The Afflicted Man's Outcry, against the Injustice and Oppression exercised upon; OR, An Epistle of JOHN LILBURN, Gent. Prisoner in Newgate, August 19 1653. to Mr. Feak, Minister at Christ Church in London.  
Honoured Sir,  
THough I cannot say I am acquainted with you, yet I have heard so much worth of you, and of your tenderness and zeal for the honour of the Lord Jehovah, my long and sensible enjoyed lot and portion, that I am emboldened to present you with a few lines, by way of complaint of that sad and unjust dealing that I find from those that would be reputed Christian and righteous Judges, that now would take away my life upon a most unjust Act of Parliament, grounded upon the most notorious Lie in the world; and in which I am no more concerned in Law, or Truth, than the child in the Mother's womb: for it is an Act for the execution of a Judgement passed in Parliament against one Lieu. Col. John Lilburn the 15 of January 1651. for high Crimes and Misdemeanours; but there was never any such Judgement either the said 15 day of Jan. 1651 or any day before, or since p●st against me in Parliament in the least; And therefore in Law and Verity, I cannot be any more concerned to be the man mentioned in that unrighteous Act, than the child in the Mother's womb; And that there never was any such Judgement passed in Parliament against me, I give these Reasons for it.  
Fi●st, there was never any Charge, Indictment, or Information in the least filled or preferred in Parliament against me, that ever I was summoned unto in the least to answer; neither did the Parliament call me by any due process of Law in the least, so much as to hear any Charge, Information, or Indictment, read against me; nor never so much as called me to their Bar, to demand of me what I could say for myself; why they should not pass Judgement against me: Neither was I ever in all my life outlawed for not appearing: So that I do again with confidence aver it before God, and all his People, that I am no more in Law, Reason, Truth, or Verity, concerned in that Act, upon which I am indicted for my li●e, than the child in the Mother's womb: Neither hath any man of honour, conscience, or common honesty, the least ground in Law to say, that I am the man meant in that Act for executing of a Judgement passed against one Lieu. Col, John Lilburn, Jan. 15. 1651. for high Crimes and Misdemeanours. And yet upon the Trial for my life, although the said Judgement be the foundation of the Act, and the Act the foundation of the Indictment; yet am I denied by the Court at Old bayley the hearing or seeing of that Judgement, which is, and aught to be the foundation and ground of all; and which saith all the Council I can speak with, or hear from, is the highest injustice that can be acted against a man in England, by those that (in the least) profess themselves to be Judges, or Executors of the Law: Yea, and when I desire from the Court but liberty from the pure and undefiled Law of God, the true fundamental laws of England, and multitudes of the late Parliaments own Declarations, to prove that I ought to see and hear the said judgement: And when in the first place I begun with God's righteous and just dealing with Adam, and although God was absolute supreme over him, yet he would clear up the justice of his ways even to Man; and therefore gave Adam a plain law to walk by, Gen 2. And when Adam had transgressed and broken it, although God knew well enough he had so done; yet he abhorred to deal unjustly with him, and condemn him without summoning him to answer for himself; and therefore he sits him by, saying, Adam where a●t thou? as much as if he had said, Come forth and stand up for thyself, and answer to the Bill of Indictment against thee, for breaking the pure and undefiled Law of Me thy Sovereign Lord and King, and speak the utmost that thou canst why thou shouldst not be condemned for thy Rebellion against me, thy endeared Lord and Master.  
But Sir, while I was thus speaking, steps up Col. John Barkstead (the present Lieutenant of the Tower of London) who, as he is a soldier, no more fit to be a Judge in a legal Court for a man's life, than a Surgeon or a Butcher is to be a Juryman for a man's life; and he cries out to me, and commands me to hold my vain babbling, for what have we (saith he) to do with the law of God. O rare Judge indeed! and a fit man, under the colour of justice and magistracy, to murder the innocentest man in the whole world: for the best and chiefest of the law-books of England do aver and glory in it, that the foundations of the true law of England, is built upon the pure law of God. And saith the notable and ancient law-book called The Doctor and Student, chap. 2. pag. 4. The law of God or law of Reason is written in the heart of every man, eaching him what is to be done, and what is to be fleed; and because it is written in the heart, therefore (saith he) it may not b● put away: no, it is never changeable by no diversity of place, no time. And therefore against this Law, Prescription, Statute, nor Customs, may not prevail: And if any be brought in against it, they be no Prescriptions, Statutes, nor Customs, but things void and against justice. And he saith this law of God, or Reason, engraven in the heart of man, teacheth that good is to be loved, and evil is to be fleed; also, that thou shalt do to another, that thou wouldst another should do to thee; and that we may do nothing against Truth; and that a man must live peaceably with others; that justice should be done to every man; and also that wrong is not to be done to any man.  
In which Opinion, that great and excellent Oracle of the law of England, the Lord Cook sully concurs; and therefore styles the true and fundamental law of England, the perfection of Reason.  
But above my du●l commendation, is that learned, rational, laborious, and excellent piece, or law-book, entitled, Rights of the Kingdom; Or, Customs of our Ancestors, printed in London by Richard Bishop, 1649. and commonly called Mr Sadler the Town Clerk of London's Works, who is now a Parliament man, and member of the Council of State: Whose rare expressions in that excellent, useful, and profitable book, especially in the first part pag. 91. and the 2d part, pag. 60, 63, 68, 74, 123▪ 159, 160, 161▪ 164, 168▪ 170, 175 176, 177, 178, 179, 180, 181, 184 185, 186, 188. are worthy to be written and printed in letters of Gold; some of which; although Time at present is exceeding precious to me, I shall think it very profitable and useful here to insert; and the first shall be out of his second part, pag. 63. where he saith, There and there only, seemeth to be true liberty; which may most appear in the actings of those beings which are most knowing.  
Show me then the Sphere of man's being, and you may quickly find the measure of his freedom; his being is by all agreed to be rational; and Reason therefore is the proper measure of his liberty; for, he is then free, when his activity is preserved equal or proportional to his Being: this is rational, and so must that; and man is then and then only free, when he can act what he should act, according to Right, Reason; this is the law of his Nature, which is rational; and Reason is his Royal collar of S.S.S. or Chain of precious Pearls, which Nature hath put about his Neck and Arms, as a badge of Honour, and most happy Freedom.  
This digression will be scarce excusable, but that our law doth so adore Right, Reason, that it is a Maxim, What is contrary to Reason, is contrary to law. And in pag 123. he saith, The next thing is the Basiis, or Foundation, of our law process, and of all judicials. In all cases (saith he) accusers, parties, (or Defendants) Witnesses and Judges, be, and must be distinct. Neither let the judgements be strange, nor celebrated from their Judge, or Place, or Time: neither is judgement to be given in a doubtful Matter, or on the party accused being absent.  
Let there be nothing done without an Accuser; for God, and our Lord Jesus Christ did know Judas to be a Thief; but because he was not accused, therefore he did not suffer. The Witnesses are lawful, and present, without any infamy, or suspicion, or evident spot. The Priests cannot rightly accuse the Lacians; neither doth it behoove any one to be judged or condemned, before he hath lawful, present accusers, and may receive a place of defending, to make his Crimes of no effect.  
And again, one that is pressed upon before his Judge, if he will, he may declare his cause; and not pressed upon before his Judge, if he will, he may hold his peace. If any one doth uspect the Judges, he may speak against, or contradict them: affliction or imprisonment ought not to injury him that doth appeal, and elevate his Crime, by a remedy of appealing: every one is to be judged by his equals, and of the same Province. Whatsoever is against those that are absent, neither from their Judges, is utterly void.  
An Oath must have its companions, Truth, Justice, and Judgement; if those things be wanting, it is not an Oath but a Perjury, etc. Are these, (saith Mr Sadler) the laws of England, or of Nature, rather? these we own to Beauclerk, or Henry the first.  
And in pag. 158, 159. speaking of the King's Exorbitancies. he saith; But, did we labour, toil, and sweat so much, to keep a little River in its bounds, that so we might be drowned by the boundless Ocean, or be swept away at once by a destroying and devouring deluge? Did we scruple at a little gravel, or a pebble, that we might be crushed by a Mountain? Would we strain at a Gnat that we might be choked by a Camel? or be swallowed whole by Behemoth? Have we not all reasoned so much, and fought so long, with a vast expense of Treasure; and of that, which is by much more precious, life, or blood of many hundred thousand freeborn Irish, Scottish, English men, to bond our King, that he might not press Us with his Arbytrary power: only, that by this, we might but plain the way, and make it level; that some others (for I will not say the Parliament) might be oppressive more and more, unjust and arbytrary more. I hope I need not, and therefore I would not fear it; but I have no art or power to fl●tter. And I should have doted on the Roman Poet of the Civil Wars, had I not found him blessing his Fates for bringing forth a Nero through those bitter Pangs and Throws: And yet I must confess, if I knew where, or could be so happy, to presage another new Birth of Tyranny, to follow such a long and sore Travel of our State, I should also desire and pray for one Nero, rather than one hundred, or one million; for of Evils, this is nothing, for I speak of Tyrants: I did ever hate a Multitude, as much as a Magnitude; for if I must be forced still to live under a displeasing Tyranny, I choose it, and obey it, and am pleased with it in one Tyrant rather than many.  
But again, I say, I do not believe it; and I hope I need not fear it, of, or in an English Parliament: and yet again I say, they are, at least I think they are, but men; and men in former times might err; and therefore once again, and yet again, I bow and beg, and humbly pray they may be just and merciful in all and very tender, lest their little fingers do oppress Us more than ever did our Prince's loins; And since I have presumed to speak so long, ●hat am so low, they will, I hope, be not offended, if I speak a word (one word, yet more) of them that are so much my Elders and Betters.  
It may not be, at least, it may not seem enough to quiet trembling minds, to say, or prove by Arguments, there shall be nothing done, but what is just; except we also see or know the way and means, and usual cou●se: Our Governors will please to take, in doing that which may or is, and ever shall (I hope) be just, the way must be both right and clear, as well as is the end, and of the too unjust and arbitrary power, and both seem to be, in Process: or in ways or means much rather then in ends or things that be effected by it, sure it was, at least it might be good to build a gallant fleet of ships, and so it might be just that each should contribute a part of such a public work, nor was it only that which then was taken from us for a ship that made us sigh and groan, and cry, or fear our ruin, or a universal Deluge of Oppression, but it much or mainly was, we did not see the way or mean or legal process which the Court did take in taxing, or assessing such a place a County or a person, and it was but thus, in Loans, and so in divers if not all the things we so abhorred in the Crown, the thing did not so much displease, as did the way or means, to such or such an end.  
I need not say how curious, or how scrupulous and tender still our Laws have been in pointing out the way, aswel as the end, the process in Courts of justice, as the final judgements: so that indeed the very form, and life and power, or substance of the justest Laws, doth much consist in process, which by some may now be though a shadow, or a ceremony left at pleasure, for a blustering wind, or any furious hand to shake as much, as long as it shall please, and then to salve it up, by saying to the Root, We mean you good, and do but lay you bare, that so you may the more behold, and more admire our justice in the end, when all the boughs and branches shall be gone, that do but hinder all your Prospect.  
I must but touch and glance; there is a Trinity which all our laws do seem to worship here on earth, estate, liberty, and life.  
And in pag. 175. Mr Saddler saith, I need not speak how curious our Fathers were in all their process, touching life: the way was still as punctual, as clear and plain, as was the end; they loved to be just, and to do justly. Doth our Law condemn any man without hearing, or due Summons to judgement? I hope it never will.  
A great man of a good name, standeth upon Record, as by Parliament, condemned to death, without hearing, or legal Summons. But there is a Bl●sh, or a Veil of Oblivion drawn upon it by good Writers, as a stain, and a shame to the Parliament Rolls: yet, as a just judgement on him that had first moved that another might be so condemned; and, he so perished, by that law, which he would have made for others. This seemeth also to be written in the law of Nature; and doubtless, the sins of Sodom were as notorious to God in Heaven, as any others can be to men in Parliament; and yet he would, and did go down to hear, and see, and proceed in a judicial way; nor would he condemn or execute before he had not only cleared his justice, in himself, or to his Angels; but also to Abraham, Lot, and other lookers on, that he still might be justified both when he judgeth, and is judged; for he still did, and will put his actions on man's judgement: as we shall more fully clear hereafter.  
This Process also towards Sodom▪ is by many of our old Lawyers brought for the pattern of our laws; in that especially, that none may be condemned without a legal hearing: And in this and divers other things doth Bracton and Fleva, borrow much in the laws of Henry the first. And be the matter of Fact never so notorious; yet there may be some plea, that no man can foresee, or aught to fore-judge, before he heareth. For all men may plead necessity or force upon themselves (as well as right, and law) for any thing they do amiss.  
And for this, and other Reasons, the law doth suppose all men to be just, or excusable, till they be legally heard and adjudged. This difference there is between the Judges, and the Lawmakers; for, these (they say) do suppose all men to be evil; but the Judges should suppose all men to be good, till they be proved to be evil.  
The Charge and Accusation by the law of Nature ought to be clear, distinct, and particular (with time and place, or other circumstances) else the party accused cannot discharge himself. Universals do not press, or oppress at all. General's do not press at all, or else they are apt to oppress.  
The Witness and the Evidence must also be so clear, that those must condemn, rather than the Judge; who si●teth as Council for the party Accused: That so he be not oppressed by, or against law.  
And besides the Judge (in most Cases, and in those also of life in Scotland) there is Council allowed by law, which may, and aught to be heard in particulars of law, or what ever may be justly disputable, as Treason is by Statute: so that of all Crimes, by express Acts of Parliaments it ought to have no Trial, but clear and plain; according to the course and custom of the common law.  
In such Cases therefore should the Judges (both in Law and Conscience) sit, and be in stead of Council to the party; and this they own to every subject, though they had a special Obligation to the King. Who, to his own Rights (and therefore to his Wrongs) was ●n Infant in Law, and so expressly declared in the old Mirror. Besides other Books. His Politic Capacity never; but his Person ever in Nonage; or supposed so in law: for it may be, a child, or a woman, not able to know the laws; and therefore always had by law a legal mouth assigned in Council of law. And so might any man else (of old) it seems for matter of demurs, before judgement; or for framing of a leg●l appeal (by Writ of Error, or some other way) from any judgement whatsoever.  
But our last King professed himself to know the laws so well, that it seemeth the Judges, and others, did hold themselves to be excused from speaking for him; as else they would, or should, or might have done. In this I might speak too plainly; but I may be pardoned.  
It is also the law of this kingdom, and of Nature, That although there be no Council assigned; yet may any, in a good manner, move the Court to keep the party from injustice, or the Court from error; as Stanford, and the third part of Institutes, Cap. 2. fol. 63. & 101. and in such Cases it may be excused; (and not censured for rash Zeal) if some do, or shall appear, where, or when, it may be thought they be not called.  
Neither can the whole Parliament of England, I suppose, make any Court to condemn without lawful Accusers, or lawful Witnesses; which by express Acts of Parliament is most especially provided in Case of Treason, in King Edward the sixth, and Queen Mary's Reign, and Trial of Treason most expressly tied to the Course and Custom of the Common-law. Nay, in full Parliament of Henry the Eighth it was declared, That attaint of Treason, in, or by Parliament was of no more force or strength, than it was, or aught to be, by the Common-law; or then as good and strong, as that by Parliament.  
Nor can the whole Parliament, I think, by the law of Nature, and right Reason, make any children, Idiots, or all others whatsoever to be so much as Accusers, or Witnesses: That, I say, not Indictors, Tryors, or Judges.  
By express Acts of Parliament, in Philip and Mary, Edward the sixth, Hen. 8. Hen. 4. Hen. 1. (for to him doth the Mirror, and his laws lead us, as to a clear Crystal Fountain of our Law-process; as was showed before.) None shall suffer for Treason or other Crime, but by lawful Accusers, and lawful Witnesses, before those, that by law might receive Indictments: Which, with all Inquests, are to be made by honest, lawful, able men; Neighbours to the Fact.  
And in pag. 179. he saith, He should misspend his time, to show it to be the great law of the Kingdom, as well as of Nature, that none may be Judges and Parties in their own Cause. Which may ere long be found, perhaps, to be the reason of the th●ee Estates, and very much of our Common-law: which is punctual in nothing more, then in providing for a clear distinction of Accusers, Witnesses, Indicters, Tryers, and Judges, especially in Cases of Treason, which upon divers motions of the Commons in Parliament, have been so often enacted, and declared, to be only tryable by the course and custom of the Common-law, and no otherwise.  
Nay, in Parliament itself, and Parliament men there was; and for aught I found, always, and the like course observed. For, in case of a Peer, the Custom of the Kingdom is to proceed by a special Commission to one, as Lord Steward, and 12 others at least, for a Jury ●f Tryers besides Accusers, and witnesses and a formal indictment, and all from Record to Record; or, all is illegal if it be only by the House of Peers.  
If a Charge come from the House of Commons, they are as Indictors, being more than 12 sworn men, trusties to the whole Kingdom, and Neighbours to the fact, or party, or both: to which also there must be a legal proof by lawful Witnesses, or else the Charge, will not suffice.  
And in pag. 181 he saith, That for any thing done abroad, I hope, they do not use to tabe rumours and reports (though from their own members) to be sufficient for, or equivol●nt to, a legal Indictment, an Oath; seeing there scarce is, or can be, any Case so notorious, but it may be pleaded unto by somewhat of law, or necessity.  
And although I should yield the Commons to be the Masters of the law, in making it; yet they●● pleased to allow others to be Judges by their Laws; and if they reassume this also, yet it may be more easy to judge of some law, then of any fact; at least it may be clothed, so as a curious Search, or Inquest, may be requisite to lay it clear and naked.  
Neither can I see how it may be necessary to proceed against any by force, or illegal process, when it is so easy, as well as just, to go rightly, as to do right.  
For who can imagine a case so dark or intricate, but it may be contrived so, that particular men may be Accusers, and others Witnesses, with a clear and real distinction between Indictors, Tryors, and Judges? most of all in Cases notorious and evident; for in such there may be less fear of the Juries Verdict, against Evidence, or of the Judge's Sentence against the Verdict.  
And in pag. 184. he saith, I will not, I cannot say the Commons of England cannot choose or constitute their Judges (yet of this again ere long.) But this I say, or believe, their Delegates ought to be exceeding curious (I had almost said exceeding scrupulous) in making Judges, and bounding them to law and justice, both in way, as well as end.  
I must again repeat it, that it may not seem enough to settle Judges just and wise, and good; nor only to provide that they may do what is just; I speak of ends; but men are men, and aught in cases of such consequence to have their way, their Rule and Square, by which they must proceed to be prescribed in their Patents, or Commissions, that they may do justly too, aswell what is just, to me it seemeth to be reason, or the law of Nature unto men, that the supreme Court should so limit all inferiors, that it may not be left at large to their list or pleasure, to condemn or sentence, without Hearing, Accusation, Witness, or without such process and Trial, as shall be clear and plain, and so prescribed in the Patent or Commission.  
If it be not so done and expressed, I know not what Appeal can be, but from the Court before judgement; for what Appeal, what Writ of Error, or what Plea can a man frame upon their Judgement, who have no Rule, no way of process prescribed, and so cannot err transgress, or exceed their Commission. No, not if they should without all legal Accusation, Proof, or Witness, condemn one to be sliced and fried with exquisite Tortures. They are Judges unlimited in way of process, infinite and purely arbitrary. No, they are men, and so they must be rational and just, which was presupposed by them that gave so vast a power.  
They may be just indeed, and so they should; but yet no thank for this to their Commission, if it doth not bound and limit out their way and manner or process, as it doth their work and object, or their end; which was the wont of English Parliaments, who were so just and wise themselves, that they did see or fear it might be possible for their Committees to be both unjust and arbytrary, if they were not most exactly limited of all Commissions. None were more curiously drawn and pointed out by our Ancestors, than those of especial Oyer and Terminer; because the Cases were not only heinous, so they ought to be, but such as for some extraordinary cause emergent seemed to be as it were extrajudicial, and such as could not stay and abide the usual process of the settled Courts of justice: yet of these also did our Fathers take most especial care they might be just in way as well as end, and that they might not be too high in justice; for it seems that they had also learned a usual saying of the Ancients, sumum iis est injuria; so that in divers of the Saxon laws, we find high justice (summum jus) to be as much forbidden as injustice; and I should tremble at it as an ill Omen, to hear authority command the King's Bench, or any other Court should be now styled The Bench of high justice; for injustice, the higher men go up the worse; or so at least it was esteemed by our Ancestors; their constant limitation was in every such Commission; thus and thus you shall proceed; but still according to the Laws and Customs of England, secundum legem, & consuetudinem Angliae; and no otherwise; that is, as Fortescue well saith, You shall be pitiful in justice, and more merciful than all the world, besides this Kingdom. And if such a limitation were not expressed, this was enough to prove the Commission unjust and illegal; which is so well known to all Lawyers, that I need not cite N. B. or the Register Commissions; or Scrogs Case in Dyer; or so many Elder Cases in Edw. 3. Hen. 4. and almost all Kings Reigns.  
Nay, in King james, among the great debates of uniting Scotland, to England, when it was driven up so close, that instead of, according to the Law and Custom of England, it might be according to the law and custom of Britain, it was resolved by all the Judges, that there could not be that little change; but of one word that doth so limit such Commissions, but by consent of Parliament of both kingdoms; and in divers Parliaments of Ed. 1. Ed. 3. and Hen. 4. there were many Statutes made to limlt all Commissions of Oyer and Terminer, as that they must never be granted, but before, and to some of the Judges of the Bench, or of the grand Eire; nor those to be named by parties, but by the Court; and with this usual restriction, according to the known cause of the Statute of Westminster, in the 2d Reign of Edw. the first.  
And the Lord Cook in the 4 part of his institutes, chapped: High Court of Parliament folio 39, (which book by two special Orders of house of Commons in their purest purity; is published to the special view of the Nation) expressly saith: That by order of Law a man cannot be attainted of high Treason, unless the offence be in Law high Treason, he ought not (saith he) to be attainted by general words of high treason by authority of Parliament (as sometime hath been used) but the high treason ought to be especially expressed, seeing that the Court of Parliament is the highest and most honourablo Court of Justice, and aught (as hath been said) to give example to inferior Courts.  
And the Lord Cook in the last recited chap. showeth that Empson and Dudley two privy Counselors to Henry the 7th were indicted as a couple of Traitors, for acting without Juries contrary to the fundamental Law of the land, although they had an Act of Parliament, made in full and free Parliament, by Kings, Lords, and Commons, to bear them out in what they did.  
And yet for all this, and twenty times more that in law I am able to say for myself, wherefore I ought not to be passed upon, adjudged, or condemned without due process of Law; and having Crimes particularly and distiuctly laid unto my charge, must I be overruled in all manner of law that I can all●dge for myself, and be endeavoured to be hanged because I am so honest and just that my adversaries neither have, can, nor dare, lay any crime in Law unto my charge.  
But in the second place, although the great sword men of England be the present Lords and Rulers of England, and my grandest and principallest prosecutors at this time: And although several of their Declarations against their quandam Lords and Masters the Parliament, they appeal to all men, whether it be just or tolerable, that any privilege of Parliament should (contrary to the Law of Nature) make a man's adversary judge in his own cause and concernment; And therefore they declare, they cannot any longer suffer the same, but shall take some speedy and effectual course whereby to refrain them (viz. several Parliament men) from being their own, ours, and the Kingdom's judges, in those things wherein they have made themselves parties.  
And yet contrary to the express Law of England, the Law of Nature, and their own foresaid Declarations, the great Sword men, my present chiefest adversaries, have constituted one of my grandest and maliciousest enemies that I have in the world, viz. Mr. Attorney General Prideaux to be one of my principallest judges, and that also in his own concernment.  
And that he is so, I thus make appear.  
First he was in October, 1649 at Guildhall my chiefest most bloody and cruel Prosecutor without Law or Reason to take away my life, and was so malicious and unjust in his prosecution of me, as that he did avowedly again and again in open Court aver that there was a Statute made in Queen Mary's days, that did expressly take away and abolish those two Statues of Edward the sixth, viz. Ed. 6.12. and 5 and 6, Ed. 6. chap. 11. that I insisted upon to save my life by, at those that require two plain and evident witnesses to prove every fact of treason against any man that are charged therewith. And if in that particular I had not understood the Law as well as himself, he had taken away my life with a confident lie and falsehood.  
2dly, he produced two of his servants Mr. Nutleigh and Edward Radney, and Nutleigh (who the other day at the Sessions took two of the strangest contradicting oaths that ever I heard from the mouth of a man in my life,) And he swore that he was with the Attorney General in his chamber, when he see me give to his Master the Attorney General this specifical book, entitled, A Preparative to Hue and Cry after Sir Arthur Haslerig, and he did own it, (saith he) and called himself the Author of it, save only the erratas of the Printer.  
The same said Edward Radney, but being both demanded by me whether to the words there was not this addition, saving the Printers erratas which are many, and they both denied them; although Col. Francis West the then Lieutenant of the Tower, who sat all the while betwixt Mr Prideaux and myself, swore these were the words, viz. here is a book which is mine, which I will own, the erratas of the Printer excepted, which are many.  
And besides I did not see either of the foresaid servants of the Attorney General in the room, although I often looked diligently about me, and were it the last thing that ever I were to say, I am not able to say there was so much as one person in the room at that time, besides, the Attorney Gen. Prideaux, Col. West, than Lieut. of the Tower, and myself.  
Again about a term or two before I left England, the said Attorney General Prideaux, before the Lord chief Baron Wild, and Baron Thorp at the open Exchequer Bar, preferred and caused in open Court to be read against me, one or more most false, forsworn, and perjured affidavits; which in the substance of them did declare; That I was in the head such a day as the Ringleader of a great Rabble of people, and set them on to pull down about four score houses, and set them on to do it in my own person, in the Isle of Axom; After the reading of which, I told the Lord chief Baron Wild, that I was amazed and confounded, that a man that pretended to have any thing of common honesty, durst be so impudent and audaciously wicked, as contrary to his own particular knowledge and conscience, with his own hands and tongue to present, such abominable false and perjured oaths into a Court, as Mr. Prideaux that day had done against me, when in his own conscience and knowledge in open Court I did then appeal to; that Mr. Attorney very well knew that for so many days before the day mentioned in the said oaths, that the houses were pulled down, and upon that very day the act was done, and for so many days after, I was constantly day by day without intermission at the Parliament doors or at a Parliament Commit; with Mr Prideaux himself, a managing and negotiating that very affair of my honest Cliants, of the Isl● of Axome; and therefore then told the Judges, That if Mr. Attorney General did deny this, which I was confid●nt in his own knowledge he kn●w to be true; I had witnesses enough at that Bar to prove every circumstance of it, and therefore being I was constantly in London and Westminster both before the day the fact was committed, and upon the very day it was acted, and so many days a●ter it was done, it was impossible for Mr. Prid●aux his oaths, to have any shadow of truth in them, unless he could prove, that I had such a body that could be at Westminster, and in the Isle of Axholm, about 7 or 8 score miles from Westminster, at one and the selfsame moment of time, and yet though about this very business he was, as a man might easily then see sufficiently shamed and branded for a lying and false man; yet after this when I was ready to leave England, was he the principal man, that caused to be preferred in Parliament against me about this very business of the Isle of Axholm, a most notorious and false unjust and lying Petition, as upon the utmost hazard of my life now I am come into England, I do engage to make it evidently appear.  
And yet more than all this, this very Attorney General Prideaux was one of the most violent, and furious, and unjust sticklers that Sr Arthur Haslerig had in the whole Parliament against josias Primate, mentioned in the Act upon which I am indicted; and was the chief Actor in misleading and misguiding the House against the light of Truth, and plain Evidence, to pass their Votes against Primates honest and just business; and as by common fame, but not otherwise it is said, and to pass certain Votes against me, upon which the pretended Act upon, which the Indictment against me is founded; and yet must he now come to be a violent Judge upon my life, to take it away upon an unjust Act, and unjust proceed made in a great measure by himself; for which he rather deserves (like Empson and Dudley) to be hanged as a Traitor, for subverting all the Foundations of all the fundamental laws of England, and thereby cutting in pieces; as much as in him lies, all the bonds, and ties, and ligiaments of humane society in the English Nation, and thereby leaving no man now in England any thing else, for the security of his life, liberty, and property, then absolute Will, lust, and unbounded pleasure; then in the least to be justified in his so doing: but yet this is not all. For besides, to render him uncapable to be at liberty, to execute any office in the least, much less to be my Judge, or any man's else, he is a legally and formally impeached Traitor in the Upper Bench upon Record, before the Lord chief Justice Rolls, by Thomas Elslist Esquire; which said Esquire, as his own mouth hath informed, hath entered into great bonds before the said Lord chief justice Bolls, to prosecute the said Charge of High Treason against the said Prideaux; unto which, the said Elsliot doth avow the said Prideaux dare not appear, but stands in absolute contempt and defiance of the law; for which the said Esquire, being a legal man of England, hath already (as he avers to me) almost brought him to an Outlary: in all which considerations I appeal to your conscience and judgement, and all rational and ingenuous men that shall read this Epistle, whether in law, equity, or conscience, the said Attorney General Prideaux be not altogether unfit in any kind to be my judge; and whether all the premises seriously considered, they be not clear, palpable, and evident demonstrations, that the Lord General (whom upon very good grounds I look upon to be my grand and principal prosecutor and thirster after my innocent blood) hath nothing in crime, law, or justice, to lay unto my charge; but only endeavours to take away my life by will, force, power, and palpable injustice; for a deliverance from which, I most earnestly and hearty desire your public and private prayers to the Lord jehovah, my assured and undoubted Rock of Salvation, and the utmost of all just, righteous, and lawful means that lies in your power; for which, I with my poor afflicted wife and babes, with all the honest single-hearted people of England, shall be much engaged unto you: so with my unfeigned love, and hearty respect presented to you, I rest,  
Yours faithfully in those undesolvable bonds of Union and communion in the Lord jesus Christ, john Lilburn. From my sore bodily affliction; yet soul-rejoycing captivity in Newgate, this 20 of August, 1653.