great Hereticks when as they onely differed from them in Church Government and some Eternal Rites and Modes and otherwise held the same true and Catholick Faith and Doctrine with these Men but also because all those penal Laws which were made and ordained before the time of the Reformation against Hereticks as they call'd them stood still in force and none of them was repealed not so much as that De Comburendo Haeretico or for burning the Heretick so that if at any time any one of Eminent power had a mind he might by Virtue of that Law Arraign any one and bring him to that dismal and horrid punishment and have it Executed upon him Which appears by the Examples of two Men under the Reign of K. James the 1st in the 11th year of this Century Which because it has not of a long while been taken notice of by most Writers and yet it is not amiss to be known especially at this time I shall briefly relate One of these Men was Bartholmew Legate of the County of Essex a Man of an unblamable Life ready wit and well read in the H. Scriptures but disliking the Nicene Creed and denying the plurality of persons in the God-head and the Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ after he had been for some time kept in Prison at London and being enlarged again more boldly defended his impious Errors and could not be brought to desist from it even by these reasons the King himself brought at last in an Assembly of Bishops was Condemned of Contumacious and Irreclaimable Heresy and delivered over to the secular Judges and by the Kings command according to the Act de haeretico comburendo the 18. day of March about Noon was publickly burn't and Consumed to Ashes The other was one R. Wightman of the Town of Burton near the River Trent who was Condemned by the Bishop of Coventry and Litchfield of several Heresies the first was that he was an Ebionite the last an Anabaptist and burn't at Litchfield the 11th day of Ap. 'T is true indeed that this Law for burning the Heretick as also for putting him to Death in any wise was repeal'd in the Reign of Charles the Second but this is true also that that repeal was not made without a great deal of Difficulty and Repugnance of some Men and it was so done too that tho the Clergy had this power of Life and Death taken away from them and yet still out of this power they had so much Authority left them as to Excommunicate as they call it those that they should account Hereticks and thereupon to deprive them of their Liberty and take away their goods and the Consequences which follow thereupon Which thing I have thought fit to take notice as being not well known and yet worth the while to know This repeal was made in the 29th year of his Reign and 77th of the Century in that memorable Parliament Which was continued from the year 61 by several Propagations down to that time There was a certain Man of the Country of Middlesex whose Name was Taylor who had defil'd himself with so many and great Crimes and Vices that he had no fear notice or Apprehension of God wherefore he was sent to London and brought before the Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Court. In which Court as they were deliberating what to Determine about a Man so very impious or rather an impure beast one of the younger Bishops being more vehement and hot in his Censures than the rest gave his Judgment that this Man should be Exterminated from humane Society by burning and alledges that Law for the Burning of Hereticks with fire Which seeming somewhat harsh to others of the Bishops and some giving their opinion one way others another The Earl of Hall the next day in Parliament in the House of Lords proposes and perswades that that Law for the Burning of Hereticks might be Abolished for as long as that Law was not yet taken away and repeal'd it might come to pass that what Religion or Sect soever came uppermost the professors of that by Virtue of this Law might put to Death by burning all those that they should count Hereticks The Bishops opposed and cried out against this Petition But when it came to the Vote the present Earl of Hallefax and likewise the Duke of Buckingham and Earl of Shaftsbury and other great Men Considering that at that time things look'd with a fearful aspect and that it was often seen in the Course of Nature that many times things which had been hindred and delayed might break out again as in that cursed Popish Plot and the preparations of the Papists for the Destruction of the reformed Religion at that time was easily to be seen and that that Law particularly might one day be signally Injurious and Destructive they so perswade the rest and make it out so plain by force of Argument that the repeal of that Law is concluded upon and decreed contrary to the mind and will of the Bishops which Bill being carried down to the House of Commons some Excellent Men among which the principal was W. Russell a great Lover of his Countrey and Religion and a Man worthy of immortal honour presently Vote for it and procured the Bill to pass And so by Authority of the King and both Houses of Parliament this ancient Law was Abrogated and Repealed by this Act That from henceforth by Authority of the King and Parliament the writ de heretico comburendo or for burning Hereticks and all Capital punishments following upon any Ecclesiastical Censures should be taken off Not taking away nevertheless or diminishing the Jurisdiction of the Protestant Arch-Bishops or Bishops or any other Ecclesiastical Court to punish Atheism Blasphemy Heresy or Schism or any other Damnable Doctrines or Opinions So that Nevertheless it shall and may be lawful to them to punish such Men according to the Kings Ecclesiastical Laws by Excommunication Deprivation Deposition and other Censures not Extending to Death What but also how fraudulent a Liberty to all Religions was granted by K. James the 2d and what care the Bishops most of them but not all took to oppose it is not necessary now to be insisted on But to return from whence I have digressed Now because these Quakers had made no inconsiderable progress in their Affairs in America that new and to the Ancients unknown part of the World there were some of them who thought it might be a work worth the while to attempt the like all over this part of the World which we inhabit and of which for the most part we have a more ancient knowledge of and that not onely in the European Countreys where we have great dealings but also in Asia it self and Africa among the remotest Nations Destitute of the right knowledge of God and brought up in the profoundest Ignorance of the truth and true Religion with a design to enlighten them and by their Arguments and Sollicitations
the Quakers was at this time very rife every where in Germany and that the same especially with the rude multitude and men of the most abject Condition who catch hold of all things without any distinction of Truth or Falshood was much envied and hated and not free from danger There was a certain Person of some note at Hamburg for the thing may be said without nameing his Name though of no great fame as to his Learning and of an immoderate and proud Disposition and full of words who was so transported with Rage against Muller that he accused him and laid to his charge That he was not only guilty of other Errors but more especially of Quakerism and thus by stirring up the People did as it were enforce the Laws with Menaces that he should desist and proceed no further which matters Muller though he was willing but not able to bring about to his designed purpose yet he was desirous to be freed from the scandal cast upon him and to remove the ignominy â—â—rging That he introduced no perverse or strange Doctrine and was not the man his Enemy represented him to be which he brought so about that having got the clear Testimonies of several Professors in the Universities of his Orthodoxy and of Doctors in Churches he Published the same in his Apology and set them in opposition to the Reflections and Scandals cast upon him by his Enemies Now Philip James Spener Minister at Francford upon the Mease of a Church Constituted according to the same Augustine Confession did within a few years prosecute the Foot-steps of these Men as also John Heariâ—k Harby Minister of a Church of the same Confession at Trarback on the Mosel both of them men of that Industry and Conversation as to be able easily to keep up the Fame of their great Learning and Probity and not be thought to seek after the Favour and Glory of Men herein these Men did in their Publick Sermons Discourses and Private Exercises bend all their Endeavours this way that they might extirpate and root up these Evil Weeds and Thistles from Mens minds Spener began his Work with those things which did more immediately incuâ— into the Senses of Men and which seemed to imitate and have relation to Popery that was so hateful to the Lutherans by reason of the dull foolish and profane Rites and Ceremonies that are therein and such as are not barely estranged from true Worship and Sanctity to wit in their Churches and Publick Assemblies and particularly in their Pompous Tables Organs Altars Priestly Garments c. And from hence he proceeds to other things which men do measure by use alone and meer handling so as that a pretty number of People in a short space of time did by his means not only Loath all that Pompousness in their Churches but also laying aside many other external Rites applyed themselves to Exercise the true Faith and Life of Christians But this was not all but they did often times meet together in their Houses and so did instruct and exhort one another every one as well as they were enabled out of the Holy Scripture to follow the same Sincere Life and Faith and to do all the Duties incumbent upon them towards Men Hereby also in the same manner by his Instructions did so stir up and affect the Minds and Consciences of his Hearers that very many of them in those places and adjacent to the Rhine did often times meet together in one place and this they did assume as a common Rule and constant Practice among them that laying aside those Discourses which concerned Questions and Disputes or idle and unnecessary Enquiries which were more fit for the Schools than for the Formation of Manners they only imployed themselves herein that having come to know and discern Christian Truths without which Faith and a Christian Life cannot be they insisted upon the ways and means how to attain to this Life and Faith and Instructed and Exhorted one another in shewing and exercising of the Same Spener is called from Francford to Drosden into the Elector's Court there to exercise the Office of Chief Preacher and seeing there were many things to be Corrected and Amended in the Court and that this could not be done by gentleness and pleasant Artifice but by a Tragick Gravity and severity and that there was not besides this such a number and choice of then for the purpose which withal required one endued with much Religion and Goodness in the mean time there were some Students in the University of Lipsick designed and appointed for the Ministerial Office they were only two at first that began to stir in this matter and this they made the chief exercise of their capacities this was the bent of their studies that being themselves stored with this knowledge and exercised in this sort of Life they might afterwards teach their Auditors committed to their care the like documents and stir them up to the same and therefore they daily instructed their people and held their Assemblies and did not only urge their Discourses from the Scripture-Authority but did draw out from the proper and Genuine Fountain of Divine writ 〈◊〉 excellent order the meaning of one or more places and the mind of the Holy Spirit and the Energy of Faith and true Piety and adopted them to the certain uses and cases of Men every one according to the Conscience and Experience he had in such a thing and setting this for a rule in these words to be observed by all That the sacred Books of the Old and New Testament are to be read expounded and converted to various uses to the glory of the sacred Trinity to the increase of the New Man of holy Instruction and exegetical Divinity as also to an example of an holy Couversation They were termed the Philobiblick Colledges These Students Endeavours and Studies were some time after imitated by others and even by such as were of greater years and Masters themselves so that some of them handled the same with the Professors Consent in the Publick Auditories in their Academical Lectures the Chief whereof were Augustus H. Francus the Disciple and Companion for a long time of Spener and John L' Schadeus Francus's Chamberber-Fellow both of them Masters of Art and Learned and Eloquent There was moreover a new Accession of Citizens and of women too to these Collegiates who also encouraged their Pastors and Guides in Divine Things to the same work but as for the most part it happens in such Assemblies there was in process of time so great a desire in some to frequent these Colledges that some Students declined to go to the Publick and Private Schools some of the People would not go to the Churches some despised them others went thither to partake only of the Lord's Supper sparingly and some disregarded all other ordinances and institutions in comparison of these Congregations and Meetings But these Students were for the most part persons
those impetuous Spirits For seeing that all the rest except those two Colleagues aforesaid stuck to Horbius's side there was at that time very great Dissention and Strife between those Pastors who stood in opposition to Horbius and those that were on his part and that by Sermons Pamphlets and Letters every one according to his Faculty in Speaking or Writing putting forth his utmost in defence of his side and in opposition to his Enemies and placing the victory in the last action untill at length the matter was brought to that pass by the Interposition and Authority of the Senate Magistrates and Supream Power of the City a special and principal Remedy for such sort of divided Men and Assemblies that all the quarrel and difference in Words and Writings was taken off by an Amnesty as they call it or General Act of Indemnity and each of them were to forgive what was past as much as all good Men hoped it would be so It 's sad to consider what a vast number of things have been written all this time through all Germany that is of the Lutheran Religion not in the Latin Tongue save a very few but in the German Language that so now the whole Dispute which so many Learned Men could not find an end to should be equally committed to the Judgment of the Learned and Unlearned and especially be the entertainment of the vulgar and abject sort of Mankind whose Judgment they who thus contended are so far from expecting that they even Despise and desire not to have them named with them In the mean time we must pretermit that the Quakers abiding elsewhere and very well knowing and retaining an account and the particulars of all their own Conveniences neglected nothing wherein they thought there was any thing to their Advantage that might be done in this Commotion and Division of these Men. They had certainly in those places at this time a certain Hope wrought in them and their Spirits were raised with some joy that it might come thereby to pass that there should be such Persons that would Judge more favourably of the Doctrine of the Quakers and that perhaps they would apply their Minds to them the Words of their Epistle in an Anniversary Meeting at London the preceeding year writ to all the Churches of the Quakers bear witness hereunto which were to this purpose That they had Thoughts and some Hopes that the falling out of the Lutherans in those places amongst themselves might tend to a farther Discovery and Promotion of the Truth in those Parts Moreover there was in Germany as it were three sorts of Pietists pardon the expression One which I have described consists of those who sought and pressed nothing else but sincere Religion and true Piety and the greatest part of those are among the Learned and better sort of men through Saxony and all Germany Another sort of them was that cryed That the Church was much Corrupted and loved Piety but such who themselves on the other hand stagger not a little in the Faith and True Religion and these same are commonly less moderate and more violent in Celebrating their Assemblies together These came near the Weiglian Sect and such sort of Fanatical People that sprung up about an hundred year ago and not dead in all that intermediate time in Misnia and other Countries about who imagined as if it had been an Opinion not yet received in the Church and yet necessarily to be delivered That there is one certain Divine Seed in all Men and that God and Christ do so infuse themselves into Men that they are one Moreover That man becomes God and Christ and that so he ought to Worship God and Christ in himself and a great deal more of such stuff Which Tenents seeing they were of themselves very obscure and incomprehensible or only an empty sound without any Sence they by their winding cants did yet further involve and make more intricate and these men dreamt of I know not what Millenary Kingdom and Golden Age and continued watching among all who should be no longer Mortal in which Kingdom all things should be restored to their former state and condition and the Blessed abound with all Spiritual and Corporal Pleasures and Delights and should be satisfied at a Thought in what they desired or Wished from the Divine and Celestial Affluence of the Holy Spirit wherefore seeing that they now thought the same time was at hand They so settled their Rules that laying aside all Controversies among Christians they now with one mind by mutual instructions and exhortations looked to that Kingdom prepared themselves for it and invited other men unto it and made it their business so to do The Third sort of them was that which may be called Behmists or Teutonists these called back as it were Jacob Behman the Shoemaker of Garlingen in Silesia from the Dead who was called Tutonick and did both Broach those Opinions which had been really delivered by him as also those Errors that had been falsly laid upon him and ascribed to him yea and horrid and hellish Blasphemy and cried them up as worthy of all Esteem and Glory But before I give the particulars hereof I do not think it absur'd to say somewhat concerning the Doctrine and Writings of this Behman and the rather because of the great variety of Opinions and Observations of Learned and famous Men concerning them He had wrote and published in the German Tongue some Books or rather Pamphlets wherein as he would perswade himself he discovered many things necessary to be known or the Foundations of true Religion and Piety in dark words disjoyned from the usual and known names and such as he that would could not perceive and apprehend producing some of his own and adding as his own invention some other things which he had heard or road else where But when it came to pass as it often happens that those Germans especially the Lutherans who Assumed to themselves the Appellation of Learned Men and who were eager in a search after Knowledg Science and Truth and durst attempt any thing and were already puffed up with their own and other mens Opinions concerning the Excellency of their Learning alight upon these Notions these as coming nigh unto Behman's Principles but looking upon them yet to be ruder and as it were but rough drawn as being what he had only begun they go on to compleat them and from the Store-house of their own Wisdom build up and heap together many Opinions but such as were Monstrous and Horrid and digest them into books and Publish them and render the Behman Name well known in Germany Holland and England by their writing in those several Languages Some things also they Publish'd in Latin and they prove and extol the whole with a wondrous Character as if they were Golden Books and to be got all by Heart by those who followed the Christian Religion and loved their own Everlasting Salvation In the
of a long time he had bended his Mind upon the same Design that he had undertaken and that now he was so mov'd with his Discourses that he wholly gave up himself to be his Disciple Upon which Fox and he consulted seriously together about their Design A little while after Densbury became a Preacher performing the Office of a Trumpeter of the new Doctrines to this new Church with a great deal of Applause And though he spent the best part of his succeeding Life in Prison because of his Boldness and Confidence in sounding this Religious Trumpet yet this Affliction he patiently endured not suffering Trouble or Anguish to invade his Mind but continuing constant and chearful in receiving the Injuries he suffered for the sake of a good Conscience and of that Holy Office he had undertaken for the Salvation of Mankind His very Enemies acknowledge that he was Eloquent and every way fit for managing what relates to that Society The next that followed him in this Office was James Naylor once a Country Boor not far from Wakefield afterwards a Soldier in the Parliament's Army who not long after he had undertaken this Office met with wonderful Accidents as I shall relate when I come to that Period of Time After him followed Thomas Aldham who oft-times coveted the Company of Ecclesiastical Men for to Discourse and Dispute with them nay he affected also to converse with the Politicians and Cromwel the Protector himself whom he went to partly to manifest his Learning and Knowledge and partly to obtain his Consent and Belief to their Articles so great Confidence and Hope he placed in that Man Next to him was Philip Scafey Minister of a Publick Church at a little Village in this same County near to Whitby called Robin Hood's Bay upon the Sea-side In Lancashire the first that apply'd himself to Fox and his Society was Richard Hubberthorn born in the Northern Parts of that County of good Parentage and liberally Educated who was at that time a Captain in the Parliament's Army and so over-Religious that oft-times at the Head of his Company he would make Discourses to them as if he had been a Preacher And not long after he became a Preacher among the Quakers which Office he discharged so well in their Eyes that they all unanimously gave him a very high Testimony His Writings left behind do testifie him to have been no contemptible Disputant but too violent and tart and sometimes bitter and reviling Next were Thomas Taylor and his Brother Christopher Taylor both Publick Ministers in that Country Next was Richard Farnsworth Author of a Book which treats of the Pronouns Tu and Vos or Thou and Ye wherein he proves by Examples pick'd out of the Holy Writings that it is unlawful in our particular Discourses one with another to use any other compellation than Thou In Westmorland the first that joyn'd to this Society and became Preacher among them was John Adlance then Francis Howgil formerly a Taylor at Appleby at that time a Sectary Preacher to an Independant Congregation who returned the Money he had formerly received of his Congregation for a Reward of his Service a Man of Learning and as well qualified as many of that Sect. After them came Edward Burrough a Young Rustick Fellow of Sixteen or Seventeen Years but equall'd to a Man and designed for great things Last of all I shall mention one George Whitehead who at this time joyned himself to this Sect taking upon him also the Office of a Teacher he was then Minister to the Church of Lancaster talked of among the Learned for his skill in both Tongues his Piety and Modesty and Famous at this very day though stricken in Years for his dexterity of Disputing and Managing Controversies both with Tongue and Pen. I omit the Names of others But it is material here to Remark that the chiefest and greatest part of those who engaged in this Society were such as were either Members of Presbyterian Churches or Independants or Brownists or Baptists of which latter a great many bore Arms for Cromwel and the Parliament for the most part of their Army consisted of such kind of Men And not only these Sectaries themselves gave themselves to this Society but even their Doctors and Teachers whose Example and Influence induced many of their Congregations to do the like So that the first Congregation of Quakers was a multitude of People not so extravagant or faulty in their Manners as fluctuating and unsettled in their Religions which were very various and discrepant one from another and of which England had now great store Those of them that were better accommodated than others fitted their Houses and other Private places for receiving their Assemblies when congregated for Divine Worship They did not exclude even those who were not of their Party if they came in Peaceably only to hear and see without intermedling with any thing unless they suspected or understood 'em to be Spies coming upon some ill Design to trap them or hatch some Mischief against them Fox was very diligent in insinuating himself and his Doctrines into the Affections of those who were Men of Dignity and Power who though they were not fitter to Judge of his Design yet were more capable to advance and propagate that Interest and he gain'd not a few of them Among whom were some Magistrates greater or lesser who like Loadstones drew many of their underling Inferiours after them But there happened likewise at this time a memorable Instance of the Progress and Advancement of Fox and his Adherents in Lancashire which is not here to be omitted There lived in Lancashire Thomas Fell one of the Judges who with his Wife Margaret Fell were famous and renown'd for Religion and Piety Fox having made himself acquainted with them became so Familiar in their House that it was always open to him when he pleased to come there and all things in it at his Service But the Husband continued still steadfast to the Reformed Church being a true Lover and sincere Practiser of the Reformed Religion all his Life long so that he was not fond of Fox's Church-Conventicles nor would he joyn himself to his Society yet he was not so averse from it but that he thought it should be suffer'd and enjoy its Liberty so that he resolved to defend and vindicate the same from all Injury And afterwards when Fox was accused by many Ministers of the Church before the Judges at Lancaster for having used some horrible Expressions in his Discourses to the People such as That God taught Lyes and Fallacies and that his Word the Holy Scriptures contained many Lyes this Judge with some others defended him asserting all these Slanders to be injuriously affix'd upon him and maliciously feign'd without any ground Thus he relieved him not only from the danger of his Life he had otherwise been in but also from all fear and apprehension and after this time he always appeared a great
Temper and dissolute in his Life he betakes himself to the Soldiery that common Refuge for Sluggards and Covert to all manner of Wickedness joyning himself unto the King's Army which in those days was the most debauch'd and wicked Crew upon Earth He first serv'd therefore in the King's Army till the Death of King Charles I. Then he becomes a Marine Soldier under Prince Rupert in the Admiral 's own Ship in which were many Dutchmen by whose Converse he acquir'd Knowledge of that Language In the mean time he begins to return to his right Wits and repent of his by-past Actions and manner of Life But because he was not capable of exercising any other Trade for purchasing a Livelihood than that of being a Soldier though he now despis'd a Military Life as being liable to many Inconveniencies yet he continued in the same Condition of Life still even after his Mind was thus alter'd joyning himself to the Parliament's Army then in Ireland in which he was made Serjeant to a Company of Foot in one Ingoldsby's Regiment He preferred being in this Army than elsewhere because he thought there was many good Pious Men in it and Military Discipline better observ'd Moreover many in that Army both of Officers and Centinels were of the Sect called Baptists who do not differ from the Presbyterians save only in this one Point that they do not Baptize the Members of their Church till they give publick Confession of their Faith and engage for their own behaviour of whom Ames entertain'd very favourable Thoughts and having joyn'd himself to their Church became first an Elder and then a Minister in the same It happened that while Ames was residing at Waterford a Town in Munster Francis Howgil and Edward Burrough came into Ireland and to that same very Town in order to meet and converse with the Baptists whom they they thought of all Men the most accommodated and disposed for reception of their Religion and accordingly came into their Meetings and discours'd unto them of those Matters Ames gave great Ear to all their Discourses for his Mind was yet fluctuating and unsettled in his own Religion the Cares and Thoughts of his by-past Life afflicting and distracting his Mind and in a short time apostatizes from his own Church to the Quakers among whom he became a Preacher discharging that Function to the great Satisfaction and Contentment of that Party He wrote a Tractate entituled A true Declaration of the Witness of God in Man in which he relates and explains what Sense he had of the Divine Light within him from his Infancy to his Conversion and what Resistance he gave to the same Contemporary with him was Stephen Crisp an acute and polite Meeter who if he had added the Study of those Arts and Sciences call'd Liberal to the Promptness and Agility of his Wit he had given wonderful Specimens of Learning He lived in Colchester in Essex a Weaver by Trade he serv'd in the Parliament's Army some Years having abandoned his Trade not so much for love of a Military Post as for the Defence of his Liberty and Religion so that he did not suffer himself to be tainted with the Vices of Soldiers but lived honestly and devoutly at length wearied with Fatigue and Labour he returns again to his old Trade having professed himself a Baptist at which time James Parnel came to this Town he was the first of the Quakers that preached their Doctrine in this Place where he taught and disputed publickly Crisp and his Father hearing him and being moved with his Discourses turn Quakers but the Son becomes a Preacher He died at London in September 1694. Contemporary with them was Thomas Green in his youth a Coachman but now a Dealer in Merchandize at London and John Higgins a Cobler at Dover both Men of brisk Ingenies and much esteem'd by their Associates Also John Crosby a Gentleman of Bedfordshire and Justice of the Peace famous for all manner of Learning an eloquent neat and accurate Man both in his Discourses and Writings Also Josiah Coaly of Bristol a Gentleman who in his youth having come with his other Companions to a Quakers Meeting to ridicule and mock them was so taken with their Discourses that he forsook that Course and was afterwards so much affected and mov'd by the Counsel and Advice he received from two of their Preachers that he incorporated into their Family undertaking the same Office with them of teaching others while he was yet but twenty Years of Age It is said of him that in Prayer and Supplication he did it with so much Efficacy with such a Grace and Mode of Speech tho' without Affectation that he infinitely surpassed many of his Brethren He spent most part of his Life in Travels extending his Doctrine to several parts of the New-World resolutely encountering all Dangers even that of his Life it self Another Contemporary was Isaac Pennington the younger a Gentleman also of good Birth whose Father was Mayor of London and a Man of eminent Vertue civil and humane to all and much beloved of the Citizens had not he by his Consent embru'd his hands in the Blood of the King His Son had added to the Splendor and Nobility of his Birth a diligent Study of all Liberal Arts and was much exercised in Learning not that he might gain or live by it for he had whereupon to live with a handsome and magnificent Port but that he might adorn and beautifie himself and be capable to help and assist his Brethren He spent not his Youth as many do whose Fortunes and Expectations are lâ—rge and magnificent in Idleness and Debauchery or in pampering his Belly and living intemperately but in pursuing eagerly and diligently his Studies exercising his Ingeny with such Exercises as might be profitable both to himself and others He had wrote and published many Books full of Learning and Eloquence before the Name of a Quaker was so much as heard of After he became a Quaker he wrote several Theological Tractates in a grave plain Scriptural Style The last I shall mention that liv'd about this time was Charles Marshal of Bristol a noted Physician then at London These were the Men that have over-run all Britain and the Netherlands not as Emissaries but as Ringleaders and Heads of the Party I forbear to mention the Carews the Bailzies the Smiths and many others I have selected these not as the Periods and Order of Time conjoyn'd them but as they were noted and famous both among the Quakers and others But I cannot pass by Samuel Fisher whom they all extoll for the Credit and Pillar of their Church and never speak of but with the greatest Panegyricks a Man singularly learned and wonderfully eloquent because of his accurate Knowledge of the Greek and Latin Antiquities which stuck so to him even after he changed his Religion and Life that the Writings which he published since that time relish much of the same though I believe it
fell out so contrary to his Will and Design at leastwise it is repugnant to the Natures Customs and Practices of these Men. His Parents had designed him for a Minister to the Church of England and kept him while a Boy at Schools and Colleges in which his Diligence and Progress was so great that he surmounted most of his Fellows His Mind led him mostly to the Study of Eloquence Rhetorick and Poetry which were the Sciences he put the greatest Value upon so that as the Roman Orators used to say he kept Commerce with all the Muses that is he read and perused all Orators and Poets Having ended this Academick Course he was made a Presbyter of the Church of England and became Pastor to a Church in the House of some Nobleman who was likewise a Man of Eminent Piety and Vertue He demean'd himself in this Function so well that the Report of his Fame invited those who knew how to Judge of his Ability and Skill for greater things to advance him higher to some more dignified Place accordingly he obtains a Living in Kent of five hundred Pounds a year While he lives there one of his own Acquaintance and Friends called Howard solicits and disturbs him frequently about his Religion and Profession and many Rites and Ceremonies used in the Church This made Fisher begin to doubt and fluctuate within himself what he should make of his Hearers There came to him much about the same time a Baptist a Man of no Learning at least what is properly accounted Learning but of a sternly Countenance and supercilious Looks of a ready but flattering and deceitful Tongue which knew how to brand all the World besides with an infinity of Vices but to conceal or disguise those of his own Society extolling and commending all their Actions gilding over their Errours and Delusions with counterfeit Glosses who seeing him waver and fluctuate in his Mind accosts him with many fair and specious Words and those frequently turning over the same Crambe till at length he could endure his Discourses no longer as we see it frequently fall out that when Men cannot enervate the Objections of their Adversaries or discover their Fallacy they yield to them and forsake the Truth and accordingly he cast off his Religion divests himself of his Office and returns to the Bishop Diploma which he had got for to confirm his undertaken Office and joyns to the Church of the Baptists becoming a Diphabus or true baptiz'd believing That the only true Means to be incorporated into the City of God and numbred among his peculiar People Being thus destitute of so good a Living he contented himself with a little he had of his own and Farm'd a little piece of Ground in the Neighbourhood by which he had enough to live upon exercising this innocent and pleasant Trade of Life till at length he became a Baptist Minister About which time Caton and Stubs came to that Country and went to visit Fisher who receiv'd them in his House very kindly treating them as his Friends and Intimates though he had scarce known them before But they did not press him much to comply with their Desires for this first time lest by their preposterous Haste they had seem'd to encroach upon his Liberty yet when they returned again a second time they inculcated and repeated more vehemently and frequently what they had spoke to him before Upon this he began to waver and consulted his Collegue Hammond upon the Matter who was much wrath with him expostulating the Matter very sharply before the whole Congregation At length Fisher forsakes both the Baptists Society and the Office he was cloath'd withal becoming in a short time not only a Professor but a Preacher and a zealous Propagator of Quakerism He wrote many Books in Defence of that Religion among which is a noted one entituled The Country-man to the Vniversity-Scholar in which he refutes the Arguments of his Adversaries with many pretty and cunning Expressions So much for this Man But because I have already spoke of the Writings of this Man it is to be remark'd that all these Men I have hitherto mention'd from the beginning of this Treatise did write many Books nay great Volumes if they were all gathered together which were published after their Deaths For it is a Custom among the Quakers that when any famous Writer dies they pick up all his Writings and print them together prefixing for a Preface the Testimony of some noted Men of their Society of the Integrity and Worth of the dead Authors that so those who are bereav'd of their Natural Life may still live in the Memories of their Followers These new Ministers and many others not mentioned divided themselves into several Provinces some of them going up and down England others travelling into Foreign Countries all diligently solliciting and inviting Men to be Converted while in the mean time Fox the Head and Prince of that Society was incessantly proceeding in the Exercise of his Ministry in England not daunted or discouraged by all the Evils he grapled with He had a Custom when he designed a Visit for any City Town or Village to premonish and advertise them by Letters and Emissaries of the Time of his coming and Place of abode that all who had a mind to hear him might have timous Advertisement to resort thither In the Years fifty six and fifty seven he traversed Somersetshire Wiltshire Dorsetshire Devonshire and the neighbouring Counties At Bristol in Somersetshire there was at one time a Meeting of above a Thousand of the Inhabitants and Neighbours of that Place in some Woody Place near-by A little thereafter above Two Thousand assembled in one Place in Wiltshire So much Footing had this Sect taken in these Countries and so many Followers and Adherents had Fox in all the Countries he had been in among whom were many not ordinary or mean Persons but noted and conspicuous Men some of them Men of Authority and Trust in the Nation who shook off that Dignity and the Honour that attended it and part of whom became Ministers to the Sect. And the more Resistance or Opposition was offered to them in their Meeting and Congregating the more resolute they were in pursuing their wonted Course So some were ordered to watch and observe them keeping Watches and Guards in the Streets and Roads near to the Houses and Places where they used to assemble and as many as were catch'd were imprison'd insomuch that the Number of the Prisoners and Captive Quakers was seldom under a Thousand By this time Fox had purpos'd to go for London and communicate the Light of his Doctrine to the great Crowds and Confluence of People in that great and populous City thinking that the most probable way of promoting his Design And in his Journey thither stay'd some time upon the Road losing no Opportunity of propagating his Religion taking Advantage in the Inns and Taverns to apply himself to the other Lodgers admonishing
for things of no moment and often by reason of the difference of ones Opinions as Publickly with Wars and Devastations and that many times for Trifles and now and then because of the Diversity of Religions and that they gaped after and strove to accommodate themselves for the attaining all Honours Riches Pleasures and such sorts of Vanities and were at the least so conform to the Fashion of the Men of this World that they could not be acknowledged to be the true Disciples and sincere Followers of Jesus Christ And these things they said were so clear and manifest that if any one was conversant among such sort of Men he should presently find work to interrogate his Eyes and Ears thereupon Moreover they did blame and lay this to their Charge That there was scarce any foot-steps left among these Protestants of that Ancient Ecclesiastical Discipline as well in respect to the Rulers and Ministers of the Church as to the whole Church her self and so from the Practice thereof they have all swerved to depraved disuse of such Discipline so that now any Teacher that Publickly in his Pulpit does that work not altogether negligently and undecently is reputed a good Pastor as to the rest as long as any one owns his Religion with his Mouth and serves the Shadows and Images of Godliness though he be given to worldly and vain Lusts and Desires this same is accounted to be a good Member of the Church and is easily admitted to participate of all the Mysteries thereof From hence they went on to Doctrinals and when they had particularly reproved many things in single Persons this came generally to be reprehended in all as if it were a common and received Opinion That Christ did all things for Man and that this only is to be done by Man That when any one sins most in the course of his Life he must lay hold on Christ as a Mediator and Saviour and lay claim to him without Works and do his endeavour to follow the Command and Example of Christ in his Conversation according to the measure of his strength and that thus it shall be well always with every one and when Death cometh that the Bands of the Body must be loosened there is a way opened for him into Heaven wherein he shall enjoy Life Everlasting where are all things and that now is fully consummate which was that very moment to be consummated Finally these Men went up higher and came to the Schools and Universities those Seminaries of the Church-Ministry and future Props of the Church of all which this was their Complaint That these Places were as vitious as might be and that this was almost the common Practice of all Students that they either did nothing or but very little of those things that conduced thereto and that they either alone or one with another as much as they could pursue Pleasures or that they who endeavoured to excel the rest were only taken up with more remote and subtil Meditations and Disputes and with the Methods and Arts of declaiming and exercised their Minds therein and did not improve the domestick Knowledge and Discipline of their own Minds and cultivate their Thoughts and their Affections with the true and absolute Knowledge and Vse of Godliness and a Spiritual Life but that by such Methods and Occupations as these are some were set at nought and looked upon to be Foreign from such Studies and Scholastical Documents and beneath the cares of such Wits and more Learned and Eminent Places And that from hence some apply themselves to Ecclesiastical Offices and attain thereto others come in by begging of Suffrages others by other Methods whose Promotion is rendred difficult through the dulness of their Vnderstandings and want of Elocution Others who have a distinct Voice and the knack of speaking and are furnished with Oratorical Sentences though they have no other Commendable Quality do prevail and so the People are indeed taught some things yea sometimes many things but not such or but very carelesly and negligently as ought mostly to be insisted upon as appertain to the Faith it self tend to the amending of Life and to Holiness and so the People are as it were thus defrauded of their just Right But though the Quakers accused and condemned all Protestants of Theft and such sorts of Vices yet they granted that the first of them of whatever Profession were the best of all of them as being such as were more upright than the rest and set themselves in Opposition to those Corruptions and did most prudently and gently advise and warn their Friends and Brethren and studied to amend and heal so great a Disease and Contagion as was crept into the Church and for this purpose gave in their Help Counsel and Assistance But they said that this Diligence Intention and Study fell but to the share of a few and that the multitude resisted and forthwith made a noise and gainsaid gave them an ill name and endangered their Esteem Business and Fortune and were so beset and hemmed in that all their Labour was in vain and they neither could nor durst stir further So things came now to that pass that Men could easier and sooner bear Vices and all manner of Evils than Remedies for the same and there was no way left then that those who were concerned for the Good and Salvation of their Souls seeing there was so great insuperable and deadly a Plague withdraw themselves and depart from hence therefore sprung these Quakers Grief hence their Tears first by reason of the English Churches and especially of the Episcopal then of other Reformed ones and this chiefly because of the Rule Order and Discipline and the Lives and Manners of the Men not so much by reason of Doctrine yet so as that they themselves acknowledged that there were in these same Churches many Teachers who reproved beâ—ailed and endeavoured to amend some things which the Quakers so much carped at so as that the thing which the Quakers wished for was not to be despaired of And this was the occasion of the Schism of these Men or their withdrawing from the Church and from an hatred sprung-up heat and burning against the whole Church of England and afterward against the rest of the Reformed Churches and at length against all Protestants which cause they so laid hold on not that every one should continue in his Church no not in those whom they confest to be less corrupted than the rest and their endeavour to set things to rights as stated Reformers who ought and knew would and durst as being of a great Capacity and most patient of Labour and also of Injuries but that they should forthwith forsake all the Churches and as it were pluck down such as they could not change and renew and leave nothing for Charity Hope and Patience as a persevering Good often overcomes the Evil. But and after they had thus forsaken those Churches many of them did not
Laws when of the same strain and so could not be urg'd upon them as a rule to walk by Besides that the Liturgy did not forbid nay commanded to Worship God after the same manner that they did viz. In Spirit and in Truth The Jurymen after having understood the whole matter how it stood did not all so freely tell their minds as they might have done nor were they all equally forward and ready to decide the matter some pleading that it being an intricate case they were doubtful and uncertain how to determine it others refusing positively to Judge of it as being a most important and momentous affair But all the Judges unanimously concentred in this sentence that such Religious Meetings as were not conform to the Modes of the Church of England or exceeded the number of five were unlawful and that these Quakers whatsoever was their design in Meeting be it good oâ— ill had celebrated such unlawful Meetings and persisted to do the same still which they openly and Judicially acknowledged so that no place was left for attenuating the crime or alleviating the punishment wherefore they were all guilty of a Capital crime And whereas some of these Quakers were married others were single persons in some Courts the sentence was that the former should pay a fine of so many pounds or suffer a years Imprisonment and the latter be Transported to the American Islands to do slavery in the English Colonies there In other Courts they were all promiscuously order'd to be Transported Yet so as in some Courts Liberty was given to those that had receiv'd sentence of Banishment in some places to them all but elsewhere only to the Boys and Girls to choose whether they would rather be Transported or stay in England and frequent the publick Churches to hear Sermon which they all unanimously rejected some of 'em returning this answer that they wondred how the Judges should propose such an offer since they all knew very well that if any of the Quakers came that length as to embrace their Proposal it would not be from a sincere love to the Church or their Sermons but through Hypocrisy and Dissimulation which in Religious matters is the most heinous and superlative crime that can be Committed In fine since the Quakers continued so obstinate in rejecting all offers made by the Judges they likewise continued stedfast in ordering their sentence to be put in Execution against them The first Court that took this affair into Cognisance was held about the middle of October William Proctor being chosen president The Jurymen were unwilling and refractory to meddle with it which Created a great deal of trouble to the Judges At this time there were twelve receiv'd sentence of Transportation partly Men of which some very ancient some very young partly women among whom was one Girl under sixteen years of Age. Another Court was held the same very month to which Robert Hide presided Differences arose betwixt the Judges and Jurymen for that the latter were slow and backward to decide the matter At length after they had reason'd and debated among themselves about the nature of the Crime the matter of fact and the tenor of the Law they with one voice gave in this Resolution that these men were guilty of having kept Conventicles but that they could not determine whether they kept such Conventicles as here repugnant to the rites and customs of the Church or what was their intention in so doing By which sentence they thought they freed themselves from any further trouble in the affair But the Judges began to debate with some of them about the Religion of the Quakers and at last to threaten them openly and cited six of the twelve to appear before the King to give an account of what they had done the six were not at all affraid persisting in their opinion in favour of the Quakers which they thought it their duty not to revoke from Upon which the Court was dismiss'd for that occasion and the matter left undecided yet it sate again that same very day but Judge Hide did not sit the Lord Mayor supplying his place and then it was determin'd nemine contra dicente that they were guilty of most heinous Crimes unworthy to live in their Country and therefore to be banish'd to the outmost bounds of the Remorter Earth Among them was a Boy in Coats being so very young who being ask'd if he would not swear that he was not sixteen years old had not the Ripeness enough of Judgment to give a grave and pertinent Answer but reply'd that no Man could Remember the Day of his Birth and that he was not born for nor train'd up in Swearing On this occasion Eighteen were condemn'd to the same punishment of being Transported The next Court was held in December Hide presiding in which without any dissention or variety of Opinions they condemn'd Two and Thirty to be turn'd out of all their Possessions and Enjoyments and banish'd their Countrey One of these Two and Thirty boldly desir'd leave of the Judges to ask One Question which being granted he tells them That they were constituted Judges to resolve him and others about dubious matters which they acknowledg'd to be true Then he asks of them since the cause of his Condemnation was his frequenting the Meetings of the Quakers and absenting from the Publick Churches and since the Commands of God enjoyn'd the former and the Laws of Men constrain'd the latter which would they have him obey or what would they advise him to do The Judges gave no answer either because they durst not answer contrary to their own Consciences or because they would not seem by their Judgment to overturn a Law establish'd and confirm'd by so many Judgments pass'd upon the same Affair Some of these condemn'd both in this and other Courts demanded by their Solicitors as well as themselves to have a Copy of the Judges Sentenco that they might consider it and answer distinctly to each Article of the same but it was denied them lest by protracting and pretending this for an Excuse of further Delay they should seem to elude the Law Wherefore some of them as soon as they open'd their mouths in their own defence were instantly carried away Another Court was held upon this account that same month Judge Hide presiding in which the Judgment was summary and compendious For since the Accused did not deny their congregaâ—ing together the confession of this was accounted an acknowledgment of the Crime and without any further Enquiry or Proof they were forthwith adjudg'd to undergo the same punishment There was a Widow among the rest a Mother of Three Children who while the rest were alledging That they were not found guilty of any Illegality in the manner and design of their assembling for the Act it self they did not deny cry'd out That she was most unjustly accus'd not only of the Crime but of the Fact it self and that it would be a wicked
them Which being laid down for a Principle he thought that whoever gave due respect and reverence to the Scriptures and acknowledg'd Jesus Christ for the Saviour of the World might be truly accounted a Christian and that all such Christians both may and should agree and write among themselves For which end he Recommended to all Christians to write a general Confession of their common faith consisting only of some few general necessary and plain truths deliver'd in Scripture terms but it is easy for any Man to Conjecture what effect such a proposal would have had Moreover he reason'd further after this manner that the most part of Christians that imagin'd to themselves that they knew any thing bended all their faculties only upon the Speculation and Contemplation of what they knew whereas a speculative life is not so becoming and necessary for a Christian as an active and practical life is and that all manner of knowledge is but a meer shadow that do's not tend to action a solitary and wandring Planet that produces no fruit for the good of the publick Where he chiefly applied himself to the study of such Sciences as treat of the manners of Men what vices are to be eschew'd and what duties towards God and Man are incumbent upon us and approv'd mightily the practice of the ancient Christian in the first Ages after Christ who made moral Philosophers teachers and Masters to their Christians youths and who accounted none fit to be a Doctor among them who was not instructed in the Philosophy of the Gentiles as being the best rule and method of living He was very serviceable to the Quakers by his Writings being fitted and well accomplish'd for that work by his acute Wit and eloquent Pen and also able to serve their interest because of his riches and affluence of fortune together with his favour and weight with the King and as he was able so he was very willing frequenting the company of the Quakers continually labouring by all means to advance their cause defending it from all opposition and injury demeaning himself so forwardly that he seem'd more Sollicitous for them than for himself but withal not forgetting to plead for the liberty and admission to publick offices of other Sectaries especially the Papists insomuch that he was suspected to be one of their Gang and at last came to be envy'd and hated by the Quakers on that account But he was so bent and eager for this liberty of Conscience that he would have none professing the Name of Christ excluded from the same But of this I shall have occasion to speak more appositely afterwards When at this time the Adversaries of the Quakers relented and slacken'd their persecution against them the Quakers took occasion not only to assemble and congregate more frequently and publickly but to prepare and amass all things necessary or conducive to their mutual help and establishment or to the Ornament and Splendor of their Churches From that time they introduc'd a new and more acurate Oeconomy Partition and Administration of all their affairs keeping some order among their Ministers who likewise had their Meetings and mutual Congresses and began now to be orderly call'd and prepar'd for that work they introduc'd also a form of discipline for censure of Actions and a certain Solemnity for confirmation of Matrimony The manner and form of all which is not so easily to be Learn'd from their Writings which do not touch upon these things as from their own discourses and converse for they do not use to conceal any of these matters especially if they be seriously and gravely ask'd without any suspicion of a design These Men did always object to the Protestants in England and elsewhere the Hierarchy of their Church accounting it a most vitious and sinistrous order or the ordinary distinction of persons and distribution of Offices in the Church particularly the excellency and jurisdiction of some Persons and the variety of Government and Administration thorough so many degrees of places and dignity for they imagin'd the Church to be all one body of which each particular Member has its Office allotted to it in defending and edifying the Church according as they are capable to be useful either to the publick or their Neighbour pretending that since no gifts are given by God in vain or which do not produce their proper Fruit there be as many Offices in the Church as he has given gifts even as in the humane body all the Members bear some proportion in advancing the good of the whole so it is in the Church in which nothing of Government or Authority is to be us'd but only Ministry and Mutual service for the good of the whole So from that time the Quakers were of these thoughts which they maintain to this day acknowledging an Association and Community and also direction and administration in the Church desiring that those who excel others in Wisdom and Vertue should be had in greater respect and esteem and be accounted preferable to others in order and function So that among them whoever of either Sex is eminent for Ingenuity and Goodness excels in Dignity and Office They have also some who constantly addict themselves to the Ministry of Preaching the Gospel Those they call Ministers or by a joynt kind of Speech they say they are in the Ministry Some of these Ministers do not confine themselves to one place but range up and down trying what new Proselytes they can gain or designing to oversee and confirm those that are already incorporated into that Society These are as Apostles to the Sect others fix their abode at one place and watch over their particular flock as pastors There be women also that follow the Example of the Men. It shall therefore suffice to have given caution in this place that whatever we have said or are about to say further concerning the Males of that Sect is to be understood according to that Regula juris which comprehends the feminine Sex under the masculine Next unto the Ministers are the Presbyters or Elders who exceed the rest as in Age and Experience so in Wisdom These take counsel together with the Ministers for managing all their Religious concerns who together with them or with others eminent for prudence and wisdom are carefully to observe all accidents that may fall out in the Church and to see that all things therein proceed right as if any make defection from their faith or commit an open manifest sin or be suspected of any crime or have done any thing culpable against his Neighbour if any thing be wanting for the promotion of unity concord and peace among themselves they presently come to rectify it or else send those they repose trust and Confidence in to do all that is necessary for advancing the good desired or removing the evil that incumbers them Their office is likewise to visit the poor and needy and relieve their necessities also to take care of
Assembly's Trouble and and at last there seem'd to be more need for doing something than further consulting the major part of the Meeting and those of the greatest Anthority concluded upon and determined this Sentence And having considered the Case since there was no hopes now of a Reconciliation That Keith should acknowledge himself to have very much burthened the Church and take upon himself the Occasion of this so great Disturbance and beg pardon for this miscarriage and moreover leave off the maintaining and dispersing of and forsake his Opinions Novelties and Sophisms whereby he has so much either adulrerated the Church or despoiled her of her former splendor and enfeebled her and that he should follow after this to consult the Honour and Interest of the whole Society and defend and promote that Which Sentence struck this man with such a sudden and vehement Impulse as made him break out into a Speech in these Terms That nothing could be better entertain'd by him than this Endeavour of the Meeting as it relates to the Establishing a mutual Peace and Concord and that there was nothing that he would more willingly perform than Obedience to this Assembly and to have the happiness to be serviceable to them and all theirs And therefore that he did in no respect decline the Authority and Decision of this so great assembly but so While these things consist with Equity and Reason and he may without prejudice to himself and them But now since he is free from Error and no fault or Crime is found in him he has nothing to excuse himself for or ask pardon of and that it was not he that is liable to blame or had involv'd himself in guilt but they which do not Comprehend what he had taught and presently and rashly believe and spread about reports of things that they do not rightly understand And so that they deserve most to be blam'd that they may not go on so to insult over the name and fame of otherâ— and those their Brethren and to set the whole Church in an uproar that every one of them may receive such a sentence as they have deserv'd Lastly since that it had happen'd so that his Adversaries would not forsake their private Animosities and Singular Opinions as for their own so for the peace and profit of the publick but lay the faults which belong to themselves at his door that he relying upon the justice and innocency of his Cause and resting satisfied with the Testimony of the Spirit and Witness of his Conscience whatsoever should happen so long as he was not Culpable he would moderately bear and in the mean while he would unburthen himself and do what became a good Christian to defend his reputation and good Name least seeming regardless of that he should seem not to value and betray his Religion and Honesty So since there was no hopes of a peace the Meeting being ended after it had held so long Keith appears abroad again and defends his Speech and excuses himself in the best terms he could both by speaking in his Sermons and publishing Books in Print and altho he confesses that thro' mistake not wilful culpability he had formerly written some things which now a-days were not approv'd of yet that as for his Doctrine of the humanity of Christ being what he had the greatest reason himself to approve of and being indeed most justly approvable and a principal Article and foundation of the Doctrine and Faith of Christians he would to his utmost power Preach it abroad On the other hand his Adversaries also with equal Zeal go on to observe Keith in the Meetings to refute his opinions and inveigh against him with hard Speeches Amongst which the chief were Dan. Whirley and W. Penn which Penn as Keith was in the middle of his Discourse before the whole Meeting could not forbear more than once to call him Apostate and an open Enemy to the truth and the whole Society Others as Tho. Ellwood and John Pennington not onely by their books impugned the Tenents of this Man and refelled his Arguments but also traduc'd his person rendred him infamous So at last some began to find fault with others and use a greater liberty in accusing them and to hate them and provoke them to anger and fury as it were and euery one strove to bring others to his own party and inspire them with Enmity against the others These things lasted till the late General Meeting held at Lonâ— this year 95. Which as soon as it began to be held Keith came hither with an Intention to lay all things clearly open in hopes to find more Equitable Treatment from his Judges But when he came to the door which he did the first day he was stop't by the Door-Keepers who knew aforehand what his mind and Intentions were but the day after tho 't were late first getting admittance he came before his Adversaries who he knew were within and whose Intentions against him he was sensible of beforehand and not Viva voâ—â— which would have had more of a forcible Energy in it but in Writing the more carefully and moderately to Express himself he deliver'd a Speech to this purpose That he was never convinc'd either by any assembly or by that which was held in that place the year before of any Errour of his either in Doctrine or Life tho he don't pretend to exempt himself from Errour being a frailty incident to all Men and not forreign to himself but he Confessed himself to have said and written several things heretofore in which at this time he acknowledges his frailty And because no assembly of those people who are commonly called Quakers lawfully and rightly conveen'd has condemned him of them as by the silence of them all on that account appears he therefore looks upon himself as free from all Errour That he well knows the Council the last Meeting gave him but since that was onely Counsel which obliges no Man and infers no necessity equal to a Command that he was at his own liberty either to follow it or let it alone But that he had omitted it because he thought he had done all that was his duty to do in this business and that there was none of the Brethren of the Society who if they would but consider the deeds both of him and his Adversaries without prejudice or being byass'd by others opinions or making a rash Determination of things and weigh them in the Ballance of the sacred Scriptures and right reason but what would approve of his doings and condemn theirs This 〈◊〉 was searce read but it rais'd a mighty commotion in the minds of them all But the principal adversaries of Keith and speakers in this Contention were W. Penn W. Bingley G. Withale J. Vaughton J. Feild and J. Waldenfield And Penn and Withade had so little Command of their minds and tongues as Keith also was so unable to contain himself by which you may see the
of her Glory turn'd aside to this By-Way and having run through part of her life in that very House on which she had with those prodigious Endowments of Mind bestow'd so much Cost she was forsaken of all those that gap'd after her Estate and all her Family and left all alone but only not forsaken of God or abandoned to Desperation and so in her mournful Seat she breath'd out her Soul when she had first recommended it to God in Christ Of this excellent Maid to add this by the by What was mortal and perishing was repos'd not in the Sepulchral Monument or Tomb belonging to the Family of the Waltars erected in the Church as it might have been but without in the Church-yard or Ground lying about it in the common Earth amongst the rest of her Brothers and Sisters according to her own desire leaving that Monument out of Modesty that Familiarizer and Governess of all other Virtues of which this Lady in her life-time was always the perfect Pattern But since what the Doctrine of these People was what their Religion and how their way of Living what their Intention and what their aims and enterprises about the Church and other Men were may be fully known by their Writings which several Men among them yea and some Women too have published concerning themselues and many of our Learned Men of them I shall not now stay to Recapitulate But because all this Relation tends to this end to shew what Agreement there was between the Quakers of whom alone in this Work we treat and these Labadists I call them so because I know no better name to call them by in Doctrine and what Institution to one and the same purpose and lastly what intentions they had to joyn in Friendships and contract Acquaintances I will shortly and in few words relate it As to their Doctrine although these Men at first introduced little or nothing which was different from our Faith yet in process of time they brought in divers Innovations about the use of the Holy Scriptures and the guidance and operations of the Holy Spirit and Prayers and the remaining parts of Worship and the Sacraments and Discipline of the Church so that they came nearer to the Opinions of the Quakers in these things than to our Doctrine Now it appears that these Men no less than the Quakers reprehended and found fault with many things in our Churches and those of all Protestants that they were all so corrupt and deprav'd that no effect no fruit of the Spirit of God appeared amongst them nor no Worship of God but only a carnal and external One no mutual attention no conjunction of Minds no love no will no endeavours for the good one of another or the common good that was to be seen Lastly That no one's Life and Manners answered what they all profess'd or the Example and Precepts of Christ And as this was the complaint and quarrel of the Quakers so in like manner was it of these People too that with these vices above others were infected those that were the Prelates and Preachers of the Word and Stewards of the Mysteries of God Lastly these People thought thus that they were the Men from whom the beginning and first Examples of the Restitution of the Church was to be expected who also were wholly intent upon the famous work of this Reformation Just as the Quakers thought that this was chiefly reserv'd for them and that they were in a special manner obliged to go on with this Work of Reformation So great was the Fame of this Society that there was scarce any place in these Countries where there was not a great talk talk about these Teachers and Workers so that in Foreign Countries there was scarce any where unless it were among such People who have no regard to what is done abroad who had not heard something of them Therefore when these Reports were gone over into England and Scotland at first indeed there were some of these Men who being averse from the State of the Church as under the Bishops contained themselves within their own Churches which were more remote from external rites and splendor and a worldly and delicate polite as they call it and elegant Life and Conversation who also undertook the Ministerial Function At last also the Quakers who as soon as ever they heard of this sort of Men and their plain Religion and way of Life that they followed they began to think in good earnest of this Society of People and to be better acquainted with them and to consider ways and means amongst themselves how they should come to enter into Consultation with them I know that there was one of those Ministers of the Gospel so averse from the Episcopal way and addicted to Presbyterial Churches who not only himself writes to this Society but also communicates his thoughts upon this subject to an eminent Quaker which Man when after that time he foresaw many things from the face of the Kingdom which tho not altogether true indeed yet seeming very probable and likely to come to pass at that time he was not such a fearer of Episcopacy but that one might read in his Countenance and since he was a Man that one time or another it would come to pass as afterwards it happen'd that he was made a Bishop The first of the Quakers that came from Scotland to the Labadists to Amsterdam was George Keith a Man both very skillful in and much us'd to Controversie and Disputes After him comes out of England R. Barclay a Man likewise of great Experience and well seen in the Defence of his Religion These Men one after another treat about this matter with Labadee and the rest of them on whom the Government of the Society lay But when the Quakers opened their Mind briefly and in a common Style but they on the other hand us'd such deep and far fetch'd Speeches and those so round about the bush and turning and winding and so much Eloquence or endless Talkativeness that the Quakers knew not what these Men would say or how to know or find out and discern their Opinions Institutions and Intentions or where to have them which also had often happen'd to our People enquiring of these Men about these things and now began to suspect that they were not such a pure sort of People and were either bordering upon some Errors or privately entertain'd and bred some monstrous Opinion And when the Quakers tried again at another time to see further if by any means they could bring things to a Consent and Agreement and a conjunction together that they might act in common Concert the Labadists not only drew back but also resented it ill and were so angry that they thought it would be to no purpose to try any farther Conclusions with them And either upon the occasion of these Meetings together or from the designs of some of their Adversaries to reproach them it came to pass
of themselves are very tender and nice and their Families live deliciously and they esteem nothing more honourable and desirable than this On the other hand their Enemies lay a long Catalogue of foul Errors to their Charge and send them up and down every where and so recount them all and confute them in the Chairs and Auditories of the Universities and Churcheâ— before the Students and People who at least are of themselves inclined and when there is so great a stress laid upon it to run altogether head-long thereunto so as to take all things in a perverted Sence and to entertain a most ill Opinion of those Men. And that the Sect might be the better known and a summary given of their Errors and the greatness and horridness of their Faults they gave those Men the Name of Pietists and the Sect it self they dignified with the Appellation of Pietism which name those Men in the mean time looked upon to be their Honour and Glory these their Enemies put upon them as a mark of their Crime and a term of Ignominy and Reproach as if they thought all Vices were to be couched under this one alone And the Envy and Rage of some proceeded so far that if any one explained who those Pietests were and how this name might rightly and properly be taken they inveighed also against this as a most horrid Wickedness and a capital Crime An Example where you have in these four Verses written in the German Tongue but turned for your better Information into Latin and are as followeth Quum nomen Pictesta omnem sic personat orbeâ—â— Quis Pictista Studens noscere verba Dei Et Juxta hanc normam vi am emendare laborans Illius at quantum hoc Christianumque decus But that these Men might be distinguish'd by their proper Forms and Characters they called them also by the Names of the Illuminate Cathari Puritans c. as being those who were full of their own most proud but vain Conceit or boasted themselves to be the only Persons that had the Light when in the mean time they had not a spark of Knowledge and Truth and in their whole life seemed to be so pure and perfect when as in truth there was an Ulcer within them which in time would break out that in publick continually carried a counterfeit face of Goodness but did in the mean time defile themselves secretly and in their Recesses with the most notorious Vices This was the common Opinion By-Word and Laughing-stock of all that these Men were Imitators of the old Enthusiasts and the Inventors of new That they were like the Quakers and that they followed their Doctrine and Discipline throughout when at the same time all or the most part of them scarce knew what the Opinions Constitutions and Heresies of the Quakers were which thing is evident from Spener's Book in the German Tongue wherein that Person defending his own Cause and as to Quakerism going about to remove that suspicion Men had of him upon that account while he quotes the Opinions of the Quakers he alledged them in such a manner that he to whom the Opinion of the Quakers was known understood at the first Reading of them saving the Man's Honour that he had not known what the Quakers meant And so grievously were these Men dealt with after they had thus loaded them with these obnoxious Names that those Students who would not leave these ways and who from their Dependencies were called the Elector's Scholars were deprived of their Stipends others of all hopes of Preferment by Men of their own Functions who most of them betook themselves to the Territories of the Elector of Brandenburg who granted these Distressed Men not only a place of Refuge but also whatever they had occasion for and did moreover assign to their principal Doctors a place in the University of Halen that every one might instruct his Pupils as he pleased Now Horbius upon the French War if that may be called a War wherein there has been such unheard of Devastations made and Barbarities committed went from Trarback to Wishenheim upon the Neckar and from thence to Hamburg and there was made Minister of St. Nicholas's Church where according to his wonted manner he applied himself to instruct his hearers in true Piety and particularly in his Catechisings to instil his Principles into the Youth and even young Children but soon after the Fame and Dignity of Horbius stirred his two Colleagues whose Eyes and Ears he had offended above the rest of the People to Envy and Cavil at him as if Horbius brought hither also these odious Precepts and Opinions of Enthusiasts and Quakers which accusation 't is strange too believe how it increased after that Horbius had distributed a little Book among those that were Catechised by him not written by himself but by another concerning the Rudiments of Christian Education for when the elder of the two Colleagues aforesaid who became Horbius's Adversaries there is no occasion to name his Name seeing its common in the Mouths of all Men had concluded with himself that the Book was Writ by a Pietist he immediately proscribes it as an Heretical Book and sets Horbius forth to his Auditors and by his Rhetorical Flourishes as if he were an Heretical Doctor a Quaker and such an one as ought to be expelled out of the City And as there is nothing so easily given out and harder stopped nothing nearer received and further spread then Lies and Mens Evil Reports concerning their Guides and Rulers so the same report in the twinkling as it were of an Eye without any more ado did so dilate it self not only through the whole City but all the Country over so as that Horbius was known by no other Name than the Quaker-Doctor Moreover the rude multitude and the most abject sort of Men some of them through a stupid Ignorance as being not able to distinguish the first Principles of the Christian Doctrine others partly through Ignorance and partly through an uncertain Authority and blind Guidance of other Men as if they were Slaves or Brute-Beasts Some seeing themselves unable to try the thing it self and being very much afraid of the Evil least that also should fall upon them so referring the first beginning thereof to one which they much suspected And lastly others through a blinded prejudice and accustomed to raillery and to do ill turns received Horbius every where with Hissing and Reproaches railed at him and did really persecute the Man so as that unless his Life had been preserved through the faithfulness of honest Men and they his Friends too he had through the fury and violence of those his Enemies been certainly deprived of it Wherefore when Horbius saw that his hopes was over-born by the Malice and Envy of so many Men and that there was nothing now left for him but Dangers he chose rather to forsake his Ministry and the City and by giving way rather than by resisting to break
Prudence and Moderation both of him and them that they urged one another with this Crime that each of them spread abroad detestable and cursed Doctrines and ensnared Men in them to the hazzard or loss of their salvation And Keith told that Bingly Vaughton and others when any of them seem'd to speak to another either not in good time or not readily or plainly enough because they first staid to meditate or wait the motion of the Spirit before they spake were us'd to nod one at another point or make signs to them to speak and if that would not do to pluck them by the sleeves and so to put them upon speaking Which certainly was not that that they had in their minds or what the Spirit mov'd them to speak which was contrary to the Doctrine and Fundamental Principles of these Men. But as there was neither Measure nor end of these disputes nor was there any respite of this Contention and Scold tho they were now grown hoarse again and it was not time as yet for them to break up Bingly and Waldenfield perswade the rest not to treat with Keith any further and so presently dissolving the assembly they go away and withal cause all the rest to do so to and disperse After they had left of dealing with Keith they consulted what was best to be done about him In which Consultation some of them complain'd with Relation to Keith that they had not the priviledge given them of speaking their minds and that there were some that by their talkativeness and proud way of speaking and with their looks and aspect took the words out of their Mouths or made them hold their Tongues or altogether silenc'd them there were others who were so frighted and overaw'd that they could not bring out what they differ'd and were of a contrary mind from others in And there were some also that dissemblingly and against their wills had spoken and who were sorry for what they had done and retracted from the sentence that was given At the last with the suffrages of the greatest part of them this decree was made and agreed to That Keith was of a Spirit no ways Christian and was the cause of these differences and divisions and openly Injurious to the Brethren And therefore that he had withdrawn and separated himself from the Holy Communion of the Church of Christ and was gone off from the power of Preaching and Praying in the Meetings of Friends Wherefore he was not to be accounted or receiv'd as one of them unless he first publickly confess'd his Crime and gave some tokens of amendment And moreover by the Acts of the Meeting this sentence was sent in Writing to all the Meetings of the Quakers all the World over That this Meeting in London was no ways concerned in the late differences in some parts of America tho now there was hopes things would succeed there better than formerly But that the Christian Advice and Councill that had been given to Keith and others in the yearly Meeting before Keith had openly in his Printed books set himself against and oppos'd and so betray'd himself to have turned aside from the peaceable Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ and to persevere in the Spirit of Discord and Contradiction and by so doing has given great trouble and grief to the Church of Christ and especially to the last and likewise to this Meeting too And so that now they had born Witness against him untill he had truly repented and reconciled himself to the faithful friends and Brethren So then in this Meeting now so lately held when all hopes of reconciliation was taken away and no other end of any other advice likely to be and a Man Excommunicated and cast out whom the Generality of People looked upon as one of the most Ingenious and best defenders of the Quakers and their Religion this seem'd to be a Schism amongst Men so joyn'd and united together amongst themselves as they were And now redounded to their great disgrace thro' the accusations and sharp Speeches of those that withdrew from amongst them Wherefore these now are their Adversaries and now and then have a fling at them after this manner that now they may see themselves what a sort of Men they are and how much worse than those they would Condemn and this was laid to their Charge that having been free from Domestick jars within and fears from without of a long while that now with such intestine and deadly hatred strife and sedition they should fall together by the Ears amongst themselves instead of that Spiritual and Heavenly Wisdom and Prudence they always bragg'd of and that incredible Amity and Concord that by a nod or sign onely they could have had any thing one of another that it seem'd they would shew that those that formerly were so unconquerable without were now so very weak within and in a short time would fall by their own Weapons and that now the times were changed they would bring upon themselves the total loss of that liberty in hopes of which they promis'd themselves Perpetuity And thus much of the beginning progress and increase of these People and of their Actions and Sufferings in their own Country and those depending upon it to this very time in which that odious to be nam'd and terrible persecution is quell'd and taken off and not onely these Men but all those differing from the publick Churches are protected in their Civil Liberties in all those Countrys and peace and liberty of Conscience is established and that Confirm'd by the Laws Onely excepting Papists and Socinians and the like Propagators of the old Arian Heresy the causes and reasons of which I have treated on elsewhere Which Favour and Indulgence how it was granted to these people both by the equal bountys of that King than whom a better can't be wish'd for and to whom therefore all good Men wish a long and happy Reign especially being now alwaies in Arms and Venturing his life for the Common good and of his Queen who is lately deceased but her Soul being rendred to God the Memory of her lives and alwaies will do so to the latest surviving Posterity for those many and illustrious Virtues that concentred in her Royal Person and also by the joint Consent of the Lords and Commons in both Houses of Parliament assembled readily Complying with the Royal pleasure herein I have likewise before set forth This I must note before I go any farther that this prudence and clemency of the King and Queen and of those great Men was so much glorious to themselves and worthy to be acknowledged by these Men because in all the times aforepast there were not onely so many and great Vexations Prosecutions Afflictions unsufferable Slaughters every where laid upon all sorts of People which either indeed were Acted by Erronious Principles or the Pride and Envy of some Men had a mind to load with false Accusations as if they were very