from this time forward as to what Places he went so with whom he conversed and whom he should shun and when he found there were some who laid in wait for him to trepan him and hale him to Prison he immediately hastened away He did also moreover advise his Party by his Letters and Pamphlets that all of them should make it their business and endeavour to do nothing against the King's Authority and the Common-weal and allow of nothing in that kind which might be avoided by them Besides this Fox proceeded to write many things even against their Adversaries but in such a manner as not to set forth so much what his own Sentiments were as what he wrote and in what place he wrote it Which sort of Life Fox from thence forward led even to his Death that all his Actions both in the middle and last part of his Life might be like unto those he had practised in the beginning so that I judge it needless to say many more words concerning Fox in this Treatise unless something that is altogether new and strange should occur And thus did almost all the Quakers behave themselves now more cautiously and circumspectly among their Adversaries neither did they so often and constantly make a noise in the Churches and Publick places neither did they Act those Fooleries where there was a Concourse of People and utter such ridiculous Bablings neither when they were brought before the Magistrate did they talk so uncivilly abruptly and foreign to the purpose as they had been wont to do neither did they Answer when the Judges asked them what their Name was what Country-men they were where they lived that they were of the Land of Canaan and that they lived in God so that as the Time even so their Manners changed yea from henceforward these Men wrote and published in England not only Pamphlets but Books in which they handled the Heads of things not at large only and confusedly but curiously and distinctly and did Argue in them first against the Opinions and Tenets of the Principal Episcoparians and then against those of other Dissenters which they did not approve of and this in a neat and orderly way of Argumentation not by wrangling but examining every Proposition and coming up to the Merit of the Cause and by admirable Skill arriving at their designed Conclusion neither did they urge those things which they taught and believed by a rude and disjointed way of Reasoning but clearly and openly and explicated the same at large and strenuously defended it Which Method was vigorously pursued by Samuel Fisher who was the chief Man and the Ornament of the whole Sect. Moreover some of them were not afraid to Discourse Argue and Dispute with the Adverse Party yea and when need required with the very Ministers of the Publick Church concerning their own and the others Doctrine and Concerns Which sort of Disputation was held this very first Year at Hereford between two City Ministers and three Preaching Quakers Howgil Burroughs and Cross wherefore from henceforward these People the Quakers began gradually and by little and little to stand up and to increase in number and strength and to be reckoned and used as one of the Sects of the Christian Religion Things were at the same pass with these Men in Scotland saving that their Affairs did not thrive so fast there until the arrival of two Men of great Fame and Reputation amongst all the Quakers Geroge Keith and Robert Barclay by Name by whose Labour Toyl and Industry the whole Doctrine of the Quakers especially their chief Dogms Principles and Fundamentals were very much illustrated and confirmed and because this is the first place where we meet with the Names of these Men and that hereafter mention will be made of them upon various Accounts we shall in a few words acquaint those who do not know it what sort of Men these are they were both of them Scots but there is only one of them to wit Keith that is yet alive Barclay the other being dead George Keith was at first of the Reformed Religion and a Student of Philosophy and Divinity as soon as he commenced Master of Arts and was more especially had in esteem for a good Mathematician he did afterward become a Chaplain or Minister of God's Word in a certain Noble Family But seeing that he was always transported with a desire of searching after and learning somewhat that was new and alighted upon these late Sectaries he did in a short time embrace their Doctrine and arrived to be one of the chief Speakers and Holders forth amongst them This Man after many Toyls Wanderings and Perambulations went at last into that part of America which from the Owner thereof is called Pensylvania and there in their Church and Latin School of Philadelphia exercised the Office of a Teacher Robert Barclay was a Gentleman of Scotland the Son of that same David Barclay whose Book we have made mention of a little before his Father had sent him to the City of Paris the Capital of France and there was brought up in good Literature and after a manner that suited to his Quality and those Noble Youths that were his Fellow-Students But this Young Man had an Uncle in that City that was Principal of the Scotch Popish College there to whose Precepts when Barclay had for some time attended he leaves the Reformed Religion and turns Papist which when his Father came to know he sends for him home and as he himself in the mean time was turned Quaker he also endeavours to induce his Son to embrace the same way but he seeing he had in all other things been Observant to his Father refuses and says he could not in so great and weighty a thing as that was hearken to him But when he had not long after come to one of the Meetings of the Quakers he suddenly turns about and becomes throughly one of them being now Eighteen Years of Age and from thence forward for a great part of his Life was as it were the Legate or Messenger of the Quakers in their weightiest Affairs it 's also said that he was descended from John Barclay that notable Writer of Heroick Verse and Satyr and whose Name it 's enough to mention Keith wrote many things in English wherein he does clearly Teach Explain and Confirm those chief Points of their Doctrine which Fox and others had neither so distinctly handled nor so artificially and dexterously propounded and vindicates the same from the Objections and Exceptions of their Adversaries which afterward all the rest of the Quakers greedily snatched at and would appropriate and reckon among the Opinions of the Quakers excepting two or three Articles which they left alone as peculiar to himself He was indeed the first of them all who taught polished and perfected those Principles concerning the Seed and Light within immediate Revelation the Eternal Divine and Spiritual Filiation of Jesus Christ for so do all
Engaging and Obliging so great a Man and of promoting both his own and his Church's Interest and also inconsistent with himself who could not observe the same Measures with Superiour People that he did with those of an Inferior Rank When the Protector 's Domesticks told him that Fox had refused to stay he express'd himself after this manner It seems therefore that this People is a Sect which no fair means nor courteous dealings can gain whereas by these I have subjected all other Men to my self In this course of Fox's Life and Ministry which was properly nothing but a perpetual Pilgrimage he began now to publish Books in which he was more intent upon overturning the Religions of other Churches than in building up a new one or explaining and confirming those Doctrines that he press'd all Men to embrace He wrote also many Letters some to his Colleagues admonishing and stirring them up to their Duty others to those of a different Perswasion inviting and exhorting them to receive and entertain the Doctrines which he taught And he carefully dispersed both the Books and Letters which he likewise caused to be Printed through all the Counties of England But as Fox was constant and diligent in his Office so his Adherents and Disciples imitated their Master Preaching up and down with the greatest servour and alacrity converting great numbers of Men who not only associated themselves to them but also signalized their Courage and Constancy in the patient endurance of all manner of Labour Fatigue and Persecution it self that they might not seem to recede from the Example and Pattern of their Ring-leader Fox They met frequently together in every City or Town either in Houses in the Night-time or in the Fields Desart Places and Mountains where the top of some rising Ground served for a Pulpit to the Preacher Being therefore that they thus persisted in their irregular courses the Magistrates whose Duty it was to prevent them caused them to be Apprehended cast into Prison and kept there for some time In the mean time Cromwel the Protector by an Edict discharges the Quakers to Assemble or Congregate together Publickly having observed that to be the mind of all the Publick Churches but withal forbids either the Ecclesiasticks or any other Men to do the least Injury or harm to them while they committed nothing against the Government and Publick Constitution of the Kingdom and when any sollicited him to use greater Severity against the Quakers as Hugh Peters his Chaplain frequently did that Famous wrangler that thought he could not exercise his Function of the Ministry aright unless he filled all with Confusion and Disorder by his Tumultuous Complaints he returned this Answer That That Sect the less it was persecuted the sooner it would fall and decay of its own accord But this Order of the Protector had little or no Effect for their Adversaries never wanted occasion of Accusing them of this Crime and they themselves became daily more bold and resolute in celebrating these forbidden Assemblies Hence ensued many Miseries upon the Quakers and oft-times Bonds which they endured with the greatest Constancy imaginable of which I give you one Instance Fox continuing to disperse his Books and Letters and keeping Conventicles and Meetings notwithstanding the Protector 's Edict to the contrary choosing rather to undergo the greatest Miseries nay the loss of Life it self than to desert his Office or desist from this his wonted Course is cast into Prison at Launceston in Cornwal and bound with Chains under which Affliction he continued for a long time as I shall afterwards shew designing now to treat in order not only of the Actions of Fox but of all the Society While he was thus conâ—ined and uncapable to do any Service to his Church one of his Friends and Relations who preferred the publick Good of his Sect and of his Friend in particular to his own Safety and Peace goes to the Protector while sitting in Council and desires of him that Fox might be exempted for his Captivity and Bondage and he himself put into his stead engaging himself to answer for his Crime as if he were guilty of it himself Though Cromwel denied the Request yet he could not cease to wonder and looking to the Council says Is there any of you would do so kind an Office to his Neighbour though it conduced never so much to his and the publick Advantage But neither did the Adversaries of the Quakers want Occasion of accusing and arraigning them for being guilty of raising Tumults and rebelling against the Civil Magistrate and Publick Government as this one Example can instance There was at that time a great many foolish silly Men who were great pretenders to Religion that used to raise their Spirits by wonderful Motions of their Bodies and antick Gestures calling it Piety and Sanctity But on the other hand there was also many turbulent and factious Spirits striving to innovate and confuse all things either upon a religious or civil Pretence and if any such kind of Crimes were committed against the Government by these turbulent Fellows the Quakers were accused as being the Authors or at least Abettors and conscious of the same But the Quakers did so enervate and nullifie this Calumny that all Judges pronounced them innocent It was true indeed nor did they deny it that many who professed to be of their Society were simple and foolish morose and impertinent and not so polished in their Temper and Conversation as their Doctrine and Profession required who made it their Business to run up and down the Streets and frequented Roads shouting and crying with a hideous Noise and Clamor exhorting the People to such Endeavours as they themselves knew nothing of and who oft-times committed many Incivilities and Impertinencies But they denied that this was peculiar to their Sect or Discipline for they who had Authority among them reproved and severely check'd such as were guilty of the like Enormities and threatned to expell them from their Society unless they amended their Ways of which more afterwards About this time many Converts of various Stations and Professions were added to this new Church and were afterwards invested with the Ministerial Function among them who became famous not only enlarging their own Credit and Reputation but that of their Sect both in the Island of Britain and in the United Provinces of Holland so that it shall not be improper in this place to give some account of them such as the designed Brevity of this Work may allow William Ames flourished at this time a Man of an acute Ingeny and indefatigable Industry both in Teaching Preaching and Writing and so much admired by these Men in this Country Holland that they do not stick to proclaim him a perfect Doctor He was born in Somersetshire near Bristol but was ill educated in his Infancy and Youth having applied himself to nothing that could be useful to humane Life So that being of a lazy
he had in a short time together with great Commendations of his Knowledge gained a great Opinion of his Probity among his Party he became very dear unto all of them But such is the Weakness and Imbecillity of almost all Men that after they have wished for and coveted the Applause and Observance of others and have obtained it that they bear the same immoderately Naylor after he saw the Love and Good-will of his Party unto him was so much taken up with it and overvalued himself hereupon He was invited by Letters from John Stranger and Ann his Wife as also by Thomas Simonson and his Wife Martha to come into the City of Bristol and to dwell with them in which Letters they dignified him with these very Elogies which every body knows to whom and to whom alone they do belong which was to this purpose That he was the fairest among Ten Thousands the only begotten Son of God the Prophet of the most High the King and Judge of Israel the Eternal Son of Righteousness the Prince of Peace Jesus in whom was the hope of Israel Naylor with a few Friends go on Horseback towards Bristol and so these Friends coming to hear of his Journey and Approach as did also some other Men and Women they while the rest waited for him in the City and in their Houses go out of the City full of Joy and Gladness for to meet him some on Horseback and others on Foot and so marching both before and behind him on foot bring him into the City those Women which I have named before as also Dorcas Erbury spreading part of their Clothes on the way and crying aloud and repeating that Sentence which the Multitude used as the Scripture witnesseth to our Saviour as he entred Jerusalem Hosanna to the Son of David blessed is he that cometh in the Name of the Lord as also The Holy Jehovah and Lord of Hosts while one of their Fraternity Jurian Witgorley by Name was in the mean time chiding and blaming of the rest of them for their Ignorance and Folly in worshipping of the Man Naylor being thus accompany'd is brought into the City and goes into the House of two Men who were already before entred into his Brotherhood and Society there manifold Honours are done him by the whole Company and Ann Stranger with a few more being forward to do their utmost in Entertaining of the Man fall down before him and stretching out their hands in a suppliant manner to his Feet kiss them all which doings Naylor was so far from rejecting that he took much Pleasure therein When these things were known through the City and that a Concourse of People came to the House from all parts of the Town there were Persons forthwith sent by the Mayor who hal'd Naylor to Prison as contemning the present Government which must not go unpunished or affecting Novelty and carrying the marks and semblance thereof before him And that I may pass over what intervened between I shall rehearse briefly what followed Naylor was sent to the Parliament who appointed a Committee to make Inquisition into the matter Naylor being summoned to Answer for himself and asked concerning the Epistles and Titles ascribed unto him in them as also concerning the Submission and Supplication of the Women to him being not willing to deny the Fact he constantly and boldly answered as to the way and manner how these things might be attributed to him to wit not as he was a Creature but as Christ dwelt in him and maintained that God had so far enjoyned those Persons to do it and that he had permitted the same to be done to him these things being over the Committee bring him in Guilty in their Report to the Parliament which when they had expended the matter again with great care and diligence they adjudged Naylor to be guilty of great Blasphemy against God and of Seducing Men and ordered the Punishment of such Wickedness in this manner Naylor was brought into the New Palace-Yard in Westminster and there aloft set in the Pillory so as he might be seen of all that were there for the space of two hours and then he was from thence carryed to the Old Exchange and between both the places was well whipped and then two days after was in this same place Pillory'd again for so many hours as before and had his Tongue bored through with an hot Iron and his Forehead marked with the Letter B. as a Mark and Testimony that might always remain there of his Blasphemy and after he had been thus handled at London he was sent to Bristol and there in the open Market-place set on Horseback but with his Face to the Horses Tail naked and whipped also as before and at length after all was carryed again to London and there committed to Bridewel where if he was minded to eat he was obliged to earn it with his own hands He had the first day of his Whipping three hundred lashes given him and them so severely that his Sides and all his Waste was so slashed and torn that his Bowels did almost gush out for that very day wherein Naylor suffered his Punishment the Deputies of several Counties had put up their Petitions to the Parliament that the Quakers might be supprest as most troublesom and intolerable where-ever they were whithersoever they came and disturbed all places On the contrary many of Naylor's stedfast Friends in this uncertain Affair Petition the Parliament on the same day that they would be pleased to remit what remained yet behind of their Sentence in respect to the Punishment of Naylor And thus far they did prevail that the Punishment he was to suffer the next day should be protracted The Parliament sent to Naylor five Ministers one of which was Edward Reynolds afterwards the Famous Bishop of Norwich to sound his Mind and to induce him to confess and acknowledge his Offence and to recant it but he with the same Constancy and Fortitude as he had used before in making his Defence did now also persevere in his Opinion from whence when he might otherwise have procured Favour in the sight of the House he was now by their Command ordered to suffer the remainder of his Sentence while these things were transacted there were some of Naylor's Friends both Men and Women who were punished with Imprisonment at Exeter because that all of them as Naylor had done endeavoured to divert the Crime laid to their Charge with their frivolous Excuses and Exceptions But to return to Naylor the second time that he stood in the Pillory one Robert Rich from among the great multitude of Spectators who was a special Friend of Naylor's with two Women get up to him and stand about him then Rich pulled a Paper out of his Bosom and set it upon his Head wherein was written these words This is the King of the Jews Rich being thrust from that place with the Women who were his Companions in that mad
but he was forthwith and without any delay in the presence of all that were there according to the Military Practice of some Men so beaten and kick'd by the Colonel himself because he ought above any other to have desisted from such doings and practices as he had then taken upon him that he made him bleed and then was sent back to his old Prison and tyed Neck and Heels there But as there were many of Ames's fellow Soldiers and also other Soldiers who by little and little became of the Quakers Sect several of them having taken Counsel together and allotted their Work did either use their babling Interruptions in the Publick Assemblies while they were at Prayer or Preaching or fell a Trembling there or shewed some such idle and foolish Prank this Example was followed by many others both of the one and of the other Sex wherefore they were ever and anon one after another fined driven to Prisons and in some places miserably harrassed some of them were severely lashed but the Soldiers more than any until the Year Fifty Six when Colonel Ingoldsby the Governour commanded all upon a very severe Penalty to give no manner of Entertainment to any Quaker whatsoever and not suffer them to come within their Doors and that whoever did to the contrary should be expelled out of the City But it was to no purpose some indeed were driven away but their Number did even then and by that means increase and so by degrees came to hold their Assemblies Officers were sent to break open their Doors and to interrupt and disturb them some they fined others were banished but yet for all this they increased and multiplyed more and more this happened at Limerick Cork Waterford Kingsale and other places And thus did this Sect of the Quakers about the time of their rise and first Progress struggle in the time of the Common-wealth under the two Cromwels Father and Son Protectors under the many Afflictions they were put to by their Enemies and to the great hazzard both of their Religion and People The End of the First Book BOOK II. PART I. The Contents of the Second BOOK THE Endeavours of the Quakers upon the King's Restauration G. Keith R. Barclay The Quakers vain hopes concerning the King The Oath of Allegiance an inexplicable Snare to these Men. Tythes also The Cruelty of Keepers towards them Instances The King and Parliament's Disposition towards them A Letter of Fox the Younger to the King Fox his Book of many Languages concerning the Pronoun Thou Several Laws against the Quakers Hence their various Tryals Hubberthorn Burroughs and Howgil die in Prison A vain Suspicion that the Quakers cherished Popery Their Persecution at London The fall of Priscilla Mo The Burials of the Quakers The Persecuting of them at Colchester A Council held concerning Transplanting of the Quakers into the American Islands This transacted and handled several times The various and strange haps and Adventures of such as suffered this Penalty The Ecclesiastical Court The Law De Excommunicato capiendo Several Examples made upon their refusing to pay Tythes The Death of Fisher in Prison Fox's Three Years Imprisonment The Prophecy of a certain Quaker concerning the Burning of London The Troubles of the Quakers in Scotland and Ireland Keith's Doctrine of Christ being in Man Helmont concerning the Revolution of Souls rejected by the Quakers William Pen's turning Quaker A full Description thereof His singular Opinion concerning a Toleration of all Religions The Ecclefiastical state of the Quakers The Order of their Teachers A Meeting of their Teachers together Synods Liturgies or Sacred Duties How they observe the Lord's Day Their Complaint concerning the Protestants study of Divinity Their Opinion concerning a knowledge of Languages and Philosophy Of the Sallary of the Ministers of God's Word What the Call of Ministers is among them Their Discipline Their Solemnizing of Marriages Keith's Imprisonment Pen's Imprisonment at London Solomon Eccles's Fooleries and mad Pranks in several places Fox's Marriage A great Persecution of the Quakers throughout England accompanied with the greatest baseness Green's Fall Pen again and Mead with him Imprisoned at London They are Tryed Pen's Speech to the Judges A great Persecution in Southwark The notable Zeal of these Men in keeping their Assemblies A short respite from the Persecution G. Fox goes to the English Colonies in America His Imprisonment in Worcester and what was done at that time He writes several Letters more elaborately than profitably A Conference between the Quakers and Baptists R. Barclay's Apology for the Christian Theology variously received A Comparison between the Quietists and Quakers Several Persecutions of the Quakers in England The Assaulting of them in Scotland All manner of Slanders put upon the Quakers Doctrine and Life The Persecution of Bristol Of London The Quakers state under King James the Second W. Pen's Diligence for the Quakers The Quakers Affairs under King William Pen's Default Freedom and Liberty given to the Quakers by the Parliament Pen's second Default The Death of Fox The great Book written by him A Description of Fox The great Dissention between the Quakers themselves The present state of them I Have brought down the History of the Quakers to the Time of King Charles II. in whose Reign and even in the very beginning thereof as great changes happened not only in the State every thing being abrogated and taken away that had been Obstacles to the Kingly Power and Dignity or that might be so for the future but also in the Ecclesiastical Constitution for that Equality and Conjunction that ought to be between the Brethren Friends and Disciples of Christ was taken away whilst the Government thereof reverted to a few and for the most part to the King himself so there was among those Persons who were not dissatisfied with the Name Splendor and Authority of a King but with that turn in the Church no small commotion of Mind no light Care and Diligence not only that they might defend their own Churches with the Orders and Constitutions of them lest they should suffer any damage any other way but also that they might further vindicate all their Practices from the Envy of their Adversaries confirm and trim up the same and recommend them unto others Therefore this Study and Concern also seemed to be among all Persons who had as well departed from that same pitch of Religion as from that publick Religion in the very same manner did George Fox and his Colleagues and all of that Herd even every one according to his Place and Station diligently and industriously apply themselves to this Affair wherefore Fox according to his wonted manner began his Peregrination in England to visit his Friends to Preach amongst them but did not take upon him as formerly to talk in the Publick Churches Markets and Streets and there to stir up the People and seeing that he had before this attempted many things more earnestly than successfully he took diligent heed
and to lay down his Life When he came to London he presently goes to their Meeting and there Preaches esteeming he could not otherwise satisfie his Conscience discharge his Duty and use the Gift which he had received which as soon as it was told the Mayor who was the same before mentioned away goes he with some of his Officers and Followers and lest he should do the same again which is not very much commendable in a Magistrate he Commands them to hale away the Man and forthwith thrust him into Prison which they do and put him into an horrid place full of filth and stench and so narrow that he could not well stand there with which Miseries after Eight Months he falls sick and his Disease increasing upon him daily he at length dies as he had lived supporting and comforting himself and his Friends who were not hindred access to him and so were present at all times with many words the sum and substance whereof was this I have hitherto preached the Gospel in this City freely and not to the burden of any and have often spent my Life therein and now in the midst of my Labours part with my Life for it and how true it is that I have truly and sincerely both acted and dealt in this matter is known to him who knoweth all things And thou O God hast then loved me when I was yet shut up in my Mother's Womb and I have loved them from my Cradle and have served thee from my Childhood and Youth to this very time to some good purpose and that with the greatest Fidelity and though this Body of mine returns unto the Dust yet I am conscious to my self and assuredly know that my Soul shall return from whence it came and that that Spirit which hath lived in me wrought in me ruled me and hath ruled in all will be diffused into Thousands I pray unto God that he would Pardon if it be his will the Sins and evil Practices of my Enemies And when he died winking as it were with both his Eyes he said Now my Soul resteth in her own Centre Fisher doth describe this Man 's untimely Death in a lofty style and according to his way in a Rhetorical and Tragical manner The Persecution of these Men was very hot the Year following in the City of Worcester Several Quakers were met together in the House of Rupert Smyth not for to Preach but to the intent they might Advise together concerning four Children the Death of whose Father had left them destitute of Sustenance and Education they chiefly considered what might be done lest the Children should come upon the Parish and that then as the Parish should have the charge of bringing them up so it would also take care to have them instructed in the Religion and Discipline of the same Presently upon this some Soldiers get together and having given no sign of their being sent rush upon them as upon a Rabble withstanding or despising the Government and with much Clamour and great Violence take Twenty Four of the Company and carry them to the places where they were wont to be put amongst Bawdy-house haunters for this now was come in fashion Ruffians Thieves and such sort of vitious notorious Offenders after some Weeks Smyth and a few other are brought before the Magistrates and examined they ask them whether they had taken the Oath of Allegiance And when they said they had not they ask them again whether they would now Swear according to their usual way of Interrogating of them in these Times They Answer That they could not swear for Conscience-sake and affirm a thing according to their forms and in such a manner but that otherwise they could sincerely affirm that they would discharge all their Duty towards the King and Government neither would they attempt any thing which tended to their dishonour and Incommodity neither would they do any thing for which they might justly be blamed But whilst that in this hearing there was no dispute about the Thing but the Mode and Circumstance thereof was only controverted and that the Quakers in the mean time held to their own way and stood covered the Magistrates laying aside the Dispute about Swearing they take up the matter of these mens wearing their Hats before them and urge that to stand covered before the Magistrate as it did here manifestly appear was a great derogation from the King's Honour and such and so great an Offence that it ought to be punished and that severely by the Court. To which Smyth wittily replyed Seeing that there was not only any appearance of no Crime no nor the least suspicion against them that they had lessened the Reputation of this King his Name Rule and Government in words or deeds it was a very trivial thing for them to urge that as a mark of it and seeing that the Hat is a Covering to the Head and that each part of the Body has his Covering and that none in his approach to others though they be Magistrates uncovers any other part of his Body and that his not doing so is not for all that taken as a mark of Contumacy and Disobedience it 's most strange Men should be bound by this Law and Religion about the Bonnet After this Reply there was Sentence pronounced against all of them that they should be detained in Prison because they refused to obey and be observant towards the King and irreverent towards the Judges As for Smyth they adjudged him to be out of the King's Protection to have his Goods Confiscate and brought to the Exchequer after this the rest of them were accused and partly because of their Meeting together and partly because they refused to Swear adjudged also to Prison the thing from a Hearing came to a Tryal the Evidence Swear to the Matter in the absence of the Criminals but the Witnesses disagreed very much one with another the whole Action of which the Accusation and Case was made up is found to be far otherwise than was thought to be the Judges hereupon were somewhat concerned what clear Answer they should give and what to determine concerning the Men at last they adjudge them to be carryed back to Prison At this time Francis Howgil a diligent Teacher among these People was taken from the Market-place where he attended his business by a Traveller and carryed before the Justices of the Peace that were met together in the next Inn These look askew upon the Man hesitate question him and at last come to that which they designed and require him to take the Oath of Allegiance he did at first in like manner delay as knowing their Tricks made no Excuse lest his going about to purge him of a fault might be esteemed as a fault but he afterward goes on whither they desired him and denyed that he could with a safe Conscience take the Oath And so was committed to Prison whence being brought before the Judges to
seized by them and severely handled some who had escaped safe to their Homes from this terrible Usage had their Doors broke open and were hardly used there but neither did this also deter them from Meeting together again but they returned next day to the same place whither came again the same number of Horsemen armed some of them besides the Instruments already mentioned with heavy-headed Clubs and so set upon them throw them upon the Ground beat them and handle them with such a Violence that they drew Blood from many of them some they left as if they had been dead upon the Ground and had died had it not been for the Citizens who being moved with Compassion received some of them into their Houses and took care of them some were so used that they could not lift an Hand to their Mouths yea and could not use any Member of their Body for a long time after There was one of the Horsemen who struck at one of them with so much violence that he shook his Blade out of the Hilt which when the Quaker perceived he gives it up to his smiter saying Take thine own but as for me that which is ours and a Christian's part I beseech and pray to God that the work of this day may not be laid to thy Charge And so on the one side Fury and Cruelty and on the other Constancy and Gentleness seemed to outvie one another But all this Violence could not yet repress the Endeavours and Purposes of these Men And so they met again another day whereupon the same Persons are sent to them also being now looked upon as the best and surest Chastisers and Punishers of these Men who set upon them and handle them according to their wonted manner and while the Quakers endeavour as every one best could to escape they pursue them even to their very Houses And when these Men could not still be diverted from their way and purpose but that they met together on the Twenty Seventh day again the same Troop came up with and before they set upon them they placed Sentinels at the Passes to stop their going out whereupon the Horsemen to the number of Thirty Six break in upon them and with their Clubs and Muskets so beat and bruise the Limbs and Heads of these People with such hard blows and some of them receiving even an Hundred that there was scarce any part of their Body free from Wounds and Bruises and seeing there were some of them who sought to escape their hands by flight they fell in the Avenues into the power of the Sentinels and were as severely handled as the rest and those Punishers and Chastisers intermixt so many Maledictions and Curses with these things that the Quakers who are a People of few words and such as are awful and modest affirmed that they were not so much hurt with their Swords and Clubs in their Bodies as they were troubled at their wicked Words in their Hearts These Men were now so hardned with all these Tryals and Evils that they were not only not moved in the least thereat but also looked upon whatever they suffered as pleasant and glorious being as it were a Martyrdom for their Religion They again Meet on another day to the Number of Sixty Persons with a stedfast and firm Resolution of Mind expecting to be put under the bitterest Tryals and Afflictions at what time a Company of People partly on Horseback and the rest on Foot all of a sudden set upon them in a Tumultuous Boisterous and Clamorous manner and whomsoever they catched they knock'd down to the Ground with their Arms and did so beat and assail some of them and made them so weak and infirm that they could not for a long time stir their Limbs for the use of their Bodies Yet this Outrage could not bring these Men to take better Advice and change their Purpose wherefore the Forty Troopers were sent again against them who thinking they could not be forced by the former Arms they had used do now drive very sharp Nails into the ends of their Clubs wherewith they might repel them and so when the Quakers returned boldly to their Place of Worship on the Sixth of November they set upon them and with horrid Curses and Railleries beat them all from all sides and separate some of them from the rest Here a certain Widow and an Old Woman received Twelve Wounds and another Woman was wounded to her very Reins This Persecution lasted six Weeks From thence forward the Governour took another Course and first of all indeed according to his former manner but now accompanyed with the Recorder of the City and some Officers goes to the places where the Quakers were to Meet together breaks the Doors open and goes in and as soon as any of the Quakers entred dispersed them at another time making use of gentler Remedies he Commands them and lest they should not do it in the King's Name to be gone to which they made Answer That they were full of Duty towards the King but that they loved God the King of Kings more who commanded that no one should forbear to Worship him when they had time and place This the Governour interpreted either as the greatest Ignominy or the utmost Contumacy and thinking neither of them was to be endured renews his former severe Methods against them which he had for some time intermitted and sends Soldiers who should drive them from the places where they were by thrusting haling and smiting of them But when he still found that he neither could by all his Devices and so many Tryals do any good nor was able to bridle them but that they were of that Mind and Disposition either to live with this Freedom of Meeting together or to suffer Death for it he chose rather at last to cease and give over taking any notice of them These things which are worthy of Admiration and which might seem to be set forth at large by the Quakers by way of Accusation I take notice of not only from their own Relations of themselves but also from the Testimonies of others and of the most sober Christians of that City moreover there was no Citizen who had any sense of Pity and Humanity about him that did not express his Indignation Dis-approbation and also Detestation of the great Severity used against them THE Remaining PART OF THE Second BOOK OF THIS General History OF THE QUAKERS Begins at Aa Page 1. THE General History OF THE QUAKERS BOOK II. SO Eager and Resolute they were for the maintenance of their Religion profession and publick meetings that maugre all the severe Laws enacted against them all the miseries they had already undergone and the future evils impending on their heads yet they never intermitted so much as one day from assembling together and managing religious concerns Nay so far were they from being dispirited by the great calamities and miseries they lay under that from the lowest
Commotions again and again and also here and there began to raise Disturbances Nor must I pass over in silence that among the principal Asserters and Defenders of the Socinian cause there was one especially who as a Cock can Crow best upon his own Dunghil who not onely upon all occasions rail'd furiously against the Quakers and not onely thwarted their Councils and Designs in some parts of these provinces but also could not restrain the force of his anger before he had done Considerable dammages to some of them Now this I find by the Acts of the Synod of Woerd held the year aforementioned that our people then also were afraid of the Quakers and took care lest by any means any dammage should accrew to their Churches by them And moreover the Quakers to be Enumerated with the Socinians Hence a Decree was made in that Synod That care should be taken that the Interdict of the States should be put in Execution by which they had cautiously provided a few years before That none should bring the Socinian Errors or Books into these Countreys or keep any such sort of Meetings or Conventicles under the Penalty That if any one should do any such thing for the first time as a Blasphemer against the Divine Name and Disturber of the Peace he should be banish'd out of the Province and for the second Offence should be punished for so great a Crime at the Will and Pleasure of his Judges Then Two years afterwards the Legates of the Synod of Dort presented a supplicatory Treatise to the States in which they pray the order I before mentioned may be put in Execution The States refer that treatise to the Session of their senate The senate by reason of other grave and difficult businesses of the common Weal which they had in hand protract and delay the Cognizance of this affair Afterwards the Treatise was not to be found The Legates write it over again and tender it De novo And yet for all that could get no Answer So now three whole years were run on Wherefore in the year 69. In the Synod of Goud and that other of Schonhove since the Legates had been for so long time imployed in this affair to no purpose at all and every one easily saw what it was that caus'd this delay the further Prosecution of this affair was quite left off But Ames and his first Companions departing out of these Countreys the Quaker's affairs in Holland were principally promoted by the Council and Assistance of one Benjamin Furley an English Merchant first at Amsterdam then at Rotterdam who together with his Merchandize had addicted himself to the study of Learning and in the favour of these Men wrote several little Tracts in Divers Languages But yet refrain'd himself from exercising the office of a Teacher or Minister amongst them alledging this reason for it that he could safely enough be taught at all times but could scarce be a Teacher himself without danger Altho as time and age teach Men many things this same Man afterwards found fault with and went off from many things in the Doctrine and Manners of the Quakers From hence it appears what the Number of the Quakers might be in Holland and after what manner at this Day it is included in a few familys there are not so many as that the Number of familyes can equallize that of the Citys throughout the whole Province And so long as they used all manner of moderation in their way of Living and only took care about their own Religion without concerning themselves with that of others they enjoy'd as much Liberty as themselves could wish for While these things were doing in Holland in Zealand in the City of Middleburgh Christopher Bertrad an English Seaman the same Man who caused such a Disturbance in the Church at Bristol in England and carried himself so insolenty before the Magistrate as we took notice of in the First Book in an Assembly of the Church of England in Prayer-time he made such a noise with his Discourse and Clamours and angred them to such a degree that they thrust him out of the Church Whither he presently runing in again they sent for Officers who conducted him to Prison Where when he had remained for a year and a half there came to him moved at his long Confinement and affected with a like Sense of his Griefs Caton who assoon as 't was known who he was was put into the same place Then both of them at the request of the States Ambassadour to the Commonwealth of England at Newport were sent and put into a Man of War and carried over into England being jeered reproach'd and vex'd all the way by the Seamen and Soldiers Now Ames who was always the chief man in action as long as he remained in these Parts Considering that things did not go to his mind in Holland and that Caton had reap'd such fruits of his Labour in Zealand he undertakes a journey into Gelderland and from thence to Overyssell and goe's thro' almost all the Meetings of the Mennonites in both those Provinces trying if he could bring over any of these people who seem'd better affected to his party and indeed were pretty near the Quakers if not in all yet at least in many Opinions and Customes But here neither Ames could make any advantage or do any thing worth the speaking of After this he and Caton who was now come back out of England took a journey into Friesland to try the Mennonites there who in that Province more than in any other part of these Countryes not only in their Institutions but also in their Country Customes and the Nature of the people were harmless temperate precise and came nearer the Discipline of the ancient Anabaptists not that which of late dayes has prevailed amongst that sort of People But here these men onely shew themselves and go away again as wise as they went without any good or hurt done But after these men were gone there were not a few that embrac'd the very same Doctrine that these men came to declare and join'd themselves to them with the same ninds and desires These Mennonites and a pareel of Socinians that shrouded themselves under their Meetings and that sort of Men the Family of Love who are full of Love and Humanity cross to none open and free to all who hold this Notion of God and herein their Worship of God lyes That God is not Evil and that they themselves are not so nither nor would do any ill to any body Which sort of men increasing every day more and more and now coming abroad and meeting together both publickly and privately and holding their general Assemblys for publck Worship and constantly observing their meetings and by this meanes making way for the comission of many other penicious and ill things the Mennonites being a more Religious and strict sort of People began to look upon them with evill Eyes and be displeased
imaginable Readiness to comply with the Magistrates desire herein and to render an Account of their Faith and Actions before these men The Quakers made their appearance and stood with their Hats on to plead their own Cause and First the Magistrates began to reprove them not only for refusing to obey their Order but also that they had so far cast of all manner of Obedience to them to whom by the Laws of the City they were subject and the Confession of their Life and Faith they left to them to declare to those who with so much mildness attended their Answer as to these things Then both those Ministers began with a great deal of Modesty and Simplicity to ask them their Opinion of the several chief Heads of Divinity and the Christian Religion and where they Esteem'd them to lye under any Error to instruct them To whom the Quakers opposing their Answers both Parties entered into a Dispute amongst themselves and in the Disputation the Quakers at last grew so far out of patience that they inveighed against the Preachers and Ministers of the Word and term'd their Examination a Spanish-Inquisition and them Hireling Ministers and thereupon cry'd out That they would have nothing to do with them with which immoderation the Magistrate being moved against forbid them to Meet under the same Penalty And tells them withal that if yet they would so do that he would take Order that they should depart the City and his Jurisdiction This was done in full Senate But yet this Threatning was so far from deterring them that presently after in the very same place they held their Meetings again The number of the Quakers was found to be about 10 or at the most not above 12 Families Therefore the Magistrate supposing that so far he might possibly give License to their obstinacy but their Confidence increasing that it would be a troublesome thing always to Contest with People of this sort of Temper and that therefore it would not be Proper to defer the Punishing of them any longer but to Inflict it as far as his Power and the Condition of the City requir'd it so he calls the Quakers afore him again and they continuing still to be in their former tune and Refractory as before by his Edict and Command he orders them within 3 days to depart the City and his whole Jurisdiction and if they would not Obey they were to expect a severe Sentence to be passed upon them and this interdict they despise and again reiterate their Facts and meet together nevertheless This was told again to the Magistrate and the Penalty they had incurr'd was found and read So they together being ten in number both Men and Women as being Disobedient to the Laws of the City were sent aboard a Ship and carried out of the jurisdiction of the City with Charge that they should never in their whole life-time return into the Province again So the Magistrate unwillingly and contrary to his Nature and Custom dealt the more sharply with these Men only to set an example before other stubborn Persons and those that might be ready to do ill Deeds as not unless compell'd we cut of a Limb of the Body least it should infect the rest and bring the whole to Destruction But they being sent away scarce tarried one day before they came back again Then they were all committed to Prison which was a Cellar under the Burgo-master's House and had nothing else allow'd them for Food but only Bread and Water and were denied the priviledge of having their Friends come to see them or bringing any better Provision for their Accommodation But if any of them was not well he had the liberty granted him of going home to his House and there remaining till he was recovered A little while after they were again sent out of the Country all but Haasbaard And though they had undergone so many Hardships yet resolved to lose their very lives rather than give over their Enterprizes they return back again Being provok'd now after the usual manner and as it were made a joke and â—aughing-stock they were clapt into the same Prison again and afterwards transported in a Ship out of the City and all the Province except Haasbaard again upon whom as the Ringleader of the rest the Indignation and Anger of the Magistrates principally fell And the Quakers complained and wrote that some of the Magistrates especially the Consuls they give you both the Deeds and Names of them I only which is enough for my purpose shall take notice of the thing it self at this time were very vehement against their Friends and especially very high in their Words They added also that the Ministers of the Word were also more hard and rigid against them except one of whom they said and wrote that in a publick Sermon he had declaim'd against the Persecution of the Quakers They pass over his Name I shall speak both of the Name and Passage what was told me by Reverend Men who both at this day are Pastors and Elders of the Church of Embden and chief Men in the Ecclesiastical Assembly of that Tract to wit That there was none of the Ministers and Pastors of the Church who besides Refuting the Opinions of the Quakers in Words did any thing more And amongst those Ministers there was then one Herman Holthuse now of Pious Memory of whom I remember that he was a Man both of great strictness as to other things and also as to his Life and Conversation joyned with the highest lenity and goodness towards all other Men who deeply Commiserating the Case and Afflictions of the Quakers thought and said that they were too too severely prosecuted but this in his private Discourses never abroad and in the Pulpit Now an ill Omen follow'd there was an Order issued out to the Chamberlain to confiscate the Goods of the Captives and Exiles When neither Haasbaard nor his Mother being called upon would lay down the Fine his Goods were all Sealed up in the House and he again driven into Exile from whence nevertheless he quickly returns with the fresher and more eager heat because of his loss by Death of the dearer part of himself his Wife and his little Children left behind the Mother now out of her Goods fallen to her paying the Chamberlain the Sum of 200 Imperials The Goods of another a banished Maid were sold by publick Outcry Moreover about the end of the year there was an Order set out That no body should let his House to a Quaker or take any of them for Lodgers Now return back as I said before all the expelled Quakers But all of them are again thrust into the same place and also a Woman with Child but not so near her time as the Quakers thought As also that was too great a glory of Martyrdom which the Quakers told of a certain Quakers Child of 3 years old or scarce so much which upon a disturbance made in the