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act_n	king_n	parliament_n	writ_n	3,273	5	9.6734	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A35020	The general history of the Quakers containing the lives, tenents, sufferings, tryals, speeches and letters of the most eminent Quakers, both men and women : from the first rise of that sect down to this present time / being written originally in Latin by Gerard Croese ; to which is added a letter writ by George Keith ...	Croese, Gerardus, 1642-1710.; Keith, George, 1639?-1716.	1696 (1696)	Wing C6965; ESTC R31312	344,579	528

great Hereticks when as they onely differed from them in Church Government and some Eternal Rites and Modes and otherwise held the same true and Catholick Faith and Doctrine with these Men but also because all those penal Laws which were made and ordained before the time of the Reformation against Hereticks as they call'd them stood still in force and none of them was repealed not so much as that De Comburendo Haeretico or for burning the Heretick so that if at any time any one of Eminent power had a mind he might by Virtue of that Law Arraign any one and bring him to that dismal and horrid punishment and have it Executed upon him Which appears by the Examples of two Men under the Reign of K. James the 1st in the 11th year of this Century Which because it has not of a long while been taken notice of by most Writers and yet it is not amiss to be known especially at this time I shall briefly relate One of these Men was Bartholmew Legate of the County of Essex a Man of an unblamable Life ready wit and well read in the H. Scriptures but disliking the Nicene Creed and denying the plurality of persons in the God-head and the Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ after he had been for some time kept in Prison at London and being enlarged again more boldly defended his impious Errors and could not be brought to desist from it even by these reasons the King himself brought at last in an Assembly of Bishops was Condemned of Contumacious and Irreclaimable Heresy and delivered over to the secular Judges and by the Kings command according to the Act de haeretico comburendo the 18. day of March about Noon was publickly burn't and Consumed to Ashes The other was one R. Wightman of the Town of Burton near the River Trent who was Condemned by the Bishop of Coventry and Litchfield of several Heresies the first was that he was an Ebionite the last an Anabaptist and burn't at Litchfield the 11th day of Ap. 'T is true indeed that this Law for burning the Heretick as also for putting him to Death in any wise was repeal'd in the Reign of Charles the Second but this is true also that that repeal was not made without a great deal of Difficulty and Repugnance of some Men and it was so done too that tho the Clergy had this power of Life and Death taken away from them and yet still out of this power they had so much Authority left them as to Excommunicate as they call it those that they should account Hereticks and thereupon to deprive them of their Liberty and take away their goods and the Consequences which follow thereupon Which thing I have thought fit to take notice as being not well known and yet worth the while to know This repeal was made in the 29th year of his Reign and 77th of the Century in that memorable Parliament Which was continued from the year 61 by several Propagations down to that time There was a certain Man of the Country of Middlesex whose Name was Taylor who had defil'd himself with so many and great Crimes and Vices that he had no fear notice or Apprehension of God wherefore he was sent to London and brought before the Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Court. In which Court as they were deliberating what to Determine about a Man so very impious or rather an impure beast one of the younger Bishops being more vehement and hot in his Censures than the rest gave his Judgment that this Man should be Exterminated from humane Society by burning and alledges that Law for the Burning of Hereticks with fire Which seeming somewhat harsh to others of the Bishops and some giving their opinion one way others another The Earl of Hall the next day in Parliament in the House of Lords proposes and perswades that that Law for the Burning of Hereticks might be Abolished for as long as that Law was not yet taken away and repeal'd it might come to pass that what Religion or Sect soever came uppermost the professors of that by Virtue of this Law might put to Death by burning all those that they should count Hereticks The Bishops opposed and cried out against this Petition But when it came to the Vote the present Earl of Hallefax and likewise the Duke of Buckingham and Earl of Shaftsbury and other great Men Considering that at that time things look'd with a fearful aspect and that it was often seen in the Course of Nature that many times things which had been hindred and delayed might break out again as in that cursed Popish Plot and the preparations of the Papists for the Destruction of the reformed Religion at that time was easily to be seen and that that Law particularly might one day be signally Injurious and Destructive they so perswade the rest and make it out so plain by force of Argument that the repeal of that Law is concluded upon and decreed contrary to the mind and will of the Bishops which Bill being carried down to the House of Commons some Excellent Men among which the principal was W. Russell a great Lover of his Countrey and Religion and a Man worthy of immortal honour presently Vote for it and procured the Bill to pass And so by Authority of the King and both Houses of Parliament this ancient Law was Abrogated and Repealed by this Act That from henceforth by Authority of the King and Parliament the writ de heretico comburendo or for burning Hereticks and all Capital punishments following upon any Ecclesiastical Censures should be taken off Not taking away nevertheless or diminishing the Jurisdiction of the Protestant Arch-Bishops or Bishops or any other Ecclesiastical Court to punish Atheism Blasphemy Heresy or Schism or any other Damnable Doctrines or Opinions So that Nevertheless it shall and may be lawful to them to punish such Men according to the Kings Ecclesiastical Laws by Excommunication Deprivation Deposition and other Censures not Extending to Death What but also how fraudulent a Liberty to all Religions was granted by K. James the 2d and what care the Bishops most of them but not all took to oppose it is not necessary now to be insisted on But to return from whence I have digressed Now because these Quakers had made no inconsiderable progress in their Affairs in America that new and to the Ancients unknown part of the World there were some of them who thought it might be a work worth the while to attempt the like all over this part of the World which we inhabit and of which for the most part we have a more ancient knowledge of and that not onely in the European Countreys where we have great dealings but also in Asia it self and Africa among the remotest Nations Destitute of the right knowledge of God and brought up in the profoundest Ignorance of the truth and true Religion with a design to enlighten them and by their Arguments and Sollicitations

aspersions Penn being drown'd with such Cares and Businesses esteeming it his duty to look to his own affairs lest by the Continuance of such liberality he should dry up the Fountains of his paternal Inheritance he did not wholly abandon his Be●evolence and Diligence but did so by degrees Moderate and rule 'em that he gave ●o occasion of an invi●ious Complaint Penn having laid down this certain Conclusion that there must needs be one Society of Christians the common safety and advantage Requiring that every one worship God freely without any Impediment and Hinderance providing only he liv'd peaceably and submissively to the power and honour of the Magistrate and since this Kingdom was deny'd that Priviledge having the way to that liberty obstructed by an Oath which every one by Law was required to take and by other penalties laid upon Dissenters Penn treated with the King of these two who was also desirous to have 'em remov'd and therefore receiv'd the address more willingly Penn so defended and confirm'd the Kings Edict which was now emitted to this purpose in a certain Book he publish'd for that end that ●e incurr'd the hatred bitterness and anger of the Protestant party Universally and Implacably some of the Quakers also were ●o displeas'd that they did not love him and extol him as before others wholly avoided and abandon'd him The Protestants exclaim'd that Penn as well as the King aim'd at Popery with his outmost endeavour calling him not only a Papist but also a Jesuit an order that 's equally crafty and hated The Quakers thought it not at all amiss to have the penal Laws wholly Abiegated which the Quaker subjects most of all were expos'd to but lik'd not to have the Law concerning the Oath repea●'d lest the Papists thereby being let into the Government might quickly renew these sanguinary Laws and by means thereof take weary drive out and kill the Protestants and especially the Quakers according to the custom of their Tenets and Religion as if they had only been absolv'd from former Constitutions to be condemn'd more cruelly to severer punishment Thus they fear'd the snare cheifly to be laid for themselves While many were thus hurried in their minds Penn so proved himself in another book not to be addicted to but an hater of Popery by the Testimony of his word his Conscience which is a thousand Witnesses and of God than whom none can be greater that if the words of Man may ever be believ'd every one may credit Penn not to speak false blazing it with any Colour of subtility but that he wrote truth with Candour and Sincerity Tho Penn cou'd not by that book change the opinion that many had received of him yet he so fully convinced the Quakers that from them he retriev'd his ancient praise for some time intermitted so that they own'd him for one constant to their Religion and yet left him to the singularity of his own opinion So the Quakers under this King liv'd quietly and easily except a few that were somewhat troubled by the ensnaring Tricks of some deceitful men but the Time of New Trouble and Change of all was at hand For now the King weary of waiting thinking his Designs not capable of being defeated by any introduc'd Popery not hiddenly but openly Not to mention others these of the Highest Dignity even Bishops and Archbishops that withstood his Intentions were some of 'em brought over to his Cause by Bribes and others put into the Tower of London These being Resolute and Couragious in their honourable cause found by experience how far it was necessary and yet how hard to suffer for the liberty of their Conscience And since my discourse has led me hither I can't but add what was said by the Quakers themselves When the Bishops of England were now thus Stated some of the Quakers took the Freedom to tell 'em that same mischief return'd now on themselves that formerly came out from them upon the Quakers When it came to their Ears they resented it ill that such words shou'd be spoken and scatter'd of them by the Quakers Robert Barclay understanding this went presently to the Tower and told 'em all modestly that was done against the Quakers both by the command and permission of the Bishops to which narrative they cou'd make no other reply but that of silence But after 3 years K. James's Reign expir'd and was succeeded by K. William the Third of Nassaw hereditary State-holder of Holland Son in Law and Nephew to James by his Sister who in all the series and course of his Life shew'd himself the best of Princes and Generals equally adorn'd with Civil and Warlick virtue and withal Arm'd with Christian Piety a like useful to Church and State both by his Inclination and Education in his own Countrey which tho it hath no Kings yet produces and fits 'em for other Nations Upon his first taking up the Reins of Government he beliav'd himself to all with that Moderation that it was manifest he desir'd rather to be lov'd then fear'd and to bereave none of Liberty of Conscience in Religion so that all justly esteem'd him a most prudent and moderate Prince equal to the best King that e're preceeded him He granted Freedom and Indulgence to all but only the Papists whose infidelity he suspected those he treated with a mixture of Grace and Severity making always the former the greatest Ingredient The Quakers also cou'd not but love him and embrace him as their most effectual defender being suffer'd to perform their Religious exercises without the hinderance of fear and molestation This Royal benevolence was enhanced by the Parliament which the King called after his Inanguration according to the ancient Custom of Kings who us'd to have a Parliament in the beginning of their Reign that if any former Law were to be chang'd or Abolish'd it might be legally done with consent of the house This Parliament ratify'd a Liberty in Religion giving immunity to all from the force and severity that formerly resulted from any penal Act excepting yet the Papists who were reckoned such Enemies that no peace cou'd be establish'd with them and granting liberty to them wou'd be taking it from our selves and so to raise war against our own safety Excepting also Socinians and those of the like stamp who either openly or by Clandestine practices Aim'd at subverting the Foundations of the Christian faith Thus the Quakers had liberty but since it 's a matter of some moment to know the Rights and Privileges given 'em by King and Parliament and inserted in Acts of Liberty in Religion it will not be fruitless to handle it more largely if it were but for that French Authors sake whom I mention'd before not to his praise a base unconstant and Roguish fellow who after many turnings and windings in Religion as both strangers and they that know him assure me by Letters plays now strenuously the Papist at Paris However it 's certain he treats of

themselves call the Oath of Allegiance After the Discovery of the Gun-powder Treason formed by the Papists against King James the First and all the Royal Family and all the Peers of the Realm such a Law was made by the said King James and his Parliament to wit That for the restraining of such Papists who had much rather that the Pope should be Supream Lord of the Kingdom than the King and were easily induced to Offer such mad and abominable Sacrifices as these that are not to be named and that they might be known from other Men that as God should help him every one should Acknowledge Profess Testifie and Swear that the Pope had no Power to Depose the King or to stir up his Subjects to Rebel against him and that the same would perform all due Obedience and Fidelity towards the King and withstand all Plots and Contrivances against the Regal Authority There was moreover an Oath long since in use to this King's Predecessors called the Oath of Supremacy first begun by King Henry VIII whereby every one did Swear That the King alone was Supream Governour of this Kingdom in all things and causes whatsoever as well in Spiritual and Ecclesiastical as in Civil These Oaths from the beginning of this New Revolution being put to the Quakers by the Royallists they proposed to them when they were taken to Swear to these words positively that they might try how they stood affected towards the King But seeing they refused to Swear at all as holding it an unlawful Act and not that only of the Abjuration of the Pope and their Affection towards the King and that in the mean time they were always ready in clear and distinct words truly to Affirm in the Presence of God that they were such Persons as did abominate and loath the Pope and that Church and the Power of those Men and their Tenets as also their Pride and Treachery against Kings and that the King could fear no Danger and Inconveniency so little from any sort of Men as from them nor desire more Love Obedience and Good-will from any as towards their Lawful King and that they were ready if they proved false herein to undergo such Punishments as they who have violated their Oath after they have sworn in direct words yet this Oath was always objected against them as an inexplicable Snare wherewith to ensnare whom they were minded to catch for whether they did altogether refuse this Oath or with this same Exception that they might give their Opinion concerning it or the thing it self and spoke of their willingness to Promise Solemnly to be Faithful and did not refuse to Subscribe the same with their hands they were presently looked upon as Men either unfaithful or wavering or treacherous in their Obedience to the King and to be deprived of all the Protection and Favour that the King could give them And as a Superaddition to the rest when they to whom Tythes of the Fruits of the Earth and the like were allotted for their Labours and especially the Farmers of these Tythes were very sharp upon them for their Returns and Profits and the Quakers denyed that they ought to pay them they were very severely and hardly used every where Moreover when they were shut up in Prisons had little or no Relief from without those that served them used them for the most part as they pleased neither was there any thing whereby they might defend themselves Of which things as there are very memorable Instances and almost without Number I shall give one only Specimen of every sort and that briefly At Sherborn in Dorsetshire there were Thirty Quakers got together into an House for to Worship God in an innocent harmless manner who as if they had been a knot of Men come together for to Drink Revel Rebel and Conspire against the Government were haled out by the Townsmen Officers and School-Master of the place followed with many Swords and Clubs and entertained with Curses and Blows were carried before the Magistrate who blamed sentenced and condemned them as vile Persons bent upon Rioting and while they were met together did only contrive and rashly machinate Innovations and this they did without any Proof Judgment and Defence the Quakers at the same time however crying out that there was not one Person that could make any such thing good against them or that they met upon such an Account and urging the King's Promise in vain that while they were only met together to Celebrate their Worship to God that none should suffer any Injury because of his Religion Some of the Quakers were shut up in Dorchester Gaol from the sight of all Men and even from the common Light others of them meeting the Danger make their Appearance at the next Quarter Assizes where when nothing that had been urged against them could by any means be proved but that these Men did now appear before the Court with their Hats on this was now objected as a Crime unto them and looked upon as a certain diminution of the King's Majesty and so they were fined for their Punishment to pay great Sums of Money which when they did not forthwith pay they were all adjudged by the Court to be shut up in the same Prison of Dorchester upon Condition they should not be released from thence till such time as they had paid the said Sum. In the Town of Shrewsbury which is the head Town and finest in that County when the Quakers were at their Meeting several Soldiers break open the Doors and rush into the House and take away and hurry into Prison One and Twenty of them The Judges when they did not and could not Accuse them of having done any Villany or Wrong require them to take the Oath of Allegiance which when they refused to do the same as it were condemning themselves by this their silence as if they had been guilty of Treason they are forced to remain shut up in the same Prison Edward Noell a Country-man of Kent had taken from him of his Flock to the value of an Hundred Pounds for the Tythes of Twenty Pounds for which he had not paid the Money and when he according to his Country Rhetorick and Truth had made a noise about it and sufficiently stung the Ears and Hearts of the Tythes-men and Magistrates he was commanded away to Prison and there kept a Year and an half One Thomas Goodrey at a place in Oxfordshire called Chadlington and a Man of a good Nature and Disposition having travelled through many Parts of the Kingdom turns in to see his Friend Benjamin Staples This Man the very next Night after he came was together with his Landlord carryed away and led before the Justices they tender to them the Oath of Allegiance which when they refused to take so as that there was no way left for them to make any Defence they are led away and committed to the Common Gaol of Oxford and were shut up

or despise to follow and imitate the others Example yet betwixt 'em both there 's a very great difference and jarr as the Molinists adhere to the Rectors of Conscience sacred orders and very many rites and the Quakers reject all these Rules and Principles which being neither abstruse nor hard to be known I shall not now inlarge on with any further addition England being now at leisure from War and Peace with the Dutch again establish'd the long-gather'd grudge against the Quakers and the anger that sometime was restrain'd and forborn began to be now reviv'd and strengthen'd in order to renew the War against ' em Fox as yet thinking himself most concern'd yea to have the oversight of the Quakers affairs went on preaching with such boldness confidence and care of their business that he run himself into many dangers So also did Keith and Penn. Whether with a design to avoid the danger or because they suppos'd that they could and ought to deserve well by their Counsel and Authority at the hands of their friends that were living elsewhere it 's not known In the year 77 they went together into Holland and part of Germany to visit some few friends they had in those Countreys In which Voyage what was done by them I shall endeavour to shew in the following book In the mean time the daily encrease of evil started reproach and oppression against many There was afterward a great persecution begun in the County of Nottingham which being also diffus'd into other Provinces and at length in the year 80 through the whole Land run through the people with an exceeding violence This affair that year Penn and Mead did accurately describe and many others whose fellowship with those that suffer'd Calamities was such that what they endur'd they thought done to themselves and therefore they sent their desires to King and Parliament to inform them of the Injuries done to their friends and intreat at length a remedy and help against those evils of so long Continuance Tho I could insert Innumerable examples of their troubles that I may not excur without the bounds of my intended brevity I shall content my self to repeat two of 'em mention'd by those whom I have already nam'd so far I suppose from being unknown that tho they have been kept silent their truth may be attested by the memory of many as yet for I write nothing but what I am assured of W. Godrig of Banwal in Somerset-shire being desir'd to give light to somewhat by his Oath knowing certainly that he would religiously refuse it upon his refusal was dragg'd into Jayl and despoil'd of all his goods and movables to the value of 244 lib. ster and also Immovables whose yearly value was suppos'd to amount to 60 lib. or thereabout at last after thirteen years Imprisonment all his Estate was publickly Confiscated Mich. Renald a wealthy and monyed Man in the County of Bark-shire owed the Tythes of his Land for one year to about the summ of 10 lib. which he refusing to pay was summoned by the Creditor being also so unwilling to follow such a suit that he rather would have sustain'd any greater detriment the cause was so ordered in Judgment and the tryal given in the plaintiff's favour that the Collectors for a fine out of his Cattel or stuff should instead of ten take 60 lib. wherewith these fellows being cunning severe and hot for their gain were scarce contented they took away to the value of 97 lib. besides being their own Officers they take as their wages out of the shaves of Corn about the worth of 12 lib. more About this time the Quakers counted 243 that were dead by wounds and strokes received at their Meetings While these things were done in England in Scotland also especially the Northern part much trouble was raised against the Quakers and that by reason of their publick Preachings some were greatly sined others refusing to pay them had their goods taken from them and that to the double of what was laid on Some were miserably kept in Custody amongst whom was Barclay's father mention'd in the former book and Alexander Skein once famous amongst the Magistrates of Aberdeen yet amongst all the Calamities and Sorrows they suffer'd they had no greater grief torment nor sorrow than to see and understand their Religion Behaviour and Actions to be so execrably and malitiously defam'd'd and revil'd For so they were every where in Libels and Verses Base and Reproachful pictures describ'd and design'd and that often by the vilest sort of Men. So in familiar Conference eatings and drinkings there was scarce a talkative prattling or babling fellow that lov'd to talk or act Comically but he must reduce his discourse and gesture to traduce the sincerity and simplicity of the Quakers There were no ●ordid Vagrants Quacks Juglers or Gamesters that had a mind to please the people or make themselves be laught at but must bring in the Quakers in their Gesticulation and Buffoonry Yea the Theatres and shows in Plays and Comedys which are wholly exploded when void of wantonness and not Arm'd with the follies and Madness of such words and Actions These must assign the Quakers their Acts Speeches and Motions and so lay open to the view of the world they profess'd themselves Masters to know and display the Lives and Actions of all sorts of Men. Yea in the Courts of Kings and Princes their Fools and Pleasants which they kept to relax them from grief and pensiveness could not show themselves more dexterously ridiculous than by representing the Quakers or aping the motions of their mouth voice gesture and countenance I heard a pleasant story from them Helen which the English for shortness calls Nell at London a most noted Dancer at the Play-house afterward a miss of King Cha. II. tho she could imitate all the Actors by any gesture of her body yet she could not by her out-most effort and endeavour even before the King and Courtiers whom she often pleas'd with such ludicrous Actions Act the Quaker so to the life as to draw out compress and remit the Spirit and so to ape their praying and holding forth without betraying force and affectation and how unhappy she was in Imitating those Actions which she could never have knowledge of by any Conjecture I was told the like of one of the Kings fools by those that were Eye-Witnesses of the matter The Quakers were also greatly afflicted in Leicester and Somerset-shire in the year 81 and 82. There is a Village in Leicester not far distant from the chief City of the whole province thither many of the Quakers are conveen'd and assembled which was not pleasing to some Inhabitants and especially Ministers of Churches that liv'd in those places Some young Men and Boys watch'd to disturb their Meeting and at other times Men with silence and constancy when they met they Immediately assault them unawares take 'em pull the Men's hats and womens upper coats from