davejonescue
Puritan Board Junior
Hello all. Came across this last night looking for Non-Conformists in EEBO-TCP. This poem has kind of captivated me, so I am in the process of cleaning up and prepping it for E-Publishing. Will post the complete for free download when it is done. Below is an excerpt. Pages 1-5 (out of 85.) Yes, an 85 page poem!! Below is a little info on the gentleman too.
Some prison-meditations and experiences with some hints touching the fall of the mother of harlots, and the exaltation of the Son of God upon the throne of David
John Griffith, 1622?-1700.
GRIFFITH, JOHN (1622?–1700), general baptist minister, appears to have joined the baptists about 1640, and founded about 1646 a congregation in Dunning's Alley, Bishopsgate Street Without. It is probable that he practiced medicine, as he was known as Dr. Griffith. After the Restoration he frequently got into trouble as a conventicle preacher, and persistently declined the oath of allegiance. His difficulty was that the terms of the oath bound him to obey laws not then in being, and future sovereigns who might prove papists. His first imprisonment was in Newgate (1661) for seventeen months. He was again committed on 18 April 1683, and is said to have spent fourteen years more or less in goal (jail or prison.) He appears to have been free from molestation after James's declaration for liberty of conscience (11 April 1687). In 1698 his small congregation received an endowment under a trust created by Captain Pierce Johns' bequest. He was an advocate of close communion. He died on 16 May 1700, in his seventy-ninth year. (Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 23)
Some Prison-Meditations and experiences, &c.
As I in Prison lie, I sometimes muse
What should the reason be they me so use,
That they contrary unto law and reason,
Should keep me here in jail so long a season.
No crime or charge against me can they lay,
Yet I shall lie in Prison still, they say.
I think their will's their law, I cannot see
But that the reason is they thus use me.
What should the reason be, they naught will have,
But what's their will to keep me as their slave
Within stone walls, and bars of iron strong,
As if I had done unto them such wrong,
Or had committed crimes of such a nature,
So filthy and so foul, with so much rancor,
Against their worships: What have they no law
To try me by? Or have they got no maw
To do me right? What should the reason be?
I am an English man, and am born free:
My birth-right is not then without just cause
To lie in jail contrary to the laws:
But there's a reason which I now espy,
Why they will make me still in Prison lie,
And that's because (they say) I am a Preacher,
And of Phanatiques am a constant Teacher;
And therefore 'tis they me in prison hold,
Unless I would be wickedly so bold
To promise them that I will preach no more,
Then will they me to liberty restore;
If I’ll conform, then they will shew me favor,
Methinks to me these things have no good favor.
But what, is it now a crime to preach and pray,
That I must lie in prison night and day?
For that, and for no other cause do know,
But preaching truth, must I be used so,
Full seventeen months and more, as I have been
In prison now; is preaching such a sin,
That such as preach, and have not their consent,
Can't be redeemed except they do repent,
But must be kept in prison all their days
As I shall be (sometimes) then worships says?
The Prophet Moses was not of this mind.
For he would not Gods Holy Spirit bind,
Nor limit it to this or the other man,
He was content that those should preach that can:
For when complaint against some to him came,
Eldad and Medad were the men by name.
Of whom 'twas said, these men do prophesy;
What, for my sake, saith he, dost thou envy?
I would to God the Lord’s poor people all
Were Prophets, and that on them all might fall
Such measures of the Spirit from the Lord,
That may enable them to preach his Word.
But now the case is altered much I see,
Their worships will not so contented be
As Moses was; to prison he must go,
That preacheth now without their leave: I know
They would not be so served themselves, if they
Should be forbid to either preach or pray,
Be clapt in prison for it when they should
Do either of them, I believe they would
Not take it well to walk so in the dark;
The Priest forgets that ere he was a Clark.
Would they be used so by Rome’s brats, and be
Forced to conform to Rome’s idolatry?
They do profess from Rome they're separated,
And that by them Rome’s cruelty is hated:
And yet will they the conscience force of those
That cannot with them in their worship close.
Methinks in this they do not do by me
As they themselves by Rome would used be.
But 'tis my comfort in the midst of all
My many troubles, which some count but small,
They cannot charge me justly with a fault,
Which can by law give cause thus to assaults
My carcass, so to keep it thus in jail,
Against their law refusing to take bail.
Nay, though they were commanded by the King,
They would not him obey, nor me forth bring
To any legal trial, that I might
Receive that just reward which is by right
My due, for more of them I do not crave,
And 'tis but reason that I, that should have:
Had I by law deserved bonds or death,
I should contented be to lose my breath.
But if I have not any law offended,
'Tis time, I think, my trouble now were ended.
But I a Preacher am, I don't deny,
Though much unworthy of the ministry;
A worthless worm, unworthy of that love,
That grace and mercy which came from above
Into my soul, by which I did receive
A mission for to preach without their leave;
The Bishop of our souls did me ordain
To preach, his grace I trust is not in vain
That he bestowed on me to preach his word,
And to declare his wondrous works abroad:
And though for this I do in prison lie,
I can in him rejoice most heartily,
And praise that God alone that doth esteem
Of such a worthless one as I, and deem
Me worthy of the cross, that for his name,
And for the sake of Christ to suffer shame.
But yet some say I am a fool to lie
In jail so long, deprived of liberty:
Why should not I to them a promise make,
That I all kind of preaching will forsake;
For 'tis against the law that such as I
Should preach, unless I were ordained by
The Bishops, then without all doubt I may;
But might they not upon as good ground say,
The blessed Martyrs in the Marian days
Did act against the law; for Bonner says,
You are not by the law to preach or pray,
Except you do conform, such prayers say
As by the Queen and Church are now thought fit
Should used be throughout the Land; but yet
Those Martyrs then would not persuaded be,
But stoutly stood to Non-Conformity;
They rather chose in fiery flames to burn,
Than from what truth and light they had to turn
There are two sorts of fools as I have read,
And one of them 'tis true I am indeed:
The one wise Solomon so plainly paints
In their own colors, such will never be Saints;
For, Fools (saith he) are such as knowledge hate,
Such is their dreadful, miserable state,
That they the fear of God do never choose,
Because they would not wealth and honor lose;
Such set a high esteem upon their lusts,
Their pride and pleasure, and their gold that rusts;
In such like fool’s iniquity abounds,
And both in City and in Country sounds.
Fools belch out oaths, and dreadful execrations,
Which are unto the wise man great vexations:
Fools call on God most wickedly to damn 'um,
And dare him to his face, as 'twere, to ram 'um
Into the very pit of Hell; Fools say
There is no God to hear when men do pray;
Their oaths to hear, or punish them for sin,
Which they with greediness do wallow in:
As chugging off of bowls of beer and wine,
Until they are as drunk as any swine;
With whoring, roaring, and their sports and play,
That by them now are used every day,
As baiting bulls and bears with dogs, and such
Like sports as these, of which there is too much;
With idle stage plays too, and such like trade,
There's many souls destroyed that God hath made:
He then's a fool that for these earthly toys
Doth lose eternal life and heavenly joys.
There are another sort if fools I find,
But those fools are quite of another mind.
These fools all worldly glory do despise,
Becoming fools, that so they may be wise:
Some prison-meditations and experiences with some hints touching the fall of the mother of harlots, and the exaltation of the Son of God upon the throne of David
John Griffith, 1622?-1700.
GRIFFITH, JOHN (1622?–1700), general baptist minister, appears to have joined the baptists about 1640, and founded about 1646 a congregation in Dunning's Alley, Bishopsgate Street Without. It is probable that he practiced medicine, as he was known as Dr. Griffith. After the Restoration he frequently got into trouble as a conventicle preacher, and persistently declined the oath of allegiance. His difficulty was that the terms of the oath bound him to obey laws not then in being, and future sovereigns who might prove papists. His first imprisonment was in Newgate (1661) for seventeen months. He was again committed on 18 April 1683, and is said to have spent fourteen years more or less in goal (jail or prison.) He appears to have been free from molestation after James's declaration for liberty of conscience (11 April 1687). In 1698 his small congregation received an endowment under a trust created by Captain Pierce Johns' bequest. He was an advocate of close communion. He died on 16 May 1700, in his seventy-ninth year. (Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 23)
Some Prison-Meditations and experiences, &c.
As I in Prison lie, I sometimes muse
What should the reason be they me so use,
That they contrary unto law and reason,
Should keep me here in jail so long a season.
No crime or charge against me can they lay,
Yet I shall lie in Prison still, they say.
I think their will's their law, I cannot see
But that the reason is they thus use me.
What should the reason be, they naught will have,
But what's their will to keep me as their slave
Within stone walls, and bars of iron strong,
As if I had done unto them such wrong,
Or had committed crimes of such a nature,
So filthy and so foul, with so much rancor,
Against their worships: What have they no law
To try me by? Or have they got no maw
To do me right? What should the reason be?
I am an English man, and am born free:
My birth-right is not then without just cause
To lie in jail contrary to the laws:
But there's a reason which I now espy,
Why they will make me still in Prison lie,
And that's because (they say) I am a Preacher,
And of Phanatiques am a constant Teacher;
And therefore 'tis they me in prison hold,
Unless I would be wickedly so bold
To promise them that I will preach no more,
Then will they me to liberty restore;
If I’ll conform, then they will shew me favor,
Methinks to me these things have no good favor.
But what, is it now a crime to preach and pray,
That I must lie in prison night and day?
For that, and for no other cause do know,
But preaching truth, must I be used so,
Full seventeen months and more, as I have been
In prison now; is preaching such a sin,
That such as preach, and have not their consent,
Can't be redeemed except they do repent,
But must be kept in prison all their days
As I shall be (sometimes) then worships says?
The Prophet Moses was not of this mind.
For he would not Gods Holy Spirit bind,
Nor limit it to this or the other man,
He was content that those should preach that can:
For when complaint against some to him came,
Eldad and Medad were the men by name.
Of whom 'twas said, these men do prophesy;
What, for my sake, saith he, dost thou envy?
I would to God the Lord’s poor people all
Were Prophets, and that on them all might fall
Such measures of the Spirit from the Lord,
That may enable them to preach his Word.
But now the case is altered much I see,
Their worships will not so contented be
As Moses was; to prison he must go,
That preacheth now without their leave: I know
They would not be so served themselves, if they
Should be forbid to either preach or pray,
Be clapt in prison for it when they should
Do either of them, I believe they would
Not take it well to walk so in the dark;
The Priest forgets that ere he was a Clark.
Would they be used so by Rome’s brats, and be
Forced to conform to Rome’s idolatry?
They do profess from Rome they're separated,
And that by them Rome’s cruelty is hated:
And yet will they the conscience force of those
That cannot with them in their worship close.
Methinks in this they do not do by me
As they themselves by Rome would used be.
But 'tis my comfort in the midst of all
My many troubles, which some count but small,
They cannot charge me justly with a fault,
Which can by law give cause thus to assaults
My carcass, so to keep it thus in jail,
Against their law refusing to take bail.
Nay, though they were commanded by the King,
They would not him obey, nor me forth bring
To any legal trial, that I might
Receive that just reward which is by right
My due, for more of them I do not crave,
And 'tis but reason that I, that should have:
Had I by law deserved bonds or death,
I should contented be to lose my breath.
But if I have not any law offended,
'Tis time, I think, my trouble now were ended.
But I a Preacher am, I don't deny,
Though much unworthy of the ministry;
A worthless worm, unworthy of that love,
That grace and mercy which came from above
Into my soul, by which I did receive
A mission for to preach without their leave;
The Bishop of our souls did me ordain
To preach, his grace I trust is not in vain
That he bestowed on me to preach his word,
And to declare his wondrous works abroad:
And though for this I do in prison lie,
I can in him rejoice most heartily,
And praise that God alone that doth esteem
Of such a worthless one as I, and deem
Me worthy of the cross, that for his name,
And for the sake of Christ to suffer shame.
But yet some say I am a fool to lie
In jail so long, deprived of liberty:
Why should not I to them a promise make,
That I all kind of preaching will forsake;
For 'tis against the law that such as I
Should preach, unless I were ordained by
The Bishops, then without all doubt I may;
But might they not upon as good ground say,
The blessed Martyrs in the Marian days
Did act against the law; for Bonner says,
You are not by the law to preach or pray,
Except you do conform, such prayers say
As by the Queen and Church are now thought fit
Should used be throughout the Land; but yet
Those Martyrs then would not persuaded be,
But stoutly stood to Non-Conformity;
They rather chose in fiery flames to burn,
Than from what truth and light they had to turn
There are two sorts of fools as I have read,
And one of them 'tis true I am indeed:
The one wise Solomon so plainly paints
In their own colors, such will never be Saints;
For, Fools (saith he) are such as knowledge hate,
Such is their dreadful, miserable state,
That they the fear of God do never choose,
Because they would not wealth and honor lose;
Such set a high esteem upon their lusts,
Their pride and pleasure, and their gold that rusts;
In such like fool’s iniquity abounds,
And both in City and in Country sounds.
Fools belch out oaths, and dreadful execrations,
Which are unto the wise man great vexations:
Fools call on God most wickedly to damn 'um,
And dare him to his face, as 'twere, to ram 'um
Into the very pit of Hell; Fools say
There is no God to hear when men do pray;
Their oaths to hear, or punish them for sin,
Which they with greediness do wallow in:
As chugging off of bowls of beer and wine,
Until they are as drunk as any swine;
With whoring, roaring, and their sports and play,
That by them now are used every day,
As baiting bulls and bears with dogs, and such
Like sports as these, of which there is too much;
With idle stage plays too, and such like trade,
There's many souls destroyed that God hath made:
He then's a fool that for these earthly toys
Doth lose eternal life and heavenly joys.
There are another sort if fools I find,
But those fools are quite of another mind.
These fools all worldly glory do despise,
Becoming fools, that so they may be wise:
