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
him and joyned to the Quakers upon which being forsaken he followed after them and became of the same Profession with them And now both in Cumberland Northumberland and the Bishoprick of Durham a great many of all Ranks and Degrees embraced this New Religion So that having thus over-run all the North of England it began to spread it self towards Scotland But as the multitudes of their Followers increased the Envy and Malice of their Adversaries was spurred up the more against them For they were not only laugh'd at and derided every where but many Reproaches and Calumnies were also thrown upon them and many Wicked and Impious Principles and Practices imputed to them In some places Orders were given to the Constables and Officers to detain Fox or any other Quaker in firm Custody whenever they could meet with them or else to hinder them access into their Precincts Accordingly Naylor and Howgil of Appleby are taken and put in Prison As also Fox is apprehended and imprisoned at Carlisle in Cumberland whom they looked upon as an Heretical Blasphemous Arch-Impostor and Deceiver the Head and Ring-leader of this deceitful Crew And it was confidently reported that the Judges were consulting among themselves whether they should put this Man to Death for his incessant Frauds and Enormities But it happened quite otherwise for Fox was absolved and dismissed without any other Affront or note of Ignominy save that they severely check'd and reprov'd him William Caton and John Stubs were whipp'd at Maidston in Kent In Lancashire their Meetings were opposed with great violence At length because the Doctrine and Sect of the Quakers was not yet known in the other Parts of England especially in London the chief Seat and Compend of the whole Kingdom where they knew nothing of this New Religion save what they heard by the wandring Reports that were murmured about Those who were the principal Administrators and Managers of that Church thought fit to select some of their Number that excelled for dexterity of Speaking and Teaching who should go into these other Parts of the Kingdom and perform the Office of Converting and Convincing the People These were the Evangelists and Apostles of the New Church who were sent out in the Year Fifty Four Accordingly they directed their course first into Wales first North-Wales then South-Wales and the adjacent Countries and at length to London the Capital City though far distant from the places of their first Pilgrimage from whence as from the Head they might diffuse their Doctrines through all the Members and infect the whole Body of the Kingdom with their Religious Tincture Howgil and Burrough were at that time Men of great Authority and Esteem among them These were the two chief Ministers appointed to Preach their Doctrines in Wales and at London though Burrough went afterwards to London alone being invited so to do by a strong itch and desire he had to be there When they came together to Wales and had begun to sow the Seeds of their Doctrine they found some who received them readily Among those who embraced their Religion in that Country and even among the first were several Justices of Peace particularly one Peter Price a Famous Preacher among them from that time to this very day Moreover there happened a very wonderful Conversion of one John Vp-John a Member of an Independant Congregation who was sent by his Pastor Morgan Lloyd into the North to inform himself both by seeing and hearing what sort of a Man Fox was who was then in those Countries what for People the Quakers might be and what were the Doctrines they Taught and to bring him certain word of the same for he had heard many things of them which he doubted to be false He performs the Journey and returns possessed with their Principles and shortly thereafter undertakes the Office of a Preacher among them opposing himself vehemently to his Ancient Pastor and Doctor and to all the Congregation reproving and accusing them and their Religion exhorting all to follow him and perswaded many to separate from them Some few Years after he travelled through all Wales Preaching and teaching every where he came to in Towns in the Fields in the Publick Roads and Streets Market-places Inns c. exhorting Men to Repent sometimes he had Fox for a Companion and Witness of his Actions And though he was sometimes cast into Prison yet when released again he set about his old Trade as vigorously as ever Howgil stays in that Country for some considerable time but in the mean time that he is Preaching there and the other Evangelists busie at the same work at their respective Posts in the several places of the Kingdom Burrough goes for London where few of his Sect had gone before him that being the place he loved and longed mightily to see The time of his abode there though he went sometimes to other places and returned again yet he mostly confin'd himself to the City till at length in the Year Sixty Two when block'd up in Prison and having patiently and constantly grappled with many Tormenting Evils that surrounded him and with a Grievous and Mortal Disease he yielded up the Ghost While he was in London he bended all his Thoughts and Cares how to be most Serviceable to that Interest and so to discharge his Office that he might not disappoint the Hopes and Expectations which his Associates had conceived of his Success And because he could not always meet with fit and opportune Places and Occasions of Preaching he sometimes promiscuously improved every occasion whether seasonable or not to that effect thinking no time or place unseasonable or improper for promoting the Salvation of Mankind of which I subjoyn one Example All that are acquainted with the City of London cannot but know that vulgar and frequent Custom among the meaner Tradesmen Shooe-makers Taylors c. their Apprentices and Journeymen of getting together into some by-place where they struggle and wrestle with one another till either by pulling them down or tripping them up they throw them Burrough accidentally passes by the place where a whole Band of them were at this Exercise He draws near looks on and waits to see what the issue of the Spectacle would be At length a lusty Young Fellow and dextrous Wrestler appears in the Field who throws them all round first one then another and at length a third yet even then he unwearied challenges any fourth to encounter him The whole Company stands amazed at the boldness and dexterity of the Fellow none of them daring to enter the Field save Burrough who steps into the Ring and moves towards the Triumphant Victor who was insulting over all the rest He thinking Burrough meant also to try his Skill in Wrestling makes ready to receive him But Burrough looking austerely and gravely upon him in some few severe words checks his Fury and Fortitude so that both his Courage and Strength were overcome and vanquished Then turning himself to
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
Vicissitudes and Events befalling them The Original Mother and Nurse of the Quakers is England a Country once Famous for banishing and extirpating Heresie now the Seat and Centre of all manner of Errors The Quakers themselves Date their first Rise from the Forty Ninth Year of this present Century and 't was say they in the Fifty Second they began to increase to a considerable number from which time unto this day they and their Party have daily acquired more strength For while that Kingdom before the middle of this Century was engaged in an Intestine War occasioned by the Differences of Church-Government in that confused and dismal Juncture when both Church and State were miserably shatter'd and rent and Religion and Discipline were quite overturn'd innumerable multitudes of Men did on all hands separate from the Church and afterwards when their greatest Eye-sore and the imaginary Source of all their Evils the Episcopal Government of the Church was abolished and the Presbyterian Form of Church-Government which was what they so impatiently wish'd for and grounded all their hopes of Comfort and Peace upon was establish'd in its place yet even there were some whom nothing would satisfie that divided themselves into an innumerable Company of Sects and Factions of which this of the Quakers was one The first Ringleader Author and Propagater of Quakerism was one George Fox Some of that Party have not stood to give that Man after his Death the Title of The first and glorious Instrument of this Work and this Society the great and blessed Apostle So that as the Disciples and Followers of any Sect derive their Names from their Masters so might we call these Men Foxonians were it not unbecoming Christians to denominate themselves or others professing the Name of Christ from the Names of Men. I have many Accounts of George Fox in Writing in my hands partly dictated from his own Mouth to his Amanuensis a little before his Death partly obtain'd from his Friends and Followers and partly from others that were strangers both to George Fox and all his Society Which because they differ among themselves I shall only pick out what seems to be most probable and generally attested for it is difficult in such a case to distinguish between what is true what false George Fox was Born in the Year One Thousand Six Hundred and Twenty Four in a Village called Dreton in Leicestershire His Father Christopher Fox and his Mother Mary Lago were of no considerable Fortune but gain'd their Living by Weaving They lived devoutly and piously were of the Reformed Religion and great Zealots for the Presbyterian Party which then obtain'd in England And this their Zeal for Religion was accounted Hereditary to the Family especially on the Mother's side whose Ancestors had in the days of Queen Mary given Publick Testimony to their constant and unmoveable Zeal for the Truth and Purity of Religion not only in giving their Goods and Possessions to be confiscated and patiently undergoing the loss of the same but in yielding their Lives for a Sacrifice to the flames of devouring Fire preferring the undefiled and lasting Crown of Martyrdom to a sinful Life This George Fox while yet a Child discovered a singular Temper not coveting to Play with his Brethren or Equals nor giving himself to any of those things that take with Children but shunning their Company and disdaining their Childish Customs he loved to be much alone spoke but little or if at any time he chanc'd to speak both his Countenance and Speech bewray'd a sadness of Spirit his words were more Interrogatory shewing a great deal of Attention and Consideration and making many Observations unto all which was added Modesty in all his Actions and a diligent pursuit of the early Rudiments of Piety and Devotion so that even in his Infancy his Actions and Demeanor seemed to presignifie those Qualities of Mind which in progress of time he discover'd on the Publick Stage of the World Having spent his Infancy at home he was then sent to School to learn to Read Englâ—sh and to Write In which Study he succeeded as the other Country Boys and those of the meaner sort use to do having attained so much as that he could read Print pretty well but Writing he could read but little of neither could he write except very rudely And this was the only Piece of Learning the attain'd to all his Life long For neither then nor any time after when arriv'd at greater Maturity of Years did he ever apply himself to any Liberal Study So that he not only knew no other Language save his Mother-Tongue but even in that he was so little expert and so ill qualified either for speaking or writing all the whole course of his Life that what he understood perfectly well he could not explain or enlarge upon in any tolerable good English and far less could he deliver it in Writing in so much that he oft-times made use of Amanuenses and others who being well acquainted with his Thoughts and greater Masters of Language might put them into a better Dress And this I thought worth the Remarking because a great many Books are extant in George Fox's Name writ not only in terse English but also in Latin and interlarded with Sentences of many other Languages which are but little known to the Learned World the Names of the Interpreters or Methodizers being concealed Which whether it was an effect of great Simplicity in him or of his Ambition and Ostentation I shall not determine only it is plain that he had not the gift of Tongues George Fox having spent this part of his Life at School began then to look out for some way of Living and providing for the future part of his Life and accordingly concluded to betake himself to some Mechanick Trade that being necessary for the use and accommodation of Man could never be wanted and consquently never fail of answering the end he undertook it for such as making the Ornaments and cloathing of Humane Bodies Amongst which he chose to himself the Making of Shooes applying himself to that Art the remaining part of his Life in Nottingham the chief Town of the County of Nottingham bordering upon Leicestershire the place of his Nativity He being then a Young Man did behave himself Honestly and Modestly amongst Men walking devoutly towards God keeping close to that sense of Religion and Worship taught him by his Parents He dwelt much upon the Scriptures and when at leisure from the Exercise of his Trade as also when about it taking this advantage of his sedentary Work he Meditated upon ruminated in his Mind and recollected what he had read He had an Infallible Memory for retaining any thing he knew especially what he read in the Bible never slip'd out of his remembrance And having thus incessantly continued in the Study of the Scriptures from his Infancy to his latter end he became so exactly versed in them that there was no Remarkable Saying
them to take good heed what Religion they profess also to send hither and thither to invite all that feared God to come into the Inn and hear him speak or dispute about religious Matters In which Course he gave the People Occasion of putting Tricks upon him and was several times so serv'd as the following Examples can Testifie which I should have taken for Fabulous and thought unworthy to be here inserted were they not confirm'd not only by the Relations of People that were present but by his own Mouth to his Followers and handed down to Posterity by his own Writings as memorable and true At Farnham after having preach'd somewhere in that Town he retires to an Inn desiring the Master of the Inn if he knew of any pious good People to give them Advertisement to come to him in the Inn Accordingly many came some Men of Honesty and Religion others more subtile and cunning than good or religious They all heard him preach and express himself with a great multitude of Words After he had ended most of them go away and some few stay desiring the Master of the Inn to cause a Fire to be made in the very same Room where he had preach'd for it was now cold Weather and to bring them something to drink In fine they sate there drinking all the rest of the day notwithstanding all the Entreaties and Solicitations Fox us'd to perswade them to be gone and demean themselves as good and sober Men and at length went away without paying their Reckoning which they left upon Fox who had invited them thither The Tapster came and call'd for the Reckoning from Fox who declin'd such an unjust thing using many Reasons to the contrary The Man who minded his Money most pressed him the more to pay it At length Fox seeing that he could not perswade him to desist paid the whole Sum writing a Letter to the Magistrates full of Wrath and Indignation warning them to take notice what manner of Citizens they had and to take some Measures for reclaiming them from the like Insolencies The next day he lights at an Inn in Lemnan which he found full of Stage-players Musicians and Quack-doctors After he and his Companions had put up their Horses and refresh'd themselves they agreed upon some Problems among themselves of the Natures of Diseases and the use of Medicine and towards the Evening presented the same to that Company in order to be consider'd upon and answer'd while they lodged in the House They rejected their Proposal flouting at them for Mad-men but Fox and his Companions took this ill and caused the Theses to be stuck upon the Mercat-Cross to be subjected to publick View after they were gone At London Fox was not so forward as elsewhere for he did not disturb the Publick Churches nor raise any Tumult or Crowd in any place but behaved himself more cautiously than he used or desired to do Before his coming thither many of great Note had been converted by the Ministry and Influence of Burrough And these frequently assembled together with Fox who had many Discourses among them and to the People but after all his utmost Efforts he gain'd but very few new Proselites which was much contrary to his Expectation having fill'd himself with great hopes of the Success of this Journey However he contents himself to stay a while longer in this City where he could see and hear so many things and be inform'd of every thing done in the whole Kingdom as also see and observe what opinions Men entertain'd concerning the Progress and State of his Religion all over the World At length having view'd enough of that City and satisfied himself he makes for the Country There was about this time a great Multitude of People in Wales who being of an unsettled and fluctuating Temper and fond of every thing New or Singular abandon'd their former Religion and professed Quakerism which Conversion was chiefly wrought by Howgil Vp-John Wilkinson and others Thither did Fox direct his Course though quite ignorant of the Welsh Language At first when he came and happened to preach separately from his brethren his Labour was all or most part in vain since so many of his Auditors either understood not his Dialect or were quite ignorant of his Language for his Mother-Tongue was the only Language he knew But afterwards when he took into his Society some of the Natives of that Country all the Progress he could make was that he preached sometimes among those of his own Perswasion and those of his Associates that understood English explained it in Welsh to the rest So that these his Interpreters were more Instrumental in propagating this Interest than he among whom the chiefest was Vp-John who had for a long time resided in this Country applying himself diligently to the Conversion of those People of whom he perswaded not a few to be Quakers These Interpreters were Fox's Predecessors in this Country who being back'd by him run up and down in the Country the Cities the Streets the High-Roads c. inviting and exhorting all Men to repent and these their clamorous Harangues had so much effect upon these People that no Country in England was so fertile of New Converts to Quakerism as Wales And thus did the Sect Doctrine and Religion of the Quakers in so short a time spread over all England to the year one thousand six hundred and fifty eight in which Year these Men proceeded to that height of boldness that they appointed a General Assembly out of the whole Realm to be held in the House of John Cross being a Place that was large and capacious for that purpose in the County of Bedford thereby as it were shewing and upbraiding their Enemies to what increase both of Number and Strength they were now arrived and seeing that they had not before despaired of the Progress and Improvement of their Affairs that they were also now full of hopes to bring them to perfection and altogether assured thereof There did the Messengers of each particular Congregation meet being accompanied with a great number of others who came not to speak but to see only Here were such Matters transacted as referred to their spiritual Laws and tended to the upholding of their Communities and the Council was celebrated for three whole Days I have said a little before how Howgil and Burroughs were the first that brought the Opinions of the Quakers into Ireland and particularly to Waterford This was done in the Year fifty five In the very same Year were these Men followed towards the carrying on the same Work by one Man whose Name was Lancelot Wardal and three Women Rebecca Ward Elizabeth Fletcher and Elizabeth Marshal But those for a long time made so little Progress in their Affairs that the Religion of the Quakers was universally unknown there that the very Name it self came not or at leastwise nothing but the Name within the Verge of their Knowledge The foresaid
embrace that Religion which they loath and shun and if they will do neither of these to torment oppress and destroy and not to allow them a being among Men for another thing is if there are some who cease not to be troublesome unto others but are busie to deceive them to speak ill of their Religion and Ordinances to disturb and infest them and to ruine and destroy their Churches and these if they be restrained and corrected which not to do and to tolerate such especially if they be such who suppose this to belong to their own Religion and Church for to overthrow the Religion and Churches amongst which they live were the same thing as knowingly and wittingly to ensnare themselves and to make way for and run headlong into their own voluntary destruction and a great many People in former times in these Kingdoms have felt the smart of such a Persecution and an innumerable Company of the best of Christians have felt the same from those very Persons who had before undergone themselves that severe Tyranny from others but in reference to the manner how this befel the Quakers in these Countries from the initiation of their Religion Ways and Manners and by what right or wrong these Men did afterward so bewail their hard usage we shall take upon us a little more distinctly to set forth For as the Doctrine of these Men was so opposite to the Doctrine of others hence the same was every where charged with divers Accusations and Reproaches as also Calumnies especially by them who as it usually happens followed only vulgar Reports and were in the mean time ignorant of the Doctrine that these Men held And since their manner of Living was so directly opposite to the Custom and Manners of all and more especially in that they appeared very sad both in gate and countenance in the Streets and in Company and that some of them were very nasty in their Habit and all of them silent or of few words and when they spake used many other unusual Expressions and them delivered slowly and by piecemeals and as it were by points and especially if they treated of any serious matters they made use of such sort of Protractions Hesitations and Delays and expressed every word by syllables and did not only not salute Men in the Streets but utterly disused Salutation both in their approaches to and departures from Men by which things being as it were the Ensigns of this Sect they were commonly known hence it was that they were envied and hated of all that had to do with them The Principal thing which drew upon them much Envy and great Calamities was their first Violence and fierce Incursions both in their words and writings against the Doctrine and Faith of others especially of them who were within the Communion of the Publick Church even because of certain names and words that were used by the whole Church and that for a long time which if not literally contained in the Scripture yet did agree in the thing and were consonant to other words and names in the Scriptures but such indeed as seemed to be foolish unto them Another thing was their rashness and boldness in Judging Condemning Sadding and Cursing of all and singular Persons who did not agree with them in their matters and such besides who were unknown had not been heard made no defence and so innocent as to any Injury done them in the doing whereof they were most forward who held the first Rank amongst this Sect of Quakers but besides these there were divers others but of a different condition and who had this Property to have little Wit and to be thoughtful of nothing but furnished with Imprudence and Impudence that began some sort of Discourse in Publick Places where there were most People in a kind of clamorous manner but with a very unpleasing Noise and even stood in the Churches which now the Quakers in general called Steeple-houses by way of Reproach while Divine Service was performed with their Hats on sometimes during the Sermons of the Ministers and Common-Prayers but such as they called Divinations disagreeing with themselves and not knowing what they said and sometimes after they were ended suddenly uttered some uncouth words and without shewing any previous Reasons reprehended the doings of the former yea and detested them as if they were wicked and accurst and thus did they do those things themselves which they had blamed so much in other Men. There were some who in a Mimical and Fool 's Habit and Gesture of Body did as it were either describe the Actions of Men in the open Market-places or deride them or did take upon them to fore-tell the Fate that should attend them These were commonly such as were of meaner Parts and Fortune than the rest and more especially of the Female kind and even they who did these things said they did them by the Instinct of the Holy Ghost and according to the Example of the Prophets and of Christ and his Apostles whom they contended to have been accustomed to have done such things openly in crouds of People in the Temple and other places from whence the Fame thereof might pass into all places and that there never was any Law made in England that did forbid such things thus over and above defending themselves with their Quibbles and also Law-Sophistry to which also others of them even their Leaders added their Consent there were others who neither approved of this Practice nor blamed it But this in process of time they all left and avoided and hence it was that all Persons were not only alienated in their Affections from these Men but also most enraged against them and as often as they durst do any such thing they were assaulted and had violence offered unto them Though they notwithstanding all were by no means deterred from it but did continuedly repeat the same having this their Opinion as a Brazen Wall unto them neither regarding herein the words and deeds of our Saviour Jesus Christ and of those Holy Men that we should beware of Men and should not provoke them but so admit of those things which we may avoid and run our selves into danger Now when the Quakers were brought into Courts of Justice and put upon answering for themselves they would not off with their Hats nor call the Judges by Names suitable to their station which Honours they thought unlawful to bestow upon Men and that it was a Worship that appertained to God alone and when they were asked some things as solemnly descreetly and mildly as might be many of them shifted backwards and forwards and made such Answers as were no ways to the purpose and when thâ—s without any further hearing of the Cause than this they have been often thrust into Prisons the same Persons have slighted and blamed their Judges to their faces as the framers of such Laws whereby they omitted what God and a good Conscience dictated to them or
and medling with them more than other Men. I have spoken of these things in general I come now to particular Instances as being them alone wherein the Proof Testimony and Truth of things do lie for the Quakers did not deny but did Object that there were many things which they reprehended in the Doctrine and Religion of others insomuch that they harped much upon this string That there were many and great Scandals and Reproaches cast upon their Doctrine and Conversation by many and that from hence it was that great Injuries were offered unto them every where The Quakers did indeed Muster up several Petitions offered by the Publick Priesthood let me make use of the publick words of that People who were in Publick Power which tended to the expelling and banishing of the Quakers for those Reasons which if they had been true they themselves did confess that they deserved having thus carried it in respect to the Christian Religion not only to be thrust out of one Province or the whole Kingdom but from the face of the Earth and the number of the Living if as these Men did deny it was Lawful for any Humane Power to inflict so severe and violent a Punishment upon any for any wickedness whatsoever Such an Humble Petition as this if I mistake not was presented in the Year Fifty One by several Pastors of Churches and Citizens and Inhabitants of the County of Westmorland to the Justices of the Peace for that County wherein they desired That James Naylor and George Fox and Francis Howgil and the rest of their Companions which Men they said were generally unknown unto them from whence they came where they dwelt what their business was and whom they said came by their own Authority into these Places and did miserably distract all sorts of Men and set them at dissention and together by the Ears and had wickedly seduced many People with great Efficacy from the true Religion into dangerous pernicious horrible and damnable Ways and Errors and brought things to such a pass as that they perverted and disturbed all Peace and Order in the Common-wealth when in the mean time they are notwithstanding any egregious and even Divine Reasons offered by them to the contrary wicked Men Impostors the Ministers of Satan wherefore they pray they may be driven away and commanded to go into their own Countries and confine themselves within those bounds to their own Occupations and Employments The Effect and Prevalency of which Petition was this that Naylor and Howgil were thrust into Prison though one of the Magistrates to wit Gervase Benson did bear open Testimony against his Brethren that Naylor did not deserve to be censured for what he had done as if he were guilty of Blasphemy and that he as a Criminal should be admonished and laid under such a Punishment for violating of the Law against such Persons and so great Villains To which this must be added that the same Justice Gervase Benson and Anthony Pearson another that was Judge in that matter did afterward turn Quakers and wrote several things for those Men Another Example of this Petitioning was One two Years after presented to the Council of State so they call'd it by many Noblemen Iustices of the Peace Ministers and Citizens of Lancashire in which Petition you have these words That G. Fox and James Naylor and their Associates and Companions did not cease both to dissolve the Bond and Vnity that was between all sorts and ranks of Men as also between the People and God and brought their own Followers to such a pass that all of them Men Women Children and little Ones were in their Conventicles agitated with strange and ridiculous motions trembled foamed swole with their Bellies and that some of their Teachers did not stick to say of themselves besides other abominable Heresies that they were equal to God To this Petition was subjoyned a Catalogue of their Heresies with the Witnesses hands to it in these words That George Fox confess'd and did persist therein That he was equal to God the only Judge of the World Christ the Way the Truth and the Life and so if that any one took upon him in his Sermon to the People to explain any Text of Scripture be was an Enchanter and his Preaching an Enchantment and that the Scripture was carnal that James Melver confessed that he was God and Christ and that the same Man gave out these Prophecies that the Day of Judgment was at hand and farther that there should be no more a Judge in Lancashire and that he would shortly pull up the great Assembly of Parliament by the Roots that Leonard Fell professed that Christ never had any other Body but the Church that R. Hubberthorn had said that the coming of Christ in the flesh was only a Type and Figure But though the Quakers did thus determine among themselves that these things which were laid to their charge were such that even the thing if they held their peace would totter of it self but yet as they left nothing that was objected against them without some Answer so did they also confute this in their Writings in such a manner and with such Reasons that it was very apparent that they were wicked Men who invented these things and that those who believed them were Fools excepting the Prophecies of Melver the Vanity of whose words they willingly acknowledged and reproved yea and seeing it was the Fate of these Men in all Judgments to have many Actions and Opinions full of Scandal and Disgrace laid to their charge besides their Doctrine and way of Living they answered and overthrew these charges not in one Pamphlet only and set forth what they had expounded concerning any matter what their Opinion was and whose it was but they also sent these Pamphlets to all the Judges and also to the Protector Cromwel and did moreover Publish them among the People so that all and every Person might be throughly acquainted with their Doctrine and Life with the causes thereof and plainly weigh those things that might come to be controverted and if any suspicion insinuated it self into the Minds of some Persons they might remove it and that they might no longer lie under such false Accusations as these but whether it came to pass from such an imputed Crime or from Resisting and Opposing in an over violent manner or rather wickedly and imprudently impugning the Doctrine and Fame of the Ministers of God's Word Hubberthorn from this time forward did not sustain one only Imprisonment at Chester but was also confined in Norwich and that to the Year Fifty Five but of this briefly and by the way Let 's go on there are some Instances of these Men being accused by their Adversaries falsly even then when they went to them for to clear themselves of that Ignominy either they challenged them to set themselves in some place and to hear how these Accusers proved and made the thing good after
of these Students they flew thither and halâ—d and thrust the Men out of Doors and there tossed them backward and forward and tormented them all the ways they could but if they could not conveniently get in they broke the Doors and Windows but when they could not or would not do that they stood about the House and there received them as they came out as before and this also was a small matter with them there were some of them who were furnished with Pipes and Tobacco an Herb well known and so called from him who first shewed the use of it and Ale of which they themselves did not only sip often but also reached the same to the Quakers and upon their refusing thereof yea saying nothing at all to the matter and as it were silently sipping up and digesting all that Affliction they poured the Drink down the Throats of the People and upon their Cloaths struck them pulled them by the Nose and tore their Beards that they might force them to speak something to them But these vile doings were yet but little in their Eyes there were some of them who run upon and trod them under their Feet who discharged Muskets at them and threw Squibs and Serpents as they call them which flew and burnt their Cloaths where ever they touched them others brought Mastiff Dogs with them and set them on not only to bark at the People but to fly at them and bite them some of them when they went away took the mens Goods along with them and when the Quakers made Complaint of these Mischiefs and Injuries done them to their Tutors and Professors they were deaf to them and took them but as so many Tales told them And indeed they suffered such great and so many Evils that unless these Men had written concerning the same openly to the World and that none did ever refel and confute what was written by them hereupon they could not be believed Such things also as these they complained were done unto them by the Students in Cambridge and this they set forth in Print While these things were transacted Oliver Cromwel died being the Year One Thousand Six Hundred Fifty and Eight on the Third Day of September at Three of the Clock in the Afternoon of a Tertian Ague after he had had a severe Fit of it This Man had the boldness to arrogate to himself so great a Power in all the three Kingdoms that of Old were esteemed to be another World that all things were governed and managed according to his Pleasure alone having rejected the Name of King and assuming that of Protector that he himself might be the more protected from all Hatred and Envy Under the Government of whose Son Richard which was but very short and not managed with that Industry as his Father had done nor administred with that Moderation that he shewed so as that neither his Authority had lessened the Peoples Love to him nor the Favour of the People his Gravity the Quakers Affairs begun daily to grow worse and worse while both on the one side and the other the Quakers were hurried on with greater boldness and those who opposed with greater Cruelty And seeing there are very many Instances extant and such as are very memorable yet because we would shun satiety and that I find the same creeping on I shall dispatch the matter in a few words Seeing there were now more Persons among the Quakers than before who uttered their vain Ribaldry and Bablings even in the Churches and while the Ministers were in the midst of their Sermons so there were also other Men that were more animated and forward to do nothing with Deliberation so that the Quakers for that reason were much more severely punished especially in Wales and some parts of Pembrokeshire There was at London a certain Man whose Name was Solomon Eccles a Man void not of Understanding but of all Shame and Fear who began such a deed that it 's very strange that the same Quaker himself should be willing to Record it and put the matter beyond all doubt and maintain it besides in the very same Pamphlet and thereby shew that no Fact can be feigned be it never so foolish and rash which some would not at least do and not commend as a right and laudable thing to be committed against those whom they so much complained of in respect to the wrongs and injuries done unto them I shall take the thing from the beginning This Man was a Musician and could Sing and Play very well having been Instructed in this Art and Science by his Father and Grandfather and did by it maintain both himself and his Family very genteelly and plentifully It was believed he could Yearly by Teaching of others and by Playing get no less than Two Hundred Pounds Sterling But he had a mind to change this sort of Life and to get into the Fellowship of the Quakers and so experience another way of Living and so he first sells his Books and all his Musical Instruments at a great rate as being now useless and noxious to him but afterwards bethinking himself that they might be hurtful to others as well as to him and that he ought not if he could avoid it suffer any to be injured at the expence of his Profit and Conveniency he buys them back again of those to whom he had Sold them for the same Money and when he had so done he gathered them all together and goes with them directly to Tower-Hill and having there set up a Pile of Wood and fired it at Noon day he does in the sight of many People commit to the Flames and burn all these Excellent and Precious Instruments and Books altogether as being a means to draw Men to be idle to promote a Lascivious Life and as stings to their Lusts and commands all Men to take Pattern by him and shun and curse all such vain and profane Arts. So great was the Zeal of this Man for his new Religion and so great was his Anger and the fervour of his Mind against the Publick Religion of the Kingdom that he could not forbear but must go upon every new bold and rash Act whereof above others this is a most memorable Instance When the People were met together in Aldermanbury Church for to Celebrate the Lord's Supper this Man came thither having furnished himself first with a Sack full of Shooe-maker's Ware so that now from a Musician he was turned Shooe-maker and partly a Cobler to that end that he might go into the Church and there in the croud before that the Minister had got into the Pulpit might Act somewhat of the part of a Shooe-maker And so that he might not be put out he had taken care to get very timely and secretly into the Church and hid himself there in some place Afterward when they were singing of Psalms he rushes up and draws nigh unto the Table and stood with his Hat on
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
to escape whither soever they could But then the Horsemen spur'd after them with their Horses and running upon the Men and Women as they were scatter'd and also upon those that abode in their place insulting over the young and feeble they struck them upon their bodies and faces with their Pistols as furiously as they could The footmen pouring themselves out of the house upon the people thus ensnar'd and invergl'd follow'd after and beat them with their Musquets and Pikes so violently that some of them flew in peices out of their hands Neither did they forbear retreat or withdraw till more than twenty of the poor Quakers were wounded Eight days after the Quakers again met and must likewise by a new force of Horse and Foot be assaulted ejected and put to flight surrounded and oppress'd and the ground fructify'd by the effusion of their blood here there were twice as many wounded as before That day seven-night the Quakers not leaving of their assembling a party of foot and horse came up to the house One of them going in with a pale full of dirt and Excrements maliciously emptied it upon the Innocent Multitude not content with this putting them from their House and Meeting they follow'd and loaded them with so many wounds that they were within a little of having rob'd 'em of their life Some of the Countrey people being mov'd with Compassion at the sad Countenance Lamentation and tears of Men they had always found both harmless and blameless did succour and shelter them with the sanctuary of their houses But those Malignant rakes finding the way even thither broke in and pull'd 'em out and threatning some holding their Weapons o're their heads and cutting the womens Cloaths handled them with a detestable Impudence and obscenity There was one woman with Child taken as she fled whom a Souldier rudely smote twice on the belly and once on the breast with his Musquet and another threw dirt in her mouth whereby she was so frighted that afterwards she miscary'd But the Zeal of the Quakers in Meeting or Souldiers in persecuting was not as yet chill'd For they no sooner return'd to their usual Meeting than the Souldiers follow'd them as they had done formerly afflicting them with their wonted Rudeness so that the very Earth was re-sprinkled with their Blood and Twenty or more of them were inhumanely wounded which a certain Countrey Officer seeing and being troubled at a Man very discreet for his office or at least not always so rough and rigid advis'd the Souldiers not to persist in such wild rigour and unreasonable rudeness hoping he might easily obtain what he desired The Souldiers were so far from regarding his request they fell upon him so forcibly that they almost broke his pate There were more examples of cruelty done at this time in several places elsewhere yet the Quakers never assembled at night nor in a Solitary place lest they should seem to attempt any thing unworthy of Light and whereof they should be affraid yet they met sometimes more cautiously and timerously and with as little stir as they possibly could not because they were disrespected Vilified and Calamitously treated but sometimes by reason of the greatness of the danger they forbore the times and places of their Assembling Sometimes they were deny'd the use of their own houses where they us'd to conveen frequently and numerously the Magistrate commanding the Doors and Entrances to be clos'd up with brick and morter to prevent their admission But they thinking themselves Masters of their own houses open'd 'em without Command or Counsel of any other and went into their Meetings as they formerly had done The Qnakers observed this Year that there was above Eight Thousand of their Sect made Prisoners since the King's Return whereof Six Hundred were as yet detain'd Things being in this condition about the Year Seventy Two a Remarkable War happen'd betwixt the Confederate Kings of Brittain and France and the States of the United Provinces in which War the Dutch had the better as 't was thought both by Sea and Land not only by withstanding so great Armies of two such potent Kings and two Bishops more intent on the destruction than preservation of Men but also snatch'd a considerable victory from 'em both King Charles fearing lest the War abroad might create some matter of sedition at home that he might preserve ease and concord amongst his subjects granted not only protection to Men of all Religions and consequently to the Quakers Papists being only excepted but also the free exercise of their several perswasions whereby the Quakers from a tempestuous storm were brought into a safe Haven The Remembrance of the past pleasure of the present and hope of the future time induc'd them to compose restore and accomplish the common concern of their neglected affairs But this rest and tranquillity was of no greater Continuance than till matters were adjusted twixt the Dutch and English for in two year's space the war being ended the Jars twixt ancient friends and brethren easily kindled and quickly quenched did not only serve to wash away the strife but renew and confirm their former love So the Quakers were toss'd with new dangers again as when another storm suddenly falls upon those that anchor'd in the safety of an happy Haven and drives 'em from the hopes of the expected shore into the great and dangerous roarings of the deep Having hitherto related concerning these Men almost all things I thought worthy to be read or repeated since nothing follows much differing from what we 've heard I shall run through what remains as orderly as briefly Geo. Fox having now travers'd England more than one and thinking he had spent study and Labour enough in endeavouring to declare and advance his Religion not contenting himself to work only at home began to think upon going further abroad there to commence and carry on the same design In the year 71 passing over the wide Sea he went to New-England in America to visit friends of the same Doctrine and Discipline encouraging and confirming 'em to retain and preserve the faith they had receiv'd piously and inviosably Then he went in to the Barmuda's Islands from thence to Jamaica Merry-Land Virginia Nova-Cesarea Insula-Longa and to the ouâ—most Rhodes from which last Island in the year 72 4th month and 19th day he wrote a journal in form of an Epistle and sent it here to his friends in England whereof I have a Copy But I and nothing else written there but the Climates Seasons Tracts Borders and Regions upon which they went out where they found or formâ—d Societies of their persuasion whom they met every where especially in Virginia and Rhodes how cheerfully and kindly they discours'd and entertain'd him In Virginia he speaks of one or two of the Rulers of that Wild and Barbarous people who came to a certain assembly of the Quakers and tho much unacquainted with the English Language behaved themselves to
duly consider'd finding their obsticy cou'd not otherwise be restrain'd we made a Law according to the Model of that which was settled in England against the Jesuits that such sort of Men shou'd be put to Death The making this Law did not hinder their return and disdainful continuance within our Territories even after the time for their departure was expir'd They were therefore justly thrown into Goal and confessing themselves to be those we had driven from among us before by the Court's order according to the sentence of that Law they forfeited their Life except Mary Dyer to whom at her Sons humble intercession We with an equality of Mercy and Clemency granted the Liberty to be gone from among us within two days which she promis'd to observe The Contemplation of that gradual progress we made in the whole series of that affair will confute all Clamours and Accusations of our cruelty since our own just and necessary defence did not only invite but also injoyn us to show the edge of so sharp a Law to Men of such stiffness and obstinacy which as these Men opposed with Contumacious violence they freely and willingly murder'd themselves It was always our wish that they had not done it and that the supream Law the peoples safety might be kept intire from all danger and detriment Our Antodating their danger that was to ensue and granting of pardon to Mary Dyer are evident Demonstrations that we were more desirous to preserve their lives than take 'em away Moreover tho so great punishment was provided against Quakers by Law especially those who being ejected did return yet there were not a few so rash as to come not only those who had not been here before but also who had been expell'd and banâ—sh'd ready to suffer any torment that cou'd happen yea to welcome death it self tho never so cruel A chief instance of boldness and obstinacy was very Conspicuous in the same Mary Dyer who as it was known tho she was on the Ladder and her neck in the Rope upon the very Borders of her last breath Yet after she had been once expell'd she return'd and yet was dismiss'd on this Condition that she wou'd no more repeat the same crime Notwithstanding all this she return'd once more persisting in the same purpose and mind that she must either have liberty for her self and Companions that Law of ejecting and murdering Quakers being Abrogated to rest in ease safely and quietly or if she cou'd not obtain it she wou'd seal with her Death her constant confidence in her Religion and thereby accuse the wickedness and insatiable cruelty of these Judges and convince them in the presence of all Men to be guilty of doing the highest of Injuries She came therefore undaunted from Rhodes to Boston in the year following which was the 60th the 31 day of the month of May. She was seiz'd and immediately the next day brought before the Judge the Court being throng who having told what charge had been formerly given her as the same time gave sentence of Death that to morrow she shou'd be hang'd by the neck till she dy'd that they might make sure to prevent her return for the future and give her no more occasion to be guilty of the like The next day accordingly she 's taken out of the Town guarded with Souldiers before and behind with their Drums beating round about her she came to the Gibbet with Courage in her Breast and very great Chearfulness in her face from whence she knew she shou'd not return any more having there spoken a great many words that show'd both the greatness of her mind and certain hope she had placed in Heaven she gave up her Spirit and so fell asleep The Quakers that either knew this Woman or had it from others Testimony of her say in her praise that she was a person of no mean Extract and Parentage of an Estate pretty plentiful of a comely Stature and Countenance of a piercing knowledge in many things of a wonderful sweet and pleasant Discourse so sit for great affairs that she wanted nothing that was Manly except only the Name and the Sex William Leadre was another instance of such constancy He being also upon pain of Death ejected and forbidden to see Boston again as I show'd before notwithstanding the year following viz. sixty two return'd thither prepar'd to expect and endure the same that these who had gone before had already suffer'd to offer his Blood for his Religion to those who he knew were thirsty enough to drink it When the report of his arrival was spread abroad and had also reach'd the Ears of the Judges they order'd the Man that thus contemn'd all threats of judicial punishment to be seiz'd and hurried headlong to Goal and all the cold season of the Winter to be kept in great hunger and want fasten'd to a thick and heavy log so that he scarce cou'd move himself out of his place being only as a dead trunk of a Man Having at length consider'd what to do with him they accus'd him heinously for daring to return he answer'd as the cause of expelling him was injust he thought he had just occasion to return They set the danger of his life before him because neither threatnings nor fear cou'd restrain him He answer'd that were he so easily to be frighted he would never have had the boldness again to return Being ask'd at another time if he would go into England he answer'd he had no business there afterward they endeavour'd earnestly to perswade him to renounce his Errors and Conform to the Church of England He reply'd then with greater vehemency that if he own'd his own confession to be false he must deny and reject God himself If he should herd with those of the Church of Englands Communion he must joyn with Notorious Murderers and Cut-Throats They again threatned him with an Infamous Death to which he answer'd he would Everlastingly rejoyce to suffer any thing for his Faith and Religion and that he was not at all afraid of Death so much as of the just Judgment of God yea that he would not decline any sort of Death since the just cause why he suffer'd it was absent and that that punishment they blazon'd with the threatning Colours of Death seem'd to him the way of Life and Eternal felicity so this discourse was not long continued But while they thâ—s lingred doubting what to do and could not come to a certain Conclusion other Quakers to the Number of five who had all been banish'd and prohibited to return upon the same penalty of losing their Life did yet without prudence or fear return Whereof one Wenlock Christyson understanding what they design'd to determine of Leader went straight way to the Court and told 'em that it was his sole errand to come to warn 'em to shed no more Innocent blood But his admonition was no worse rewarded than with a Goal Most of 'em at this time
of her Glory turn'd aside to this By-Way and having run through part of her life in that very House on which she had with those prodigious Endowments of Mind bestow'd so much Cost she was forsaken of all those that gap'd after her Estate and all her Family and left all alone but only not forsaken of God or abandoned to Desperation and so in her mournful Seat she breath'd out her Soul when she had first recommended it to God in Christ Of this excellent Maid to add this by the by What was mortal and perishing was repos'd not in the Sepulchral Monument or Tomb belonging to the Family of the Waltars erected in the Church as it might have been but without in the Church-yard or Ground lying about it in the common Earth amongst the rest of her Brothers and Sisters according to her own desire leaving that Monument out of Modesty that Familiarizer and Governess of all other Virtues of which this Lady in her life-time was always the perfect Pattern But since what the Doctrine of these People was what their Religion and how their way of Living what their Intention and what their aims and enterprises about the Church and other Men were may be fully known by their Writings which several Men among them yea and some Women too have published concerning themselues and many of our Learned Men of them I shall not now stay to Recapitulate But because all this Relation tends to this end to shew what Agreement there was between the Quakers of whom alone in this Work we treat and these Labadists I call them so because I know no better name to call them by in Doctrine and what Institution to one and the same purpose and lastly what intentions they had to joyn in Friendships and contract Acquaintances I will shortly and in few words relate it As to their Doctrine although these Men at first introduced little or nothing which was different from our Faith yet in process of time they brought in divers Innovations about the use of the Holy Scriptures and the guidance and operations of the Holy Spirit and Prayers and the remaining parts of Worship and the Sacraments and Discipline of the Church so that they came nearer to the Opinions of the Quakers in these things than to our Doctrine Now it appears that these Men no less than the Quakers reprehended and found fault with many things in our Churches and those of all Protestants that they were all so corrupt and deprav'd that no effect no fruit of the Spirit of God appeared amongst them nor no Worship of God but only a carnal and external One no mutual attention no conjunction of Minds no love no will no endeavours for the good one of another or the common good that was to be seen Lastly That no one's Life and Manners answered what they all profess'd or the Example and Precepts of Christ And as this was the complaint and quarrel of the Quakers so in like manner was it of these People too that with these vices above others were infected those that were the Prelates and Preachers of the Word and Stewards of the Mysteries of God Lastly these People thought thus that they were the Men from whom the beginning and first Examples of the Restitution of the Church was to be expected who also were wholly intent upon the famous work of this Reformation Just as the Quakers thought that this was chiefly reserv'd for them and that they were in a special manner obliged to go on with this Work of Reformation So great was the Fame of this Society that there was scarce any place in these Countries where there was not a great talk talk about these Teachers and Workers so that in Foreign Countries there was scarce any where unless it were among such People who have no regard to what is done abroad who had not heard something of them Therefore when these Reports were gone over into England and Scotland at first indeed there were some of these Men who being averse from the State of the Church as under the Bishops contained themselves within their own Churches which were more remote from external rites and splendor and a worldly and delicate polite as they call it and elegant Life and Conversation who also undertook the Ministerial Function At last also the Quakers who as soon as ever they heard of this sort of Men and their plain Religion and way of Life that they followed they began to think in good earnest of this Society of People and to be better acquainted with them and to consider ways and means amongst themselves how they should come to enter into Consultation with them I know that there was one of those Ministers of the Gospel so averse from the Episcopal way and addicted to Presbyterial Churches who not only himself writes to this Society but also communicates his thoughts upon this subject to an eminent Quaker which Man when after that time he foresaw many things from the face of the Kingdom which tho not altogether true indeed yet seeming very probable and likely to come to pass at that time he was not such a fearer of Episcopacy but that one might read in his Countenance and since he was a Man that one time or another it would come to pass as afterwards it happen'd that he was made a Bishop The first of the Quakers that came from Scotland to the Labadists to Amsterdam was George Keith a Man both very skillful in and much us'd to Controversie and Disputes After him comes out of England R. Barclay a Man likewise of great Experience and well seen in the Defence of his Religion These Men one after another treat about this matter with Labadee and the rest of them on whom the Government of the Society lay But when the Quakers opened their Mind briefly and in a common Style but they on the other hand us'd such deep and far fetch'd Speeches and those so round about the bush and turning and winding and so much Eloquence or endless Talkativeness that the Quakers knew not what these Men would say or how to know or find out and discern their Opinions Institutions and Intentions or where to have them which also had often happen'd to our People enquiring of these Men about these things and now began to suspect that they were not such a pure sort of People and were either bordering upon some Errors or privately entertain'd and bred some monstrous Opinion And when the Quakers tried again at another time to see further if by any means they could bring things to a Consent and Agreement and a conjunction together that they might act in common Concert the Labadists not only drew back but also resented it ill and were so angry that they thought it would be to no purpose to try any farther Conclusions with them And either upon the occasion of these Meetings together or from the designs of some of their Adversaries to reproach them it came to pass
those impetuous Spirits For seeing that all the rest except those two Colleagues aforesaid stuck to Horbius's side there was at that time very great Dissention and Strife between those Pastors who stood in opposition to Horbius and those that were on his part and that by Sermons Pamphlets and Letters every one according to his Faculty in Speaking or Writing putting forth his utmost in defence of his side and in opposition to his Enemies and placing the victory in the last action untill at length the matter was brought to that pass by the Interposition and Authority of the Senate Magistrates and Supream Power of the City a special and principal Remedy for such sort of divided Men and Assemblies that all the quarrel and difference in Words and Writings was taken off by an Amnesty as they call it or General Act of Indemnity and each of them were to forgive what was past as much as all good Men hoped it would be so It 's sad to consider what a vast number of things have been written all this time through all Germany that is of the Lutheran Religion not in the Latin Tongue save a very few but in the German Language that so now the whole Dispute which so many Learned Men could not find an end to should be equally committed to the Judgment of the Learned and Unlearned and especially be the entertainment of the vulgar and abject sort of Mankind whose Judgment they who thus contended are so far from expecting that they even Despise and desire not to have them named with them In the mean time we must pretermit that the Quakers abiding elsewhere and very well knowing and retaining an account and the particulars of all their own Conveniences neglected nothing wherein they thought there was any thing to their Advantage that might be done in this Commotion and Division of these Men. They had certainly in those places at this time a certain Hope wrought in them and their Spirits were raised with some joy that it might come thereby to pass that there should be such Persons that would Judge more favourably of the Doctrine of the Quakers and that perhaps they would apply their Minds to them the Words of their Epistle in an Anniversary Meeting at London the preceeding year writ to all the Churches of the Quakers bear witness hereunto which were to this purpose That they had Thoughts and some Hopes that the falling out of the Lutherans in those places amongst themselves might tend to a farther Discovery and Promotion of the Truth in those Parts Moreover there was in Germany as it were three sorts of Pietists pardon the expression One which I have described consists of those who sought and pressed nothing else but sincere Religion and true Piety and the greatest part of those are among the Learned and better sort of men through Saxony and all Germany Another sort of them was that cryed That the Church was much Corrupted and loved Piety but such who themselves on the other hand stagger not a little in the Faith and True Religion and these same are commonly less moderate and more violent in Celebrating their Assemblies together These came near the Weiglian Sect and such sort of Fanatical People that sprung up about an hundred year ago and not dead in all that intermediate time in Misnia and other Countries about who imagined as if it had been an Opinion not yet received in the Church and yet necessarily to be delivered That there is one certain Divine Seed in all Men and that God and Christ do so infuse themselves into Men that they are one Moreover That man becomes God and Christ and that so he ought to Worship God and Christ in himself and a great deal more of such stuff Which Tenents seeing they were of themselves very obscure and incomprehensible or only an empty sound without any Sence they by their winding cants did yet further involve and make more intricate and these men dreamt of I know not what Millenary Kingdom and Golden Age and continued watching among all who should be no longer Mortal in which Kingdom all things should be restored to their former state and condition and the Blessed abound with all Spiritual and Corporal Pleasures and Delights and should be satisfied at a Thought in what they desired or Wished from the Divine and Celestial Affluence of the Holy Spirit wherefore seeing that they now thought the same time was at hand They so settled their Rules that laying aside all Controversies among Christians they now with one mind by mutual instructions and exhortations looked to that Kingdom prepared themselves for it and invited other men unto it and made it their business so to do The Third sort of them was that which may be called Behmists or Teutonists these called back as it were Jacob Behman the Shoemaker of Garlingen in Silesia from the Dead who was called Tutonick and did both Broach those Opinions which had been really delivered by him as also those Errors that had been falsly laid upon him and ascribed to him yea and horrid and hellish Blasphemy and cried them up as worthy of all Esteem and Glory But before I give the particulars hereof I do not think it absur'd to say somewhat concerning the Doctrine and Writings of this Behman and the rather because of the great variety of Opinions and Observations of Learned and famous Men concerning them He had wrote and published in the German Tongue some Books or rather Pamphlets wherein as he would perswade himself he discovered many things necessary to be known or the Foundations of true Religion and Piety in dark words disjoyned from the usual and known names and such as he that would could not perceive and apprehend producing some of his own and adding as his own invention some other things which he had heard or road else where But when it came to pass as it often happens that those Germans especially the Lutherans who Assumed to themselves the Appellation of Learned Men and who were eager in a search after Knowledg Science and Truth and durst attempt any thing and were already puffed up with their own and other mens Opinions concerning the Excellency of their Learning alight upon these Notions these as coming nigh unto Behman's Principles but looking upon them yet to be ruder and as it were but rough drawn as being what he had only begun they go on to compleat them and from the Store-house of their own Wisdom build up and heap together many Opinions but such as were Monstrous and Horrid and digest them into books and Publish them and render the Behman Name well known in Germany Holland and England by their writing in those several Languages Some things also they Publish'd in Latin and they prove and extol the whole with a wondrous Character as if they were Golden Books and to be got all by Heart by those who followed the Christian Religion and loved their own Everlasting Salvation In the
therefore easily stuck to their Precepts and became themselves like unto them but also among many others who yet while they were carried with a desire alone to attain to Godliness were called by the only Name of Pietists and ingenuously took upon them to follow the Party of Horbius and Spener insomuch that now upon the Rhine and where the river Lippe discharges her self into the same at Wesel and the places adjacent towards Cleve many even of our Churches did also so embrace this mystical Theology some according to the Weigelian some the Tentonick mode and did so vigorously promote it cherish such as received it with so much Ardency that they began to unite and gather together so as that our Divines had no small task upon them for to instruct and teach them better that they might not withdraw from our Churches And there is no occasion here to relate how much vexation and trouble their Ministers and other good Men had in Holland both from the old Weigelian family and from this new brood of Teutonicks seeing this is so well known there and in every bodies mouth but this is not to be past over so far as it has relation to the affairs of the Quakers among these new mystical Men there was one John Jacob Zimmerman Pastor of the Lutheran Church in the Dutehy of Wirtemburg a Man skilled in Mathematicks and saving what he had Contracted of these erroneous opinions had all other excellent endowments of mind to which may be added the temperance of his Life wherein he was inferior to none and who was of considerable fame in the world Who when he saw there was nothing but great danger like to hang over himself and his Friends he invites and stirs up through his own hope about sixteen or seaventeen Families of these sort of Men to prefer also an hope of better things tho it were dubious before the present danger and forsaking their Country which they through the most precipitous and utmost danger tho they suffered Death for the same could not help and relieve as they supposed and leaving their Inheritance which they could not carry along with them to depart and betake themselves into other parts of the world even to Pensilvania the Quakers Country and there divide all the good and the evil that befall them between themselves and learn the Languages of that People and Endeavour to inspire Faith and Piety into the same Inhabitants by their words and examples which they could not do to these Christians here These agree to it at least so far as to try and sound the way and if things did not go ill to fortify and fit themselves for the same Zimmerman having yet N. Koster for his Colleague who was also a famous Man and of such severe manners that few could equal him writes to a certain Quaker in Holland who was a Man of no mean Learning and very wealthy very bountiful and liberal towards all the poor pious and good That as he and his followers and friends designed They are the very words of the Letter which is now in my Custody To depart from these Babilonish Coasts to those American Plantations being led thereunto by the guidance of the Divine Spirit and that seeing that all of them wanted wordly substance that they would not leâ— them want Friends but assist them herein that they might have a good Ship well provided for them to carry them into those places wherein they might mind this one thing to wit to shew with unanimous consent their Faith and Love in the Spirit in converting of People but at the same time to sustain their bodies by their daily Labour So great was the desire inclination and affection of this Man towards them that he forthwith promised them all manner of assistance and performed it and fitted them with a Ship for their purpose and did out of that large Portion of Land he had in Pensilvania assign unto them a matter of two thousand and four hundred Acres for ever of such Land as it was but such as might be manured imposing yearly to be paid a very small matter of rent upon every Acre and gave freely of his own and what he got from his friends as much as paid their Charge and Passage amounting to an hundred and thirty pounds sterling a very great gift and so much the more strange that that same Quaker should be so liberal and yet would not have his name mentioned or known in the matter But when these Men came into Holland they Sailed from thence directly for Pensilvania Zimmerman seasonably dies but surely it was unseasonable for them but yet not so but that they all did chearfully pursue their Voyage and while I am writing hereof I receive an account that they arrived at the place they aimed at and that they all lived in the same house and had a publick Meeting three times every week and that they took much pains to teach the blind people to become like unto themselves and to conform to their examples This Commotion and Disturbance made among the Lutherans has been not only noted here for a Commemoration of the present time but for a perpetual memorial of that people and I shall return to the Quakers and briefly say something of their passing into other Countries and the most remote parts of Europe and so shall conclude this book and the whole work therewith and this we must not and ought the lest to pass over because they also wonderfully extol but in words and Writing the doing of these Travellers and Itinerants almost beyond belief not indeed untruly but yet with so flattering an Estimation of these mens Labours and Troubles which they suffered for their Religion and had returned unto them for those Benefits and Rewards to wit for the Propagating of their Religion and the increase of it in those Countries and unless I mistake I confess I may mistake I see that in process of time as these men are very fond of their own Glory of whom some notwithstanding their external Plainness and Modesty swell with the leaven of Spiritual Pride that they will esteem all the sayings of their Predecessors as Oracles and their Actions Miracles and so Enhance and Magnify them as such and Boast and Glory that the same have done very great things every where and memorable to all Posterity A little before those first Emisaries went into Holland and the Adjacent Countries Edward Burroughs and Sam. Fisher went to Dunkirk a Sea-port Town in French Flanders to shew there to the People the Ignorance and Superstition of the Papacy But when they found none upon whom they thought they might work any thing they shortly without any delay return for England again flying from the Storm which they saw hanging over their Heads and seeing that they could do no good for the promotion of their Religion they were aâ—raid to do the same an injury in other things by their own misfortunes sufferings and