THE CRY OF NEWGATE, With the other Prisons, in and about LONDON:  
In which dismal Holes, and Cells, are imured about three hundred Persons, of the Innocent People of God, called Quakers, for no other Cause, but for their unspotted Testimonies in God, held in clear Consciences.  
To you Magistrates, Priests, and People of this City of London, and elsewhere, whom these may concern, are these Words uttered.  
By R. C.  
London, Printed in the Year, 1662.   

The Cry of Newgate, with the other Prisons, in and about LONDON, etc.  
OYe Magistrates, when will ye desist from your Tragical actions? Consider, Consider, great, grievous and cruel, is the burden that is born by us from that insatiate bloody persecuting spirit which this day hath Dominion in you; I say, and Challenge in the Name and fear of God, what is it we have done, that you should execute your implacable furies on us, by haling, dragging, and carrying us out of our peaceable Meetings, as you do without any Remorse, Mercy, or Compassion shown unto any, young or old Age, or Sex, and by that Abominable practice, of Club Law, the which doth violate the Laws Civil, that are made and provided for Englishmen, who are peaceable and Freeborn of the Nation, and are made for the preservation of the good Protestant People Inhabiting therein, and not for their ruin and Destruction, as is this day made manifest in the face of the World, because of the difference of persuasion in Conscience, about Religion, and for no other cause?  
Oh! why do you prevaricate with the Light of God in your Consciences, which lets you see the abomination of this thing? known be it to you, we the People of the most high God, called Quakers, have most unjustly received from your hands, such height of Cruelty and Barbarosity as hath not been measured to any People in this Nation many Generations; And all this for our unspotted Testimony in the Truth of the most High God, which we dearly own, and our lives are given up for, though slighted, and made a mock of by the Sons of Idolatry; I say, we loathe your Club Law, for in Queen mary's days, in that Persecution which was very bloody indeed, with which the Earth is still besmeared, and the loathsome pestiferous stench thereof is exceeding unsavoury in the minds of the good Protestant People of this Nation; I say, then there was Legal Process, (though by wicked Laws) and not the practice of Club Law, as now, so much loathed and detested by the good People of England, and formerly by yourselves, as Bishop Gauden in a book against the Quakers mentioneth, and complains of that Flagellant Method practised by preceding Powers, their forcing contrary to Conscience, to be exceeding wicked and cruel; And if you complained of it then, may not we aswel complain of it now? Was it Wicked, Cruel and Evil in those, and in them times, and is it Righteous, Good and Merciful in you now? Is God who gave Judgement in that Case then, changed with the times, that that which was Evil then is now become good? And that which was Wicked then, is now become Righteous? God Eternal forbidden I should say it; and whosoever doth, Blasphemes. And know this O ye Magistrates, we do but complain of now, and cry out against, what your very selves did then, and found it burdensome unto you; And now the burden is off from your shoulder, and are at ease, you lay it upon us; (upon us I say) which were no burden to you in that day, yea and you make your Fingers as heavy as their Loins: even God Eternal Judge between you and us in this case, and make speedy decision in this Controversy, if it be thy holy Will Eternal Father, that it may appear to the whole World how in Innocency we stand.  
Oh! Consider, Consider, it is a small thing for Liberty of Conscience to be given in matters of Religion; for certainly so doing, diminisheth nothing of his that allows it; And it is the greatest thing that is to be hindered of it, when it as certainly addeth nothing to him that restrains it: Conscience, is properly and peculiarly Gods alone to exercise, and not Man's, or men's; Therefore think not the understandings that God hath given unto us, and enlightened them with a manifestation of himself, we ever can, will or shall give away, or part with to Man or Men; for so came in that damnable Apostasy at first, and the first rise of implicit Faith, (mark well these words) it is certainly so; for know you this, where the Conscience is, or hath been made shipwreck of by bowing to the Lusts of Men, and the understandings of Men given up thereby, than this followeth, their Eyes being out, they are turned into the Mills to grind, and being become so (viz.) wilfully blind, Vassalage is as well entertained by them, as Liberty: have we deserved these things at your hands? or do we deserve them? And is this a Retaliation Equivolent to our Tribute, and Taxes, we pay? (they which we have hitherto paid) expecting for which we should enjoy a peaceable life, in all godliness; But behold nothing but Cells, Vaults, and Nasty holes in Prisons amongst Felons, and Murderers, is returned unto us for this; Certainly this is most injurious and unreasonable, to exact Tribute and Taxes on us, and not to suffer us to labour in our Callings for it; If we must bring in our full tale of Brick, let us have our Liberty to gather straw, though not allowed, and shut us not up in the places precited, where neither straw, nor any thing else is to be had.  
Assuredly, assuredly, you must needs see, and cannot be ignorant of these things, for experience must needs have taught you something; is it so long since your Affliction hath passed over your heads, that such things are by you forgot? though you forget them, yet we cannot; and though your hands are stretched forth against us in cruelty, yet God who knoweth our Innocency, hath numbered the days of our Affliction, and so hasteneth the work of our sore travail in our Generation; and though the Lord should give you power to hunt us to death, and if you and us should not part but at our habitations of silence, as several of our dear Friends have done already by your persecuting hands; yet I say, God's Eternal Peace is our Portion, in which we lay down our heads; and though you please yourselves in these things, and palliate your Lusts upon our Affliction, yet know also, God hath numbered the days of your Cruelty towards us, and you post to your ends, where you will lay down your heads in God's wrath; for consider yesterday comes no more.  
These Tragedies are not much unlike some of those Christian Hunters, mentioned in the ten Persecutions, as Nero, Domitian, Maximinus, and Dioclesian, all which took pleasure to hunt the Christians that would not sacrifice to their Heathenish Gods; and is it less now, or unlike them? do not some of you sport yourselves in the same, and take pleasure therein, as to hunt the good protestant Christians out of their peaceable meetings, with your armed men, and drive them by hundreds in flocks to your Prisons? and is it not because we cannot cease to meet together, to worship the living God in the Spirit of Truth, as he hath manifested? and if it lie upon any from the Lord, to deny to be driven by your armed men, knowing right well those Proceed are unjust, and abominable to peaceable English men, than you immediately fall upon them with Sword and Musket, and shed blood as freely as though you were ordered only to murder: Now whosoever this doth, or on whom it lieth to be done, it is for a Testimony against your wicked illegal Proceed, by Club Law, which our very Souls loath; for we never refused to go with a civil Officer, provided he came by Warrant, and he orderly serving his Warrant on those men whose names were therein expressed: but truly I say, though this be England's Law, I never see it yet legally executed upon us: Therefore a good reason have we to cry out against your Club Law, we being known to be peaceable men, and such as do wholly follow and ensue the same.  
And further, it is not unknown to you what Blood hath been lately shed in our Meeting within Aldersgate, and especially on the body of that murdered martyred Saint, John Trowel, whose Blood the Earth hath drunk up, and thereout cryeth aloud for Justice; with others dead since, both of their hurts received there, and of their cruel Imprisonment in Newgate, to the number of ten Persons, whose blood is yet to be accounted for. Therefore the thing is not a pastime or sport as you may make it, for the eye of the just God beholds your Do, and will not at all acquit you in these Actions; for Precious in the Eye of the Lord, are the Death of his martyred Saints; And I do tell you again, England's Laws are made to preserve and protect the good Protestant People of the same, in all their just Rights, and not to destroy them. Think ye it is not taken notice of by many, how at this day the Papists (though the Laws are against them) have liberty to Meet, and are not broke up, neither disturbed, but rather indulged; (I speak not this because I would have them, or any denied their Liberty in matter of Conscience) What meaneth these things? well, the Intentions of all hearts are bare and naked before our God: And verily I say unto you, O ye Magistrates, these Actions are altogether Illegal, Cruel, Abominable, Unnatural and Heterogenial towards us, who fear the living God that created all things both in heaven and in earth: Yet nevertheless, this I say in God's holy dread and fear, prove us yet more, and try us even to the extremity that is in your hearts, yet our unspotted Innocency must, will, and shall clear us unto God's just Witness that is in your Consciences; and this is God's Word unto you all.  
And Oh ye Priests! that are the fomenters of these things precited, by your wicked envious Rail, which whets on the Magistrate to accomplish your intended Purposes; I say in God's fear, your Judgement neither sleepeth nor slumbereth, but is near to be accomplished, for God's Eternal decree hastens concerning you: what shall I say? you have been tried, and into the Furnace you have been cast, where you might have learned true Wisdom, but alas, alas you are found to come forth with a thicker and fouler crust tenfold, then when you went in; and though your tree be grown, and the leaves thereof be seemingly green, yet know you this from the Lord, if you know it not, your tree is seen to be rotten at the root, for true wisdom hath searched it out, and a hewer from the holy One stands ready with an Axe in his hand, to give it that fatal blow decreed from the Lord; and great, yea wonderful great will be the fall thereof: if your Worship were the Worship of the true God, why did you not manifest it to the World, in the day of your Trial some years since, had you sealed your Testimonies therein, and firmly stood your ground, than it would have confirmed your Doctrine; for in Season, and out of Season, the Apostles of Jesus both Taught and Preached, and they were true Ministers of the Church of God; but yours have been, and are found not to be so; for it was not seasonable for you in that day to hold forth the Testimonies, because the Laws were not in being which did uphold you, and on which you leaned, and also on which you lean at this day.  
Now I say and do aver, should the Magistrate secular, and the Power Military, each one stand in his proper station, and leave you to stand alone in yours; I tell you, you would appear to be (even as you are) a dead Image without Life, which gives no true motion; now mark us well, the despised in your Eye, were we so, suffered we not then as well as you, and from the same Power, and are not we the same in truth's Testimony now as then? and do you cause us to be Persecuted and cruelly entreated, because we will not do as you have done, that is, change as you have changed? no, no, far be it from us, God Eternal hath begotten us, in his Life by his holy Seed, which never did, will, or shall change; for whoever changeth from it, yet it still remains unchangeable in Eternity; Therefore cease, cease ye Clods of Earth, ye morsels of Envy, ye things of Naught, ye atoms of Vanity, ye pitchers filled with Enmity against the chaste Seed of God, what are ye in comparison of that which ye strive with and persecute? for it is God in his Saints ye sight withal and against: But know assuredly, God hath determined deliverance, and hath sworn it, and we faithfully believe it; therefore we are neither solicitous or anxious concerning your threats, or cruel actions, that you do, or may be permitted to do unto us, for we are preserved even by that Power, that gives you power to do what you do; and therefore we are not careful I say, for we are better acquainted with that Power than yourselves are, for our lives and preservation therein stands, and in the fence thereof do we reside and inhabit; immortal praises be given in the immortal Seed of all his, from the pure breathe of his holy Spirit for ever, and for evermore: But woe, woe unto the Oppsers, Persecutors, and Fighters against this suffering Seed of God, and the Lamblike Spirit, which is now manifest, and is most sorely burdened and laden with the unheard of Cruelties, and Abomination of this Generation of every sort; the Wine-press of God's implacable, inexorable wrath is even near to be trod, whereout will flow rivers of Blood, for the disposition of the abominations of this generation, calls for it, and from which there is no escape: This is God's Truth to all you Hirling persecuting Priests, which will stand on your head for ever.  
And to all you People of this City of London, who ever you be that sport yourselves in these execrable and damnable Practices, of hunting the true Christians out of their peaceable Meetings, and are delighted to see us driven like silly sheep up and down the streets, and thrust into noisome and dismal Cells by hundreds at once; I say long hath the Lord born with you; but you have almost sinned out your day, and your pleasures are even at an end; Vanity after Vanity, Vanity after Vanity have ye with greediness purchased, and for no other purpose, than to serve your wicked hearts lust, whereby God Eternal hath been, and is most highly dishonoured; you have a pretended Reformation, but rather a Deformation, as witness your Bull-baitings, Bear-baitings, your vicious Interludes and Stageplays, with all manner of obscenities; well, the reins is given you and a full swinge you had for some years passed in these things, yet little do you regard or see the Judgements that attend you, but as though by adding Sin to Sin, is the very way to become sanctified, and so he that can Sin most, is the best Saint in your account.  
Oh! my Soul, my Soul is dissolved into sorrow and sufferings for these things, and to see how things run retrograde, how the most obscene, scurrilous, blackmouthed Curser and Swearer, with all his vain unclean talk, is now counted good Communicants, and them that are otherwise, are branded and marked out for ruin and destruction; but know you this, that live without God in the World, and are not satisfied, neither will or can be, till you have full gorged yourselves in all the cursed Works of Vanity, in which you have solaced your hearts; I say unto you, a Fire is kindled which inwardly burneth fiercely, out of which will issue the Vials of God's Implacable Vengeance, and is quickly to be poured out upon the Earth, to consume all the Plants of God's curse; bundles, bundles, for this Fire which is never to be extinguished, until the Earth be cleared from all those poisonous pestiferous Pollutions, with which it is over-pread and covered.  
This is God's Eternal Truth to you (ye men of Sodom) and he that can Read, let him Read.  
R. C.  
FINIS