Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	wonder_n	word_n	young_a	16	3	5.1999	4	false

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

Society of Quakers This Man being born in Holland of English Parentage went over into England where he finish'd his Philosophical and Theological course in the University of Cambridge that Nursery of Learning which boasts so much of her integrity that she never emitted any Disciples that prov'd corrupt or unsound in Religious matters He afterwards became Minister to a Church in that Country being ordain'd by Reynolds Bishop of Norwich but he had not long exercis'd this function when he made defection to Quakerism at the same very time that he was most busy in confirming and fortifying himself and his hearers against the influences of that sect There was a young Virgin among the Quakers fam'd for her dexterity and skill in Preaching whom many of the people us'd to follow Coughen having understood that she was to preach in a certain place goes thither himself in his Canonical Robes in order to preserve his hearers from being seduc'd by her discourses But so soon as he came to hear her he was so mov'd and affected that he not only not oppos'd her or her Doctrine but appear'd for its defence and spoke publickly for it at that same occasion and returning home abandon'd his Ecclesiastick habit joyning himself to be a member of their Society in which he afterwards became a Doctor and Preacher and was much caress'd and applauded by them But not long after this he return'd to Holland again and meeting at Harlem with Edward Richardson Minister to the English Church in that place and discoursing with him about Religion he was so influenc'd by his company that he forsook the Quakers and their Society betaking himself to Leyden when he pursued the study of Medicine Which where he had finish'd he returns to England and professes that Art of administring medicine to the sick sequestrating himself all along from that Society till at length some three years thereafter he attempts to introduce a new Model of Doctrine and Discipline which had been so often endeavour'd by so many and so great Men of obliging all Christians to concentrate in one common faith and interpose their interest and power for reconciling the differences of Religion amongst all who profess'd the Name of Christ All this while Fox was not Remembred or talk'd of except amongst those of his own Profession and Society for he had been detain'd Captive for three successive years together one half of that time in Lancashire and the other half in Yorkshire he was first Imprison'd for his frequent Conventicles and also for refusing his Oath of fidelity so oft as it was requir'd of him During the whole course of his Captivity the Judges order'd and decreed many injurious and rough sentences against him The chiefest of his fellow Prisoners was Margaret Fell whom he afterwards made consort of his marriage-bed both of them were mutually assistant to each other in all duties of Religion affording one another such help and comfort as people so intimately conjoyn'd both in Friendship and Religion generally expect from one another But after this he was shut up in a Dungeon full of filth and nastiness and standing stagnating water where he underwent much misery being forc'd sometimes to pass the night without having whereupon to sup upon which he was taken very ill and was now but slowly recovering his former strength I have already told what havock that merciless plague had made both in London and the Neighbouring Countries But upon the back of this evil there succeeded another in the ensuing year sixty six viz. That terrible fire which did not indeed reach the whole Country but burn'd and wasted almost all that noble and populous City of London so that to this day all England has not been able to forget it nor shall succeeding ages ever obliterate such a dismal● account of their Remembrance Having given you an account of the many hard and miserable conditions of these Men I shall now adorn this treatise with some pleasing variety to divert and refresh the mind of my Reader perhaps now wearied with reading It will not be amiss therefore to take a view of what the Quakers wrote for these four years by way of Prophecy and Prediction concerning the future State of the Kingdom and both these memorable afflictions of the City of London for such kind of Histories do much delight and charm the ears of Men I shall only select those that are most memorable and worth observation The predictions of Men do generally run upon some great and wonderful revolutions and changes tho they seldom come to light till the event be past These people were so certainly persuaded that some of their faction had so distinctly and clearly foretold the future scenes of affairs and both these Calamities of London that whoever misbeliev'd 'em was concluded by them to have shaken off all manner of faith and belief A certain Quaker call'd Serles a Weaver in the year one thousand six hundred and sixty two saw these words wrote in legible Characters upon the Circumference of a Kettle hanging over the fire Wo to England for poysoning of Charles the 2d Cardinal I understand Moloch Twenty Nations with him Englands misery cometh The Man being affraid at the sight calls the Neighbours to come and see it who coming were ravish'd with admiration to behold that wonder which they could not guess from whence it came The writing appear'd legible for a whole hour together and then evanish'd on its own accord Many of the people and those of considerable note who were not Quakers attested the verity of this wonder I my self have seen and read both the story and the same very words mark'd by John Coughen whom I formerly mention'd in his Note-book that same year which book was kept in the Closet of a certain great Man in this Country from that year till two years after King Charles's Death all which time it was kept secret from any other body so that no doubt is to be made of the Authentickness of that Annotation But what the Quakers would have meant by these words or that sight and how they Accommodated it to the manner of K. Charles's Death and to the changes of Religion and Miseries to come after many years and how the future event of things happening about the King Charles's Death that were told reported known and seen through all England did agree with these words is not needful to be determin'd in this place The Quakers affirm'd that one of their Captives at London did clearly foretell the pestilence that was to overtake that City saying that in a short time the streets which then were replenish'd with Men and resorted to by many should be seen cover'd with grass and wanting Men to tread upon● them But I shall not extend this presage any further lest I seem to recede from the design'd order and brevity of this treatise This they relate of the fire of London that there was a Quaker at Hereford who before the burning of

in all the Holy Writings that escap'd his Knowledge or Remembrance I have heard some of his Friends say and those not of the Vulgar size but Men of Learning and Knowledge that though the Bible were lost it might be found in the Mouth of George Fox Hence it was that as every one's Perfection and Talent discovers it self in their Discourses and Writings so all the Discourses he ever had to his People and all the Writings left on Record behind him were nothing but a train of several Texts of Scripture sewed and patch'd together Now after he had thus spent so much of his time in studying the Scripture Meditating on Religious Things and seriously weighing the condition and state of his own Soul he could not contain himself within the Bounds of his Trade and Station but began to aspire after higher things and transgressing the limits of his Sphere would needs attempt some nobler Enterprize that might be Serviceable both to himself and others And accordingly not contenting himself with the private use of what he had acquir'd he took occasion oft-times to Discourse of these Matters to his Fellow-Tradesmen and Acquaintance exhorting and admonishing them to be much taken up with these Concerns And in these his frequent Exhortations he was so officious and importunate that he would never give over till at length it came to such a height that neither they would any longer give ear to his severe Discourses nor could he any longer bear with the Contradictions Reproaches and Affronts he met with on that account Which obliged him then to withdraw himself from all manner of Society either Working alone in some hidden corner of his Shop or because even then there was frequently some curious Fellows coming to hear of him what he had to say who since his severe Discourses could never please them were still creating more trouble when he had done with Working he presently forsook the Shop getting up into some Garret or other where being remov'd from all manner of Company he might both be free from the Molestations of others and give Offence to none It happened in the Year of our Lord 1643. that this George Fox being then in the Nineteenth Year of his Age was walking alone in the Fields profoundly Meditating upon the Nature Mind Manners Institutions and Discipline of Mankind of their Societies and Converse one with another but especially bending his thoughts upon the condition and state of Young People considering what Duties were required at their hands what Diligence Care and Circumspection was necessary in one and all of them for leading Lives while here worthy of the Gospel and becoming Men and for obtaining an Everlasting blessed Life when this is come to its Period All which things he seriously and frequently ponder'd in his solitary Breast fervently applying himself to the Throne of Grace that it might please the Almighty God to Teach and Instruct him a Young Man in this state of Humane Affairs furnishing him with the knowledge of his Duty and ability to perform the same upon which there came a Voice from Heaven dictating unto his Spirit that All Mankind was only and altogether Vanity that Children and Young People grew up in Lyes and Vanities as they did in Years those of middle Age advanced still more and more in the same manner of Vices so that when arriv'd at Old Age they were harden'd and confirm'd in the Customary Practice of the same and when they come to be stricken in Years and their Blood and Spirits to fade they lose all Knowledge and Sense becoming again meer Children having extinguish'd that light of their Minds which should then be shining most brightly and giving themselves up to nothing but Doteries and Childish Trifles Death creeping upon them insensibly which Cites all before the Vniversal Judge and Lord of all things Therefore it was his Duty and Interest as being a Young Man to separate himself from that polluted Multitude keeping no Commerce with them but sequestrating himself to a solitary Life far remov'd from all manner of evil This Divine Response did he many times report to his fellows Whether it was really a Voice from Heaven or only the Reasoning of his own Breast I do not say only this is to be remark'd that both this Fox and his first Followers did at their first appearance and for a long time after account all the Motions of their Spirit or Inclinations to Good which they found in themselves upon serious Meditation or upon any new Occasion to be the effect of the Holy Spirit of God working the same within them and whenever they were sensible of this Commotion within them they used to say that a Voice was sent down from God by his Spirit unto them uttering such and such Discourse and to this purpose they usher'd in all their Discourses to the People with a Thus saith the Lord and his Spirit by his own mouth this was that they might seem more nighly to resemble the Holy Prophets and Apostles that were inspired from above by the Divine Spirit and sent by it But of late they abstain from such high-flown Pretences calling what thus comes upon them the Impulse and Motion of their Minds Fox used to tell how that Heavenly Oracle did so effectually recommend it self to his Youthful Spirit that presently he betook himself home not being able to express what he had heard Nay the Image of this Voice was always so before his Eyes not only all that day but all the succeeding Night that he could not go to bed And from that time he obey'd this Heavenly Admonition And though he had always been diligent in Reading and Meditating on the Holy Scriptures and had frequently set times apart for Fasting and Praying unto God yet then being engaged in so difficult and important a Design in complyance to the Divine Will he went about the same Christian Duties with more Application Fervour and Frequency Especially having by Experience learned that there was no means more effectual than these for taming Man's vicious Nature and suppressing his unruly Appetites so enclinable to Humane though hurtful Society and the Corruptions of a polluted World And though before this he had abstain'd sufficiently from Converse with Men yet from that time forth he was more strict in shunning all manner of Humane Conversation being only intent upon the Exercise of his Trade as much as was necessary for purchasing a Livelihood and spending all the rest of his time in Holy and Religious Exercises Nor did he only shun the Company of or meeting with those he knew or suspected to be given up to the Vanities and Lusts of this World but even those that made large shews of Religion and Vertue For he did not deny that there were many who seemed to be very Religious and Devout pretending the Scripture or Word of God for the Rule and Ground both of Faith and Manners but this he complain'd heavily of that there was so many

thought it to be their Prudence to provide in that manner least their Mariners who are so serviceable to their Countries but a ruffling sort of Men and prone to all impetuous and saucy Actions should offer any violence to the Churches and Porches of the Turks and demean themselves insolently upon that account and that so from that foreign Evil another worse Evil arise and befall the whole Nation therefore that they might bring this young Man into the utmost peril of his Life they by their cunning Machinations order the matter so as that he entred into one of their Mosques or Churches There the Turks seize him and having got an Interpreter which sort of Men who are of the Greek Nation is never wanting they threaten him that unless he would change his Religion and forsake his Christianity and embrace the Mahometan Way they would burn him alive upon Camels Dung He chooses to Die they prepare for it but a Turkish Officer comes up to them with great speed who had found out by what Methods Cunning and Craft they had trappan'd the young Man and crys to them that they should be quiet stop and see what they did he shews them the whole matter and so frees the young Man who was ready to Die and almost Breathless from the very Jaws of Death and after that brought him to his own House cherished and succoured him and does as it were hug and adore for some time as 't is the manner of the Turks to love venerate and esteem such worthy of eternal Monuments for undergoing such a Death as to be Martyrs for their Religion and at last commanded those Papists and bald Monks who had not an Hair of Humanity to conduct this young Man but one who was endued with a manly Nature and Fortitude into a place of Safety unless they were minded to incur the like danger or some other vindictive displeasure for the same These manly Examples were imitated by some of the Female Sex both Wives and Virgins not out of a Womanly precipitancy and boldness but upon a determinate Advice taking good resolution of Mind and raising up the Fortitude of their Bodies contemning the danger of their lives changing as it were their Sex or being transmuted from Women to Men which says Pliny's credit in reference to a Transmutation of this Kind of which sort L. Mutianu's shewed a Boy at Smyrna which he had seen For so did they steer their Course towards those same Places and studied to obtain the same Glory and Praise for the Preaching and Propagating of their Religion Of these Women the first two were Catherine Evans and Sarah Chevench who in the year 61 went by Sea from London to Italy to the intent they might get a Ship to go from thence to Scanderoo● and so on to Judeae which VVomen while that the Ship as they sailed touched upon Malta went out of the Ship and drew near the Island There they forthwith deliver their Pamphlets to such as they met with and in the mean time beholding and abhorring so many Signs of an Idolatrous People seeing they could not by their Tongue and Language express the Sence they had of it to these men for they use partly the Italian partly the Turkish and partly a mixt and medley Speech as having been Conquered and the place inhabited by both People several times they did it to them by Signs and Nods and other Gestures being afterwards brought to the Inquisitors and having an Interpreter assigned them they refuse to do what the Papists would have them Dispute against them and at last reject and so despise their their Worship Adoration and Religion that the Malteses seized upon these chattering Women and threw them into Prison and there kept them about two years and then at last thrust them out of their Island There were two other Maidens who were also English Women one of which was afterward Married to a Citizen and eminent Merchant of Amsterdam for there is no need of naming her or her Companion that even as these Women had done did with the same design go by Sea as far as Scanderoon but being there not permitted to go any further by the English Consul they did at length with much Grief and Sorrow return to their own Country I shall add another Example of the strange and ardent Resolution of Women which is almost too great and therefore the less Credible and therefore every one may make Judgment thereof as he pleases but it 's such as that the Quakers who have received it and delivered the same unto me do so attest that for all they have no other Testimony of the Truth of the thing no manner of witness none conscious or judge of the same besides the Woman her self they say they doubt so little thereof as if the thing had been done in their Sight She was an English Maiden her name Mary Fisher who would not be at rest before she went in Person to the great Emperor of the Turks and inform'd him concerning the Errors of his Religion and the Truth of hers It was the same Emperor who in my time and long after governed that Empire called by the name of Mahomet Han the 4th of the Name a Monster of a Man a Deformed sight both in Body and Mind as if one strove with the other how to offend of a black Complexion with a flat broad Nose and Mouth stupid logger-headed cruel fierce as to his Aspect and besides other marks upon his Body had a Scar beneath his Eye-lid on the upper part of his Cheek which came from a wound and cruel Cut given him by his Brother's Guards and Followers a Testimony of his Boisterous and Cruel Disposition because that upon his Brother's Accession to that Throne he attempted to take him off and cut off his Head with his own hands Tho others have given a diffent Relation of this matter to wit that this Mahomet's Father because he had understood by signs and Prophesies that the Son should expel the Father from the Throne had endeavoured to cut off this his Son and that in the mean time while the Son was kept from falling into the hands of his Father in this manner he gave him this mark of the mischief he designed for him This passage has been interlac'd here not that there is any great connexion between the matter in hand and it but for curiosity's sake upon the account of them who are desirous of Novelties and that this Maiden might come to the sight of this Man speak with him and put him in mind of the Justice of her cause she goes on board an English Ship and Sails for Smyrna but when the English Consul at Smyrna came to know her design he advises the young Woman by all means to forbear but she persists in her Resolution so the Consul not enduring that she should expose her self to so many and such great hazards and rash undertakings and being not able to divert