A demonstration of true love unto you the rulers of the colony of the Massachusets in Nevv-England shewing to you that are now in authority the unjust paths that your predecessors walked in, and of the Lord's dealings with them in his severe judgments, for persecuting his saints and children ... / written by ... William Coddington of Road-Island [sic].

A demonstration of true love unto you the rulers of the colony of the Massachusets in Nevv-England shewing to you that are now in authority the unjust paths that your predecessors walked in, and of the Lord's dealings with them in his severe judgments, for persecuting his saints and children ... / written by ... William Coddington of Road-Island [sic].

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TO THE READER.

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Upon Burning of my former Letter, I writ this, directed to Richard Bellingham, Governour of the Massachusets, as followeth,

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A DEMONSTRATION OF TRUE LOVE UNTO You the Rulers of the Colony of the Massachusets IN NEVV-ENGLAND; Shewing To you that are now in Authority the unjust Paths that your Predecessors walked in, and of the Lord's Dealings with them in his severe Judgments, for persecuting his Saints and Children. Which may be a Warning unto you, that you walk not in the same Steps, lest you come under the same Condemnation.

Written by one who was once in Authority with them; but always testified against their persecuting Spirit, who am call'd William Coddington of Road-Island.

Printed in the Year 1674.

TO THE READER.

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Friend,

THe Original being burned, to satisfie the Desires of my Friends, and clear my Innocency, I have given forth a Copy thereof; It was directed to Richard Bellingham, Governour of the Massachusets, Simon Broadstreet & William Hauthorn Assistents, or whom else it might concern; which Letter about the middle of the 7th Month, 1672. was by a Woman Friend left at the House of the said Richard Bellingham: Presently upon the Receipt thereof, or some small Time after the same Day, he sent for Nicholas Moulder of Boston, Merchant, and demanded of him a needless Question, whose Letter it was? for he might have seen whose Letter it was, being dated from Road-Island, the 12th of the 6th Month, 1672. my known Hand and Seal to it; but Nicholas answered, as he supposed, It was mine; whereupon the said Richard very furiously in Anger and Passion replyed, I was an old sottish Man, to that effect; and caused his Man to fetch a Candle and light it, he being in Augustine Lindal's House, the Iron-monger, and in Augustine's Presence, Nicholas and his Man's, opened my Letter, then tore it, and put it into the Flame of the Candle, and burnt all the Writing, without reading of it, and bad Nicholas to take Notice of it.

Thus, after he had contrary to all Law and Right, abused my Letter, and his publick Trust, in burning a Letter of publick Concernment, directed to two in Authority with him, and to others of his Spirit, that it might concern, which shews his great Weakness and Wickedness, standing out all Warning from the Spirit of the Lord in his Servants; yet notwithstanding it had this Effect, the three Beholders have expressed some Tenderness; the young Man that then lived with the said Richard, and waited on him, and [Page] lighted the Candle by his Order, he was troubled in his Mind, and as they termed it, Distracted, and told the Governour, he had deceived him, and that he would not pluck off his Hat to him, and such like; so that he sent him home to Newbery with his Father: Thus having abused me, as is said, he also abused my Friend Nicholas Moulder, and asked him where his Security was, or else he would send him to Prison, to answer the next Court; but for what, he expressed not, nor do I believe he knew; and so calling him proud Quaker, that durst stand with his Hat on: Nicholas being bound to appear at their Court before, he therefore let him go.

Now this Abuse was not done by the Government of the Massachusets, but by the Elective Governour, as a private Man, in a private House, before three private Persons, without his Counsel, and in Anger and Fury; an evil Disease I know he hath been long warned of, when I was joyned with him in Authority in the Massachusets.

Now let the rational and impartial Reader judge, not leavened with a persecuting Spirit, whether I might not so express my self, as I have in the ensuing Letter, being intrusted in the first setling thereof (and with the chiefest in all publick Charges) even before Boston was named, or any House therein, I builded the first good House, in which the said Governour and Merchant Brakel now dwell: I having spent much of my Estate and Prime of my Age in propagating Plantations, and now come to the last Period, the 70. Year of my Age; in Discharge of my Conscience towards God, and in tender Love and due Respect to all, I write, as I have done, to warn you of your general Calamity, upon which I parted from you, that persecuting Spirit let loose, that hath so much indangered and hindered your Good both Spiritual and Temporal, and hazard both your Patent, Lives and Estates, as in my Letter, to which I refer you, may appear; and rest your in true Love,

William Coddington.

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Oh Friend Richard Bellingham!

TH [...], who professest thy self a Christian; how can'st thou persecute, and banish, and imprison such as are Christians, whereas by the Command of Christ Jesus, thou art to love thine Enemies? and how dost thou love thy Neighbour as thy self, and God above all, and keep the Commandments of God, when thou dost persecute and banish his Servants, as thou hast Solomon Eccles and Nicholas Alexander of Jamaica, a Justice of Peace and a Captain by Commission from the King? Is this thy entertaining of Strangers (and the King's Commissioners?) was thou so entertain'd by me at Road-Island, when thou wast a Stranger there and I Governour? Did I take thee out of one Prison and put thee into another, as thou hast done my Friends, with Hazard of their Lives, being weak and sick, and not yet recovered? What! Hast thou not innocent Blood enough yet? Doest thou think that this will be well taken at Jamaica, when your Shipping cometh thither? But as Persecutors were ever blind, so art thou; the Lord will one Day account with thee, as it is said by him which is Faithful and Just, Luke 12.45, 46. The Lord of that Servant will come in a Day when he looks not for him, and in a Hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his Portion with Unbelievers; mind that seriously as thou wishest thy own Good. Now for thee, Friend, that doest not only profess thy self a Christian, but one of the highest Forms, and that was against the Bishops in England, & suffered by them; O! how is that Tenderness lost since thy coming into Authority in New-England, that thy Collegue John Endicot deceased and thee, are numbred among the Persecutors and Wicked, whose Names and Memorials shall stink and rot; [Page] for you two, whom I say, I did know, formerly had some Tenderness in you (for I have known you both long, thee above this forty five Years) I say, for you so far to degenerate from Christianity to Hardness and Cruelty, as to give Sentence of Death upon five of the Servants of the living Lord, four of which were executed, barely for their Conscience towards God, and only for being such as are called Quakers, and coming into your Jurisdiction (and you would not suffer the Graves of the Martyrs of Jesus to be inclosed) to prevent which, I know, you had many Warnings from the Lord by Men, Women and Children infinites of Dayes, and by me William Coddington the Aged; for in much Tenderness was I moved of the Lord to write unto you, even so mourning over you when I was in writing, that my Tears blotted my Paper, to warn you in the Name of the Lord (to take heed and not to joyn to that Spirit, that then had lead you into Imprisonments, Cruelty, Whippings, cutting off Ears, Fines, and taking away Goods, Banishing on Pain of Death the Servants of the living God) for following the Leadings of that Spirit that would lead you to take away their Lives: But as none of the former Warnings from sundry of the Servants of the Lord's Messengers, that spoak to you in the Name and Power of the Lord; so that though the Lord would, ye would not; for the Friend that brought my Letter, being in Company with William Robinson and Marmaduke Stevenson, you imprisoned, and cruelly whipped: So, though I came over with your Governour, as an Assistent in Commission with him, &c. and for seaven Years in Authority, as a Magistrate and Treasurer of the Country, and equal with you in other respects, and parted from you, because you would persecute as by a Remonstrance in Court, when others and my self were Members of it, appears; yet notwithstanding, my Letter [Page] found no better Acceptance, then is aforesaid; never returned me one Word in Answer to the several particulars therein expressed; but have been so filled with the Devices of your own Hearts and Wayes, that your Cruelties have filled the Contents of two printed Treatises hitherto, which cannot be sufficiently expressed, which is the World's Wonder, and the Astonishment of all that are Men of Ingenuity and Tenderness: I say, it hath filled two Books in Quarto, though since 1667. your unjust Doings have not been printed, of which this is one, I shall now write unto you of, though my Letter find no better Acceptance then my former did, viz. There were so many Books that cost ten Pound Sterling in England, sent to Barbadoes, which were to have been transported to this Island for me and other Friends, in Shipping belonging to this Island; but through Mistake, was by William Mastra brought to Pascatua: No Opportunity presenting for Transportation to us, some of your Magistrates or Officers searched his Vessel; he informing me thereof, that your Officers had taken the said Books, and that they were brought to Boston, I demanded my Goods of Richard Bellingham, then and now Governour: Thou not denying to have received them, but gave me a scoffing Answer, not becoming thy Gravity; therefore I shall not only demand them of thee (my ancient Friend) but of two others of your Magistrates; my ancient Friend also, viz. Simon Broadstreet, no others but him (that I know) now living in the Massachusets, that were in England chosen with me Assistents to the Governour of the Massachusets, now above forty two Years past: Friend, I have often read thy Name in the said Books, and of thy being in England, when some of the People of God came to confer or examine thee about the putting to Death or murdering of some of their Friends in New-England, whether thou [Page] hadst a Hand in it, and by what Law thou didst it; and whether you were subject to the Laws in England? and thou answeredst in a fearful Manner, Guilt being upon thee, and wouldst shuffle it off thy self, and saidst, you had a Law by which you put Jesuites to Death: It was asked you, whether they were Jesuites; and whether you put them to Death as Jesuites? And thy Answer was, Nay, thou didst not believe they were Jesuites: So then it was said to thee, that you had murdered them, when no Law of England could be instanced by thee, by which you had put them to Death: And so soon after got out of England, before William Robinson's Father came to the City of London; and there were some that were in Power in England, that were much troubled at our Friends in England, because they would not seize upon thee and thy Company, as Murderers, who had murthered the King's Subjects, and forfeited their own Patent, and acted contrary to the Laws of England, in murdering his Subjects, having no Law of England for it, and manifested your selves to be Rebels to the King, in putting his Subjects to Death without his Laws, and denying his Subjects their Appeal to the King of England and his Laws, when you murdered them: And what was Mary Dyer a Jesuite, whom you murdered, and put to Death, and hanged on your Gallows; and when you had done, your great Major Aderton came into your Court, and boasted to your Court, and to them under the Sentence of Death and Examination, how Mary Dyer hanged like a Flag, who had been that Day executing of her, thinking thereby to have terrified them; but the Servants of the Lord were carried above all your Threats and Terrors, and him who boasted of your murdering of her: And the Day will come you will have small Cause to boast in such Murders, as he had no Cause, as his End made manifest, as yours will do, as [Page] will beseem, as his hath been to all New England; for when the Servants of God warned him of the Judgments of God to come upon him, he boasted and said, You tell us of the Judgments of God to come upon us, but when will they come? we see none yet: But they suddenly came upon him, and made him a Spectacle to all the Blood-thirsty Priests and Magistrates in New-England, for you to look at, as he said to you & our Friends, Mary Dyer hanged like a Flag to look at, who soon after was made a Spectacle for you to (gase at) And was not his Eyes like Sawsers for you to look at? And did not his Blood run through the Floor of your Court-House, where you had given Sentence for taking away of the Blood of God's People, yea, in the Place where the said Man had boasted that Mary Dyer hanged like a Flag; but soon the Vengeance of God took hold of him, and made him a Sign to you, and to all other blood-thirsty Persecutors.

Now Friend, though I thus write for clearing my Testimony; yet have I nothing but Love in my Heart towards you; for thou art my ancient Friend; thou wast known to me before thou wast married, when thou camest to Boston Lector, and after we came to New-England in the Arbella: I say, when I was informed out of England, that G.F. and others of our Friends had been with thee, as is said, and that they had left you to the Judgments of God, which you could not escape, it would be too hard for you; for the Lord of that Servant would come in a Day he looked not for, &c. Luke 12.46. for John Norton one of thy Company, who when you paused upon the executing of William Robinson and Marmaduke Stevenson, and forbare one Day (it may be at the Mediation of my ancient and worthy Friend Jo. Winthrop Governour of Coneticut, who did much interceed with you to prevent your Shedding of innocent Blood) he [Page] encouraged you thereunto, and the rest of your cruel Works; this bloody Persecutor being at your Worship-House in the fore-part of the Day, and intended to go in the after-part, the Lord came upon him in a Day he looked not for, and in an Hour he was not aware of, and so cut him off; for he fell down dead: And did he not say, the Judgments of God were upon him? which I leave to thy Consideration, lest it be said of thee, thou hadst Time to repent, and yet repentedst not, as it is said of Jezebel. William Hauthorn, my third ancient Friend, that I have said I would write to; Thy Name is also often mentioned in the said Book or Books: I cannot now say, how far, with my other two ancient Friends, thou art guilty of the Death of our Friends before-said; but this I can say, that though Hand joyn in Hand, yet shall not the Wicked go unpunished: Friend, since thou camest in Authority; for in the Ship, I know thou wast tender, serious and retired, as became the Gospel of Christ (for I had Speech with thee many times) and both then and afterward barest thy Testimony against Persecution, and stinting or limiting the Spirit of Prophecy in any, viz. to restrain from Preaching, but by Allowance of certain Persons; if that should take Place in New-England, thou lookedst at it as one of the most horridest Acts as ever was done in New-England, and would be as great a Token of God's forsaking New-England, as any (I know where thou spake it) and it was a good Speech; for this is the Day of God's Appearance in his Sons and Daughters, in pouring out his Spirit, so they must prophesie; and who can withold the Work of the Lord? Are you stronger then he? What hath all your Persecution come to, mentioned in the foresaid Books? though Briars and Thorns have set themselves in Battel against the Lord, yet he hath gone through you all; for since your opposing the Truth in your [Page] Jurisdiction, have not many been brought to know him, whom to know is Life Eternal? You may as well withhold the flowing of the Tide into the Massachusets Bay, as the Workings of the God of Truth in the Hearts of his People in the Massachusets Jurisdiction, or to limit the holy One to a Company or Tribe of Priests, who make a trade of the Scriptures, keeping People alwayes under their Teaching that they may be alwayes paying of them. Now for the Books taken away by your Officers, detain'd some years, demanded of your Governour, is an Act of such Hostility, that (by me) cannot be paralleled: Should we seize of your Merchants Goods in other Places, as you have done of ours, would you not say we had done right? as you had done to others, so others had done unto you? Had I been in Spain (as I have been) in the great City of Malego, and the Inquisitors had come aboard our Ship, or Ships, and they had found Books that they disliked, yet should I not have lost the Propriety of my Books; they would seal them up, and when the Ship or Ships were ready to sail, I should have them again: Is this to do as you would be done by? The Papists will condemn you in this, as contrary to that common Equity that ought to be, & also the Priviledge of an English Subject: You have taken away all Law and Justice, and have usurped it into your own Hands; for you are Court, Jury, Judge, Accusers, Witness and all; no Justice is to be had in this Case. Oh the Honesty, the Honesty of the Papists! they will not destroy Proprieties, though they be Sectaries, out of the pure and undefiled Religion, that James speaks of; out of the Truth and Worship in Spirit and Truth, that Christ set up above sixteen hundred Years ago.

I appeal to your own Masters of Ships and Merchants, if this be not so: Did ever any of you loose a Book? But we must loose ten Pounds Sterling, as they cost in England, because [Page] they were in your Goverment; a Reason against Reason.

Let me have a fair Arbitration upon it, if you will not deliver them up, and your own Merchants shall determine it; for this Case is properly to be determined by Merchants, that know Lex mercatoria, the Law amongst Merchants; for though the Estate seized is not great, yet the Consequence may be great; and they that will not do Justice in small Matters, will not in greater Matters; But it may be, I shall receive them again, when I receive the Reward promised me for my Pinace, which took the Pinace of John Oldams, when he was slain by the Indians, and Thomas Stanton, yet living, cut in the Back, and set ashore by them of Block-Island, whose Pinace and whose Charge was John Oldam's Pinace taken from the said Indians, and some of them brought Prisoners to Boston; John Gallop Master and John Wood his Mate: Indeed John Gallop had a small Island given him in lieu of that Service (called, it is like, Gallop's Island to this Day) then was I promised a Reward answerable to my Charge & Adventure, &c.

But after a persecuting Spirit arose amongst the Priests, and Ann Huchison and John Whelcwrit must be banished, and all that stood in their Way must remove, and the unclean Spirit like Frogs, came out of the Mouth of the false Prophets, so that Persecution was ushered in, all Persons that were against them, were noted as the removing Party; so as I am a Man and a Christian, I would have no Hand in it; so that being against it and a Magistrate, after three dayes Debate in Court (the Priests animated their Party; for of the Priests none but John Cotton was with us; some fell from us, so that we were the minor) we drew up a Remonstrance, that our Dissent might appear to succeeding times, which after some Debate, was admitted according to our [Page] Desires, to stand on Record; so ever since that, I hav been none of you that persecute; for I would not number my self, as a Man amongst Persecutors, whose Names shall rot in succeeding Ages, much more as I am a Christian, to love one another, and to love Enemies, and my Neighbour as my self, and God above all: I therefore bare my Testimony (as it is said by that Remonstrance) against that persecuting Spirit that was let loose to deceive all in Authority: And though I was in the greatest Way to be great in the Massachusets to the outward; yet the Locusts that were come out of the bottomless Pit blasted all to my Continuance there, and my Mind was for removing. And the Planters Play, and John Cotton's Sermon, which was in 1630. printed by John Humphery our Agent, to satisfie the Godly-minded of our Removal out of England, all did satisfie me to remove, as Lot out of Sodom, being grieved for your unrighteous Dealings: So that as I am, or was for that seaven Years I lived in the Massachusets, a Merchant, and the chiefest theree; so by Merchants, that walk by the Rule of Righteousness, To do unto others, as you would have them to do unto you, let my Cause be issued; for if you were such, you would not do as you do, to persecute and destroy common Right that is among Nations, and mantained by the Law of Nations. That you New-England Professors, that profess the Scripture of Truth, and that are out of Possession of that Life that gave them forth; for you to say, you have a Law for it; what Law contrary to Law, that is no sooner made, but void by England's great Charter, and your Patent, as repugnant to Law? I find a printed Paper dated in Yarmouth Road, aboard the Arbella, April the 7th 1630. by us the Heads, that then brought over the Massachusets Patent, in the Name of the whole Company, John Winthrop Governour, Thomas Dudly Deputy, Sr. Richard Saltingstal (so called) Isaak Johnson [Page] that married the Earl of Lincoln's Sister, the Lady Arbella: Our Ship, a war-like Ship, called the Eagle; the Admiral of the Fleet, in Honour of the Lady, was named the Arbella; they two before-said and William Coddington Assistents, with others, as in that printed Paper yet extant may appear, and the Planters Plea (both printed the same time, to satisfie the Godly-minded) wherein their Prayers were desired, and the Ground of our Removal expressed, viz. To propagate the Gospel, and other Grounds therein mentioned, as well performed, as that which was by John Humphry (a known Man that married the Earl of Lincoln's Sister, that printed them) dispersed into most Parts of England. Oh! how have you propagated the Gospel, that have made use of such Weapons, that the Apostles of Christ did never make use of, as in the two Books aforesaid, writ and printed by Geo. Bishop, to which I refer you, may appear: Did ever Paul wrestle with Flesh and Blood, as you have done, by your Imprisonings, Whippings, cutting Ears, and Banishments upon Pain of Death, and putting to Death the Propagators of the Gospel, who with that blessed Apostle desired you were as they (except those Bonds you laid on them for the Gospel sake) that prayed for you and loved you, when you persecuted and were full of Envy towards them; yea, and persisting therein, as witness not only your Imprisoning and Banishing Solomon Eccles and Nicholas Alexander of Jamaica, as is aforesaid; but also Imprisoning James Lancaster, John Stubbs, a learned Man, as witness the Battle-Door in thirty five Languages, John Raunce, Thomas Eaton and Robert Hornden, five Strangers more, the Servants of the Lord: And is this your entertaining of Strangers? Is this to do as you would be done to? Was ever any that came into our Jurisdiction so entertained? Did I so entertain Richard Bellingham your Governour (which signed the Warrant) let him [Page] witness against us if he can: Did I not entertain him and his Company for nine or ten Dayes in my House on Road-Island? They had the free Exercise of their Conscience, John Danford to preach to them in my House: I have demanded the like of him, to do to me and my Friends, as I did to him and his; but we have been molested and haled before the Authority, and so Evil rendered for Good, and Hatred for my Good-Will. The first Day of this present Month, Geo. Heathrot was by you committed to Prison, that is a principal Owner and Commander of a Ship; he delivered unto you Solomon Eccles's Letter, did he not? and he did not put off some Part of his Cloathing, it may be his Hat; and is this the Honour that you Massachusets Magistrates look after (that know not that Honour that comes of God alone) you think your selves higher then King Charles, who frequently admits Friends into his Presence, without any such vain Observations; he knows it is their Conscience so to do, and takes no Offence; but them that pretend comment-Matters, not Conscience, who have made Ship-wrack of it (Mind that of Mat. 25. that dreadful Sentence of Christ the Judge, our Lord and Master, to such as have not visited him in his Members, much more to such as have Imprisoned, Banished and Persecuted him in his Members) and some of you that are in Authority, that have had a Hand in shedding innocent Blood, are so stupified and hardened in your persecuting, that do not you now say (even now, notwithstanding the King's Toleration and releasing out of Prison) that if it was to do, you would do it again, and so render your selves Murtherers in the Eye of the Law (as hath been said) so hear Christ's Sentence, Go ye Cursed, come ye Blessed; ye Cursed shall go into Everlasting Punishment (mark that) but the Righteous into Life Eternal: They shall [Page] shine for ever and ever; but the Name of the Wicked shall rot: Is this to answer the Grounds of your Removal, in propagating the Gospel, as declared in Print to the Land of our Nativity? O gross Hypocrisie and Dissimulation! profess it in Print, and persecute it in Deed; also to burn, suppress and imbecil such Books, as tend to the Furtherance of that which you have declared of in Print: To whom shall I compare you herein (that persist to persecute, as is said) except it be to Bonner's Story and the Persecutors in the Marian Dayes? read their Stories in Fox's Acts and Monuments, to suppress Gospel-Books that came out of Germany, the low Countries, &c. And therein you may read your own Actings, and read their Ends; and read the Scriptures, from the Beginning of Genesis to the End of Revelations, and you shall never find, that any that persecute the People of God, as you have done (and repented not) that ever were unpunished. Now to come to an End; I understand that you take away Peoples Goods, to maintain such persecuting Priests, as were never sent of God, and called of Christ Jesus unto that Work they pretend to, as their Fruits do manifest; and they that hear them not, or never set them to Work, must pay them, or never hired them: And that which is yet more unjust is, That they that cannot hear them for Conscience sake, must not only pay the Priests that preach for their Hire; but you that love to have it so, have made a Law to pay five Shillings a Day for not hearing them: So you that fled from the Bishops, are worse then they, and set up a worse anti-christian Power: Is it not in matter of Worship they do against God and Christ, if in Case they do trespass? And is not Christ Judge in such spiritual Matters, that will recompence to every one according to their Works; and therefore commands all Persecutors and Pluckers to be still, to suffer the [Page] Tares and the Wheat to grow together till Harvest, which will be the End of the World? And at that time he will send his Angels to reap the Tares from the Wheat; and so commands his Servants to be still; for it is his Angels Work. Gamaliel would be no Judge in such Matters: You that profess the Scriptures to be your Rule, what Rule have you in Scriptures, To persecute any for Religion or Conscience towards God? but to love Enemies, and to love one another, &c.

Therefore turn to the Light within you, wherewith you are enlightned, that you have contracted and blasphemed as Natural, &c. Even Christ in you the Hope of Glory, which was declared to you by the Servant of the Lord John Cotton, on Acts. 4.13. on his Lecture Day, the Ships ready to depart for England; he stated the Difference, it was about Grace; he magnified Grace within us, the Priests Grace without or upon them: So all the Difference in the Country was about Grace, notwithstanding the Difference was as great (saith he) as between Light and Darkness, Heaven and Hell, Life and Death: For as in the Text, when they saw the Boldness of Peter and John, they perceived they had been with Jesus; and from the Spirit of Jesus did he then declare, and so do our Friends when they come amongst you, and you might perceive had you the spiritual Eye-Salve: Therefore turn to the Grace of God within you, that, as in former Dayes, so in this is the Saints Teacher, then shall you never be without a Teacher: And repent of the Evil of your Doings, before your Day be passed over, and it be hidden from your Eyes, though you seek it with Tears, as Esau did.

And as for me, I pass not to be judged of you, or of Man's Dayes; he that judgeth me is the Lord, and his Witness is with me in what I write; and as for my Books so taken and so detained by you (after demand) as is said; let me have your Answer in Writing; a small Request from him, that for seaven Years served with you, as a Magistrate and Treasurer of the Country; yea, and had to this Day, if in so doing he could have served the Lord Jesus; for I am yours in the Service of Truth,

W. Coddington.

Road Island, the 12th. of the 6th. Month, 1672.

Upon Burning of my former Letter, I writ this, directed to Richard Bellingham, Governour of the Massachusets, as followeth,

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FRiend, My Letter directed to thee Richard Bellingham, Governour of the Massachusets, Simon Broadstreet and William Hauthorn, Assistents, and whom else it might concern, which Letter was about the middle of the 7th Month, 1672. left at thy House; upon the Receipt thereof, or not long after, thou sentst for Nicholas Moulder of Boston Merchant, and demandedst of him from whom that Letter was; Nicholas answered, from William Coddington; whereupon thou very furiously replyed, I was an old sottish Man, or to that effect.

Now Friend, see what thou art fallen from: I have known the time, that thou wouldst not have allowed thy self in Fury and nonsensical Discourse; and whereas thou reproachest me for my Age, thou art older then I; and it is a Crown of Glory, being found in a Way of Righteousness: and it is for Christ's sake thou dost thus reproach me, because I bare my Testimony against all persecuting Spirits; otherwise thou wouldst have called me, as thou knowest I have been called amongst Men these forty five Years; and so to fill up the Measure of thy Iniquity, caused thy Man to fetch a Candle, thou being in Augustine Lindal's House the Iron-monger, and in the Presence of Augustine, and the said Nicholas, and thy Man, openedst my Letter, and tore it, and put it into the Flame of the Candle, and burntst all the Writing without looking on, or reading any of it, and bad Nicholas take notice of it. Now Friend, thou shewest what Spirit thou art of, by thy Untrustiness and Wickedness in burning a Letter, that concerned others in Authority with thee, and the Country to take notice of: Is this thy fulfilling of the royal Law, To do to others, as thou wouldst have others to do to thy self? Wouldst thou be contented to be so done by, to have thy Letter, when thou demandest what is due to thee, to be torn and burnt, and thou called out of thy Name? Is this the Restitution thou makest for the Wrong thou hast done, taking away the Goods of another, contrary to Law and Justice, without Tryal, repugnant to the Laws of England, contrary to your [Page] Patent: Shew a Law of England for what thou hast done. David saith, He that rules over Men must be just, ruling in the Fear of the Lord, which is, to hate Evil, Pride and Arrogancy; And every evil Way, and a froward Mouth do I hate, saith Solomon the wisest of Kings, then would thy Government be for the Punishment of Evil-Doers, & for the Praise of them that do well; but Justice is turned backward, and Equity cannot enter, and be that departeth from Iniquity maketh himself a Prey: Thy Iniquity is notified already to succeeding Ages; thou needst not bid the Standers by Take notice of thy tearing and burning a Letter of publick Concernment: What put thee into so much Anger and Fury (it was not the Letter) if thou hadst been altogether ignorant of the Contents of it? thou either knewst, or mightst have known whose Letter it was, having of it in thy Hand, dated from Road-Island, the 12th of the 6th Month, 72. the Place of my outward Abode, and my known Hand and Seal to it: So that thou either didst or mightst have known certainly whose the Letter was; so the Question was needless, to require of Nicholas Moulder whose it was (that knew not what was in it) Now see what Regard thou hast to Justice, by what is said; and further to threaten to send an innocent Man to Prison, and demand where was his Security to answer at your Court; but tell him not for what, and I believe thou knowst not for what, but only that thou wast transported for the present; thou wast warned of that Evil, when I was in Authority with thee in the Massachusets.

Now in Coolness, Friend, Consider if thou be not him that was spoken of in 2 Sam. 23.6, 7. That he that comes near thee in thy Fury, though he be sent for by thee (as Nicholas was) had need to be fenced with Iron and the Staff of a Spear; thou art utterly burnt with Fire in the same Place: Hadst thou not been in the same Place of a Governour, thou wouldst not have been so discovered, so that the least Child of Light may discover thee to be of a persecuting, Spirit.

Now see if thou canst, if thou hast not sinned out thy Day, what thy forty five Years Profession of the Scriptures, being out of the Life and Power that gave them forth, is come to, that to speak plain Scripture Languages, Thou and Thee to a single Person, and to stand with his Hat on, is a Crime culpable of Death, as in William Leddra's Case.

Also consider that forty five Years past, thou didst own such a suffering People, that now thou dost persecute; they were against Bishops [Page] and Ceremonies, and the conformable Priests; they were the Seed of God that did serve him in Spirit, then called Puritans, now called Quakers, God having put Enmity between the two Seeds; the Serpent's Seed disgraces the Seed of the Woman with Nick-Names, which Seed of the Woman the Servant of the Lord John Cotton in Verse describes.

Of Puritans two Sorts I find,

The Moral and the Ceremonial Kind:

The Ceremonial God's great Name to hallow,

Will strain at Motes, as well as Beams not swallow▪

His tender Conscience makes his fleshly Heart

At smalest Pricks and Scruples back to start.

But I will write to thee no more of them at this Time, because I would not have thee burn them, as thou didst my last Letter. These I say, thou didst then own these Verses, and divers more John Cotton wrote about sixty Years since, long before thou camest to dwell at Boston: So I am thy ancient Friend, and so will be, do what Injury thou canst to me.

Road Island, the [...]0th. of the 8th. Month, 1672.

Still waiting, If at any time God may give thee Repentance unto Life, W. C.

This my last Letter to Richard Bellingham, Governour, was delivered to John Leverit Deputy Governour, who said he would deliver it, and speak to him to read it. Shortly after, the said Richard having compleated the Measure of his Iniquity, dyes distracted, the 7th of the 10th Month, 1672. The Hand of the Lord cuts him off, not giving him Repentance to Life, that other Sons of Belial of his persecuting Spirit might be warned, not to put the Evil Day far from them, Idem▪

W. Coddington.

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Information about this book

Title statement

A demonstration of true love unto you the rulers of the colony of the Massachusets in Nevv-England shewing to you that are now in authority the unjust paths that your predecessors walked in, and of the Lord's dealings with them in his severe judgments, for persecuting his saints and children ... / written by ... William Coddington of Road-Island [sic].

Coddington, William, 1601-1678.

Edition statement

1674

Publication

Publisher

Text Creation Partnership,

Place of publication

Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) :

Date

2007-01 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1).

ID [DLPS]

A33597

ID [STC]

Wing C4875

ID [STC]

ESTC R23269

ID [EEBO-CITATION]

12757190

ID [OCLC]

ocm 12757190

ID [VID]

93446

Availability

This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal. The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission.

Series

Early English books online.

Notes

(EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A33597)

Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 93446)

Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 377:10)

Source

— A demonstration of true love unto you the rulers of the colony of the Massachusets in Nevv-England shewing to you that are now in authority the unjust paths that your predecessors walked in, and of the Lord's dealings with them in his severe judgments, for persecuting his saints and children ... / written by ... William Coddington of Road-Island [sic]., Coddington, William, 1601-1678., Bellingham, Richard, 1592?-1672..

Extent

20 p.

s.n.],. [London :: 1674.. (Two letters addressed to Richard Bellingham, governor of Massachusetts.) (Place of publication from Wing.) (Reproduction of original in Huntington Library.)

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