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
but he was forthwith and without any delay in the presence of all that were there according to the Military Practice of some Men so beaten and kick'd by the Colonel himself because he ought above any other to have desisted from such doings and practices as he had then taken upon him that he made him bleed and then was sent back to his old Prison and tyed Neck and Heels there But as there were many of Ames's fellow Soldiers and also other Soldiers who by little and little became of the Quakers Sect several of them having taken Counsel together and allotted their Work did either use their babling Interruptions in the Publick Assemblies while they were at Prayer or Preaching or fell a Trembling there or shewed some such idle and foolish Prank this Example was followed by many others both of the one and of the other Sex wherefore they were ever and anon one after another fined driven to Prisons and in some places miserably harrassed some of them were severely lashed but the Soldiers more than any until the Year Fifty Six when Colonel Ingoldsby the Governour commanded all upon a very severe Penalty to give no manner of Entertainment to any Quaker whatsoever and not suffer them to come within their Doors and that whoever did to the contrary should be expelled out of the City But it was to no purpose some indeed were driven away but their Number did even then and by that means increase and so by degrees came to hold their Assemblies Officers were sent to break open their Doors and to interrupt and disturb them some they fined others were banished but yet for all this they increased and multiplyed more and more this happened at Limerick Cork Waterford Kingsale and other places And thus did this Sect of the Quakers about the time of their rise and first Progress struggle in the time of the Common-wealth under the two Cromwels Father and Son Protectors under the many Afflictions they were put to by their Enemies and to the great hazzard both of their Religion and People The End of the First Book BOOK II. PART I. The Contents of the Second BOOK THE Endeavours of the Quakers upon the King's Restauration G. Keith R. Barclay The Quakers vain hopes concerning the King The Oath of Allegiance an inexplicable Snare to these Men. Tythes also The Cruelty of Keepers towards them Instances The King and Parliament's Disposition towards them A Letter of Fox the Younger to the King Fox his Book of many Languages concerning the Pronoun Thou Several Laws against the Quakers Hence their various Tryals Hubberthorn Burroughs and Howgil die in Prison A vain Suspicion that the Quakers cherished Popery Their Persecution at London The fall of Priscilla Mo The Burials of the Quakers The Persecuting of them at Colchester A Council held concerning Transplanting of the Quakers into the American Islands This transacted and handled several times The various and strange haps and Adventures of such as suffered this Penalty The Ecclesiastical Court The Law De Excommunicato capiendo Several Examples made upon their refusing to pay Tythes The Death of Fisher in Prison Fox's Three Years Imprisonment The Prophecy of a certain Quaker concerning the Burning of London The Troubles of the Quakers in Scotland and Ireland Keith's Doctrine of Christ being in Man Helmont concerning the Revolution of Souls rejected by the Quakers William Pen's turning Quaker A full Description thereof His singular Opinion concerning a Toleration of all Religions The Ecclefiastical state of the Quakers The Order of their Teachers A Meeting of their Teachers together Synods Liturgies or Sacred Duties How they observe the Lord's Day Their Complaint concerning the Protestants study of Divinity Their Opinion concerning a knowledge of Languages and Philosophy Of the Sallary of the Ministers of God's Word What the Call of Ministers is among them Their Discipline Their Solemnizing of Marriages Keith's Imprisonment Pen's Imprisonment at London Solomon Eccles's Fooleries and mad Pranks in several places Fox's Marriage A great Persecution of the Quakers throughout England accompanied with the greatest baseness Green's Fall Pen again and Mead with him Imprisoned at London They are Tryed Pen's Speech to the Judges A great Persecution in Southwark The notable Zeal of these Men in keeping their Assemblies A short respite from the Persecution G. Fox goes to the English Colonies in America His Imprisonment in Worcester and what was done at that time He writes several Letters more elaborately than profitably A Conference between the Quakers and Baptists R. Barclay's Apology for the Christian Theology variously received A Comparison between the Quietists and Quakers Several Persecutions of the Quakers in England The Assaulting of them in Scotland All manner of Slanders put upon the Quakers Doctrine and Life The Persecution of Bristol Of London The Quakers state under King James the Second W. Pen's Diligence for the Quakers The Quakers Affairs under King William Pen's Default Freedom and Liberty given to the Quakers by the Parliament Pen's second Default The Death of Fox The great Book written by him A Description of Fox The great Dissention between the Quakers themselves The present state of them I Have brought down the History of the Quakers to the Time of King Charles II. in whose Reign and even in the very beginning thereof as great changes happened not only in the State every thing being abrogated and taken away that had been Obstacles to the Kingly Power and Dignity or that might be so for the future but also in the Ecclesiastical Constitution for that Equality and Conjunction that ought to be between the Brethren Friends and Disciples of Christ was taken away whilst the Government thereof reverted to a few and for the most part to the King himself so there was among those Persons who were not dissatisfied with the Name Splendor and Authority of a King but with that turn in the Church no small commotion of Mind no light Care and Diligence not only that they might defend their own Churches with the Orders and Constitutions of them lest they should suffer any damage any other way but also that they might further vindicate all their Practices from the Envy of their Adversaries confirm and trim up the same and recommend them unto others Therefore this Study and Concern also seemed to be among all Persons who had as well departed from that same pitch of Religion as from that publick Religion in the very same manner did George Fox and his Colleagues and all of that Herd even every one according to his Place and Station diligently and industriously apply themselves to this Affair wherefore Fox according to his wonted manner began his Peregrination in England to visit his Friends to Preach amongst them but did not take upon him as formerly to talk in the Publick Churches Markets and Streets and there to stir up the People and seeing that he had before this attempted many things more earnestly than successfully he took diligent heed
Divines and not the Quakers alone speak as often as Latin words fail them his Humanity and the Presence or Existence of him as of the Seed and Light and his Manifestation and Operation in Men hitherto either unknown or but very obscurely delivered Barclay betook himself to Write a long time after Keith and at last came out a large Treatise of his written in Latin Entituled Apologia Theologiae vere Christianae Presented to King Charles II. A Book highly praised by those Men and very common among all that are curious of the Writings of those Men of which Book I shall elsewhere more particularly speak so that as the Doctrine and Religion of the Quakers owes its Original and Increase to England so it does its Perfection and Completion to Scotland And now even in this Kingdom of Scotland these Quakers especially Keith had many Contests with the Presbyterians there concerning the causes of their Separation and Secession from those Churches with which they had till this time firmly united and concerning their new Articles of Faith which they were said to have obtruded upon those Old Professors and that by Conferences Disputations and Writings which gave occasion to Keith to write those Books wherein by examining seriously all that was objected against them and often ruminating upon and digesting all that he had before published or spoke he brought forth his Meditations in that Method and Form before spoken of These Men did in the mean time grow here also by degrees more moderate and leave off their rude and audacious ways that had gained them much Hatred and many Evils and so by degrees being accustomed to the sight of their Adversaries they began to live more safely and also to increase in number Their Affairs went on in Ireland but slowly where they who presided as it were over the rest took their advantage in promoting their Doctrine and Religion from the Institutions and Manners of their Friends in England and Scotland And so from this time forward was the Sect of the Quakers brought into form and their Doctrine and Faith consummated to which this may be further added Seeing that a Publick Confession of Faith made by all is a great Bond for the uniting of their Souls together and an apt Symbol of Communion and Fellowship Keith did at a certain time propose this unto them That it would be a most useful thing if such a Book were composed in the Name of all the People called Quakers by worthy and choice Men with clear Words and Sentences which might be an Abridgment and Publick Confession of all their Doctrine and Faith and that the same were Subscribed by all even each one in his particular Church who for the future should be received into the Society of the Quakers and joyn themselves unto them But their Friends were not pleased with this Advice by reason that they thought it to be a thing on the one side that carried in it too much Authority between Equals and on the other side an Obligation of Servitude in a free Affair and that they should be very cautious lest they should be brought under any Inconveniency in that kind for the avoiding of which they had all hitherto gathered together and lived in the greatest Union as they had done in the greatest Freedom imaginable But to return to the beginning of the Reign of King Charles the Second and Record the Facts of these Men and what befel unto them Their Study and Endeavours did indeed appear to comply with the Government of this King as did those of other Sects and Dissenters from the Publick Worship if not from their Judgment yet better by their yielding and giving way and that because of the disposition of the King to be Easie and Indulgent Besides this King himself with all his Followers seemed to have sufferd for so long a time so many and such great Injuries and Calamities and so must be mindful of the Lot and uncertain state of Man that he would at length grant Rest to these Men from the many Troubles which they had been exposed to To this may be added that the King at that time when they were debating in Parliament concerning the Restauration of him he himself being then at Breda in the Court of the Prince of Orange his Nephew by his Sister writes very lovingly and tenderly of his own accord to that Supream Council as also to the City of London That he would give to and preserve the Liberty of Tender Consciences and Opinions in Religion provided it were without endangering the Publick Peace Which thing was again repeated by the King after he was Solemnly established in his Throne Wherefore the Quakers upon the King's Restauration conceived great hopes concerning their Affairs At last when in the beginning of the King's Reign some of the Quakers full of good will towards the King and of a good Opinion of his kindness towards them went to the King and implored his Favour Protection and Help against the Injuries and Cruelty of their Enemies The King grants them all they desired and it 's not to be doubted but that he did it of his own accord for he suffered them at first to live and act according to their own Way and Mode as also to Meet to perform their Religious Worship and so also did he sometime Promise that for the future he would not only not obstruct but also promote their Liberty therefore these Men from the very beginning of the change of the Government did most Industriously proceed in their Affairs and Exercises for the Common Good neither did they do it unknown to their Adversaries but openly and in their sight as it were not by the tacit but express consent and also Command of the King But it will not be long ere all this matter shall fall out much otherwise than this and the Event deceive all the Hope and Opinion of these Men. Yea indeed it so happened as if this Letter the Name Power of the King did not avail for the Liberty and Ease but Ruine of these Men that even from the first Decree of the Parliament concerning the King's Restauration in all that Interval till the King did apply himself to the Administration of the Government they who were the Quakers Adversaries amongst other Pretences which they made use of for to repress and ensnare these Men they turned the Edict Name and Dignity of the King to their Molestation and Destruction Therefore as often as they met together to Celebrate their Worship they were apprehended and carryed away as disturbers of the Peace and though they had not the least Weapon that might give any Offence they were treated as if they had been armed Men and like Enemies and Cut-Throats and stirred up one another and other Peaceable Subjects to Rebellion and to offer Violence to the Common-wealth This I will say to those who do not so well know what the Oath of Fidelity among the English means which they
Humane Nature was not so depraved or that there was some Natural Light remaining whereby they may free themselves from that Vitiosity and that God indeed joyns himself to such as do their endeavour and helps them so as that it is not the meer Grace of God but in some sort Merit in Man and that either some Word or somewhat else is bestowed of God to this end whereas the Quakers have no such thoughts The next Article consisted of such Benefits which are peculiar to those whom they said did not resist the foresaid Illumination but obeyed it for when this Article is known and that which all Protestants teach concerning this matter none will deny but that there is a great deal of difference between the Opinion of Protestants and these Men of whom I now speak apart for this is that which they would have that Christ having performed his Obedience and suffered Death obtained for all Men indifferently to be brought into such a state wherein they are capable of receiving of Christ into them which when it comes to pass that then Christ who is altogether Holy and Just exists in that Person and lives and operates and that by that means the same Person the Justice of Christ existing and operating in him becomes himself Just to wit that the Depravation and Malice of his Nature is gradually unlearnt and laid aside and greater proficiency daily made in Justice and Goodness but yet so as that he may always sin backslide and fall into his former Darkness But he may also arrive at that Perfection so as not to sin at all neither can that constancy in Good fail and cease and seeing no one is happy but he that knows himself to be so this same Man is even then fully conscious of his own Felicity The last Division of this their Doctrine was this and which consists in the Measures and Mediums of receiving the Benefits by which how much also these Men differ from those of whom I have spoken will from hence be no hard matter for us to Judge For they would allow no other Mediums and Aids herein than watchfulness of Mind and attention to that Light which shines in the Heart of every Man and to the Oracles of the Holy Spirit in the Scripture or the Admonitions and Exhortations of Spiritual Persons And thus indeed did they receive and admit of the Ministry of the Gospel but such a Ministration as every one ought to undertake though in a different degree being impelled thereunto by the Holy Spirit alone without the Vocation of Men without Price and Reward and that even Women themselves should not be excluded from Teaching This they would now have and require that all Christians ought frequently to meet at certain Times and Places to the end that they might Worship God and the Father with Brotherly and united Minds and Instruct and Admonish one another to the Observation of the Laws of God and Men and to the exercise of Vertue and Modesty but yet not so as that their Worship should be confined to those Places and Times so as that it must necessarily be undertaken begun and finished there and then according to the Decree and Limitation of those Men for that Worship should be performed by the Impulse and Assistance of the Spirit alone who Acts freely being confined to no spaces or limitations now they would admit of no Sacraments Signs or Seals of the Grace of God that were perceptible by the Senses whence they assumed the Notion that Baptism and the Lord's Supper is something that is inward and Spiritual and that those external Rites continued in the Apostolical Churches but as Figures for a time until the substance of the thing it self was obtained The Quakers spoke and wrote many things from the very beginning of their Sect concerning God and Christ as they were in Men and that Men subsisted in them and almost all their Discourse depended hereon but so as that it was hard yea impossible for a Man to understand what they meant thereby or to cause any other to understand it They began in process of time to explain their meaning more clearly upon this Head and to be more open concerning it and therein as it were placed the Foundation of their whole Doctrine which shall be spoken of at a more convenient time This therefore was the first Form and Description of their Doctrine but as the Doctrine and Faith of these Men was admirable and singular their Life and Conversation was no less for this chiefly consisted in Abstinence and Continency they said all publick and private Wars were forbidden by the Law of God and they shunned all Acts of Revenge and Resistance also neither would they when they had any concerns with other Men though before a Magistrate and that the matter might require it confirm their Asseverations with any Religious Affirmation much less with an Oath and such ways they said were altogether forbidden Moreover they abstained from Pleasures gay Cloaths and superfluous Attire and hated such ways and artifices as tended to Vanity and Pastime as also Shews Play-houses Plays and all manner of Joking and Laughter and besides these they declined to use such Voices Faces Gestures Motions Salutations Blandishments Obsequiousness and the like which are commonly practised in the Societies and Interviews of Men and go by the name of Vertues or of Good Manners and Breeding and did require this That every one look after practise and perform in a serious prudent sparing sober grave and severe manner all that which the Dignity Honour and Excellency of a Christian did require and this both in words and deeds and that they conformed themselves as much as might be to that way of Living This is that Method of Living which the Quakers from the very first rise of them have retained constantly to this very day and they did indeed so extol this their Theology as if this at last and no other did agree to the Constitution and Condition of the New Covenant between God and Man and of the Instrument thereof the New Testament and as if it were the only one adapted to convince and lead all sorts of Men to the Reception of the Christian Faith and to ingenerate true Piety towards God and Men. And as to what appertained to the Life and Manners of them they were themselves very sensible how the Men of this World hated them made a Laughing-stock of them and accounted them as it were the scum and off-scourings of Men for the austereness and severity of their Manners as being so opposite to the Conversation of Men and as it were upbraiding the Folly of all of them But as they bare this Misfortune with great Constancy of Mind and said that they shunned nothing feared nothing besides what was really a sin either against God or Men so they also retorted this that all good Men who own that the Christian World hath long since groaned and as it were been
and medling with them more than other Men. I have spoken of these things in general I come now to particular Instances as being them alone wherein the Proof Testimony and Truth of things do lie for the Quakers did not deny but did Object that there were many things which they reprehended in the Doctrine and Religion of others insomuch that they harped much upon this string That there were many and great Scandals and Reproaches cast upon their Doctrine and Conversation by many and that from hence it was that great Injuries were offered unto them every where The Quakers did indeed Muster up several Petitions offered by the Publick Priesthood let me make use of the publick words of that People who were in Publick Power which tended to the expelling and banishing of the Quakers for those Reasons which if they had been true they themselves did confess that they deserved having thus carried it in respect to the Christian Religion not only to be thrust out of one Province or the whole Kingdom but from the face of the Earth and the number of the Living if as these Men did deny it was Lawful for any Humane Power to inflict so severe and violent a Punishment upon any for any wickedness whatsoever Such an Humble Petition as this if I mistake not was presented in the Year Fifty One by several Pastors of Churches and Citizens and Inhabitants of the County of Westmorland to the Justices of the Peace for that County wherein they desired That James Naylor and George Fox and Francis Howgil and the rest of their Companions which Men they said were generally unknown unto them from whence they came where they dwelt what their business was and whom they said came by their own Authority into these Places and did miserably distract all sorts of Men and set them at dissention and together by the Ears and had wickedly seduced many People with great Efficacy from the true Religion into dangerous pernicious horrible and damnable Ways and Errors and brought things to such a pass as that they perverted and disturbed all Peace and Order in the Common-wealth when in the mean time they are notwithstanding any egregious and even Divine Reasons offered by them to the contrary wicked Men Impostors the Ministers of Satan wherefore they pray they may be driven away and commanded to go into their own Countries and confine themselves within those bounds to their own Occupations and Employments The Effect and Prevalency of which Petition was this that Naylor and Howgil were thrust into Prison though one of the Magistrates to wit Gervase Benson did bear open Testimony against his Brethren that Naylor did not deserve to be censured for what he had done as if he were guilty of Blasphemy and that he as a Criminal should be admonished and laid under such a Punishment for violating of the Law against such Persons and so great Villains To which this must be added that the same Justice Gervase Benson and Anthony Pearson another that was Judge in that matter did afterward turn Quakers and wrote several things for those Men Another Example of this Petitioning was One two Years after presented to the Council of State so they call'd it by many Noblemen Iustices of the Peace Ministers and Citizens of Lancashire in which Petition you have these words That G. Fox and James Naylor and their Associates and Companions did not cease both to dissolve the Bond and Vnity that was between all sorts and ranks of Men as also between the People and God and brought their own Followers to such a pass that all of them Men Women Children and little Ones were in their Conventicles agitated with strange and ridiculous motions trembled foamed swole with their Bellies and that some of their Teachers did not stick to say of themselves besides other abominable Heresies that they were equal to God To this Petition was subjoyned a Catalogue of their Heresies with the Witnesses hands to it in these words That George Fox confess'd and did persist therein That he was equal to God the only Judge of the World Christ the Way the Truth and the Life and so if that any one took upon him in his Sermon to the People to explain any Text of Scripture be was an Enchanter and his Preaching an Enchantment and that the Scripture was carnal that James Melver confessed that he was God and Christ and that the same Man gave out these Prophecies that the Day of Judgment was at hand and farther that there should be no more a Judge in Lancashire and that he would shortly pull up the great Assembly of Parliament by the Roots that Leonard Fell professed that Christ never had any other Body but the Church that R. Hubberthorn had said that the coming of Christ in the flesh was only a Type and Figure But though the Quakers did thus determine among themselves that these things which were laid to their charge were such that even the thing if they held their peace would totter of it self but yet as they left nothing that was objected against them without some Answer so did they also confute this in their Writings in such a manner and with such Reasons that it was very apparent that they were wicked Men who invented these things and that those who believed them were Fools excepting the Prophecies of Melver the Vanity of whose words they willingly acknowledged and reproved yea and seeing it was the Fate of these Men in all Judgments to have many Actions and Opinions full of Scandal and Disgrace laid to their charge besides their Doctrine and way of Living they answered and overthrew these charges not in one Pamphlet only and set forth what they had expounded concerning any matter what their Opinion was and whose it was but they also sent these Pamphlets to all the Judges and also to the Protector Cromwel and did moreover Publish them among the People so that all and every Person might be throughly acquainted with their Doctrine and Life with the causes thereof and plainly weigh those things that might come to be controverted and if any suspicion insinuated it self into the Minds of some Persons they might remove it and that they might no longer lie under such false Accusations as these but whether it came to pass from such an imputed Crime or from Resisting and Opposing in an over violent manner or rather wickedly and imprudently impugning the Doctrine and Fame of the Ministers of God's Word Hubberthorn from this time forward did not sustain one only Imprisonment at Chester but was also confined in Norwich and that to the Year Fifty Five but of this briefly and by the way Let 's go on there are some Instances of these Men being accused by their Adversaries falsly even then when they went to them for to clear themselves of that Ignominy either they challenged them to set themselves in some place and to hear how these Accusers proved and made the thing good after
taken in as members of it Which being a thing of no small moment and laying a firm foundation for hatred and envy disagreement and Contention among these People even to this very day it is much to be feared that unless they agree better among themselves it may come to pass one day that their domestick Quarrels invite their Barbarous Neighbours or other forreign foes to set upon them in an hostile manner and put a speedy period to their Government and longer continuance there And we may know also that whereas the War between the French and English is carried into these parts of the World also and altho these people can tell how to fight well enough with words yet they 'll have nothing to do with War or Armies either for offence or defence and consequently lye an easy Conquest for an Enemy who very quietly and without any danger at all to themselves might soon overcome them King William of England has sent 'em over a Governour one of the Church of England with Orders That if occasion be he should take care to defend them against any Armed Enemy better than otherwise they would themselves Now since we are at present upon this Country of the Quakers and have but now made mention of the great dissentions and distractions amongst them it would not be suitable to this Relation and the design of this Work if I should omit that great and very memorable Case that within these few years has happen'd among them in those Parts which because know'n to few I will relate and deduce down to this very time when as yet none knows what the end of it will be I have shewn in the former Book concerning George Keith that famous Teacher amongst the Quakers how the Quakers his Friends and Acquaintaince in England ascribed to him certain Errors or Forms of speaking which they did not approve of but which of their good will towards him they attributed to his singular Learning This man came over into these parts and residing a while in some Islands near Pensylvania in the year 89 remov'd thence to Philadelphia being invited by some who not only desired him for their Preacher but also to be Tutor to their Children When he came thither he undertook both Offices and to shew his Modesty takes the place of an Usher to teach Boys and discharges it very commendably And at the same time exercising his Preaching Faculty among an unlearned and Ignorant company of People as for the most part their Preachers were he excell'd 'em all appearing as a bright Luminary and out-shining all the rest of that Order among them And by his opportune diligence and industry in all the parts of his Ministerial Office he render'd himself belov'd of 'em all especially the more inferiour sort of People And it had been well indeed if so it had continued But a short time produc'd a great alteration in the state of Affairs For soon after there arose some that oppos'd Keith him and charg'd him with many not only Errors in Doctrine but also high and unpardonable Crimes For Keith did not forbear over and over again to inculcate and instruct all his Auditors in the Doctrines of the two-fold Nature of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ the Divine and Human and of the Human the one part Heavenly Spiritual and Eternal the other Earthly and Corporeal conceiv'd in time of his Mother Mary Then his second Tenent was this which he often repeated to them all That Christ as Born of Mary was uninted with the Divine Nature and so was present with his Light and Life in all the Children of God It was difficult for him to keep the Conception of his mind to himself without divulging them especially because when a man rightly comprehends a thing himself it is nothing unless another be made acquainted with it too Wherefore Keith altho he a good while smother'd in silence the Opinions which he had long entertain'd Of the Transmigration of Souls after Death Of the last Judgment and State of the Deceased and end of the World as being unsafe and less acceptable to be disclosed yet he could not so contain himself but that now and then he gave an inckling in his Discourses of what his inward conceptions of these things were and sometimes he was not able to forbear betraying in his words what his true sense of those things was and what he principally aim'd at in them whence it came to pass that those that lov'd Keith and favour'd his Doctrine greedily entertain'd these Principles And yet for the most part those that were the greatest followers of his Doctrins and Admirers of his Skill and Parts whom Keith indeed for his own Credit 's sake either found or made thorough pac'd in his Principles embrac'd these Notions so heartily that they relyed more upon his Authority and Precepts than their own Judgment and thought it enough to say that he knew and said so and so and that with them was Demonstration And so his Exact and Nice and Subtle Judgment in these matters was a subterfuge to cover their Ignorance Against these Tenents of Keith and those of his Party there were others that set themselves and especially against that Article of the Divine and Human Nature of Christ which Article Keith openly acknowledged he held and professed and that it was no new thing by him devised but antiently and always taught by the whole Society Against which Article they objected that of one he made two Christs Of these Adversaries the Head and chief was an Elderly Minister one W. Stockade by Name a man indeed not unlearned but in the Opinion of himself and many more unlearned and ignorant People a man of vast Parts and Learning and the Champion and Defender of the Antient and Pure Religion of these People Keith stretched his Opinion and Belief of this Article so far and made it so necessary to be known and believed as that thereupon Christianity it self depended and that the denial of that Article was the same as to deny the Passion and Death of Christ yea Christ himself Moreover that they who persisted in the denying of this Article the sin of such denial was so great that it gave just cause to those that held it to fly to Extremity and separate themselves from those who obstinately deny it At last when this question had been Controverted a long while and no end like to be put to it Keith and those of his Party grew to that heighth and were so peremptory in this Controversy that they said God had called 'em to separate themselves from those sort of Infidels In the mean while as this good Company were so disgusted at the Opinions of the other acuter Men they entertain'd and published such kind of Notions about the same Articles as Keith and his followers no less delested and were averse from then they cry'd out the Denial of their Opinions was no less than a renouncing of the
Commotions again and again and also here and there began to raise Disturbances Nor must I pass over in silence that among the principal Asserters and Defenders of the Socinian cause there was one especially who as a Cock can Crow best upon his own Dunghil who not onely upon all occasions rail'd furiously against the Quakers and not onely thwarted their Councils and Designs in some parts of these provinces but also could not restrain the force of his anger before he had done Considerable dammages to some of them Now this I find by the Acts of the Synod of Woerd held the year aforementioned that our people then also were afraid of the Quakers and took care lest by any means any dammage should accrew to their Churches by them And moreover the Quakers to be Enumerated with the Socinians Hence a Decree was made in that Synod That care should be taken that the Interdict of the States should be put in Execution by which they had cautiously provided a few years before That none should bring the Socinian Errors or Books into these Countreys or keep any such sort of Meetings or Conventicles under the Penalty That if any one should do any such thing for the first time as a Blasphemer against the Divine Name and Disturber of the Peace he should be banish'd out of the Province and for the second Offence should be punished for so great a Crime at the Will and Pleasure of his Judges Then Two years afterwards the Legates of the Synod of Dort presented a supplicatory Treatise to the States in which they pray the order I before mentioned may be put in Execution The States refer that treatise to the Session of their senate The senate by reason of other grave and difficult businesses of the common Weal which they had in hand protract and delay the Cognizance of this affair Afterwards the Treatise was not to be found The Legates write it over again and tender it De novo And yet for all that could get no Answer So now three whole years were run on Wherefore in the year 69. In the Synod of Goud and that other of Schonhove since the Legates had been for so long time imployed in this affair to no purpose at all and every one easily saw what it was that caus'd this delay the further Prosecution of this affair was quite left off But Ames and his first Companions departing out of these Countreys the Quaker's affairs in Holland were principally promoted by the Council and Assistance of one Benjamin Furley an English Merchant first at Amsterdam then at Rotterdam who together with his Merchandize had addicted himself to the study of Learning and in the favour of these Men wrote several little Tracts in Divers Languages But yet refrain'd himself from exercising the office of a Teacher or Minister amongst them alledging this reason for it that he could safely enough be taught at all times but could scarce be a Teacher himself without danger Altho as time and age teach Men many things this same Man afterwards found fault with and went off from many things in the Doctrine and Manners of the Quakers From hence it appears what the Number of the Quakers might be in Holland and after what manner at this Day it is included in a few familys there are not so many as that the Number of familyes can equallize that of the Citys throughout the whole Province And so long as they used all manner of moderation in their way of Living and only took care about their own Religion without concerning themselves with that of others they enjoy'd as much Liberty as themselves could wish for While these things were doing in Holland in Zealand in the City of Middleburgh Christopher Bertrad an English Seaman the same Man who caused such a Disturbance in the Church at Bristol in England and carried himself so insolenty before the Magistrate as we took notice of in the First Book in an Assembly of the Church of England in Prayer-time he made such a noise with his Discourse and Clamours and angred them to such a degree that they thrust him out of the Church Whither he presently runing in again they sent for Officers who conducted him to Prison Where when he had remained for a year and a half there came to him moved at his long Confinement and affected with a like Sense of his Griefs Caton who assoon as 't was known who he was was put into the same place Then both of them at the request of the States Ambassadour to the Commonwealth of England at Newport were sent and put into a Man of War and carried over into England being jeered reproach'd and vex'd all the way by the Seamen and Soldiers Now Ames who was always the chief man in action as long as he remained in these Parts Considering that things did not go to his mind in Holland and that Caton had reap'd such fruits of his Labour in Zealand he undertakes a journey into Gelderland and from thence to Overyssell and goe's thro' almost all the Meetings of the Mennonites in both those Provinces trying if he could bring over any of these people who seem'd better affected to his party and indeed were pretty near the Quakers if not in all yet at least in many Opinions and Customes But here neither Ames could make any advantage or do any thing worth the speaking of After this he and Caton who was now come back out of England took a journey into Friesland to try the Mennonites there who in that Province more than in any other part of these Countryes not only in their Institutions but also in their Country Customes and the Nature of the people were harmless temperate precise and came nearer the Discipline of the ancient Anabaptists not that which of late dayes has prevailed amongst that sort of People But here these men onely shew themselves and go away again as wise as they went without any good or hurt done But after these men were gone there were not a few that embrac'd the very same Doctrine that these men came to declare and join'd themselves to them with the same ninds and desires These Mennonites and a pareel of Socinians that shrouded themselves under their Meetings and that sort of Men the Family of Love who are full of Love and Humanity cross to none open and free to all who hold this Notion of God and herein their Worship of God lyes That God is not Evil and that they themselves are not so nither nor would do any ill to any body Which sort of men increasing every day more and more and now coming abroad and meeting together both publickly and privately and holding their general Assemblys for publck Worship and constantly observing their meetings and by this meanes making way for the comission of many other penicious and ill things the Mennonites being a more Religious and strict sort of People began to look upon them with evill Eyes and be displeased