THE TESTIMONY Of the Everlasting GOSPEL Witnessed through Sufferings.  
WE the Prisoners of the Lord who are called and chosen to this Work of the ministry of the Gospel of Ghrist, and to bear Testimony to the Truth, which freely we have received, and do freely declare; and do covet no man's gold nor silver, nor meat, nor drink, nor apparel, God is our witness, whose honour and glory we seek, and not our own, but do labour in the Lord's work, being chargeable to no man, but this doth the Spirit of God testify to us daily, that in them that receive our Testimony, and in them that persecute us are we a good savour unto God, both in them that believe, and in them that perish, and that we may finish our Testimony and Work of the Ministry committed unto us, we love not our lives unto death, but are reviled persecuted, and shamefully entreated by this perverse Generation, who have no Law to act any thing against us by, but their own wills, for the Law of God doth witness us and our ministry to be of God, and for setting up righteousness in the earth our ministry is; and they who do act against the servants of the living God, do act against God, for the Law of God which is perfect, we witness to be fulfilled in us, who are come to the Ministration of the Spirit, and through the Law are become dead to the Law, and by the Spirit we come to know sin, which reigned till the Law came which is perfect, which taxes hold upon every transgression; and Christ we witness the end of the Law, who came to finish transgression, and make an end of sins, and where there is no transgression proved, there can be no Law added, and we who suffer here in Norwich, there is nothing proved against us that comes under the breach of the Law: For as I was moved of the Lord, I came to Wymondham, and in the Meeting house, when the Priest had ended, and all the people silent, I spoke the Word of the Lord to them, in love to their souls, and for the deliverance of the seed of God out of captivity, and for this I was sent to Bridwell, and the next day being called before the Magistrate, but nothing was proved against me, though he accused me of something which I spoke not, nor none did prove it against me, and he himself confessed that he did not hear me speak that he accused me of, though he himself was in the multitude, and heard as the rest did. Then he asked me if I would promise him not to come in the public Meeting house again in the like manner, and I should have my Liberty to meet in Town, or where I would: I Answered, if I was moved of the Lord to come thither again, I should come, and when I did transgress or do any wrong, let him add the Law upon me, for there is no Law in the Nation that doth bind any from coming to the public meeting house, who come in the same manner as I did, to declare the Word of the Lord freely to the people, then in his will he made a mittimus, and sent me to prison, and the next day by his own warrant discharged me of all that was laid to my charge in the Mittimus, and yet I am kept in prison nothing justly being charged against me, having suffered imprisonment above ten weeks, and since I was committed was called before the Magistrates, and the Maior, and before the Committees who sit as Ministers of the Law, and nothing they could find worthy of bonds, nor that I had broken the Law, yet did not set me at liberty, but keeps me still in prison, and I being shut up in a hole amongst thieves, and not suffered to have my Liberty publicly; I am moved of the Lord to declare it publicly, that all Rulers, Magistrates and people in the Nation may see that in stead of the Law, persecution is acted, where three of the servants of the Lord is now imprisoned in Norwich, one because he would not Promise to come in the steeplehouse again to declare the Word of the Lord; and another is committed by a Mittimus, and the substance of that charged against him in it, is, That he said, he came to declare the Truth, and another because he declared against him and ungodliness openly in the streets: Oh, be ashamed all the powers of the earth, who have set yourselves against the mighty power of God, who is now coming to discover you, and lay you naked, who by the Light of God are seen, and to the children of Light are made manifest, though your deceits hath laid hid and covered long, both Priests and Magistrates: but now are ye discovered by the Light, and the Life is come to try you, and now you are found to persecute the Saints, which you professed yourselves to be, till you were proved and tried by the Light, as now you are; Praises eternal be to the Lord God for evermore.  
Now these things being acted in the name of the Law, and the present government, and Lord Protector, and Rulers and heads of the Nation, being ignorant of what tyranny and persecution is acted privately in their Names; Therefore I am moved of the Lord to declare it publicly, that the heads and Rulers of the nation may see and consider whether any such tyranny be Protected to be set up in the Nation instead of the Law of justice; for the innocent doth cry for equity and justice in their Courts and Sessions, but in stead thereof tyranny, persecution, and cruelty, so having discharged my duty in clearing my conscience to you before the Lord: The sin lies at your doors, who hath a power put into your hands, if you do not improve it in breaking the bonds of wickedness, and setting the oppressed free: for the Law of justice and equity we own, and have desired to be tried by, but are denied it by those called Justices of Peace: and here to you and all the world we declare the Truth, and are not afraid of the faces of men, who would devour us, for we have no man's person in admiration for advantage nor self ends, but in plainness and singleness of heart declare the truth, respecting no man's person, but do honour all men in the Lord, but not with eye service as men pleasers, but in singleness of heart do we all things as unto the Lord.  
A servant and a witness of Jesus in the bonds of the Gospel of Christ, and a prisoner in Norwich Castle, RICHARD HUBBERTHORN.   


Norwich,  
THese are to require you to to take into your custody James Lancaster herewith sent, who lately came to this City from Northseal, in the ●land of Walner in Lancashire, and can show no lawful cause for his coming hither, but only to declare the Truth (as he calls it) and did in the public market place in this City, gather together a great company of rude and idle people, to the disturbance of the peace of this City, and him safe keep until he shall be delivered from thence according to the Law, and hereof fail not: This 9th of December, to Mr Edward Hunt keeper of the common prison in the said City.  
Thomas Tofte Maior.   

Answer.  
The cause of my coming I did declare before one of your Justices called, and was examined before him; I told him it was to see a friend in the Castle, who was Prisoner there, and after I had been there with him was moved to go where their Minister of the Law, called, was sitting in a house near the Castle, who said little unto me, because it was undeniable that a spoke, who own Justice, and reasoned with the people in the same room of the things of God, and so came and was passing out of the City a quarter of a mile, the Word of the Lord came to me, Thou must go back again, and witness forth my Name in their Market among the people, and at his command I was obedient, and went and declared forth that was given me to speak amongst them, which made the people astonished, and many did follow me as you call them, rude, in running to hear the Truth declared forth in the Market, as the Apostle of Christ, who reasoned in the Markets daily, and went from City to City, preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, and were persecuted from city to city, this is called disturbance now as it was then, and what peace did I break, going on declaring forth the Truth, which none could object against that heard it, and by your Officers called, as he said, he might know the ground why I spoke so, and showed him I was commanded of the Lord, and being brought by him before one justice called, was examined, and could not find me by his Law a transgressor, and bade him carry me to the Maior, and he did so, and he did examine me upon the grounds of my faith, and of my outward means, where it was, and what quantity it was, and being not ashamed, declared myself at full to him of both, as it will further appear by an examination before the Rulers of this City, and so by the Maior, as aforesaid, am here in their bonds and imprisonments doth abide me in obedience to the commands of the same that Paul was guided, and so by the same generation of Rulers as was in those days am I here a sufferer, and to die, if I be called to it, for a testimony of a good conscience, and in the Market I cleared my conscience in witnessing forth the Truth, Christ Jesus the Light of the world, who hath enlightened every one that comes into the world, and called people to repentance, and said the mighty day of the Lord was coming, let all flesh dread and fear before him, and bade them take heed to the Light of Christ in them, which showed sin and evil in them, loving it there was their teacher; hating it there was their condemnation; this was the Word of the Lord sent by me, which was no peace to earthly hearts and minds, but a sword, as Christ saith, and this was disturbance of the peace of the City of Norwich called, by the Rulers, who now am in their bonds for this declaring, let all judge what peace it is they live in, when the Word of the Lord disturbs them: But to that of God in all consciences am I sent to speak, which is his own witness against transgression in man, and by it man sees his transgression, and acting contrary to that, there is man's condemnation; but who as loves it, the Light of Christ in the conscience, their deeds are brought to it to be tried, that they may be made manifest, and here is the wicked nature disturbed, and judged in the particular, and they are called disturbers, in whom the Light of Christ doth guide in the general, and to that which doth disturb the wicked nature do we speak, that sin and unjust dealing may be confounded, and the soul brought from under it, that God alone may be glorified, to whom honour and glory belongs.  
A Servant of the Lord to exhort people to the light of Christ in them, that they may be turned from their dark ways they lived in, to serve the living God in Spirit and in truth. JAMES LANCASTER. From Norwich the 13. of the 10. month. 1654.    


An Episte written in the bonds of the Gospel, to be published abroad amongst the Inhatants of ENGLAND, Rulers, Magistrates and People.  
I A Prisoner of the Lord Jesus Christ, do unto all the world clear my conscience in the presence of the Lord, and am free from the blood of all men, who seek the blood of the innocent, and by the wickedness of the deceitful hearts, would ensnare the simple, and number them amongst transgressors, who are not found in any transgression, but are set free by the Son, and are heirs of the promise, according to the will of God, who hath called me out of the world to testify against the world, that their deeds are evil; and for the same am I hailed before the Judgement seats, against whom there is no Law, for in the Law of God, which is according to that in every man's conscience, do I abide, and am free from all bondages, and laws without, that are acted in the will of man, and by such a Law is the innocent persecuted, and cast into prison, to suffer amongst the transgressors, that the Scripture might be fulfilled upon them as Christ said, as they have done unto me, so shall they do unto you, the Servant is not greater than the Lord, John 15. 18, 19, 20, 21. and this we are witnesses of, and are brought to suffer for his name sake, and am not only willing to suffer, but to die for the testimony of Jesus: Though all the chief Priests and Rulers. which are not called by the Law of God, as the Ministers of God, and of God, were, but do seek to ensnare and bring into bondage that which God hath set at liberty, for it is the same nature that doth imprison the seed within, which doth imprison and persecute the Servants of the Lord, in whom the seed is raised up without in the Saints: And whereas I am sent to the goal of Norwich by a Mittimus by the hands of the Rulers, I am moved of the Lord to clear my conscience unto all the world, that I am free and not guilty of what they lay to my charge, though by it they seek to persecute.   

The Mittimus: Norwich.  
These are to require you to take into your custody the body of Christopher Atkinson herewith sent, who lately came into this city from Kendal in Westmoreland, and can give no account of his livelihood, nor show any lawful cause of his coming hither, but only to declare the Truth, as he calls it.  
THO. TOFTE Mayor.   

Answer.  
To these things, for which I am accused, and am imprisoned by the Rulers of this City, I am bold to declare the truth, that out of Countries and kindreds hath the Lord redeemed me, and called me forth to declare his name abroad, for which cause I am apprehended as a Vagrant, though my habitation and being is known in the earth, and for declaring his name abroad who hath thus called me, am I brought before Rulers, and cast into prison for testifying the life and power of that which they themselves profess in words, who thus imprisoneth and persecuteth the righteous seed of God where it is brought forth. And here let the Rulers of Norwich be witnesses against themselves, that they are of that generation that put our Lord Jesus Christ to death, by a law in their own wills, contrary to the will of God: and what would they have said of Christ, who had no habitation in the earth, no not so much as to lay his head, if they had been in his days; by this Law he might have been persecuted and imprisoned, and him they do persecute and imprison, in so much as they do it unto the least of his, they do it unto him, as it is made manifest; and if they had been in the times of the Apostles, whose words they do profess, would they not have persecuted them by this law, who said they had no certain dwelling place, 1 Cor. 4. 11. and the world was not worthy of them, and such do they persecute now as are redeemed from the world, and by it suffer continually.  
Cain was a Vagabond, who slew his brother, and such as live in anger and envy, such hath no habitation in God, but such actions and beastly nature we deny, and are redeemed from such things, and our habitation is in God; and here let the Rulers of Norwich stop their mouths and be ashamed, who are found persecutors of the Saints of the most high God, without the breach or colour of any law, or any transgression said justly to our charge, who are free born English men, whose Country and habitation we declared, and yet in their Mittimus doth deny it.  
And whereas I am accused of gathering multitudes of rude people together, it is false, as the City of Norwich shall testify, for I was quietly in a house with them that were my friends, and I did not go forth into their streets, but the rude multitude came in, which they and the Priests call Christians, and broke the peace, and this the Mayor of the Town came in and saw, who said, there was no revelation now, but of the devil, and so denyeth both Christ and the Scriptures, which saith, No man knoweth the Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him; Now let all judge whether he be fit to rule for God, who denies the Covenant of God, who gave him for a Covenant and a Leader to the People, and the Maior coming in to our Meeting, where the rude multitude was, as he calls it, had nothing where of to accuse us, but desired me in love to come to him the next day, which I did, and by a warrant without any examination, I was sent to prison for a time, till I was called to examination again, being free from the breach of any Law am I here retained in prison for witnessing forth a good conscience before God and man, thus to all the world have I cleared my conscience in the presence of the Lord, that what I suffer is for righteousnesses sake, without the breach of any Law, and so I remain a sufferer this day for the Testimony of Jesus who am a servant to the Truth, and a Friend of Israel's Commonwealth.  
Whose name in the flesh is Christopher Atkinson, a Prisoner of the Lord in Norwich. From the Gaol of Norwich 13. 10.    
FINIS.