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So, by what in you lay, you sought to quench the Witness of God in His servants, who were priso.iers, that it might not testify against you, and give you torment; but the Lord was above you. And, whereas your law of death sought to affright those in whom the power of the Lord lived, though you would not own it, and force them out of your jurisdiction, for which cause you made your bloody law as aforesaid, and put three to death, as hath been related; you were deceived in this also; for not only did William Leddra come upon your law for death, after that you had murdered the other three, as hath been said, but Wenlock Christison being moved of the Lord, and brought by the mighty Power of God, with his life in his hand; and being made willing by the same Power and Life to offer up his life in obedience to the Lord, if He saw it good to require it of him, in performance of which he found peace and rest, and was not afraid of your laws nor gibbets, but in the Name and Power of God, though he stood in the predicament of death, having been already banished by you upon pain of death, came into your Court, not fearing the wrath of the devil, nor the fury of the dragon in you; which had power to kill some, and persecute others of the saints of the Most High God, even in the very time that you were trying, the said William Leddra, and there nobly showed himself over the head of all your blood and cruelty, in the strength of the Lord.

This struck a great damp upon you, to see a man so unconcerned for his life as to come upon your law of death, and trample it under, insomuch that for a little space of time there was silence in the Court; but recovering from your swoon, or the spirit of iniquity rising up over all in you again, you began to gather strength and recover heart in your wickedness, and one cries out, "Here is another." "Fetch him up to the bar," said you, which your marshal performed, and bade him pluck off his hat; who said, "No, I shall not." Then said Rawson, your secretary, "Is not your name Wenlock Christison ?" Wenlock said, "Yea." Then said John Endicott, the governor, unto him after he had acknowledged his name, which he denied not, though in

the face of death, "Wast thou not banished upon pain of death?" Wenlock said, "Yea, I was. See how Truth enables a man to bear his testimony, though the consequence be death. Said your governor, "What dost thou here, then?" He cried, "That he was come to warn them, that they should shed no more innocent blood; for the blood that you have shed already, cries to the Lord God for vengeance to come upon you." Whereupon you said, "Take him away, jailer." The recompence you returned him, who came with his life in his hand at the command of the Lord and in His mighty Power, to the astonishment of you, that any should dare thus to come to warn you, who came in love and in the agony of his soul, to cry out unto you for your own good, that the vengeance of the Lord might not come upon you; but to jail you sent him, leaving his friend and fellow-sufferer, of whom he so warned you, to be tried for his life, and whom you afterwards put to death, as the sequel manifests.

So your Court rose, and after a while sat again, and called before you Edward Wharton, John Chamberlain, and the other three aforesaid; and Edward Wharton standing at your bar with his hat on, Bellingham, your deputy-governor, stood up and said, "Who is that, Edward Wharton? Surely it is not Edward Wharton." William Leddra replied, "Thou shouldst not lie, for thou knowest it is Edward Wharton." Whereupon a great stir was in your Court, and the cry was, "That William ought to be carried out and whipped for giving the lie." Which he did not, but admonished him in the words of Truth, that he should not have lied who sat as judge, and that upon the lives, liberties, and corporal punishments of others, and so should have been a better example, and had gone without reproof, which now was justly given him. But the deputy-governor did but jest, as was said by some of the Court, and jesting is lawful, for Elias jested with Baal's priests. See your religion and the height of it, who put men to death for religion; who force the Scriptures, as if they justified what was not truth; and produce the Scriptures to prove what is not truth; for the Scripture saith, "The devil was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth."—John

viii. 44. And, "Lie not one to another."-Col. iii. 9.

"And all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone."-Rev. xxi. 8. "Nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. For because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience."-Eph. v. 4, 6. Thus for lying; thus for jesting.

So you called Edward Wharton to the bar, and ye caused the warrant of his commitment to be read, which was as follows:"To the constables of Salem, or either of them.

"You are required, in his Majesty's name, to apprehend the "body of Edward Wharton, and him safely to bring before me, "to answer such objections as shall be laid unto him, concerning "the Quakers.

"JOHN ENDICOTT."

Which warrant T. Roots, the constable, served on him in his house at Salem, and brought him through the country to Boston, with his black staff, as some notorious offender; and it being read, Edward Wharton asked your governor, "What he had now to lay to his charge?" Instead of answering him, your governor spoke to him about the hat, and how he pitied him that he should be so deluded. Though he was his neighbour at Salem, yet he imprisoned him, and afterwards banished him on pain of death for being so deluded; whom, being so deluded, he pretended to pity. Oh, deep hypocrisy and killing cruelty! Edward Wharton said, "That as for the hat, it would do him but little good; and as for the Truth, it did delude none, but by it," said he, "am I made to see and know 'the grace of God, which hath appeared unto all men, teaching us to deny ungodliness, and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this world.' And now, by the power of this grace, I am made willing," said he, "that as His name hath suffered by my vain conversation, so now

See how his Majesty is brought to it; but anon I shall show how you have served him whom you have called his Majesty.

to suffer for His name and Truth,"--a good confession, and fit for you to have minded,-"accounting it greater riches to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; and this, through His grace, in my measure I can witness," said he. Then replied the governor, in scoffing sort, "In my measure! This is right Quaker words. Hast thou grace?" said your governor. "Yea," replied Edward. "How dost thou know that thou hast grace?" Edward answered, "He that believeth in the Son of God, need not go to others to know, for he hath the witness in himself, as saith John; and this witness is the Spirit." Your answer hereunto was, "Go call the keeper." The keeper came. "Do you know this man?" "Yes," said the jailer. "Go, take him to prison," said your governor. But said Edward Wharton, "Seeing thou hast sent thy warrant, and caused the constables to take me out of my house, and lead me through the country, from town to town, like an evil-doer, I would now know what thou hast to lay to my charge." "Nay," replied your governor, "you shall know that hereafter;" and so commanded the jailer to take him away. See what strangers you are to the grace of God that bringeth salvation, and to the witness that he that believeth hath in himself; and to the Scriptures, and the Spirit that speaketh in them, and to justice and equity among men; that a man speaking soberly of these things, and according to truth, in answer to your demands, must be sent to prison, and nothing said to him wherefore he was so sent, when he reasonably desired it; but to prison he must go.

So, away he was had to prison, and there kept with William Leddra, close prisoner night and day; sometimes in a very little room, little bigger than a saw-pit; having no liberty but when you caused them to be brought unto your Courts to inquisition, which was in order to future bonds and death, where they were also prisoners; which was all the breathing they had in your jail of cruelty, and yet it was the best they received at your hand; who are become cruel, and worse than the "sea-monsters, who draw forth the breast, and give suck to their young." And yet ye would be accounted the members of Christ, whose spirit is

"gentle, meek, easy to be entreated; full of goodness, mercy, and compassion, brotherly-kindness, and charity;" which you are fled from.

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"Friends, what is the cause," said Edward Wharton often to you, when had before you, "and wherefore have I been fetched from my habitation, where I was following my honest calling, and here laid up as an evil-doer?" "Your hair is too long," replied you, "and you are disobedient to that commandment which saith, Honour thy father and mother.'" To which Edward said, "Wherein ?" "In that you will not put off your hat," said you, "before the magistrates." "It is not so," replied Edward; "but I love and own all magistrates and rulers, who are for the punishment of evil-doers, and for the praise of them that do well." But cried Rawson your secretary, in answer hereunto, "Come to the bar." "Yea," said Edward, "and unto the bench also; for we know thou hast no evil justly to charge us withal." "Hold up your hand," cried Rawson. "Nay," replied William Leddra and Edward Wharton, "for thou hast no evil justly to lay to our charge." "Well," said Rawson, "Edward Wharton, hear your sentence of banishment." "Friends," replied Edward Wharton, "have a care what you do; for if you murder me, my blood will lie heavy upon you." Rawson answered, "Edward Wharton, attend to your sentence of banishment. You are upon pain of death to depart this jurisdiction," it being the eleventh of the instant March, 1661, by the one-and-twentieth of the same, on the pain of death."

A cruel and most severe sentence, to be given to a man for his hair and hat; for those were the crimes that were laid to his charge. Edward replied, "Friends, I am a single man, and I have dealings with some people; it were good I had time to make clear with all, and then, if you have power to murder me, you may." Hereupon, your governor and Rawson having laid their heads together, John Endicott, your governor, said, "If we should give him an hundred days, it is all one." "Nay," replied Edward Wharton, "I shall not go away: therefore be careful what you do." So, having received his sentence, the Court being very

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