answers yes Then said she What is the meaning that the King is bare it 's not the fashion of the Kings of England Upon this the King puts on his Hat so the Woman run over briefly what she had before written in the Letter in the King's Presence to whom the King with a Kingly Gravity and Brevity replyed But Woman I desire Peace and seek Peace and would have Peace and tell the Prince of Orange so So in envy and spight do they in France call William King of great Brittain to this very time wherein now for fear they begin to acknowledg and own his Regal Majesty in their pompous words and names this K. I say a K. so constituted according to all Divine and Human Laws that if any one would decipher a Lawful and Just K. he can do it no better than by defining of it under the name of this when as at the same time that name of Prince of Orange has been throughout this Age and before throughout the World as Glorions and Venerable as that of King and as much feared by Enemies At these words the K. went his ways and so did the Woman likewise and having got Passes from the King goes to Holland and from thence returns for England having with all her endeavours effected nothing and so far is the Woman's Account of her self whom the Quakers think ought not to be mistrusted herein because related by her self of whose Sinceriry and Honesty they make no manner of of doubt but others think it a thing more to be heeded because the Woman did shew the Letters delivered to her before the one signed by the Queen's Secretary and the other by the King's Command and with his own Hand Strange are the things which these Men relate and some Write concerning the Travels of Samuel Fisher John Stubbs John Perrot and John Love Ministers of their Church into Italy and from thence to Ionia the Lesser Asia and Smyrna as also of others and of some Womens Journeys into those remote parts as I know not through what difficult places and what great pains they took for the propagation of their Religion and how many Expeditions they went upon as if they would view and enlighten throughly all those Countries and Nations I shall only persue these Men's Relations as they refer to that same expedition of mine formerly from Italy into Ionia and what is worth Remembrance shall be taken notice of briefly and so calling to remembrance my former Journey and that same City I mean Smyrna I lived for some time in my younger days and was Minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord for so pleasant and delightful are our past Labours and the most pleasant thing most unpleasant if we may not some times speak of it or at least remember it Those four Men which we have already named arrived in Italy by Sea and came ashore at the Port of Leghorne as 't is now called but formerly Portus Herculeus c. There they delivered some of their Pamphlets to the Governor who delivered the same to the Inquisitors and Censors of Matters that appertain to Religion who when they found nothing in them that belonged to the Popish Religion and that they had done nothing for which by right they ought to be dissatisfied with them they dismiss them They go forwards and get to Venice and there offer their Pamphlets to the Doge who holds the Chief Dignity in thâ— Republick and from thence without stop go to Rome the compendium of the whole Papacy and there see slightly and hastily the vast heap and mass of so many things that are to be seen in that place and having viewed them leave them as an evil Omen and return without any delay to Venice from whence they came Then Perrote and Love take Shipping at this place and go for Smirna touching all the way no Land no Port nor so much as any Shore where when they were arrived because they had an intention to go for Constantinople when the English Consul came to hear of it and had wisely considered the Life and rough Demeanours of those Men who knew not how to forbear and to serve the times and so fearing least they should act somewhat rashly towards the Emperor that might tend not only to their own Inconveniency but to the Disadvantage of the English Nation he sends them against their Wills back again into Italy And so when they arrived there they returned to Rome while they were at Rome Love and Perrote being Men not able to hide their Disposition and moderate the same for some time and in the place they were and to the Men they came amongst and not willing to dissemble and form Lies when by this their Carriage they came to be known what they were and what their Design was they are by the Inquisitors thrown into Prison Love died under his Confinement as some Monks declared by Starving himself to Death but as afterwards some of the Nuns reported so hard a thing it is to keep a secret most difficult when once blabbed out to suppress for the more 't is concealed the more it 's discovered he was Murdered in the night Perrote continued some time in Prison and was afterwards set at liberty About the occasion of which Enlargement there was at first various Opinions but afterwards there was no vain Suspicion that he being shut up in this place chose rather to go backward than forward in his Work seeing that after his return into England he forsook the Quakers and set himself directly against them drawing others also off along with him and engaging of them to embrace his new Opinions and Precepts The other two being struck with fear fled away And here I shall subjoin the Example of a London Youth one George Robinson by name He when he had sailed from England in a Merchant Ship to the end of the Mediterranean and arrived at Scanderoon and from thence as 't is the way of many that Travel those parts as being a shorter and easier way continued his Journey towards the place which they call Jerusalem with a design to see if he could behold or effect any thing there that might be advantageous to his Religion Here he many ways discovered himself to be a Quaker the which when it came to the Monks and Popish Priests Ears they in their Monastery which is as it were the Store-House and Treasury of all manner of Villany take Counsel together whereby to bring him to such a danger from which there should be no escape and so put this villanous trick upon him There was such a Law among the Turks formerly tho' not many years past made That if any Christian enter into any of their Churches he is put to Death unless he redeem his Life with the change of his Religion which Law was made not by the invention of the Turks themselves but by the instinct of Ambassadors and European Consuls on those Coasts who
perhaps destruction The same year did William Cotton go to Calaiâ— a City on the Sea-coast of France six miles distant from Dunkirk with the same design as the other two had before-mentioned but not so skilful in the Language of the Country where entring into the great Church and viewing all things frowningly but holding his Peace he said at last that he was a sort of a new Guest and when after some time he was known to be an English-man he was led to the House of a certain Noble Scotch-man and being asked what he was he did not deny but that he was so and so There when the foresaid Scotch-man made himself to be his Interpreter to the People Cotten speaks a few words concerning the Idolatry and Corrupt Manners of the People which when he had done and that they contrived to do him an Injury he no sooner came to hear of it but bethinking himself he ought to take heed and to reserve his life for another necessity of dying as his Friends before had done he suddenly and without any manner of delay that he might disappoint the Consultations and Contrivances of his Enemies flies and makes the best of his way back again into England George Ball was the only person that penetrared into France and so that he never returned thence again and so it 's uncertain and unknown what he did or what became of him The Quakers think he perished somewhere in Prison None other after thesemen went on this design into France St. Crisp tryed this Experiment in that horrid and more than barbarous Persecution of the whole Reformed Churches in that Kingdom and in the dispersion of so many Thousands of men through other Reformed Countries of which we have not yet seen an end that he wrote a book and took care to send and deliver it to those men to try whether he could aâ—â—ect some of them so as to entertain a good Opinion of the Quakers Religion and joyn themselves to their Sect. It 's not to be doubted but that Book had its first beginning from Crisp but because it was written in French as it was to the French and that Crisp was ignorant of that Language or not well skilled therein itâ—s certain it was Translated and believed to have been much increased and published bâ— another hand And it 's no crime to think seeing the Style is so like unto that way of wâ—iâ—ing used by Peâ—n who is still the choicest Writer amongst the Quakers that he was that same Artificer It contains in it nothing concerning Religion It only puts those French in mind to consider with themselves wherefore God suffered such Calamities to befal them whether they were not the Consequent of their Soft and Depraved Education and Love to Earthly things and blind Obedience towards those to whose care they commited the Direction of their Consciences then that they should weigh what Good what Progress in Sanctity of Life those Calamities wrought in them which they endured with so much Lamentation Lastly That not contenting themselves with that Reformation which hitherto was instituted amongst them they should go on and do their endeavour to Finish and Consummate this begun Work But the Book was writ both in Respect to the Sentences Phrases and words very different from the English Mode and not only from that of the Quakers and to Conform to the Method and way of Writing in the French Tongue at this day when that Language is Arrived to its highest Maturity that there could be nothing in my Judgment writ more neatly and more congruous to the Genius and Temper of those People This Book the Quakers distributed gratis every where through the Countries where those French Refugees had Fled and in some places as the People were coming out of their Churches But there was not one found that we have heard of or came to understand that was induced by this Book to fall in with the Quakers Hester Bidley relates this Passage to have happened to her self a little before this time which every one is at liberty to believe as he pleases She went to the late Q. of England of happy memory and complains to her That it was very great grief of Heart to her as she was a Woman and a Christian that so great and tedious a War was waged between Christians and such great Calamities and Slaughters of Men which happened every day pierced her Heart and therefore she Exhorted the Queen to endeavour at least to bend her study this way for to end this War that Peace may be made and so gain great respect and affection from all The Queen who was of a most free and good Temper having given her her Answer she further desires That the Queen would grant her leave to go over into France saying she would advise and speak to the French King about the same affair and would have a Letter from the Queen to the same effect This the Queen refused and diswades her from the said enterprise urging that such a Journey and Business would be very difficult and dangerous yet for all this the woman through her importunity and earnest sollicitation got a pass from the said Queen's Secretary and seeing that a short space of time is tedious to a longing person she forthwith sets out and after various traverses comes into France and goes to Versailles and there coming to know that the late King of England was there she at first applies her self unto him as to one to whom he had been some years before known upon the like occasion and delivers unto him the Letter written by her to the French King the substance whereof was this That she being stirred by God the Supreme King of all that Illuminates this World pray'd the King to make his Peace with God and with the Nations he was at War with and put a stop to such an over-flowing and Rivulet of Blood that was shed King James having seen the Epistle sends the Woman to the Duke of Orleance to whom when she had come she delivered the Letter and said withal that she must speak with the King the Duke agrees to deliver the Letter but said she must not speak with the King whereupon the Woman full of Grief and Lamentation and with shedding many Tears did at last break forth into these words Am I permitted to speak with the King of Kings anâ— may not I speak with Man Should I tell this to our People in England they would believe what they are all of them already perswaded of that the King of France is so high and proud that none can speak with him Which passage when the King came to understand he in about three days after grants her liberty to come to his Presence the Room was full of Princes and Princesses Prelates and great Men the King Enters the same and having seen the Woman speaks to her with his Hat under his Arm whereupon she asked whether he was the King the King
the certain ruine of his Soul and to the latter a risk of losing his Life but my Fighting is to abstain from all these Quarrels Wars and Arms nay not only to abstain from them but to conquer and subjugate those Passions and Lusts from whence they arise I am a Soldier waging War and fighting but so as to provide for the Peace and Safety of my self of you and all Men both here in this Humane Society and also with God Which Practice would to God both ye and all the World would study to imitate Wherefore I desire of you that ye give me no more trouble of this Nature and that ye be aware of running your selves into a worse condition than ye are in already lest by indulging your selves this liberty of sinning against God the Emperor of the World his wrath be kindled against you and when the time for Vengeance shall come and the Door of Mercy shut up ye perish for ever This Discourse was so far from putting a stop to the fury of his Adversaries that it spurr'd on their fierceness and cruelty the more which they express'd not in Imprisoning him as before but in casting him into a nasty stinking Dungeon digged under Ground where Thieves and Malefactors were kept But after other six Months he got out from thence also And this Affliction did not in the least scare him from prosecuting his Design but he still became bolder and brisker Propagating his Doctrine not only in the Counties of Nottingham Darby and Leicester which were the Theatre and Stage where this great Engine did first appear but through all York-shire Lancaster and the vast Tract of Lands called Westmorland in all which places he unweariedly preached his Doctrine and Discipline being followed by vast numbers of the People This is certain that none of all the Quakers ever preached or discoursed so often and unto so many different Hearers as George Fox and he himself never made so many Discourses as in these places and at this time But because he could not be present every where to speak Face to Face he now began to write Letters to several Societies and likewise to particular Men Instructing and Admonishing them in what he imagined most necessary to be known and practised And to this day are to be seen in many peoples hands whole bundles of Letters wrote by him to the same Persons Though he did not express any great strength of Discourse or Reasoning in these his Letters for that he both wrote such Characters as were not easie to be read and also in so rude and simple a Style sometimes most difficult and intricate that it is a wonder any Man so much exercised in speaking and discoursing should have been the Author of them The first Letter he wrote was in the Year Fifty to his Friends which I shall here insert It was wrote Originally in English and is translated from the Original into Latin which done from the Latin into English again for the Original is not in our hands runs thus The Lord is King over all the Earth wherefore all ye Nations praise and magnifie your King in true Obedience purity of Holiness and Sincerity O! consider in true Obedience how ye should know the Lord with Vnderstanding mark and consider in silence in submission of Mind and ye shall hear the Lord speaking to you in your Minds His Voice is sweet and pleasant His Sheep hear his voice and will give ear to no other And when they hear his voice they rejoyce and obey and also sing for joy O! their hearts are filled with Eternal Triumphs They sing forth and praise the Eternal God in Zion Their Joy shall none take from them Glory be to the Lord for ever G. F. In this same Fiftieth Year Elizabeth Hooton born and living in Nottingham a Woman pretty far advanced in Years was the first of her Sex among the Quakers who attempted to imitate Men and Preach which she now in this Year commenced After her Example many of her Sex had the confidence to undertake the same Office This Woman afterwards went with George Fox into new-New-England where she wholly devoted her self to this Work and after having suffered many Affronts from that People went into Jamaica and there finished her Life But I return again to Fox While he thus continued so forward and zealous for Preaching his Doctrines his condition was very various strange Events and Accidents falling out of which I think it convenient to give you a short Account It happened in Yorkshire in a Town towards the East Part of it called Beverlar that he went into the Church being mightily mov'd in Spirit where he first kept himself silent till the Minister had finish'd his Sermon then before all the People he thunder'd out his extemporary and reviling Harangues and presently convey'd himself away thus he escaped safe and unpunish'd Some few days after that at Crantsick as the Minister had just read the Text of his ensuing Discourse being a Man of considerable Worth and Fame he fell upon him with a Discourse the only purport of which was to express his contempt of the Dignity Order and Religion of this worthy Divine Which Action might have brought him into extream danger for every body almost accounted it a signal of so great Impudence and Insolence that they thought no Vengeance too great nor no Resentment too high for so villainous and injurious a Crime yet he escap'd unpunish'd But I come to give you a larger Account of a certain Sermon of his Being in Leicester his Native Country he had occasion to Travel in that Country with some of his Friends He spyes from afar a certain Town not knowing which it was but having asked of his Friends comes to understand that it was Lichfield Thither he presently resolves to go and pronounce Curses against all the Citizens high or low or of whatever degree for they were all equally unknown to him While I call to remembrance the Ancient Annals of the British Affairs it comes into my Mind that at this very Town in the time of Dioclesian the Emperour there was a great many Christian Martyrs miserably afflicted and tortured with all manner of exquisite Torments And then in the Reign of Henry the Sixth King of England there was a Battel fought betwixt the King and the Earl of Salisbury near to this place in which great numbers of Men were slain on both sides and the King's Army almost totally routed So that on both these occasions this Ground was covered with the Blood of so many Men. And besides in Fox's own time while that Fatal Civil War was raging in England betwixt the King and the People in the same Fields and this very same Town there was a great deal of Humane Blood shed all which Fox was not ignorant of Thither I say did he presently direct his course and because he did not know the right Road for he had now parted from his Friends being impatient
Freedom unless they would comply with the wills and terms of such as were in Authority over them and would agree to pay Money for to be suffered to depart Of which Number there was not one to be found that would do so though the King being not long after asked and urged by some That he should not suffer any such thing which did so much wrong to his Subjects when there did appear no such Fact no not so much as an Attempt or Endeavour in them to do that for which these Men were so much accused and whereby so much infamy was cast upon them but that he should by reason of his Royal Word given them use them kindly he did at length Answer That he would be Gracious and Merciful to the Quakers provided they did nothing that was against the King's Honour and Safety and did again give his Royal Word for it It 's indeed manifest that Richard Hubberthorn one of the chief Quakers was at this time admitted to talk with the King in the presence of some Noblemen in which Conference when the King with some of his Courtiers asked Hubberthorn several close Questions concerning the Doctrine and Religion of the Quakers and that he made Answer to every thing that was asked the King and those same Persons that had Interrogated him said ever and anon It is so indeed as thou sayest and turning themselves about or to one another they said He offers nothing but the Truth And when the King proceeded to speak among other things he used these words to Hubberthorn I do assure thee that none of you shall suffer any thing for your Opinions and Religion provided ye live Peaceably you have the Word and Promise of a King for it and I will take care by a Proclamation to prevent any further Prosecution of you But seeing there were some Men who put an ill Construction upon this Conference Hubberthorn himself did in a little while after publish it in Print and did therein explain the whole Matter to all But how the King did afterward perform these many Promises in many of his Actions the Event will soon shew Neither must we pass over in this place that upbraiding Letter that was written and sent to the King by a Quaker then lying in Prison George Fox was this Quaker not he that was the first beginner and Founder of the Society of the Quakers who was indeed no ways related or a-kin to that same though most like and near unto him in Nature and Manners but one that had lately been a Trooper under O. Cromwel or in the Common-wealth's Army wherefore that he might distinguish himself from the other and older George Fox he called himself who was not so old Fox the Younger His Letter was to this effect O King he who is King of Kings sees and observes all thy Actions in the midst of Darkness and seeing that they proceed from thence even thy most hidden Counsels can by no means escape the sight of God so that there remain no lurking places for thy specious and pretended words and therefore hath he freely observed all thy Wiles and Treacheries laid for those who did no hurt and hath also manifested them unto all Men and that at the very time when thou didst make those great and fictitious Promises and only didst play the Hypocrite wherefore thou hast angred God when at the time thou didst promise Liberty unto us thou didst then suffer that outrage to be done us and the Imprisonment of so many Men for the Testimony of a good Conscience Alas how has the Pride and Impiety as well of thy House as of thy Government sadded thee for as often as I revolve within my self upon the Vnjustice Cruelty and publick Persecutions of this Country and as often as I think upon their Wickednesses that are committed in Secret so often is my Spirit grieved and in anguish and my Heart distracted by reason of the fierce wrath of the great God against all Men. And I have had it often in my thoughts both before and after thy Restauration to the Kingdom when I have considered the fixt and established Idolatry of this Land that it had been better for thee that thou hadst never come hither because I find it has been to thy Ruin and I have often prayed to God that thou wouldst become of that Mind as to depart again out of the Kingdom that while thou hast Life left thee and space to Repent thou mayest Repent of thine Iniquities do not O King suffer any one to flatter thee God will not be mocked what any Man shall sow that shall he also reap consider with thy self how thy Brother the Duke of Gloucester was so suddenly and unexpectedly cut off who might have survived after thy Death and do not imagine that thou canst be preserved by Men when God sets upon thee and God's Will shall stand that his Kingdom may extend over all Ah! what shall I say as to what appertains to thy Salvation God is burning with Anger and will shorten the days of his Enemies for his Elect sake and Oh that thou mayest be saved in the day of the Lord for my Soul is even under Horror and Amazement at the sight of the inevitable Destruction that attends thee These things that I write are true and I would have thee to know that I write these things both godlily and lovingly as for my own part though I suffer many Miseries from without yet I have that inward Peace with God that exceeds all Earthly Crowns It was said that while the King was reading this Letter his Brother the Duke of York stood by him and that he after he had read it also advised the King to order the Quaker to be hanged but that the King had answered That it were better that they themselves should have a regard to their own good and amend their Lives and Manners that there is no Understanding so great but that many times is overtaken with Error and sometimes Folly About this time came forth a Book written in English marked in every Page with the form or note of a Child's Tablet such as Children use in England as also in our own Country out of which they learn to pronounce their Letters in Alphabetical Order This Book did in every Page shew that it was in use throughout the World in all and every Language whereof there were no less than Thirty Languages recounted and set forth and each of them distinguished into its proper Table that when any one spoke to a single Person to call him Thou and not You which the English used if they talked with a Man that they respected The Work was neatly and ingeniously done with much Cost by John Subbs and Benjamin Furley but Fox who besides the English Tongue understood none of these Thirty was so desirous to seem to be the Author of this Work and that whatever it contained of Industry and Praise-worthiness had its Original
those who conceal and are asham'd to own their poverty of the Orphans widdows old people the afflicted and miserable and the sick unto whom they are to afford what is necessary for their sustenance and relief for which end the Quakers say they make Contributions of Money putting it into chests and distributing it as they have occasion These Men are also to allot every one their particular offices and functions which they are severally and distinctly to perform Stephen Crisp wrote a monitory Epistle to all Churches concerning these offices which is very well worth any Man's reading All the Quakers when ask'd about these matters do mightily extoll and magnify the diligence liberality and bounty of their Associates one to another However these Elders and the Ministers do frequently convâ—â—n among themselves for deliberating about the affairs of their Sect and the necessities of their Church which Conventions are somewhat like to what the English and Dutch call Presbyteries and Synods and the French Consistories There were of them in Holland who because no Society could be laudable and permanent without Government and Laws propos'd to have an Ecclesiastical senate constituted in every Church consisting of the ancient Elderly Men and such as were married excluding Batchellours who should have the Government lodg'd in their hands and order every thing according to certain Rules and Laws laid down by them But others oppos'd it pretending that it would introduce a new Hierarchy and interrupt their Community and restrain and suppress the gifts of the Spirit They have likewise Meetings like to those we call Classes and provincial and national Synods or Councils These conventions are Celebrated oftner or Seldomer as the number and variety of their Churches is but so as to Allot each Sex Men and Women their distinct and particular Meetings Wherefore if the Churches be more numerous or large the Seniors or Elders with the Ministers meet frequently chiefly on the first days of the weeks and also on other days at which time after having Communicated their thoughts one to another they confer and consult together what is to be every Man's task what part of the charge he is to undertake and what is incumbent upon him to do Other Meetings are appointed every fourth week in which they deliberate of the affairs common to the Church Others every three months in which they consider of their provincial affairs and such as are remitted to them by appeal In these they inspect into and Recognize all Books that are Printed after they have been perus'd and approv'd by the Censors appointed for that purpose The Acts of these assemblies are put into Registers of which some are very curiously and Elegantly done They have Anniversary Synods in every considerable Kingdom to whom belongs the care and administration of all the affairs of that Kingdom In England they have a fix'd Anniversary Synod on the 3d. day of Pentecost according to the English calculation which they pitch'd upon not out of any superstition for they are as averse and estranged from Religious observation of days as any people in the World but that the time might be determin'd and every one have sufficient information of the same This Synod continues sitting for three or four days only unless some extraordinary business be tabled before them which requires much debate and is hard to be decided as it happen'd in the year ninety four in the case of Keith when it fate whole twelve days together Delegates also come to this Synod from the Churches in all other Countries or places where the Quakers obtain any footing but these must be such as are in the Ministry At their first Meeting together liberty is given for all manner of people to come in and be present which time is spent in Preaching Praying and Thanksgiving After which the Delegates retire all into one room They have no president to their Meeting which place they say is supplied by the Holy Ghost but they have a Clerk who marks down every thing that is mov'd before the Assembly It would be tedious and needless here to insert any further account of their Councils for there be stories enough flying about of them only I shall here remark what are the subjects mostly treated of by them when thus solemnly conveen'd They take into consideration all that may pertain to the general good of all the Churches They lay before the whole assembly the State of every particular Church especially if there be any thing memorable or worthy their consideration They make a Catalogue of the sufferers for Religion describing what their sufferings were or for what causes they were inflicted They examine all singular or rare events and accidents They decide all Controversies and Differences They enquire into the Lives and Conversations of their Ministers and check those who perform their tasks negligently or remissly or who through officiousness and impertinency affect to be Ministers of the word forsaking the offices that become them better and are more indispensably requir'd at their hands than this which they usurp to themselves without invitation or call running up and down as invested with this pretended function and turning it to their private lucre and gain They admonish and exhort one another to be careful and diligent in the tasks alloted them and to conform themselves to the dignity and gravity of their respective offices They settle a standard for these things which relate to Domestick cares of Christians in their Families especially to the education of Children endeavouring and exhorting by all means to be aware of these two destructive Evils which are more Consequential than all others viz. Indulging their Children too great liberty and decking and adorning their bodies too gaudily lest by so doing they occasion sin and contract infamy to themselves They take care also for the redemption of Captives and relief of the poor such of them as are known to be well and virtuously dispos'd and consult of many other things for giving mutual assistance to one another When the Synod is dismiss'd all their Acts and Decisions are enregistred by the publick Authority of the Synod which are afterwards copy'd from the Records and Printed in order to be sent to all the Synods of their Associates throughout the World or to any particular Country Associated with them of which Prints I have several Examples by me As not a few before in England so the Quakers did always invey against the Liturgy which was laid aside in Cromwell's a directory being substituted in its place and again restor'd in K. Charles's Reign as stuffed with the fopperies of Popish Darkness superstitious and ill placed Lessons and Prayers Ornaments Dresses bodily Actions and Gestures and many rites of observing holy days These the Quakers did vigorously oppose preferring the simple Exercises in their Meetings When they meet after a long silence and quiet Recollecting of their thoughts they make it their whole care and business earnestly to wait for the
Life neither do they always avail to the happiness of living for not a few among these Men may be found that have too great a propension to vices of that nature The Masters and Observers of behaviour omitted not to reprove such faults very smartly and some of them who had also committed 'em forbore not to invey sharply against themselves Examples hereof I 'll designedly pass by tho some without Calumny and Reproach I cou'd insert lest they that are concerned may be somewhat displeas'd at the ripping of that which may rub upon themselves Yet one I shall mention which London resounded with lest fame report it otherwise than perhaps it was done There was a very sincere Quaker free from all suspicion of this kind who being scorch'd with the flames of Love that the Charms of his Mistress's face had kindled convers'd with her with too much weakness and frequency but upon Remorse and Knowledge of his Guilt being pierc'd with Shame and Sorrow for his sin he makes a publick Confession of his fault to the Church submitting himself to the Censure and Correction of his friends yea further for deviating from Honesty and Modesty so far that he might not fall into that snare again or for the future repeat the like wickedness with his own hand he Chastises himself by a present cutting off the delinquent Member Tho all this time they enjoy'd so much liberty yet they neither were nor are wholly free from all sort of Commotion and Disturbance Neither when the Oath of fidelity that great invitation to oppression was taken away were other pretences of Oaths wanting that might prove Incitements to bring on Persecution For from that day to this many instances may be seen of these Men whose inheritance for refusing an Oath has been forfeited some having their goods wholly taken from 'em others beside the loss of their goods being cast into Prison And since as yet as well as before the wilfulness of the one party in exacting and of the other in refusing the payment of Tythes is not at all impair'd or abated a time cou'd very seldom be pitch'd on wherein there was none of 'em to be found in Custody That the grudge of ancient and levity of new Enemies are the efficients of this and not the supreme Power and Authority every one will easily own who considers that Kings have many Eyes Ears and Hands but yet must be always long-suffering and patient but not able at all times to effect what they wou'd nor always willing to do what they can and shou'd The End of the Second Book THE General History OF THE QUAKERS BOOK III. The Contents The Quakers going to New England in America The coming of quaker-Quaker-Women to New England How they were receiv'd The Laws of the Cities against Quakers The various Persecution of 'em some were whipt some had their Ears cut off others were hang'd A writing of the Magistracy of Boston concerning those that were hang'd Edict of King Charles to his Governours in those Countries to forbear Persecution What happen'd in New Holland Virginia Barmuda's and other places Pensylvania a Countrey for Quakers In it was given liberty to men of all Religions The various and mix'd multitude of men in that Countrey From hence flows a confus'd and various Doctrine and Conversation among the Quakers themselves Hence came that sharp Debate of Keith and his Adherents against their Adversaries chiefly concerning Christ internally and externally and a great confusion and disturbance of affairs thereupon This Disputation awaken'd such Dissention Commotion and Distraction of minds not unlike to a mutiney and Civil War that it was scattered from Pensylvania into England especially London whereas yet it remains to this very day Some of the Quakers took Voyage for the East Indies Others went into Africa The Quakers travelling into Neighboâ—ring and Forreign Countries What was done by them in Holland and Friezeland A short History of the Labadists The Departure and Death of Anna Maria Schurman The Endeavours of some Quakers among men of that Sect. What the Quakers did at Emdin a Town in East Friezeland There at length liberty was offer'd 'em by the chief of the City The Endeavours of Ames and Penn in the Palatinate on the Rhine Fox's Letter to Elizabeth Prineess Palatine and the Princes 's Answer to him Penn's Sermon before that Princess The Quakers Affairs in Alsace and at Gedan Fox's wonderful Letter to the King of Poland The History of the Petists as they call them in Germany The great wanderings of some of them The Excursion of others into Pensylvania the Countrey so fertile of Quakers What Quakers went into France and with what success Who of 'em went iuto Italy What happen'd to Love and Perrot at Rome George Robinson's wonderful Fortune at Jerusalem The Suffering of Two Quaker-women in the Island Melita by reason of the Inquisition The Rarity of Mary Fishers Journey to and Return from the Emperour of the Turks I Have already shewn in the former Books the State of the Quakers from their beginning to this preseut time in Brittain their Mother-Countrey and Nurse I shall now give as short a Narrative as I can of their Affairs also in other Regions In treating hereof some Places in America subjected to the Sway of the English Government especially New England in the North towards the Sea seem first to present themselves to our View Hither many from Old England flying from the Imperious and Cruel Regency of Licentious Kings and Proud Bishops retired and fixed their Residence here Purchasing for themselves a peculiar Inheritance which the Quakers among the first â—ent to hoping therefore among their Friends whom not only one Neighbourhood but also cause of abandoning their Countrey did now conjoyn and unite in one Society they might promote and advance their present Interest and Peace with more liberty and safety than they had in Old England The first that went with that Design to these new uncultivated and Desart Places leaving the Pleasant and Fortunate Island of Brittain being destinâ—d and sent there to bud forth the blooming blossoms of a Religious Spring were John Burniat a man more Famous than Learned call'd out to the Ministry in the Year Fifty Three Robert Hosben Joseph Nicholson and several others of the Masculine Order Ann Austin a Woman stricken in Years Mother of some Children Mary Fisher a Maid whose Intellectual Faculties was greatly adorn'd by the Graviâ—y of her Deportment afterwards married to William Baily a Famous Preacher and others also of the Female Rank This fell out in the Year Fifty Five Of those Burniat survives in our present Memory as yet I suppose a Preacher in Ireland Many of those made their way for Virginia Maryland the Caribes Barmuda's Barbadoes and other adjacent Islands Of these having found little worth our Observation I shall discourse in the last place if Occasion offers But the Women Ann Austin and Mary Fisher travell'd into New England and were shortly
was so forcibly incens'd that they could be broken by no Violence or Reproaches thinking then themselves to be truly happy when they were counted worthy to suffer Affliction for their Religion yea Death tho never so Ignominious and Cruel hence it comes that each Sect has its Martyrs This they also ambition'd as a holy sight running to embrace Death as the Crown of their Religion sign of faith Mark of Society witness of Communion Monument of their Name matter of perpetual fame and not only end of this Temporary life but also beginning of that which is Eternal Thus the Senate of Boston after many debates being unwilling to conclude of Leaders affair regarding the Actions not the words of the Criminal at length order'd him to be Indicted of Treason and pronounc'd him a Man whom they Judg'd and Declar'd to deserve to be sever'd from among the Number of the Living which sentence was accordingly executed upon the 14th day of March Then his head was lifted up on high on an unhappy Gibbet and he ended his life without any fear having spoken these words before some friends my God to thee I commend my just Soul After him the Court 's first enquiry was on Wenlock who seem'd to them to have drawn all severity on himself When no body doubted but Wenlock wou'd fall a victim to appease the Judges fury when he came to be tryed he disputed long and the Judges differ'd in their Thoughts and Intentions whereupon Wenlock did so much urge the Equity and Justice of discussing the affair according to the Rules of the English Laws arguing that those Laws were only made against Jesuits and not Quakers who might very justly expect Impunity altho they err'd in the sight of Men The Judges were at length so Inveigl'd and Entangled that they return'd to the old form of proceeding and committed the whole weight of the cause to the Judgment of twelve Sworn Jury-Men But they also having long delay'd Wenlock at length brought him in guilty of Death This was done on the 13th day of the 1st month of the Summer Season but the Execution of the sentence was some days delay'd John Currier an inhabitant of Boston having been whipt through three Towns before return'd by the same places to Boston to his Wife and Children whom he had left there being again whipt about the same round he was detain'd in Prison at Boston where he had resid'd In the opinion of himself and other Men he was to be branded with a burning Iron in the shoulder and there mark'd with the Letter R. to design him according to the English and Roman Laws that which we call a Rogue There were 28 more Prisoners there One of 'em condemn'd for all his life to remain in the Prison where he then was the rest were uncertain what shou'd become of 'em seeing themselves daily detain'd and delay'd As many things unexpected and unlook'd for in the life of Man falls oftner out than when we have hopes and expectations of the matter so while the Judges were so often remiss and the Quakers punishment so frequently delay'd and yet nothing was seen to retard it suddenly and beyond all Expectation it was appointed by the Magistrates Command that a new Law shou'd immediately take place to release Wenlock and the rest of the Prisoners from any punishment they were liable to by the old so that they might when they pleas'd be free'd from the Prison and for that purpose the doors were set open The signal being given they went out without Loitering Only Peter Pearson and Judith Brown were contrary to their hopes detain'd and whipt at a Cart. The cause of so unexpected a change was suppos'd to be the fear of the Magistrates foreseeing that the King and Nobles in Old England wou'd not well resent such Rigour and Cruelty and wou'd therefore take care to prevent it for the future Not long after King Charles being inform'd how the Quakers were treated in New-England by Rumors Messengers and their own complaints given in by Petition to the King and Parliament and that not only once but often sent immediately to the Governour of Boston and the rest of the fellow rulers of these Countreys and Colonies a Letter concerning the Imprison'd Quakers giving it to be carried by Sam. Sattoc a Quaker who had been an Inhabitant there but was thence banish'd as I mention'd already and now return'd there in a Ship commanded by one of his own perswasion The Letter was as follows C. R. to his dear and faithful Subjects since we 've Learn'd that many of our Subjects among you call'd Quakers to have been some Imprison'd others kill'd the rest as we 're told remaining fall in danger we thought good to signify our will and pleasure to you concerning that affair for the future Our will is therefore that if there be any Quakers among you whose Death Corporal punishment or Imprisonment you have order'd or may for the future have occasion to determine that you proceed no further in that affair but forthwith send 'em whether they be Condemn'd or bound into our Kingdom of England with an account of their particular Tryals and Faults that they may here be dealt withal according to our Laws and their Merits Herein this letter shall be your warrant Given from our Court at VVhitehall the 10th of Sept. 1661 the 13th year of our Reign By the Kings command William Morris This Epistle of the King so stay'd their Persecution that it was no Crime to be reckon'd a Quaker The Magistracy of Boston fearing the Kings displeasure for what they had done sent three into Old England Temple an Officer a Magistrate and Norton a Minister to acquaint the King with what they had done But Jurisdiction and Judgment was not therefore wholly stopt or taken away But being forbidden to inflict a final severity and punishment they compens'd it by the heavier Temporary torment making some by their Chastisement rather wish to die than endure so great and many Evils so often Tho I cou'd instance many examples of this I 'll only relate one or two partly to avoid Prolixity and partly because by one we may guess of the rest That year Ann Cotton a woman of sixty came with a design to live at Boston but was so far from being admitted that she was thrown into Goal Being at length wearied of her they took her to a Wood and after many wandrings she found occasion to go for England There she obtain'd a pattent from the K. allowing her to reside at Boston She renew'd her Journey and came boldly back to Boston But neither was she then admitted She went therefore to Cambridge where she was thrown into a dark Deu thrice lash'd then carry'd to a Remote and Desolate place where from wild Beasts she might be in daily danger of her life But returning by the same ways she went out she was also whipt as she had been before The following year being scarce expir'd Ann
her any other way from her purpose he puts her on board a Ship go her Convey'd to Venice She having lost the opportunity but not the will she had to accomplish her design after that she had sailed up as high as Peloponesus or the Morea she made them put her a shore on the next Land There having got this freedom and regarding neither the circumstances of Nature nor the weakness of her Sex being all alone and ignorant of the Way and the Language that she might avoid the danger of falling into the hands of Thieves she Travails on Foot all along the Shoar and Sea-Coast of the Morea Greece and Macedon and from thence over the Mountains and craggy places of Romania or Thrace as far as the River Mariza came to Adrianople where the Emperor did then continually reside because he was very much hated by those of Constantinople and so he in like manner shunned the presence and sight of them There was a vast Retinue and Concourse of People attending the Emperor besides his Army which lay there so as that there was scarce room enough to containâ— such a multitude The Woman was lucky tho' she did not know it to alight upon such Men who tho' they are called by the name of Turks came not short in their Kindnesses to Strangers of any other Nation especially the nobler and better sort of them which I my self have not so much understood as experienced yea do so respect and esteem Women-kind that if any injure them in VVords or Actions he runs in danger of his Life It was a very difficult thing to come to and speak with the Emperor but as there is nothing pleasant to a Lover but what is sought after and hard to be obtained she trys every way looks about her narrowly follows closely her Business and after many Sollicitations and Traverses backwards and forwards through many places at last she found one who spoke for her to the Grand Visier who is the chief Man in Authority next the Emperor and acquaints him that there was an English VVoman who had some good Counsel to give the Emperor in the Name of the Great God This Visier was Achmet Bassa very Renowned among the Turks because he succeeded his Father in that great Office which Honour none ever before him attained to in that kind The Visier speaks to the Emperor on the Womans behalf the Emperor grants her Liberty to come to him She came accompanied with the Dragmans or Emperors Interpreters but I could never learn what it was the Woman said to him The Emperor after he had given her Audience commands her to withdraw and ordered her to be conveyed to Constantinople that she might from thence return to her own Country This is that which the Woman after her return was wont to relate to the Quakers and none able to confirm or confute it and this is that same person who together with Anne Austin was the first of all the Women that went to Preach their Religion in New England and who for her great Endowments not only of mind and wit but also for her great dexterity and experience was by William Ball a Preacher of no small fame among the Quakers thought worthy to make him a VVife as I have said in the beginning of this Book that so that which was the beginning of this Book is also the end of the same and of the whole work AN APPENDIX CONTAINING The True Copy of a Latine Letter Writ by George â—eith and sent by him to Gerard Croes Translated out of his Latine Manuscript into English Some Annotations upon diverse things related in the Latine Book called The Quakerian History of Gerard Croes concerning me G. K. and some Opinions or Sentiments not well by him alledged to be mine with an Emendation and Correction of those things which the Author through Mistake hath unduely fixed on me As also concerning some other things respecting some Sentiments of many called Quakers and our late Controversies in matters of Faith and Religion IN the Epist Dedicat. Who hate every humane Name in the Church The Annotation It is well said I wish the Reformed so called did endeavour so to do As to my part it is very odious to me that such among the People called Quakers professing the same Christian Faith with me should be called Keithians For if the Name of Calvinist be odious to him Why should not the Name of Keithian be equally odious to me and to my Brethren professing the same Faith of Christ with me the which Name this Author useth in divers places of his History In the Epist Dedic There is not any thing of any moment in the whole work that was not done in publick view The Annot. The Author doth relate most things in a good degree candidly and moderately but in some things that are no less matters of Fact than Articles of Doctrine which he imputeth to me he hath missed the Mark but as I believe unwillingly he not being in all things well informed that did concern my Affairs in Religious Controversies Page 192. of the History Being a Chaplain in a certain Noble Family was adapted a Minister of the Divine Word The Annot. I acknowledge I did live for some time in a certain rich Family giving Education to some Children belonging to that Family using frequent Prayer and other Exercises of Religion in the same but before I had the Profession of a Quaker I was never adapted a Minister of the Divine Word Page 194. Thus the Doctrine and Religion of the Quakers oweth its birth and growth to England its Accomplishment and Perfection to Scotland The Annot. Here he seemeth too much to favour Robert Barclay and Me being both Scotch-men for certain Writings and Labours of ours in Explaining the People called Quakers their Principles and so they seemed unto us But that I may confess the thing as it it By too great experience for some years past I have learned having more inward Conversation with some Ministers of the first rank among them than formerly I had and more intently Reading some of their Books which before I did little Read and such of them as I had Read I had not so carefully and accurately considered what I did Read in them that many of the Principles and Dogma's deliver'd and explain'd by me in the Name of the Quakers were not so according to the sense of most of the Ministry among that People as according to my sense given to me by the Grace of God and I do ingeniously confess that therein I was greatly mistaken P. 178. And concerning Christ dwelling in every Mâ—â—â— The Annot. Here he doth not relate aright the distinction at least wise as by me explained betwixt the Existence or in-being of Christ in Man and his In-dwelling Christ indeed is in every Man as he is the Word that hath proceeded or emanated from God but he dwelleth only in the Saints The Inhabitation of God and Christ in