FOR THE KING AND HIS COUNCIL , THESE . OH King CHARLES ,

our desire is , that thou mayest live for ever in the fear of God , and thy Council : we beseech thee and thy Council to read these following Lines , and in tender Bowels and Compassion to read them over ; for we write in love and compassion to your souls , and for your good .

And this consider , we are above four hundred imprisoned in about this City , of men & women from their Families , in close Holes and Prisons , besides in the Countrey Gaols above ten hundred : And this we desire , that our Meetings may not be broken up , but that all may come to a fair Tryal , that our innocency may be cleared .

Oh! how have you given us up , who are innocent , to be butchered , who wrong no man , nor lift up a hand against any man , neither against you nor your Souldiers ! But oh how have you let all men , that have neither reason , nor mercy , nor distinction upon us , which we are known all along , by all the Powers before you , to have been trodden upon by them , as sheep for the slaughter ; and now we are bruised ; stoned , prisoned , men and women knocked down , trodden down in the streets , and dirt crumbled in our mouths ; the simple , innocent and harmless , that envies no man upon the earth , cannot pass up and down in the streets : And it s known , that our Principle is , and hath been , not to revenge our selves ; & it 's known , that them that you have numbred us amongst , who never denyed the bearing of Sword nor outward Weapons , but whose Principle is to avenge themselves .

Oh that you should make no more distinction , and should have no more consideration ! For it's Sin , and Wickedness , and Filthiness that we have alwayes declared against , that brings people to Ryots , and Plots , and tumultuous Meetings : Therefore , oh that the innocent should be numbred amongst such , even we who seek 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 amongst , and plead our Cause ; for we are given up to all the wild people in thy Dominions , that have neither mercy nor manhood , but lost the state of very Nobility ; for we have been a People known in all thy Dominions , and in all thy Islands about it , and in many other Nations , to whom the Lord hath made many to go out of this Nation , where they have had their passage amongst the heads of other Nations , and had liberty to preach the Gospel , so that many have through the Gospel been turned to God , yea the very Heathens . And now that we should be reckoned amongst a people whose Principle is to fight and swear upon occasion , and to avenge themselves , which astonishes all them which know it ; I believe your own consciences tell you , that we are harmless , and would do you no harm nor hurt , but wish your good : Therefore how can you now make us amends , and clear your selves in the sight of God , for bringing guilt of the innocent upon you , who are in God's hand , to whom we do commit our selves , our souls , and cause , 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 smiter , and our cheeks and hair to them that will smite , and pluck it off .

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 amongst the Plotters and Fighters , so that in all parts , without Mercy or Compassion of Men or Women , young or old , with Swords and Pistols , Clubs and Staves , Dirt and Stones , they fall upon us ; yea before Thy Declaration came out against us ; but now the wicked rejoices .

But oh ! our sorrow and grief is for your own selves , though we do suffer on every hand ; and many of our friends are made a prey upon by armed men , drawn out of houses , and taken up in the streets to get money of them , under a pretence as taking of them up in suspition , 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 spoil , and to make havock , and to make a gain upon the Innocent : Oh that we should be thus sold ! and oh that violent men without mercy , and compassion , and distinction , you should put the Sword into their hands : Therefore who should order the multitude , who should order the rude people , who should give understanding to the placing of Souldiers , and distinguish unto them what they should lay the Sword upon , but you that have the Authority ? Vengeance is the Lords , and he will repay it ; we cannot revenge our selves , though by your Declaration we are published as amongst the Plotters , to all Nations ; but the Lord shall plead our Cause , to whom we commend our selves , and to the hearts of all People our Innocency appears , who trieth us : Therefore our desire is , let all the Prisoners 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 Testimony that we have been sufferers by the Powers before you ; for that is for your honor to do Justice , and let Justice be done , and let the Offenders be punished , and let the Guiltless be set free . And now we must not meet to Worship God , neither must we meet together to Edifie one another , according to the Apostles Doctrine , and stir up the gift in one another ; they that feared the Lord spoke often together , as you may read in Malachy ; but this is forbidden , wee must not meet . And did not the Council forbid the Apostles to speak any more in the Name of Jesus ? and did not they preach up and down from house to house ? and had not they Meetings in several houses ? And did not Paul preach together two years in his own hired house , in the seat of the Emperor at Rome .

And now if you suspect us , or have jealousie of us , which you need not , let men come in all our Meetings without violence , and see our Order and manner of our speaking in our Meetings . For it cannot be said that we have forfeited our liberties which was given unto Tender Consciences , so as to be numbred amongst them that are Fighters ; Therefore take not away the Liberty that You have given to Tender Consciences , that cannot defend themselves with outward Weapons : For they that Fight and Kill , and rise up with Carnal Weapons , and plot and rise up against Brethren to kill ; they cannot be said to love Enemies . Therefore expose 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 Everlasting Truth and Gospel , which is no disgrace to thy Kingdom and Family , that there should be a family of Prophets in it of the most High GOD : But if we be numbred amongst Plotters and Fighters , who never were any Plotters , which was never our Principle ; yet in truth we are the Sufferers , and have suffered all things for Christ the Elect sake , and do keep to Yea and Nay in all our Communications ; who desires that our lives onely may preach to all people upon the Earth . So this we desire , stop the violence of the rude people , this will not be to Your disgrace : Stop the violence of the Souldiers , that wee may not be made a prey upon , nor abused , who cannot defend our selves against them ; for you have our Tribute and Assessments : And you know this , we might have our liberty in Turkey , as both Christians 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 , and edifie one another to pray in the Holy Ghost , and to build up one another in the holy Faith : For what good will it do you to cast us into Prison , and to make your selves Examples to other Nations and Kingdoms for so doing ? Would you separate us from the love of God which we have in Christ Jesus ?

London , 16 day , 11 Month , 1660. From friends of Truth and Innocency , G. F. & J. S.

Oh KING !

WE would have thee to do nothing against thy Prosperity and Nobility . Oh! Hath the like ever been done , as is done to us , ( who are an innocent People , and Thy Friends , and not Thy Enemies ) among all the Princes in Christendom , to mingle the Innocent among the Transgressors ? Oh! thou shouldst have sent for half a dozen , or half a score of us , and have examined us , that Thou might'st have been further satisfied concerning our Fidelity and Principles , and that would not have been against Thy Nobility : But oh ! how is the Innocent mangled by merciless 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 Just and Innocent from the earth ; Let none perswade Thee to root out the Saints of the Most High God , nor to destroy the Meetings of such who meet in the fear of God , and call upon his Name from a pure heart , and are gathered together in the Name of Jesus : Nor let none perswade Thee to destroy the Heritage of God ; for that will not be for thy own comfort with the Lord in the end , for to destroy and waste , and let up the rude people upon the meek and innocent . Neither lay the Law upon such as it was not made for , that seek the Peace of Thee , and all Men upon the Earth . Oh stop those hasty Decrees , Declarations , or Proclamations , and call them in that doth offend the Righteous and upright in heart ; for what could You have done more against us , if we had been as the Plotters and Fighters , and such as wil take Covenants , and swear , and break them upon occasion ? For our Principle is known ( I believe ) throughout all Christendom , and many other parts of the World , That we can neither bear Arms , nor Swear ; And I believe that Thou in Thy Conscience hath a Testimony so for us , and believes the same . And now the Prisons in every place is filling , and many now full with the innocent and meek of the Earth , and the Lambs of Christ , which cannot defend themselves , which many now in Thy Name will dishonor themselves with , or through their violence and cruelty against them ; and honest men coming out of the Countrey about their business , being Tradesmen , are taken up , and the Oath put to those whom they know for Conscience-sake cannot swear , and so are cast in prison , and made a prey upon .

Oh that any such things should proceed from those called Christians , seeing that the Christians in the primitive times , were not to swear at all , being forbidden by Christ , Matth. 5. and by the Apostle , as Jam. 5.

But the Lord is our God , who will plead our Cause , who hath the hearts of all Kings and men in his hand : But oh that we should find such things among you that have been sufferers by the same as we have suffered before you ! And oh that such cruel imprisonments & havock should be found amongst them that are called Reformed Churches ! But we do appeal in our Cause to God , and to the Witness of God in all your consciences , that these things will not be to your honor in the sight of God , in the end : Nevertheless , if thou wilt do that favour , as to let half a dozen , or half a score , or what number thou pleasest , come before Thee , that Thou mayest be further satisfied concerning us , before You act so against us . Oh the violence that is acted in the Countreys and Cities ! for now have the wicked people their hearts desire ; this is the day they looked for ; they would have had this of the changeable Powers that were before Thee , though under cruel sufferings and whippings , and banishments , and imprisonments until death , which we suffered by them ; and many Petitions and Addresses there were to them , against us , whom God did restrain from a general falling upon us . Nevertheless , we cannot look that these things are altogether in thine own heart to be inflicted upon us ; For if thou didst but know the usage of men and women , which is not within the bounds of modesty to mention ; and if thou didst but know what a prey we are made of , it could not but break Thy heart , or the heart of any Christian Prince upon the Earth . Is not the Seed of the Church known in Persecution ? Consider , what wouldst Thou have done to Peter and John , when they spoke in the Name of Jesus after the Council had forbidden them , and they met in several Houses , which is called the Infancy of the Church ? But that these things should be found amongst them that think they are in fuller age ! Oh that Christians should stop Christians for meeting together to worship God! Oh that ever it should be said that such things should be amongst Christians in Christendom ! that they should be restrained from meeting together , to build up one another in the most holy Faith , which is according to God and Christ , and the Apostles Commands , as it is declared in the Scriptures of Truth . Therefore let these things be considered ; for Prisons and Dungeons are so full , that Friends can scarce sit or lye . Therefore , oh that honest men , and such as love Peace and Righteousness , and Thy good , and all mens , should see this day ! We are against violence and plots , and we that be risen with Christ , seek those things which are above , where Wars and Fightings , Strife and Plots are not , but they are below , and in the Fall from God . And this we say , which is more to us then an Oath .

Henry Fell.