the same time the Quakers put out a Pamphlet wherein they recounted what every Minister of the Publick Church throughout England had done against every one of their Society how they had handled them with the Name and Sirname of every one of them at what time George Monk General of all the Armies of Britain put an end to this Evil by a Proclamation that none should injure the Quakers provided they demeaned themselves dutifully towards the Common-wealth I have given an Account of the Afflictions and Persecutions of these Men in England and have produced various Instances of every kind concerning their Troubles and now these Quakers shew themselves in Scotland behaving themselves here as in all other places where they came being often-times very vexatious and troublesom in the Publick Meetings and Conversations of Men in the Markets in the Churches and that either before or after or while they were at their Solemn Prayers and Preaching neither did they only confound Speakers and Hearers and made them dissatisfied with their Meeting together or exercise of their Religion but as often as they were taken and did not beg Pardon for the fault committed they were handled in the same manner as they had been in England many of them being Imprisoned some whipped and others banished This was a thing very singular and strange in this Country and among this Nation there was a Law made at Glascow in the General Assembly that no Quaker should be cherished and relieved by any Member of the Reformed Church and that no Person should have any Commerce with them or make use of their Labour and Employ them under the Penalty of being Excommunicated and by this means these wretched People were forced to seek for other though uncertain Abodes or else to perish through extream want Notwithstanding which Law which the Quakers cryed was by no means made with a Christian Temper but was a barbarous Rite and the Effects of Cruelty when their Affairs seemed to have been brought to the utmost danger they did so struggle with these Difficulties that they even increased in Number day by day Neither must we pass over in silence that those two Men John Swinton and David Barclay did at this time go off to the Quakers who because both of them were very Famous and Renowned first among all the Scots and afterwards among the Quakers I cannot pass it over but must here insist a little upon it John Swinton was of a good Family and at first well deserving of the Common-wealth having his Name from the Place whereof he was Lord when King Charles the Second fled from England and was received and crowned by the Scots this Swinton was a Member of the General Assembly then as also of the Parliament and then it was that the said King Solemnly swore he would preserve the Church of Scotland as then established inviolable but when the King afterward changed his Faith and endeavoured to promote the Function and Rule of Bishops and that now both Nations were at deadly and Intestine Wars one with another and that the Members in Parliament took into Deliberation what they should do with the King Swinton said it was his Opinion that they should reject the King's Interest and be at Peace and Amity with the English by which Speech when Swinton found that he had much exasperated the Minds of all of them and being afraid of the Danger withdraws from the Parliament and with all Expedition flies to his Estate in the Country which was not far from the Frontiers of England and cunningly contrives it that he had fallen into the hands of the English Soldiers these carry him to London when the English had overcome the Scots the English Parliament appoint this Man that was so Faithful to their Church and Country together with others to Govern the Affairs of Scotland But while Swinton tarryed at London he contracted Acquaintance and Familiarity with the Quakers and afterward became of their Society When the King was restored and come over Swinton who was then at London though he was not ignorant how angry the King was with him yet he staid there trusting to a good Conscience that he had discharged his Duty to the Publick without any private Enmity against the King There the King Commands him to be seized and carryed into Scotland to the end that he might be put to Death when he was brought before the Parliament and being allowed the freedom to defend himself he did so Plead his own Case and by his Eloquence allay the Anger and Fury of all the Members that they did acquit him from his Capital Crime and only confined him Prisoner to the Castle of Edenburgh where he continued for some Years David Barclay was a Gentleman of Scotland and descended from the Ancient and Illustrious Family of the Barclays of which these Men have not only reported of themselves but it has also been asserted by others that they have not only proceeded from so Noble Great and Ancient a Stock but also that they were a-kin to the Royal Family this same Gentleman using his Nobleness not for a Veil to Sloath and Idleness but as fewel and an incitative to Industry and Vertue after he had from his Childhood given himself up to the Exercise of the Liberal Arts and Sciences and finding that in the doubtful Affairs of his Country he could not find room for his Studies he betook himself to the German Wars and was first a Captain in the Swedish Army and in some time came to be a Colonel but after that the English had enforced their Government in Scotland he returns to his own Country and he is together with Swinton and other Nobles appointed for the Governance of it and is sent for to London that he might be present at the making and establishing of the League between both Kingdoms but in process of time when King Charles was restored he is committed Prisoner to the Castle of Edenburgh to his old Friend Swinton and not long after gave himself over in Company with Swinton to the Sect of the Quakers this David Barclay was the Father of Robert Barclay who if not the only yet was the most memorable of the Latin Writers amongst all the Quakers In Ireland Howgil and Burroughs the fore-runners of this Sect were sent back from Cork into England by the Command of Henry Cromwel who then governed that Kingdom by the Title of Lord-Deputy and when after they were gone Ames took upon him to propagate Quakerism in that City he was also thrown into Prison from whence being afterwards set at Liberty and seeing he could not forbear but must speak openly in the Church against the Preacher he was again clap'd up in the same place from which place when he wrote a Letter to Colonel Henry Ingoldsby who was Governour of that same City and under whom he was a Soldier and endeavoured to make his Defence and procure his Liberty he was indeed brought before him
the certain ruine of his Soul and to the latter a risk of losing his Life but my Fighting is to abstain from all these Quarrels Wars and Arms nay not only to abstain from them but to conquer and subjugate those Passions and Lusts from whence they arise I am a Soldier waging War and fighting but so as to provide for the Peace and Safety of my self of you and all Men both here in this Humane Society and also with God Which Practice would to God both ye and all the World would study to imitate Wherefore I desire of you that ye give me no more trouble of this Nature and that ye be aware of running your selves into a worse condition than ye are in already lest by indulging your selves this liberty of sinning against God the Emperor of the World his wrath be kindled against you and when the time for Vengeance shall come and the Door of Mercy shut up ye perish for ever This Discourse was so far from putting a stop to the fury of his Adversaries that it spurr'd on their fierceness and cruelty the more which they express'd not in Imprisoning him as before but in casting him into a nasty stinking Dungeon digged under Ground where Thieves and Malefactors were kept But after other six Months he got out from thence also And this Affliction did not in the least scare him from prosecuting his Design but he still became bolder and brisker Propagating his Doctrine not only in the Counties of Nottingham Darby and Leicester which were the Theatre and Stage where this great Engine did first appear but through all York-shire Lancaster and the vast Tract of Lands called Westmorland in all which places he unweariedly preached his Doctrine and Discipline being followed by vast numbers of the People This is certain that none of all the Quakers ever preached or discoursed so often and unto so many different Hearers as George Fox and he himself never made so many Discourses as in these places and at this time But because he could not be present every where to speak Face to Face he now began to write Letters to several Societies and likewise to particular Men Instructing and Admonishing them in what he imagined most necessary to be known and practised And to this day are to be seen in many peoples hands whole bundles of Letters wrote by him to the same Persons Though he did not express any great strength of Discourse or Reasoning in these his Letters for that he both wrote such Characters as were not easie to be read and also in so rude and simple a Style sometimes most difficult and intricate that it is a wonder any Man so much exercised in speaking and discoursing should have been the Author of them The first Letter he wrote was in the Year Fifty to his Friends which I shall here insert It was wrote Originally in English and is translated from the Original into Latin which done from the Latin into English again for the Original is not in our hands runs thus The Lord is King over all the Earth wherefore all ye Nations praise and magnifie your King in true Obedience purity of Holiness and Sincerity O! consider in true Obedience how ye should know the Lord with Vnderstanding mark and consider in silence in submission of Mind and ye shall hear the Lord speaking to you in your Minds His Voice is sweet and pleasant His Sheep hear his voice and will give ear to no other And when they hear his voice they rejoyce and obey and also sing for joy O! their hearts are filled with Eternal Triumphs They sing forth and praise the Eternal God in Zion Their Joy shall none take from them Glory be to the Lord for ever G. F. In this same Fiftieth Year Elizabeth Hooton born and living in Nottingham a Woman pretty far advanced in Years was the first of her Sex among the Quakers who attempted to imitate Men and Preach which she now in this Year commenced After her Example many of her Sex had the confidence to undertake the same Office This Woman afterwards went with George Fox into New-England where she wholly devoted her self to this Work and after having suffered many Affronts from that People went into Jamaica and there finished her Life But I return again to Fox While he thus continued so forward and zealous for Preaching his Doctrines his condition was very various strange Events and Accidents falling out of which I think it convenient to give you a short Account It happened in Yorkshire in a Town towards the East Part of it called Beverlar that he went into the Church being mightily mov'd in Spirit where he first kept himself silent till the Minister had finish'd his Sermon then before all the People he thunder'd out his extemporary and reviling Harangues and presently convey'd himself away thus he escaped safe and unpunish'd Some few days after that at Crantsick as the Minister had just read the Text of his ensuing Discourse being a Man of considerable Worth and Fame he fell upon him with a Discourse the only purport of which was to express his contempt of the Dignity Order and Religion of this worthy Divine Which Action might have brought him into extream danger for every body almost accounted it a signal of so great Impudence and Insolence that they thought no Vengeance too great nor no Resentment too high for so villainous and injurious a Crime yet he escap'd unpunish'd But I come to give you a larger Account of a certain Sermon of his Being in Leicester his Native Country he had occasion to Travel in that Country with some of his Friends He spyes from afar a certain Town not knowing which it was but having asked of his Friends comes to understand that it was Lichfield Thither he presently resolves to go and pronounce Curses against all the Citizens high or low or of whatever degree for they were all equally unknown to him While I call to remembrance the Ancient Annals of the British Affairs it comes into my Mind that at this very Town in the time of Dioclesian the Emperour there was a great many Christian Martyrs miserably afflicted and tortured with all manner of exquisite Torments And then in the Reign of Henry the Sixth King of England there was a Battel fought betwixt the King and the Earl of Salisbury near to this place in which great numbers of Men were slain on both sides and the King's Army almost totally routed So that on both these occasions this Ground was covered with the Blood of so many Men. And besides in Fox's own time while that Fatal Civil War was raging in England betwixt the King and the People in the same Fields and this very same Town there was a great deal of Humane Blood shed all which Fox was not ignorant of Thither I say did he presently direct his course and because he did not know the right Road for he had now parted from his Friends being impatient
Divines and not the Quakers alone speak as often as Latin words fail them his Humanity and the Presence or Existence of him as of the Seed and Light and his Manifestation and Operation in Men hitherto either unknown or but very obscurely delivered Barclay betook himself to Write a long time after Keith and at last came out a large Treatise of his written in Latin Entituled Apologia Theologiae vere Christianae Presented to King Charles II. A Book highly praised by those Men and very common among all that are curious of the Writings of those Men of which Book I shall elsewhere more particularly speak so that as the Doctrine and Religion of the Quakers owes its Original and Increase to England so it does its Perfection and Completion to Scotland And now even in this Kingdom of Scotland these Quakers especially Keith had many Contests with the Presbyterians there concerning the causes of their Separation and Secession from those Churches with which they had till this time firmly united and concerning their new Articles of Faith which they were said to have obtruded upon those Old Professors and that by Conferences Disputations and Writings which gave occasion to Keith to write those Books wherein by examining seriously all that was objected against them and often ruminating upon and digesting all that he had before published or spoke he brought forth his Meditations in that Method and Form before spoken of These Men did in the mean time grow here also by degrees more moderate and leave off their rude and audacious ways that had gained them much Hatred and many Evils and so by degrees being accustomed to the sight of their Adversaries they began to live more safely and also to increase in number Their Affairs went on in Ireland but slowly where they who presided as it were over the rest took their advantage in promoting their Doctrine and Religion from the Institutions and Manners of their Friends in England and Scotland And so from this time forward was the Sect of the Quakers brought into form and their Doctrine and Faith consummated to which this may be further added Seeing that a Publick Confession of Faith made by all is a great Bond for the uniting of their Souls together and an apt Symbol of Communion and Fellowship Keith did at a certain time propose this unto them That it would be a most useful thing if such a Book were composed in the Name of all the People called Quakers by worthy and choice Men with clear Words and Sentences which might be an Abridgment and Publick Confession of all their Doctrine and Faith and that the same were Subscribed by all even each one in his particular Church who for the future should be received into the Society of the Quakers and joyn themselves unto them But their Friends were not pleased with this Advice by reason that they thought it to be a thing on the one side that carried in it too much Authority between Equals and on the other side an Obligation of Servitude in a free Affair and that they should be very cautious lest they should be brought under any Inconveniency in that kind for the avoiding of which they had all hitherto gathered together and lived in the greatest Union as they had done in the greatest Freedom imaginable But to return to the beginning of the Reign of King Charles the Second and Record the Facts of these Men and what befel unto them Their Study and Endeavours did indeed appear to comply with the Government of this King as did those of other Sects and Dissenters from the Publick Worship if not from their Judgment yet better by their yielding and giving way and that because of the disposition of the King to be Easie and Indulgent Besides this King himself with all his Followers seemed to have sufferd for so long a time so many and such great Injuries and Calamities and so must be mindful of the Lot and uncertain state of Man that he would at length grant Rest to these Men from the many Troubles which they had been exposed to To this may be added that the King at that time when they were debating in Parliament concerning the Restauration of him he himself being then at Breda in the Court of the Prince of Orange his Nephew by his Sister writes very lovingly and tenderly of his own accord to that Supream Council as also to the City of London That he would give to and preserve the Liberty of Tender Consciences and Opinions in Religion provided it were without endangering the Publick Peace Which thing was again repeated by the King after he was Solemnly established in his Throne Wherefore the Quakers upon the King's Restauration conceived great hopes concerning their Affairs At last when in the beginning of the King's Reign some of the Quakers full of good will towards the King and of a good Opinion of his kindness towards them went to the King and implored his Favour Protection and Help against the Injuries and Cruelty of their Enemies The King grants them all they desired and it 's not to be doubted but that he did it of his own accord for he suffered them at first to live and act according to their own Way and Mode as also to Meet to perform their Religious Worship and so also did he sometime Promise that for the future he would not only not obstruct but also promote their Liberty therefore these Men from the very beginning of the change of the Government did most Industriously proceed in their Affairs and Exercises for the Common Good neither did they do it unknown to their Adversaries but openly and in their sight as it were not by the tacit but express consent and also Command of the King But it will not be long ere all this matter shall fall out much otherwise than this and the Event deceive all the Hope and Opinion of these Men. Yea indeed it so happened as if this Letter the Name Power of the King did not avail for the Liberty and Ease but Ruine of these Men that even from the first Decree of the Parliament concerning the King's Restauration in all that Interval till the King did apply himself to the Administration of the Government they who were the Quakers Adversaries amongst other Pretences which they made use of for to repress and ensnare these Men they turned the Edict Name and Dignity of the King to their Molestation and Destruction Therefore as often as they met together to Celebrate their Worship they were apprehended and carryed away as disturbers of the Peace and though they had not the least Weapon that might give any Offence they were treated as if they had been armed Men and like Enemies and Cut-Throats and stirred up one another and other Peaceable Subjects to Rebellion and to offer Violence to the Common-wealth This I will say to those who do not so well know what the Oath of Fidelity among the English means which they
from him that he even here and there subscribed his Name to every Page and confirmed by his Testimony that it contained and taught every Language by which Work and Labour Fox now shewed plainly the thing not to Boys but to all Men that were like Boys in Ignorance herein and untaught them that wicked way of speaking But when some objected against Fox his Ignorance in these Languages and that he was upbraided herewith as if he were mad he wiped it off thus with this new Joke That he knew only as much of Languages as was sufficient for him The Year Sixty Two was Remarkable for the Commotion and Change of many things to the great Inconveniency Trouble and Incommoding of the Quakers and went so far in the Times that followed that the Ruine of the whole Party and Race of them seemed to be at hand for the Solemn League and Covenant between the King and People of Britain and between the Kingdoms of England and Scotland than which League there was nothing before looked upon to be more Holy Just and Desirable no greater Foundation both of the Regal Dignity and the Peoples Liberty nor a greater Bond to gather and unite together the whole Body of the Church and to establish the Religion of both Kingdoms was now looked upon as it were an Antichristian piece of Work and the Spring of all Evil and there was the preceding Year even by the Parliament's Command rased out of all the Publick Records both in Church and State and at London in several places burnt by the hands of the Common Hangman This Year was the Episcopal Order and Authority which had always been the Spring and Original of many Brawls and Calamities was every where set up and establish'd there being some even of the Presbyterians who now were desirous of this Power and Glory which they had before withstood or when offered them did not reject them upon this Consideration that seeing they would endeavour to be good Men in the discharge of this Office they were afraid if they did refuse the same lest such should be preferred who would not carry themselves in that Station with that Moderation required of them The King now which had been the fear of good Men a long time and what was now looked upon as a new Prognostick and sad Omen upon the Kingdom contracted a Marriage with the Infanta of Portugal a Lady so given up and devoted to the Religion and Ceremonies of the Popish Church that she was inferiour to none of the Queens or Princesses of the Age for that Superstition At last the King after he thought he had established his House and Kingdom and made all things sure did more and more instead of the Care Labour and Continency he ought to have exercised give himself up to Ease and Luxury and left the Management of most things to his Counsellors and Ministers of State especially to those who were mostly his Familiars and Companions all which change wrought no small Perturbation Trouble Fear and Trembling in the Minds of all those whose Religion differed from the Religion and Constitution that were now thus revived again he who had persecuted another did even now persecute himself and whom many were before afraid of was not now without his own fears and had need to take care of himself and therefore from such a Commotion as this others became also afraid who were otherwise more to be feared and from this their Fear arose a Suspicion and hence Discourses and at last a Rumor that there was a multitude of Enemies and Conspirators in the City and elsewhere who laid in wait for the King and were ready utterly to overturn the whole frame of this new Government Though many did believe this to be an Evil Report cunningly contrived by those who looked upon such a Report to be the best way for them to arrive at that which they could not hope to obtain in Peaceable Times Now as there was nothing transacted by wicked and profligate Men of which the Quakers were not esteemed either the Authors Promoters Parties or knew of it or consented to it so here also these Men came to be suspected of this Crime when at the same time there was no certain sign of any Conspiracy or Sedition contrived by any sort of Men and not the least Foot-steps of it by the Quakers and so there was a Report quickly spread abroad that these were such Men as had embrued themselves in such great Wickednesses and that they had associated themselves and daily met together to that purpose Of which things when they did not of their own accord clear and vindicate themselves which they thought they ought not to do without certain Accusers nor could do without some Prejudice thence the same Suspicion and Report increased and by this means the People who were not indeed called to answer at the Bar because that would be done upon too slight a Conjecture contracted the real hatred of all and became in great danger and were impunedly troubled all manner of ways by them who because they were not hindred thought they were allowed so to do Now the King had commanded that the Quakers of London and Middlesex should take the Oath which seemed to be the strictest tye for the Testifying of their Affection and engaging their Faithfulness towards the King and Kingdom and that the Judges should shew favour to none But if the Quakers would not Swear in pursuance to his Proclamation they should hold their Meetings no where then follows another Law for the prevention of Seditious Assemblies That no Meeting should be held under a shew and pretence of Divine Worship that was not approved and ratified by the Liturgy of the Church of England nor more Persons meet together at one place than five But and if any above the Age of Sixteen Years and upwards did transgress herein and being a Subject of the Kingdom such an one should be punished for the same This Law seemed to have been enacted for the restraint of all Sects but did more especially appertain to the Quakers and none could but understand that it was a Snare for them and rended to Shipwrack their Affairs So that it came hereby to pass that such of these Men as were now imprisoned were for this reason more closely kept and used more severely by the Gaolers even by those who before seemed kind unto them As for the rest of them they had one Tryal and Affliction upon another and the same were every where openly not only when they were met together in the streets entertained with all manner of Ignominy and Reproach but were also enforced to abstain from their Religious Assemblies and when notwithstanding all they proceeded they were harrassed by Soldiers and fined sometimes entertained with more than an Hostile Fury and thrown into Prison and being required to Swear were upon their refusal detained in Prison or thrust into Working-Houses among wicked and profligate wretches who had
to the greatest they seem'd to be harden'd and confirm'd against the greatest punishments whatsoever as if all their misfortunes and disasters had been means rather to excite and encourage their boldness than to enfeeble or repress the same So that now there was no remedy left to restrain them save close imprisonment But because it was difficult and hard to detain them all in perpetual prison It was at last resolv'd that they should not only be banisâ—'d from their houses and livings but from the whole kingdom and commanded to the American Colonies subject to the English where they should be condemn'd to the same service and slavery that the barbarous natives of that Country are who are a people so stiffneck'd and stubborn that neither levity of treatment can break them nor severity of punishment scare from their barbarous customs so that by an inveterate and immoveable despair they break all the bounds of Temperance and Reverence among the Christians Accordingly there were several decrees made in several Courts and Judicatories at one and the same time about the Captive Quakers that is those of them that were refractory and obstinate wheâ— neither imprisonment nor any other manner oâ— punishment could move to desist from their disallowable practices for there were some of 'em that after having been three four or five several times dismiss'd and set at liberty still returned to their former vomit that they should be sever'd from the rest of the English World by being transported to Barbado's and Jamaica where the Garrisons and Forts were strong enough to oppose them and stiffle their designs and where there was no great fear of any danger that could arise from their commotions And that they might be depriv'd of any support or comfort from conjugal love or fellowship they order'd the women and men to be separated and transported to separate Colonies But the term of their banishment did not exceed seven years And this favour was likewise indulg'd them that whoever would pay one hundred pounds English for his offence should redeem himself from being transported But it was never heard that any of them attempted this manner of redemption I shall here mention only two examples the one remarkable for insolence the other for the place and manner of Judgment The first Was in Hereford Town where one and twenty of 'em were kept in Prison of which sixteen were Married Persons and very comfortably match'd to loving consorts because of their frequent meetings and Religious â—â—onventicles who had been before try'd and condemn'd in a Convention of the County and were afterwards sentenc'd to suffer the aforesaid Exportation by a Court held in every respective County The Quakers relate that all things were done very superficially in the latter nothing of tryal being made sure only for fashon sake as if they would not repine or reverse the Sentences formerly cast against them in other Courts or as if the matter had been so plain that there was no further place left for the guilty to put up defences so that all things were ready for passing Sentence The Witnesses that had been Examin'd before depon'd that they saw the Quakers assembled together at that place from whence they were brought to Prison and that in this their assembly they were sitting quiet and mute without any speaker The Quakers made no dispute upon the matter only replied That as they us'd to do at all other times they had then met together not tumultuously nor after any unhandsom manner However this was accounted a Crime sufficient to demerit such a punishment The Quakers say That when the President of the Court Henry Chany was pronouncing Sentence of Transportation against them his Countenance bewray'd great trouble of mind and the words he spoke were very faint and languid as if the Injustice of the Sentence had struck him with fear and confusion This they observ'd and indeed they are men very apt and ready to make their Observations and commemorate the same for infallible Truths However this Judg having pronounced Sentence interrogates them all if they were willing to redeem themselves at the price set allowing them the next night to consider upon it Which night as they write themselves they spent not in consulting one with another what Answer to give but in secure and profound sleep as being conscious to themselves of no evil thing they had done which self conscious innocence devoided them of fear and encourag'd them readily and chearfully to undergo all the Afflictions that might befal them In the Morning being call'd before 〈◊〉 Judicatory to give answer to the question put to them the preceeding day they reply'd to the Judge interrogating them a fresh that they would pay nothing and tho they had a hundred lives they would not redeem them for a hundred pence so far were they from offering or promising so many pounds Some few days after that two Courts were held at London about the same business which may be accounted the Metropolitans of all the others held on this account as London is of that Kingdom The Decisions and Judgments of these Councils were very various as the exit testify'd The Quakers being 〈◊〉 up in Prison for having congregated themselves in publick Crowds and obstinately persisting in the same irregularity were arraign'd before the Court and accus'd of having transgress'd the Laws in meeting and preaching to more than five at a time in contempt of the King and the Laws of the Realm that tho they met together for worshipping God yet their manner of worship was dissonant from the Liturgy and Canons of the Church of England and that tho they design'd to advance mutual concord among themselves by their frequent Conventicles yet they tended to raise discord sedition amongst the People The informers and delaters against them were mostly the Magistrates Servants and Officers or the Keepers of Prisons and suchlike who yet testified nothing against them save that they found them assembled together tho they did not hear any speaking amongst them or that they were deliver'd to them by the Messengers who apprehended 'em or that they saw them brought into Prison Unto which the Quakers reply'd that they did not deny their being together but that they desir'd it might be proved that their Congregating together was upon any such wicked design as to shew contempt of the King and Government which was the crime laid to their Charge and upon which they were then call'd in question They added likewise that they did not deny their meeting together in greater numbers than five which if it was contrary to the King's commands was excusable in them since they were bound to obey the Commands of God and give ear to his voice alone tho Kings and all Men on Earth should Countermand the same And as to the Liturgy of England they reply'd that if it contain'd any thing contrary to the Divine Will it was to be put in the same ballance with the Kings
Society of Quakers This Man being born in Holland of English Parentage went over into England where he finish'd his Philosophical and Theological course in the University of Cambridge that Nursery of Learning which boasts so much of her integrity that she never emitted any Disciples that prov'd corrupt or unsound in Religious matters He afterwards became Minister to a Church in that Country being ordain'd by Reynolds Bishop of Norwich but he had not long exercis'd this function when he made defection to Quakerism at the same very time that he was most busy in confirming and fortifying himself and his hearers against the influences of that sect There was a young Virgin among the Quakers fam'd for her dexterity and skill in Preaching whom many of the people us'd to follow Coughen having understood that she was to preach in a certain place goes thither himself in his Canonical Robes in order to preserve his hearers from being seduc'd by her discourses But so soon as he came to hear her he was so mov'd and affected that he not only not oppos'd her or her Doctrine but appear'd for its defence and spoke publickly for it at that same occasion and returning home abandon'd his Ecclesiastick habit joyning himself to be a member of their Society in which he afterwards became a Doctor and Preacher and was much caress'd and applauded by them But not long after this he return'd to Holland again and meeting at Harlem with Edward Richardson Minister to the English Church in that place and discoursing with him about Religion he was so influenc'd by his company that he forsook the Quakers and their Society betaking himself to Leyden when he pursued the study of Medicine Which where he had finish'd he returns to England and professes that Art of administring medicine to the sick sequestrating himself all along from that Society till at length some three years thereafter he attempts to introduce a new Model of Doctrine and Discipline which had been so often endeavour'd by so many and so great Men of obliging all Christians to concentrate in one common faith and interpose their interest and power for reconciling the differences of Religion amongst all who profess'd the Name of Christ All this while Fox was not Remembred or talk'd of except amongst those of his own Profession and Society for he had been detain'd Captive for three successive years together one half of that time in Lancashire and the other half in Yorkshire he was first Imprison'd for his frequent Conventicles and also for refusing his Oath of fidelity so oft as it was requir'd of him During the whole course of his Captivity the Judges order'd and decreed many injurious and rough sentences against him The chiefest of his fellow Prisoners was Margaret Fell whom he afterwards made consort of his marriage-bed both of them were mutually assistant to each other in all duties of Religion affording one another such help and comfort as people so intimately conjoyn'd both in Friendship and Religion generally expect from one another But after this he was shut up in a Dungeon full of filth and nastiness and standing stagnating water where he underwent much misery being forc'd sometimes to pass the night without having whereupon to sup upon which he was taken very ill and was now but slowly recovering his former strength I have already told what havock that merciless plague had made both in London and the Neighbouring Countries But upon the back of this evil there succeeded another in the ensuing year sixty six viz. That terrible fire which did not indeed reach the whole Country but burn'd and wasted almost all that noble and populous City of London so that to this day all England has not been able to forget it nor shall succeeding ages ever obliterate such a dismalâ— account of their Remembrance Having given you an account of the many hard and miserable conditions of these Men I shall now adorn this treatise with some pleasing variety to divert and refresh the mind of my Reader perhaps now wearied with reading It will not be amiss therefore to take a view of what the Quakers wrote for these four years by way of Prophecy and Prediction concerning the future State of the Kingdom and both these memorable afflictions of the City of London for such kind of Histories do much delight and charm the ears of Men I shall only select those that are most memorable and worth observation The predictions of Men do generally run upon some great and wonderful revolutions and changes tho they seldom come to light till the event be past These people were so certainly persuaded that some of their faction had so distinctly and clearly foretold the future scenes of affairs and both these Calamities of London that whoever misbeliev'd 'em was concluded by them to have shaken off all manner of faith and belief A certain Quaker call'd Serles a Weaver in the year one thousand six hundred and sixty two saw these words wrote in legible Characters upon the Circumference of a Kettle hanging over the fire Wo to England for poysoning of Charles the 2d Cardinal I understand Moloch Twenty Nations with him Englands misery cometh The Man being affraid at the sight calls the Neighbours to come and see it who coming were ravish'd with admiration to behold that wonder which they could not guess from whence it came The writing appear'd legible for a whole hour together and then evanish'd on its own accord Many of the people and those of considerable note who were not Quakers attested the verity of this wonder I my self have seen and read both the story and the same very words mark'd by John Coughen whom I formerly mention'd in his Note-book that same year which book was kept in the Closet of a certain great Man in this Country from that year till two years after King Charles's Death all which time it was kept secret from any other body so that no doubt is to be made of the Authentickness of that Annotation But what the Quakers would have meant by these words or that sight and how they Accommodated it to the manner of K. Charles's Death and to the changes of Religion and Miseries to come after many years and how the future event of things happening about the King Charles's Death that were told reported known and seen through all England did agree with these words is not needful to be determin'd in this place The Quakers affirm'd that one of their Captives at London did clearly foretell the pestilence that was to overtake that City saying that in a short time the streets which then were replenish'd with Men and resorted to by many should be seen cover'd with grass and wanting Men to tread uponâ— them But I shall not extend this presage any further lest I seem to recede from the design'd order and brevity of this treatise This they relate of the fire of London that there was a Quaker at Hereford who before the burning of
into and continued in Prison at Aberdeen for many months He then wrote a book of the immediate Revelation of Christ in Man which is a Summary of all their Doctrine the next year W. Penn on the same score was put in Custody at London Penn and some of his Companions had a Conference with the Presbyterians touching their Doctrine of the Trinity and Justification of Sins wherein neither party could convince the other by Argument Nay at last not so much as hear each other speak When this had given rise to a great Confusion Penn being firm to his purpose and restless till he had effected it betakes himself to a Retirement for Writing Shortly after he publishes a book shaking these three Presbyterian Doctrines pretending to fight with the Testimonies of Scripture and Reason Implanted into the knowledge and understanding of Men viz. That there is one God subsisting in three distinct and separate persons that there 's no Remission of sins without full Satisfaction and that Men are Justified by imputed Righteousness I make choice of those words which Penn does in English as suited to the proper Idiom of that Tongue which now others when they speak of Theological Subjects do use These words I suppose he the rather pitch'd upon because the Presbyterians snarl'd at his former expreâ—â—ions about the first Article concerning the separate persons in the Trinity as if Penn had been more verbal than real in his Controversies This did not only inspire the Presbyterians but also the English Clergy with anger and hatred which broke out into Reproaches that his book show'd his mind and what he was viz. A denier of the Trinity and so not at all to be suffer'd amongst Christians Upon these Clamours Penn was Imprisoned where he wrote a book call'd The Crown not without the Cross handling the Actions of Life and not Articles of Religion not barren of things or swell'd with words but fruitful of matter ponderous and sententious for its phrases and polish'd with the Ornaments of orat'ry so that his Enemies Scruple not to praise his skill and industry Penn was set free by the Kings desire who also because danger seem'd to threaten his fortune which he had Considerably in England and Ireland by the endeavouring of some so to shorten his wings that they might ne're again grow did so protect him as to prevent the seizure and confiscation of his goods About this time by his Rashness Boldness and Impudence Salomon Eccles felt the smart of what he drew on himself which he might have avoided This Zealot whom in the former book from a Musician we made Quaker so Contemn'd the sweeter Children of the Muses as to expose their Instruments to the cruelty of the flames He was no sooner made Preacher than he Acted his part with such eagerness as answer'd the expectation of his own Party and fill'd the Ears and Tongues of the contrary In the year 67 he wrote a Dialogue concerning the excellency and use of the Art of Musick betwixt himself as opponent and the Defendents of that Art whom he brings in speaking and so silenc'd as to raise himself Trophies of Praise and Victory The next year he published a Challenge daring Presbyterians Independents Baptists Papists and all other Doctors and Pastors to try by this Experiment with him who were the true Worshippers of God That without either meat or drink for seven Days and Nights they might devout themselves to watching and praying and they on whom Celestial fire should fall down might be esteem'd to receive that Eternal Testimony for the true Religion that 's acceptable to God But there was none found so frothy or vain as to enter the Lists with so foolish a Challenger tho these words pass'd unresented what followed the next year had not the same success For Eccles in a town of Galloway in Scotland knowing of a Popish Meeting at some distance puts a Chassing-dish with fire and brimstone on his head and goes to their assembly with three of his Associates and giving the fire to his Friends who received it on their knees on the blazing of the flame he denounces to all the sudden danger of being devour'd with fire if they did not presently forsake their Idolatry Returning from thence into the City and repeating his famous precept and sign that they might also learn the wisdom to amend who rewarded his Sermon and sign no better than with blows and ill words and then with a Jayl upon his Enlargement and return to London he Commences the like Admonition in Bartholomew-fair to the whole Croud in the Ring of the Rabble but a sharp Man attacking him had disarm'd him of his shield and given him a mark to put him in mind of that time and place had not another of some note and honesty defended Eccles with his naked Sword and deliver'd him from the hands of the enraged Multitude The Quakers themselves take such Actions to be unwarrantable and inconsiderate not long after Eccles went to Ireland and at Cork in the great Church the service being ended he thunders that solemn Scripture some so often abuse The Prayers of the Wicked are an Abomination to the Lord. Whence being dragg'd into Prison and then whipt through all the streets by the common Hangman he was thrown out of the City as a Vagabond and factious fellow whose deprav'd mind ill custom and foolish humour stir'd him up to pervert and trouble the people Afterward Eccles went into New England where at a Sermon being greatly mov'd with anger he Prophesied a Judgment as ordain'd by God to fall on a certain person within a time he prefix'd but the falsehood of his Oracle giving him experience of his vanity and afterward to confess by a publick writing the folly and error or his own Rashness having at length imitated an Ingenuous Man in this for as it 's best to do nothing to be repented of so it's next best by Repentance to repair what 's done amiss Whilst the Don 's of the Quakers were thus punished In England Scotland and especially in Ireland their whole Society met likeways with great opposition for refusing to forbear their assemblies which having mention'd already what I find to be observable I shall here content my self barely to Name Fox this year went into Ireland yet did little there but visit his friends and advise each of 'em to what he Judg'd for their Advantage Fox having thence return'd in England and till then by reason of troublesome Incumbrances been oblig'd to lead a single life having now got some liberty and ease grew weary of the lonelyness of a Solitary bed tho otherways free and pleasant in it self and in this mind he addrest himself to Margaret the Widdow of L. Fell his old Friend with whom he had lodg'd and afterward by the advice of both their Friends he marry'd her neither to supply the beggery of the one nor gratify the lust of the other and therefore they were less
unprejudiced 'T was then said of them as it 's now of the Browâ—ists that they conspir'd all with one mouth and mind by a mutual Consent Counsel Aid and Endeavour to ingross their Region and Religion to themselves The Magistrates often advis'd with the Ministers and the Ministers in their Meetings consulted with the Magistrates so that for the most part there was but one assembly of 'em both Hence what pleas'd the Magistrates the Clergy approv'd of and what the Ministers took upon 'em to determine the Magistrates by their Authority did confirm And what proceeded from both the two never miss'd of a grateful wellcome from the people But yet all the Magistrates and Rulers in chief of the Cities and Preachers of the word did not so willingly and equally consent to infest afflict and persecute the Quakers Nay some of 'em were not only against it in their Judgment but oppos'd it by their words as far as they cou'd Among the Rulers against persecuting the Quakers they place and praise John Winthoepius a very great and excellent Man and also those Men whose names are subjoyn'd among the better sort of Citizens was William Coddington at that time a Merchant in Boston very considerable for his wealth and prudence who the Quakers testify did so behave themselves both at home and wherever they went as those that must shortly give an account of all their Actions done in the Body Among the Preachers John Cotton Minister at Boston famous for knowledge Administring his Office and Piety in behaving himself towards God and Men They own he was always uncorrupted and untainted and averse to this sort of Rigour and Cruelty The people of New England as yet wanted one piece of severity to suppress the Quakers viz. To take 'em out of the way by Death whom they thought they cou'd not otherwise restrain This Law obtain'd in New as well as Old England that no Criminal shou'd be sentenc'd to Death till the matter be duely known and consider'd by twelve extraordinary Inquirers whom they call Jury Men because they are sworn to determine nothing till they 've diligently search'd and narrowly weigh'd the affair as has been elsewhere shewn on another occasion Since this Law withstood and obstructed the inflicting the punishment of Death upon Quakers they began to consult and greedily endeavour to Abrogate this Law by an Act of the Senate Whereupon 12 voted that it shou'd be retain'd and 13 that it shou'd be rescinded and thus the odd vote carry'd it The matter being known one of the Senators Wozely esteem'd a quiet just and equitable Man was then unhappily forc'd to be absent being hinder'd and detain'd by a bodily indisposition taking it ill that such an Act had pass'd so knowing that if he had been there the design had been frustrated he was reported to have said that had he but known that they were consulting and deliberating of that notwithstanding the bodily sickness he labour'd under he wou'd have crept there on his hands and his feet to oppose the Injustice of so unreasonable an Act. By this Council the matter is brought into the sole power and hand of the ordinary Judges or the supream Court of the province There was now therefore so much Zeal and Eagerness in most of the Rulers of Cities and Provinces in afflicting and puisuing the Quakers to the utmost that if any did not revile and reproach 'em or stopt and retarded the violence of others against 'em especially if any defended and excus'd 'em he was esteem'd a Quaker himself and at least depriv'd of his place and office if he had not great interest at hand There 's a Letter of one of 'em James Cudworth yet extant who was then one of the Magistrates of Boston but for this cause divested of that honour written at that time and sent from Boston to a certain friend of his in Old England which Letter since written in English I shall not here trouble the Reader with but content my self to resume some words of it which were express'd to this effect The State of Affairs are here sad The Antichristian SpiSpirit is wedded to persecution Who declines to persecute and afflict these Men that differ from us in matter of Religion is withdrawn from his place and not permitted to execute any Office in the Government Thus Hatherly and I have been treated Thus they us'd me for no other reason than taking in certain Quakers to my house which I did that I might inquire of 'em more narrowly concerning the foundations of their perswasion this I took always to be more reasonable than to condemn those with the blind World whose Doctrine and Principles we 're utterly ignorant of And tho I declar'd before that I herded not with Quakers and that I was as far from agreeing with 'em in many things as I was from persecuting 'em yet these two years they 've so estrang'd themselves from me that at length they 've unchair'd me from my office in the Magistracy what future event the Teeming womb of such furious Actions will produce time will declare when the birth is disclos'd farewell This kind of Judging being push'd out of Doors a Law was made that if any Quakers did irreclaimably and obstinately persist and cou'd not be otherwise repress'd or restrain'd they shou'd suffer the desert of their Contumacy and end their obstinate life with a halter Soon after Samuel Gorton was try'd for his life but in Judgment 't was carry'd he shou'd be clear'd and that only by one Vote Which decision one of the Ministers whose name I again designedly conceal a Man of a Copious torrent of Knowledge Subtilty and Eloquence digested so heinously that publickly in the Pulpit he broke out in those words by whom to whom and on what occasion they were utter'd is I suppose not unknown to the Learn'd Because thou has let go the accursed Man thy life shall therefore answer for his After this two Quakers were Arraign'd before the same Judges William Robbinson a Merchant in London and Marmadue Stevenson a Countreyman of Yorkshire in Old England Of their Imprisonment Trial and Punishment the Quakers give a large and true account as matters so clear and known in that Countrey that the noise of their fame is not yet quite extinguish'd They came both here knowingly and designedly for no other end than to preach the Gospel to which they had apply'd themselves in their own Countrey before After Robbinson for some time had continu'd at Rhodes and Stevenson at Barmuda's in the year fifty nine they came to Boston in New England Here they were no sooner arriv'd than without either Informer or Witness upon their own betraying of themselves they 're thrown into the Solitary Darkness of a Prison there they find Mary Dyer who was Banish'd from Boston as has already been said and yet return'd thither again as is sometimes their way and Nicholas David These all being brought before the Judges and accordingly charg'd
was so forcibly incens'd that they could be broken by no Violence or Reproaches thinking then themselves to be truly happy when they were counted worthy to suffer Affliction for their Religion yea Death tho never so Ignominious and Cruel hence it comes that each Sect has its Martyrs This they also ambition'd as a holy sight running to embrace Death as the Crown of their Religion sign of faith Mark of Society witness of Communion Monument of their Name matter of perpetual fame and not only end of this Temporary life but also beginning of that which is Eternal Thus the Senate of Boston after many debates being unwilling to conclude of Leaders affair regarding the Actions not the words of the Criminal at length order'd him to be Indicted of Treason and pronounc'd him a Man whom they Judg'd and Declar'd to deserve to be sever'd from among the Number of the Living which sentence was accordingly executed upon the 14th day of March Then his head was lifted up on high on an unhappy Gibbet and he ended his life without any fear having spoken these words before some friends my God to thee I commend my just Soul After him the Court 's first enquiry was on Wenlock who seem'd to them to have drawn all severity on himself When no body doubted but Wenlock wou'd fall a victim to appease the Judges fury when he came to be tryed he disputed long and the Judges differ'd in their Thoughts and Intentions whereupon Wenlock did so much urge the Equity and Justice of discussing the affair according to the Rules of the English Laws arguing that those Laws were only made against Jesuits and not Quakers who might very justly expect Impunity altho they err'd in the sight of Men The Judges were at length so Inveigl'd and Entangled that they return'd to the old form of proceeding and committed the whole weight of the cause to the Judgment of twelve Sworn Jury-Men But they also having long delay'd Wenlock at length brought him in guilty of Death This was done on the 13th day of the 1st month of the Summer Season but the Execution of the sentence was some days delay'd John Currier an inhabitant of Boston having been whipt through three Towns before return'd by the same places to Boston to his Wife and Children whom he had left there being again whipt about the same round he was detain'd in Prison at Boston where he had resid'd In the opinion of himself and other Men he was to be branded with a burning Iron in the shoulder and there mark'd with the Letter R. to design him according to the English and Roman Laws that which we call a Rogue There were 28 more Prisoners there One of 'em condemn'd for all his life to remain in the Prison where he then was the rest were uncertain what shou'd become of 'em seeing themselves daily detain'd and delay'd As many things unexpected and unlook'd for in the life of Man falls oftner out than when we have hopes and expectations of the matter so while the Judges were so often remiss and the Quakers punishment so frequently delay'd and yet nothing was seen to retard it suddenly and beyond all Expectation it was appointed by the Magistrates Command that a new Law shou'd immediately take place to release Wenlock and the rest of the Prisoners from any punishment they were liable to by the old so that they might when they pleas'd be free'd from the Prison and for that purpose the doors were set open The signal being given they went out without Loitering Only Peter Pearson and Judith Brown were contrary to their hopes detain'd and whipt at a Cart. The cause of so unexpected a change was suppos'd to be the fear of the Magistrates foreseeing that the King and Nobles in Old England wou'd not well resent such Rigour and Cruelty and wou'd therefore take care to prevent it for the future Not long after King Charles being inform'd how the Quakers were treated in new-New-England by Rumors Messengers and their own complaints given in by Petition to the King and Parliament and that not only once but often sent immediately to the Governour of Boston and the rest of the fellow rulers of these Countreys and Colonies a Letter concerning the Imprison'd Quakers giving it to be carried by Sam. Sattoc a Quaker who had been an Inhabitant there but was thence banish'd as I mention'd already and now return'd there in a Ship commanded by one of his own perswasion The Letter was as follows C. R. to his dear and faithful Subjects since we 've Learn'd that many of our Subjects among you call'd Quakers to have been some Imprison'd others kill'd the rest as we 're told remaining fall in danger we thought good to signify our will and pleasure to you concerning that affair for the future Our will is therefore that if there be any Quakers among you whose Death Corporal punishment or Imprisonment you have order'd or may for the future have occasion to determine that you proceed no further in that affair but forthwith send 'em whether they be Condemn'd or bound into our Kingdom of England with an account of their particular Tryals and Faults that they may here be dealt withal according to our Laws and their Merits Herein this letter shall be your warrant Given from our Court at VVhitehall the 10th of Sept. 1661 the 13th year of our Reign By the Kings command William Morris This Epistle of the King so stay'd their Persecution that it was no Crime to be reckon'd a Quaker The Magistracy of Boston fearing the Kings displeasure for what they had done sent three into Old England Temple an Officer a Magistrate and Norton a Minister to acquaint the King with what they had done But Jurisdiction and Judgment was not therefore wholly stopt or taken away But being forbidden to inflict a final severity and punishment they compens'd it by the heavier Temporary torment making some by their Chastisement rather wish to die than endure so great and many Evils so often Tho I cou'd instance many examples of this I 'll only relate one or two partly to avoid Prolixity and partly because by one we may guess of the rest That year Ann Cotton a woman of sixty came with a design to live at Boston but was so far from being admitted that she was thrown into Goal Being at length wearied of her they took her to a Wood and after many wandrings she found occasion to go for England There she obtain'd a pattent from the K. allowing her to reside at Boston She renew'd her Journey and came boldly back to Boston But neither was she then admitted She went therefore to Cambridge where she was thrown into a dark Deu thrice lash'd then carry'd to a Remote and Desolate place where from wild Beasts she might be in daily danger of her life But returning by the same ways she went out she was also whipt as she had been before The following year being scarce expir'd Ann
was about the time that the Persecution against these people began to rage in New-England Another Town in the like Condition belonging indeed to the English but under the Jurisdiction of the Hollandew was Gravesend And there a Noble Lady the. Countess of Mordee who was a Puritan was turn'd Quaker and resided chiefly at this place gave the remaining people of this Society the liberty of Meeting in her house but mannaged it with that prudence and observance of time and place as gave no offence to any stranger or person of another Religion than her own and so she and her people remained free from all Molestation and Disturbance And because we have made mention of this Lady and her Company in this place I 'll relate a memorable story There was the Son of certain English Clergyman arriv'd at years of Discretion and of very honest Conversation Who being often in the house of this Lady and Entertaining her many times with discourses upon Religious Subjects she invites him to come to their Meeting and hear their Preaching at least for once He answer'd her again and again for she was very earnest with him that he should be always very ready to obey her Ladyship in any other thing but in this humbly begg'd her Ladyships excuse This young Gentlewoman continuing obstinate and the Lady by how much more she persisted in the thing by so much the greater was the grief of her Disappointment at last he did that of his own accord which he neither would or could upon her Prayers and Intreaties He fancied to himself one night in his sleep that he heard and saw many things of the Quakers and when he was awaked and thought nothing had put a deceit upon his senses he heard as it were a voice and went and came to a Company of those sort of people of whom he had form'd in his mind so many representations when he was asleep He approving of his Oraculous Dream the day following goes to a Meeting of the Quakers where he was so taken with their Discourses that he was Transported beyond himself And his mind was continually running on going thither again But before he did he Communicates his Intention to several of his Friends who mightily dehorted him therefrom Considering therefore their reasons on the one hand and on the other the Continual Idea of his Night Vision never going out of his mind and that not devised or fancied but real discourse of theirs was always turmoiâ—ing him so that with the horrible Agonies of his mind not knowing which way to turn or what to do he fell into a greivous and dangerous fit of Sickness From which being recover'd he not onely Estranged himself wholly from that sort of People but also imputed what had happen'd to him among that people to the Effects of Incantation and said the Devil wrought amongst them Of the truth of this I have a very worthy Gentleman a witness who is now a faithful Minister of the Word of God in our Countrey to whom the young Man has often related this story Sometimes there has been of these sort of People who before a Magistrate have said they could not say or do any thing with them without their hats on These there was no better way to deal with than by severely reprimanding them and sending them away unheard and soundly rated at There were some women which in the high ways others tho but few who in the middle of the Sermon or Prayers of our people would break out either into an Extempore or Praemiditated Noise or Singing These Women were Commanded or Compelled to go away or carried away and taken into Custody till they were discharged And so if their crime was no greater they were no further punish'd Now to speak a little of the other Plantations of the English Virginia Bermudas c. I have said already in the beginning who they were that first Voyaged hither but who they were that first went to those places I can't so certainly tell It seems George Wilson came to Virginia in the year 56 and there died in Bâ—â—â—s Henry Fell went to Barmudas the same year and not long after return'd again In those parts also the Religion of the Quakers began to appear abroad sensibly and shew its face As for these Men till the year 60 I don't find any punishment inflicted on them only some Fines were laid upon them because they us'd to entertain one another in their houses or refus'd to take an Oath or be uncover'd before a Magistrate or to undertake any Military Services Altho these fines were often so great that even for one default onely the third part or more of their goods were taken away they not having much Money as the generality of them were of the meaner sort of people This I find that in Mariland a province joyning to Virginia this year Thomas Thurston was cast into Prison and the Officer desiring one John Holland to assist him in this business who refusing and saying it was unreasonable Thurston should be us'd so and that he could not assist him in the taking of a Man Prisoner who was his Friend and old Acquaintance to be any ways assistant to the said Office which the Laws of England will no ways excuse not even among those that are of the first Degree and Quality he himself was put in Prison too and afterwards severely whipt Then in the year 60 and that following as the Spirit and Courage of these people began to increase with their Numbers and these Friends to set up their Meetings and at last they went on Cheerfully in their ways then both for the reasons aforesaid And especially on the account of these Meetings they were prosecuted with Imprisonments Whippings Banishments Transportations into wild Woods and Desolate places till at length this excessive severity began to abate and this Sect of People to rest and be confirm'd and that especially by reason of the Kings Interposition and an order sent like that I spake of before to the Governour of new-New-England Those who are acquainted with that part of America which is under the English Jurisdiction know Pensilvania the Propriety and Government of which vacant by the Death of William Pen from whom the said Countrey takes its Denomination descended to his Son William Penn that famous Patron and Head of the Quakers And he being heir to this Countrey it became as it were the Inheritance and Portion of the Quakers especially since the year 82 at which time Penn going to his Government order'd all things to his own mind and appointed all his Officers and Agents their proper places Omitting therefore to speak of the political Order and Government of this Countrey and its legal Establishment and of the Benefits and Advantages these Quaker-people enjoy both throughout the whole Province and especially in the Town which from their mutual Love to one another they have call'd Philadelphia these people at that time were induc'd with such
taken in as members of it Which being a thing of no small moment and laying a firm foundation for hatred and envy disagreement and Contention among these People even to this very day it is much to be feared that unless they agree better among themselves it may come to pass one day that their domestick Quarrels invite their Barbarous Neighbours or other forreign foes to set upon them in an hostile manner and put a speedy period to their Government and longer continuance there And we may know also that whereas the War between the French and English is carried into these parts of the World also and altho these people can tell how to fight well enough with words yet they 'll have nothing to do with War or Armies either for offence or defence and consequently lye an easy Conquest for an Enemy who very quietly and without any danger at all to themselves might soon overcome them King William of England has sent 'em over a Governour one of the Church of England with Orders That if occasion be he should take care to defend them against any Armed Enemy better than otherwise they would themselves Now since we are at present upon this Country of the Quakers and have but now made mention of the great dissentions and distractions amongst them it would not be suitable to this Relation and the design of this Work if I should omit that great and very memorable Case that within these few years has happen'd among them in those Parts which because know'n to few I will relate and deduce down to this very time when as yet none knows what the end of it will be I have shewn in the former Book concerning George Keith that famous Teacher amongst the Quakers how the Quakers his Friends and Acquaintaince in England ascribed to him certain Errors or Forms of speaking which they did not approve of but which of their good will towards him they attributed to his singular Learning This man came over into these parts and residing a while in some Islands near Pensylvania in the year 89 remov'd thence to Philadelphia being invited by some who not only desired him for their Preacher but also to be Tutor to their Children When he came thither he undertook both Offices and to shew his Modesty takes the place of an Usher to teach Boys and discharges it very commendably And at the same time exercising his Preaching Faculty among an unlearned and Ignorant company of People as for the most part their Preachers were he excell'd 'em all appearing as a bright Luminary and out-shining all the rest of that Order among them And by his opportune diligence and industry in all the parts of his Ministerial Office he render'd himself belov'd of 'em all especially the more inferiour sort of People And it had been well indeed if so it had continued But a short time produc'd a great alteration in the state of Affairs For soon after there arose some that oppos'd Keith him and charg'd him with many not only Errors in Doctrine but also high and unpardonable Crimes For Keith did not forbear over and over again to inculcate and instruct all his Auditors in the Doctrines of the two-fold Nature of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ the Divine and Human and of the Human the one part Heavenly Spiritual and Eternal the other Earthly and Corporeal conceiv'd in time of his Mother Mary Then his second Tenent was this which he often repeated to them all That Christ as Born of Mary was uninted with the Divine Nature and so was present with his Light and Life in all the Children of God It was difficult for him to keep the Conception of his mind to himself without divulging them especially because when a man rightly comprehends a thing himself it is nothing unless another be made acquainted with it too Wherefore Keith altho he a good while smother'd in silence the Opinions which he had long entertain'd Of the Transmigration of Souls after Death Of the last Judgment and State of the Deceased and end of the World as being unsafe and less acceptable to be disclosed yet he could not so contain himself but that now and then he gave an inckling in his Discourses of what his inward conceptions of these things were and sometimes he was not able to forbear betraying in his words what his true sense of those things was and what he principally aim'd at in them whence it came to pass that those that lov'd Keith and favour'd his Doctrine greedily entertain'd these Principles And yet for the most part those that were the greatest followers of his Doctrins and Admirers of his Skill and Parts whom Keith indeed for his own Credit 's sake either found or made thorough pac'd in his Principles embrac'd these Notions so heartily that they relyed more upon his Authority and Precepts than their own Judgment and thought it enough to say that he knew and said so and so and that with them was Demonstration And so his Exact and Nice and Subtle Judgment in these matters was a subterfuge to cover their Ignorance Against these Tenents of Keith and those of his Party there were others that set themselves and especially against that Article of the Divine and Human Nature of Christ which Article Keith openly acknowledged he held and professed and that it was no new thing by him devised but antiently and always taught by the whole Society Against which Article they objected that of one he made two Christs Of these Adversaries the Head and chief was an Elderly Minister one W. Stockade by Name a man indeed not unlearned but in the Opinion of himself and many more unlearned and ignorant People a man of vast Parts and Learning and the Champion and Defender of the Antient and Pure Religion of these People Keith stretched his Opinion and Belief of this Article so far and made it so necessary to be known and believed as that thereupon Christianity it self depended and that the denial of that Article was the same as to deny the Passion and Death of Christ yea Christ himself Moreover that they who persisted in the denying of this Article the sin of such denial was so great that it gave just cause to those that held it to fly to Extremity and separate themselves from those who obstinately deny it At last when this question had been Controverted a long while and no end like to be put to it Keith and those of his Party grew to that heighth and were so peremptory in this Controversy that they said God had called 'em to separate themselves from those sort of Infidels In the mean while as this good Company were so disgusted at the Opinions of the other acuter Men they entertain'd and published such kind of Notions about the same Articles as Keith and his followers no less delested and were averse from then they cry'd out the Denial of their Opinions was no less than a renouncing of the
and fearful of appearing Criminal not only now don't stand as Criminals but themselves sit and act as Judges in their own Cause and as such pass Sentances as their own private Animosities and prejudice and desire of revenge which they have been now along while Hatching and Consulting amongst themselves promp't them to And what such great Crime is there Committed that should occasion so great disputes and strife Isaias that great and excellent Prophet cries out that there are those who make a Man guilty for a word and lay a stumbling block for him that is ready to fall in the gate And lately into what Snares what Streights have I been brought and all for a word which besides that it was spoken hastily and not stood in if it were examined to the bottom and might receive a true proper and fair Interpretation or if taken in the best sense which alwaies ought to be follow'd would not onely have been pardoned but brought me Commendation too now for the like cause of Truth and Virtue are I and my Companians arraigned as Criminals For here we are charged with Sedition Dishonouring the Magistrates Treason Yea as if we were almost all guilty of every of these Crimes who are so far from them as we study nothing more than obedience to lawful Power and Authority But what Conviction is there of this What the least proof of it Or what that bears the least Resemblance of it For if to accuse alone be enough neither any of you or any Man living will be innocent and there will be no need to fear those punishments that these Men deserve But here lies the Conviction and proof of the Crime because we have spoken somewhat tartly against some of your order and have us'd sharp Language We hear it After a hostile manner No this your modesty will not give you leave to say tho all the rest you affirm with a geeat deal of Confidence But we have written and spoken a great many Scandalous things against them Whom Those who were and as yet are of our order Who tho they are Ecclesiasticks Doctors Ministers now at this time lay aside those Characters and take upon them to be Magistrates and Judges But what are these Scandalous things Are they such as both they and we do mutually exhort one another to and if that be not enough such as our places and duties oblige us publickly to admonish those that are Committed to our charge Is there any thing more than this That the Printers Name is not prefixt to the Book But what harm is there in that What necessity or Law Custom or Example is there for that I appeal to you O my Companions who have published so many famous books in England and the most Illustrious Penn the Lord and chief Governour of this Countrey of whom there are so many Monuments extant not bearing thy Name or the Names of those that Printed them Which since it is so let all Honest and Impartial people see and Judge who in this place principally are to be esteemed innocent and who guilty whereof the one do not in any wise refuse to stand before their Judges and to have their whole cause plainly determined The others fly from Justice and mock their Judges Now see and consider ye what ye have to determine that it may be that against Truth and Probability falsity and fraud which Tempests and Impure breaths are against the Sun and that it may come to pass if not at present yet that at last oppressed truth may have a Glorious resurrection and light up her head and slighted and injur'd vertue shine forth spendidly as the Suns raies break out so much the more Illustrious after the Gloomy Clouds are dispelled and at last that happy time may come in which the allwise incorrupt and Almighty Judge shall lay open and make manifest those things that are at present obscur'd in an abyss of Darkness and shall reveal the thoughts and counsels of the Heart and every one shall receive their reward from God After a long Quarrelsome and Confus'd disputing of the Case pro and con in which some of 'em so thought their Tongues to be their own as they said what they pleased the Judges having concluded and all people a-gape to hear the sentences They laid upon Keith and Bud the penalty of five pounds each Bradford's Tryal was put off till the next Sessions That which with these Men seems unjust they call the Judiciary Court of the whole province What these Judges seem to think of themselves as if from them there could be no appeal they don't allow of King Charles had reserved to himself in the assignment he had made of the Countrey to W. Penn in the Grand Charter or Grant he gave him the final Decision of such Cases wherein the Inhabitants of the Countrey themselves injured in the highest Tribunal of that Countrey and no other redress was to be had Therefore these Men appeal to the Cognizance of the King and Queen in England and to stand by their Decision And this was denied them by a bold and strong power than which nothing is more formidable or pernicious Wherefore these Men yeilding to their pleasure and the present time reserved their own right to themselves till another time There came in this time of great streights and trouble of mind and dejection these Men lay under two of these kind of people from England who advised Keith out of the ancient Friendship nearness and dearness which he had enter'd into with them and the whole Society that as much as in him lay and as Much as he could and should forego his own private Inconvenience for the sake of the publick and follow peace and avoid the scandal of such a Discension and so great a Distraction And that thereunto they would lend him their advice Which advice of thens Keith liked and approv'd of very well and altho he knew how uncertain a thing it was and full of Danger and that it was no part of a wise Man to follow that that he could not overtake yet that a dubious probability of good was better than an uncertain Evil. And so weighing all things well first he proposes to his Adversaries several Terms of Accommodation by Letters sent to them But they things succeeding now according to their wishes and their hearts being harden'd with inveterate hatred Interpreted this Change of his for an inconstancy unbecoming wise Men and were angry at him for requesting this at their hands Wherefore the Keithians seeing that neither so could this business be brought about and considering that it would be labour in vain and to no purpose but rather hurtful to make any further overtures of peace or if they should obtain any thing that it would not be peace but a Slavish kind of Agreement therefore they kept themselves to themselves and within the bounds of their own Confession which Keith and some others in his own Name and of those
House fell into such a Fit of Trembling with Convulsions of the whole Body that that day prov'd to it the last of its Life But not to repeat the same thing so often over and over again and to reduce our discourse to a narrower compass this sending out and coming back expulsion again and return was made about 20 times in this and the ensuing year For it seem'd hard to the Magistrate to enact any thing so grievous against his own Citizens against whom there could no other Charge be laid than Constancy in their Religion and to the Quakers so to forsake their Native Country and Houses and whatsoever else that was dear to them and not endeavour to regain their old Seats and way of Life and Religion and the exercise hereof and without which it cannot consist The Quakers writ boldly and amply of this to the Magistracy of Embden as well the Dutch as English in the Sentences and grave Language of Fox Green Crocius and Penn. The subject and scope of them all was he same What fury possess'd their Spirits or what weakness their Minds that had enraged them to such a Degree against those People that had never done any thing that could merit their Just Displeasure or in the least diminish their Rights For that they loved their Houses and were ready on all occasions to return to the City and to their Families and to their Native Soil and preferr'd this before the Will of the Magistrates the Magistrates might easily know the Cause of that unless that being impatient of the Truth by prejudice against these mens Discourse they hindred their Defence and themselves a right Judgment For that was not their Principle to think themselves exempt from all Laws subject to no Government or touch'd with no fears or any Expectation of Evil. That they were not so lame or faultring in their Duties nor had so put off the Sense of all common Humanity But they were of another Opinion That it was God and the guidance of the Spirit and their Conscience which carried them on and that there was a Religion which they had from God in which the first principle head Strength and Defence was Liberty and that not only private but open publick and common That we should not abstain from the Presence or Companies of Men or sight and speech of friends and acquaintance or be behindhand in the daily performance of Good Offices and Turns one for another which things they that deny or take away totally subvert not only Liberty but also all Religion Wherefore also this thing ought not to be esteemed as a Disgrace to these Men or a Crime but rather in their praise as a good Action that they might estimate them by themselves if they re-call'd to mind that if any humane Affection or any desire of a glorious shew had put them upon these Thoughts that they might if they travell'd elsewhere live a quiet and honest Life remote from these Storms of Contentions and Ignominy whereas they chose rather to undergo so many Miseries and Calamities And that that they could affirm which they said without Arrogance or Pride That if the Magistrates were resolv'd to go on as they had begun that their Friends also were determin'd rather than forsake their Places or forego their Religion they would suffer the last Extremities and not only endure and undergo the most continual Torments but even the cruellest Deaths that could be inflicted Also Haasbaard sent a Leter to the Senate out of Prison whose last words at the End of it are memorable That he long'd for the time wherein God would open the Eyes of Men that they might see how that himself and the Quakers were injuriously and falsly accused and to that Judge they committed their integrity In the time following the Edict against the Reception of the Quakers was put in Execution upon those who were thereof convicted as the Mother of Haasbaard for receiving her said Son in her house was fined 50 Imperials and a certain woman a member of the Reformed Church because she did not deny her Husband who was a Quaker to lodge bed and board with her was mulcted 50 Golden Florens In the mean time Haasbard besides his Exile being oppressed with so many Cares and Griefs which lead to Distempers and Death was over-taken by his last Day and dies Who being dead when the persecution seem'd to die too it reviv'd again a little after in his 3 Sisters whereof two were unmarried and one Married but who at this time did not Co-habit with her husband For when these women and likewise 6 Men of their Acquaintance met together to see one another and for mutual Exhortation's sake by and by the Sergeants and Souldiers come in unto them and run upon them and carry them away to Prison and take away out of the Womens pockets Money and Silver Cases and a watch of great Value which they wear not out of Pride or for Ornament or Ostentations sake but for use and while these Varlets spend one part of their prey and suppress another part the rest they carry to the Burgomaster Yet these people some daies after were dismissed instead of a fine which they would not pay the things that they had taken from the Women being detain'd The last assault was in the year 79 Then the hatred began by degrees to grow less and less and to wax old when it was better seen and known That the Quakers were not such a sort of people as the Magistrates and Citizens had taken them for A Wonder this but yet neither new nor unknown Charles King of England dying and James succeeding him some rich Quakers flying out of England came hither to Embden These the Senate were so far from repelling that they receiv'd them very kindly and not onely granted them houses but also the Exercise of their Religion and access to it and leave to build a publick Meeting place and proffer'd them ground to build it upon hoping that that would now tend to the Increase and Riches and Splendor of their City and Nevertheless without any Detriment or Disgrace to their Religion Moreover the year following after that a Quaker-woman a Citizen of Embden a woman of eminent Condition and some other Rich and Honest Citizens who had been against the Persecution had well prepar'd the Matter the Senate that had been so severe against the banish'd Citizens do now no less Hospitably invite them home than formerly they had in hostile manner expell'd them and permit them the free Exercise of their Religion and promise and engage themselves to Protect and Defend them therein and Confirm the same by a Decree of which I have had the liberty of Perusal Altho this Liberality and Beneficence of theirs was now in vain and too late for these English afterwards having heard that William Prince of Orange was made King whose alone Name allur'd the minds of these Men to return home to their former Seats
came to the Princess's Court and desired liberty to speak with her she who was full of humanity and gentleness and never disdained any tho never so mean and unequal to her Condition that desired to apply themselves unto her admits and hears them with chearful and favourable Countenance being especially pleased with Isabells Discourse who indeed had a curious voice and a freer way of delivering her self and having heard what they had to say dismist them with a short and pithy answer and having afterward opened and read Fox's Epistle She takes care to deliver unto them her own Letter writ in the Language he had done to wit English that they might give it to Fox which Letter was to this effect Dear Friend I cannot chuse but tenderly Love all those that Love the Lord Jesus Christ and who not only believe in him but also suffer for his Sake wherefore I was mightily pleased with the Letter which you sent me and your Friends that visited me I shall pursue the Advice both of the one and of the other as far as God shall grant me his â—ight and Motion and in the mean time remain Your Loving Friend Elizabeth And about this time William Penn being on his German Expedition together with his other Friends directs his Course to this Princess and that I may not multiply many words Preach'd twice in the Princesses Inner-Chamber there being some few of the Towns-men present concerning the Vanity and Rejection of Earthly Things and the Elevation of the Mind to higher Speculations and did so far prevail by his polite Eloquence and Approbation of the Auditors that the Princess declared that she had been always intent upon the Duty Penn spoke off and did not yet cease to go on the same Work and Duty with which answer those Men departed And because that the attempt of these Quakers in their Opinions had hitherto met with no bad success in this part of Germany the same Men egg'd on with the same hope go into Holsatia and the parts adjacent There were yet in these parts amongst the Mennonites or Anabaptists who were few a small number still remaining and lurking here of those Sectaries wherewith Germany in the preceeding Age had been plagued being those who sprung up from the School or rather Stall and Hog-sty of David George not from the Family of Love as they called it and such scum and off-scourings as these and who still retained their foolish and vain Imaginations and according to their vain and vile Inventions and Examples united together and entred into a Fraternity more feignedly then truly and really Now these itinerant Quakers found some of these Men at Hamburg which is the most famous City of Holsatia as also at Fredricburg a place upon the Eyder and frequented and partly inhabited by the Arminians and Remonstrants of our Country who looking upon these Men to come up very near to their Opinions Tenets and Ways and so begin of their own accord prepared and fitted thereunto they did easily fall in with them though there were also some that were not of this Sect but intensly addicted to the Mennonites who now associated together and applied themselves with all their might and main to maintain the Assertors of the Quaker's Doctrines All these that lurked among the Anabaptist and even others also tho' they were like unto them and followed their ways still in many things were always suffered upon the account of their Ignorance and supposed Innocence to live quietly untill that about two years before the Mayor of the City of Fredricburg then newly created and that he himself might do somewhat new and make himself to be taken notice of began to disturb the Peace of these Quakers that had hitherto been left alone and to create them some Molestation and Trouble Which when the Remonstrants of Amsterdam came to understand and particularly Ph. Limburg their Pastor and worthy Professor and being careful of the Safety of those Men and concerned to maintain the esteem of their own Religion urge least that now all Men both good and bad should say they were become other sort of Persons and cruel whom most Men looked upon always remote from all manner of Persecution that they should Revoke their Proceedings against those Men and intercede for the continuation of their Liberty that had been hitherto unviolable and entirely respite them and cease their Persecution Fox Travels from Holland through the Countries of Friesland and Aldenburg to go to these Men taking more Consolation with his Friends than doing any good to others Those fame Itinerants and Emissaries of whom I have made mention before went forwards and came to Regal Prussia as far as the Baltick Sea where at Dantzick a very few also of the remainder of those old Fanaticks and of the Mennonites Men who could discern little what belonged to Religion or was to be pursued therein and poor who could scarce by their daily and hard labour get daily sustenance applied themselves to them and fell in with their Doctrine and Counsels These Men from this time forwards have been continually harrassed by the Lutherans in whose Hands the Supream Power and Magistracy is and heavily Fined and Imprisoned Wherefore G. Fox did upon their behalf as being his Friends Brethren and Equals in the year 1677 send a Letter to John III. King of Poland and intercedes with him thereby for a Tolleration for them concerning which Epistle which Fox took care should be published in his long Diary after his Death this is worthy to be noted That at first it was written in England in the English Tongue then sent into Holland and there Translated into the German Language and lastly sent from thence and delivered to the King The substance whereof was this That it was a most equitable and righteous thing that all Kings Princes and Magistrates should grant Liberty of Conscience to all their Subjects and by no means disturb nor obstruct their Assemblies and Divine Exercises He set forth that this was the judgment of the Fathers and ancient Doctors of the Church as also the modern ones and even the Learned Men of the present time we live in And that many Kings and Princes had Indulged this Grace and Favour to their People and for that reason were highly worthy of Praise and were really extolled by worthy honest and wise Men He also collected and pick'd out several Sayings and Sentences turned out of Greek Latin French and other Languages as also Examples and Precepts found in Histories to press this matter more upon him But this Epistle was so written that it look'd and represented not the Work and Sentiment only of one single Person but of many and seemed to take in the Complicated Sence and Advice of the whole Society of the Quakers Yet this Letter had the name of George Fox only subscribed to it and that without any other Mark and Designation of Persons or Authority so that Fox though a most-illiterate
perhaps destruction The same year did William Cotton go to Calaiâ— a City on the Sea-coast of France six miles distant from Dunkirk with the same design as the other two had before-mentioned but not so skilful in the Language of the Country where entring into the great Church and viewing all things frowningly but holding his Peace he said at last that he was a sort of a new Guest and when after some time he was known to be an English-man he was led to the House of a certain Noble Scotch-man and being asked what he was he did not deny but that he was so and so There when the foresaid Scotch-man made himself to be his Interpreter to the People Cotten speaks a few words concerning the Idolatry and Corrupt Manners of the People which when he had done and that they contrived to do him an Injury he no sooner came to hear of it but bethinking himself he ought to take heed and to reserve his life for another necessity of dying as his Friends before had done he suddenly and without any manner of delay that he might disappoint the Consultations and Contrivances of his Enemies flies and makes the best of his way back again into England George Ball was the only person that penetrared into France and so that he never returned thence again and so it 's uncertain and unknown what he did or what became of him The Quakers think he perished somewhere in Prison None other after thesemen went on this design into France St. Crisp tryed this Experiment in that horrid and more than barbarous Persecution of the whole Reformed Churches in that Kingdom and in the dispersion of so many Thousands of men through other Reformed Countries of which we have not yet seen an end that he wrote a book and took care to send and deliver it to those men to try whether he could aâ—â—ect some of them so as to entertain a good Opinion of the Quakers Religion and joyn themselves to their Sect. It 's not to be doubted but that Book had its first beginning from Crisp but because it was written in French as it was to the French and that Crisp was ignorant of that Language or not well skilled therein itâ—s certain it was Translated and believed to have been much increased and published bâ— another hand And it 's no crime to think seeing the Style is so like unto that way of wâ—iâ—ing used by Peâ—n who is still the choicest Writer amongst the Quakers that he was that same Artificer It contains in it nothing concerning Religion It only puts those French in mind to consider with themselves wherefore God suffered such Calamities to befal them whether they were not the Consequent of their Soft and Depraved Education and Love to Earthly things and blind Obedience towards those to whose care they commited the Direction of their Consciences then that they should weigh what Good what Progress in Sanctity of Life those Calamities wrought in them which they endured with so much Lamentation Lastly That not contenting themselves with that Reformation which hitherto was instituted amongst them they should go on and do their endeavour to Finish and Consummate this begun Work But the Book was writ both in Respect to the Sentences Phrases and words very different from the English Mode and not only from that of the Quakers and to Conform to the Method and way of Writing in the French Tongue at this day when that Language is Arrived to its highest Maturity that there could be nothing in my Judgment writ more neatly and more congruous to the Genius and Temper of those People This Book the Quakers distributed gratis every where through the Countries where those French Refugees had Fled and in some places as the People were coming out of their Churches But there was not one found that we have heard of or came to understand that was induced by this Book to fall in with the Quakers Hester Bidley relates this Passage to have happened to her self a little before this time which every one is at liberty to believe as he pleases She went to the late Q. of England of happy memory and complains to her That it was very great grief of Heart to her as she was a Woman and a Christian that so great and tedious a War was waged between Christians and such great Calamities and Slaughters of Men which happened every day pierced her Heart and therefore she Exhorted the Queen to endeavour at least to bend her study this way for to end this War that Peace may be made and so gain great respect and affection from all The Queen who was of a most free and good Temper having given her her Answer she further desires That the Queen would grant her leave to go over into France saying she would advise and speak to the French King about the same affair and would have a Letter from the Queen to the same effect This the Queen refused and diswades her from the said enterprise urging that such a Journey and Business would be very difficult and dangerous yet for all this the woman through her importunity and earnest sollicitation got a pass from the said Queen's Secretary and seeing that a short space of time is tedious to a longing person she forthwith sets out and after various traverses comes into France and goes to Versailles and there coming to know that the late King of England was there she at first applies her self unto him as to one to whom he had been some years before known upon the like occasion and delivers unto him the Letter written by her to the French King the substance whereof was this That she being stirred by God the Supreme King of all that Illuminates this World pray'd the King to make his Peace with God and with the Nations he was at War with and put a stop to such an over-flowing and Rivulet of Blood that was shed King James having seen the Epistle sends the Woman to the Duke of Orleance to whom when she had come she delivered the Letter and said withal that she must speak with the King the Duke agrees to deliver the Letter but said she must not speak with the King whereupon the Woman full of Grief and Lamentation and with shedding many Tears did at last break forth into these words Am I permitted to speak with the King of Kings anâ— may not I speak with Man Should I tell this to our People in England they would believe what they are all of them already perswaded of that the King of France is so high and proud that none can speak with him Which passage when the King came to understand he in about three days after grants her liberty to come to his Presence the Room was full of Princes and Princesses Prelates and great Men the King Enters the same and having seen the Woman speaks to her with his Hat under his Arm whereupon she asked whether he was the King the King
answers yes Then said she What is the meaning that the King is bare it 's not the fashion of the Kings of England Upon this the King puts on his Hat so the Woman run over briefly what she had before written in the Letter in the King's Presence to whom the King with a Kingly Gravity and Brevity replyed But Woman I desire Peace and seek Peace and would have Peace and tell the Prince of Orange so So in envy and spight do they in France call William King of great Brittain to this very time wherein now for fear they begin to acknowledg and own his Regal Majesty in their pompous words and names this K. I say a K. so constituted according to all Divine and Human Laws that if any one would decipher a Lawful and Just K. he can do it no better than by defining of it under the name of this when as at the same time that name of Prince of Orange has been throughout this Age and before throughout the World as Glorions and Venerable as that of King and as much feared by Enemies At these words the K. went his ways and so did the Woman likewise and having got Passes from the King goes to Holland and from thence returns for England having with all her endeavours effected nothing and so far is the Woman's Account of her self whom the Quakers think ought not to be mistrusted herein because related by her self of whose Sinceriry and Honesty they make no manner of of doubt but others think it a thing more to be heeded because the Woman did shew the Letters delivered to her before the one signed by the Queen's Secretary and the other by the King's Command and with his own Hand Strange are the things which these Men relate and some Write concerning the Travels of Samuel Fisher John Stubbs John Perrot and John Love Ministers of their Church into Italy and from thence to Ionia the Lesser Asia and Smyrna as also of others and of some Womens Journeys into those remote parts as I know not through what difficult places and what great pains they took for the propagation of their Religion and how many Expeditions they went upon as if they would view and enlighten throughly all those Countries and Nations I shall only persue these Men's Relations as they refer to that same expedition of mine formerly from Italy into Ionia and what is worth Remembrance shall be taken notice of briefly and so calling to remembrance my former Journey and that same City I mean Smyrna I lived for some time in my younger days and was Minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord for so pleasant and delightful are our past Labours and the most pleasant thing most unpleasant if we may not some times speak of it or at least remember it Those four Men which we have already named arrived in Italy by Sea and came ashore at the Port of Leghorne as 't is now called but formerly Portus Herculeus c. There they delivered some of their Pamphlets to the Governor who delivered the same to the Inquisitors and Censors of Matters that appertain to Religion who when they found nothing in them that belonged to the Popish Religion and that they had done nothing for which by right they ought to be dissatisfied with them they dismiss them They go forwards and get to Venice and there offer their Pamphlets to the Doge who holds the Chief Dignity in thâ— Republick and from thence without stop go to Rome the compendium of the whole Papacy and there see slightly and hastily the vast heap and mass of so many things that are to be seen in that place and having viewed them leave them as an evil Omen and return without any delay to Venice from whence they came Then Perrote and Love take Shipping at this place and go for Smirna touching all the way no Land no Port nor so much as any Shore where when they were arrived because they had an intention to go for Constantinople when the English Consul came to hear of it and had wisely considered the Life and rough Demeanours of those Men who knew not how to forbear and to serve the times and so fearing least they should act somewhat rashly towards the Emperor that might tend not only to their own Inconveniency but to the Disadvantage of the English Nation he sends them against their Wills back again into Italy And so when they arrived there they returned to Rome while they were at Rome Love and Perrote being Men not able to hide their Disposition and moderate the same for some time and in the place they were and to the Men they came amongst and not willing to dissemble and form Lies when by this their Carriage they came to be known what they were and what their Design was they are by the Inquisitors thrown into Prison Love died under his Confinement as some Monks declared by Starving himself to Death but as afterwards some of the Nuns reported so hard a thing it is to keep a secret most difficult when once blabbed out to suppress for the more 't is concealed the more it 's discovered he was Murdered in the night Perrote continued some time in Prison and was afterwards set at liberty About the occasion of which Enlargement there was at first various Opinions but afterwards there was no vain Suspicion that he being shut up in this place chose rather to go backward than forward in his Work seeing that after his return into England he forsook the Quakers and set himself directly against them drawing others also off along with him and engaging of them to embrace his new Opinions and Precepts The other two being struck with fear fled away And here I shall subjoin the Example of a London Youth one George Robinson by name He when he had sailed from England in a Merchant Ship to the end of the Mediterranean and arrived at Scanderoon and from thence as 't is the way of many that Travel those parts as being a shorter and easier way continued his Journey towards the place which they call Jerusalem with a design to see if he could behold or effect any thing there that might be advantageous to his Religion Here he many ways discovered himself to be a Quaker the which when it came to the Monks and Popish Priests Ears they in their Monastery which is as it were the Store-House and Treasury of all manner of Villany take Counsel together whereby to bring him to such a danger from which there should be no escape and so put this villanous trick upon him There was such a Law among the Turks formerly tho' not many years past made That if any Christian enter into any of their Churches he is put to Death unless he redeem his Life with the change of his Religion which Law was made not by the invention of the Turks themselves but by the instinct of Ambassadors and European Consuls on those Coasts who