themselves call the Oath of Allegiance After the Discovery of the Gun-powder Treason formed by the Papists against King James the First and all the Royal Family and all the Peers of the Realm such a Law was made by the said King James and his Parliament to wit That for the restraining of such Papists who had much rather that the Pope should be Supream Lord of the Kingdom than the King and were easily induced to Offer such mad and abominable Sacrifices as these that are not to be named and that they might be known from other Men that as God should help him every one should Acknowledge Profess Testifie and Swear that the Pope had no Power to Depose the King or to stir up his Subjects to Rebel against him and that the same would perform all due Obedience and Fidelity towards the King and withstand all Plots and Contrivances against the Regal Authority There was moreover an Oath long since in use to this King's Predecessors called the Oath of Supremacy first begun by King Henry VIII whereby every one did Swear That the King alone was Supream Governour of this Kingdom in all things and causes whatsoever as well in Spiritual and Ecclesiastical as in Civil These Oaths from the beginning of this New Revolution being put to the Quakers by the Royallists they proposed to them when they were taken to Swear to these words positively that they might try how they stood affected towards the King But seeing they refused to Swear at all as holding it an unlawful Act and not that only of the Abjuration of the Pope and their Affection towards the King and that in the mean time they were always ready in clear and distinct words truly to Affirm in the Presence of God that they were such Persons as did abominate and loath the Pope and that Church and the Power of those Men and their Tenets as also their Pride and Treachery against Kings and that the King could fear no Danger and Inconveniency so little from any sort of Men as from them nor desire more Love Obedience and Good-will from any as towards their Lawful King and that they were ready if they proved false herein to undergo such Punishments as they who have violated their Oath after they have sworn in direct words yet this Oath was always objected against them as an inexplicable Snare wherewith to ensnare whom they were minded to catch for whether they did altogether refuse this Oath or with this same Exception that they might give their Opinion concerning it or the thing it self and spoke of their willingness to Promise Solemnly to be Faithful and did not refuse to Subscribe the same with their hands they were presently looked upon as Men either unfaithful or wavering or treacherous in their Obedience to the King and to be deprived of all the Protection and Favour that the King could give them And as a Superaddition to the rest when they to whom Tythes of the Fruits of the Earth and the like were allotted for their Labours and especially the Farmers of these Tythes were very sharp upon them for their Returns and Profits and the Quakers denyed that they ought to pay them they were very severely and hardly used every where Moreover when they were shut up in Prisons had little or no Relief from without those that served them used them for the most part as they pleased neither was there any thing whereby they might defend themselves Of which things as there are very memorable Instances and almost without Number I shall give one only Specimen of every sort and that briefly At Sherborn in Dorsetshire there were Thirty Quakers got together into an House for to Worship God in an innocent harmless manner who as if they had been a knot of Men come together for to Drink Revel Rebel and Conspire against the Government were haled out by the Townsmen Officers and School-Master of the place followed with many Swords and Clubs and entertained with Curses and Blows were carried before the Magistrate who blamed sentenced and condemned them as vile Persons bent upon Rioting and while they were met together did only contrive and rashly machinate Innovations and this they did without any Proof Judgment and Defence the Quakers at the same time however crying out that there was not one Person that could make any such thing good against them or that they met upon such an Account and urging the King's Promise in vain that while they were only met together to Celebrate their Worship to God that none should suffer any Injury because of his Religion Some of the Quakers were shut up in Dorchester Gaol from the sight of all Men and even from the common Light others of them meeting the Danger make their Appearance at the next Quarter Assizes where when nothing that had been urged against them could by any means be proved but that these Men did now appear before the Court with their Hats on this was now objected as a Crime unto them and looked upon as a certain diminution of the King's Majesty and so they were fined for their Punishment to pay great Sums of Money which when they did not forthwith pay they were all adjudged by the Court to be shut up in the same Prison of Dorchester upon Condition they should not be released from thence till such time as they had paid the said Sum. In the Town of Shrewsbury which is the head Town and finest in that County when the Quakers were at their Meeting several Soldiers break open the Doors and rush into the House and take away and hurry into Prison One and Twenty of them The Judges when they did not and could not Accuse them of having done any Villany or Wrong require them to take the Oath of Allegiance which when they refused to do the same as it were condemning themselves by this their silence as if they had been guilty of Treason they are forced to remain shut up in the same Prison Edward Noell a Country-man of Kent had taken from him of his Flock to the value of an Hundred Pounds for the Tythes of Twenty Pounds for which he had not paid the Money and when he according to his Country Rhetorick and Truth had made a noise about it and sufficiently stung the Ears and Hearts of the Tythes-men and Magistrates he was commanded away to Prison and there kept a Year and an half One Thomas Goodrey at a place in Oxfordshire called Chadlington and a Man of a good Nature and Disposition having travelled through many Parts of the Kingdom turns in to see his Friend Benjamin Staples This Man the very next Night after he came was together with his Landlord carryed away and led before the Justices they tender to them the Oath of Allegiance which when they refused to take so as that there was no way left for them to make any Defence they are led away and committed to the Common Gaol of Oxford and were shut up
'em push 'em out of the house throws mud upon 'em and chases 'em abroad At a certain time the labourers joyn'd with the Company of Boys and falling on the Quakers crouded together beating them with many blows and dragging 'em out by the necks roll'd 'em in the Clay and then thrust 'em into Prison At another time some young Men and Boys who tho little chitts yet flew on them with Manly boldness fill'd one of the womens mouths so with water and clay that by their Villany they almost bereav'd her of her life This these youths said they began to do at the command of a certain Parish Minister this last was done in presence of one of the Ministers that look'd on and yet did not disswade them from their Rudeness These indeed were done by the Rabble which we must always distinguish from the Counsels and Statutes which the Magistrates Lawfully justify and approve of There was another and greater persecution at Bristoll which for the greatness of the matter I must digress from my purpos'd brevity to give some account of This City in the War betwixt King Cha. I. And the Parliament amongst the first stood firm to the Parliament's party so it also principally withstood the King and his Brother the Duke of York's endeavours and designs adhering fast to those Members of Parliament who urg'd with great Eagerness and Zeal the destruction of Popery and Exclusion of York as one that was twisted with and wedded to Popery and because the Presbyterians and Independents were of that Number they incurr'd the great envy and hatred of the Royal Family and of those Peers who thought it their duty and interest to adhere to the King in all his designs In this City it self there were not wanting of those who having the power in their hand us'd it at their pleasure to gratify the Court and regard their own and others profit and be reveng'd on others whom they knew to be their Enemies It was hard to gain any thing upon the Presbyterians they therefore turn'd to the Independents disturbing their Meetings every where In short the infesting assemblies afflicting vexing and pillaging their frequenters broke out upon the Quakers and they were made the Theatre and Subject of the Calamity The pretence was ancient but now more stretch'd that the Quakers fomented the Civil War and assembled with Arms being dragg'd daily from their Meetings and brought before the Magistrate refusing to take the Oath of fidelity it being contrary to their Conscience to swear to any Oath they were immediately thrown into Prisons and Gaols which proving in vain they resolv'd to treat them with greater force and rigour A band of Men being thus appointed and furnished whose Captain was always a pretor of the City whom they call Sheriff not he that is Mayor and also some pettifogging Lawyer that as often as the Quakers assembled together upon the least Cobweb pretence of Information they run all to the house break the door beat out the Men Women and Children without respect to Sex or Age drawing driving and dragging them into Jayl The first onset was in the Parish of St. Jam. in the middle of Decem. because the Master of the house had not paid his fine for his Man's absence when the Train-bands was view'd because his fine had not been exacted they seiz'd what was in his house for the Kings use Thus taking and snatching away what they pleas'd they destroyed burnt and scattered the rest again they return after six days and the little that was brought in in that time In the like manner they expose to be trampled and trodden on In this expedition a certain City-Captain was their leader The Quakers return seven days after to the same empty house where there was not so much as a seat which the Sheriff understanding with a Tribe of young Men and Boys following him comes to the Qnakers with rage and fury and falling upon them not daring to resist they scattered and defeated them without much business and rushing in upon a widdow 's retirement they snatch'd away broke and threw out Chests Coffers Boxes Dales Planks and Casements The Quakers returning three days after were treated and chased in the like manner by the Ruffians who then threw out the little Remnants and pulling down the house they equall'd it with the ground The Quakers having taken another house in the Village about the 1st of Jan. the beginning of the new year as we divide and describe it thither they go the Sheriff being told he with his Clients and followers entic'd with the new prospect of prey march'd with a quick pace and the sign being given every one for himself without any order flies on the Men and their goods here also being none that either could or would resist them they satisfied their desires as they formerly had done The Quakers once more three days after made choice of another house elsewhere thither also these Men and Boys do rush for further reward and again assault and lay hands upon them but this house was Confiscated to the King After five days Interval the Quakers returning to their old house in that Village were set upon by the Sheriff and his Crew being seiz'd they were dragg'd before the Magistrate nothing remaining in the half fallen and whole spoil'd house that they could take away who when the Oath of fidelity was tendred refusing to swear at all were thrown presently into the common Goal but it being full the rest of them were thrust into Bridewell and other places In the mean time it cannot easily be told what great summs of Money they laid on and took from 'em and that for nothing but because they had found 'em at Meetings tho sometimes they were altogether silent and for those that could not pay by reason of their poverty they forc'd the richer sort to make satisfaction which was often laid at the Merchants Doors What violence and baseness was here to be seen will easily appear by one Example There was one Rich. Marsh a noted Merchant a certain Informer comes to his house to demand a fine of a few Merks having broke up his Warehouse they search'd it for Money but not finding it they seiz'd on his books and bills of debitor and Creditor and several bundles of Papers and Letters and many other Writings pretending to tatch them and keep 'em to themselves besides ravaging the rest of the house whatever wares or utensils they found they make bold to meddle with it on the like pretence destroying and pulling down what stuff was in the house and at last having feasted and glutted themselves with Wine they went off with all the booty they had met with It was then the Subject of all Tongues and Discourses that those Men that were employ'd in hatrassing the Quakers and dividing their goods and money amongst themselves must needs be inrich'd with such an accession of wealth and money they so often lighted on It happen'd
aspersions Penn being drown'd with such Cares and Businesses esteeming it his duty to look to his own affairs lest by the Continuance of such liberality he should dry up the Fountains of his paternal Inheritance he did not wholly abandon his Beâ—evolence and Diligence but did so by degrees Moderate and rule 'em that he gave â—o occasion of an inviâ—ious Complaint Penn having laid down this certain Conclusion that there must needs be one Society of Christians the common safety and advantage Requiring that every one worship God freely without any Impediment and Hinderance providing only he liv'd peaceably and submissively to the power and honour of the Magistrate and since this Kingdom was deny'd that Priviledge having the way to that liberty obstructed by an Oath which every one by Law was required to take and by other penalties laid upon Dissenters Penn treated with the King of these two who was also desirous to have 'em remov'd and therefore receiv'd the address more willingly Penn so defended and confirm'd the Kings Edict which was now emitted to this purpose in a certain Book he publish'd for that end that â—e incurr'd the hatred bitterness and anger of the Protestant party Universally and Implacably some of the Quakers also were â—o displeas'd that they did not love him and extol him as before others wholly avoided and abandon'd him The Protestants exclaim'd that Penn as well as the King aim'd at Popery with his outmost endeavour calling him not only a Papist but also a Jesuit an order that 's equally crafty and hated The Quakers thought it not at all amiss to have the penal Laws wholly Abiegated which the Quaker subjects most of all were expos'd to but lik'd not to have the Law concerning the Oath repeaâ—'d lest the Papists thereby being let into the Government might quickly renew these sanguinary Laws and by means thereof take weary drive out and kill the Protestants and especially the Quakers according to the custom of their Tenets and Religion as if they had only been absolv'd from former Constitutions to be condemn'd more cruelly to severer punishment Thus they fear'd the snare cheifly to be laid for themselves While many were thus hurried in their minds Penn so proved himself in another book not to be addicted to but an hater of Popery by the Testimony of his word his Conscience which is a thousand Witnesses and of God than whom none can be greater that if the words of Man may ever be believ'd every one may credit Penn not to speak false blazing it with any Colour of subtility but that he wrote truth with Candour and Sincerity Tho Penn cou'd not by that book change the opinion that many had received of him yet he so fully convinced the Quakers that from them he retriev'd his ancient praise for some time intermitted so that they own'd him for one constant to their Religion and yet left him to the singularity of his own opinion So the Quakers under this King liv'd quietly and easily except a few that were somewhat troubled by the ensnaring Tricks of some deceitful men but the Time of New Trouble and Change of all was at hand For now the King weary of waiting thinking his Designs not capable of being defeated by any introduc'd Popery not hiddenly but openly Not to mention others these of the Highest Dignity even Bishops and Archbishops that withstood his Intentions were some of 'em brought over to his Cause by Bribes and others put into the Tower of London These being Resolute and Couragious in their honourable cause found by experience how far it was necessary and yet how hard to suffer for the liberty of their Conscience And since my discourse has led me hither I can't but add what was said by the Quakers themselves When the Bishops of England were now thus Stated some of the Quakers took the Freedom to tell 'em that same mischief return'd now on themselves that formerly came out from them upon the Quakers When it came to their Ears they resented it ill that such words shou'd be spoken and scatter'd of them by the Quakers Robert Barclay understanding this went presently to the Tower and told 'em all modestly that was done against the Quakers both by the command and permission of the Bishops to which narrative they cou'd make no other reply but that of silence But after 3 years K. James's Reign expir'd and was succeeded by K. William the Third of Nassaw hereditary State-holder of Holland Son in Law and Nephew to James by his Sister who in all the series and course of his Life shew'd himself the best of Princes and Generals equally adorn'd with Civil and Warlick virtue and withal Arm'd with Christian Piety a like useful to Church and State both by his Inclination and Education in his own Countrey which tho it hath no Kings yet produces and fits 'em for other Nations Upon his first taking up the Reins of Government he beliav'd himself to all with that Moderation that it was manifest he desir'd rather to be lov'd then fear'd and to bereave none of Liberty of Conscience in Religion so that all justly esteem'd him a most prudent and moderate Prince equal to the best King that e're preceeded him He granted Freedom and Indulgence to all but only the Papists whose infidelity he suspected those he treated with a mixture of Grace and Severity making always the former the greatest Ingredient The Quakers also cou'd not but love him and embrace him as their most effectual defender being suffer'd to perform their Religious exercises without the hinderance of fear and molestation This Royal benevolence was enhanced by the Parliament which the King called after his Inanguration according to the ancient Custom of Kings who us'd to have a Parliament in the beginning of their Reign that if any former Law were to be chang'd or Abolish'd it might be legally done with consent of the house This Parliament ratify'd a Liberty in Religion giving immunity to all from the force and severity that formerly resulted from any penal Act excepting yet the Papists who were reckoned such Enemies that no peace cou'd be establish'd with them and granting liberty to them wou'd be taking it from our selves and so to raise war against our own safety Excepting also Socinians and those of the like stamp who either openly or by Clandestine practices Aim'd at subverting the Foundations of the Christian faith Thus the Quakers had liberty but since it 's a matter of some moment to know the Rights and Privileges given 'em by King and Parliament and inserted in Acts of Liberty in Religion it will not be fruitless to handle it more largely if it were but for that French Authors sake whom I mention'd before not to his praise a base unconstant and Roguish fellow who after many turnings and windings in Religion as both strangers and they that know him assure me by Letters plays now strenuously the Papist at Paris However it 's certain he treats of
great Hereticks when as they onely differed from them in Church Government and some Eternal Rites and Modes and otherwise held the same true and Catholick Faith and Doctrine with these Men but also because all those penal Laws which were made and ordained before the time of the Reformation against Hereticks as they call'd them stood still in force and none of them was repealed not so much as that De Comburendo Haeretico or for burning the Heretick so that if at any time any one of Eminent power had a mind he might by Virtue of that Law Arraign any one and bring him to that dismal and horrid punishment and have it Executed upon him Which appears by the Examples of two Men under the Reign of K. James the 1st in the 11th year of this Century Which because it has not of a long while been taken notice of by most Writers and yet it is not amiss to be known especially at this time I shall briefly relate One of these Men was Bartholmew Legate of the County of Essex a Man of an unblamable Life ready wit and well read in the H. Scriptures but disliking the Nicene Creed and denying the plurality of persons in the God-head and the Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ after he had been for some time kept in Prison at London and being enlarged again more boldly defended his impious Errors and could not be brought to desist from it even by these reasons the King himself brought at last in an Assembly of Bishops was Condemned of Contumacious and Irreclaimable Heresy and delivered over to the secular Judges and by the Kings command according to the Act de haeretico comburendo the 18. day of March about Noon was publickly burn't and Consumed to Ashes The other was one R. Wightman of the Town of Burton near the River Trent who was Condemned by the Bishop of Coventry and Litchfield of several Heresies the first was that he was an Ebionite the last an Anabaptist and burn't at Litchfield the 11th day of Ap. 'T is true indeed that this Law for burning the Heretick as also for putting him to Death in any wise was repeal'd in the Reign of Charles the Second but this is true also that that repeal was not made without a great deal of Difficulty and Repugnance of some Men and it was so done too that tho the Clergy had this power of Life and Death taken away from them and yet still out of this power they had so much Authority left them as to Excommunicate as they call it those that they should account Hereticks and thereupon to deprive them of their Liberty and take away their goods and the Consequences which follow thereupon Which thing I have thought fit to take notice as being not well known and yet worth the while to know This repeal was made in the 29th year of his Reign and 77th of the Century in that memorable Parliament Which was continued from the year 61 by several Propagations down to that time There was a certain Man of the Country of Middlesex whose Name was Taylor who had defil'd himself with so many and great Crimes and Vices that he had no fear notice or Apprehension of God wherefore he was sent to London and brought before the Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Court. In which Court as they were deliberating what to Determine about a Man so very impious or rather an impure beast one of the younger Bishops being more vehement and hot in his Censures than the rest gave his Judgment that this Man should be Exterminated from humane Society by burning and alledges that Law for the Burning of Hereticks with fire Which seeming somewhat harsh to others of the Bishops and some giving their opinion one way others another The Earl of Hall the next day in Parliament in the House of Lords proposes and perswades that that Law for the Burning of Hereticks might be Abolished for as long as that Law was not yet taken away and repeal'd it might come to pass that what Religion or Sect soever came uppermost the professors of that by Virtue of this Law might put to Death by burning all those that they should count Hereticks The Bishops opposed and cried out against this Petition But when it came to the Vote the present Earl of Hallefax and likewise the Duke of Buckingham and Earl of Shaftsbury and other great Men Considering that at that time things look'd with a fearful aspect and that it was often seen in the Course of Nature that many times things which had been hindred and delayed might break out again as in that cursed Popish Plot and the preparations of the Papists for the Destruction of the reformed Religion at that time was easily to be seen and that that Law particularly might one day be signally Injurious and Destructive they so perswade the rest and make it out so plain by force of Argument that the repeal of that Law is concluded upon and decreed contrary to the mind and will of the Bishops which Bill being carried down to the House of Commons some Excellent Men among which the principal was W. Russell a great Lover of his Countrey and Religion and a Man worthy of immortal honour presently Vote for it and procured the Bill to pass And so by Authority of the King and both Houses of Parliament this ancient Law was Abrogated and Repealed by this Act That from henceforth by Authority of the King and Parliament the writ de heretico comburendo or for burning Hereticks and all Capital punishments following upon any Ecclesiastical Censures should be taken off Not taking away nevertheless or diminishing the Jurisdiction of the Protestant Arch-Bishops or Bishops or any other Ecclesiastical Court to punish Atheism Blasphemy Heresy or Schism or any other Damnable Doctrines or Opinions So that Nevertheless it shall and may be lawful to them to punish such Men according to the Kings Ecclesiastical Laws by Excommunication Deprivation Deposition and other Censures not Extending to Death What but also how fraudulent a Liberty to all Religions was granted by K. James the 2d and what care the Bishops most of them but not all took to oppose it is not necessary now to be insisted on But to return from whence I have digressed Now because these Quakers had made no inconsiderable progress in their Affairs in America that new and to the Ancients unknown part of the World there were some of them who thought it might be a work worth the while to attempt the like all over this part of the World which we inhabit and of which for the most part we have a more ancient knowledge of and that not onely in the European Countreys where we have great dealings but also in Asia it self and Africa among the remotest Nations Destitute of the right knowledge of God and brought up in the profoundest Ignorance of the truth and true Religion with a design to enlighten them and by their Arguments and Sollicitations
Manners tho' without any Author to attest it that they were the veryest Rogues of all Men alive Exorcists and Sorcerers as the Vulgar calls them who under the covert of such specious Doctrines opened the Gates for all manner of Wickedness and Roguery designing only to catch and ensnare simple Men by their â—uggling Enchantments Unto which Injurious Reproaches all their Reply and Comfort was That this their Treatment was nothing worse than what the Ancient Christians and Holy Men of all Ages have unworthily and unjustly met with on the same Account But now I return to George Fox He remained for some time at Mansfield where he went into the Church while the Minister was Preaching and begun to oppose and contradict him publickly upon which the People being incensed fell upon him with Hands and Feet dragging him out of the Church into Prison and that same very day towards the Evening he was set at Liberty and dismiss'd and the Mobb again encountred him with Affronts and Stripes beating him out of Town The same Treatment he met with elsewhere But he continued still the same Old Man becoming rather more constant and confirm'd as it were in defending and maintaining his Doctrine and Discipline not refraining from that Tumultuating Method he had now begun of appearing in the Publick Churches and opposing the Ministers of the same not suffering either the remembrance of his past pain and trouble nor the fear of what might ensue to abate his Fervour and Zeal in prosecuting his Design for one Minute of Time and thus undauntedly he push'd on for the two or three subsequent Years But before I proceed further it is requisite that I first give a distinct though short Account of the chief Articles that he litigiously wrangled about I do not say disputed or discoursed in the Publick Assemblies and Congregations the Sermons being either ended or interrupted through his Impertinency These Articles related either to the Ministers themselves who as he said were only induced by love of a Reward or Hire to Preach the Gospel which should be Preach'd gratis unto all Men or to the Instrument or Source from which they suck'd the Doctrines they taught their hearers viz. the Sacred Scriptures or Word of God which he thought an improper name or to this part of their Doctrine that the Saints while in this Life cannot attain to that fulness and perfection of Sanctity and Holiness which the Law of God requires which he said was a Principle that encouraged Men in their sins patronizing and defending the same But in all these Controversies he never considered how near a-kin his own Case was unto theirs who maintain'd these Doctrines for though he pretended to take all this pains and trouble in running about to Preach the Gospel gratuitously and without any Reward yet those he preach'd to supply'd his Necessities before he ask'd it of them at least-wise he was never deny'd the Liberty of coming uncalled for as the Flies and like Mice feeding upon others Provision He might have also remembred his usual Preface and Introduction to all his Discourses when about to inform the People of some Secret hid from the World This is the Word of the Lord and that he seldom discoursed to his People of the Internal Spiritual Force and Obligation of the Law but only of External Vertues thus omitting many real sins repugnant to the Law and Perfection of God In the Fiftieth Year of this Century he being in Derbyshire in the Town of the same name went into a Presbyterian Church where after Sermon ended he boldly discovered his Thoughts and Sentiments to the whole Congregation upon which he was brought before the Magistrate who after some Debates past betwixt Fox and the Ministers of the Churches ordered him to be taken and put into Gaol as being a troublesom Fellow putting all things into Confusion where he remained for Six Months Moreover it is to be Remark'd that these Men are not altogether averse or unwilling to be denominated Christians though they say that Name was at first given to Christ's Disciples by the wicked Jews and Gentiles out of Contempt and Derision others say it is of too narrow a compass not including all the Godly who are worshippers of God and partakers of his Grace being confined only to those who acknowledge and profess the Name of Christ But because the Quakers have always in their mouths the name of Light Preaching Christ as a Light enlightening every one and exhorting all Men to walk in that Light as Sons of the Light they were called by some Mockers The Confessors and Sons of the Light which denomination did not altogether displease them And at this time the opprobrious Nickname of Quakers was first given them the occasion of which was this Fox being detained in Prison was sometimes called before the Magistrates to be examined where he took occasion oft-times to admonish the Judges who examined him to reverence and fear God to Tremble at his Word and to work out their Salvation with fear and trembling which was not only an usual Expression to him but to all his abettors one of the Judges by Name Jeremy Bennet hearing him talk so frequently of Trembling and Quaking gives him and all his Sect the denomination of Quakers Besides all the People having observed that in performance of Sacred Services they trembled and shook thought this new Name the more proper so that ever since they have been known all over England by the Name of Quakers They by a certain dexterity they have of putting favourable Constructions on Names apply this and all other Nick-names formerly mentioned to themselves in their own sense and meaning as I hinted in the beginning of this Treatise But the Quakers tell us that this Judge Bennet in the mean time that he was so severe and troublesom to him was afflicted by God with a Remarkable stroke that the Keeper of the Prison or Gaoler who had formerly been fierce and severe against him as a Lion after having understood what sort of Man he was became meek and peaceable to him as a Lamb. Now six Months being expired he is let loose from Prison and was carried to the Market-place to those that were there levying Soldiers for the Difference betwixt the King and the Parliament was not yet put to an end in order to enlist himself a Soldier and being brought thither he was tempted of them by large offers to engage in the Service but he was so far from yielding to their desire that he accosted them with this short but tart Discourse What! do you think to wheedle me into your Service by your large Promises I would not give my self for a Soldier tho' you should threaten to inflict the greatest Evils upon my refusal What! am not I now a Soldier already Do not I now wage War and Fight But the War I am engaged in is not such as brings certain Destruction both to the Conqueror and conquered to the former
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
but he was forthwith and without any delay in the presence of all that were there according to the Military Practice of some Men so beaten and kick'd by the Colonel himself because he ought above any other to have desisted from such doings and practices as he had then taken upon him that he made him bleed and then was sent back to his old Prison and tyed Neck and Heels there But as there were many of Ames's fellow Soldiers and also other Soldiers who by little and little became of the Quakers Sect several of them having taken Counsel together and allotted their Work did either use their babling Interruptions in the Publick Assemblies while they were at Prayer or Preaching or fell a Trembling there or shewed some such idle and foolish Prank this Example was followed by many others both of the one and of the other Sex wherefore they were ever and anon one after another fined driven to Prisons and in some places miserably harrassed some of them were severely lashed but the Soldiers more than any until the Year Fifty Six when Colonel Ingoldsby the Governour commanded all upon a very severe Penalty to give no manner of Entertainment to any Quaker whatsoever and not suffer them to come within their Doors and that whoever did to the contrary should be expelled out of the City But it was to no purpose some indeed were driven away but their Number did even then and by that means increase and so by degrees came to hold their Assemblies Officers were sent to break open their Doors and to interrupt and disturb them some they fined others were banished but yet for all this they increased and multiplyed more and more this happened at Limerick Cork Waterford Kingsale and other places And thus did this Sect of the Quakers about the time of their rise and first Progress struggle in the time of the Common-wealth under the two Cromwels Father and Son Protectors under the many Afflictions they were put to by their Enemies and to the great hazzard both of their Religion and People The End of the First Book BOOK II. PART I. The Contents of the Second BOOK THE Endeavours of the Quakers upon the King's Restauration G. Keith R. Barclay The Quakers vain hopes concerning the King The Oath of Allegiance an inexplicable Snare to these Men. Tythes also The Cruelty of Keepers towards them Instances The King and Parliament's Disposition towards them A Letter of Fox the Younger to the King Fox his Book of many Languages concerning the Pronoun Thou Several Laws against the Quakers Hence their various Tryals Hubberthorn Burroughs and Howgil die in Prison A vain Suspicion that the Quakers cherished Popery Their Persecution at London The fall of Priscilla Mo The Burials of the Quakers The Persecuting of them at Colchester A Council held concerning Transplanting of the Quakers into the American Islands This transacted and handled several times The various and strange haps and Adventures of such as suffered this Penalty The Ecclesiastical Court The Law De Excommunicato capiendo Several Examples made upon their refusing to pay Tythes The Death of Fisher in Prison Fox's Three Years Imprisonment The Prophecy of a certain Quaker concerning the Burning of London The Troubles of the Quakers in Scotland and Ireland Keith's Doctrine of Christ being in Man Helmont concerning the Revolution of Souls rejected by the Quakers William Pen's turning Quaker A full Description thereof His singular Opinion concerning a Toleration of all Religions The Ecclefiastical state of the Quakers The Order of their Teachers A Meeting of their Teachers together Synods Liturgies or Sacred Duties How they observe the Lord's Day Their Complaint concerning the Protestants study of Divinity Their Opinion concerning a knowledge of Languages and Philosophy Of the Sallary of the Ministers of God's Word What the Call of Ministers is among them Their Discipline Their Solemnizing of Marriages Keith's Imprisonment Pen's Imprisonment at London Solomon Eccles's Fooleries and mad Pranks in several places Fox's Marriage A great Persecution of the Quakers throughout England accompanied with the greatest baseness Green's Fall Pen again and Mead with him Imprisoned at London They are Tryed Pen's Speech to the Judges A great Persecution in Southwark The notable Zeal of these Men in keeping their Assemblies A short respite from the Persecution G. Fox goes to the English Colonies in America His Imprisonment in Worcester and what was done at that time He writes several Letters more elaborately than profitably A Conference between the Quakers and Baptists R. Barclay's Apology for the Christian Theology variously received A Comparison between the Quietists and Quakers Several Persecutions of the Quakers in England The Assaulting of them in Scotland All manner of Slanders put upon the Quakers Doctrine and Life The Persecution of Bristol Of London The Quakers state under King James the Second W. Pen's Diligence for the Quakers The Quakers Affairs under King William Pen's Default Freedom and Liberty given to the Quakers by the Parliament Pen's second Default The Death of Fox The great Book written by him A Description of Fox The great Dissention between the Quakers themselves The present state of them I Have brought down the History of the Quakers to the Time of King Charles II. in whose Reign and even in the very beginning thereof as great changes happened not only in the State every thing being abrogated and taken away that had been Obstacles to the Kingly Power and Dignity or that might be so for the future but also in the Ecclesiastical Constitution for that Equality and Conjunction that ought to be between the Brethren Friends and Disciples of Christ was taken away whilst the Government thereof reverted to a few and for the most part to the King himself so there was among those Persons who were not dissatisfied with the Name Splendor and Authority of a King but with that turn in the Church no small commotion of Mind no light Care and Diligence not only that they might defend their own Churches with the Orders and Constitutions of them lest they should suffer any damage any other way but also that they might further vindicate all their Practices from the Envy of their Adversaries confirm and trim up the same and recommend them unto others Therefore this Study and Concern also seemed to be among all Persons who had as well departed from that same pitch of Religion as from that publick Religion in the very same manner did George Fox and his Colleagues and all of that Herd even every one according to his Place and Station diligently and industriously apply themselves to this Affair wherefore Fox according to his wonted manner began his Peregrination in England to visit his Friends to Preach amongst them but did not take upon him as formerly to talk in the Publick Churches Markets and Streets and there to stir up the People and seeing that he had before this attempted many things more earnestly than successfully he took diligent heed
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
there among some of their own Friends of their Religion some whereof had been there for Two Years and longer because that they also refused to pay Tythes and to Swear the Jaylor put such thick and heavy Fetters of Iron upon these two Men that their Feet were wounded with them which when they desired might be taken off the Keeper of the Prison demanded Money of them for so doing they did not shew themselves very forward to do that whereupon he thrusts them into a filthy and noisom place where they had nothing either to sit or lie upon besides dirt and so they desire they might have a little Straw allowed them and here the same Mercenary Wretch promised he would give them some if they gave him Four Pounds in Money which when they despised and rejected the Keeper's Wife who was even more wretchedly Covetous than her Husband and far more greedy of Prey as often as she came to them would rail and revile them bitterly pulling and haling of them violently at her pleasure In some time they were both ordered to appear at the Assizes of Oxford where when they were accused of various things and that nothing could be found against them that was worthy of Punishment they were again asked as before to take the Oath of Allegiance which when they now also said they could not do it they are remanded back into the same Prison among the same Thieves and Cut-Throats that were kept there which before it was done Goodrey asked whether the Judges did Command them to be laid in Irons The Chief Judge made Answer That the Keeper of the Prison might do as he pleased because they were Persons out of the King's Protection There does the Keeper put them again amongst those Villains and profligate Wretches and gives those wicked Men leave if they wanted any Cloaths to take off theirs I mean these two Innocent mens Apparel at which one of the vilest amongst the whole Crew made Answer That he had rather go altogether naked than take any thing away from these Men And so it was that while the Law was silent at the Bar of Justice and no Fence against Injuries in Prison and Darkness these wretched Men suffered all Violence and Cruelty These few Instances from among many may serve but because the first Parliament under this King was yet sitting the Quakers supposing the Tribunals to be every where set against them so as that there was no hopes of Justice for them they prefer their Supplications to the King and Parliament as being Supream Magistrates and the Authors and Defenders of Liberty Right and Judgment highly complain of the great and many Injuries Violences and Troubles that they suffered from their own Country-men and Neighbours and implore their Help and Assistance and that they might affect them the more they produce a great Commentary or rather Catalogue in Writing containing how that during the time of the two Cromwels there were no less than Three Thousand One Hundred and Seventy Nine of their Society that had been Imprisoned in England Scotland and Ireland and other Countries beyond the Seas Subject to the King's Dominion and that of them Thirty Two were dead And in the close thereof they add That from the King 's Coming in to the present time there had been and were still kept in Prison Three Hundred and Seventeen of them They name every place of their Imprisonment and give the Names of most of the People and did also set forth the Afflictions that most of them had suffered before for what Causes and what those are also for which they were still Imprisoned they did moreover the next Year Present a Writing to the King and Parliament wherein they set forth that their Number was now so increased who since the King's Return had been thrown into Prison that they were no less than Five Hundred Fifty and Two many of whom had also even before their Imprisonment sustained many Afflictions in their own Congregations and did even now undergo many Miseries in the places where they were detained they did in that Writing confirm the Matter with Examples and Testimonies that the Magistrates themselves in some places came to them and carryed them away that in other places they left them to the management of Soldiers and elsewhere that the Commonalty and Rabble who had neither Fortune nor Good Name set upon them with Swords and Staves haled them away and after many blows threw them into Prison Moreover that many Ministers of Churches in several Countries seeing there were some of the Quakers who had not paid Tythes and refused to pay any that came and took out of their Houses and Fields for these Tythes much more than they ought to have done neither did they afterward restore the Over-plus yea that some of them were so choused of their Money that they had rendred them uncapable of paying any more and needed take no further care of exacting the same from them This Writing which was full of Truth was partly neglected and partly despised both by the King and whole Assembly For which there seems to be more than one cause for when the King who was not yet well confirmed in his Kingdom minded his own and other Publick Affairs he did indeed think that these mens Affairs were not yet seasonable and worthy of his Cognizance and Judgment and had entirely forgot all that he had promised to these Men which they thought they had fixt in his Memory with a Ship-nail But as to the Senate of the Kingdom they did indeed seem not yet to have laid aside their Hatred and Enmity against these Men at leastwise the greatest part of them They acknowledged indeed the freedom of Religion given to them but they thought that under that Pretence and Cloak all wicked and abominable Sects and Opinions would creep in and that this Sect of the Quakers was of that sort moreover although the former Endeavours of the Quakers and their Insolent Attempts and such as seemingly were Turbulent were now over and that no Crime could be laid to their charge that tended to the disturbance of the Publick Peace yet as the good as well as the bad of such as are once envied are always hated and that to those who are afraid even false things are true such an Opinion of them did continue and could not be removed that the Quakers were still Men of the same Spirit and Temper and that all their doings tended to Discords and Disturbances Lastly this Affair of the Quakers seemed to have been so often adjudged and decided by so many Judgments that it were unworthy to be brought upon the Stage again So that these calamitous Men were hereby deprived of the benefit of all Judgment of every Suit and Complaint there being no room left for the same And so those who were imprisoned were like to be so always and kept in greatest want and misery neither had any of them the least hopes of their
occasions which the Quakers were very refractory to do That they sent not their Children to School to be taught by the Parish School-masters who otherwise were straiten'd for a livelyhood for the Quakers had School-masters of their own profession to whom they committed the Education of their Children that they refus'd to pay their quota for repairing the Churches and keeping them in order that they omitted to give the Easter-Offerings or such other gifts as ought and us'd to be given to the Curates or Minsters of their Parish and lastly that they refus'd to pay the Tithes of their Cattel Lands Trees Honey c. to the Minister this say the Quakers the Clergy look'd upon as their greatest Calamity accounting it their cloros as they us'd to taunt them or the loss and rottenness of their honeycombs and the product of their Bees Thus the Quakers both in their gestures Speeches and Writings sometimes cunningly insinuated such â—art buâ—ter Reflections Liberty was given the Quakers before the sentence of Excommunication was pronounc'd against 'em to propose their Defences and Apologies for themselves before the Bishops and Magistrates But because they were not allow'd to do it themselves but only by Procurators and Sollicitors which could not be done without giving Money they declin'd appearing before them for they thus reason'd with themselves that if their business succeeded favourably it was well if not it would be the multiplying expences upon expences in vain and besides they bethought themselves that no faith would be had to their Allegations without interposing their Oaths which they were very a verse to nay so resolute that they would rather run the hazard of the greatest persecutions whatsoever So that none of them obtain'd any favour Nor were they excus'd who pretended to be sick and so unable to attend the Court for this their pretended sickness was interpreted to be feign'd and not real So that one after another great numbers of them were Condemn'd apprehended and put in Prison some Rich some Poor some Citizens some Country-Peasants several of the latter being Imprison'd for a very small summ not exceeding ten or six pence Which small summs they all refus'd to advance not that they were so poor as that they could not or so pinching and niggardly that they would not part with so much but that they thought the pursuers had no right to them And the pursuers were so eager and strict that they would not forgive such little summs nor abate the least farthing of their due lest others should have taken Encouragement from such a precedent to expect the like immunity So they were all promiscuously Imprison'd In the mean while the fomenters of the Action while they pretended to recover what was owing them took by force from their houses what as they said would amount to the summ pillaging their houses Embezzeling and Spoiling their Barns Stacks Harvest Vintage taking their Horses Cows and all other possessions they could be Masters of so that they recover'd their Money with Interest destroying all that the diligent Men had scrap'd together by the sweat of their brows and living sparingly and leaving nothing almost for the sustenance of their families Yet the Quakers continued still stedfast and unmoveable resolving to suffer to the last extremity rather than recede from the course they had begun so that some of them were cast into common Goals some into Castles and Places of strength some into stinking noysom Dungeons where dogs could not live being forc'd to live at the Discretion and Arbitrement of their Keepers and expos'd for a ridicule to the basest and meanest of the Vulgar Servants some were put in among the profligate and debauch'd who had liv'd in all manner of wickedness and villany and were justly punish'd for their evil deeds who yet even then could not abstain from their perverse and wicked courses nor refrain from calumniating and vexing their fellow Prisoners and lastly some of them were banish'd into so distant Countrys from their Wives and Children and all other Enjoyments that were dear or comfortable to them which one Affliction crush'd some of them to Death being overwhelm'd with anguish and sorrow for the loss of their endeared consorts Many of them died by the noysome smell and other inconveniences of the Prison or through grief or being wearied out and oppress'd with long and tedious diseases arising from such causes Some came sooner to this unhappy end some later but others endow'd with more strength and firmness of Body wrestled out for a long time There were some of them set at liberty and freed from this insupportable weight of misery through the intercession and entreaties of their Friends with the Magistrates who likewise were mov'd with pity and compassion towards them but were afterwards remitted to their old miserable habitation not for any new debt or crime but for that same they were Imprison'd for before where they continued till Death alleviated their sorrows Some few years after this the Quakers divulg'd all this severe usage to the World by writings which they presented to the King and Parliament In which they run thorough all the several Countries of the Kingdoms amassing together all the instances of the cruelty and barbarity us'd towards them But I shall here content my self with two of their most Remarkable Examples adding unto them a third which tho omitted by them upon what account I know not is as memorable and worthy to be remarked as any The year that first affords us these Examples is the year sixty four The first is this There liv'd a Blacksmith in a little Village in Hampshire by name Thomas Penford who was Imprison'd at Worcester in the common Goal by an edict of Excommunication because he would not pay three pence for Reparation of the Church which he obstinately refus'd to do so that after three years and a half Imprisonment he died in Goal The next is Thomas Rennes a Country Farmer in some little Village in Oxfordshire was Imprison'd at Oxford by an Edict of Excommunication for not paying the Tithes which he was aversâ— to do While he was detain'd Captive the Minister goes and seizes on his Horses which were much more valuable than the summ he wanted yet the poor Man continu'd in Prison a long time and ends his days upon the place The third Example which is a Complex and Image as it were of all the rest was after this manner One Thomas Dobson liv'd at a little Village call'd Brichtnel in Berkshire where he maintain'd himself and his Family very honestly by a Farm he kept and some small substance he had scrap'd together by his labour and diligence He refus'd to pay the Tithes not that he was so straitned for Money that he could not make up the summ but that he could not do it because of the dictates of his Conscience disallowing the same There was one Radulph Wistler who bought the Tithes and had an Eye for a long time upon this Man's
or despise to follow and imitate the others Example yet betwixt 'em both there 's a very great difference and jarr as the Molinists adhere to the Rectors of Conscience sacred orders and very many rites and the Quakers reject all these Rules and Principles which being neither abstruse nor hard to be known I shall not now inlarge on with any further addition England being now at leisure from War and Peace with the Dutch again establish'd the long-gather'd grudge against the Quakers and the anger that sometime was restrain'd and forborn began to be now reviv'd and strengthen'd in order to renew the War against ' em Fox as yet thinking himself most concern'd yea to have the oversight of the Quakers affairs went on preaching with such boldness confidence and care of their business that he run himself into many dangers So also did Keith and Penn. Whether with a design to avoid the danger or because they suppos'd that they could and ought to deserve well by their Counsel and Authority at the hands of their friends that were living elsewhere it 's not known In the year 77 they went together into Holland and part of Germany to visit some few friends they had in those Countreys In which Voyage what was done by them I shall endeavour to shew in the following book In the mean time the daily encrease of evil started reproach and oppression against many There was afterward a great persecution begun in the County of Nottingham which being also diffus'd into other Provinces and at length in the year 80 through the whole Land run through the people with an exceeding violence This affair that year Penn and Mead did accurately describe and many others whose fellowship with those that suffer'd Calamities was such that what they endur'd they thought done to themselves and therefore they sent their desires to King and Parliament to inform them of the Injuries done to their friends and intreat at length a remedy and help against those evils of so long Continuance Tho I could insert Innumerable examples of their troubles that I may not excur without the bounds of my intended brevity I shall content my self to repeat two of 'em mention'd by those whom I have already nam'd so far I suppose from being unknown that tho they have been kept silent their truth may be attested by the memory of many as yet for I write nothing but what I am assured of W. Godrig of Banwal in Somerset-shire being desir'd to give light to somewhat by his Oath knowing certainly that he would religiously refuse it upon his refusal was dragg'd into Jayl and despoil'd of all his goods and movables to the value of 244 lib. ster and also Immovables whose yearly value was suppos'd to amount to 60 lib. or thereabout at last after thirteen years Imprisonment all his Estate was publickly Confiscated Mich. Renald a wealthy and monyed Man in the County of Bark-shire owed the Tythes of his Land for one year to about the summ of 10 lib. which he refusing to pay was summoned by the Creditor being also so unwilling to follow such a suit that he rather would have sustain'd any greater detriment the cause was so ordered in Judgment and the tryal given in the plaintiff's favour that the Collectors for a fine out of his Cattel or stuff should instead of ten take 60 lib. wherewith these fellows being cunning severe and hot for their gain were scarce contented they took away to the value of 97 lib. besides being their own Officers they take as their wages out of the shaves of Corn about the worth of 12 lib. more About this time the Quakers counted 243 that were dead by wounds and strokes received at their Meetings While these things were done in England in Scotland also especially the Northern part much trouble was raised against the Quakers and that by reason of their publick Preachings some were greatly sined others refusing to pay them had their goods taken from them and that to the double of what was laid on Some were miserably kept in Custody amongst whom was Barclay's father mention'd in the former book and Alexander Skein once famous amongst the Magistrates of Aberdeen yet amongst all the Calamities and Sorrows they suffer'd they had no greater grief torment nor sorrow than to see and understand their Religion Behaviour and Actions to be so execrably and malitiously defam'd'd and revil'd For so they were every where in Libels and Verses Base and Reproachful pictures describ'd and design'd and that often by the vilest sort of Men. So in familiar Conference eatings and drinkings there was scarce a talkative prattling or babling fellow that lov'd to talk or act Comically but he must reduce his discourse and gesture to traduce the sincerity and simplicity of the Quakers There were no â—ordid Vagrants Quacks Juglers or Gamesters that had a mind to please the people or make themselves be laught at but must bring in the Quakers in their Gesticulation and Buffoonry Yea the Theatres and shows in Plays and Comedys which are wholly exploded when void of wantonness and not Arm'd with the follies and Madness of such words and Actions These must assign the Quakers their Acts Speeches and Motions and so lay open to the view of the world they profess'd themselves Masters to know and display the Lives and Actions of all sorts of Men. Yea in the Courts of Kings and Princes their Fools and Pleasants which they kept to relax them from grief and pensiveness could not show themselves more dexterously ridiculous than by representing the Quakers or aping the motions of their mouth voice gesture and countenance I heard a pleasant story from them Helen which the English for shortness calls Nell at London a most noted Dancer at the Play-house afterward a miss of King Cha. II. tho she could imitate all the Actors by any gesture of her body yet she could not by her out-most effort and endeavour even before the King and Courtiers whom she often pleas'd with such ludicrous Actions Act the Quaker so to the life as to draw out compress and remit the Spirit and so to ape their praying and holding forth without betraying force and affectation and how unhappy she was in Imitating those Actions which she could never have knowledge of by any Conjecture I was told the like of one of the Kings fools by those that were Eye-Witnesses of the matter The Quakers were also greatly afflicted in Leicester and Somerset-shire in the year 81 and 82. There is a Village in Leicester not far distant from the chief City of the whole province thither many of the Quakers are conveen'd and assembled which was not pleasing to some Inhabitants and especially Ministers of Churches that liv'd in those places Some young Men and Boys watch'd to disturb their Meeting and at other times Men with silence and constancy when they met they Immediately assault them unawares take 'em pull the Men's hats and womens upper coats from
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-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