public, but it was not so with yours, nor for the space of two and a half years before were any of your executions so done to those people, he caused the right ear of the said Christopher Holder, John Copeland, and John Rouse to be cut off as aforesaid; which being done, those servants of the Lord said, "They that do it ignorantly, we desire the Lord from our hearts to forgive them; but for them that do it maliciously, let our blood be on their heads. And such shall know, in the day of account, that every one of these drops of our blood shall be as heavy on them as a millstone." And your marshal, with those that came with him, slunk away as a dog that is discovered sucking the blood of a lamb: he also was so cowardly and the sense of guilt so upon him, that when the execution began on Christopher Holder, who was the first whose ear was cut, he turned from it, until John Rouse said, "Nay, turn about, and see it done," as was his order.

The same day that these were had before you the last time, Lawrence Southwick, Cassandra his wife, and Josiah their son, were had before you also, whom ye thought to have proceeded with, viz., the two men, as with the others, (for with the woman you did by cruel whipping according to your law,) but your law was short as to them; which was for "every one that came into your jurisdiction the second time, such should have their right ear cut off." Ye cannot give a member to any, and ye can destroy it in your will; so you did it wickedly. And you will find it sad cutting off of ears, and dealing thus cruelly as you have by the innocent, whose cry the Lord hath heard, and the cry of their blood and sufferings, and He is near to avenge it. But for those that were of the jurisdiction the law provided not; so they escaped the loss of that member, but not your other cruelty; for

* Executions of punishments, as to whipping and loss of limb, &c., done in private, are contrary to the law of England and of God, which orders them that are truly so (that is, punishments) to be otherwise, that all may hear and fear; and which is like to justice which seeks no corners. And the Bishops cut off the ears of W. Prynne, Henry Burton, and Dr. Bastwick in the Palace-yard at Westminster, and upon a scaffold before the people, though it was done by order of the Star-Chamber.

you still kept them in the House of Correction, notwithstanding they were clear of your law, and had suffered wrongfully what they had suffered before on account of your last law, which was, "That every such person or persons," such as ye call Quakers, "arising among yourselves, and professing any of their pernicious ways, by speaking, writing, and by meeting on the Lord's day, or at any other time." An extreme punishment,—for a man to die for meeting with the people of the Lord, to wait upon Him; yet this, in the consequence, is your law, for this characterizeth him to be such an one as ye call a Quaker; and being a Quaker, he must be whipped and then depart the jurisdiction, and, if he returned, suffer as in the case of strangers, viz., be put to death. See whether the earth ever had the like since the sun shone upon it. It is too long to inculcate every particular, the reader may, in his own understanding; and the Lord God of heaven and earth will fix it upon your consciences, ye most unreasonable of men and the most brutish of the nations, whom the Lord God will make an example of unto all that hereafter shall dare to do such things against the Lord God of heaven and earth, who gives to all life, breath, and motion. As He hath said it, so will He do it; and this shall come to pass,-the Lord hath spoken it. Such as aforesaid shall incur the penalty ensuing, viz., "Every person "so meeting shall pay to the county ten shillings, and every one "speaking in such a meeting five pounds a-piece. And in case "any such person hath been punished by scourging or whipping "the first time, according to the former laws," which was the case of those three, "they shall be kept at work in the House of "Correction till they put in security, by two sufficient men, that "they shall not any more vent their hateful errors nor use their "sinful practices, or shall depart this jurisdiction at their own "charge. And if any of them return again, then each such "person shall incur the penalty of the laws formerly made for "strangers." I say, though they escaped the loss of their ears, yet you kept them in prison upon the account of the said law for strangers, when that law for strangers did not concern them; and so they were wrongfully imprisoned and detained, and not set at

liberty till you had made a fourth law, viz., that of "banishment upon pain of death." And so you banished these three, the father, mother, and son, with three more of the inhabitants,-of which more in its place,-with either of whom no proceedings have been had according to law.

And Catharine Scott, of the town of Providence, in the jurisdiction of Rhode Island, a mother of many children, one that had lived with her husband, of an unblamable conversation, and a grave, sober, ancient woman, and of good breeding as to the outward, as men account, coming to see the execution of the sentence on Christopher Holder, John Copeland, and John Rouse, whose right ears you cut off, and saying, upon their doing it privately, "That it was evident that they were going to act the works of darkness, or else they would have brought them forth. publicly, and have declared their offences, that others may hear and fear," you committed her to prison, and gave her ten cruel stripes with a three-fold knotted-cord whip, with like cruelty in the execution as to others, on the 2nd day of the Eighth month, 1658. Though you confessed, when ye had her before you, that for aught ye knew she had been of an unblamable conversation, and though some of you knew her father, and called him Mr. Marbery, and that she had been well bred as among men, and had so lived, and that she was the mother of many children, yet ye whipped her for all that, and moreover told her, "That you were likely to have a law to hang her, if she came thither again." To which she answered, "If God call us, woe be to us if we come not; and I question not but He, whom we love, will make us not to count our lives dear unto ourselves for the sake of His name." To which John Endicott, your governor, replied, "And we shall be as ready to take away your lives as ye shall be to lay them down." How wicked the expression let the reader judge, as what follows makes manifest, viz., your law of "banishment upon pain of death," which this leads unto:

"Which also," viz., that of cutting off ears, "being too weak "a defence against their impetuous, frantic fury, necessitated us "to endeavour our security; and, upon serious consideration,

"after the former experiments, by their incessant assaults, a law "was made, that such persons should be banished upon pain of "death, according to the example of England, in their provision "against Jesuits."

Answer. The consideration of what I have already said, as to your laws and the grounds of them, and the cruelties sustained by the innocent, though it be enough to lay you on the ground with all sober and unbiassed people, and to make you appear to be the worst of men, as you are of those who pretend themselves Christians; and though on this foot I need not add further weight to this matter, it being so comprehensive of itself, yet in regard that you have cut out my way, and by adding blood unto bonds, whippings, cutting off of ears, &c., laid a necessity upon me to bring upon you the blood of the innocent, as you have their other sufferings. And because you seem to lay the stress of your proceedings upon the example of England in their provision against Jesuits, and so seem to bottom what you have done as to the lives of these people thereupon, for so are your words, viz., "According to the example of England, in their provision against Jesuits," I shall there put you to it, and if you there cannot hold, then ye will fall into blood, as ye have into the rest of the sufferings of the innocent.

Thus then, the law of England, in its provisions against Jesuits, is laid upon these grounds for consideration:

First. That the Pope pretends unto a supreme right over all nations and kingdoms, in things civil and religious, as the successor of Peter.

Secondly. That by virtue of this his supremacy he may excommunicate princes, absolve subjects from their obedience, arm subjects against their princes, change their dominions, degrade their royalties, and set up and pull down as he pleaseth.

Thirdly. That the Jesuits, or those of the Order of Jesus, as they blasphemously term it, are the sworn servants of the Pope, and are sent out by him into all nations to exert this his authority, and to hold forth his dominion.

Fourthly. That in order hereunto, the men of that order, or

Jesuits so called, have come into England, and have sought, by virtue of the supremacy aforesaid, to draw subjects from obedience to their princes, levy arms, plot, contrive, raise rebellions; yea, to murder their princes; and this ex officio, et virtute ordinis, by virtue of their order or office.

Fifthly. That the Pope hath taken upon him to excommunicate princes in England, to absolve their subjects from obedience unto them; to change, alter, pull down, and set up, as he pleaseth.

Sixthly. That the Jesuits, so called, have been hereof convicted, and, as the principal emissaries, have wrought in order hereunto.

Seventhly. That the nation of England hath oft-times endured and suffered, conflicted with, and travelled through much blood and war, trouble and misery, to the breaking of the peace thereof, and the hazarding of its government to a foreign vassalage, because and by reason hereof.

In consideration of all which, and that the English nation is naturally obligated to its right and lawful prince against all foreign invasion or obtrusion; and that the men of the order aforesaid are obliged, virtute ordinis et officii, by their order or office, to the contrary; and have come into England, and many of them English, who have gone beyond the seas, and received orders of the Pope, as aforesaid, and have so been proved through a long tract of time. Therefore it provides, as in the said Act is at large expressed, unto which I refer, and to the Preamble of the said Act, and the other laws and acts of the nation, which relate thereunto, for the grounds on which the provisions in that law are made and bottomed, and on which they stand.

Now, what is this to the people called Quakers, or in justification of your proceedings against them, as to banishment and death?

Are they Papists, or Popishly affected? Did ye ever find them so? Or, hath the least shadow thereof been laid to their charge by you, or found against them?

Have you ever found them raising of arms, or plotting and contriving in order thereunto? or seeking to withdraw the people in