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Show ( 140) yet after all dlefe your Illegal and Unrighteous Proceedings in Blood and Cruelry, ye are nor aillamed w fay. Declaration~ --The Conjitleration of our grad"al Prooeeding wiO vjndicate u.s from the Clamorou-s Accu(ations of Severity, our own .[ttjl and Neceffary Defence calling upon m (other Means failing ) to offer tbe Point, which thefe PerfonJ have violently and wilfu/Jy rufhed upon, and thereby become Felons de fe > which, mir,ht it have been prevented, arJd the Joveraign Law Salus Populi, been pre{erved, our former Proceed~ ings, aJ "JJJe!J as the /paring Mary Dyar upon an Inconfiderablc Intercej]ion, will manife.flly Evince, that we dejire their Lives abfent, rather than their Deaths pte{ent. So ends your Declaration. Primed by their Order. Edward Rawfon, Secret. Anfwer. Had ye nor Foreheads of Brafs, and Faces of Flinr, and Hearrs hardenhan rhe Adamant and Confciences feared wilh a hO( Iron, it 'were wonderful ro rhink, rhar you fhould dare w utter fuch abominable Untruchs, before God and Man, much Iefs ro pur your Jufiification of All upon the Confiderarion of whar ye here call, Your Gradual Proceedinj!,.J •. For, Firft, _Your. Gradual Proceeding is not from the Menrs of rhe Fact (for here is none) Nor from the Warranty of the Law (for thar is Grounded upon Fact) Nor from rhe Borcom ofJulhce (for ir is Founded upon Law) But from one Irregular Proceeding ro anorher. For, you ht,tve proved nothing ( as I have fhewed ) and rhere being no Proof, there's no Ground for L~w; and there being no Law, there's no Jufhce ; and fo your Gradual Proceeding concra· l·y ( 141 ) ry to Law, ferves to Convince you of rhe Tranfgreffion of the Law : And rhe more you have rofe up from a Bottom rhat is wrohg, and the fanher ye have proceeded from Srep to Srep, and nor on a right Found Jtion, the more ye have {werved from rhe l<ighr, ~md are from a righr Foundation : And fo rhe Conliderarion of your Gt adual Proceeding from one Punilbment ro another, is bur the Cunfiderarion of your Gradual Proceeding from one Cruelty ro another; from Imprifonment, ro .Whipping; from Whipping, to Cuning off E 1rs; from Cuuing off Ears to Finings and Confi fca-ion of Efiares ; fr liJ Finino5 and Confifcarion of Efbtcs, .ro Selling for Uond-men and B~) d-women; from Selling for Bond-m2n and Bond-women, ro Banifhmem upon Pain of Death ; from Baniiflmem upon Pain of Death, ro Deat1 J ; ~.. felf : Andmanifefl ly Evir~ces, r a y(. Defire their Deaths prefenr, r· ther than t .c.:ir Lives abfenr ; and is fo f r from Vir-dicaring you from the Accufari~ ons of Severiry, rhat it chargech ir (yea, rh~ greatefl) upon ye. Seconcl.ly, Ye were pm upon no other manner of ) fence, than thar which is nor of rhis \\ J , rhan that which is Spiritual: For, they cam n:Jt ro you with Swords, nor wich Staves, n~irher wirh Sr<:~ ff, or with Spear ; buc in the Name of the Lord, and wich the Word of Truth, as did the A pofiles and Difciples of Old, and as ye did ro the Bifhops: And only fought by the Demonfiration of Truth, to be made Manifeft to that of God in every Man~s Confcience; and they were fent of the Lord in Love, to turn you from Darkm/s to the Light, and from the Power of Satan, unto God; th~t ye .might receive Remijfion of Sins, and an Inheritance which 14 ·rncormptible, ~ amo~gp |
