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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

on the other hand pay'd the greatest respect and reverence to them imaginable who was thus become the disgrace of his family for ever and the reproach of all his kindred and express'd his violent and severe resentment both in words and deeds and when after all he saw it impossible to reclaim him he discharg'd him his house threatning to disinherit him Unto this his fathers anger were added the reproaches revilings and enmity of his fathers Domesticks and his ancient Companions both at Court and else where with whom he was Educated and had Convers'd much before and also of the Ecclesiasticks who formerly render'd him all manner of Love and Friendship Unto all which disadvantages Penn oppos'd this one remedy the integrity of his Life as opposite to the ill reports that were scattered abroad of him and the constancy of his mind and body to counterballance that weight of afflictions that surrounded him And by these two properties he brought his affairs to that pass that his father not only receiv'd him into favour again and became as fond of and kind to him as ever he had been disgusted at him comforting and refreshing his afflicted and humbled Son but also in his Will left him heir of all his Riches and Enjoyments encouraging and commending his singular piety and fortitude of mind exhorting him to persist in the same Moreover when the father observ'd what heaps of envy and hatred his Son had drawn upon himself what evils were yet impending upon him and what difficulties he might come to grapple with he when lying upon a bed of sickness and looking for certain death sent to the Duke of York High Admiral who as Penn was by place next to him was in dignity next to the King himself and if he surviv'd his brother would undoubtedly succeed him since destitute of a lawful off-spring he sends I say some of his Friends to this Duke to desire of him in his Name that he would recommend his Son to his brother the King and that he himself would preserve and defend him who had already suffer'd so much from what persecutions and oppressions might attend him and unto which both he and all the train of his Associates were so subject to Which both the Duke and his Royal Brother the King granted him because of his great merits towards his Country tho they could not so defend his Son always as to prevent his Imprisonment at sometimes But it is not here to be omitted that Penn the father lying upon his Death-bed and when drawing near to his last exit which he certainly knew to approach took leave of his Son in these his last words My Son remember to serve God the Omnipotent King so constantly and to prefer the same to the service of Earthly Kings and all things besides Which if ye do and if you and your Friends persevere in your simple and innocent way of preaching and living verily ye shall make an end of all the preachers to the end of the World Which words of the dying old Man do not obscurely insinuate what his opinion was of these Men and how great affection he had for their sect Now as to what was the Wit and Spirit of William Penn the son from his youth what promptness and dexterity of discoursing attended the acuteness of his wit what knowledge of Tongues such as are usual among the Learned and of things what Temper and Conversation of life he was of I had rather the Quakers or any body else should give you an account than I. For I know well how difficult and troublesome it is for any Man to interpose his Judgment of a matter in which the Judgments of other Men are so various But certainly tho my pen were silent of him his own Writings will speak him forth to be the most eminent member of all that Society for while in his Writings he studies to Accommodate all to the capacity and understanding of the Vulgar yet the variety and abundance of things therein contain'd his language and style especially the gravity of words and sentences which when he writes of Theological subjects are connected and intermix'd with whole chains of quotations from the Holy Scriptures do so evidently testify of him that unless one be malitiously envious of the vertue and praise of another he must acknowledge that he is an eloquent and well spoken Author The Quakers fed themselves with so great hopes of him that presently they allow'd him to do the part of a teacher among them and their esteem of him was so great that they did not doubt to call him the perfectest of them all Nor is there any among them who do's not acknowledge that there was always an exact consension and agreement betwixt him and all the rest of the Quakers about all the Articles of their Religion This was singular in him that he always esteem'd more slightly of these things which pertain to the knowledge and speculation of sacred and divine matters and chiefly oppos'd himself to the forcing and constraining Mens Consciences to any Religion or persecuting them upon a religious account than which indeed there can be no greater cruelty and oppression us'd pleading for a toleration and liberty to all Religions so that he would not only have the Quakers tolerated the exercise of their Religion but likewise all Men at least that are accounted Christians to be admitted to places of Authority and trust in the Government not excepting the Socinians with their wanton little tricks nay nor the Papists a people so inveterate against that his Religion and all other Religions different from their own so bloody cruel and thirsty of Christian blood that when they have exerted their utmost and cruellest efforts are yet never satiated And Penn was so sensible of the ill demerits of these Men and so well acquainted with their temper that he us'd to say That the Quakers had reason to fear none so much as the Socinians and Papists who would be last of all in the field against them tho they had vanquish'd all other Religions It seems Penn had a design to shew himself an Abettor of all Religions whatsoever or to encourage that opinion of him which then possess'd every Mans mind that he was deceitful and in his heart a Socinian or as others believ'd that he was a Papist and not only so but a Jesuit The Quakers did not agree with Penn about these Libertine Principles His notions of the Christian faith was that in order to the maintaining of that there was no more necessary than in general to believe the Scriptures and love them as the word of God and believe all the fundamental Articles contain'd in the same By these fundamental Articles a term much in use among Divines he understood such propositions as are expresly and in explicite terms deliver'd in the Scriptures or so evidently attested by them that all Men who are honest and sincere-minded cannot but discern and comprehend the meaning of

his much esteemed John Calvin in his Writings hath called the Papists filthy Dogs and yet many of them were in an eminent degree of the Magistracy But I speak not this to justifie my self or any other when by human Infirmity we may be carried with too great heat of Mind in reproving the Errors and Faults of others But it was most loathsome Hypocrisie in my Adversaries to blame my heat with so great a noise and to make nothing of their own Iniquity and Impiety yea Blasphemy against both God and Christ and who in the heat of Mind and in hard Words did far exceed me P. 440. So that to them to wit the People called Quakers all are Christians to wit Jews Mahometans Painims in whom any good Seed of Religion appeareth and which they say is from Christ yea is Christ himself The Annot. He may well indeed affirm this of many of them and especially of George Whitehead who earnestly contendeth in that late Book called The Christian Doctrine c. cited by the Author Pag 467. that these Heathens or Gentiles who are obedient to the Light within who are without all Knowledg and Faith of Christ without are Christians wherein I have much differed from them and do at present differ For although I contend with all good Christians That Christ as he is that essential Word is in all Men yet it doth not suffice to our Eternal Salvation to know only and believe that Christ is the Word but that we both know him and believe in him as he took Flesh Died for our Sins and Rose again c. and how in that respect he is our Saviour as he is the intire Christ God-Man P. 452. Neither could this whole Deified Senate reconcile these two men The Annot. Whither the Author calleth that Senate Deified by way of scorn or otherwise I do not determine But if by the word Entheatus he meaneth Deified or Godded as to say made God or equal to God certainly some of the Quakers have so affirmed that who have the Spirit of God are equal to God but I never had any such madness nor have P. 474. Pen and Whitehead could so little rule their Minds and Tongues and Keith also could so little contain himself c. The Annot. I was indeed pressed with such grief of Soul and warmed with such heat of Mind against their Injustice and Hypocrisie that I confess I could not contain but sharply reprove their Faults and however I might have exceeded with respect to the inward frame of my mind yet I said nothing that was false when on the other side they did cast out many false and unjust things against me And William Penn in that very Meeting did justifie his false Accusation against me when in the publick Meeting at Ratcliff he called me Apostate saying He did it not in any Passion but he was so transported out of himself by the glorious Power of God that he did not at all know whether he was Standing Sitting or Kneeling which many who heard him so falsely accuse me knew well enough was a most shameful Falshood Pag. 113. For neither is the Scripture to them viz. the Quakers as we understand that word the perpetual and absolutely necessary Mean and the only and intire Form and Rule of Faith and Manners The Annot. I deny not but that it is true what this Author saith of the most and especially of many Ministers and Preachers among them But as to me when I was enough in favour with that People and to use their Phrase when I was in Unity with the Body of Friends I did affirm both by Word and Writ that the Holy Scripture to wit not the bare Letter but the Doctrine of the Scripture whether delivered by Voice or VVriting in God's ordinary way was the perpetual and necessary Mean and continueth so to be of our obtaining the Faith of Christ Crucified the Holy Spirit working together with the Doctrine in Men's Hearts which doth plainly appear out of my Answer to W. Bayer Professor of Theology at Jeninge in Germany first published in Latin and sent to him and then in English for Robert Barclay which Answer I suppose this Author has read for he maketh mention of it in this his History and doth relate the general Contents of it fairly enough And let the Author read again if he pleaseth that Answer or let any other read it and they will find especially if they read the Chap. 5th and 3d if they well weigh what I there delivered in that matter that either the difference is none or but small betwixt my Faith and the Faith of the more sound Protestants any where in that particular P. 114. Hence that God hath given to all men a new Birth c. The Annot. The Author I judge doth not well ascribe this to the People called Quakers viz. That God hath given to all Men a new Birth But this they say That God hath given to every Man an inward Light or a certain Seed of the New Birth which yet in many Men cometh not to a New Birth And although in this I aggree with them That God hath given to every Man an inward Light as a certain Seed yet in this I greatly differ from many of them that many yea the most or rather indeed almost all the Ministers among them very few excepted do affirm that this inward Light is sufficient to bring forth the New Birth and to give Eternal Salvation without any thing without us that is without the Man-Christ that was outwardly Born and Crucified and Rose again whom some of their Ministers in my hearing have called an outside thing a shell a husk that doth little or nothing profit us and the Faith of which doth nothing profit us And William Penn in that Meeting at Ratcliff where he falsely called me an Apostate did publickly proclaim after this manner Friends said he see no great need of Preaching the Faith of Christs Death and Suffenings for all England and all Christendom have that Faith and it doth not profit them But the Faith which profitteth Men is the Faith of Christ within and this Friends Preach Let now the Author judge or any other intelligent Person professing Christianity whither William Penn hath not sufficiently by these words proved himself an Apostate from the Christian Faith And mark the necessary consequence of these words All England and all Christendom have the Faith of Christ's Death and Suffering and it doth not profit them therefore there is no necessity of Preaching it but it were best that that Faith were wholly forgot and buried in Oblivion Is not this manner of Preaching enough not only to prove him that so Preacheth an Apostate but that it is the way with open face to bring in Anti-Christianism into the VVorld But although it must be granted that too many in Christendom have no other but a dead and hypocritical Faith concerning Christ and his Death and Sufferings for which