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
Year following George Fox and Edward Pyot who had been a Captain before and a Person well skilled in the Law of the Land and could Argue well and William Sault underwent an hard and troublesom Imprisonment at Lanceston in Cornwal because they had dispersed some Pamphlets concerning the Religion and Discipline of their Sect For when at every Quarter Sessions they refused to uncover their Heads and to Swear Allegiance to the present Government though they said they embraced the same in their Minds and did not shun to declare it in naked works out of a scrupulous and meerly an anxious care of Conscience the Judges for these slight matters commanded them as often to be detained till the next Quarter Sessions The Prisoners made grievous Complaints of the Injuries done them by the Justices of that Country by whose Commands they were brought into that place aggravating their words and deeds above measure by their captiousness calumny and wresting of the same In the mean time as if Prison had not been appointed for to confine Men but to punish them the Gaoler a merciless and inhumane Wretch that never was taught Humanity and alway conversant among Thieves and for that reason stigmatized than whom there was no one fitter for such a Servile Office did treat and entertain these his Prisoners all the time in a barbarous and wicked manner for he did not only defraud them of Food and hinder their Friends to come to them lest they should bring them any Victuals which might seem to be the same thing as if he designed to destroy them but also when he was swoln and frantick with Drink would in a Rage fall upon them with his Hands inveigh insult give them blows and threaten to kill them There were many other Quakers confined to this Prison some because they came to Visit their Friends that were detained and confined in this place others because they carryed their own Prohibited Books either about them or gave them to others some because they would not pull off their Hats with their own hands before the Magistrates for some of them were brought to that pass but what did little agree with their Doctrine and Discipline seeing it matters not whether a Person does that himself or suffers another to do it that when they did themselves refuse to uncover their Heads they did suffer the Officers Sergeants and others to do it And these Quakers were used by this same Keeper in the same manner as the rest of them But when these Men complained to the Magistrates of their Usage and made known unto them the wrongs that were done them and that the Keeper did not only deny the whole thing but brought a quite contrary Accusation against them as if the Prisoners studied to oppress and kill him and his whole Family It was he and not they that was believed and so he went free and unpunished but these were more strictly confined and afflicted with more stripes so that some of them besides what they might have done through want the stench and filthiness of other nasty and unclean Prisoners for it was a Common Prison full of such Nastiness as is not to be named without saving your Reverence and had not been emptied for a Year's space contracted Sickness through these new Miseries and one of them called John Iagram fell so ill that at length he died there At last when the Quakers complained that the Minds of the Magistrates were so prejudiced that there was no room left for their Lamentations no entrance for Truth and that that Tormentor the Gaoler dealt with them as he pleased General Desborough by this Name alone do the Quakers who have composed this History at large distinguish and notifie the Man being herein a little subtil or civil and officious in that they have not rendred the Name of a Person that was most kind to them and one of their Patrons more explicitly and at large interposes himself for the decision of the Cause and Controversie in hand and having searched into all Matters relating thereunto he so unravelled the business that it was ordered the Quakers should not be injured nor wronged and that they should have greater Enlargement and Freedom and not long after this they were freed from their Bonds and Misery But notwithstanding the remembrance hereof among so great a multitude of People there were not some wanting who through their Levity and Fooleries contracted to themselves and the whole Society of them great Envy Trouble and Affliction For at London on the Morning of a certain day there were some of them but such as were of the meaner and more abject sort that went half naked and only clad with a Shirt and preached to the People from whence arose the Suspicion Fame Discourse and Accusation that the Quakers were all of them such a sort of wandring naked fantastical People like unto the Old Anabaptists of Munster and this gave cause and occasion for their being handled severely more than once as such uneasie and turbulent Persons Moreover seeing there was in these Times not a few besides the Quakers that expected though they scarce knew what that Fifth Monarchy and the new Reign of Christ alone was which should destroy all the Kingdoms of Men and made themselves ready for it and who had their Arms in a readiness for to Invade this Kingdom which sort of Men even our Country of Holland and Church hath seen to spring up from it self and we do very well know and remember it there were also some found among the Quakers who whether knowingly or unwittingly began some such thing as looked like such an Imperious Mode from whence the Quakers were again brought under Suspicion that they also were such a sort of Men and hence they came to be called if not universally yet many of them by the Name of Monarchical Men and if any such thing happened amongst them they were severely used for it And that I may say this by the by it 's most certain that the most learned Men in our Provinces have attributed and ascribed such Errors as these the Quakers and could not be driven from it notwithstanding all the Endeavours of the Quakers by word and writing to divert them from harbouring such an Opinion concerning them but because I would pass over such Instances of the Matter in hand as are of lesser note I would give you a Narration of the true History of James Naylor which some have related not as an History but as a Fable being used to lay hold on every twig and to make a story of the matter The business happened in the Year Fifty Six and thus it was Naylor had been first a Foot Soldier and afterward an Horseman in the Parliament's Army when he was weary of this sort of Life he began to look about for an easier way of Living and so retiring to his Native City he betook himself to the Communion and Fellowship of the Quakers wherein when
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
occasions which the Quakers were very refractory to do That they sent not their Children to School to be taught by the Parish School-masters who otherwise were straiten'd for a livelyhood for the Quakers had School-masters of their own profession to whom they committed the Education of their Children that they refus'd to pay their quota for repairing the Churches and keeping them in order that they omitted to give the Easter-Offerings or such other gifts as ought and us'd to be given to the Curates or Minsters of their Parish and lastly that they refus'd to pay the Tithes of their Cattel Lands Trees Honey c. to the Minister this say the Quakers the Clergy look'd upon as their greatest Calamity accounting it their cloros as they us'd to taunt them or the loss and rottenness of their honeycombs and the product of their Bees Thus the Quakers both in their gestures Speeches and Writings sometimes cunningly insinuated such â—art buâ—ter Reflections Liberty was given the Quakers before the sentence of Excommunication was pronounc'd against 'em to propose their Defences and Apologies for themselves before the Bishops and Magistrates But because they were not allow'd to do it themselves but only by Procurators and Sollicitors which could not be done without giving Money they declin'd appearing before them for they thus reason'd with themselves that if their business succeeded favourably it was well if not it would be the multiplying expences upon expences in vain and besides they bethought themselves that no faith would be had to their Allegations without interposing their Oaths which they were very a verse to nay so resolute that they would rather run the hazard of the greatest persecutions whatsoever So that none of them obtain'd any favour Nor were they excus'd who pretended to be sick and so unable to attend the Court for this their pretended sickness was interpreted to be feign'd and not real So that one after another great numbers of them were Condemn'd apprehended and put in Prison some Rich some Poor some Citizens some Country-Peasants several of the latter being Imprison'd for a very small summ not exceeding ten or six pence Which small summs they all refus'd to advance not that they were so poor as that they could not or so pinching and niggardly that they would not part with so much but that they thought the pursuers had no right to them And the pursuers were so eager and strict that they would not forgive such little summs nor abate the least farthing of their due lest others should have taken Encouragement from such a precedent to expect the like immunity So they were all promiscuously Imprison'd In the mean while the fomenters of the Action while they pretended to recover what was owing them took by force from their houses what as they said would amount to the summ pillaging their houses Embezzeling and Spoiling their Barns Stacks Harvest Vintage taking their Horses Cows and all other possessions they could be Masters of so that they recover'd their Money with Interest destroying all that the diligent Men had scrap'd together by the sweat of their brows and living sparingly and leaving nothing almost for the sustenance of their families Yet the Quakers continued still stedfast and unmoveable resolving to suffer to the last extremity rather than recede from the course they had begun so that some of them were cast into common Goals some into Castles and Places of strength some into stinking noysom Dungeons where dogs could not live being forc'd to live at the Discretion and Arbitrement of their Keepers and expos'd for a ridicule to the basest and meanest of the Vulgar Servants some were put in among the profligate and debauch'd who had liv'd in all manner of wickedness and villany and were justly punish'd for their evil deeds who yet even then could not abstain from their perverse and wicked courses nor refrain from calumniating and vexing their fellow Prisoners and lastly some of them were banish'd into so distant Countrys from their Wives and Children and all other Enjoyments that were dear or comfortable to them which one Affliction crush'd some of them to Death being overwhelm'd with anguish and sorrow for the loss of their endeared consorts Many of them died by the noysome smell and other inconveniences of the Prison or through grief or being wearied out and oppress'd with long and tedious diseases arising from such causes Some came sooner to this unhappy end some later but others endow'd with more strength and firmness of Body wrestled out for a long time There were some of them set at liberty and freed from this insupportable weight of misery through the intercession and entreaties of their Friends with the Magistrates who likewise were mov'd with pity and compassion towards them but were afterwards remitted to their old miserable habitation not for any new debt or crime but for that same they were Imprison'd for before where they continued till Death alleviated their sorrows Some few years after this the Quakers divulg'd all this severe usage to the World by writings which they presented to the King and Parliament In which they run thorough all the several Countries of the Kingdoms amassing together all the instances of the cruelty and barbarity us'd towards them But I shall here content my self with two of their most Remarkable Examples adding unto them a third which tho omitted by them upon what account I know not is as memorable and worthy to be remarked as any The year that first affords us these Examples is the year sixty four The first is this There liv'd a Blacksmith in a little Village in Hampshire by name Thomas Penford who was Imprison'd at Worcester in the common Goal by an edict of Excommunication because he would not pay three pence for Reparation of the Church which he obstinately refus'd to do so that after three years and a half Imprisonment he died in Goal The next is Thomas Rennes a Country Farmer in some little Village in Oxfordshire was Imprison'd at Oxford by an Edict of Excommunication for not paying the Tithes which he was aversâ— to do While he was detain'd Captive the Minister goes and seizes on his Horses which were much more valuable than the summ he wanted yet the poor Man continu'd in Prison a long time and ends his days upon the place The third Example which is a Complex and Image as it were of all the rest was after this manner One Thomas Dobson liv'd at a little Village call'd Brichtnel in Berkshire where he maintain'd himself and his Family very honestly by a Farm he kept and some small substance he had scrap'd together by his labour and diligence He refus'd to pay the Tithes not that he was so straitned for Money that he could not make up the summ but that he could not do it because of the dictates of his Conscience disallowing the same There was one Radulph Wistler who bought the Tithes and had an Eye for a long time upon this Man's
every Countrey of Europe desiring 'em to examine and return them an Answer The next year he wrote and publish'd his Apology a work greater and better known than that I need give account of it He sent two Copies of this book to every Princes Ambassadour at Niâ—iguen that met to treat of the Common peace that they might weigh and send it to their Prince for their Cognizance and Inquiry into the matter To each he added a double Letter of advice that as the burden of the Christian world was laid upon them so they might with all care and diligence endeavour according to their Incumbent duty to procure the rest and safety of Christians Nic. Arnold professor of the Theology in the College of Frizeland oppos'd a Theological Exercitation to these Theses wherein he bassles Barclay's opinion To this treatise Barclay answer'd by another piece shewing that Arnold did only repeat what has been often said by a changed expression A little after Tho. Brown a Scot Barclay's Country-Man one of the Preachers of the word of God who to the Number of 2000 were depriv'd of their Benefices for not submitting to the Regency of the Prelates wrote a thick and large Volume in English against the great treatise of Barclay in which Barclay taking him to mistake their meaning and therefore too much to expatiate and wander from the purpose answers him in the same Language putting neither more nor less in his book than what he thought necessary Afterward Joh. G. Bajerus Doctor and Professor of Theology at Jena a Lutheran publish'd the Doctrine concerning the beginning of the true and saving knowledge of God against Barclay's dissertation in his Theses and Apology who carping at some Expressions of Barclay as not proper but absurd and obscure from which no body could gather what Barclay did mean was answer'd by G. Keith Barclay being then taken up with other affairs a Man most skillful in Philosophy and Argument who against Bajer did plainly unfold the sence and meaning of his friend's words and in this reply so handled the whole Argument that afterward Bajer made never any return Lastly Joh. Chr. Holthusius a pastor addicted to the Ausburg Confession wrote a large treatise in the German Tongue worthy to be stil'd the Antibarclaian German since the Quakers has not hitherto answer'd it In this year 75 at Rome Mich. Molin a Spaniard a Priest and Doctor of Theology publish'd his book in the Italian Tongue to which he gave the Title of the Spiritual Captain In which book he reviv'd the Mystick Theology as they call it which for many years had lain Dormant in the Papacy who was Tutor and Pedagogue to a Number of Men for advancing that Doctrine of study and life The Sect was call'd Quietism and the followers Quietists from their singular Discipline which prescribes the laying aside External helps of coming to God meditation and reasoning by things outwardly Consider'd and Compar'd which are the first Elements that belong to these who begin to enter into Eternal Life and making only use of Divine Contemplation and the simplicity of faith Those who have made or desire to make great progress in the Celestial way must employ themselves intently with a ready will and ardent Love to receive and perceive God in themselves and suffer him to work in them by his Spirit while they wait for him with a quiet silence I shall add no more of this Man's Doctrine or its success as being known to the Learned Historians of our Age As ever since the Quakers name had its rise nothing among Christians in Religion Behaviour and Conversation scem'd to be hatch'd or invented with greater care or more resin'd and remov'd from the custom of the Vulgar but what was presently father'd on the Quakers Authority fellowship and patronage Thus in Italy and elsewhere many made the Quakers in England with their Creatures and Confederates the Sole cause and Original of this Sect and all the opinions thereupon following In like manner in England the Quakers were Reckon'd among the Religious crew which they call Mysticks and Branches of the Quietists drawing their common nature and temper from the same Root with one another This rumor and suspicion was the more increas'd that the Quakers especially Barclay in his Apology extraordinarily commended these ancient Mysticâ—s and not long after that Keith in his book call'd the way to the City of God which he publish'd in English did so teach confirm and advance that Theology that he seem'd to joyn with and strengthen the hands of the Quietists Because this opinion before was and as yet is so infix'd in the minds of many that the Quakers are of the flock of the Mysticks or that the Quietists and they don't much differ I shall pick out especially from Keith's book a short Summary of that Doctrine adding as little of my own as I can except where I 'm forc'd to put my own words for his without Impairing his meaning at all We ought says he to withdraw our selves from every vain thought earthly purely intellectual yea even Divine which are subjected to such words and propositions as fall under the force of Argumenting and Reasoning which draw their being from another original When God manifests himself in Man in the Seed of God which is in Man and hereby conveys himself into the mind of Man Man must betake and apply himself to God in the Seed of God 'twixt the influence and operation of God in him and only to give himself the leisure to wait for these feelings of the mind that proceed from God viz. The seeing hearing smelling touching tasting of the Spirit of the power the light and Life of God in Christ in that Seed And so it is agreeable to Man when he has thus converted himself unto God to persist and continue in that State with much patience tranquillity and silence before he fall to the use and exercise or daily business of his Lawful vocation When this happens In a little time the mind in some measure approaches to an holy and Divine life the beginnings of Spiritual Death Regeneration and Active operation It 's not then sit to do any thing without the certain Conscience and clear knowledge of faith but what the internal Guide and Spiritual Counseller and Instructor teacheth without that apparent assurance that the Spirit is arisen or raiseth himself in us and makes us inwardly to feel leave and liberty to do what the Spirit commands or suffers to be done And so it 's convenient at first to Act faith only by receiving and then exercising it as the Cion when first graffed into the stock first receives juice then grows and fructifies In these things that the rest of the Quakers both did and do agree it s scarce to be doubted Tho it sufficiently appears from what has been said that these Mysticks Molinists and Quakers do not so far differ in this Doctrine and Study as that one of 'em does either fear
unprejudiced 'T was then said of them as it 's now of the Browâ—ists that they conspir'd all with one mouth and mind by a mutual Consent Counsel Aid and Endeavour to ingross their Region and Religion to themselves The Magistrates often advis'd with the Ministers and the Ministers in their Meetings consulted with the Magistrates so that for the most part there was but one assembly of 'em both Hence what pleas'd the Magistrates the Clergy approv'd of and what the Ministers took upon 'em to determine the Magistrates by their Authority did confirm And what proceeded from both the two never miss'd of a grateful wellcome from the people But yet all the Magistrates and Rulers in chief of the Cities and Preachers of the word did not so willingly and equally consent to infest afflict and persecute the Quakers Nay some of 'em were not only against it in their Judgment but oppos'd it by their words as far as they cou'd Among the Rulers against persecuting the Quakers they place and praise John Winthoepius a very great and excellent Man and also those Men whose names are subjoyn'd among the better sort of Citizens was William Coddington at that time a Merchant in Boston very considerable for his wealth and prudence who the Quakers testify did so behave themselves both at home and wherever they went as those that must shortly give an account of all their Actions done in the Body Among the Preachers John Cotton Minister at Boston famous for knowledge Administring his Office and Piety in behaving himself towards God and Men They own he was always uncorrupted and untainted and averse to this sort of Rigour and Cruelty The people of New England as yet wanted one piece of severity to suppress the Quakers viz. To take 'em out of the way by Death whom they thought they cou'd not otherwise restrain This Law obtain'd in New as well as Old England that no Criminal shou'd be sentenc'd to Death till the matter be duely known and consider'd by twelve extraordinary Inquirers whom they call Jury Men because they are sworn to determine nothing till they 've diligently search'd and narrowly weigh'd the affair as has been elsewhere shewn on another occasion Since this Law withstood and obstructed the inflicting the punishment of Death upon Quakers they began to consult and greedily endeavour to Abrogate this Law by an Act of the Senate Whereupon 12 voted that it shou'd be retain'd and 13 that it shou'd be rescinded and thus the odd vote carry'd it The matter being known one of the Senators Wozely esteem'd a quiet just and equitable Man was then unhappily forc'd to be absent being hinder'd and detain'd by a bodily indisposition taking it ill that such an Act had pass'd so knowing that if he had been there the design had been frustrated he was reported to have said that had he but known that they were consulting and deliberating of that notwithstanding the bodily sickness he labour'd under he wou'd have crept there on his hands and his feet to oppose the Injustice of so unreasonable an Act. By this Council the matter is brought into the sole power and hand of the ordinary Judges or the supream Court of the province There was now therefore so much Zeal and Eagerness in most of the Rulers of Cities and Provinces in afflicting and puisuing the Quakers to the utmost that if any did not revile and reproach 'em or stopt and retarded the violence of others against 'em especially if any defended and excus'd 'em he was esteem'd a Quaker himself and at least depriv'd of his place and office if he had not great interest at hand There 's a Letter of one of 'em James Cudworth yet extant who was then one of the Magistrates of Boston but for this cause divested of that honour written at that time and sent from Boston to a certain friend of his in Old England which Letter since written in English I shall not here trouble the Reader with but content my self to resume some words of it which were express'd to this effect The State of Affairs are here sad The Antichristian SpiSpirit is wedded to persecution Who declines to persecute and afflict these Men that differ from us in matter of Religion is withdrawn from his place and not permitted to execute any Office in the Government Thus Hatherly and I have been treated Thus they us'd me for no other reason than taking in certain Quakers to my house which I did that I might inquire of 'em more narrowly concerning the foundations of their perswasion this I took always to be more reasonable than to condemn those with the blind World whose Doctrine and Principles we 're utterly ignorant of And tho I declar'd before that I herded not with Quakers and that I was as far from agreeing with 'em in many things as I was from persecuting 'em yet these two years they 've so estrang'd themselves from me that at length they 've unchair'd me from my office in the Magistracy what future event the Teeming womb of such furious Actions will produce time will declare when the birth is disclos'd farewell This kind of Judging being push'd out of Doors a Law was made that if any Quakers did irreclaimably and obstinately persist and cou'd not be otherwise repress'd or restrain'd they shou'd suffer the desert of their Contumacy and end their obstinate life with a halter Soon after Samuel Gorton was try'd for his life but in Judgment 't was carry'd he shou'd be clear'd and that only by one Vote Which decision one of the Ministers whose name I again designedly conceal a Man of a Copious torrent of Knowledge Subtilty and Eloquence digested so heinously that publickly in the Pulpit he broke out in those words by whom to whom and on what occasion they were utter'd is I suppose not unknown to the Learn'd Because thou has let go the accursed Man thy life shall therefore answer for his After this two Quakers were Arraign'd before the same Judges William Robbinson a Merchant in London and Marmadue Stevenson a Countreyman of Yorkshire in Old England Of their Imprisonment Trial and Punishment the Quakers give a large and true account as matters so clear and known in that Countrey that the noise of their fame is not yet quite extinguish'd They came both here knowingly and designedly for no other end than to preach the Gospel to which they had apply'd themselves in their own Countrey before After Robbinson for some time had continu'd at Rhodes and Stevenson at Barmuda's in the year fifty nine they came to Boston in New England Here they were no sooner arriv'd than without either Informer or Witness upon their own betraying of themselves they 're thrown into the Solitary Darkness of a Prison there they find Mary Dyer who was Banish'd from Boston as has already been said and yet return'd thither again as is sometimes their way and Nicholas David These all being brought before the Judges and accordingly charg'd
Faith and utterly overturning the Foundations of it Altho these same men differed in their Opinions mightily amongst themselves and some as much from others as all of them differed from Keith's sentimeuts So as to that Article of the Human Nature of Christ some affirm'd that Christ never arose and ascended into Heaven as he was born of Mary and suffered on the Cross Others That Christ took that Body indeed out of the Sepulchre but in his Assention into Heaven laid it aside Others doubted of the whole business and could not tell what to pitch upon Some thought that all Controversy about such a thing as was not only controvertible or not worth the while and by reason of the slightness of the concern made nothing to the purpose of Faith however 't was decided These thought it the best way to lay down the Controversy and keep Peace As to the state of Souls after Death there was soâ—â— that held That all Faithful and Religious Persons immediately entered into the Compleatness of Joy and happiness but that the unbelievers and wicked instantly upon their Death underwent all that punishment that attends them and that herein consisted all the Resurrection Which was as much as to say That properly there will be no further Resurrection of the Body and that the Body after it is resolv'd into Dust shall be no where or nothing at all nor any future Day of Reckoning or of the last and general Judgment Others there were that said that the Resurrection and all the glorious Condition spoken of should at last be consummated and perfect in this Life for this Reason because Christ Arose and liv'd such a happy and blessed Life which in other words is all one as to say that there is no Heaven or Hell but what is within Men. These Opinions Keith took notice of and reprehended in these men's Discourses and Sermons as being contrary to the Articles of the Catholick Faith especially as they are propounded and declared to us in the Scriptures of the Old and New-Testament and told those of his Party That these men taught and dellvered such Doctrines as when they came throughly to understand they ought not to give any the least Entertainment to ' em At last in the year 91 there was an Experiment made to put an End to these Controversies in a Meeting of the Friends and Brethren Time and place was appointed by Common consent The two principal Adversaries Keith and Stocker dispute together with great heat and vehemence but such was the end of it that the difference instead of being compos'd was but so much the more increas'd Whereupon the cause was deferr'd to the General yearly assembly which that year was held at Philadelphia in September In which assembly the Doctrine of Keith was brought on the Stage For whereas Keith did not so much define as suppose or leave to be examined as truth what was attributed to him of the Transmigration of Souls and their state after their departure out of the Body therefore that was not call'd into question but this Whether to Preach faith in Christ within a Man and Christ without a Man is not to Preach two Christs There were six Sessions or Acts held about this in which notwithstanding there were so many Teachers indued with and taught and led by the Holy Spirit it self immediately as they call it and being of the highest form of Christianity yet they could not come to a Conclusion or Definitive sentence about this Controversy For the Disputants on both sides even in this Supreme and Sacred Council did so scold and rail one at another Keith's adversaries using all the Reproachful and Opprobrious Terms they could think of against his Doctrine inveighed bitterly against the Man himself and not onely so but also in a Contentious chiding way us'd a great many Scurrilous bitter words and that they might not seem to talk more than do they handled him very coursely and dragg'd and thrust him about very unhandsomly not that they were so furious by nature as Egg'd on by the cause they had in hand And on the other hand Keith and they that were of his side tho otherwise a Man of wit and sense enough yet at this time and on this occasion likewise not naturally or of his own accord but as he was forc'd to it and not able longer to contain his just resentments of their Injurious dealings with him at last broke out into invective Speeches against his Adversaries as being the Effects of his just Indignation against them not railing but giving them answers worthy of their heat and malice At last one urg'd another with the Terms of Dolts Fools Hereticks Infidels Heathens Profane wicked Wretches So they how far now these people in this case have forgot themselves both in Doctrine and Discipline and how far off they have been from that perfect Agreement and Absolute Modesty they pretend to as the more cautious and clear sighted have long and often suspected so now all both wise and unwise may easily see These wrangling Disputants being never a-weary those of the Brethren which were the presidents and moderators in this famous cause considering that by these endless Jarrs and Disputes of the contending partys the Fame and Glory of the Quakers Name was like to suffer made an end of this affair thus at last Reprehending both partys as indeed both were to blame they acquitted Keith and acknowledged his Doctrine concerning Jesus Christ to be true and right and order Stockade to confess himself to have dealt unfairly with Keith and give him satisfaction for the damage he has done him So for a while these Contentions ceas'd and all was quiet Now in this time of Peace and Quietness Tho. Fitzwater a Quaker Minister being puft up with the conceipt some people had entertain'd of his Wit and Learning in a certain Monthly Meeting accuses Keith of Hercsy for denying the light of Chirst to be sufficient for Men. Here again both sides were mightily heated and said many things of the suddain which was the more easily Excusable from the Trouble and Commotion of mind they were in Nor here could the whole Senate reconcile these two people or bring them to any Terms of Agreement Then the Case was reserv'd to another assembly to which were invited Tho. Lloyd the Governour and others of the Magiracy of the whole province that by their prudence and suffrages the matter might be brought to a Conclusion There Keith brought a great accusation against Stockade that he had not as yet given him satisfaction according to the decree of the former Council And here many quarrels 〈◊〉 out of one The Governour and Magistrates lay many things to Keith's charge At last the greatest part of Ministers and Elders incline on 〈…〉 Whereupon the Governours fall to him too And make an order of Council that Stockade himself shall Condemn himself of Ignorance and Infidelity Stockade denies to do any such thing and stands upon
that from that time the Labadists came to be call'd Quakers which name followed them from Amsterdam to Hereford and there accompanied them so that Men all abroad not only call'd them by the Name of Quakers which to them appeared as a horrible Title but also oftentimes us'd to throw Stones at them To avoid which reproach and withal to shew how much they hated both Name and Thing they out of their Printing-Office which they carried about with 'em publish'd a Writing by the Title shewing what the Argument of the Book was An Examination and Confutation of the Quakers Nevertheless after this there went to these Labadists in Friesland William Penn that most famous Man amongst the Quakers A Man of such Spirit and Wit as was both willing and able to encounter with all their Adversaries But the end of all was the same To which I will add this Relation That William Penn at this time being so near the Wood the Summer Residence of that Illustrious Lady the Princess of of whom as indeed she was and is a Princess who has a peculiar Talent of Wisdom and Piety and Greatness of Soul in asserting and promoting the Interest of Religion he had heard much talk and this Princess being now there present it comes in his mind and he intreats it as an extraordinary Favour that he may have the Liberty of Access to wait upon her Highness And she her self too having heard much of Penn admits him but so as what she had heard many say runs in her highness's mind that Penn was not the Man that he desired to be taken for but was either a Jesuit or else an Emissary of his King 's sent to sound the minds of the People and Grandees of this Country and therefore she fore-armes her self against him But when this Princess had admitted Penn to her Speech and he composes his Speech not with those Artificial Elegancies and Courtly Niceties which his former Inclination Education and Customs had enabled him to but with the highest gravity and as far as Religion would permit in the most exquisite terms he could devise and thinking this discourse might not be displeasing to the Princess at the end of it he begs leave to make a Sermon before her Highness To which the Princess to make short with him Answers that she had very good Preachers of her own whom he might hear and she had not far off David Fluda Giffen a Preacher worthy of such a Princess as who besides his natural parts Learning and sweetness of Conversation 〈◊〉 with Probity of Life and endued with a singular gift in Preaching was now the worthy pastor of the Church at Dort a Man to us well known and our very great friend Which Answer Penn taking in the stead of a civil Refusal with a chearful Countenance and in kind terms asks her Highness if in any other respect he might be serviceable to her and so takes his leave of her Highness Now from Friesland a province of our Belgium which is simply called Friesland I go on to that they call East-Friesland In that Countrey in the chief City call'd Embden in the 74th year of this Century there were a few Quakers that appear'd there of whom the Principal or chief Men were John William Haasbaard a Doctor of Physick John Borsome and Cornelius Andrews These Men began first to hold their Meetings privately afterwards more openly then to publish books of their Tenets to allure and invite the more to their Communion Which being known and growing publick to the Magistrates convened most of the Quakers before them into their Courts They appear there By the Magistrates order there came thither two of their Ministers one the Presidents of the Meeting of East-Friesland and another next to him Frederic Vlderic and John Alardin The Senate has under Deliberation that whereas as yet they did not rightly understand other than by Relations from other hands what the sentiments of these Men was what they did or what they aim'd at and pretended to that therefore it would be their best way to hear and understand these things from themselves least they should seem to pass a sentence upon people before they had heard or known what their Cause was and on the other hand if they were indeed found to be such as fame reported them that they might in due time obviate and prevent their attempts and mix them as it were in the bud before they grew to greater strength But when these Quakers appeared before the Magistrates they stood with their hats on and would not pull them off altho they were ordered so to do not out of Pride or from Innation or Contempt of them but because it was the Custom and Fashion of those of their opinion and they thought that such sort of honours were not due to Men. A great deal of Dispute there was about this business between the Quakers and those Ecclesiastical persons Which Discourse being drawn out to a great length and nothing brought to the purpose that was intended the Magistrate Haasbaard as being the principal and most skillful mannager of this affair that 2 days afterwards he should appear before a Convention of the Pastors and Synod of the Church and there before them state the Case of his Religion under the penalty of 10 Imperials Haasbaard refus'd this Meeting and appears not at the Stated day But the Quakers however go on and in the mean while and afterwards meet in Haasbaard's house Wherefore the Magistrate lays a fine upon them of 100 Imperials a time as often as they met together after that manner They take no notice of that neither So the Magistrate taking this as an affront to his Authority and Dispising of his gentle Government and Clemency concluded to take another course with this People Which yet before he would do he thought fit once again to try if he could pick out of 〈◊〉 Men what their Intentions desires and aimes were therefore the next day he causes them to be call'd into Court before him and together with them the two Ministers before mentioned were order'd to be present that they might Examine them about these things and maturely deliberate upon them For they thus thought that it was absolutely belonging to the Duty and Business of the Political and Ecclesiastical Order to look after and enquire what was done in the City and in the Church and with all Care and Diligence to provide and take Order that no Disturbance Faction Tumult or any pernicious Error Deceit or Seduction should arise and spread about among the People and that the Quakers themselves in this case ought not only to pay their Obedience to the Magistrates but also themselves of their own accord and free will by the impulse of their Religion and monitions of our Lord Christ and the Motions of the Holy Spirit not to decline the Exposition of what it was they insisted on and the Principles they so much Gloried in but with all
Coleman Mary Tomkins and Alide Ambrose women of greater Age than Extract came into Dâ—ver These were dragg'd hence through Eleven other places in the middle of a Cold and Snowy Winter receiving at each of 'em ten lashes on their naked body and were so cut with the stripes that scarce a Breast was left ' em Yet they remain'd so constant and resolute that they went back to the same Town to a Meeting with their friends Upon this 2 Brethren call'd Ruperts Sons of a Quaker dragg'd the women out of the Meeting through the Snow and Clay turning their very faces to the Earth and the day following brought 'em thus daub'd along to the shore remaining unmov'd at all their intreaties drew them headlong through the waters into a little Cannoe committing them and it to the Sea But a vehement storm suddenly rising the poor women were taken out of the Boat by some that had more tenderness than they that put them in Tho they now were stiff their Cloaths being frozen and almost dead with intolerable cold they bring 'em far from the Sea to the house whence they came and after a little refreshment drive them away from thence Yet the women were so hardy and inur'd to Afflictions that they often return'd even where they suffer'd such things The Quakers complain that many of 'em were branded as if they had been the Dreggs and Off-scourings of Men whom all good Men must needs be Enemies to and on that score were rob'd of all Liberty and Privilege as Ignominious persons who 're allow'd no Action or Complaint Yet they say there were some for many years who had their habitation and residence there In process of time the Kings Authority who knew not their trouble more and more prevail'd and their Number Resolution and Constancy in overcoming by suffering all punishments the Law cou'd inflict the Judgments against 'em began to cease and their Impunity and Liberty to increase In the mean time the Quakers that cou'd not stay here withdrew themselves to the Island of Rhodes which is so opposite to and separated from the Continent that it became a refuge and sanctuary for them And the more suited to this purpose because the Governour thereof was a Quaker William Coddington whom I mention'd before He was one of the chief Planters that came hither to traffick He had a house so large and fine at Boston before it had receiv'd that Name that afterward it prov'd an Ornament to the City He also shar'd in the Magistracy some time But when the persecution of Quakers arose he disapprov'd of the Magistrates proceedings so much that he exhorted 'em all to refrain from their Cruelty against the Quakers they therefore treated him as they wou'd have done them He departed thence into this Island where he had not only liberty to act and say what he pleas'd but was also made Governour of the whole Island But before I altogether leave New England I must touch at New-Holland bordering upon it lest a longer narrative prove troublesome to the Reader Dutchman for the most part were Inhabitants there In trafficking the Dutch having commerce with the English they came and stay'd mutually with each other thus some of the Quakers found the way also hither more with a design to Propagate their Religion than a desire either of buying or selling 'T is a custom among the States not to be Solicitous of these whom they give command of other places to concerning Mens following believing or asserting in their Religion whatever their Conscience prompts 'em unto providing they don't oppose the supream Authority or act contrary to the publick Tranquillity At this rate the Rulers of that Countrey behav'd themselves maintaining their Dignity ' mongst Quakers and others and preserving the publick peace committed to their Charge Of this moderation these are 2 instances The chief City in New-Holland is call'd New-Amsterdam from the Metropolis of Holland of the same Name Two Mile from hence is a Village call'd Hemsteed This Village was a territory of our Colony but for the most part peopl'd with English Inhabitants of those a few that formerly were Brownists or puritans fell off from their own party to the Quakers having their Meetings and Religious exercises together And these things so long as Cantiously and Privately done our Magistrates did not so much take notice of or punish as they did when they did not use so much Moderation and Caution and we find too much liberty would tend to the seduction of others An instance of this for a Tenour to others was shewn in one Rob. Hodson who was arriv'd at such a pitch of boldness as he induc'd several of his own Sect to meet together for solemn prayers not secretly but abroad in an open Garden The news therefore of this so famous an assembly being brought to those who had it not been for this rash and provoking proceeding of theirs would easily have let them alone they all ran in upon them and taking Hodson upon whom besides a Bible in his hand they found a Dagger in his Bosom and since that seem'd to be a Weapon more sit for Offence than Defence they ty'd his hands and carried him to New-Amsterdam to the Governour Stuyvesand He taking the Man for a Contemner of the Laws and Disturber of the publick Peace caus'd him to be cast into a dark place full of Filth and Dirt and soon after Arraigns him for sedition and by the suffrages of all the Magistrates pronounces sentence upon him in Dutch which because he did not understand one Translated it to him into English that either he should pay a fine of 600 Florens or be cloth'd in Sackcloth and Chain'd and ty'd with a Barbarous slave should work for two years upon the Reparations of the City Walls Which work when he was brought to and refus'd to do a lusty crabbed Negro slave laid on him 50 lashes with a Cat with nine Tailes and when for all that he would not set himself to work he redoubled his blows and that to such a Degree as he was not able to stand on his Legs And because all this while he would not do as he was Commanded at last the Governour order'd him this punishment They stript him naked to the waste and then hanged him up by the hands and ty'd a great Logg of Wood to his feet and beat him severely with whips and so carry'd him from the Court to the Prison from whence he came The same they serv'd him 2 years after With these stripes the poor Man was so disabled that he lay along while without sense and almost without life so that there had been small hopes of his ever recovering if an English woman mov'd with a pious grief and pity had not Administred proper Medicines to him and binding up his Wounds restor'd him to life again At last the Governours Sister so pleaded his cause with her Brother as procur'd his Enlargement from his dismal Solitude This
was about the time that the Persecution against these people began to rage in New-England Another Town in the like Condition belonging indeed to the English but under the Jurisdiction of the Hollandew was Gravesend And there a Noble Lady the. Countess of Mordee who was a Puritan was turn'd Quaker and resided chiefly at this place gave the remaining people of this Society the liberty of Meeting in her house but mannaged it with that prudence and observance of time and place as gave no offence to any stranger or person of another Religion than her own and so she and her people remained free from all Molestation and Disturbance And because we have made mention of this Lady and her Company in this place I 'll relate a memorable story There was the Son of certain English Clergyman arriv'd at years of Discretion and of very honest Conversation Who being often in the house of this Lady and Entertaining her many times with discourses upon Religious Subjects she invites him to come to their Meeting and hear their Preaching at least for once He answer'd her again and again for she was very earnest with him that he should be always very ready to obey her Ladyship in any other thing but in this humbly begg'd her Ladyships excuse This young Gentlewoman continuing obstinate and the Lady by how much more she persisted in the thing by so much the greater was the grief of her Disappointment at last he did that of his own accord which he neither would or could upon her Prayers and Intreaties He fancied to himself one night in his sleep that he heard and saw many things of the Quakers and when he was awaked and thought nothing had put a deceit upon his senses he heard as it were a voice and went and came to a Company of those sort of people of whom he had form'd in his mind so many representations when he was asleep He approving of his Oraculous Dream the day following goes to a Meeting of the Quakers where he was so taken with their Discourses that he was Transported beyond himself And his mind was continually running on going thither again But before he did he Communicates his Intention to several of his Friends who mightily dehorted him therefrom Considering therefore their reasons on the one hand and on the other the Continual Idea of his Night Vision never going out of his mind and that not devised or fancied but real discourse of theirs was always turmoiâ—ing him so that with the horrible Agonies of his mind not knowing which way to turn or what to do he fell into a greivous and dangerous fit of Sickness From which being recover'd he not onely Estranged himself wholly from that sort of People but also imputed what had happen'd to him among that people to the Effects of Incantation and said the Devil wrought amongst them Of the truth of this I have a very worthy Gentleman a witness who is now a faithful Minister of the Word of God in our Countrey to whom the young Man has often related this story Sometimes there has been of these sort of People who before a Magistrate have said they could not say or do any thing with them without their hats on These there was no better way to deal with than by severely reprimanding them and sending them away unheard and soundly rated at There were some women which in the high ways others tho but few who in the middle of the Sermon or Prayers of our people would break out either into an Extempore or Praemiditated Noise or Singing These Women were Commanded or Compelled to go away or carried away and taken into Custody till they were discharged And so if their crime was no greater they were no further punish'd Now to speak a little of the other Plantations of the English Virginia Bermudas c. I have said already in the beginning who they were that first Voyaged hither but who they were that first went to those places I can't so certainly tell It seems George Wilson came to Virginia in the year 56 and there died in Bâ—â—â—s Henry Fell went to Barmudas the same year and not long after return'd again In those parts also the Religion of the Quakers began to appear abroad sensibly and shew its face As for these Men till the year 60 I don't find any punishment inflicted on them only some Fines were laid upon them because they us'd to entertain one another in their houses or refus'd to take an Oath or be uncover'd before a Magistrate or to undertake any Military Services Altho these fines were often so great that even for one default onely the third part or more of their goods were taken away they not having much Money as the generality of them were of the meaner sort of people This I find that in Mariland a province joyning to Virginia this year Thomas Thurston was cast into Prison and the Officer desiring one John Holland to assist him in this business who refusing and saying it was unreasonable Thurston should be us'd so and that he could not assist him in the taking of a Man Prisoner who was his Friend and old Acquaintance to be any ways assistant to the said Office which the Laws of England will no ways excuse not even among those that are of the first Degree and Quality he himself was put in Prison too and afterwards severely whipt Then in the year 60 and that following as the Spirit and Courage of these people began to increase with their Numbers and these Friends to set up their Meetings and at last they went on Cheerfully in their ways then both for the reasons aforesaid And especially on the account of these Meetings they were prosecuted with Imprisonments Whippings Banishments Transportations into wild Woods and Desolate places till at length this excessive severity began to abate and this Sect of People to rest and be confirm'd and that especially by reason of the Kings Interposition and an order sent like that I spake of before to the Governour of New-England Those who are acquainted with that part of America which is under the English Jurisdiction know Pensilvania the Propriety and Government of which vacant by the Death of William Pen from whom the said Countrey takes its Denomination descended to his Son William Penn that famous Patron and Head of the Quakers And he being heir to this Countrey it became as it were the Inheritance and Portion of the Quakers especially since the year 82 at which time Penn going to his Government order'd all things to his own mind and appointed all his Officers and Agents their proper places Omitting therefore to speak of the political Order and Government of this Countrey and its legal Establishment and of the Benefits and Advantages these Quaker-people enjoy both throughout the whole Province and especially in the Town which from their mutual Love to one another they have call'd Philadelphia these people at that time were induc'd with such