great Hereticks when as they onely differed from them in Church Government and some Eternal Rites and Modes and otherwise held the same true and Catholick Faith and Doctrine with these Men but also because all those penal Laws which were made and ordained before the time of the Reformation against Hereticks as they call'd them stood still in force and none of them was repealed not so much as that De Comburendo Haeretico or for burning the Heretick so that if at any time any one of Eminent power had a mind he might by Virtue of that Law Arraign any one and bring him to that dismal and horrid punishment and have it Executed upon him Which appears by the Examples of two Men under the Reign of K. James the 1st in the 11th year of this Century Which because it has not of a long while been taken notice of by most Writers and yet it is not amiss to be known especially at this time I shall briefly relate One of these Men was Bartholmew Legate of the County of Essex a Man of an unblamable Life ready wit and well read in the H. Scriptures but disliking the Nicene Creed and denying the plurality of persons in the God-head and the Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ after he had been for some time kept in Prison at London and being enlarged again more boldly defended his impious Errors and could not be brought to desist from it even by these reasons the King himself brought at last in an Assembly of Bishops was Condemned of Contumacious and Irreclaimable Heresy and delivered over to the secular Judges and by the Kings command according to the Act de haeretico comburendo the 18. day of March about Noon was publickly burn't and Consumed to Ashes The other was one R. Wightman of the Town of Burton near the River Trent who was Condemned by the Bishop of Coventry and Litchfield of several Heresies the first was that he was an Ebionite the last an Anabaptist and burn't at Litchfield the 11th day of Ap. 'T is true indeed that this Law for burning the Heretick as also for putting him to Death in any wise was repeal'd in the Reign of Charles the Second but this is true also that that repeal was not made without a great deal of Difficulty and Repugnance of some Men and it was so done too that tho the Clergy had this power of Life and Death taken away from them and yet still out of this power they had so much Authority left them as to Excommunicate as they call it those that they should account Hereticks and thereupon to deprive them of their Liberty and take away their goods and the Consequences which follow thereupon Which thing I have thought fit to take notice as being not well known and yet worth the while to know This repeal was made in the 29th year of his Reign and 77th of the Century in that memorable Parliament Which was continued from the year 61 by several Propagations down to that time There was a certain Man of the Country of Middlesex whose Name was Taylor who had defil'd himself with so many and great Crimes and Vices that he had no fear notice or Apprehension of God wherefore he was sent to London and brought before the Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Court. In which Court as they were deliberating what to Determine about a Man so very impious or rather an impure beast one of the younger Bishops being more vehement and hot in his Censures than the rest gave his Judgment that this Man should be Exterminated from humane Society by burning and alledges that Law for the Burning of Hereticks with fire Which seeming somewhat harsh to others of the Bishops and some giving their opinion one way others another The Earl of Hall the next day in Parliament in the House of Lords proposes and perswades that that Law for the Burning of Hereticks might be Abolished for as long as that Law was not yet taken away and repeal'd it might come to pass that what Religion or Sect soever came uppermost the professors of that by Virtue of this Law might put to Death by burning all those that they should count Hereticks The Bishops opposed and cried out against this Petition But when it came to the Vote the present Earl of Hallefax and likewise the Duke of Buckingham and Earl of Shaftsbury and other great Men Considering that at that time things look'd with a fearful aspect and that it was often seen in the Course of Nature that many times things which had been hindred and delayed might break out again as in that cursed Popish Plot and the preparations of the Papists for the Destruction of the reformed Religion at that time was easily to be seen and that that Law particularly might one day be signally Injurious and Destructive they so perswade the rest and make it out so plain by force of Argument that the repeal of that Law is concluded upon and decreed contrary to the mind and will of the Bishops which Bill being carried down to the House of Commons some Excellent Men among which the principal was W. Russell a great Lover of his Countrey and Religion and a Man worthy of immortal honour presently Vote for it and procured the Bill to pass And so by Authority of the King and both Houses of Parliament this ancient Law was Abrogated and Repealed by this Act That from henceforth by Authority of the King and Parliament the writ de heretico comburendo or for burning Hereticks and all Capital punishments following upon any Ecclesiastical Censures should be taken off Not taking away nevertheless or diminishing the Jurisdiction of the Protestant arch-Arch-Bishops or Bishops or any other Ecclesiastical Court to punish Atheism Blasphemy Heresy or Schism or any other Damnable Doctrines or Opinions So that Nevertheless it shall and may be lawful to them to punish such Men according to the Kings Ecclesiastical Laws by Excommunication Deprivation Deposition and other Censures not Extending to Death What but also how fraudulent a Liberty to all Religions was granted by K. James the 2d and what care the Bishops most of them but not all took to oppose it is not necessary now to be insisted on But to return from whence I have digressed Now because these Quakers had made no inconsiderable progress in their Affairs in America that new and to the Ancients unknown part of the World there were some of them who thought it might be a work worth the while to attempt the like all over this part of the World which we inhabit and of which for the most part we have a more ancient knowledge of and that not onely in the European Countreys where we have great dealings but also in Asia it self and Africa among the remotest Nations Destitute of the right knowledge of God and brought up in the profoundest Ignorance of the truth and true Religion with a design to enlighten them and by their Arguments and Sollicitations
THE General History OF THE QUAKERS CONTAINING The Lives Tenents Sufferings Tryals Speeches and Letters Of all the most Eminent Quakers Both Men and Women From the first Rise of that SECT down to this present Time Collected from Manuscripts c. A Work never attempted before in English Being Written Originally in Latin By GERARD CROESE To which is added A LETTER writ by George Keith and sent by him to the Author of this Book Containing a Vindication of himself and several Remarks on this History LONDON Printed for Iohn Dunton at the Raven in Jewen-street 1696. TO THE Truly Noble and Honourable NICHOLAS WITSEN Burgomaster and Senator of Amsterdam c. THOSE two very things Right Noble and Honourable Sir to wit the greatness of your Name and the smallness of this Work which might disswade me from such an Application do both of them invite and in some sort engage me to adventure not only to make a Present of this Book but also a particular Dedication thereof unto you And seeing that it is a thing most certain and that the very sight of the Book doth immediately shew it that what I here offer is a Piece that is altogether new but yet neither over bulky nor prolix I was perswaded that this my Undertaking would not prove unpleasing to you because that as the Great are very much taken with the Novelty of other things even so they are of Books and as a conciseness in speaking is very agreeable to them a short and compendious way of Writing is found to be no less so which has given occasion to that old Proverbial Adage Little things are pretty To this I may add that this Book briefly treats of things transacted up and down and for some time in that Nation where in the Name of the Renowned States you have been first Envoy to the Most Potent and most Serene Princes King William and Queen Mary to that great and glorious Queen alas lately ravished from Earth by inexorable Fate of whose Vertues there are at this time so many Testimonies in the funebrous Orations of great and most Eloquent Men who for all that had they never so much exhausted their brains and been profuse of their Abilities in declaring and magnifying the Excellencies of this Queen had yet nee'r been able to form a true Idea of them in their Thoughts much less represent them as they ought to be to their Auditors than which nothing more can be said of Man and after that for some time Resident there where you were to Congratulate Their Royal Majesties Accession to the Throne and the Deliverance of so many Countries and People as also to confirm that Ancient League and Amity that was between both Nations In which Time and Place seeing that perhaps some but not all these things came within the Verge of your Knowledge this new and small Treatise but Pardon the Expression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may gratifie that desire which your Honour and even most Men have who have lived or come from abroad of having a perfect Knowledge of such Transactions as have happened in those places during their time or near unto it by exhibiting as in a little Table-Book the first Rise Progress and End of all these doings But yet this is not all the Reason I had for such an Undertaking I must confess Illustrious Sir that as to the matter of this Work it is such as may seem to them that are not very curious needless and unnecessary and that it is such a way or method as may easily induce some who are not over-skilful but given to scoff and chatter to look upon it as very mean and contemptible because that having regard only to the single Relation of Things and to Truth I treat thereof in a Style and Language that is plain and ordinary free from all manner of Affectation and do not which is a thing very common and much approved of and prevalent among the Vulgar either ridicule or proudly scoff at and prosecute in Writing those things which 〈…〉 the Religion and Manners of those Men who are treated of herâ—en Neither do I though there may be some among those very Persons who look with an evil Eye upon and bear ill will unto us for that Reason retribute the same and make the like return unto them as some are pleased to do who think such reciprocal doings ought always to be But seeing that it many times so happens that they who write with such Moderation are liable to fall under I know not what Suspicion of crack'd Credit from these Men so as that I found my self under a necessity of seeking out for some Patronage and Refuge-place upon this Account I was fully satisfied I could meet with that principally in you Great Sir who know as well as any Man alive what amongst such a multitude of Writers and itch of Writing is most fit to be writ what an Historian's scope ought to be in such a Work as this is and over and above that what on the one hand Religion and what in the mean time also Nature and the Power of Humanity require and call for And because I have fallen upon this Head I earnestly wish the Temper of the present Times was not such that this were not the sad distinguishing mark of the Age we live in as that there should be so many Men such strangers to and devoid of Charity and Modesty and hurried with that unruliness and outrageousness of Mind that as soon as they discern any Heterodox Opinion in matters of Religion and especially if any Heresie be smelt in the case they immediately suppose that it is the Property of Religion to scoff at persecute and afflict such Men some going so far as to urge there ought to be a precision or a cutting off of the same by violent Methods Fire and Sword Imprisonment and Bonds Racks and Torments and even by the most dreadful and cruel Deaths For the Good and Peace of the Church and State for so they Argue cannot otherwise be preserved nor the Christian Faith and Humane Obligations subsist Were it not for this we should not see against so many Reformed Churches so many Hundred Thousand Christians such and so great and nefandous Violences contrived and offered such lamentable yea unheard-of Calamities and Slaughters and even if they could make entire Extirpation Rulne and Destruction by those who go by the Names of Christians and Catholicks but are in truth the most bitter and implacable Enemies of the True Religion I 'll go yet further I heartily wish there were not sometimes amongst others and even among them who have withdrawn themselves from the Papacy that immoderation of Spirit that even where there is no manner of Heresie no Fundamental Error yea not the least difference but in words and way of Expression only mens Minds become forthwith divided thereupon an Interruption of Fellowship and at last a sâ—â—â—ssion into Parties doth ensue And that those who lay
the same time the Quakers put out a Pamphlet wherein they recounted what every Minister of the Publick Church throughout England had done against every one of their Society how they had handled them with the Name and Sirname of every one of them at what time George Monk General of all the Armies of Britain put an end to this Evil by a Proclamation that none should injure the Quakers provided they demeaned themselves dutifully towards the Common-wealth I have given an Account of the Afflictions and Persecutions of these Men in England and have produced various Instances of every kind concerning their Troubles and now these Quakers shew themselves in Scotland behaving themselves here as in all other places where they came being often-times very vexatious and troublesom in the Publick Meetings and Conversations of Men in the Markets in the Churches and that either before or after or while they were at their Solemn Prayers and Preaching neither did they only confound Speakers and Hearers and made them dissatisfied with their Meeting together or exercise of their Religion but as often as they were taken and did not beg Pardon for the fault committed they were handled in the same manner as they had been in England many of them being Imprisoned some whipped and others banished This was a thing very singular and strange in this Country and among this Nation there was a Law made at Glascow in the General Assembly that no Quaker should be cherished and relieved by any Member of the Reformed Church and that no Person should have any Commerce with them or make use of their Labour and Employ them under the Penalty of being Excommunicated and by this means these wretched People were forced to seek for other though uncertain Abodes or else to perish through extream want Notwithstanding which Law which the Quakers cryed was by no means made with a Christian Temper but was a barbarous Rite and the Effects of Cruelty when their Affairs seemed to have been brought to the utmost danger they did so struggle with these Difficulties that they even increased in Number day by day Neither must we pass over in silence that those two Men John Swinton and David Barclay did at this time go off to the Quakers who because both of them were very Famous and Renowned first among all the Scots and afterwards among the Quakers I cannot pass it over but must here insist a little upon it John Swinton was of a good Family and at first well deserving of the Common-wealth having his Name from the Place whereof he was Lord when King Charles the Second fled from England and was received and crowned by the Scots this Swinton was a Member of the General Assembly then as also of the Parliament and then it was that the said King Solemnly swore he would preserve the Church of Scotland as then established inviolable but when the King afterward changed his Faith and endeavoured to promote the Function and Rule of Bishops and that now both Nations were at deadly and Intestine Wars one with another and that the Members in Parliament took into Deliberation what they should do with the King Swinton said it was his Opinion that they should reject the King's Interest and be at Peace and Amity with the English by which Speech when Swinton found that he had much exasperated the Minds of all of them and being afraid of the Danger withdraws from the Parliament and with all Expedition flies to his Estate in the Country which was not far from the Frontiers of England and cunningly contrives it that he had fallen into the hands of the English Soldiers these carry him to London when the English had overcome the Scots the English Parliament appoint this Man that was so Faithful to their Church and Country together with others to Govern the Affairs of Scotland But while Swinton tarryed at London he contracted Acquaintance and Familiarity with the Quakers and afterward became of their Society When the King was restored and come over Swinton who was then at London though he was not ignorant how angry the King was with him yet he staid there trusting to a good Conscience that he had discharged his Duty to the Publick without any private Enmity against the King There the King Commands him to be seized and carryed into Scotland to the end that he might be put to Death when he was brought before the Parliament and being allowed the freedom to defend himself he did so Plead his own Case and by his Eloquence allay the Anger and Fury of all the Members that they did acquit him from his Capital Crime and only confined him Prisoner to the Castle of Edenburgh where he continued for some Years David Barclay was a Gentleman of Scotland and descended from the Ancient and Illustrious Family of the Barclays of which these Men have not only reported of themselves but it has also been asserted by others that they have not only proceeded from so Noble Great and Ancient a Stock but also that they were a-kin to the Royal Family this same Gentleman using his Nobleness not for a Veil to Sloath and Idleness but as fewel and an incitative to Industry and Vertue after he had from his Childhood given himself up to the Exercise of the Liberal Arts and Sciences and finding that in the doubtful Affairs of his Country he could not find room for his Studies he betook himself to the German Wars and was first a Captain in the Swedish Army and in some time came to be a Colonel but after that the English had enforced their Government in Scotland he returns to his own Country and he is together with Swinton and other Nobles appointed for the Governance of it and is sent for to London that he might be present at the making and establishing of the League between both Kingdoms but in process of time when King Charles was restored he is committed Prisoner to the Castle of Edenburgh to his old Friend Swinton and not long after gave himself over in Company with Swinton to the Sect of the Quakers this David Barclay was the Father of Robert Barclay who if not the only yet was the most memorable of the Latin Writers amongst all the Quakers In Ireland Howgil and Burroughs the fore-runners of this Sect were sent back from Cork into England by the Command of Henry Cromwel who then governed that Kingdom by the Title of Lord-Deputy and when after they were gone Ames took upon him to propagate Quakerism in that City he was also thrown into Prison from whence being afterwards set at Liberty and seeing he could not forbear but must speak openly in the Church against the Preacher he was again clap'd up in the same place from which place when he wrote a Letter to Colonel Henry Ingoldsby who was Governour of that same City and under whom he was a Soldier and endeavoured to make his Defence and procure his Liberty he was indeed brought before him
substance and was fond of an occasion to terrify the rest from doing the like he caus'd this Man to be hal'd to Prison where he smarted for his contumacy by fifteen weeks Captivity during which time and likewise after that Dobson was releas'd and return'd to his own house he pillag'd and harass'd his house and possessions taking off his Horses Kine and other possessions which were priz'd and sold for his benefit till he made about forty pounds English And afterwards in the year sixty six and sixty seven when the poor Man was secure fearing nothing he attacks him again takes from him his Horse four Kine and all the Cattle he had of whatever sort all the furnishing of his house and the very beds they lay upon so distressing and empoverishing the poor Man that he and his Family scarce had wherewithal to cloath themselves But some time after when he had almost overcome this disafter having purchas'd two kine which gave Milk out of which and the cheese made of it he sustain'd his Family without any other food the Minister of the Parish Church whose name I choose rather to conceal pursues him with an Edict of Excommunication insomuch that not only this small remnant he had for maintenance of his family was taken from him but himself thus poor and empty was cast into Prison which was done in the same year from which time he remain'd captive till the year Seventy two when he was set at liberty by the King 's special Command at length having return'd to his former dwelling place and beginning to improve his small fortune a little by labouring the ground and diligent working this same Tithe-master I have already nam'd so well vers'd in his exactory Discipline that no office of humanity withheld him from the same falls upon him again and takes all the possessions he now enjoy'd leaving him nothing so that the value and price of what he took from him was reckon'd to be eightly pounds English which is eight hundred and fifty eight Dutch Gilders And moreover to give a farther instance of his unparallel'd Barbarity he caused him to be cast into Prison in the year seventy five where he was shut up among Thieves and Robbers and those who were not only guilty of such Enormous Crimes but even of Whoring and Revelling the Botches and Exulcerations arising from their intemperate Venery being yet running upon their bodies creating a most noysome and grievous smell and all the whole Members of their body being infected and corrupted with the same But Dobson's greatest comfort was that he found in Prison Men of his own Society who were kept Captive upon the same account that he was Sometime after when one of these miserable pocky wretches had rotted unto Death through the Corruption of that blackest and foulest disease the Keeper of the Prison a Man inferior to none for wickedness and excess of Rudeness and Inhumanity who dealt so with these Quakers his Prisoners that he shew'd to the World that his humor and constitution was fitted for tormenting mankind gather'd up the straw upon which this Corrupted and Loathsome carkass was laid bringing it into that place where Dobson with his fellow Quakers and also the rest of these flagitive miscreants were throng'd up where he burnt it in a fire to testify that burning hatred and malice against the Quakers which rag'd and flam'd within his Breast And from the flames of this burning straw there proceeded such Exhalations and Contagious fumes that the Quakers were all taken ill of a most grievous and dangerous disease which in a short time put a period to the lives of some of them Dobson recover'd of this Distemper but continu'd under the same miserable Captivity till the wellcome day of his Death which happen'd in the last day of May in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred seventy and seven The Quakers therefore being griev'd in soul for this insupportable affliction of their Brethren and apprehensive of the like Events about to befall themselves could not contain themselves from expressing the Estuations and Boylings of their incensed Minds nor restrain their extravagant Tongues and Pens from complaining and lamenting every where publishing Books and Writings Exaggerating the misery of their Condition and demonstrating unto the World what for Men these Evangelical Reform'd Protestants as they call'd 'em Evidenc'd themselves to be Those who in ancient Times cry'd out against Persecution for Religion's sake pretending that none but God had Power to call their Religion and Conscience to account and yet in these days are so fierce and cruel with their own Countreymen upon the same Religious Account sighting against them with carnal Weapons and oppressing them to such an high degree that tho they spar'd their Lives yet inâ—licted Evils far worse than Death it self introducing the same Tyranny that was us'd against the Church oâ— Old but with a New Face and Name The Quakers relate and also some of the Chroniclers or these Times record That in the Time of that fatal and bloody Plague which Rag'd so severely both in London and many parts of that Realm the Bishops besought the King and boldly counsell'd him That in Order to avert and appease the Weath of God which then so heavily afflicted them he would free and cleanse the Kingdom from that Pâ—st of Quakers and other Fanaticks the Banishment and Extirpation of whom would be an acceptable and Propitiatory Sacrifice for the sins of the Land But the moderation of the King was too great to give Ear to such Counsels for though he would not countenance or assist these men yet he was not willing to use such inhumane Cruelty against them and accordingly chose rather that the Old Punishment should be continued against them than a New One of that Nature take place This Year which was so fatal unto many places destroying both the Quakers and their Enemies promisouously did likewise give the same deadly stroke to Samuel Fisher whose Fame among the Quakers Acuteness of Wit Learning and Neat Polite Way of Writing I have already mentioned He died in Prison The Quakers mightily lamented his Death being sensible what a great Doctor and what a Skillful and dexterous Defender of them and their Religion they had lost Their Enemies and Ministers of the Church on the contrary rejoyc'd and congratulated his Death who had given them so much trouble while alive being educated in the same Colledges with themselves and having been one of their own Tribe taught the same manner of learning and invested with the same office and well acquainted with all their writings â—â—trigues methods and Ecclesiastical Policy so that he was more capable to use their own Weapons and Arguments against themselves which he did very dexterously At this same very time they were likewise bereav'd of John Coughen so fam'd and renown'd among the Quakers who tho he was not taken out of the World yet deserted his Station and separated himself from the
to escape whither soever they could But then the Horsemen spur'd after them with their Horses and running upon the Men and Women as they were scatter'd and also upon those that abode in their place insulting over the young and feeble they struck them upon their bodies and faces with their Pistols as furiously as they could The footmen pouring themselves out of the house upon the people thus ensnar'd and invergl'd follow'd after and beat them with their Musquets and Pikes so violently that some of them flew in peices out of their hands Neither did they forbear retreat or withdraw till more than twenty of the poor Quakers were wounded Eight days after the Quakers again met and must likewise by a new force of Horse and Foot be assaulted ejected and put to flight surrounded and oppress'd and the ground fructify'd by the effusion of their blood here there were twice as many wounded as before That day seven-night the Quakers not leaving of their assembling a party of foot and horse came up to the house One of them going in with a pale full of dirt and Excrements maliciously emptied it upon the Innocent Multitude not content with this putting them from their House and Meeting they follow'd and loaded them with so many wounds that they were within a little of having rob'd 'em of their life Some of the Countrey people being mov'd with Compassion at the sad Countenance Lamentation and tears of Men they had always found both harmless and blameless did succour and shelter them with the sanctuary of their houses But those Malignant rakes finding the way even thither broke in and pull'd 'em out and threatning some holding their Weapons o're their heads and cutting the womens Cloaths handled them with a detestable Impudence and obscenity There was one woman with Child taken as she fled whom a Souldier rudely smote twice on the belly and once on the breast with his Musquet and another threw dirt in her mouth whereby she was so frighted that afterwards she miscary'd But the Zeal of the Quakers in Meeting or Souldiers in persecuting was not as yet chill'd For they no sooner return'd to their usual Meeting than the Souldiers follow'd them as they had done formerly afflicting them with their wonted Rudeness so that the very Earth was re-sprinkled with their Blood and Twenty or more of them were inhumanely wounded which a certain Countrey Officer seeing and being troubled at a Man very discreet for his office or at least not always so rough and rigid advis'd the Souldiers not to persist in such wild rigour and unreasonable rudeness hoping he might easily obtain what he desired The Souldiers were so far from regarding his request they fell upon him so forcibly that they almost broke his pate There were more examples of cruelty done at this time in several places elsewhere yet the Quakers never assembled at night nor in a Solitary place lest they should seem to attempt any thing unworthy of Light and whereof they should be affraid yet they met sometimes more cautiously and timerously and with as little stir as they possibly could not because they were disrespected Vilified and Calamitously treated but sometimes by reason of the greatness of the danger they forbore the times and places of their Assembling Sometimes they were deny'd the use of their own houses where they us'd to conveen frequently and numerously the Magistrate commanding the Doors and Entrances to be clos'd up with brick and morter to prevent their admission But they thinking themselves Masters of their own houses open'd 'em without Command or Counsel of any other and went into their Meetings as they formerly had done The Qnakers observed this Year that there was above Eight Thousand of their Sect made Prisoners since the King's Return whereof Six Hundred were as yet detain'd Things being in this condition about the Year Seventy Two a Remarkable War happen'd betwixt the Confederate Kings of Brittain and France and the States of the United Provinces in which War the Dutch had the better as 't was thought both by Sea and Land not only by withstanding so great Armies of two such potent Kings and two Bishops more intent on the destruction than preservation of Men but also snatch'd a considerable victory from 'em both King Charles fearing lest the War abroad might create some matter of sedition at home that he might preserve ease and concord amongst his subjects granted not only protection to Men of all Religions and consequently to the Quakers Papists being only excepted but also the free exercise of their several perswasions whereby the Quakers from a tempestuous storm were brought into a safe Haven The Remembrance of the past pleasure of the present and hope of the future time induc'd them to compose restore and accomplish the common concern of their neglected affairs But this rest and tranquillity was of no greater Continuance than till matters were adjusted twixt the Dutch and English for in two year's space the war being ended the Jars twixt ancient friends and brethren easily kindled and quickly quenched did not only serve to wash away the strife but renew and confirm their former love So the Quakers were toss'd with new dangers again as when another storm suddenly falls upon those that anchor'd in the safety of an happy Haven and drives 'em from the hopes of the expected shore into the great and dangerous roarings of the deep Having hitherto related concerning these Men almost all things I thought worthy to be read or repeated since nothing follows much differing from what we 've heard I shall run through what remains as orderly as briefly Geo. Fox having now travers'd England more than one and thinking he had spent study and Labour enough in endeavouring to declare and advance his Religion not contenting himself to work only at home began to think upon going further abroad there to commence and carry on the same design In the year 71 passing over the wide Sea he went to New-England in America to visit friends of the same Doctrine and Discipline encouraging and confirming 'em to retain and preserve the faith they had receiv'd piously and inviosably Then he went in to the Barmuda's Islands from thence to Jamaica Merry-Land Virginia Nova-Cesarea Insula-Longa and to the ouâ—most Rhodes from which last Island in the year 72 4th month and 19th day he wrote a journal in form of an Epistle and sent it here to his friends in England whereof I have a Copy But I and nothing else written there but the Climates Seasons Tracts Borders and Regions upon which they went out where they found or formâ—d Societies of their persuasion whom they met every where especially in Virginia and Rhodes how cheerfully and kindly they discours'd and entertain'd him In Virginia he speaks of one or two of the Rulers of that Wild and Barbarous people who came to a certain assembly of the Quakers and tho much unacquainted with the English Language behaved themselves to
it were distributed by John Comb which so soon as it was known the Magistrates pronounces them all guilty as breakers of the Peace and disturbers of the Government and sends the Mayor Wyth who seizes the Printer and Publisher and carries them from their Houses into Prison and withal as if he had been in his own Possession or Estate takes out of their Work-houses what Tools or Utensils he pleases and carries them away The next day the Magistrate orders the Mayor to lay his Action against Keith and his Companions and partners in his Crime joyning for help two of the Colledge of the Magistrates who were not Quakers namely Lucius Coke a Lutheran and John Holmes a Baptist who as being of a different Perswasion and partial to neither side might pass for upright Judges But these Gentlemen declin'd the Office for this reason because the thing which these Men were accus'd of arose from Religion and Tending thereunto had nothing of concern with the civil Government and therefore was more proper to be decided by those Men from whom it came and who were concern'd in it To which they added that since neither Humane nor Divine Laws allow'd that any one should be Condemned without being first heard it was just and right that Keith before any Judgment pass'd upon him should be heard This was an answer that did not please those whose designs seem'd not to aim at the quieting of the present Disorders but rather to the increase of them and raising of new And so they go on with their Intention and without hearing of Keith proceed to sentence They give Judgment for Keith's Condemnation in a long Writing of which these were the heads That the Governours have declared Keith to be a wicked Man an ill Citizen a Teacher ill Principled and Disaffected to the Government King and Queen And this they order the Cryer to publish in the Court before a great Concourse of People In the Ecclesiastical Convention where the debate between Keith and his Adversaries was handled the Governour and other of the Magistracy being present there happen'd a dispute between Keith and the Governour himself about a place which the Governour had quoted out of a book formerly written by Keith Which place when Keith had said it made nothing to the purpose nor was it rightly cited by the Governour he went on and added that the Governour was also one of those who had not cited him to the hearing of the cause but had Condemned him unheard This slipt from Keith in his heat and suddain transport of mind and by a slip of the Tongue which often happens in hot disputes that the Governour was an Impuâ—ent Man and his Name would rot Which words tho the Governour had more than once said that he would not take notice of as spoken upon such a time and occasion yet now he lays to Keiths charge as an Egregious reproach to Magistracy not to be pass'd by without punishment It was added that Keith at the same time Reproached the Governour as a person not capable for the due discharge of his Office But as to that Keith says that he neither said nor thought so In the said sentence of Condemnation also it is contained that Keith should call another of the Magistrates by a Name which in English Signifies one or all of these viz. Scolder Quareller wrody deceiver Sordid fellow Seoundel Knave Which accusation Keith thus wip'd off Not denying the fact he said he call'd that Man by that Name as being one who indeed was not of the Magistracy and yet notwithstanding sate in that assembly that Condemned Keith and as such concurred with them in the same sentence and subscribed his Condemnation Amongst these Disputes and Wranglings there was a New Court of Judicature held at Philadelphia for the passing an Impartial Sentence upon these three Men who had lain under so much prejudice Jenings was President and Cook one of the Judges who I have both said before were Quaker Ministers Now hither were cited to plead their own Cause Keith Bradford Combe Bud Buss and others of the Keithians who all came all and every of them were Indicted of this Crime of Writing Uttering and Devising a Book intituled an Appeal being a very Seditious Scandalous Book and full of a great many Lies in which particularly Jennings the President of this Assembly was Charged as a proud imperious Man and insolent in his Discourse and Demeanour and the said book did Print concealing the Printers Name Buss whose Christian Name was Peter was charged over and above the rest to have said many other things of Jennings more than was contained in the book Wonderful this The case with Jennings the president and the whole Senate was whether they that were brought afore them as Criminals or Jennings himself were guilty he an untainted and unblamable person or they foul Detractors worthy the highest punishment The Court was full of Scolding and Quarrelling Whatsoever they alledged had been said or written against Jennings was not against him as a Magistrate but an Ecclesiastical person a Preacher and if he pleased his Colleague not with an intent to reproach or accuse him but for his Correction and to try all things as brethren us'd or ought to do And these Criminals prov'd by good Witnesses and Evidences that they who complained so much of the Calumnies laid to their Charge were worse than the Objections against them insinuated Namely that they were not onely Proud and Imperious persons but so far from having the Command of themselves that they could scarce contain themselves within any bounds of their Lusts and Pleasures In this troublesome assembly Keith made many grave Speeches whereof this was the sense and sum Will there never an end be put to these sort of Controversies and Quarrels or will these Latentions be always continued which whether we be Victors or Vanquished are so Shameful and Commentable to us and wish'd for and laughed at by those who once seeming desirous of our Friendship and Amity now are turn'd our Haters and Enemies and curse us And as if in this Case we had lost all our wisdom and there was no further place left for a remedy to this mischief which if it remains and spreads farther will not onely reflect an Eternal Disgrace upon our Truth but also will so afflict and spoil it especially in these parts amongst these Barbarians as will at last bring on it all manner of Ruine and Destruction to its utter Subversion The State of the Case lies here While those whose province it is to take care of the safety of this Country and Religion find it a difficult task to please all parties but much more so to set themselves openly against all hence comes there to be called so many Concurâ—ions and so many various and different events till it s come to that pass by the setting up a few bold Men against all Laws that some narrow Soul'd people terrified in Conscience
and fearful of appearing Criminal not only now don't stand as Criminals but themselves sit and act as Judges in their own Cause and as such pass Sentances as their own private Animosities and prejudice and desire of revenge which they have been now along while Hatching and Consulting amongst themselves promp't them to And what such great Crime is there Committed that should occasion so great disputes and strife Isaias that great and excellent Prophet cries out that there are those who make a Man guilty for a word and lay a stumbling block for him that is ready to fall in the gate And lately into what Snares what Streights have I been brought and all for a word which besides that it was spoken hastily and not stood in if it were examined to the bottom and might receive a true proper and fair Interpretation or if taken in the best sense which alwaies ought to be follow'd would not onely have been pardoned but brought me Commendation too now for the like cause of Truth and Virtue are I and my Companians arraigned as Criminals For here we are charged with Sedition Dishonouring the Magistrates Treason Yea as if we were almost all guilty of every of these Crimes who are so far from them as we study nothing more than obedience to lawful Power and Authority But what Conviction is there of this What the least proof of it Or what that bears the least Resemblance of it For if to accuse alone be enough neither any of you or any Man living will be innocent and there will be no need to fear those punishments that these Men deserve But here lies the Conviction and proof of the Crime because we have spoken somewhat tartly against some of your order and have us'd sharp Language We hear it After a hostile manner No this your modesty will not give you leave to say tho all the rest you affirm with a geeat deal of Confidence But we have written and spoken a great many Scandalous things against them Whom Those who were and as yet are of our order Who tho they are Ecclesiasticks Doctors Ministers now at this time lay aside those Characters and take upon them to be Magistrates and Judges But what are these Scandalous things Are they such as both they and we do mutually exhort one another to and if that be not enough such as our places and duties oblige us publickly to admonish those that are Committed to our charge Is there any thing more than this That the Printers Name is not prefixt to the Book But what harm is there in that What necessity or Law Custom or Example is there for that I appeal to you O my Companions who have published so many famous books in England and the most Illustrious Penn the Lord and chief Governour of this Countrey of whom there are so many Monuments extant not bearing thy Name or the Names of those that Printed them Which since it is so let all Honest and Impartial people see and Judge who in this place principally are to be esteemed innocent and who guilty whereof the one do not in any wise refuse to stand before their Judges and to have their whole cause plainly determined The others fly from Justice and mock their Judges Now see and consider ye what ye have to determine that it may be that against Truth and Probability falsity and fraud which Tempests and Impure breaths are against the Sun and that it may come to pass if not at present yet that at last oppressed truth may have a Glorious resurrection and light up her head and slighted and injur'd vertue shine forth spendidly as the Suns raies break out so much the more Illustrious after the Gloomy Clouds are dispelled and at last that happy time may come in which the allwise incorrupt and Almighty Judge shall lay open and make manifest those things that are at present obscur'd in an abyss of Darkness and shall reveal the thoughts and counsels of the Heart and every one shall receive their reward from God After a long Quarrelsome and Confus'd disputing of the Case pro and con in which some of 'em so thought their Tongues to be their own as they said what they pleased the Judges having concluded and all people a-gape to hear the sentences They laid upon Keith and Bud the penalty of five pounds each Bradford's Tryal was put off till the next Sessions That which with these Men seems unjust they call the Judiciary Court of the whole province What these Judges seem to think of themselves as if from them there could be no appeal they don't allow of King Charles had reserved to himself in the assignment he had made of the Countrey to W. Penn in the Grand Charter or Grant he gave him the final Decision of such Cases wherein the Inhabitants of the Countrey themselves injured in the highest Tribunal of that Countrey and no other redress was to be had Therefore these Men appeal to the Cognizance of the King and Queen in England and to stand by their Decision And this was denied them by a bold and strong power than which nothing is more formidable or pernicious Wherefore these Men yeilding to their pleasure and the present time reserved their own right to themselves till another time There came in this time of great streights and trouble of mind and dejection these Men lay under two of these kind of people from England who advised Keith out of the ancient Friendship nearness and dearness which he had enter'd into with them and the whole Society that as much as in him lay and as Much as he could and should forego his own private Inconvenience for the sake of the publick and follow peace and avoid the scandal of such a Discension and so great a Distraction And that thereunto they would lend him their advice Which advice of thens Keith liked and approv'd of very well and altho he knew how uncertain a thing it was and full of Danger and that it was no part of a wise Man to follow that that he could not overtake yet that a dubious probability of good was better than an uncertain Evil. And so weighing all things well first he proposes to his Adversaries several Terms of Accommodation by Letters sent to them But they things succeeding now according to their wishes and their hearts being harden'd with inveterate hatred Interpreted this Change of his for an inconstancy unbecoming wise Men and were angry at him for requesting this at their hands Wherefore the Keithians seeing that neither so could this business be brought about and considering that it would be labour in vain and to no purpose but rather hurtful to make any further overtures of peace or if they should obtain any thing that it would not be peace but a Slavish kind of Agreement therefore they kept themselves to themselves and within the bounds of their own Confession which Keith and some others in his own Name and of those
Prudence and Moderation both of him and them that they urged one another with this Crime that each of them spread abroad detestable and cursed Doctrines and ensnared Men in them to the hazzard or loss of their salvation And Keith told that Bingly Vaughton and others when any of them seem'd to speak to another either not in good time or not readily or plainly enough because they first staid to meditate or wait the motion of the Spirit before they spake were us'd to nod one at another point or make signs to them to speak and if that would not do to pluck them by the sleeves and so to put them upon speaking Which certainly was not that that they had in their minds or what the Spirit mov'd them to speak which was contrary to the Doctrine and Fundamental Principles of these Men. But as there was neither Measure nor end of these disputes nor was there any respite of this Contention and Scold tho they were now grown hoarse again and it was not time as yet for them to break up Bingly and Waldenfield perswade the rest not to treat with Keith any further and so presently dissolving the assembly they go away and withal cause all the rest to do so to and disperse After they had left of dealing with Keith they consulted what was best to be done about him In which Consultation some of them complain'd with Relation to Keith that they had not the priviledge given them of speaking their minds and that there were some that by their talkativeness and proud way of speaking and with their looks and aspect took the words out of their Mouths or made them hold their Tongues or altogether silenc'd them there were others who were so frighted and overaw'd that they could not bring out what they differ'd and were of a contrary mind from others in And there were some also that dissemblingly and against their wills had spoken and who were sorry for what they had done and retracted from the sentence that was given At the last with the suffrages of the greatest part of them this decree was made and agreed to That Keith was of a Spirit no ways Christian and was the cause of these differences and divisions and openly Injurious to the Brethren And therefore that he had withdrawn and separated himself from the Holy Communion of the Church of Christ and was gone off from the power of Preaching and Praying in the Meetings of Friends Wherefore he was not to be accounted or receiv'd as one of them unless he first publickly confess'd his Crime and gave some tokens of amendment And moreover by the Acts of the Meeting this sentence was sent in Writing to all the Meetings of the Quakers all the World over That this Meeting in London was no ways concerned in the late differences in some parts of America tho now there was hopes things would succeed there better than formerly But that the Christian Advice and Councill that had been given to Keith and others in the yearly Meeting before Keith had openly in his Printed books set himself against and oppos'd and so betray'd himself to have turned aside from the peaceable Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ and to persevere in the Spirit of Discord and Contradiction and by so doing has given great trouble and grief to the Church of Christ and especially to the last and likewise to this Meeting too And so that now they had born Witness against him untill he had truly repented and reconciled himself to the faithful friends and Brethren So then in this Meeting now so lately held when all hopes of reconciliation was taken away and no other end of any other advice likely to be and a Man Excommunicated and cast out whom the Generality of People looked upon as one of the most Ingenious and best defenders of the Quakers and their Religion this seem'd to be a Schism amongst Men so joyn'd and united together amongst themselves as they were And now redounded to their great disgrace thro' the accusations and sharp Speeches of those that withdrew from amongst them Wherefore these now are their Adversaries and now and then have a fling at them after this manner that now they may see themselves what a sort of Men they are and how much worse than those they would Condemn and this was laid to their Charge that having been free from Domestick jars within and fears from without of a long while that now with such intestine and deadly hatred strife and sedition they should fall together by the Ears amongst themselves instead of that Spiritual and Heavenly Wisdom and Prudence they always bragg'd of and that incredible Amity and Concord that by a nod or sign onely they could have had any thing one of another that it seem'd they would shew that those that formerly were so unconquerable without were now so very weak within and in a short time would fall by their own Weapons and that now the times were changed they would bring upon themselves the total loss of that liberty in hopes of which they promis'd themselves Perpetuity And thus much of the beginning progress and increase of these People and of their Actions and Sufferings in their own Country and those depending upon it to this very time in which that odious to be nam'd and terrible persecution is quell'd and taken off and not onely these Men but all those differing from the publick Churches are protected in their Civil Liberties in all those Countrys and peace and liberty of Conscience is established and that Confirm'd by the Laws Onely excepting Papists and Socinians and the like Propagators of the old Arian Heresy the causes and reasons of which I have treated on elsewhere Which Favour and Indulgence how it was granted to these people both by the equal bountys of that King than whom a better can't be wish'd for and to whom therefore all good Men wish a long and happy Reign especially being now alwaies in Arms and Venturing his life for the Common good and of his Queen who is lately deceased but her Soul being rendred to God the Memory of her lives and alwaies will do so to the latest surviving Posterity for those many and illustrious Virtues that concentred in her Royal Person and also by the joint Consent of the Lords and Commons in both Houses of Parliament assembled readily Complying with the Royal pleasure herein I have likewise before set forth This I must note before I go any farther that this prudence and clemency of the King and Queen and of those great Men was so much glorious to themselves and worthy to be acknowledged by these Men because in all the times aforepast there were not onely so many and great Vexations Prosecutions Afflictions unsufferable Slaughters every where laid upon all sorts of People which either indeed were Acted by Erronious Principles or the Pride and Envy of some Men had a mind to load with false Accusations as if they were very
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