HI>I</HI> was taken as a Pri&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ner of War, &s;ighting mo&s;t re&s;olutely again&s;t the King, and carried from <HI>Brandford</HI> a Pri&s;oner to <HI>Oxford</HI> Ca&s;tle, and there at one time &s;uffici|ently c u<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ted from him by the pre&s;ent Earl of <HI>King&s;tone,</HI> th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> late Earl of <HI>Arundel,</HI> the Lord <HI>Dun&s;more,</HI> and the Lord <HI>Andover,</HI> to all who&s;e alurements and threats I &s;ufficiently held our and avowed flag of defiance and &s;corn, upon which I was laid in I<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ons, and kept clo&s;e Pri&s;oner from the vi&s;its of my friends, which when I came before Judge <HI>Heath</HI> for a tryal for my life at the common Law, and com|plained of the afore&s;aid u&s;uages as again&s;t Law: he ju&s;tly acknow|ledged them to be &s;o, and immediately at the Bar ordered me pre|&s;ent relea&s;e from them both, which I legally enjoyed, and thereby had an opportunity pre&s;ently to po&s;t away a Letter to Mr. <HI>Lenthal</HI> the Speaker of the Parliament, another to yong Sir <HI>Henry Vane,</HI> and a third to my wife, which &s;aid Letters produced a Declaration from the Lords and Commons of the 17 of <HI>December</HI> 1652, printed in the fir&s;t part of their Books of Declarations, page 802. that in&s;tru|mentally then &s;aved my life.</P>
<P>And &s;ure I am, that the Apo&s;tle <HI>Paul</HI> was accu&s;ed by his mo&s;t ma|licious adver&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ries, of higher things then any is pretended to be laid unto my charge, even to be a pe&s;tlien<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> f<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">llow, a mover of &s;ed<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">tion among the Jews throughout the world, and a Ring lea<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">er of the Sect of the Nazarens, y<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">t his Heathen Roman Judges examined the matter legally, and &s;trictly, and expre&s;ly, notwith&s;tanding the &s;aid grievous accu&s;ation ordered <HI>Pauls</HI> K<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">per or Jayl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">, to let him have liberty: and that he &s;hould forbid none of h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s acquaintance to mini&s;ter or come unto him, <HI>Acts</HI> 24, 5, 8, 2<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> y<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">a, when upon his Appeal to <HI>Cae&s;ar</HI> as Supreme (the li<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">erty of the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">amous Common|wealth of <HI>Rome</HI> by <HI>Julius</HI> and <HI>Augu&s;tus Cae&s;ar</HI> b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">ng lately overthrown and &s;ubdued) he came to <HI>Rome,</HI> the grand Tyran<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> <HI>Ner<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"></HI> being, as I judge, by his expre<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;ions in his Epi&s;tle to the <HI>Philippians,</HI> the pre|&s;ent
<PB N="4" REF="3"> Emperor, permitted <HI>Paul</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word"> dwell two whole years in his own hired hou&s;e, and to receive all with freedom, without the lea&s;t re|&s;traint, that came unto him, <HI>Acts</HI> 28, 30.</P>
<P>Sir, as my undoubted <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ight by Law, you a&s;&s;igned me Coun&s;el to fit me with a plea t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> pre&s;erve my life at this next Se&s;&s;ions: and yet the Jay<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">or of your Court d<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">prives me of all the means that tends to that end And &s;o deals as bad with me, as the old Tyrant <HI>Pha|roah</HI> dealt with the poor I&s;raelites, when he made them make brick without &s;traw; for which hard and cruel bondage, they &s;ighed and groaned unto the Lord, and he glori<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">u&s;ly delivered them, to the de&s;truction of <HI>Pharoah,</HI> and all his cruel Tyrannical in&s;laving Task-ma&s;t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rs: Wherefore Sir, I cannot do le&s;s in con&s;cience to the wel|fare of my own life, and the Nations liberties and freedoms, then to demand of you upon &s;ight and knowledge hereof, your Order, as I had fr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">m J<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">dge <HI>Heath</HI> (who was &s;tiled and called a Traytor judge at <HI>Oxford</HI>) to deliver me from my pr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;ent illegal, unju&s;t and tyran|nical te&s;traint (in my hard and unquiet impri&s;onment) from &s;peak|ing with my Friends, Coun&s;el, Solicitors and Me&s;&s;engers; or el&s;e the great and mighty God of heaven and earth judge betwixt you and me, and all the re&s;t of your A&s;&s;ociates, that with force and vio|lence, without all &s;hadow or pretended colour of Law or Ju&s;tice, pur&s;ue the la&s;t drop of my innocent blood, and &s;o I re&s;t,</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED><HI>A Faithful and true hearted Engli&s;hman,</HI> John Lilburne.</SIGNED>
<DATELINE><HI>From my barbarous and Tyrannical Impri&s;onment</HI> <DATE><HI>this</HI> 8. <HI>of Aug.</HI> 1653.</DATE></DATELINE>
<POSTSCRIPT>
<P>I have by a private hand &s;ent this to &s;ome of my friends to deli|ver to you, and be witne&s;&s;es of your An&s;wer.</P>
</POSTSCRIPT></CLOSER>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
<PB REF="3">
</DIV1>
</BODY>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
