THE ACT AGAINST Conventicles EXECUTED: WITH A VINDICATION OF THE Bedford-shire JUSTICES Proceedings, From the Aspersions of a False, Impertinent, and Libellous PAMPHLET, entitled, A true and impartial NARRATIVE of some Illegal and Arbritrary Proceedings by certain Justices of the Peace, and others, against several Innocent and Peaceable Non-conformists, in and near the Town of Bedford, upon pretence of putting in Execution the late ACT against Conventicles.  
London, Printed by W. G. M. DC. LXX.   

The ACT against CONVENTICLES EXECUTED: With A VINDICATION of the Bedfordshire JUSTICES Proceedings, from the Aspersions of a false, impertinent, and libellous PAMPHLET, &c.  
AFter I was informed, That the Justices( generally) did account it too great a lessening both of themselves and their Actions( which they will justify to the World) to take any notice of so wretched a scroll, voided both of sense and integrity; upon examining the Paper, I did believe it very unfit, that such a bundle of scandalous Falshoods, should have free access to all sorts of Readers without any contradiction: Which is all the account why I took upon me the trouble to give it an Answer▪ And yet, notwithstanding this condescension, I have so good an opinion of myself, as to think that this sordid scribbler can no ways deserve to be acquainted with my name, and therefore I shall choose( by concealing that) to pelt him in the dark, according to his own Law at Arms.  
But, before I make the first Onslaught upon the Ribaldry of this Paper, I must prevail something upon the patience of the Reader, by engaging to be as brief as it is possible upon such a subject: Very well knowing, That both the Names and Actions of all such latent Traducers, are then only placed in their proper Sphere, when they are ranked in a Gaolers Calendar before the Assizes. And this in the first place will be evident enough, upon an impartial Examination of the Title page. of this Libel.  
Where you shall find, the due Execution of an Act of Parliament, styled Illegal and Arbitrary Proceedings, by the same Antiphrasis( which in our Idiom is coarsely translated a plain lie) as disobedient and turbulent Offenders, are called innocent and peaceable Non-conformists. Therefore whoever will become a competent Interpreter of this new Text, must Janus-like have two fronts, one with Eyes forward to red Pretences, but those of his understanding must be placed behind, to enable him to discover the antarctic Truth. And the same Rules also, notwithstanding their pretences to sincerity and innocence, are applicable both to their Actions and Dealings as well as their Writings: To say nothing of their false Weights and Measures, for which they have been often convicted; of the Arraignment of several of them at the Bar, for wickedly seducing a Servant to steal his Masters Goods, their clandestine traffic and Compacts for the same Commodities; of the impudence of a Teacher, who undertook to dispense his Gifts to the People in a stolen Cloak; their Complaints of one another in the Commissaries Court of brutish Incontinence: And to complete their Morals amongst us, they justify their Alliegeance by Acts of Rebellion, and pay Reverence to Magistrates, by traducing superiors, and make Narratives of the Truth, by forging Falshoods; as if they had been taught in Scoggens School to untile Houses, to find Hares, or more properly, in their own phrase, to ride to Jerusalem with their faces mounted to the Beasts posteriors.  
All which will be apparent enough, by unripping the Letter, the Vizard-Mask to the Narrative; in which since he hath made bold to put the Justices Names to the Character of the Non-conformists, the best way of answering, will be by changing its part, and stating it a Proselyte, and then republish it to the World, converted to the Truth after this manner.  
Some proceedings at Bedford, pursuant of the late Act of Parliament( a true Narrative whereof is herewith published) afford wonder and dislike only to those whose Crimes have deserved them; when you have perused this Paper, you will conclude with me and others, that this Text needs no Comment; it is plain, that in despite of Magna Charta, and in defiance to all Laws and Rules of Righteousness, Neighbourhood and Humanity, the Non-conformists, resolve once more, to ruin the Nation, although the Instruments( now as well as heretofore) are no ways able to recompense the King and kingdoms damage thereby, the scandalised in the Libel are unconcerned and peaceable; their immediate Revilers are the scum of the People; and ought chiefly to be the appendents( as in the former sense of this Answer) of the Commissaries Court: The most forward Instrument of that sort, is one that openly avowed and declared his esteem for Atheism above any Religion. If some Check be not given to these extravagancies, many Families will be suddenly ruined, the public Trade and Welfare endangered, which the Interest of some, the Rage, Revenge and Enmity of others will not admit regard to. Pardon this trouble, when I have  told you the particulars of this Answer are all true, and will be proved in every part. Thus Excrements become Sanatives, upon some accounts.  
Indeed he is very correspondent to himself, for this Letter is of the same tenor with the Libel, and both like the Oracles of his grand Patron the Devil, then truest when they are construed backward.  
This is the measure also by which he and his Party, state the Actions of Magistrates; according to the composition of some sort of Pictures, on which if you take a direct and right view, they present the portraiture of a beautiful Person, but if side ways with them, their squinting optics will show you a Serpent: The Demonstration is before you: Now we come to consider the old Trade newly upstart, which he calls a Narrative, the first Prologue to above Twenty years Tragedy.   

ON Lords day, May the fifteenth, &c.] In Nomine Domini this Wretch begins to insinuate, that an impudent and ignorant cobbler, whom he calls Preacher, might be occasioned from the discourse of a Magistrate, to call the Church of England Antichristian, &c. although he afterwards insolently repeated the same words at a public Session, for which he is bound over, at which time all sensible persons( without a Comment) will judge that he would have set a stricter watch upon his tongue, had not his overboiling ignorance and malice, and the hopes both of Maintenance, and prevalency from the numbers of his Party, infatuated this thin-soul'd Wight at once to discover the common Vogue of them all.  
page. 4. The only truth in this page. is, that Battison hath manifested himself, in the Execution of this Act, to be as honest and dutiful a Subject to the King, in his degree, as any in the Nation; and if when he hired a Chamber to lay up Grain, the libeler will not allow the Saints malt to be included under that title; it must be by some quirk of the spirit; for he will find no distinction, either in the logic or Philosophy of ordinary Taunters. By such another Sophism in the Law, he avers a fair sale and delivery of the malt and the Mault-house, although the first Owner at this day continues the possession of both. But one thing more in this case is apparent enough( without Annotations) that notwithstanding the illegal and barbarous behaviour of the vulgar people( as it is stated by the scribbler himself) yet we hear of no arbitrary Outrages committed, beyond the bounds of the Act, by the inhuman Justices.  
The next complaint is, that( at a dead lift) the Officers did charge some Gentlemen of the Town to aid and assist them: But setting aside the Scribes beloved Antiphrasis, they were both ordinary, and factious tradesman: And thus they can dub one another Gentlemen without Arms, Saints without Righteousness, Preachers without Orders, Lawyers without Learning; for by the magnifying Glass of the Spirit they did ever make their Mole-hills Mountains, and their goose Swans.  
The next design this Pamphleter hath, is to intimate to the World, how much the sufferings of their Disciples are against the grain of the people; as if they had shut up Shops as in a Pest, and let the Shire-Town dwindle to a Countrey-Village: Here something, like truth, hath unawares dropped from his pen, for it falling out upon a holiday, the comforming Party had shut up their Shops, and those only were opened, whose factious Owners are too well known to be the Plague both of Church and State.  
The most remarkable passages in the sixth page. are these, first, his Pharisaical dubbing a pitiful pedlar into a Dealer in Linnen-Drapery, for indeed they should not be called like other Men.  
And secondly, The libelers own monstrous Conversion into a Distreiner; no other Distress being made in this case, besides what is in the Libel; for the Father-in-law of the Grocer did immediately lay down his Sons Fine, expressing much indignation against the actions of him, and sorrow for his Daughter.  
The last remark in this page., is the libelers genuine imitation of those Artists in Filching; who had rather steal, than have any thing given them, to keep their Fingers in ure; so he, to no other purpose, but to preserve his faculty bright, hath fathered upon Mr. F. a Warrant against a Tanner, which was under the Hands and Seals of all the Justices.  
page. 7. Now for the great re-incounter of a silly Widow, seduced from her youth until this day( whose Father indeed was a very honest Gentleman, and detested these jugglers;) but she used her natural Parent then, as she hath since served her heavenly; for being ripe for Conjunction, she stolen out of his house to mary her self to an ordinary Tradesman, as she now leaves the Church to be espoused to Conventicles; whose Fine was enhanced by her own indiscretion to herd her self amongst a pack of beggarly Canary-birds: She bore their burden at two Meetings, until her Fine amounted to Twenty pounds, for which this spiritual Romancer, by his Scotch account, where Thirteen pence half penny is a Mark, hath set down Forty upon Distress; although the Justices have often offered, that either she or her Friends might redeem the Goods at the Fine. But take his own stating, and the Sum of his Evidence will amount to a clear justification of all those who acted in this matter; for the good Woman being first seduced by the Brotherhood to disobey the Kings Laws, and then to cheat him of his Penalty( which they call passive obedience) by a prudential securing the best of her Goods; the Officers were reduced to take what she her self thought was not worth removing.  
And now we come to another desolation, where the libeler again cannot see Wood for Trees, not Men for People; and all in the behalf of two beggarly Teachers( to say no worse) both which had not substance enough to pay one Fine( as the Widow can witness) and by his own calculation also of the number of Hats; which doth not amount to so many as a traveling Furbusher carrieth at his back.  
The next remove is to his Cheats in Parchment, and indeed these deserve to be engrossed; for here is a dead maintained to be voided of Fraudulency, which was really made and dated three days after the Conviction of the Seller, and the Buyer was frankly  told by all the Justices present, as well as Sir G. B. that his undertaking for other Mens Debts, over and above his own satisfaction, did plainly evidence a design to defraud the King of his Right. But the concerns of the Saints do so much transcend those of ordinary Subjects( they being the first born of the people in all sorts of Cheats) that their sovereign Interest( although elder than theirs) must not stand in their way: Witness these new, and their old Transactions, so that by an inversion of sense they make good the Maxim, Nullum tempus occurret Regi: And however this Shark resolves still to play out his hand with false Dice, yet there was not any one person who was pretended to be concerned in the rest of the Debts, did ever offer to the Justices to aver his Interest. But some time afterwards the most considerable amongst them, did upon an accidental discourse to one of the Justices aclowledge, that although there might be some such engagement, yet the dead was principally framed to secure the Owner: Neither did Sir G. B. bind over Leyfield, any other ways than by being present whilst another took his Bond, as the other Justices were, who all owned the Act. For the rest of this Paragraph, it consists of speeches raised by the libeler, and falsely imputo Sir G. B. but are a most true remonstrance, both of the merits, and designs, of all the Party.  
But to set him right a little, this I have heard Sir G. B. will own, that when a Secluded Alderman of the most considerable Fortune in Bedford did tell him before another Person, that he heard that the fanatics had said, They did expect another Day for it, He replied, The sooner the better, if it must be so: And considering how nearly related the person that spake it is to the Basest Transactor in the Late Rebellion, that ever served any Party; it seems most fit, that the Governors of the Kingdom should determine this controversy.  
The next Paragraph you will find filled with the old Leaven and stench of impudent Forgery; for here was no Distress taken when the Libel was composed, besides what he himself hath made, upon the Truth and Reputation of some persons, who are of too much Worth and Integrity to have their Actions mentioned by so Ignominious a scribbler; forth King's Officers( more out of the Principles of Kindness, than Discretion) did take the words of the Offenders mentioned, to render their goods when the Justices should demand them; but Ruffhead, one chiefly quoted in this part of the Libel, did, after a months Indulgence from the Officer, refuse to deliver up his goods according to his engagement: this is the Disciple of St Crispin, who came of himself, and was not brought as in the Libel to the Justice, and  told him, he had refused to let Feckman come upon his ground, because not name in the warrant; who candidly let him know( to prevent danger) he could not deny him to enter as an assistant to the Constable.  
Whilst we have thus ransacked the libelers citadel, he hath gained an opportunity to make his escape out at a Postern; the old trick of such Combatants, who according to the Scotch Phrase are bashful before an Enemy: Therefore we must hunt the Purlews to renew the reencounter; and the first intelligence we can get of him, is from a Country Village not far from Bedford; where( guided by his Spirit) he hath found out another Canton of the same Tribe. Here he rallies with very much noise, advancing more Colours, Drums and Trumpets, than the remnant of his Rascaty than pretend to manage, the Pedant Stratagem to amuse an enemy, whilst he makes his retreat; the first slaunting pelt the runagate makes, is against the sufficiency of the relation of a little Child, as he is pleased to call her; indeed I do not know by what account he measures the growth of his Babes of Grace; but, by the report of the Neighbourhood, she is fourteen or fifteen years old; and it seems capable enough of false Doctrine; for she was an Auditor, but not of the Truth: especially in so difficult a pass to try her understanding, as at the next house amongst her neighbours, to know where she was, and whom she saw, which was all the use was made of her: But he makes bold to clip the Kings evidence, as well as His Patrimony for a wife of one of the Gang confessed to two others, that she was at the Meeting, and the same day the Constable saw amongst the Brotherhood an Itinerant Bawler, who was Speaker at that Meeting; this and more was informed before any Warrant was issued, which I suppose in the judgement of sober persons will be allowed, is ground enough for a Summons; the Examination and Oath were both taken by several Justices as well as Sir G. B. as the Warrant under all their Hands and Seals makes appear; but cvi bono if a single Justice had taken it, as the libeler falsely affirms, the Action was warrantable; so that all I know can be said to it is, that he gives you this great lie gratis, out of the abundance of his store, but he tells you that none of them would confess either the Meeting or the Preacher, although they were pressed by the Justices with an engagement to acquit them in case they would do so.  
Here you have him tottering upon his two rotten supporters, nonsense and falsehood, for first, how can a confession procure a discharge, and then the Justices acted more ingeniously a contrary way, for they offered, notwithstanding the accusation, if any could make it appear, or bona fide affirm, they were not at the Meeting, they should be acquitted; but the guilt of their Consciences( which never restrained them before) disinabling them to do either, besides the confession of the first, it was collected from some others, that they had been there, and so were convicted by the notoriety both of the circumstance and evidence of the Fact, as it now stands recorded; and to convince the Reader there was no mistake in the Justices, after the parties found there was no relief in collusions, the Meeting and the Teacher were openly confessed.  
The next Saint to be vindicated is as great a Villain( with Reverence be it spoken) both for base language and actions, as the libeler himself, as he was made to understand when he assaulted Sir G. B. with provoking and scurrilous speeches, which according to the manners and style of the Saints is suing for favour, and had both falsely and saucily traduced him to his fellow Justice, and his fellow Justice to him: But it is a shane to publish more of his Character in print, than what hath dropped from the libelers own Pen, even in defence of the Saint; for you see he hath like a faithless wretch broken open the lock of another person, who was engaged for his Rent, and canceled a dead, which he had passed under his own Hand and Seal, for his Counter security, without either the knowledge or consent of the party; neither did he mention this canceling, until his Son was Convicted, who did after that also aclowledge to the Constable, that he was Owner of the Goods; which appears plain enough by his Agents taking the profit of the Cattle, after his Father-in-laws pretended Sale.  
The remainder of this Paragraph, is a Declaration in base Language, that amongst this beggarly Rabble the King must lose his Right; which in truth is his Lot from all the Conventicles hitherto Convicted: therefore to acquit the Informers, we may upon all accounts whatsoever justly style the libeler, and his crew, the scum of the People.  
Thus against my inclinations, I have been forced to publish the most illegal, inhuman and ungodly behaviour of the libeler and his leaven, that I might strip falsehood out of the Covering of Truth, and justify to the World the Magistrates Transactions, which they are willing to submit to the Censure of the Laws, and of all sober People. Neither had this scribbler the least ground to impute any peculiar or single action to Sir G. B. for it appears all along that he hath acted jointly with his Fellow Justices, who( in relation to the Countreys happiness) I declare are so well knowing, unanimous, and active in all parts of their Duty, that they need no Leader; therefore this is easily discovered to be but a stale stratagem of their old marshal de Camp, or if you had rather of their grand Muster-Master Satan; Divide& impera: Take off the old Cavaliers first( who can give warning of their wil●ss) and then the young ones will become a luscious prey. But to prevent this, it is not to be questioned, but that our Governours will manifest a most signal kindness and protection to the former, which is the true means to confirm and give encouragement to the latter.  
And now when I hoped that my task was over, up starts a long-ear'd Foal of the braying Dam, or rather a Calf slinkt by the last Mate to the Geneva Bull, which some few years since Mooted Wonders from several parts of this Nation, but however it was dropped into the World, I can assure you it stinks like a Sooterken after a Dutch Frows Delivery, and therefore presently must be destroyed to preserve the Neighbourhood. Its ill-look'd front bears a scandalous comparison, between one Prior, and Feckman; but as to the former he had never any application to the Justices; except( heretofore) to reclaim his disorders, neither are any Distresses placed at his house, notwithstanding the libelers impudent forgery: And as for the Death of the latter, his Wife is deposed that he was seized about eight years since with the like sudden Distemper, to the great hazard of his life; neither could it be expected that by the strength of Nature, so great a violence should be twice withstood by any constitution. And for his behaviour in the time of his Visitation, to his Wifes, you may have the Oath of Mr. Bradshaw, a very Reverend and Learned Divine, whose practise suits( as much as humanity permits) to his Orthodox Doctrine; that during the time of his weakness, his behaviour was sedate, and correspondent to the condition of a dying person, and as for the employment he had taken from the Justices, he steadfastly declared, that he was satisfied in Conscience that he had done the Church and State good service, as having been instrumental in Executing the Act. And that if he was to begin again he would willingly take upon him the same engagement. Thus this libelers Wonders, as well as his other Relations, are but the fruits of Sodom; unexamined, and at a distance, they bear a deluding out-side, but at the approaches of truth, they prove but dust and ashes.  
And here again I would gladly have been acquitted of the libeler and his Crew, having driven them not into their proper Herd; amongst Satan and Witches; for they also were styled from the beginning of Times( as old Languages tell us) Forgers of Miracles; but this long-winded Bawler, hath learned of his Tutor Hugh Peters to turn the other glass, for behold a Postscript behind, their Kirk in a Cloak-bag, or rather a great tail fixed by the libeler himself to the back of his Pamphlet, that it may out-mode Battison; it hath a praeter-natural discent, from a Calf and a Fox; for they ever delighted in monstrous productions, witness the Coitions of the Elders Maid, and the Quaker, with their four-footed Loves.  
But he uses this Train as a Squirrel doth hers, to palliate and cover all the Cheats and Abuses contained in his Libel, which, notwithstanding the small part of the Fox, are easily discerned.  
The first Attempt he makes in this Postcript is, with most opprobrious and injurious terms, to state a parallel betwixt the proceedings of Bedfordshire and those of other Countreys; in which he publishes to the World, that all that have to deal with them must expect dung in the balance.  
In the next place, by their old traitorous Sophism in a new Dress, he maintains, that reviling the Kings Magistrates; and reproaching his Agents, is no Disobedience to their sovereign, nor Reflection upon the Government.  
And again, I am astonished to see with what a profligated Impudence he avers themselves peaceable, and their Actions harmless, when the Prince is hardly warm in his Throne, nor his party in the Remnants of their shattered Estates, since by the very same Methods and Principles this sort of people did reduce three Nations into one Aceldama, and then also, as now,( at the beginning) the people heard the voi●e of jacob, and afterwards felt, both upon thei● Lives and Fortunes, the rough hands of Esau.  
In the last place he gives notice of three plain Ends, as he calls them of publishing this Libel; and in this he saith well; for the first is to prepare the whole party of Non-conformists to be as refractory in their Disobedience to the Kings Laws as the Sectaries of Bedfored; which he,, in this place, by his Old Figure, calls a patient, quiet and peaceable bearing their provocations and trials; forgetting, good man, that in the beginning of his Libel, he hath boasted of their unmalleableness to any Conformity with the prescriptions of this Act, and of the most barbarous usage of the Kings Agents by them and their complices.  
But now for the Second End; and the First End of that is, humbly to ask our Legislators a nonsensical Question, Whether this be the Garment of their Offspring? O the Mystical Metaphors of Illumination!  
The Second End of the Second is to return to his Vomit of railing against the Justices, when they may seek for redress from the Laws of the Nation; but he is too much versed in his business to hazard that; for he knows, his Witnesses, like Terriers, will never claw well but underground, being always trained up in private Accusations.  
The Third End of the Second, is to persuade our Governours to manifest to the people that they have imposed upon them an Inconsiderate Act, by a speedy revising it; but in this I ought to refer him to our Legislators themselves to try for an Answer.  
And thus he hath given you three Ends in one, to avoid the censure of having no End at all: If you please you may properly call them a nest of Boxes, for those trinkets are very Emblems both of himself and his Libel, as they are filled with emptiness. And although some critics may quarrel this Method, yet I can assure them, that this is the old way of branching out Points of Treason and Rebellion to their Viperous brood; for their inventions are ever swelled with so great a Plethory, upon this Subject, that they never fail to produce superfaetations, often exceeding the Low country Ladies Conceptions, more treasonable Points than there are days in the year.  
And now( if ever he is to be trusted) he is come to his last End, which is a tazled Repetition of a most untrue, scandalous and formless Babble. The Subject he hath made so bold with, are the Actions of all the Magistrates and Officers in the Nation( as himself owns) from the highest to those which act in the most inferior degrees; that by traducing them to be voided of reason, humanity, and righteousness, he might make the same reflections upon the Laws themselves. He also hath made it apparent enough, that he uses the expressions of Peace but to usher in War; for his first admonitions to, and professions of Patience, Peace, and Quietness, are now turned to an Alarm of suspicions, Heats, Animosities, Distractions, and Confusions;( to run over no more of his Rebellious Rosary;) which, to use his own words, have filled the minds, and do exercise the thoughts of all sorts of Men. And, that he may render a clear testimony of this, he tells you of great numbers of persons who have withdrawn themselves both from their Habitations and Callings, that they may not contribute any assistance to the Execution of this Act. A symptom of Rebellion( I confess) unheard of before, and higher than any of those which preceded the last unnatural War. For, as to the lower sort of people, what other cause can induce them to leave their Relations and Abodes, than by the instigation of their Leaders to plant themselves conveniently for a Rendesvouz. And for those of better quality, I will appeal even to their own Consciences( if there is any thing more than the Name of it left) to give their Prince an account, why( upon their own accord) they should lay down that Commission for the Peace, which( not long since) they looked upon as the most blessed Magna Charta, to establish them free, both in their Lives and Fortunes, except it be upon the first opportunity to take up another for War; and if they shall scape unconcerned, it cannot but be an example hereafter to all faithless persons, upon the least uncertainty of State, to prepare for a change.  
A Wight of this sort was in the Commission for Bedford, who employed one that had been a Rebel in Arms as well as his Worship( and equally noted with himself for a small parcel of Honesty) to get the Commission transcribed without his Name in the Catalogue, and in the Transaction his Agent( well versed in small Arts) made use of the inadvertency of the Transcriber, to insert two Gentlemens Names with wrong Titles, to disenable them to Act, but the Sum is misspent, and the Commission corrected, yet however there remains a plain Demonstration, that the old leaven will never fail to play at any sort of Game to abuse the Government. Much more might be said to alarm the Magistrates, but by this time I suppose the Reader, as well as myself, is sick of the libeler; therefore I shall conclude with a Request to our Governours, that the Presses may be examined to find out the Author; that( according to the Rules of Retaliation) he may be stigmatized himself for branding Paper.   
FINIS.  

The Post-script.  
Reader,  
THe Libel came late to my hands, otherwise this Answer had pursued it at the Heels; and if this Lenitive Reply doth not stop the Flux of the scribbler, I will publish a more Restringent Impression, with all their Names in the Margin. Pardon me, if to disabuse the Nation, I have been longer than I intended.