from this time forward as to what Places he went so with whom he conversed and whom he should shun and when he found there were some who laid in wait for him to trepan him and hale him to Prison he immediately hastened away He did also moreover advise his Party by his Letters and Pamphlets that all of them should make it their business and endeavour to do nothing against the King's Authority and the Common-weal and allow of nothing in that kind which might be avoided by them Besides this Fox proceeded to write many things even against their Adversaries but in such a manner as not to set forth so much what his own Sentiments were as what he wrote and in what place he wrote it Which sort of Life Fox from thence forward led even to his Death that all his Actions both in the middle and last part of his Life might be like unto those he had practised in the beginning so that I judge it needless to say many more words concerning Fox in this Treatise unless something that is altogether new and strange should occur And thus did almost all the Quakers behave themselves now more cautiously and circumspectly among their Adversaries neither did they so often and constantly make a noise in the Churches and Publick places neither did they Act those Fooleries where there was a Concourse of People and utter such ridiculous Bablings neither when they were brought before the Magistrate did they talk so uncivilly abruptly and foreign to the purpose as they had been wont to do neither did they Answer when the Judges asked them what their Name was what Country-men they were where they lived that they were of the Land of Canaan and that they lived in God so that as the Time even so their Manners changed yea from henceforward these Men wrote and published in England not only Pamphlets but Books in which they handled the Heads of things not at large only and confusedly but curiously and distinctly and did Argue in them first against the Opinions and Tenets of the Principal Episcoparians and then against those of other Dissenters which they did not approve of and this in a neat and orderly way of Argumentation not by wrangling but examining every Proposition and coming up to the Merit of the Cause and by admirable Skill arriving at their designed Conclusion neither did they urge those things which they taught and believed by a rude and disjointed way of Reasoning but clearly and openly and explicated the same at large and strenuously defended it Which Method was vigorously pursued by Samuel Fisher who was the chief Man and the Ornament of the whole Sect. Moreover some of them were not afraid to Discourse Argue and Dispute with the Adverse Party yea and when need required with the very Ministers of the Publick Church concerning their own and the others Doctrine and Concerns Which sort of Disputation was held this very first Year at Hereford between two City Ministers and three Preaching Quakers Howgil Burroughs and Cross wherefore from henceforward these People the Quakers began gradually and by little and little to stand up and to increase in number and strength and to be reckoned and used as one of the Sects of the Christian Religion Things were at the same pass with these Men in Scotland saving that their Affairs did not thrive so fast there until the arrival of two Men of great Fame and Reputation amongst all the Quakers Geroge Keith and Robert Barclay by Name by whose Labour Toyl and Industry the whole Doctrine of the Quakers especially their chief Dogms Principles and Fundamentals were very much illustrated and confirmed and because this is the first place where we meet with the Names of these Men and that hereafter mention will be made of them upon various Accounts we shall in a few words acquaint those who do not know it what sort of Men these are they were both of them Scots but there is only one of them to wit Keith that is yet alive Barclay the other being dead George Keith was at first of the Reformed Religion and a Student of Philosophy and Divinity as soon as he commenced Master of Arts and was more especially had in esteem for a good Mathematician he did afterward become a Chaplain or Minister of God's Word in a certain Noble Family But seeing that he was always transported with a desire of searching after and learning somewhat that was new and alighted upon these late Sectaries he did in a short time embrace their Doctrine and arrived to be one of the chief Speakers and Holders forth amongst them This Man after many Toyls Wanderings and Perambulations went at last into that part of America which from the Owner thereof is called Pensylvania and there in their Church and Latin School of Philadelphia exercised the Office of a Teacher Robert Barclay was a Gentleman of Scotland the Son of that same David Barclay whose Book we have made mention of a little before his Father had sent him to the City of Paris the Capital of France and there was brought up in good Literature and after a manner that suited to his Quality and those Noble Youths that were his Fellow-Students But this Young Man had an Uncle in that City that was Principal of the Scotch Popish College there to whose Precepts when Barclay had for some time attended he leaves the Reformed Religion and turns Papist which when his Father came to know he sends for him home and as he himself in the mean time was turned Quaker he also endeavours to induce his Son to embrace the same way but he seeing he had in all other things been Observant to his Father refuses and says he could not in so great and weighty a thing as that was hearken to him But when he had not long after come to one of the Meetings of the Quakers he suddenly turns about and becomes throughly one of them being now Eighteen Years of Age and from thence forward for a great part of his Life was as it were the Legate or Messenger of the Quakers in their weightiest Affairs it 's also said that he was descended from John Barclay that notable Writer of Heroick Verse and Satyr and whose Name it 's enough to mention Keith wrote many things in English wherein he does clearly Teach Explain and Confirm those chief Points of their Doctrine which Fox and others had neither so distinctly handled nor so artificially and dexterously propounded and vindicates the same from the Objections and Exceptions of their Adversaries which afterward all the rest of the Quakers greedily snatched at and would appropriate and reckon among the Opinions of the Quakers excepting two or three Articles which they left alone as peculiar to himself He was indeed the first of them all who taught polished and perfected those Principles concerning the Seed and Light within immediate Revelation the Eternal Divine and Spiritual Filiation of Jesus Christ for so do all
put on neither by us nor at our pleasure but your own Command how unjust and ridiculous is it that a fine should be laid on us and not rather on your selves But we answer'd not fully to all their questions a crime exceeding all possible excuse that can be brought to palliate our viloated duty being ask'd many things we answer'd some tho not all sometimes restraining our selves not contrary to Law you know what each of these amounts to Certainly he that speaks nothing does not affirm neither indeed does he therefore deny It 's then expedient for the defendent to speak when his own silence would wrong his cause but he that defends himself when not so much as ask'd gives occasion of suspicion reproach and calumny Truly no Man is oblig'd to accuse himself If any rash or precipitant word drop'd out this is nothing but a humane weakness that few are strangers to it being hard in this as in other matters to keep a measure when the mind is mov'd with extraordinary anguish But I suppose we are known to be none of those who are offensive to others by the Intemperance of our Tongues neither are we as yet conscious of our pretended guilt that we have hitherto defended our selves with any Impertinency but this this is our crime to day why both here and every where we are drag'd into Judgment because we seldom deprecate our charge or Court favour by throwing our selves at your feet or using guilded expressions to ensnare your Ears if not our own minds also which would if not at present yet certainly hereafter prove detrimental to us and our common cause If it be an accusing and reproving of others to reject the falsehood of their unjust Accusation and Modestly and Ingenuously show what they do amiss let us bear that Name which only the sence and glory of well doing gives us tittle to But this is or at least should be the sole and proper question what is this crime which we have done that you esteem so hainous Since no Law forbids it no Man can doubt the Lawfulness of our doing it and injustice of your reprehending it For where there is no Law there is no Transgression As to the council's Allegation of a Common and general Law as the Foundation and strength of the whole Accusation when a general saying is generally to be understood things common cannot oblige without a special statute so long as he applies not his rule to the matter in hand whereupon the subject of our discourse is hinged truly his citation is to little purpose and his talk is fruitless for the wise and ancient Kings that made those Laws and the skillful and ingenious Lawyers of our Countrey who interpreted them did ever take 'em in no other meaning than applicable to certain persons things times and Circumstances wherefore thus to wrest Controversy to Law is to disjoyn it from it self Moreover no Law can be just which forbids what the divine Law Commands and reason Dictates or Commands what God and nature forbids and denies even where the reverence and worship of God is concerned Is this their Justice and Equity with whom we have to do to bid shut our mouths or carry us to punishment when we speak against injustice in our own defence Since by the common Law it s provided that he that may do that which is more should not be deny'd liberty to do that which is less what hinders us when Religion the greatest good is at the stake to which other things tho never so valuable have no proportion to be allow'd the common privilege of gain-saying Then we must be rob'd of our whole liberty our Wives and Children dragg'd into slavery our Families scatter'd our Estates seiz'd and carry'd away into triumph for our own Conscience sake by the accusation of every beggar and Malitious informer craftily waiting for our Ruine and Destruction Let the Lord of Sea and Land Judge betwixt us in this matter The Judgement of twelve Men was always much regarded by the Patricij of old the Nobles and Optimates who being sworn Assessors after hearing the cause and evidence brought in their sentence according to the equity of the matter That book has also hitherto been highly honour'd which contain the Rights of King Parliament and People which is call'd Magna Charta What reverence Judges pay unto these who Arrogate the intire power and sole decision of the Tryal to themselves and that with so much passion and prejudice as they are so unhappy neither to be able to govern or conceal it let the Judges themselves declare Impartially It appears plainly the Magna Charta is become a nose of wax since it 's so often hammer'd out into every form If things run in this Channel the times will come soon when we may bid farewel to Religion to all Society yea right and property too if all Tryals and Judges be like this in whose mind so much of the Popish inquisition is ingrain'd As for us since we were not accus'd we could not be condemn'd yea since we 're absolv'd by the Jury we desire our liberty As for you the most just and great God will Judge the Justice of all your proceedings When Penn and Mead persisted in their purpose not to pay that Money which they were amers'd in being thrown into Jail Penn's father pay'd it for them both and deliver'd 'em from their Imprisonment a severe and warlick exploit follow'd done upon the Quakers in the County of Surrey In certain places Captains with their Souldiers only by their own Power and Authority broke in upon Quakers houses without any occasion Colouring the Injustice of their Action with a pretence that they searched for hidden and conceal'd Arms and other Instruments of Sedition and Rebellion thus they perceiv'd what they had in their houses and afterward came upon them at their pleasure and spoiled them This use and custom did so overflow and prevail that Military Men of that sort and size both foot and horse without any Command assaulted those people while at their Religious exercises and Proclaim'd and made War without any Enemy with so much vehemency fierceness Clamour and Execution as if they would fright heav'n it self with the thundering of their words and thrusting 'em out of the houses where they were met if they stood nigh by or spoke but a word which you may suppose they often if not always did they dragg'd some of 'em immediately into fetters and smote others most cruelly with their Military Weapons this was a common custom in Harsly-down The house being full of Quakers at their worship many Souldiers and Horsemen with Swords Pikes and Fire-Arms fly's thither the Footmen goes in and presently running upon them thrusts them all out of doors being put out into the street the Horsemen rides them down seeing their only hope of safety to be plac'd in the swiftness of their feet by flight they betook themselves to that remedy and endeavour'd
the Quakers with respect and civility whilst Fox with his friends went further into the Countrey and there had the fortune to light upon others of 'em they entertain'd him and his friends Discreetly and Courteously This Journey of two years space being ended a few months after Fox in Vigornia by Judge Parker's command for their frequent Meetings was put in Custody in the Country-Jail There he continued for a year and more being sometimes brought to a judicial appearance When nothing could be made out he was remanded into Jayl or so delay'd to a certain season upon his promise of another appearance wherein Fox did always satisfy the Judges observing his promise with a Religious tenderness The strife and Controversy was levell'd at this to make Fox take the Oath of fidelity to the Government Fox denyed to make Corporal Oath or swear in express words not that he refus'd to undertake or affirm the thing for he was ready to give a written bill to the Judges tying himself to the performance of all that was requir'd thinking they could expect or demand no more from him he defended his cause at all occasions with many sounding and sententious Arguments and such as are thought to be deriv'd from the sacred fountain of the word of God but to no purpose for the Judges regarded all the Allegations brought by that sort of Men as nothing but base and contemptible pretences How Fox spent his time whilst kept here in prison the many books written by him do declare especially that containing the Confession of the faith of Jesus Christ enrich'd and Interwoven with Scriptural places cull'd out of the New Testament by a singular order he had also Divers Conferences with Learned Men while he enjoy'd the leisure the prison afforded him in which he often show'd the disparity of the encounter betwixt the Learned in the Dialectick Art and those that are wholly Rude and Artless whereof I have this Example He had a Disputation with Dr. Crowder prebendary of Worcester concerning an Oath as it was lawful or forbidden under Gospel or Law In which debate when Crowder concluded that as an Oath was of old Lawful under the Law so now it was not unlawful under the Gospel In like manner as Adultery and other vices forbidden by the Law are also prohibited under the Gospel Fox being offended by so Ignorant a Consequence began to be in a passion but before he had liberty to reply to what was said all that were present contested and exclaim'd and rais'd this groundless report aginst him that he affirm'd and taught as Orthodox that Swearing Adultery Drunkenness and other vices of that nature were Lawful notwithstanding the fruitless resistance of Crowder and that he had broke out in obscene cursing and lying who only defended a Nod might be a certain pledge of fidelity and one word fill the place of an Oath another Clergy-Man disputing with Fox concerning the perfection of Saints in this Life forming an induction from the word of God wherein he thought great force of Argument to be couch'd came to Fox and ask'd him what he thought of himself pressing him more than ordinarily to answer ingenuously Fox scarce knowng what such a question was design'd for at length made no other return than this By the grace of God I am what I am Thereby neither expresly affirming nor denying and yet obscurely hinting what he thought at length Fox after many disappointments by the coming of the Governour Alesius was dismist after so long absence returning to his House and Wife he liv'd there with her for some time so quietly that there was not a Syllable spoken of Fox in the mean time he wrote and sent many Letters Suasory Hortatory and of other sorts concerning such things as he thought his labour and pains might not be lost on but be useful and advantagious He wrote also to the Jews at Amsterdam and to the Papists yea and to the Pope himself as also to the rulers of the lesser Africa and even to the Emperour of the Turks accosting him with this very Inscription and Title of the great Turk a name horrid and unsavoury enough especially in that Nation and Language Fox wrote and caus'd all those Letters to be Printed in his Mother-Tongue the English Language but they were not Translated and sent as they were Inscrib'd So that they rather prov'd tokens of a laborious Confident and Arrogant mind than in any measure profitable and advantagious At London in the year 74 on the 9th and 16th days of October there was a Conference held in a Meeting house of the Baptists 'twixt the Quakers and them concerning the person of Christ the speakers on the Quakers side were G. Withad and S. Crisp G. Keith and W. Penn for the Baptists T. Hicky Jer. Joes W. Kiffin T. Planty all preachers in their own perswasion the cause of the debate was a book publish'd by Hicky in which he branded the Quakers with the reproach of being disintituled to the Character of Christians teaching Christ to be no person without us but that the Internal light of every Man's mind is Christ The Quakers desired them to prove their challenge by showing which of them had ever taught such Doctrine or else that the reproacher might be punished by his fellowship according to the due desert of his delinquency The first day they handled the Quakers opinion the Baptists alledging such words to have been written by the Quakers in a certain book that Christ was never seen with bodily eyes by any Man By which words the Baptists did not yet make out the weight of their charge against the Quakers for they explained the words thus that tho it be certain as Christ was Man he was Externally seen by Men but as he is God that he is Invisible doth sufficiently comport with the Analogy of Scripture That when we speak of Christ's being known loved or worshiped 't is evident we mean not of Corporeal vision but mental Intuition At the next Meeting the Baptists took another Argument to prove the Quakers to be no Christians because they taught Divine Revelation to be the Immediate Rule of Faith and Life which Argument when the Quakers had shown to be weak and childish the Baptists having few more Topicks to lean upon turn'd aside to what concern'd not the Controversy But being unable by Windings and Circumlocutions to defend themselves and taking it ill to be worsted and confuted began to place their victory in Reproach and Loquacity filling all with Tumult and Noise The Quakers who all this time sat still with an equality of fixedness sedateness and constancy receiv'd their assaults as the swelling floods are broken and beat of by the Rocks Thus they parted so far from adjusting the matter that they were more exasperated by the Conference they had enjoy'd The next year Rob. Barclay wrote his Theological Theses and sent them to the Doctors Professors and Students of Theology Popish and Protestant in
that Tho. Earl the then Sheriff a very considerable and honest Man mindful of his Dignity and Office call'd one that was suspected to give an account concerning the disposal of that money and goods When he could not deny what was really true yet would not confess he first endeavour'd to turn the stream of the discourse but the other continuing to urge his query in stead of extricating he inveigl'd himself more and then his anger beginning to boil out he threatn'd to bring the matter before thâ— Parliament who he suppos'd would make the Sheriffs Enquiry fruitless The Quaâ—ers were daily impar'd and punish'd and that both in their Lives and Estates so that none of their Persons or Possessions were safe Yet they forbore not their Ancient Meetings and Assemblies Neither did their Enemies leave off to grieve and afflict them till they had shewed their Insolence and Baseness as far as they could The Officers Serjeants and Flocks of Boys not only when the Quakers assembled in publick but also every where whomsoever they met they seiz'd some of 'em throwing 'em so violently on their Faces that they could not rise again without great pain beating and bruising others with Canes and while they bemoaned themselves under the smart of their Wounds the others insulted with a barbarous cruelty Yea One of the Informers being mad with Fury sometimes took a Boy lifting him up by the Hair and at other times as he had understood the Intrigue of Dressing his Discourse in a more enticing Dialect accosting a Girl with pleasing expressions whom because she refus'd his Kisses and Amorous Embraces he held by the Arm with such Force and Violence that he easily distorted the Tender Joynts Neither did he only kick Old Men to the Ground with his Feet but also Women Young Big-bellied or Old If one had offered to intercede for another though it had been an Husband for a Tender Wife the Blows were presently exchang'd upon himself 'T was little to hear 'em daily belch out such Names as these Viz. Whores Bitches and Bawds words not to be used by one Cstristian to another A certain Boy scarce out of his Hanging-Sleeves wantoning and playing with a young Girl with that impudent Levity that he began to handle the Girl obscenely she for the Roguish endeavour of his Immodest Contaction and also to preserve her Honour and Chastity gave him a small chop upon the Cheek the Informer knowing it would have her put in Jayl because she had aim'd with her hand to defend her Chastity from the daunings of the young Rogues lust objecting that without the least necessity she had beat the boy out of a Turbulent Spirit The 16th of April in the year following the Sheriff and Informer rush'd in precipitantly upon ten women assembled together These they ordered to be dragg'd to Bridwel one of them being with child was very tender whom the Sheriff dragg'd along with his own hand for he was one that needed not a Serjeants assistance neither could Prayers or Complaints induce the cruel Monster to desist The house being emptied the Sheriff brought or let in Labourers Porters Carriers and such like equally famous for Rudeness and Insolence and so fitted for a work of this Nature who took their pleasure in Eating and Drinking of the spoils and booty of that day while the others were enduring such Cruelty and Misery After they had Eaten and Drunken what they could providing themselves in Banner and Drum they past the rest of the time in Playing Dancing and Singing which the Sheriff took pleasure to feed his Eyes with the sight of The Quaker woman seeing this ask'd the Sheriff if he thought it Convenient that a house devoted to the worship of God should be made a Theatre of their Lustful shows the Sheriff whose mind was always so forstall'd with hatred against the Quakers that he could digest nothing that proceeded from them was so highly offended that he Commanded her presently to be thrown into Bridewel amongst her Companions In prison no less affliction follow'd after 'em by the harshness of the Keeper and Cruelty of his Servants There was a Vault wherein Prisoners that were no Malefactors were suffer'd to Converse work and discourse together but this small liberty he would not permit the Quakers to enjoy When they endeavour'd any thing at set times when they had opportunity to sit or talk together he disturb'd divided 'em and shut 'em assunder beating 'em upon finding what they had said or done he threw them amongst Theives and Rogues where they could not see and meet one another but must strive and struggle with so odious a Company When the Sheriff or informer came into Prison they treated them no less harshly and furiously At last the Number of the Prisoners was so great that there was no Room to lye in all Night nor scarce to breath freely by day so that they almost all fell into various Diseases and danger of being soon overtaken by Death a peice of Comfort since it would have allay'd the miseries of life yet here they 're discharg'd to deplore their Condition The Prisoners and four Physicians of the City whom the matter was known to wrote a Letter to the Mayor and the rest of the Magistrates that they might be acquainted with their Calamity the Keepers Cruelty and the whole affair endeavouring to lighten their Miseries and Torments and might assist 'em against the Cruelty of their Persecuters But the Mayor in whom the greatest power is lodg'd and the rest of the Magistracy having read their Letters and being moved with Compassion resolv'd to succour these distressed People knowing that no Relaxation would be obtain'd by those fellows of an Inferiour Rank especially the Sheriff whom I have mention'd who fortified himself so much at London by others Authority that if they would do any thing it must be done amongst themselves and that those that were dispossess'd of their houses and ground might have Liberty to complain of the Injury they had sustain'd In Apr. there was a Court at Bristoll for the Quaker Prisoners where all things being duely heard and considered the Quakers upon payment of a cerâ—â— fine and taking the Oath of fidelity that was tendred to them were offeted to be freed from their Goal and Misery but they chuse Continuance in Goal rather than the fine and Oath There was one Erasm Dole who suffer'd himself to be brought in to use the â—erm of declaring instead of that of Swearing A certain Serjeant pluck'd out a Bible unawares and laying his hand upon it put the book to his mouth according to the usual manner of giving an Oath Whereupon not a few did vainly boast that there were amongst the Quakers who refus'd not an Oath and that now the lâ—e being broken we would bring 'em to the rest which they seem'd to decline with an equal Aversion But that this might not take Impreâ—ion in the minds of Men Dole in a book gives a
followed by others of both Sexes Neither were the Actions of these very memorable their Power being abridged by the Sufferings they were forced to endure which indeed may be reckon'd so great and so many that they are not unworthy to be noticed and obserued Of all the Tract of the New England Common-wealth Boston is the Metropolis and Judiciary Seat At that time John Endicot was Rector or Governour of the whole Province one that from a very low condition was gradually mounted to this Honour and Dignity Of whose Temper Behaviour and Government which was then variously thought and talk'd of and whereof there were afterwards on both sides Witnesses I shall content my self wholly to be silent Next to him was Richard Bellingham whose manner of Life and Nature I also pass by At this time there was no where any thing like a Law enacted against the Quakers A Ship then arriv'd at Boston and was no sooner Anchor'd than a rumor was spread that 2 Quaker women were come in the Ship The Governour being absent he that was depute immediately sent order for seizing these women sealing up and keeping their Hampers Boxes and Chests and bringing the Books of their Sect whereof they had great store into the City where they were publickly burnt by the hand of the Hangman Then the women themselves were brought into Town and soon after before the Judges who presently as soon as they sat down on the Bench pronounc'd the women to be certainly Quakers for giving the singular title of thou to the Judge and not the more Courteous compellation of you contrary to the custom of almost all the English The Judges thinking this to be a sure enough sign and the matter to be clear and evident of it self their office rendring 'em best Advocates for themselves order'd the women to be taken and thrown into Goal and have nothing of the goods they had left in the Ship not so much as their Tools and Instruments of Writing lest they shou'd write of the Condition to which they were reduc'd or something of their New Religion and Doctrine The Goaler to compleat what the Judges had begun had the manners Irreligiously to rob 'em of their Bibles 'T was also decreed that none shou'd go speak or carry any meat to them Being kept in so strait and narrow a place having scarce any thing to eat sleep or lie upon till after some days something of their own was suffer'd to be brought 'em from the Ship which Nichol. Vpshal a Citizen of Boston and Member of the Church there privately agreed for a summ with the Goal-Keeper to let in and also to give 'em what sustenance was sufficient They complain'd further of their treatment as being reproach'd and revil'd as Whores who scruple not to expose and defile themselves and upon pretence of searching the truth of the matter of their being most basely and rudely strip'd naked and not only view'd contrary to Chastity and Shame Fac'dness but even handled with wicked and immodest hands without regarding those secrets of nature which modest Men wou'd shun the seeing or touching of These things being so Villanous to Act and scarce modest to name the women were rather forc'd to sit with and endure than betray their own shame without any Redress or expose their Disgrace without Sympathy or Compassion The women abode for five weeks shut up in this lonely and poor habitation Then the Captain of the Ship with whom they came before he set Sail had leave from the Judges at his own proper provision and charges to carry them back from whence he had brought ' em They being driven back in a little time after Sara Gibbens Mary Wartherhad Mary Prince Dorothy Wangre also Christopher Holder Thomas Thunton William Brent and John Copelan coming there met with such Treatment as the women had done before Upon this occasion there was a Law establish'd that no Ship-Master shou'd presume to bring a Quaker there and if any Quaker shou'd Adventure to come upon their Territories he was presently to be rewarded with the Confinement of a Prison Nichol Vpshal whose civility to the Imprison'd women I spoke of inquiring more narrowly into the Quakers Religion began to withdraw from his own Church and betake himself to the Quakers fellowship and oppose and exclaim against the Legislators Constitutions for establishing a humane sanction or Law contrary to the Rule of Divine precepts warning and advising 'em all to take care lest by a willful fighting against God they pull down his wrath and Judgment on themselves The Judges minds were hereby so Exasperated that resolving to make so new a danger Exemplary they first fin'd him in a hundred Crowns sentenc'd him to Goal and last of all to Banishment There was in the Western part of the province in sight of the Countrey an Island call'd Rhodes Here some Quakers did live hither went Vpshal to joyn with his cause Whither when he came 't was commonly reported that the Barbarous Indian Governour finding him gave him an Invitation to reside in his Countrey and Precincts promising him a seat in his indigency and exile and also to Accommodate him with a suitable habitation adding those words What sort of God have the English who deal so with others that worship their own After the others were put to the flight Ann Burden a widdow of London in Old England having some years ago liv'd with her Husband at Boston came there now for some Money that was due to her with Mary Dyer wife to William Dyer being both ignorant of what was establish'd by Law and what mischief here did threaten the Quakers These women were presently seiz'd and kept in Prison untill the husband did succour the one and good and Compassionate people the other Ann Burden was so acquitted that she was particularly prohibited to import these Warrs others had brought in her name and account for summs and Moneys due by some debtors tho they cou'd have been sold dearer there than in old England she was forc'd again to Transport 'em over the Sea not without being clipt by the Customers and Officers who were Artists sufficient in meddling with her goods and dividing a considerable part among themselves In 75 the year following and matters were stretch'd to such a pitch that all advice and assistance to that sort of Men seem'd so fruitless that they afforded but matter of Accusation and Calumny Since they cou'd not by Sea they did therefore by Land travel through strange and desolate places even such Woods Forests and Solitudes as none before 'em ever pass'd over not knowing or having wherewith to sustain themselves except what they carry'd along in a bag but when that fail'd being in utter want they sometimes met with help and supply from the Indians tho otherwise the most Barbarous of all Mortals who not only shewâ—d 'em the way but things needful for life and use yea such as these Countries take for Rarities and Delicacies so
satisfaction for any Dammages sustained This was done first in the Synod of Rotterdam An. 57. It happen'd at Goud that one William Tick a Man much addicted to the Quaker's opinions and ways call'd a Council or Assembly of some of his own Gang which the Magistrate looking upon as a Company of Infidels and sending for Tick he would neither declare what his intention was or in the least uncover his head so he was sent into an House of Correction There was a Town not far from Goud in the way to Rotterdam In which Ames had drawn a certain Cooper one Martin's Son into his Society and here this Man also one time inviting Ames to his house gets together there some of his Neighbours to discourse of the Things of Faith and the good ordering of their Lives News of this being brought to the Minister of the Place and known to others they ran from every side to this house crying out That there was a Conventicle of seditious wicked men assembled there Which Tumult roused up Ames so that he walks out in a Calm Mood and very leisurely paces it along but all of a suddain they fall a reproaching him with a thousand opprobrious terms and handle him so at last that if he had not betook himself to his heels he had run in danger of his Life But a little while after these same Men nothing fearing the violence of the Mob reassembling in the same place again some run away and told the Burgomaster what they were a doing And when they had told him what these Men had done heretofore and so being induc'd to believe that these Meetings were Conspiracies against the Common Weal and the peace and security of the State he sent Sergeants and Officers to take Ames and his Landlord and carry them to Rotterdam and there put them in the Bethlem-house I made mention of not long ago Which coming to be known in the City some of the Ministers both of the reformed Church and the Remonstrants too go to Ames to see him and talk with him And they discourse much with him of many points both of his Doctrine and Religion and that several times but he handling things so obscurely and perplexedly to any Man's apprehension that other people could scarcely tell what he would have and they on all occasions starting such objections as he either could not tell how or declin'd to give a plain answer to this Discourse was to no purpose at all Ames published a little book not long after in which he proposes to the Ministers of our reformed Churches 83 questions of several Articles of Faith for them to solve To these Answers James Coleman then a youth and then also of a happy wit and Eloquent Tongue as also one of known piety and probity integrity and uprightness both in life and manners for all those that were any ways considerable for Age or Learning despis'd and pass'd by in silence as things not worth the minding those little triffling questions of this Quaker propos'd onely for ostentation and shew and that lest these people should boast themselves as if we were silent and refus'd to answer them in despair of the Victory And he answered them not with a youthful heat but with moderation and wisdom And this young Man in like manner proposed 60 questions to Ames and the rest of his Brethren the Quakers that they might have whereon to exercise themselves and shew their wit and parts Now whilest Ames was consined to this solitary place he spent his time principally in Writing And so besides several Letters to his friends he makes and publishes a reply to Coleman's Answers not forreign indeed from the purpose but bitter and not to be suffered in those that so much reprehend the same fault in others But as to the Questions that Coleman proposed to the Quakers those not Ames but Higgins Answers but so as not onely partly declining that wherein the State of the Case lay partly improperly and absurdly partly obscurely and in dark terms but also roughtly and with ill Language he mannages and if it were but by this alone betrays his cause Ames at last being set at liberty from this place comes to Leyden and there also going on with the same work as before he was cast into such another like place full of Spiders and Cobwebs and there he was kept till the Burgomaster weary of his Idleness or Misery and Sickness sent him away from thence Then away he travels into other provinces of Holland 'T is a wonder he being a Man than whom there was scarce any of those people more forward and travelling over so many Towns and Places understanding both Languages very well both English and Dutch and bestowing so much labour and pains amongst all sorts of People that there were no more that joyned themselves with him and the Quakers not even in the most populous Cities where there were so many Inhabitants English and all sorts and kinds of Men and some very near the Quakers in a great many things But as the coming and motion of these Men had rais'd these little Disturbances here and there and greater troubles and confusions were fear'd in other places these things principally stir'd up the Carefulness and Diligence of the Clergy every where as there was occasion to be on the watch and look out least they should cause any inconvenience or do any damage to their flock And so this gave occasion to the Synod of Goud An. 59. To make this decree that all Pastors should take a diligent observation of these Quaker's Meetings and the books they should disperse and apply themselves to the Magistrates by their Authority to suppress these things and that if these Men should any where give any Trouble to our People the Ministers of the word should well confirm the minds of their Auditors in their Sermons Catechisings and Visitations After this there was little heard of the Quakers For it was a long while before the people knew what the Quakers were Whence at first they were look'd upon as a poor sort of people without a Name or place of habitation as a kind of Fools and Madmen Then as an unquiet and troublesome sort of people For which reasons they were cast into Bonds and Prisons And at last they were accounted for bringers up of some new Sects of Religion which wanted a new place of residence And therefore now as defiled persons they seem'd fit to be removed a far off Some therefore in their progress sate down amongst the Anabaptists or Mennonites an unquiet sort of people alwaies hunting after Novelties Others are believ'd to have gone over to the Socinians a pestilent deceitful sort of Hereticks from whom nevertheless they are so far off that except the Papists there 's none they are more averse from It happen'd that in the year 64 the Socinians of which there was a great Number in those Countries every day grew more and more and made some
Commotions again and again and also here and there began to raise Disturbances Nor must I pass over in silence that among the principal Asserters and Defenders of the Socinian cause there was one especially who as a Cock can Crow best upon his own Dunghil who not onely upon all occasions rail'd furiously against the Quakers and not onely thwarted their Councils and Designs in some parts of these provinces but also could not restrain the force of his anger before he had done Considerable dammages to some of them Now this I find by the Acts of the Synod of Woerd held the year aforementioned that our people then also were afraid of the Quakers and took care lest by any means any dammage should accrew to their Churches by them And moreover the Quakers to be Enumerated with the Socinians Hence a Decree was made in that Synod That care should be taken that the Interdict of the States should be put in Execution by which they had cautiously provided a few years before That none should bring the Socinian Errors or Books into these Countreys or keep any such sort of Meetings or Conventicles under the Penalty That if any one should do any such thing for the first time as a Blasphemer against the Divine Name and Disturber of the Peace he should be banish'd out of the Province and for the second Offence should be punished for so great a Crime at the Will and Pleasure of his Judges Then Two years afterwards the Legates of the Synod of Dort presented a supplicatory Treatise to the States in which they pray the order I before mentioned may be put in Execution The States refer that treatise to the Session of their senate The senate by reason of other grave and difficult businesses of the common Weal which they had in hand protract and delay the Cognizance of this affair Afterwards the Treatise was not to be found The Legates write it over again and tender it De novo And yet for all that could get no Answer So now three whole years were run on Wherefore in the year 69. In the Synod of Goud and that other of Schonhove since the Legates had been for so long time imployed in this affair to no purpose at all and every one easily saw what it was that caus'd this delay the further Prosecution of this affair was quite left off But Ames and his first Companions departing out of these Countreys the Quaker's affairs in Holland were principally promoted by the Council and Assistance of one Benjamin Furley an English Merchant first at Amsterdam then at Rotterdam who together with his Merchandize had addicted himself to the study of Learning and in the favour of these Men wrote several little Tracts in Divers Languages But yet refrain'd himself from exercising the office of a Teacher or Minister amongst them alledging this reason for it that he could safely enough be taught at all times but could scarce be a Teacher himself without danger Altho as time and age teach Men many things this same Man afterwards found fault with and went off from many things in the Doctrine and Manners of the Quakers From hence it appears what the Number of the Quakers might be in Holland and after what manner at this Day it is included in a few familys there are not so many as that the Number of familyes can equallize that of the Citys throughout the whole Province And so long as they used all manner of moderation in their way of Living and only took care about their own Religion without concerning themselves with that of others they enjoy'd as much Liberty as themselves could wish for While these things were doing in Holland in Zealand in the City of Middleburgh Christopher Bertrad an English Seaman the same Man who caused such a Disturbance in the Church at Bristol in England and carried himself so insolenty before the Magistrate as we took notice of in the First Book in an Assembly of the Church of England in Prayer-time he made such a noise with his Discourse and Clamours and angred them to such a degree that they thrust him out of the Church Whither he presently runing in again they sent for Officers who conducted him to Prison Where when he had remained for a year and a half there came to him moved at his long Confinement and affected with a like Sense of his Griefs Caton who assoon as 't was known who he was was put into the same place Then both of them at the request of the States Ambassadour to the Commonwealth of England at Newport were sent and put into a Man of War and carried over into England being jeered reproach'd and vex'd all the way by the Seamen and Soldiers Now Ames who was always the chief man in action as long as he remained in these Parts Considering that things did not go to his mind in Holland and that Caton had reap'd such fruits of his Labour in Zealand he undertakes a journey into Gelderland and from thence to Overyssell and goe's thro' almost all the Meetings of the Mennonites in both those Provinces trying if he could bring over any of these people who seem'd better affected to his party and indeed were pretty near the Quakers if not in all yet at least in many Opinions and Customes But here neither Ames could make any advantage or do any thing worth the speaking of After this he and Caton who was now come back out of England took a journey into Friesland to try the Mennonites there who in that Province more than in any other part of these Countryes not only in their Institutions but also in their Country Customes and the Nature of the people were harmless temperate precise and came nearer the Discipline of the ancient Anabaptists not that which of late dayes has prevailed amongst that sort of People But here these men onely shew themselves and go away again as wise as they went without any good or hurt done But after these men were gone there were not a few that embrac'd the very same Doctrine that these men came to declare and join'd themselves to them with the same ninds and desires These Mennonites and a pareel of Socinians that shrouded themselves under their Meetings and that sort of Men the Family of Love who are full of Love and Humanity cross to none open and free to all who hold this Notion of God and herein their Worship of God lyes That God is not Evil and that they themselves are not so nither nor would do any ill to any body Which sort of men increasing every day more and more and now coming abroad and meeting together both publickly and privately and holding their general Assemblys for publck Worship and constantly observing their meetings and by this meanes making way for the comission of many other penicious and ill things the Mennonites being a more Religious and strict sort of People began to look upon them with evill Eyes and be displeased
of themselves are very tender and nice and their Families live deliciously and they esteem nothing more honourable and desirable than this On the other hand their Enemies lay a long Catalogue of foul Errors to their Charge and send them up and down every where and so recount them all and confute them in the Chairs and Auditories of the Universities and Churcheâ— before the Students and People who at least are of themselves inclined and when there is so great a stress laid upon it to run altogether head-long thereunto so as to take all things in a perverted Sence and to entertain a most ill Opinion of those Men. And that the Sect might be the better known and a summary given of their Errors and the greatness and horridness of their Faults they gave those Men the Name of Pietists and the Sect it self they dignified with the Appellation of Pietism which name those Men in the mean time looked upon to be their Honour and Glory these their Enemies put upon them as a mark of their Crime and a term of Ignominy and Reproach as if they thought all Vices were to be couched under this one alone And the Envy and Rage of some proceeded so far that if any one explained who those Pietests were and how this name might rightly and properly be taken they inveighed also against this as a most horrid Wickedness and a capital Crime An Example where you have in these four Verses written in the German Tongue but turned for your better Information into Latin and are as followeth Quum nomen Pictesta omnem sic personat orbeâ—â— Quis Pictista Studens noscere verba Dei Et Juxta hanc normam vi am emendare laborans Illius at quantum hoc Christianumque decus But that these Men might be distinguish'd by their proper Forms and Characters they called them also by the Names of the Illuminate Cathari Puritans c. as being those who were full of their own most proud but vain Conceit or boasted themselves to be the only Persons that had the Light when in the mean time they had not a spark of Knowledge and Truth and in their whole life seemed to be so pure and perfect when as in truth there was an Ulcer within them which in time would break out that in publick continually carried a counterfeit face of Goodness but did in the mean time defile themselves secretly and in their Recesses with the most notorious Vices This was the common Opinion By-Word and Laughing-stock of all that these Men were Imitators of the old Enthusiasts and the Inventors of new That they were like the Quakers and that they followed their Doctrine and Discipline throughout when at the same time all or the most part of them scarce knew what the Opinions Constitutions and Heresies of the Quakers were which thing is evident from Spener's Book in the German Tongue wherein that Person defending his own Cause and as to Quakerism going about to remove that suspicion Men had of him upon that account while he quotes the Opinions of the Quakers he alledged them in such a manner that he to whom the Opinion of the Quakers was known understood at the first Reading of them saving the Man's Honour that he had not known what the Quakers meant And so grievously were these Men dealt with after they had thus loaded them with these obnoxious Names that those Students who would not leave these ways and who from their Dependencies were called the Elector's Scholars were deprived of their Stipends others of all hopes of Preferment by Men of their own Functions who most of them betook themselves to the Territories of the Elector of Brandenburg who granted these Distressed Men not only a place of Refuge but also whatever they had occasion for and did moreover assign to their principal Doctors a place in the University of Halen that every one might instruct his Pupils as he pleased Now Horbius upon the French War if that may be called a War wherein there has been such unheard of Devastations made and Barbarities committed went from Trarback to Wishenheim upon the Neckar and from thence to Hamburg and there was made Minister of St. Nicholas's Church where according to his wonted manner he applied himself to instruct his hearers in true Piety and particularly in his Catechisings to instil his Principles into the Youth and even young Children but soon after the Fame and Dignity of Horbius stirred his two Colleagues whose Eyes and Ears he had offended above the rest of the People to Envy and Cavil at him as if Horbius brought hither also these odious Precepts and Opinions of Enthusiasts and Quakers which accusation 't is strange too believe how it increased after that Horbius had distributed a little Book among those that were Catechised by him not written by himself but by another concerning the Rudiments of Christian Education for when the elder of the two Colleagues aforesaid who became Horbius's Adversaries there is no occasion to name his Name seeing its common in the Mouths of all Men had concluded with himself that the Book was Writ by a Pietist he immediately proscribes it as an Heretical Book and sets Horbius forth to his Auditors and by his Rhetorical Flourishes as if he were an Heretical Doctor a Quaker and such an one as ought to be expelled out of the City And as there is nothing so easily given out and harder stopped nothing nearer received and further spread then Lies and Mens Evil Reports concerning their Guides and Rulers so the same report in the twinkling as it were of an Eye without any more ado did so dilate it self not only through the whole City but all the Country over so as that Horbius was known by no other Name than the Quaker-Doctor Moreover the rude multitude and the most abject sort of Men some of them through a stupid Ignorance as being not able to distinguish the first Principles of the Christian Doctrine others partly through Ignorance and partly through an uncertain Authority and blind Guidance of other Men as if they were Slaves or Brute-Beasts Some seeing themselves unable to try the thing it self and being very much afraid of the Evil least that also should fall upon them so referring the first beginning thereof to one which they much suspected And lastly others through a blinded prejudice and accustomed to raillery and to do ill turns received Horbius every where with Hissing and Reproaches railed at him and did really persecute the Man so as that unless his Life had been preserved through the faithfulness of honest Men and they his Friends too he had through the fury and violence of those his Enemies been certainly deprived of it Wherefore when Horbius saw that his hopes was over-born by the Malice and Envy of so many Men and that there was nothing now left for him but Dangers he chose rather to forsake his Ministry and the City and by giving way rather than by resisting to break