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hearts for you . They are not any countenancers of wicked persons , or de ^ sirous to indulge any offences that you declare to be so ; no partakers of the crime : but upon the common account of liberty found it upon our spirits to become petitioners to you in this thing , leaving it to God to direct you in it . ' " The Petition of divers peaceable and well-affected persons in and about the City of London , in the behalf of themselves and others . " " The contents were to remit the remainder of punishment to be inflicted upon James Nayler , and leave him to Gospel remedies , as the proper way to reclaim . * " Colonel Holland . The way to make the blessing of God upon a nation i $ to leave every man to the liberty of his conscience . The king sometimes
published declarations to this purpose , that he would give liberty to tender consciences . If he had been ingenuous in it ( as I believe he was not ) , I am confident we could not have stood two months before him . I say it again , it is the only means to make a nation blessed , to let every one have the free exercise of his conscience . I understand not any power the civil magistrate has to inflict censures , &c . "—Pp . 216 ,
217-" Lord Lambert . It is not the number of petitioners that should work with you . I speak not of the person before you ; but of the petitioners . I know few of them , but I understand them to be veTy honest , godly persons , who , I am confident , disown the crime ; yet think themselves obliged to bear their testimony for their liberty , &c >?—P . 218 .
The affair ended on this occasion by the House letting it drop , and " rising without a question . " On the 26 th of December arose fresh trouble in the following letter from the Protector , who seems to have had little relish for the zeal of the
Commons : te Having taken notice of a sentence by you , given against one James Nayler , albeit we do abhor such wicked opinions and practices , we , being interested in the Government , desire to know the grounds and reasons how you proceeded herein without our consent . "—P . 246 . This raised the spirit of the merciful party .
" Major Audley . You ought not to have denied this person to have spoken when he desired it at " the bar . Were he never so wicked , you ought to give him the liberty of an Englishman . I am satisfied , that though you have passed this sentence upon him , there may be much said against it . If he had been left to the law , it had been better . I fear the danger of such a precedent . A very fierce speech he made on Nayler ' s behalf against the judgment , &c . "—Ib . " Colonel Holland . A merchant ' s wife told me that there was no skin left
between his shoulders and his hips . It was no mock punishment . I could wish the business were ended amongst you , that the remainder of the punishment might be remitted , and that would give his Highness satisfaction . " " . Sir Christopher Pack . I shall acquaint you with what the gaoler told me . There were but three places where the skin was any way hurt or broken , and it was no-bigger than a pin ' s head . This gentleman is surely
misinformed . "—P . 247 . * ' Mr . Attorney-General . We are bound up by our own judgment . We cannot now speak against it , nor against the fact . You have asserted your iudicatory power . This is the first case . It is good it were now settled . I hear his Highness plead nothing for the fellow . I think it were best first to whip him and then bring in a Hill to hang him . " *—P . 249 . " Mr . Rouse . We should return this short answer to his Highness e s letter ,
* This speaker can scarcely be serious . Perhaps he is here covertly sarcastic on this whole grave parliamentary proceeding against a not ill-designing visionary /'
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1828, page 392, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2561/page/32/
