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
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
there among some of their own Friends of their Religion some whereof had been there for Two Years and longer because that they also refused to pay Tythes and to Swear the Jaylor put such thick and heavy Fetters of Iron upon these two Men that their Feet were wounded with them which when they desired might be taken off the Keeper of the Prison demanded Money of them for so doing they did not shew themselves very forward to do that whereupon he thrusts them into a filthy and noisom place where they had nothing either to sit or lie upon besides dirt and so they desire they might have a little Straw allowed them and here the same Mercenary Wretch promised he would give them some if they gave him Four Pounds in Money which when they despised and rejected the Keeper's Wife who was even more wretchedly Covetous than her Husband and far more greedy of Prey as often as she came to them would rail and revile them bitterly pulling and haling of them violently at her pleasure In some time they were both ordered to appear at the Assizes of Oxford where when they were accused of various things and that nothing could be found against them that was worthy of Punishment they were again asked as before to take the Oath of Allegiance which when they now also said they could not do it they are remanded back into the same Prison among the same Thieves and Cut-Throats that were kept there which before it was done Goodrey asked whether the Judges did Command them to be laid in Irons The Chief Judge made Answer That the Keeper of the Prison might do as he pleased because they were Persons out of the King's Protection There does the Keeper put them again amongst those Villains and profligate Wretches and gives those wicked Men leave if they wanted any Cloaths to take off theirs I mean these two Innocent mens Apparel at which one of the vilest amongst the whole Crew made Answer That he had rather go altogether naked than take any thing away from these Men And so it was that while the Law was silent at the Bar of Justice and no Fence against Injuries in Prison and Darkness these wretched Men suffered all Violence and Cruelty These few Instances from among many may serve but because the first Parliament under this King was yet sitting the Quakers supposing the Tribunals to be every where set against them so as that there was no hopes of Justice for them they prefer their Supplications to the King and Parliament as being Supream Magistrates and the Authors and Defenders of Liberty Right and Judgment highly complain of the great and many Injuries Violences and Troubles that they suffered from their own Country-men and Neighbours and implore their Help and Assistance and that they might affect them the more they produce a great Commentary or rather Catalogue in Writing containing how that during the time of the two Cromwels there were no less than Three Thousand One Hundred and Seventy Nine of their Society that had been Imprisoned in England Scotland and Ireland and other Countries beyond the Seas Subject to the King's Dominion and that of them Thirty Two were dead And in the close thereof they add That from the King 's Coming in to the present time there had been and were still kept in Prison Three Hundred and Seventeen of them They name every place of their Imprisonment and give the Names of most of the People and did also set forth the Afflictions that most of them had suffered before for what Causes and what those are also for which they were still Imprisoned they did moreover the next Year Present a Writing to the King and Parliament wherein they set forth that their Number was now so increased who since the King's Return had been thrown into Prison that they were no less than Five Hundred Fifty and Two many of whom had also even before their Imprisonment sustained many Afflictions in their own Congregations and did even now undergo many Miseries in the places where they were detained they did in that Writing confirm the Matter with Examples and Testimonies that the Magistrates themselves in some places came to them and carryed them away that in other places they left them to the management of Soldiers and elsewhere that the Commonalty and Rabble who had neither Fortune nor Good Name set upon them with Swords and Staves haled them away and after many blows threw them into Prison Moreover that many Ministers of Churches in several Countries seeing there were some of the Quakers who had not paid Tythes and refused to pay any that came and took out of their Houses and Fields for these Tythes much more than they ought to have done neither did they afterward restore the Over-plus yea that some of them were so choused of their Money that they had rendred them uncapable of paying any more and needed take no further care of exacting the same from them This Writing which was full of Truth was partly neglected and partly despised both by the King and whole Assembly For which there seems to be more than one cause for when the King who was not yet well confirmed in his Kingdom minded his own and other Publick Affairs he did indeed think that these mens Affairs were not yet seasonable and worthy of his Cognizance and Judgment and had entirely forgot all that he had promised to these Men which they thought they had fixt in his Memory with a Ship-nail But as to the Senate of the Kingdom they did indeed seem not yet to have laid aside their Hatred and Enmity against these Men at leastwise the greatest part of them They acknowledged indeed the freedom of Religion given to them but they thought that under that Pretence and Cloak all wicked and abominable Sects and Opinions would creep in and that this Sect of the Quakers was of that sort moreover although the former Endeavours of the Quakers and their Insolent Attempts and such as seemingly were Turbulent were now over and that no Crime could be laid to their charge that tended to the disturbance of the Publick Peace yet as the good as well as the bad of such as are once envied are always hated and that to those who are afraid even false things are true such an Opinion of them did continue and could not be removed that the Quakers were still Men of the same Spirit and Temper and that all their doings tended to Discords and Disturbances Lastly this Affair of the Quakers seemed to have been so often adjudged and decided by so many Judgments that it were unworthy to be brought upon the Stage again So that these calamitous Men were hereby deprived of the benefit of all Judgment of every Suit and Complaint there being no room left for the same And so those who were imprisoned were like to be so always and kept in greatest want and misery neither had any of them the least hopes of their
them Which being laid down for a Principle he thought that whoever gave due respect and reverence to the Scriptures and acknowledg'd Jesus Christ for the Saviour of the World might be truly accounted a Christian and that all such Christians both may and should agree and write among themselves For which end he Recommended to all Christians to write a general Confession of their common faith consisting only of some few general necessary and plain truths deliver'd in Scripture terms but it is easy for any Man to Conjecture what effect such a proposal would have had Moreover he reason'd further after this manner that the most part of Christians that imagin'd to themselves that they knew any thing bended all their faculties only upon the Speculation and Contemplation of what they knew whereas a speculative life is not so becoming and necessary for a Christian as an active and practical life is and that all manner of knowledge is but a meer shadow that do's not tend to action a solitary and wandring Planet that produces no fruit for the good of the publick Where he chiefly applied himself to the study of such Sciences as treat of the manners of Men what vices are to be eschew'd and what duties towards God and Man are incumbent upon us and approv'd mightily the practice of the ancient Christian in the first Ages after Christ who made moral Philosophers teachers and Masters to their Christians youths and who accounted none fit to be a Doctor among them who was not instructed in the Philosophy of the Gentiles as being the best rule and method of living He was very serviceable to the Quakers by his Writings being fitted and well accomplish'd for that work by his acute Wit and eloquent Pen and also able to serve their interest because of his riches and affluence of fortune together with his favour and weight with the King and as he was able so he was very willing frequenting the company of the Quakers continually labouring by all means to advance their cause defending it from all opposition and injury demeaning himself so forwardly that he seem'd more Sollicitous for them than for himself but withal not forgetting to plead for the liberty and admission to publick offices of other Sectaries especially the Papists insomuch that he was suspected to be one of their Gang and at last came to be envy'd and hated by the Quakers on that account But he was so bent and eager for this liberty of Conscience that he would have none professing the Name of Christ excluded from the same But of this I shall have occasion to speak more appositely afterwards When at this time the Adversaries of the Quakers relented and slacken'd their persecution against them the Quakers took occasion not only to assemble and congregate more frequently and publickly but to prepare and amass all things necessary or conducive to their mutual help and establishment or to the Ornament and Splendor of their Churches From that time they introduc'd a new and more acurate Oeconomy Partition and Administration of all their affairs keeping some order among their Ministers who likewise had their Meetings and mutual Congresses and began now to be orderly call'd and prepar'd for that work they introduc'd also a form of discipline for censure of Actions and a certain Solemnity for confirmation of Matrimony The manner and form of all which is not so easily to be Learn'd from their Writings which do not touch upon these things as from their own discourses and converse for they do not use to conceal any of these matters especially if they be seriously and gravely ask'd without any suspicion of a design These Men did always object to the Protestants in England and elsewhere the Hierarchy of their Church accounting it a most vitious and sinistrous order or the ordinary distinction of persons and distribution of Offices in the Church particularly the excellency and jurisdiction of some Persons and the variety of Government and Administration thorough so many degrees of places and dignity for they imagin'd the Church to be all one body of which each particular Member has its Office allotted to it in defending and edifying the Church according as they are capable to be useful either to the publick or their Neighbour pretending that since no gifts are given by God in vain or which do not produce their proper Fruit there be as many Offices in the Church as he has given gifts even as in the humane body all the Members bear some proportion in advancing the good of the whole so it is in the Church in which nothing of Government or Authority is to be us'd but only Ministry and Mutual service for the good of the whole So from that time the Quakers were of these thoughts which they maintain to this day acknowledging an Association and Community and also direction and administration in the Church desiring that those who excel others in Wisdom and Vertue should be had in greater respect and esteem and be accounted preferable to others in order and function So that among them whoever of either Sex is eminent for Ingenuity and Goodness excels in Dignity and Office They have also some who constantly addict themselves to the Ministry of Preaching the Gospel Those they call Ministers or by a joynt kind of Speech they say they are in the Ministry Some of these Ministers do not confine themselves to one place but range up and down trying what new Proselytes they can gain or designing to oversee and confirm those that are already incorporated into that Society These are as Apostles to the Sect others fix their abode at one place and watch over their particular flock as pastors There be women also that follow the Example of the Men. It shall therefore suffice to have given caution in this place that whatever we have said or are about to say further concerning the Males of that Sect is to be understood according to that Regula juris which comprehends the feminine Sex under the masculine Next unto the Ministers are the Presbyters or Elders who exceed the rest as in Age and Experience so in Wisdom These take counsel together with the Ministers for managing all their Religious concerns who together with them or with others eminent for prudence and wisdom are carefully to observe all accidents that may fall out in the Church and to see that all things therein proceed right as if any make defection from their faith or commit an open manifest sin or be suspected of any crime or have done any thing culpable against his Neighbour if any thing be wanting for the promotion of unity concord and peace among themselves they presently come to rectify it or else send those they repose trust and Confidence in to do all that is necessary for advancing the good desired or removing the evil that incumbers them Their office is likewise to visit the poor and needy and relieve their necessities also to take care of
aspersions Penn being drown'd with such Cares and Businesses esteeming it his duty to look to his own affairs lest by the Continuance of such liberality he should dry up the Fountains of his paternal Inheritance he did not wholly abandon his Beâ—evolence and Diligence but did so by degrees Moderate and rule 'em that he gave â—o occasion of an inviâ—ious Complaint Penn having laid down this certain Conclusion that there must needs be one Society of Christians the common safety and advantage Requiring that every one worship God freely without any Impediment and Hinderance providing only he liv'd peaceably and submissively to the power and honour of the Magistrate and since this Kingdom was deny'd that Priviledge having the way to that liberty obstructed by an Oath which every one by Law was required to take and by other penalties laid upon Dissenters Penn treated with the King of these two who was also desirous to have 'em remov'd and therefore receiv'd the address more willingly Penn so defended and confirm'd the Kings Edict which was now emitted to this purpose in a certain Book he publish'd for that end that â—e incurr'd the hatred bitterness and anger of the Protestant party Universally and Implacably some of the Quakers also were â—o displeas'd that they did not love him and extol him as before others wholly avoided and abandon'd him The Protestants exclaim'd that Penn as well as the King aim'd at Popery with his outmost endeavour calling him not only a Papist but also a Jesuit an order that 's equally crafty and hated The Quakers thought it not at all amiss to have the penal Laws wholly Abiegated which the Quaker subjects most of all were expos'd to but lik'd not to have the Law concerning the Oath repeaâ—'d lest the Papists thereby being let into the Government might quickly renew these sanguinary Laws and by means thereof take weary drive out and kill the Protestants and especially the Quakers according to the custom of their Tenets and Religion as if they had only been absolv'd from former Constitutions to be condemn'd more cruelly to severer punishment Thus they fear'd the snare cheifly to be laid for themselves While many were thus hurried in their minds Penn so proved himself in another book not to be addicted to but an hater of Popery by the Testimony of his word his Conscience which is a thousand Witnesses and of God than whom none can be greater that if the words of Man may ever be believ'd every one may credit Penn not to speak false blazing it with any Colour of subtility but that he wrote truth with Candour and Sincerity Tho Penn cou'd not by that book change the opinion that many had received of him yet he so fully convinced the Quakers that from them he retriev'd his ancient praise for some time intermitted so that they own'd him for one constant to their Religion and yet left him to the singularity of his own opinion So the Quakers under this King liv'd quietly and easily except a few that were somewhat troubled by the ensnaring Tricks of some deceitful men but the Time of New Trouble and Change of all was at hand For now the King weary of waiting thinking his Designs not capable of being defeated by any introduc'd Popery not hiddenly but openly Not to mention others these of the Highest Dignity even Bishops and Archbishops that withstood his Intentions were some of 'em brought over to his Cause by Bribes and others put into the Tower of London These being Resolute and Couragious in their honourable cause found by experience how far it was necessary and yet how hard to suffer for the liberty of their Conscience And since my discourse has led me hither I can't but add what was said by the Quakers themselves When the Bishops of England were now thus Stated some of the Quakers took the Freedom to tell 'em that same mischief return'd now on themselves that formerly came out from them upon the Quakers When it came to their Ears they resented it ill that such words shou'd be spoken and scatter'd of them by the Quakers Robert Barclay understanding this went presently to the Tower and told 'em all modestly that was done against the Quakers both by the command and permission of the Bishops to which narrative they cou'd make no other reply but that of silence But after 3 years K. James's Reign expir'd and was succeeded by K. William the Third of Nassaw hereditary State-holder of Holland Son in Law and Nephew to James by his Sister who in all the series and course of his Life shew'd himself the best of Princes and Generals equally adorn'd with Civil and Warlick virtue and withal Arm'd with Christian Piety a like useful to Church and State both by his Inclination and Education in his own Countrey which tho it hath no Kings yet produces and fits 'em for other Nations Upon his first taking up the Reins of Government he beliav'd himself to all with that Moderation that it was manifest he desir'd rather to be lov'd then fear'd and to bereave none of Liberty of Conscience in Religion so that all justly esteem'd him a most prudent and moderate Prince equal to the best King that e're preceeded him He granted Freedom and Indulgence to all but only the Papists whose infidelity he suspected those he treated with a mixture of Grace and Severity making always the former the greatest Ingredient The Quakers also cou'd not but love him and embrace him as their most effectual defender being suffer'd to perform their Religious exercises without the hinderance of fear and molestation This Royal benevolence was enhanced by the Parliament which the King called after his Inanguration according to the ancient Custom of Kings who us'd to have a Parliament in the beginning of their Reign that if any former Law were to be chang'd or Abolish'd it might be legally done with consent of the house This Parliament ratify'd a Liberty in Religion giving immunity to all from the force and severity that formerly resulted from any penal Act excepting yet the Papists who were reckoned such Enemies that no peace cou'd be establish'd with them and granting liberty to them wou'd be taking it from our selves and so to raise war against our own safety Excepting also Socinians and those of the like stamp who either openly or by Clandestine practices Aim'd at subverting the Foundations of the Christian faith Thus the Quakers had liberty but since it 's a matter of some moment to know the Rights and Privileges given 'em by King and Parliament and inserted in Acts of Liberty in Religion it will not be fruitless to handle it more largely if it were but for that French Authors sake whom I mention'd before not to his praise a base unconstant and Roguish fellow who after many turnings and windings in Religion as both strangers and they that know him assure me by Letters plays now strenuously the Papist at Paris However it 's certain he treats of
Life neither do they always avail to the happiness of living for not a few among these Men may be found that have too great a propension to vices of that nature The Masters and Observers of behaviour omitted not to reprove such faults very smartly and some of them who had also committed 'em forbore not to invey sharply against themselves Examples hereof I 'll designedly pass by tho some without Calumny and Reproach I cou'd insert lest they that are concerned may be somewhat displeas'd at the ripping of that which may rub upon themselves Yet one I shall mention which London resounded with lest fame report it otherwise than perhaps it was done There was a very sincere Quaker free from all suspicion of this kind who being scorch'd with the flames of Love that the Charms of his Mistress's face had kindled convers'd with her with too much weakness and frequency but upon Remorse and Knowledge of his Guilt being pierc'd with Shame and Sorrow for his sin he makes a publick Confession of his fault to the Church submitting himself to the Censure and Correction of his friends yea further for deviating from Honesty and Modesty so far that he might not fall into that snare again or for the future repeat the like wickedness with his own hand he Chastises himself by a present cutting off the delinquent Member Tho all this time they enjoy'd so much liberty yet they neither were nor are wholly free from all sort of Commotion and Disturbance Neither when the Oath of fidelity that great invitation to oppression was taken away were other pretences of Oaths wanting that might prove Incitements to bring on Persecution For from that day to this many instances may be seen of these Men whose inheritance for refusing an Oath has been forfeited some having their goods wholly taken from 'em others beside the loss of their goods being cast into Prison And since as yet as well as before the wilfulness of the one party in exacting and of the other in refusing the payment of Tythes is not at all impair'd or abated a time cou'd very seldom be pitch'd on wherein there was none of 'em to be found in Custody That the grudge of ancient and levity of new Enemies are the efficients of this and not the supreme Power and Authority every one will easily own who considers that Kings have many Eyes Ears and Hands but yet must be always long-suffering and patient but not able at all times to effect what they wou'd nor always willing to do what they can and shou'd The End of the Second Book THE General History OF THE QUAKERS BOOK III. The Contents The Quakers going to New England in America The coming of Quaker-Women to New England How they were receiv'd The Laws of the Cities against Quakers The various Persecution of 'em some were whipt some had their Ears cut off others were hang'd A writing of the Magistracy of Boston concerning those that were hang'd Edict of King Charles to his Governours in those Countries to forbear Persecution What happen'd in New Holland Virginia Barmuda's and other places Pensylvania a Countrey for Quakers In it was given liberty to men of all Religions The various and mix'd multitude of men in that Countrey From hence flows a confus'd and various Doctrine and Conversation among the Quakers themselves Hence came that sharp Debate of Keith and his Adherents against their Adversaries chiefly concerning Christ internally and externally and a great confusion and disturbance of affairs thereupon This Disputation awaken'd such Dissention Commotion and Distraction of minds not unlike to a mutiney and Civil War that it was scattered from Pensylvania into England especially London whereas yet it remains to this very day Some of the Quakers took Voyage for the East Indies Others went into Africa The Quakers travelling into Neighboâ—ring and Forreign Countries What was done by them in Holland and Friezeland A short History of the Labadists The Departure and Death of Anna Maria Schurman The Endeavours of some Quakers among men of that Sect. What the Quakers did at Emdin a Town in East Friezeland There at length liberty was offer'd 'em by the chief of the City The Endeavours of Ames and Penn in the Palatinate on the Rhine Fox's Letter to Elizabeth Prineess Palatine and the Princes 's Answer to him Penn's Sermon before that Princess The Quakers Affairs in Alsace and at Gedan Fox's wonderful Letter to the King of Poland The History of the Petists as they call them in Germany The great wanderings of some of them The Excursion of others into Pensylvania the Countrey so fertile of Quakers What Quakers went into France and with what success Who of 'em went iuto Italy What happen'd to Love and Perrot at Rome George Robinson's wonderful Fortune at Jerusalem The Suffering of Two Quaker-women in the Island Melita by reason of the Inquisition The Rarity of Mary Fishers Journey to and Return from the Emperour of the Turks I Have already shewn in the former Books the State of the Quakers from their beginning to this preseut time in Brittain their Mother-Countrey and Nurse I shall now give as short a Narrative as I can of their Affairs also in other Regions In treating hereof some Places in America subjected to the Sway of the English Government especially New England in the North towards the Sea seem first to present themselves to our View Hither many from Old England flying from the Imperious and Cruel Regency of Licentious Kings and Proud Bishops retired and fixed their Residence here Purchasing for themselves a peculiar Inheritance which the Quakers among the first â—ent to hoping therefore among their Friends whom not only one Neighbourhood but also cause of abandoning their Countrey did now conjoyn and unite in one Society they might promote and advance their present Interest and Peace with more liberty and safety than they had in Old England The first that went with that Design to these new uncultivated and Desart Places leaving the Pleasant and Fortunate Island of Brittain being destinâ—d and sent there to bud forth the blooming blossoms of a Religious Spring were John Burniat a man more Famous than Learned call'd out to the Ministry in the Year Fifty Three Robert Hosben Joseph Nicholson and several others of the Masculine Order Ann Austin a Woman stricken in Years Mother of some Children Mary Fisher a Maid whose Intellectual Faculties was greatly adorn'd by the Graviâ—y of her Deportment afterwards married to William Baily a Famous Preacher and others also of the Female Rank This fell out in the Year Fifty Five Of those Burniat survives in our present Memory as yet I suppose a Preacher in Ireland Many of those made their way for Virginia Maryland the Caribes Barmuda's Barbadoes and other adjacent Islands Of these having found little worth our Observation I shall discourse in the last place if Occasion offers But the Women Ann Austin and Mary Fisher travell'd into New England and were shortly
and fearful of appearing Criminal not only now don't stand as Criminals but themselves sit and act as Judges in their own Cause and as such pass Sentances as their own private Animosities and prejudice and desire of revenge which they have been now along while Hatching and Consulting amongst themselves promp't them to And what such great Crime is there Committed that should occasion so great disputes and strife Isaias that great and excellent Prophet cries out that there are those who make a Man guilty for a word and lay a stumbling block for him that is ready to fall in the gate And lately into what Snares what Streights have I been brought and all for a word which besides that it was spoken hastily and not stood in if it were examined to the bottom and might receive a true proper and fair Interpretation or if taken in the best sense which alwaies ought to be follow'd would not onely have been pardoned but brought me Commendation too now for the like cause of Truth and Virtue are I and my Companians arraigned as Criminals For here we are charged with Sedition Dishonouring the Magistrates Treason Yea as if we were almost all guilty of every of these Crimes who are so far from them as we study nothing more than obedience to lawful Power and Authority But what Conviction is there of this What the least proof of it Or what that bears the least Resemblance of it For if to accuse alone be enough neither any of you or any Man living will be innocent and there will be no need to fear those punishments that these Men deserve But here lies the Conviction and proof of the Crime because we have spoken somewhat tartly against some of your order and have us'd sharp Language We hear it After a hostile manner No this your modesty will not give you leave to say tho all the rest you affirm with a geeat deal of Confidence But we have written and spoken a great many Scandalous things against them Whom Those who were and as yet are of our order Who tho they are Ecclesiasticks Doctors Ministers now at this time lay aside those Characters and take upon them to be Magistrates and Judges But what are these Scandalous things Are they such as both they and we do mutually exhort one another to and if that be not enough such as our places and duties oblige us publickly to admonish those that are Committed to our charge Is there any thing more than this That the Printers Name is not prefixt to the Book But what harm is there in that What necessity or Law Custom or Example is there for that I appeal to you O my Companions who have published so many famous books in England and the most Illustrious Penn the Lord and chief Governour of this Countrey of whom there are so many Monuments extant not bearing thy Name or the Names of those that Printed them Which since it is so let all Honest and Impartial people see and Judge who in this place principally are to be esteemed innocent and who guilty whereof the one do not in any wise refuse to stand before their Judges and to have their whole cause plainly determined The others fly from Justice and mock their Judges Now see and consider ye what ye have to determine that it may be that against Truth and Probability falsity and fraud which Tempests and Impure breaths are against the Sun and that it may come to pass if not at present yet that at last oppressed truth may have a Glorious resurrection and light up her head and slighted and injur'd vertue shine forth spendidly as the Suns raies break out so much the more Illustrious after the Gloomy Clouds are dispelled and at last that happy time may come in which the allwise incorrupt and Almighty Judge shall lay open and make manifest those things that are at present obscur'd in an abyss of Darkness and shall reveal the thoughts and counsels of the Heart and every one shall receive their reward from God After a long Quarrelsome and Confus'd disputing of the Case pro and con in which some of 'em so thought their Tongues to be their own as they said what they pleased the Judges having concluded and all people a-gape to hear the sentences They laid upon Keith and Bud the penalty of five pounds each Bradford's Tryal was put off till the next Sessions That which with these Men seems unjust they call the Judiciary Court of the whole province What these Judges seem to think of themselves as if from them there could be no appeal they don't allow of King Charles had reserved to himself in the assignment he had made of the Countrey to W. Penn in the Grand Charter or Grant he gave him the final Decision of such Cases wherein the Inhabitants of the Countrey themselves injured in the highest Tribunal of that Countrey and no other redress was to be had Therefore these Men appeal to the Cognizance of the King and Queen in England and to stand by their Decision And this was denied them by a bold and strong power than which nothing is more formidable or pernicious Wherefore these Men yeilding to their pleasure and the present time reserved their own right to themselves till another time There came in this time of great streights and trouble of mind and dejection these Men lay under two of these kind of people from England who advised Keith out of the ancient Friendship nearness and dearness which he had enter'd into with them and the whole Society that as much as in him lay and as Much as he could and should forego his own private Inconvenience for the sake of the publick and follow peace and avoid the scandal of such a Discension and so great a Distraction And that thereunto they would lend him their advice Which advice of thens Keith liked and approv'd of very well and altho he knew how uncertain a thing it was and full of Danger and that it was no part of a wise Man to follow that that he could not overtake yet that a dubious probability of good was better than an uncertain Evil. And so weighing all things well first he proposes to his Adversaries several Terms of Accommodation by Letters sent to them But they things succeeding now according to their wishes and their hearts being harden'd with inveterate hatred Interpreted this Change of his for an inconstancy unbecoming wise Men and were angry at him for requesting this at their hands Wherefore the Keithians seeing that neither so could this business be brought about and considering that it would be labour in vain and to no purpose but rather hurtful to make any further overtures of peace or if they should obtain any thing that it would not be peace but a Slavish kind of Agreement therefore they kept themselves to themselves and within the bounds of their own Confession which Keith and some others in his own Name and of those
Prudence and Moderation both of him and them that they urged one another with this Crime that each of them spread abroad detestable and cursed Doctrines and ensnared Men in them to the hazzard or loss of their salvation And Keith told that Bingly Vaughton and others when any of them seem'd to speak to another either not in good time or not readily or plainly enough because they first staid to meditate or wait the motion of the Spirit before they spake were us'd to nod one at another point or make signs to them to speak and if that would not do to pluck them by the sleeves and so to put them upon speaking Which certainly was not that that they had in their minds or what the Spirit mov'd them to speak which was contrary to the Doctrine and Fundamental Principles of these Men. But as there was neither Measure nor end of these disputes nor was there any respite of this Contention and Scold tho they were now grown hoarse again and it was not time as yet for them to break up Bingly and Waldenfield perswade the rest not to treat with Keith any further and so presently dissolving the assembly they go away and withal cause all the rest to do so to and disperse After they had left of dealing with Keith they consulted what was best to be done about him In which Consultation some of them complain'd with Relation to Keith that they had not the priviledge given them of speaking their minds and that there were some that by their talkativeness and proud way of speaking and with their looks and aspect took the words out of their Mouths or made them hold their Tongues or altogether silenc'd them there were others who were so frighted and overaw'd that they could not bring out what they differ'd and were of a contrary mind from others in And there were some also that dissemblingly and against their wills had spoken and who were sorry for what they had done and retracted from the sentence that was given At the last with the suffrages of the greatest part of them this decree was made and agreed to That Keith was of a Spirit no ways Christian and was the cause of these differences and divisions and openly Injurious to the Brethren And therefore that he had withdrawn and separated himself from the Holy Communion of the Church of Christ and was gone off from the power of Preaching and Praying in the Meetings of Friends Wherefore he was not to be accounted or receiv'd as one of them unless he first publickly confess'd his Crime and gave some tokens of amendment And moreover by the Acts of the Meeting this sentence was sent in Writing to all the Meetings of the Quakers all the World over That this Meeting in London was no ways concerned in the late differences in some parts of America tho now there was hopes things would succeed there better than formerly But that the Christian Advice and Councill that had been given to Keith and others in the yearly Meeting before Keith had openly in his Printed books set himself against and oppos'd and so betray'd himself to have turned aside from the peaceable Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ and to persevere in the Spirit of Discord and Contradiction and by so doing has given great trouble and grief to the Church of Christ and especially to the last and likewise to this Meeting too And so that now they had born Witness against him untill he had truly repented and reconciled himself to the faithful friends and Brethren So then in this Meeting now so lately held when all hopes of reconciliation was taken away and no other end of any other advice likely to be and a Man Excommunicated and cast out whom the Generality of People looked upon as one of the most Ingenious and best defenders of the Quakers and their Religion this seem'd to be a Schism amongst Men so joyn'd and united together amongst themselves as they were And now redounded to their great disgrace thro' the accusations and sharp Speeches of those that withdrew from amongst them Wherefore these now are their Adversaries and now and then have a fling at them after this manner that now they may see themselves what a sort of Men they are and how much worse than those they would Condemn and this was laid to their Charge that having been free from Domestick jars within and fears from without of a long while that now with such intestine and deadly hatred strife and sedition they should fall together by the Ears amongst themselves instead of that Spiritual and Heavenly Wisdom and Prudence they always bragg'd of and that incredible Amity and Concord that by a nod or sign onely they could have had any thing one of another that it seem'd they would shew that those that formerly were so unconquerable without were now so very weak within and in a short time would fall by their own Weapons and that now the times were changed they would bring upon themselves the total loss of that liberty in hopes of which they promis'd themselves Perpetuity And thus much of the beginning progress and increase of these People and of their Actions and Sufferings in their own Country and those depending upon it to this very time in which that odious to be nam'd and terrible persecution is quell'd and taken off and not onely these Men but all those differing from the publick Churches are protected in their Civil Liberties in all those Countrys and peace and liberty of Conscience is established and that Confirm'd by the Laws Onely excepting Papists and Socinians and the like Propagators of the old Arian Heresy the causes and reasons of which I have treated on elsewhere Which Favour and Indulgence how it was granted to these people both by the equal bountys of that King than whom a better can't be wish'd for and to whom therefore all good Men wish a long and happy Reign especially being now alwaies in Arms and Venturing his life for the Common good and of his Queen who is lately deceased but her Soul being rendred to God the Memory of her lives and alwaies will do so to the latest surviving Posterity for those many and illustrious Virtues that concentred in her Royal Person and also by the joint Consent of the Lords and Commons in both Houses of Parliament assembled readily Complying with the Royal pleasure herein I have likewise before set forth This I must note before I go any farther that this prudence and clemency of the King and Queen and of those great Men was so much glorious to themselves and worthy to be acknowledged by these Men because in all the times aforepast there were not onely so many and great Vexations Prosecutions Afflictions unsufferable Slaughters every where laid upon all sorts of People which either indeed were Acted by Erronious Principles or the Pride and Envy of some Men had a mind to load with false Accusations as if they were very