The Persecutions of Early Quakers in America
Site Editor's Introduction
The Puritans of New
England, specifically Connecticut and Massachusetts, exceeded the
persecutions that the Quakers experienced in England, principally by
hanging three Quaker men and one Quaker woman. Twenty-three other
Quakers were scheduled to die by hanging before the King of England
intervened. One would think that the Puritans, after escaping
persecutions themselves by fleeing to New England, would have been more
tolerant. But, as you will see, their self-righteous spirit, viciously
dealt with all conflicting religious opinions; and, since the Quakers
were far more convicting than any other sect, with their nontraditional
doctrines, they were most brutally persecuted. The callous, unchristian
brutality of the Puritan persecutors has only been exceeded by the
priests of the barbarous Roman Catholic inquisitions, who murdered 9,000,000 souls in the Middle Ages.
The murdering Puritans and the Catholic priests had all believed in
Jesus, had been baptized, took communion, read the Bible frequently,
prayed frequently, attended worship services regularly — they were all saved Christians murdering
and torturing those with different religious opinions. So it is simple
to conclude — if you want to understand true Christianity, study what
those said, who were the victims. Few could argue that the murderers
could possibly be Christians.
Jesus told us the the false prophets would come, wolves dressed in sheep's clothing; and he said we would know them by their fruits.
Surely we can all understand that those who whip, stone, mutilate, and
kill are the wolves; while those who suffer, praying for their
persecutors are the true sheep. And Jesus
told us that his true sheep would be hated, would be persecuted, and
even killed by those thinking to be doing God a service.
As you study on this site the
gospel message of the early Quaker lambs of God — massively persecuted
by the Baptists, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, and Congregationalist
Puritans — you may discover truth of what the Quakers preached. To
understand why the Quakers were so severely persecuted, click here.
The numbers of early Quakers
persecuted in America were orders of magnitude less than the number
persecuted in England because the population of early colonial New
England was only a small fraction of England's; but the brutality in
America exceeded England. Further, the American early Quaker experience
uniquely chronicles the dedicated obedience of, not only men, but many Quaker women, in ages from eleven years young to seventy years ancient,
sent by the Lord to extinguish the fires of persecution with their
blood. As you read these records of persecution, notice how it was the
preachers and ministers, (also true in England), who were the principal
advocates of violence, including death; often inciting reluctant
government officials to go beyond humane bounds, plunging into the
depths of Satanic barbarity.
John Calvin was a principal
founder of Protestantism and had great influence on the Presbyterians,
Puritan Congregationalists, Baptists, and even Lutherans. Calvin had
Servetus, another prominent early Protestant, arrested; and Calvin wrote
charges of heresy against him. Servetus had stated that there was no
support in the Bible for infant baptism, and that the word trinity did not exist in the Bible, being an invention of the Roman church, and a twisting of 1 John 5:7,
from one spirit to three persons. Calvin's wrote the charges against
him and had him arrested, resulting in Servetus being burned at the
stake, slowly with green wood and burning pitch dripping down his face.
Jacques Gruet, a known
opponent of Calvin, was arrested, tortured for a month and beheaded
on July 26, 1547, for placing a letter in Calvin's pulpit calling him a
hypocrite. Calvin also had thirty four women burned at the stake as
witches accused of being responsible for a plague, while another account credits his theocracy in Geneva with 58 sentences of death. Calvin justified execution of heretics, writing: Whoever
shall maintain that wrong is done to heretics and blasphemers in
punishing them makes himself an accomplice in their crime and guilty as
they are. There is no question here of man's authority; it is God who
speaks, and clear it is what law he will have kept in the church, even
to the end of the world. Wherefore does he demand of us a so extreme
severity, if not to show us that due honor is not paid him, so that we spare not kin, nor blood of any, and forget all humanity when the matter is to combat for His glory. The apologists of Calvin spilling blood and forgetting all humanity point out that many other Protestants killed heretics too — (the everybody-did-it defense; better said is: all the great men of God? then were murderers.)
This record of Puritan
persecutions further proves the Quaker's belief, that religion and
government should not mix. Fox and the early Quakers had a tenet "not to meddle with the powers of the earth:" as in Revelation, the church adulterated with the kings of the earth;
as Martin Luther, for protection from Roman arrest, gave
his sanction to an alliance between the Church and
the State in Saxony; as the colonial New England governments
created a religious state. All resulted in tyrannies and horrible
corruptions of Christ's teachings and commands.
In the main, these web pages are an extract from The History of the Society of Friends in America,
1850, by James Bowden, an excellent historian and Quaker; who though
proud of his Quaker heritage, like most Quakers from 1800 on, did not
have a clue as to the measure of Christ possessed by the Early Quakers
in 1650-1700. In a few noted passages, I have used the more descriptive
text of William Sewel's The History of the Rise, Increase and Progress of the Christian People Called Quakers, 1844, first written in 1695; Sewel was a Quaker himself, and interviewed many of the eye-witnesses to the events he wrote. Describing God's revenge on Boston, I have also excerpted and noted text from from the Narrative of the Martyrdom at Boston,
by John Richardson, 1831. In the text of Bowden, I have deleted the
mostly unsuccessful colonization of America details, to begin with the
Puritans' colonization of New England, and terminated the text at the
cessation of their vicious persecutions. The text has been largely
updated to current usage. I have added text delineated in {} braces.
Most of the direct quotations were footnoted in the original work, but
for ease of reading the footnotes have been eliminated; the great
majority having been references to Besse's Sufferings, New England Judged, Norton's Ensign, Secret Works, Colonial Records, Swarthmore original manuscripts, Hutchinson's
Massachusetts, Secret Works, Commons Journal in Kennett, Journal of the Lords, F. Howgill's Popish Inquisition, Sewel's History, Call from Death to Life, J. Bancroft's United States, Croese's General History of the Quakers,
and Will Caton's original manuscripts. Most of these books have
disappeared today. If you want to see the original text with footnotes,
it is available for viewing in PDF format for the on-line version of this site also.
_____________________________________
The Puritan Predecessors
{Normally, I would exclude such detail as follows on the Puritans as a prelude to their persecutions, but the facts related help to understand their religious intolerance, and how it grew into monstrous proportions, with cruel whippings, dismemberments, and death by hanging. If you would prefer to skip the history of the Puritan's evolving into their brutal persecuting spirit and go directly to the persecutions of the Quakers, click here.}
For more than a century after the
discovery of the Western World, the English had landed on its shores,
comparatively speaking, but a mere handful of people. After repeated
failures, the colonization of Virginia, under the management of the
London company, led to great expectations; but it was reserved for the
Puritans to give the greatest impulse to the tide of emigration to the
new country.
The Reformation in England had never been
accompanied by a full toleration of individual sentiment in matters of
religion, and here may be dated the establishment of the colonies in
New England. The Nonconformist emigrants to that region, were
individuals, who contended for a more thorough reformation in religion,
than that recognized by Queen Elizabeth. They were dissatisfied with
the pompous display of the Anglican Church, and regarded it as a remnant
of the Roman apostasy. The use of organs and other instruments of
music in the time of public worship, the prohibition of extemporaneous
prayer, the bowing at the name of Jesus, the use of the surplice and
other priestly vestments, together with the liturgy and the various
distinctions of rank among the ministers of religion, were among the
leading grounds of dissent held by this class of English Reformers. The
Protestants of England thus became divided into two parties, the one
pleading for greater purity and simplicity in the church, and the other
for entire conformity to the reformed religion as recognized by law.
The latter being the more powerful of the two, soon had recourse to the
civil power in the enforcement of their views. In 1554 an "Act of
Conformity" was passed, and at the instigation of Elizabeth in 1593,
another act of greater severity followed, including provisions for
penalties and imprisonments, and even for capital punishment, against
those who refused to conform to the usages of the church established by
law.
The enactments for enforcing conformity to
the Anglican church, drove the Puritan party to speak openly of
secession, and at last in 1572, they formed a separate congregation.
The laws against nonconformists were now cruelly enforced, numbers were
banished the country, and two were even hung at Tyburn. The persecuted
Puritans finding that Holland afforded them a refuge, fled there, and a
congregation of them was formed at Amsterdam; but the intermarriages
of their members with Dutch families decreased their numbers, and this,
with some other considerations, led most of the younger part of their
church to resolve to a move to America. An application for a grant of
land was accordingly obtained, and was sanctioned by King James; but he
refused to enter into any stipulation for the free exercise of their
religion; saying, that "if they demeaned themselves quietly, no inquiry
would be made." In the summer of 1620, one hundred persons, having
about £2,400 in goods and provisions, embarked as exiles, seeking a new
home on the western shores of the Atlantic. After a voyage of two
months, they arrived in the harbor of Cape Cod, in sight of the most
barren part of Massachusetts. The country on which they landed, had, a
few years before, been rendered a lonely desert by a pestilence which
had swept over it. Wigwams were found, but their tenants had
disappeared; the rising smoke in the distance, however, indicated that
the Indian was not far off,—a fact which was soon confirmed by the sound
of the war-whoop, for the natives knew the European only as the
kidnapper of their race. After exploring the country, the emigrants
chose a spot, as the most inviting on which to form a settlement, and
to this they gave the name of Plymouth. The winter was passed in
endurance of extreme privation, and before another summer's sun had
beamed upon the little company, one-half of their number had closed
their earthly career. In [a supposed] imitation of the primitive
Christians, these Pilgrim Fathers adopted a community of goods as the
basis of their system; but they found to their cost that it was one
poorly adapted to their state. Labor was given with so sluggish a
disposition, that in some instances whipping was resorted to, as a
necessary coercive.* In the following year the colony was reinforced by
an arrival of new emigrants. For at least three years after the landing
of the Puritans in New England, they had to submit to great
hardships, which they bore with much cheerfulness; and the settlement
increased. In ten years it was flourishing, and numbered three hundred
inhabitants.
*{Thus the first experiment of socialism on American soil failed; for unless a man can keep the fruits of his labor, he will not labor. In ancient Israel there was private property, and a man could retain the fruits of his labor. To provide for the widows and orphans, God commanded tithes, ten percent of the harvested crops to be delivered to the priesthood of Levi, who then distributed to others in need. Of course if all people in a society are perfect, totally unselfish, then any economic system works. But, with unperfected people, with selfish motives, the fruits of their labor is their only motivation to labor. The early Christian Church accepted voluntary contributions from all, which was then distributed to those in need; but it was not a mandantory collective society. We have the record of one couple bringing the proceeds from the sale of property, pretending they were offering the entire amount of the sale; Peter scolded them, telling them they could have retained however much they chose, but since they had lied to the Holy Spirit, they were destroyed, as an example. The early Quakers, had not a beggar among them; collections were taken to distribute to the poor, apprentice orphans, and relieve other less affluent assemblies throughout the world — but they did not live in a collective society — as neither did the early Church.}
The determination of the leaders of the
English Episcopal church, to persist in enforcing the laws made against
dissent, and the unceasing efforts of Archbishop Laud for the
introduction of a more pompous ritual, accompanied with an inquisitorial
system of great severity against nonconformists, increased the desires
of the persecuted Puritans for emigration to America. The reluctance
which many of them felt to exchange the land of their nativity for the
wilds of the new world was overcome by the persecution to which they
were subjected, and an association for promoting emigration to New
England, was formed on a large scale. Men of rank and influence, and
ejected Puritan ministers of high standing, encouraged the scheme, and a
grant of land from the government was applied for. The Court was not
opposed to the design, and a patent was obtained, for "the governor and
company of Massachusetts Bay." Preparations for embarkation having
been made, the emigrants, amounting to above two hundred, set sail in
six vessels. In the Sixth Month, 1629, they reached the coast of
Massachusetts, and landed on a spot which they named Salem. Some needy
settlers, amounting to about one hundred, had already located
themselves at this place, and altogether the infant colony numbered
three hundred souls.
The early settlers at Salem, like those of
the Plymouth colony, suffered great distresses, and before the
following spring, more than eighty of their number had died. But the
accounts transmitted to England gave a cheering description of the new
country, and the feeling in favor of emigration became more intense
among the nonconformists. In the following year preparations were made
on a still larger scale, and no less than fifteen hundred persons landed
on the shores of Massachusetts, including many both of wealth and
education. The desire for this foreign land continued to gather
strength, and year after year, masses of English dissenters of the most
respectable class, proceeded to New England. Neale does not doubt that
in a few years one fourth of the property of the kingdom would have
been taken to America, had no resistance been offered. But the
government became alarmed, and a proclamation was issued "to restrain
the disorderly transporting of his Majesty's subjects, because of the
many idle and refractory humors, whose only or principal end is to live
beyond the reach of authority." On the day following an order appeared
to "stay eight ships now in the river of Thames prepared to go for New
England;" and the passengers, among whom was Oliver Cromwell,* were
obliged to disembark. Although a considerable check was thus given to
emigration by the interference of the civil power, yet large numbers
continued to find their way to Massachusetts. It is calculated that,
during twelve years, the emigrants amounted to no less than twenty-one
thousand.
*{The irony of their forcing Cromwell to stay in England, is that he later led the successful civil war of Puritan parliament men to depose King Charles I and establish a complete Puritan government.}
Escaped from a harassing and unjust
persecution in their native land, it might have been expected that the
settlers in New England would recognize religious liberty as the basis
of their system. But no such idea, it appears, was ever entertained by
them. The express object of the Puritans in seeking to found a colony
in America, was, that they might enjoy the free exercise of their
religion. The charter, however, is entirely silent on the subject. The
king regarded the emigrants as a trading company, and they were
forbidden to make any law or ordinance repugnant to the statutes of the
realm. The fair construction of the charter is, that entire dissent
from the English church was not intended to be allowed, nor does it
appear that the English government, in granting it, ever anticipated
that the Puritans would insist on a separation of church and state, or
that their own religion, both in doctrine and discipline, was to be the
only one tolerated in Massachusetts. These stern and unbending
reformers, however, were resolved that neither the Roman apostasy, nor
"the corruptions of the English church, "should find tolerance within
the limits of their jurisdiction. "The common prayer worship," and
Episcopacy, they deemed to be incompatible with that religious liberty,
for the enjoyment of which, though in a western wilderness, they had
left the homes of their ancestors, and they boldly determined to resist
their introduction among the settlers. "Their imposition," they
declared, "would be a sinful violation of the worship of God."
Religious union they believed to be their stronghold against attacks of
the hierarchy in England, and "the order of the churches" was to be
maintained at all hazards; "The brethren " only, were to be the people
of their country, and all dissent from their own belief and form of
worship, was to be visited by the strong arm of magisterial authority;
both minister and ruler regarding every innovation of their principles
as dangerous to the community. Dudley, one of the most respectable
governors of the province, was found at his death with a copy of verses
in his pocket, in which these lines occur:
"Let men of God, in court and churches, watch O'er such as do a toleration hatch."
The pure doctrines of Christianity the
Puritans fondly conceived, were, by their instrumentality, to be
reduced to practice, and the civilized world was to have in Puritan New
England, an example of a church, free from all those pollutions which
had gradually crept into Christendom. That this formed the primary
object, and was the conscientious aim of the Pilgrim Fathers in
emigrating to New England, is not to be doubted.
The character of these emigrants was
undoubtedly much above the average of the British population, for
sobriety, industrial habits, and general integrity of conduct. "God
sifted three kingdoms," said one of their early governors," that he
might bring choice grain into this wilderness." Notwithstanding their
bigoted attachment to their own doctrines, and the errors which they
committed on the subject of religious toleration, there is ample
evidence that the early Puritans of New England were mostly a
conscientious and striving-to-be-pious people, but distinguished by
some striking peculiarities. The practice of substituting Hebrew names,
spiritual terms, and even passages of scripture, for English, proper
names, was one of them; and from this fact may be traced the
prevalence of Old Testament names in New England at the present day.
The system which the Puritans intended to
pursue in America, with respect to religion, was unexpected to the
English nation; and had it been fully known, none, certainly, but those
of their own profession would have joined in the emigration. It
happened, however, that of the party who went out in 1629, two who had
been appointed members of the colonial council by the Company, were
Episcopalians, and these, refusing to unite with the Fathers in their
mode of worship, collected a company of the settlers at Salem, who were
desirous of upholding the forms and ceremonies of the English church.
This circumstance took the Puritans by surprise, but being settled in
their conclusions, they determined to meet the supposed evil with a
high hand. The two Episcopalian legislators, after being accused as
spies in the camp, and forbidden to exercise their religion in
Massachusetts, were arrested, and on the return of the vessels, sent
back to England. This was the first act of Puritan intolerance in New
England; and had it been the only one, the Christian church would have
been spared some of its dark excesses.
The exclusive system of the Puritans in
America, upheld as it was with the utmost severity, had its opponents.
There were among those strict professors, enlightened men, who saw that
it was repugnant to the spirit of true religion. Roger Williams of
Salem, "a young minister godly [reputed] and zealous," was one of this
class, and one who did not hesitate boldly to declare, that "the
doctrine of persecution for cause of conscience, is most evidently and
lamentably contrary to the doctrine of Christ." The presence of every
man at public worship in New England was insisted upon, but this,
Roger Williams contended, was an invasion of the natural rights of the
subject. Doctrines thus openly professed and promulgated, were viewed as
treason by the ministers of Massachusetts, and at length, in 1635,
the magistrates resolved to banish Williams, as a disturber of the
order of church and state. Exiled from his friends, Roger Williams
sought shelter among the Indians of Narragansett Bay. They received him
gladly. "The ravens," he remarked, "fed me in the wilderness." He
determined upon founding a new colony, and acknowledging the rights of
the native inhabitant to the soil; he purchased a territory, and
established a new colony. Roger Williams thus became the founder of an
American plantation, and pursuing an enlightened and Christian course,
he founded it on the principles of absolute religious freedom. A spot
having been selected for a settlement, he began to build, and in
commemoration of the mercies of the Most High, he called it Providence,
desiring that it might be "a shelter for persons of distressed
conscience." The liberal policy of the founder of this settlement was
duly appreciated, and he soon had the satisfaction of welcoming to the
wilds of Narragansett, "godly people from England, who apprehended a
special hand of Providence in raising this plantation, and whose hearts
were stirred to come over." Its English population consequently
increased rapidly. Scarcely had the first dwellings in Providence been
tenanted by the exiles from Massachusetts, before that intolerant
colony was subjected to a new schism. A Calvinistic sect, entertaining
the notion that the Puritans of New England placed a dangerous reliance
on the strictness and severity of their lives for salvation, and that
the doctrine of justification by faith alone, constituted the true
ground of the Christian's hope, gave rise to this division.
Anne Hutchinson, a woman of great
eloquence and ability was the leader of these Antinomians,* and Harry
Vane, then governor of the province, and who afterwards became so
conspicuous in England, identified himself with their cause. A furious
controversy between the Puritan ministers and the Hutchinsonians took
place. The former convened a synod, which, after declaring the
orthodoxy of the New England church, proceeded to denounce Anne
Hutchinson and her party, as unfit for society," and to exile them
from the province. The larger portion of the new sect, headed by
William Coddington, in 1637 proceeded southward, and with the
assistance of Roger Williams, succeeded in purchasing of the
Narragansett Indians the picturesque little territory of Rhode Island.
Another colony was thus founded, and Coddington was chosen as its
governor. The broad principle of liberty of conscience was fully
recognized in its constitution; it being agreed "that none be accounted
a delinquent for doctrine."
*{Mary Dyer, who later became a Quaker and is a heroine in this writing, was one of the Antinomians driven from Massachusetts to exile in Rhode Island. The Puritans were convinced that anyone with a different religious opinion from their own was obviously possessed by Satan; and, after Mary Dyer was exiled, they dug up the corpse of her stillborn child, widely displaying it and pointing to any irregularity in the corpse as proof for it being a child of a witch and devil worshipper. Sad, sad, sad!}
The colonies of Providence and Rhode
Island had not been secured a political existence by a charter from the
mother country, and consequently were excluded from the colonial union
of New England. The settlers, feeling that their existence as a
separate province, depended on the protection of a charter, appointed
Roger Williams in 1643, to proceed to England for the purpose of
obtaining one. Sir Harry Vane,* then an influential member of the
Parliament, favored the application, and through his exertions, a
charter was obtained, incorporating the two colonies under the title of
"Rhode Island."
*{Vane was a one of the very few sympathizers with the Quakers' pleas to Parliament to cease the persecutions. He was a republican, allied with Cromwell in the civil war, but differing with Cromwell on the particulars of government. He was executed on the return of the King.}
The inhabitants of the new province now
happily experienced the blessings of liberty of conscience. "We have
not felt," they said in 1654, in an address to their patron Sir Henry
Vane, "the iron yoke of wolfish bishops, or the new chains of the
Presbyterian tyrants, nor, in this colony, have we been consumed by the
over-zealous fire of the (so called) godly Christian magistrate. We
have not known what an excise means—we have almost forgotten what
tithes are." Such was the happy experience of the early inhabitants of
Rhode Island.
Returning again to the colonies of
Massachusetts, we find, that in a few years after the Antinomians had
been cast out, Anabaptism sprang up, and disturbed the intolerant
Puritan. The {Baptists'} denying of infant baptism, and the holding of
separate meetings, was called, "setting up an altar of their own
against God's altar." "God forbid," said Dudley in his old age, "that
we should tolerate errors." " To say that men ought to have liberty of
conscience, is impious ignorance," said another." "Religion," responded
the notorious priest, Norton, "admits of no eccentric notions." The
conscientious Anabaptist shared no quarter, and fines, whippings, and
finally, banishments, cleared Massachusetts of its Baptist population.
How then can we wonder that in Puritanical New England, Quakerism
should draw down a severer persecution?
The territory of New Hampshire was
formed into a colony in 1622; its progress, however, was slow. The
inhabitants were chiefly Puritans from Massachusetts, which claimed
the right of jurisdiction over the district; and in 1642, it was
annexed to that colony; but in 1679 it received a distinct charter, and
became another province.
The valley of the Connecticut, by its
alluvial fertility, early attracted settlers from Massachusetts. In
1635, a company of sixty of the Pilgrims emigrated in a body through
the forests to this country, and in the following year, when still
larger numbers found their way to it, the government of Connecticut
was established under the auspices of Winthrop. The fur trade also
attracted many to settle on the banks of its noble river; these were
chiefly Dutch from New Amsterdam. In 1662, the colony obtained a
charter from Charles II. Soon after emigration to Connecticut had
begun, a colony sprang up at New Haven, under Puritan auspices;
however, it never obtained a charter, but became incorporated with the
former under one government.
The country comprising the province of New York,
appears to have been first visited by Henry Hudson in 1609, while in
the employ of the Dutch. This enterprise led the Dutch nation to claim
the country contiguous to the river which bears the name of this
navigator; and, in the following year, some Amsterdam merchants traded
with the Indians on the shores of Long Island Sound; and a few years
later, some Dutch fur traders took up their abode on the island of
Manhattan. In 1621, the Dutch West India Company obtained a charter to
plant colonies in America, and four years later, several dwellings of
persons who came to prosecute the fur trade, were erected on the site of
the present city of New York. Subsequently, all the country extending
from Maryland to New England, was claimed by the Dutch. In colonizing
this country, then called New Netherlands, the Dutch West India
Company recognized religious toleration. "Let every peaceful citizen,"
wrote the directors from Amsterdam, "enjoy freedom of conscience; this
maxim has made our city the asylum for fugitives from every land; tread
in its steps and you shall be blessed." The liberty thus allowed,
attracted persons from different parts of Europe, and the Dutch colony
soon became a home, not only for English, French, and Belgians, but
also for Germans, Bohemians, Swiss, and Italians. The French
protestants came in such numbers, that official documents were sometimes
issued in their language, as well as in Dutch and English. The
enlightened legislation of New Netherlands, forms a bright spot in the
colonization of America, and, but for the conduct of the Calvinistic
Stuyvesant, its governor, in persecuting some Lutherans and Quakers,
religious toleration would have been complete within its limits. The
duration of Dutch power in America, was, however, but short. In a war
with the English in 1664, it was lost, and a dismemberment of New
Netherlands followed as war reparations. James, the Duke of York and
the brother of Charles I, was given the new lands; the country east of
the Delaware was assigned to Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret,
both proprietors in Carolina; and which now received the name of New
Jersey.
The colonization of Delaware
began in 1631, when about thirty Dutch people formed a settlement near
Lewistown, and it became a separate colony. Before Europeans had planted
themselves on the soil of Delaware, Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden,
had planned an enterprise for settling a colony of his people in the
new world, and at his instance, a company was incorporated for the
purpose. It was not, however, until 1638, that the Scandinavians found
their way to the territory of Delaware. Their numbers, though small at
first, gradually increased; and in 1654, they amounted to about seven
hundred settlers. At this date they were conquered by the Dutch, and
the colony came under the control of that people. The Swedish emigrants
were protestants of considerable piety. They took much pains to
educate their children, and lived on terms of peace with the Indians.
The country attracted a few English from New England, for the
enlightened Gustavus desired that it should be open to "all oppressed
Christendom."
The favorable accounts which the early settlers in Virginia
gave of the fertility and resources of the western continent,
increased the enthusiasm of the English for American plantations; and
Sir George Calvert, afterwards Lord Baltimore, a member of the
Virginian company, and a man of ability and enterprise, shared largely
in the feeling. He became a convert to Roman Catholicism, and, avowing
his opinions, resigned his office of Secretary of State. Baltimore, on
embracing the Roman faith, entertained the idea of emigrating to
America, but the laws of Virginia excluded Papists from its territory.
The country lying northward of the Potomac, being, however, yet
untenanted by the English, in 1632 he applied for and obtained from
Charles I a grant of land, which he called Maryland, in honor
of Henrietta Maria, the consort of the King. In framing the laws of the
province, Lord Baltimore determined that no preference should be given
to any sect. It became an asylum for Papists, but equality in
religious rights, and civil freedom, were assured to all. Religious
liberty was the basis adopted by the governor of Maryland. "I will not,"
said he in his oath, "by myself or any other, directly or indirectly,
molest any person professing to believe in Jesus Christ, for or in
respect of religion." The liberal institutions of the new colony,
together with the fertility of the soil, attracted many adventurers;
the lonely forests were soon converted into prosperous plantations, and
both Protestants from Europe, and Puritans from New England, flocked
in considerable numbers to the province. The troubles in the mother
country between Charles and the Puritan Parliament, were watched with
much interest by the Papists of Maryland; and, fearing lest the
ascendance of the Puritans, might endanger the religious privileges of
the colony, they concluded in 1649, to pass an act, to protect freedom
of conscience in matters of religion. Unhappily for Maryland, a dispute
arose between Lord Baltimore and Clayborne, a resolute and enterprising
man, who claimed a right to the province, on the plea of a grant from
the Virginian company in 1631, and in which he was supported by many of
the colonists. The conflicting claims of the two parties greatly
divided the population, and sectarianism had no small influence in the
controversy. The Puritans, who had been welcomed by the governor, and
to whose liberal policy they were indebted for a home in the colony,
threw their influence into the scale of the Clayborne party, and made
it preponderate. The change which took place in the government of
Maryland was followed by religious intolerance, and in a new assembly
held in 1654, the Puritans, under the auspices of Clayborne, supported
the passing of an act, which refused religious liberty to those who
professed "popery or Episcopacy;" but the ungrateful enactment was never
countenanced by Cromwell. Lord Baltimore, when he heard of these
proceedings, became indignant, and resolved to vindicate his supremacy.
The Puritans and Claybornites, however, took to arms, and repelling
the forces of the governor, maintained their power until the
restoration of the monarchy; when the authority of Baltimore was again
recognized. The prosperity of Maryland was progressive; it had become
famed as an asylum for the persecuted of every class and country, and
emigrants from France, from Germany, from Holland, from Sweden, from
Piedmont, and from Bohemia, sought its un sectarian soil. In that
province, remarks a modern historian, "the empire of justice and
humanity had been complete, except for the sufferings of the people
called Quakers."
Except the disastrous attempt on the
Roanoke in 1587, under the auspices of the disappointed Raleigh, and
the settlement in 1650 of some Virginian planters, and also a few years
after them, of some New England men in the vicinity of Cape Fear, no
attempts at colonization in Carolina appear to have been made by the
English, until the year 1667.
But although the tide of emigration had
been checked in this direction, by the failure of the early
expeditions, the fertility of the southern lands of North America was
still remembered; and Carolina was constituted a province by a
grant of Charles II to some of his most influential courtiers. The
great philosopher John Locke,* who was intimately acquainted with the
Earl of Shaftesbury, one of the proprietors, undertook, at his
solicitation, to frame a constitution for the new colony.
*{John Locke was a classmate of William Penn at Oxford. Later in life, William Penn obtained a pardon from King James for his college-mate, John Locke, who was an exile in Holland. But the proud philosopher declined it. He had done nothing, he said, which required a pardon.}
In laying down the form of its government,
Locke evidently desired that aristocratic influence should be
maintained in its councils, but he nevertheless supported religious
toleration. An express clause in the charter opened the way for its
recognition; and religious freedom to "Jews, heathens, and other
dissenters," to "men of any religion," was allowed to settlers in
Carolina. The non-sectarian constitution of the province was
appreciated, and together with the fertility of the country, it
attracted, not only English and Irish, but Dutch from New York and
Holland; persecuted Huguenots from France, and exiled Covenanters* from
Scotland.
*{The Covenanter movement is mostly associated with the promotion and development of Presbyterianism as a form of church government favored by the people, as opposed to Episcopacy, favored by the crown. In politics the movement saw important developments in the character and operation of the Scottish Parliament, which began a steady shift away from its medieval origins. The covenanters opposed Oliver Cromwell and were defeated at Dunbar.}
The recognition of negro slavery in
Locke's "constitutions" for the southern settlement, was, however, a
deep blot upon his system, and promising and fruitful as the country
appeared to be, the colony advanced slowly, and with difficulty. In North Carolina
the settlers soon became uneasy under the political restraints of the
government, and in 1680, the "constitutions" were abandoned, as
inapplicable to men who sought a more populist government.
The colonists of South Carolina
began also to feel that their rights were restricted by the legislation
of Locke, and the proprietors seeing the futility of attempting to
enforce it, entirely laid aside the scheme of the great philosopher.
This was in the year 1693, the year preceding the election by the
proprietors, of John Archdale, a Quaker of Chipping Wycombe in
Buckinghamshire, as governor of South Carolina. Under the management of
"the peaceful Archdale," as he is termed, "the mediator between
factions," the province began to thrive, and the fame of Carolina, as
"the American Canaan that flowed with milk and honey," increased. The
colony, says its enlightened Quaker governor, "stood circumstanced with
the honor of a true English government, zealous for the increase of
virtue, as well as outward trade and business." The representatives of
the freemen of the settlement, sensible of the cause of this happy
change, declared that John Archdale "by his wisdom, and labor, had laid
a firm foundation for a most glorious superstructure," and voted him
an address of thanks.
Having now included in our introductory
pages, a condensed narrative of the discovery of the North American
continent, and of the settlement of its several European colonies, down
to nearly the end of the seventeenth century, it may not be amiss,
before retiring from the subject, briefly to recapitulate the leading
points of the history. We have seen that the attempts of the PORTUGUESE
and of the SPANISH nations for territorial acquisitions in this
portion of the western world, were failures; that the FRENCH, more
successful in their endeavors, had formed settlements of considerable
extent in the region now known as Canada; that the enterprising DUTCH
had planted themselves in considerable numbers on the banks of the
Hudson, and that protestant SWEDES, encouraged by Gustavus, their king,
occupied both the right and left banks of the Delaware; but, we have
also seen that to the enterprising exertions of the ENGLISH nation, the
colonization of this vast country is mainly attributable.
One of the chief objects in penning this
introductory relation is to exhibit the moral and religious character
of the several provinces at the time referred to, and also the degree
of religious toleration which they individually recognized. Virginia
the earliest permanent settlement of the English, founded in 1607, was
colonized by a class of men mostly of the high Anglican church, who
proceeded to the new country with extravagant hopes of wealth. For the
first half century they refused to allow the exercise of any religion
other than Episcopacy; but, from the time of the Commonwealth, their
views regarding religious toleration were modified, and excepting the
law of 1658, for banishing Friends, which was enforced, in a few cases
only, religious freedom prevailed in the colony. Next in succession
followed the settlement of the Pilgrim Fathers in Massachusetts.
Professing to be the uncompromising opponents to Roman declension, and
as such, to the pompous display and Episcopacy of the Anglican Church,
they refused the introduction of Papacy and Episcopacy into their
jurisdiction, and also every kind of religion, excepting Puritanism;
and in their zeal to uphold these views, they were led into great
excesses of persecution. These remarks respecting the Puritans in
Massachusetts will apply to those of Connecticut, where the exclusive
principle was also upheld and enforced. The colony of Maryland the very
opposites of Puritanical New England as respects religious liberty,
was commenced in 1633, under the auspices of Lord Baltimore, a leading
papist; but, contrary to the practices of his own church, and to both
Episcopal Virginia and the Pilgrim Fathers, he allowed complete liberty
of conscience. The result of his liberal policy was the influx of
settlers of all shades of religious opinions. The intolerance of the
Pilgrims of Massachusetts gave rise, in 1636, to the settlement on Rhode
Island. The occupiers of this delightful locality were men of
enlightened minds. They had been persecuted and banished for their
religion, and evinced their condemnation of these unchristian
practices, by granting in their own jurisdiction entire religious
freedom. Thirty years later, the same principle was still further
extended in the new world, in the settlement of the Carolinas. The
crowning example of religious freedom, and of enlightened Christian
legislation in America, and indeed in the world at large, was, however,
in the settlement of Pennsylvania, and the Jerseys, under the
directing hand of William Penn.
We see then, that, excepting Massachusetts
and Connecticut, North America offered an asylum for the persecuted of
every class, and for the people of every clime; we cannot therefore
wonder that its non-sectarian soil became the resort, not only of
English, and Irish, and Scotch, but also of emigrants from almost every
nation in Europe.
In studying the history of the Society of
Friends, the observant reader, cannot, we think, fail to notice, that
it was only in countries where the darkness of popery had been much
dispelled, that its spiritual and enlightened views found steady
acceptance. Although the early Quakers were engaged in gospel labors in
several of the Roman Catholic countries of Europe, we do not find that
they were successful in the establishment of a single meeting, or
except in a few cases, in obtaining an individual conversion to their
principles; while on the other hand, in almost every Protestant nation
in which they preached, communities were gathered, who professed and
promulgated their doctrines. The Reformation, therefore, was
instrumental in preparing the way for the introduction of Quakerism
into Christendom. But enfranchised, as most of the settlers of
the western world were, from the shackles of popery, and to a large
extent from Episcopacy also; and consisting, as they did of
considerable numbers of pious individuals, who had been driven from
their respective countries for the cause of religion, the colonies of
America presented a sphere peculiarly adapted for the reception of
those high and enlightened views of christianity, which the Society of
Friends were called to uphold, and to advocate among their fellow men.
Of the labors of their gospel messengers, and of the manner in which
their principles were received in the new world, it will be the object
of our future pages to treat.
The rise of the Society of
Friends — George Fox's brief narrative respecting it-Mary Fisher and
Anne Austin visit Barbados and New England-Facsimile of a letter from Mary Fisher to George Fox — prejudice of the Puritans against Friends — Mary Fisher and Anne Austin reach Boston-Their trunks are searched for
Quaker books-A special council of the magistrates of Boston convened-
They issue an order for the imprisonment and banishment
of the two Friends-Their books are burnt-They are searched as
witches-Are banished, and sent to Barbados-Letter of Henry
Fell to Margaret Fell, from Barbados-sketch of the life of Mary
Fisher and Anne Austin.
THE rise of the religious Society of Friends appears from the most authentic data to have taken place in 1644; the year in which some piously-disposed persons, residing in Leicestershire, one of the midland counties of England, first associated themselves in religious profession with George Fox. For about seven years from this period, the Society had not extended much beyond a few of the neighboring counties, including Yorkshire. In a brief account given by George Fox of “the spreading of truth," he thus notices the early progress of the Society. “The truth sprang up first to us, so as to be a people to the Lord, in Leicestershire in 1644, in Warwickshire in 1645, in Nottinghamshire in 1646, in Derbyshire in 1647, and in the adjacent counties in 1648, 1649, and 1650; in Yorkshire in 1651." The year 1652 was marked by a very considerable enlargement of the Society, and many individuals, who became eminent instruments in the hand of the Lord for the promotion of his holy cause, united with the new association. At this date it numbered twenty-five ministers, by whom, remarks George Fox, "multitudes were convinced." The ministry of these gospel laborers, during this and the subsequent year, was principally confined to the northern and midland portions of the kingdom; but in 1654, we find Quaker ministers traveling in nearly all the counties of England and Wales, and in parts of Scotland and Ireland, while the establishment of meetings had taken place in most parts of the nation. There were now no fewer than sixty engaged in the work of the ministry, and their labors were followed with signal success; a convincing power attended them in these engagements, which impressed awful considerations, and {promised a salvation to be experienced by the release from the bondage of sin and fellowship with the Father and son.} Their preaching was like that of the apostles, in the demonstration of the Spirit and with power; multitudes flocked to hear them, and many embraced their doctrines.'*— Gough's History, vol. i. p. 143.
Under the {command of the Holy Spirit, the early Quakers forsook home, spouse, children, and friends to obey God; they followed the Spirit's leading for the joy of serving God and the joy of sharing the Truth with their fellow men, also created in the image of God. They said, that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. They said: ' Ho!' to every one that thirsts,' come you to the waters, and he that has no money, come you buy and eat, yes, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? They said: God was a God at hand, not off in the distance. They said God was to be experienced in this life, to be seen, to be heard, to be obeyed, to be followed; not just read about, talked about, addressed with requests, or sung about — all in the carnal mind, which in enmity to God. The said one could be freed from sin, that one could be translated into the kingdom, that one could enter the rest to have peace, with eternal confidence and assurance. They said all of these wonderful joys were by the cross of Christ, the inward cross of self-denial, and any other way is without salvation, whatever one may have been told.*{Here is a secular writer stating that the Quakers' preaching was unlike any other, since the Apostles, with demonstration of power and Spirit — plainly evident even to the eyes of a secular writer.}
They further said that unless worship was controlled by the Spirit, (being in Spirit and Truth), the worship was in vain; including sermons preached, singing, reading scriptures, and praying. They said all talking should be only from those whose tongues were controlled by the Spirit of God, and that the prayers of people still locked in sin were an abomination to the Lord. They further testified against all minsters who took tithes or a salary, citing the commands of Jesus and Peter, along with Paul's confirmation; which according to Paul was already infecting Christianity while he was alive.
The basic difference in the message of the Quakers was that God was not remote in a far-off heaven, but was nearby within the heart of each man, patiently waiting to be sought, to be listened to, to teach teach each person, and with such faith to lead each person to purity. They said Jesus was the word within and the Light within all men; and that the workings of salvation only began after a person listened and obeyed to the Lord's voice within them. They said belief in the accuracy of the Bible was not sufficient; that faith enough to obey the commands of the Son of God within was necessary. These statements were considered heresy to the Puritans, who considered the Bible as the source and rule of faith, despite that: 1) Faith comes from hearing the word of god, not someone reading a book, 2) that Christ is the Author and Finisher of Faith, and 3) while the law is our beginning schoolmaster, the scriptures cannot be our permanent rule; we must seek to follow in faith, Christ our rule and judge. See James Parnell's outstanding writing on this subject.
The Quakers said salvation was to be witnessed: seen, heard, felt — with absolute certainty. Under the direction of God, they were sent to their fellow man, to whom they went in love of their souls.} They traveled in distant lands to preach the glad tidings of peace and salvation, through Jesus Christ, and him crucified. Under these impressions, we find that in 1655, some had passed over to the European continent, while Mary Fisher and Anne Austin, feeling their minds drawn to visit the western world, proceeded to the island of Barbados; and from there in the spring of 1656, to New England. "In 1655," says George Fox, “many went beyond sea, where truth also sprang up; and in 1656, it broke forth in America:"
Soon after the arrival of Mary Fisher and Anne Austin at Barbados, the former addressed a letter to George Fox. The original is still in existence, and we insert the following extract from it, as of historical interest at this early date:
MARY FISHER TO GEORGE FOX
My DEAR FATHER, -- (as in spiritual father, whose message convinced* her of the Truth )Let me not be forgotten of you, but let your prayers be for me that I may continue faithful to the end. If any of our Friends are free to come over, they may be serviceable; here are many convinced,* and many desire to know the way, so I rest.Mary Fisher
From the Barbados the 30th day of the month called January, [Eleventh Month, O. S.] 1655
*{To be convinced, means to have become certain of the way required for salvation; not to receive salvation itself. All of these newly convinced people had previously been devout readers of the Bible, professed that Jesus was the Son of God, had been baptised, attended sect services, etc.; but they were all still captive to sin, and knew there had to be a way to become free of even the desire to sin. When they heard the way proclaimed to become pure, to become free of sin, their hearts bore witness to that truth; so they joined with others seeking to become free of sin, by waiting in silence to hear from the Teacher within, to obey Him, and to receive his changing grace that taught them to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and how to live soberly, righteously, godly life in their world then; to be redeemed from all iniquity, and purified — and to then have a zeal for good works energized and prompted by God. This process, from convincement to purity, required them to continue working out their salvation over time with fear and trembling. Because they trembled in the presence of God's Spirit working on their hearts, showing them their sins, convicting them of the secrets in their hearts, they trembled — or quaked — thus they became known as Quakers.}
It has been observed, in the preceding
chapter, that there
existed in some parts of New England, more especially in the
state of Massachusetts, a spirit of great intolerance and
persecution.
Confident in the notion of their own righteousness and in
that profession of religion which subjected their ancestors
to so
much cruelty in the mother country, and which ultimately
drove
the Pilgrim Fathers to seek a refuge in the American
wilderness,
the Puritans of New England unhappily cherished a disposition
inimical to religious freedom. They contended for the right
of
judging in spiritual things, and bore their testimony against
Episcopacy and whatever else they deemed to be error, but all
dissent
from their own doctrines they held to be heresy. Very early
after the rise of Friends in Great Britain, many of them had
to
undergo much suffering and oppression from both priests and
rulers. Episcopacy was at that time no longer the official religion of
the state. The pulpits were occupied both by Presbyterians and
Independents. Between the civil and ecclesiastical powers at home
therefore, and those of New England, there was at this period, a great
identity of feeling, and that desire for the establishment of uniformity
in religion, which prompted the Presbyterians to endeavor to set up a
consistory in every parish throughout England, found its ample response
in the bosoms of the bigoted rulers of Massachusetts.
Striking, as the principles of the Society
of Friends do, at the very foundation of hierarchical systems, and all
distinctions between laity and clergy, they met with vehement
opposition from almost every class of religious professors, and both
Royalist and Parliamentarian joined in common cause to oppress them. {By
oppressing them, by imprisoning them, fining them, whipping them, etc.,
they proved they were no followers of Christ. For Christ said love your enemies, pray for your enemies, and turn the other cheek.
The Baptists, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, and Puritan
Congregationalists ignored Christ's reply to his disciples when they
wished to punish the people who would not listen to Him, severely
rebuking them with: Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. If someone is violating the standards of the church, (sinning), they are supposed
to be warned by one, then warned by two or three, then censured by
the whole body of believers, — and if they fail to repent of their
error, they are supposed to be expelled and shunned - not killed,
or imprisoned, or tortured, or lose their property. Thus the
Protestants, like their Roman Catholic forefathers, plainly showed they
were the false church — even as spoken of in Revelation to be the Whore of Babylon, of which all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication,
because all the sects are simply evolutional varieties of the Roman
Empire's church, both east and west, whose doctrines were dictated by
the sainted Emperors Constantine and Justinian the despot, thus eliminating the true gospel by 390 AD. As prophesied in Revelation, the church adulterated with the Kings of the earth. This deficit is hardly surprising, when you consider that Christ's disciples and apostles (John, Peter, Paul, and Jude) wrote of false teachers and preachers in their time, 2000 years ago. Even when John was alive, writing Revelation, the Lord spoke of fatal errors in six out of seven churches addressed.
Contrast the actions of the Quakers. They
prayed for their enemies. They forgave their enemies. They declined to
prosecute their enemies, when the law was rarely on their side — saying
vengeance was God's, not their's. Like Christ, they did not fight back.
Like Christ they went like sheep to the slaughter. Like Christ, they
went to their death, without anger, threats, or begging for mercy.
In Revelation he [the beast] was further permitted to wage war on God's holy people (the saints) and to overcome them. And power was given him to extend his authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation. The beast of the Book of Revelation is the beast of heathen religious authority, which power was severely curtailed [a wound to the head] by early Christianity, particularly in the Mediterranean region. But a second beast shortly arose that had horns like a lamb,
but was a beast. Note, this beast appears to be Christian-like, and
under pretence of the Lamb's authority, (though acted by the dragon's
power, derived from the first beast of heathen religion) compels men
to comply with such traditions, ceremonies, and rituals, (for
Christian duties), as resemble the customs of the heathen, in their
idolatrous worship and superstition. The whole earth followed this beast, and still does. Thus, the false church arose, and no one could spiritually buy or sell, (like the foolish virgins for oil in their lamps), unless they complied with the beast and had received the false church's mark. Any who denied this false church, or who tried to buy or sell (spiritual
works by mind or hand) without the sanction of the false church were
martyred, as their predecessors had done before, under the heathen
power, or first beast. And while this false church is often identified
by the Protestants as the Roman church, the Protestants are all part
of the same false whore, (the beast has many names),
salvation based on saying certain words, water, bread and wine — all
superstitious rituals — instead of a complete change of heart — circumcised to be a new heart and mind.
And the whore was drunk on the blood of the saints — the Roman church's inquisitions and slaughters throughout Europe, in which during the Middle Ages (800 AD to 1500 AD) nine million souls were put to death, accused of witchcraft. This was followed by the Protestants of England and Americawho in 50 yearswere responsible for the deaths of over 869 Quakers in the 17th Century. The persecutors of the Quakers included Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Congregationalist Puritans, and Baptists. She boasts she is not a widow and will never see grief. She boasts that Christ is their husband; but these false churches are the whore of Babylon, who ignore Christ's commands to repent, his teachings, his requirements, his warnings, his required holiness, his gospel, his Kingdom, his promised freedom from sin, and his cross of self-denial — the Missing Cross to Purity.
If you want to read more about the whore and the beast, Isaac Penington has writings on this site: 1. Babylon the Great, and 2. The Great Apostasy, and Janney's History of the Church.}
And the whore was drunk on the blood of the saints — the Roman church's inquisitions and slaughters throughout Europe, in which during the Middle Ages (800 AD to 1500 AD) nine million souls were put to death, accused of witchcraft. This was followed by the Protestants of England and Americawho in 50 yearswere responsible for the deaths of over 869 Quakers in the 17th Century. The persecutors of the Quakers included Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Congregationalist Puritans, and Baptists. She boasts she is not a widow and will never see grief. She boasts that Christ is their husband; but these false churches are the whore of Babylon, who ignore Christ's commands to repent, his teachings, his requirements, his warnings, his required holiness, his gospel, his Kingdom, his promised freedom from sin, and his cross of self-denial — the Missing Cross to Purity.
If you want to read more about the whore and the beast, Isaac Penington has writings on this site: 1. Babylon the Great, and 2. The Great Apostasy, and Janney's History of the Church.}
Their enemies, not just content with
persecuting this despised people for sentiments which they really held
and preached, endeavored, by an enormous amount of misrepresentation,
to raise a prejudice against them in the minds of those who had not an
opportunity of judging for themselves. The distorted books* which were
industriously circulated respecting them, had, at a very early period of
their history, reached the remotest settlements of the British empire;
and, as it regards the American colonists, had produced among them not
only a settled prejudice against Friends, but also a deep-rooted
repugnance to the spiritual views which they advocated. The manner in
which this feeling was manifested in Puritan New England, will be shown
in the subsequent pages.
*Such as, “Heretical Quakers deluded by the Devil,” in A Mirror or Looking Glass,: by Samuel Clark, 1656; {which was rebutted in full by George Fox.}
It was in the early part of the Fifth
Month, 1656, that Mary Fisher and Anne Austin arrived at Boston, and
their approach appears to have caused no inconsiderable degree of
consternation to the authorities of Massachusetts Bay. The news of the
arrival of the two strangers had no sooner reached the ears of
Bellingham, the deputy governor, the governor himself being absent,
than, in his zeal to avert the dreaded introduction of heretical
doctrines into the colony, he immediately ordered that the two Friends
should be detained on board the ship in which they had come, and that
their trunks should be searched for any printed works which they might
have brought. These orders were strictly carried out; they were kept
closely confined in the vessel, and about one hundred books were taken
from them, and committed to the custody of the officers. On this
"extraordinary occasion," as the historian Neal terms it, the
magistrates of Boston took the alarm; and, as if the town were
threatened with some imminent danger, by the arrival of two quiet and
harmless English women. A special council was convened, whose
deliberations terminated in the issue of the following order:—
At a council held at Boston, 11th July, 1655,—.Whereas, there are several laws long since made and published in this jurisdiction, bearing testimony against heretics and erroneous persons; yet, notwithstanding, Simon Kempthorn of Charlestown, master of the ship Swallow of Boston, has brought into this jurisdiction, from the island of Barbados, two women, who name themselves Anne, the wife of one Austin, and Mary Fisher, being of that sort of people commonly known by the name of Quakers, who, upon examination are found not only to be transgressors of the former laws, but to hold very dangerous, heretical, and blasphemous opinions; and they do also acknowledge that they came here purposely to propagate their said errors and heresies, bringing with them and spreading here sundry books, wherein are contained most corrupt, heretical, and blasphemous doctrines, contrary to the truth of the gospel here professed among us. The council therefore, tendering the preservation of the peace and truth, enjoyed and professed among the churches of Christ in this country, do hereby order :First. That all such corrupt books as shall be found upon search to be brought in and spread by the aforesaid persons, be forthwith burned and destroyed by the common executioner.Secondly. That the said Anne and Mary be kept in close prison, and none admitted communication with them without leave from the governor, deputy governor, or two magistrates, to prevent the spreading their corrupt opinions, until such time as they be delivered aboard of some vessel, to be transported out of the country.Thirdly. The said Simon Kempthorn is hereby enjoined, speedily and directly, to transport or cause to be transported, the said persons from here to Barbados, from where they came, he defraying all the charges of their imprisonment; and for the effectual performance hereof, he is to give security in a bond of ,£100 sterling, and on his refusal to give such security, he is to be committed to prison till he do it.
In the extraordinary proceedings of the
council of Boston in passing this order, we see the first deliberate
act of the rulers of New England in their corporate capacity, towards
Friends. The instructions thus issued were not only rigorously, but
even barbarously enforced. Mary Fisher and Anne Austin were brought on
shore and confined in the dismal jail of Boston, while their books
were committed to the flames by the hands of the executioner. " Oh,
learned and malicious cruelty !" remarks one who was soon after a
prisoner in Boston for his Quaker's principles,"as if another man had
not been sufficient to burn a few harmless books, which, like their
masters, can neither fight, strike, nor quarrel." The authorities, in
their determination to prevent the "heretical doctrines" from spreading
among the settlers, threatened to inflict a penalty of £5* on any one
who should even attempt to converse with the Friends through the window
of their prison; subsequently they had it boarded up as an additional
security, and not deeming these precautionary measures sufficient, they
next deprived the prisoners of their writing materials.
*{There were 240 pence to the pound, and one pence could buy a loaf of bread. Today a loaf of bread costs at least $1, so the £1 of 1650 is about $900; the £5 fine is about $4500 today.}
The order of the council was severe, but
the revolting treatment to which these harmless women were afterwards
exposed, was a still greater outrage upon humanity. For some years
preceding, a delusion of a most extraordinary and alarming character,
in reference to the subject of witches, had unhappily taken hold on the
minds of the colonists of New England, and several persons had already
been put to death under the charge of witchcraft. Two had been
executed at Boston, one in 1648, and another, Bellingham's own
sister-in-law, but a few months before the arrival of the two strangers.
Whether the persecutors of Mary Fisher and Anne Austin, were really
designing the death of the victims of their bigotry, and in effecting
it were endeavoring to avoid offering violence to the feelings of the
community, we know not, but the cry of witchcraft was now raised
against them. They were accordingly subjected to a close examination,
but no overt act in substantiation of the malignant charge, could be
adduced. The authorities, thus foiled in their wicked purpose, next
subjected them to an indecent and cruel examination of their persons,
to see if some marks of witchcraft were not upon them, under the
popular superstitious notion, that some distinctive sign would be found
on the bodies of those who had thus sold themselves to Satan. It would
have been a fearful thing had any mark or mole of a peculiar kind been
apparent, but nothing of the sort was to be found, and they thus
escaped an ignominious death.
The magistrates, baffled in their wicked
design, now refused to furnish their prisoners with provisions, or even
to allow the citizens of Boston to do so; but He who fed Elijah in the
wilderness, and who cares for His saints under every variety of
circumstance, was near to help. An aged inhabitant of the city, touched
with compassion for their sufferings, bribed the jailer, by giving him
five shillings a week, to allow him privately to administer to their
wants.
After an imprisonment of nearly five
weeks, and the loss of their beds and their bible, which the jailer
took for his fees, Mary Fisher and Anne Austin, were sent on board the
vessel in which they came, and which was now about to sail to Barbados,
the captain being bound, under a penalty of one hundred pounds, to
carry them to that island, and to prevent their either landing in New
England, or in any way communicating with its people.
The date of their banishment from Boston,
was the 5th of the Sixth Month, 1656. Kempthorn, the captain, submitted
to the arbitrary requisition of the council; and, it is supposed, paid
for the returning passage of the two Friends to Barbados. While these
proceedings were going forward, Endicott, the governor, was in another
part of the colony; and to his absence from Boston may be attributed
the escape of Mary Fisher, and her companion, from a cruelty of another
kind. " If I had been present," said this persecuting Puritan, on
hearing the course adopted towards them, "I would have had them well
whipped." This was that Endicott who afterwards made himself so
conspicuous in the New England persecutions. The following unpublished
letter in the Swarthmore collection of manuscripts, written by Henry
Fell, who visited Barbados about this time, contains an account of the
arrival of the banished Friends at that island, and will probably be
read with interest.
HENRY FELL TO MARGARET FELLBarbados, the 3rd day of the Ninth Month, 1656MY DEARLY BELOVED,In the Lord Jesus Christ, my dear love salutes you.— I landed here upon the Barbados the 7th day of the Eighth Month, in the afternoon, and that night went to a Friend's house in the country, six miles off, (a widow woman), where I was gladly received. She told me that Peter Head, John Rous, and Mary Fisher, had gone from the island the day before, (for any thing she knew); but it proved otherwise, for the next morning I went to Indian-Bridge, where they were to have taken shipping for the Leeward Islands, namely Nevis and Antigua, about eighty or ninety leagues from their place; but I found them not gone, for the shipping that should have carried them had deceived them. And truly I was much refreshed and strengthened by finding of them there. They continued here about fourteen days after I came here, before they got shipping from here, in which time we had several meetings among Friends, and so they passed away. I know nothing of their return here again, for they could say little of it, or which way they should be disposed of. Mary Fisher, (and one Anne Austin, who is lately come from England,) had been here before, and went from here to New England, where they were put in prison, and very cruelly used and searched as witches, and their books taken from them and burnt, and none suffered to come to speak to them, while they were in prison : for there was a fine of five pounds laid upon any one that should come to see them in prison, or should conceal any of their books. Notwithstanding, there was one man came to the prison, and proffered to pay the fine that he might speak with them, but could not be admitted; so, afterwards, they were sent aboard again, and not suffered any liberty at all ashore, and so were brought again to Barbados, from where they came by order from the Governor of New England. Truly Mary Fisher is a precious heart, and has been very serviceable here; so likewise have John Rous and Peter Head, and the Lord has given a blessing to their labors, for the fruits thereof appear, for here are many people convinced of the truth, (among whom the Lord is placing his name), who meet together in silence, in three several places in the island; and the Lord is adding more, such as shall be saved.*Henry Fell* {The term shall be saved bears examination. In Acts, the early church is described in Jerusalem:And all that believed were together, and had all things common; And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. Acts 2:44-47. This clearly shows that being saved is not instantaneous with believing, baptizing, and joining the church; no, they were described as should be saved — as in the future, at the death of their selfish spirit on the cross. Further evidence of being saved is not instant, but a process of carrying your inward cross of self-denial is necessary to be saved: For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 1 Cor 1:18 }
As it will be interesting to know
something further of the history of Mary Fisher, and Anne Austin, being
the first who landed on the American continent to promulgate the
doctrines of the Society of Friends, the present chapter will conclude
with a brief sketch of their lives, as far as historical materials
permit.
MARY FISHER was born in the north of
England about the year 1623, and at a very early period of the Society's
progress in that part, joined in profession with it, but of the
precise date and circumstance of her convincement we have no record.
She was one who possessed talents much above the average of her sex,
and" whose intellectual faculties," observes an early writer, "were
greatly adorned by the gravity of her deportment." Her residence at the
time of her convincement it is believed was at Pontefract in
Yorkshire. She came forth as a minister of the gospel in 1652, and in
the same year we find her imprisoned within York Castle, for
addressing an assembly at the close of public worship at Selby; an
imprisonment which lasted sixteen months. Almost immediately on her
release from this long confinement, she proceeded on a gospel mission
to the southeastern parts of England, in company with Elizabeth
Williams,
a fellow-laborer in the ministry. Two females thus traveling
from county to county, publicly preaching the doctrines of the new
Society in parts where previously its name had scarcely been known,
must have excited no small surprise in the people among whom they
came. They passed, however, without molestation through the country,
until the Tenth Month, ] 653, when they arrived at Cambridge. To the
students at this seat of learning, the presence of itinerant preachers
appeared an absurdity, but that Quaker women should attempt to preach
in Cambridge, was, in their estimation, a still greater presumption.
Mary Fisher and her friend, faithful to their call, “discussed about
the things of God" with the young students, and "preached at Sidney
College gate" to the inmates of that establishment. But the doctrine of
the freedom of gospel ministry, and the disuse of all ceremonial
observances in religion, appeared to the letter-learned collegians mere
jargon, and they began to mock and deride the two strangers as
religious fanatics,* while the mayor of the town, eager to support the
orthodoxy of his church, ordered them to be taken to the market cross
and whipped, "until the blood ran down their bodies;" a sentence which
was executed with much barbarity. Before they had been tied to the
whipping-post, in presence of the gazing multitude, these innocent
women, at the footstool of divine mercy, sought forgiveness for their
persecutors. The scene was altogether new and strange to the
spectators, and they were astonished on beholding the Christian
patience and constancy which characterized the conduct of the sufferers,
and more especially when they heard them pray that their persecutors
'might be pardoned.
*{See the brutal cruelties that the Oxford and Cambridge ministerial students inflicted on the early Quakers; including the death of one young female Quaker minister.}
The first imprisoned Quaker was George Fox,
at Nottingham, in 1649. He had also, with several others of his fellow
professors, bore much personal abuse: but it was not until Mary Fisher
and her companion visited Cambridge, that any were publicly scourged.
On this occasion Mary Fisher, under a presentiment of the troubles that
awaited Friends, was heard to say, "this is but the beginning of the
sufferings of the people of God."
Towards the close of 1653, she felt called
to "declare the truth in the steeple-house" at Pontefract, an act of
dedication for which she was immured six months within the walls of York
Castle. In the following year, she was subjected, by the Mayor of
Pontefract, to three months additional confinement in this fortress,
because she was "unrepentant" for addressing the assembly at
Pontefract, “and for refusing to give sureties for her good behavior."
In 1655, we find her traveling in the ministry in Buckinghamshire,
where she again for some months became the inmate of a prison, for
“giving Christian exhortations to the priest and people." It was also
during 1655, that Mary Fisher felt a religious call to leave the shores
of her native country, for the West India Islands, and North America.
The date of her return from the western world was probably in the early
part of 1657. During the same year she again visited the West Indies.
In 1658, we trace her at Nevis. In 1660,
under an impression of religious duty to visit Sultan Mahomet IV, she
performed a long and arduous journey to the continent of Asia. After
visiting Italy, Zante, Corinth, and Smyrna, she at last reached
Adrianople; where the Sultan was encamped with his army. Her message
was received by this great Asiatic monarch* in a very courteous manner.
On leaving the court of this Mohammedan potentate, she proceeded to
Constantinople, from where she took her departure for England.
*{About the year 1660 Mary Fisher felt it required of her to pay a religious visit to the Sultan of Turkey, Mahomet IV., then at the height of his power, though only eighteen years of age. This earnest young woman reached Smyrna in due time, and the English consul there, learning of her plan, urged her by all means to give it up. When he found her steadfast in her purpose in spite of his warnings, he put her on board a vessel bound for Venice, with orders that she should be taken there.But Mary Fisher was not so easily to be turned aside from what she believed was required of her. She prevailed on the captain to land her in Greece, and " bearing God's message in her heart, her life within her hand," alone, knowing neither the road nor the language, she traveled on foot along the Grecian coast, through Macedonia, and over the mountains of Thrace, a journey of more than six hundred miles, until she at length reached Adrianople, where the Sultan was encamped with a great army.
Even now all was not accomplished, for how was an abhorred Christian to gain access to the Mohammedan monarch, who was sometimes called the "Shadow of God? " The steadfast faith of Mary Fisher never seemed to waver, and at last she found someone bold enough to speak to the Grand Vizier for her, and through him the Sultan was informed that an English woman had come with a message "to declare to him from the Great God." She was told she might have an interview with him on the following morning. Next day, at the appointed hour, she came before the Sultan, where he was surrounded by his chief officers. Mahomet asked her if it were true that she had a message from the Lord? She said it was, so he told her to "Speak on." When she paused for a few moments of silent communion, he asked her if she wished any of those present to withdraw. She said she did not desire this, so he told her to speak the "word of the Lord without fear, since they had good hearts to hear it,'' but he cautioned her to "say neither more nor less than the word she had from the Lord, since they were willing to hear it no matter what it might be." With gravity they listened to her earnest ministry, and when she ceased the Sultan asked her if there was anything more she would like to say. When she asked if he had understood her, he replied: "Yes, every word, and it is truth." He then asked her to stay in his dominions, and when she refused he offered her a guard to Constantinople, as he said he would be greatly grieved if any evil befell her in his empire. She courteously refused his kind offer, and trusting in the Lord alone, reached Constantinople "without the least hurt or scoff," and finally arrived in England in safety. The treatment received at the hands of the despised Turk is in marked contrast with that met with in Christian New England.}
Soon after Mary Fisher had returned from
the east, she was united in marriage with William Bayley of Poole, in
Dorsetshire, an eminent minister in the Society. The marriage took
place in the early part of 1662. William Bayley was by occupation a
mariner, and occasionally made voyages to the West Indies, but he died
when at sea, in the Fourth Month, 1675. Of the issue of this marriage
we have no record; we find, however, that Sophia Hume, a ministering
Friend of extraordinary character, was the granddaughter of William and
Mary Bayley. In the Seventh Month, 1678, Mary Bayley was united in
marriage with John Cross of London.
How long John Cross and his wife resided in
London after their union, does not appear, but, following the example
of many other Friends of that day, they emigrated to America. In 1697,
we find Mary a second time a widow, residing at Charlestown in South
Carolina. Robert Barrow, after his providential escape from shipwreck
on the coast of Florida, while traveling in the ministry, was conveyed
by the Spaniards of St. Augustine, to Charlestown, where he became her
welcome guest. Writing to his wife from this place, after mentioning
the severe illness he had endured, arising from his privations, he thus
speaks of his kind hostess: "At length we arrived at Ashley River, and
it pleased God, I had the great fortune to have a good nurse, one whose
name you have heard of, a Yorkshire woman, born within two miles of
York; her maiden name was Mary Fisher, she that spoke to the great
Turk; afterwards William Bayley's wife. She is now my landlady and
nurse. She is a widow of a second husband, her name is now Mary Cross.
At the date of Robert Barrow's letter, the
age of Mary Cross could not have been much under seventy years. Since
she left the shores of Britain for New England, forty-one years had
elapsed. She doubtless finished her earthly course at Charlestown, but
we regret that previously we have been unable to meet with any
particulars of the close of her eventful life, or of the date when it
took place. We may, however, reverently believe, that she was not
unprepared for the solemn summons; and that she has entered into that
rest, and enjoys that crown of righteousness, which the Lord the
righteous Judge gives unto all those that love his appearing.
Respecting ANNE AUSTIN we have but few
particulars to narrate. At the time of her visit to New England, she
was mentioned as one stricken in years," and as being the mother of
five children. Her residence it appears was in the city of London.
Expelled from Boston, she was carried with her companion Mary Fisher,
to Barbados. Her stay on that island was not a prolonged one; as we
find the expenses of her returning passage to England, included in the
accounts of the Society for 1656-7. Continuing faithful in her high
calling as a minister of Christ, Anne Austin, on her return to her
native land, had to feel the persecuting hands of ungodly men; and thus
one of the filthy jails of London in 1659, became her abode, for
exercising her gift in the assemblies of her own Society. From the time
of her imprisonment at this date, to that of her decease, no incident
is recorded of this dedicated woman. Her death occurred during the
awful visitation of 1665, by which 100,000 of the inhabitants of London
were called from time to eternity. The burial register of the Society
states, that she died in the Sixth Month, 1665, of the plague, and was
interred at Bunhill cemetery; and we doubt not but that she was called
to receive that reward, which is the sure inheritance of all the
faithful in Christ.
CHAPTER III
Eight Ministers of the Society arrive
at Boston from London—Their trunks are searched—They are committed to
prison and sentenced to banishment—The captain who brought them, bound
over to take them back to England—The magistrates take measures to
legalize their persecuting proceedings—A law is enacted for banishing
Quakers from the colony of Boston—Nicholas Upshal testifies against the
law —He is arrested, fined, imprisoned, and banished—He seeks refuge
within the colony of Plymouth, and winters there—Is banished there, and
proceeds to Rhode Island.
In the expulsion of the early Quakers from
New England, the rulers of Boston had evidently much underrated the
task which they had unhappily imposed upon themselves; and well would
it have been for their country had their actions responded to the
advice given by Gamaliel, in reference to the preaching of the Apostles
at Jerusalem, when the Jews sought to slay them : "Refrain
from these men, and let them alone, for if this counsel or this work
is of men, it will come to nothing; but if it is of God, you cannot
overthrow it." Scarcely had the ship, which bore the two messengers
of the gospel from the shores of Massachusetts, bent her course
towards the Caribbean sea, when another vessel from London, having on
board eight other Quakers, arrived in Boston Bay. These were
Christopher Holder, John Copeland, Thomas Thurston, William Brend, Mary
Prince, Sarah Gibbons, Mary Weatherhead, and Dorothy Waugh. The date of
their arrival was the 7th of the Sixth Month, 1656, being only two
days after the departure of Mary Fisher and Anne Austin. "They had been
brought here," they said, "in the will of God, having been made
sensible of the cries and groans of his seed, which was crying unto him
for help and deliverance under cruel bondage."*
*In a letter of John Audland’s to Margaret Fell, written in 1655 from Bristol, we find the following reference: “Many are raised up and moved to travel to several parts; there are for here moved to go to New England, two men and two women. Some have gone to France, and some to Holland. The circumstance is also thus alluded to in a letter of Francis Howgill's, written a few months later. "Four from London and four from Bristol, are gone towards New England; pretty hearts; the blessing of the Lord is with them, and his dread goes before them.”
The master of the vessel, almost
immediately on his arrival, furnished the governor with a list of his
passengers, and when it was known that eight of them were Quakers from
England, with Richard Smith an inhabitant of Long Island, who professed
with them, officers were forthwith sent on board with a warrant,
commanding them "to search the boxes, chests, and trunks of the
Quakers, for erroneous books and hellish pamphlets," and also to bring
the Friends before the court then sitting at Boston. The orders being
promptly executed, the Friends were subjected to a long and frivolous
examination, mostly in reference to their belief in the nature of the
Divine Being, and concerning the Scriptures. Respecting the latter, one
of the priests contended, on the authority of the passage in 2 Peter 1:19, which alludes to "the more sure word of prophecy,"* that the Scriptures were the only rule and guide of life. {See James Parnell's outstanding writing
on this very point.} The priest during the discussion, finding it
difficult to maintain his position, began to admit more than was in
accordance with the views of some of the magistrates, on which much
dissension arose among them to the no small alarm and consternation of
the priest. Long as the examination had been, the court nevertheless
desired to resume it on the following day; the Friends were therefore
committed to prison for the night, and brought up again on the
following morning. The subjects upon which the prisoners were now
interrogated were those which they had discussed on the previous day, to
which they declined to reply, except by referring the magistrates to
their former answers, which had been already been carefully recorded.
They then demanded to know why they had been arrested, and deprived of
their liberty. Endicott, who had returned from the country, evading an
answer to the question, replied, "Take heed you do not break our
ecclesiastical laws, for then you are sure to stretch by a halter
{hangman's rope; notice they were threatening death already, only
lacking legal precedent to justify it."
*Before you can see Christ in the Light, you must listen and obey the word of God, spoken to you by the mouth of God. As Peter so well stated: And we have the prophetic word [what you hear] firmer still.
You will do well to pay close attention to it as to a lamp shining in a dismal (squalid and dark) place,
until the day breaks through and the Morning Star rises (comes into being) in your hearts. 2 Peter 1:19 You can read the Bible continuously, and you will never see the Morning Star arise in your hearts; but if you daily listen for the living word within, hear, and obey — the day breaks through and the Morning Star [light] arises in your hearts.But the anointing which you have received of him abides in you, and you do not need any man to teach you: but as the same anointing teaches you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it has taught you, you shall abide in him. 1 John 2:27The living word, and light, and Spirit of Truth, and Holy Spirit, and grace, are all of Christ, our one Teacher. But to become wholly full of light, to become a son of light, to become a light, in total union with Christ the Light - is the end step of salvation.}
At the close of the examination, a
sentence of banishment was pronounced upon the prisoners, instructions
being issued for the close confinement of the eight English Friends,
until the ship in which they came should be ready to return. Richard
Smith, the Quaker from Long Island, was to be sent home by sea, rather
than by the shorter and more convenient way by land; these bigoted
rulers considered it needful to use all precautionary means to prevent
the "Quaker heretics" from even passing through their country.
The authorities having taken so summary a
course against the Friends, now sent for the master of the vessel in
which they came, in order to force him to pay a bond in the sum of
₤500, for conveying them to England at his own cost. The honest seaman,
feeling that he had violated no law of his country, in having brought
her free-born inhabitants to this part of her dominions, refused to
comply with the arbitrary requisition. His opposition, however, proved
unavailing; an imprisonment of four days sufficed to overcome his
feelings of independence, and to reduce him to submission.
The authorities of Boston, anxious in their
zeal to adopt every mode to secure the colony from the influence of
Quakerism, issued the following order to the keeper of the prison :— "
You are, by virtue hereof, to keep the Quakers formerly committed to your custody as dangerous persons, industrious to improve all their abilities to seduce the people of this jurisdiction, both by words and letters, to the abominable tenets of the Quakers, and to keep them close prisoners, not allowing them to speak or confer with any person, nor permitting them to have paper or ink.Edward Rawson, Secretary.August the 18, 1656
Subsequently, the jailer was also ordered
"to search, as often as he saw necessary, the boxes, chests and things
of the Quakers formerly committed to his custody, for pen, ink and
paper, papers and books, and to take them from them."
The extraordinary course, which the rulers
of Massachusetts had taken in the prosecution of the Quakers, was not
only in opposition to the laws of the mother country, but also without
sanction from any of those of the colony. The authorities of Boston,
eager as they were in the work of persecution, were not blind to their
position in this respect; and here we find them anxiously endeavoring
to promote measures for legalizing their wicked proceedings. On the 2nd
of the Seventh Month, 1656, the governor and magistrates of the Boston
patent assembled, and prepared a letter addressed to "The
Commissioners of the United Provinces," who were about to meet at
Plymouth; in which they recommended, "That some general rules may be
recommended to each General Court, to prevent the coming in among us
from foreign places such notorious heretics, as Quakers, Ranters, etc."
The subject having been thus brought before the commissioners, the
sanction of that body was obtained for framing a law, to justify the
course which the rulers at Boston had pursued, and to legalize future
intolerance. They agreed to "propose to the several General Courts,
that all Quakers, Ranters, and other notorious heretics be prohibited
coming into the United Colonies; and if any shall hereafter come or
arise among us, that they be forthwith secured or removed out of all
the jurisdictions."
Encouraged by the recommendation of the
Commissioners, the authorities at Boston soon passed a law for the
banishment of Quakers from their territory. This persecuting enactment
was the first in America specially directed against the Society. It is
as follows: — "
At a General Court held at Boston the 10th of October, 1656.Whereas, there is a cursed sect of heretics lately risen up in the world, which are commonly called Quakers, who take upon them to be immediately sent of God, and infallibly assisted by the Spirit, to speak and write blasphemous opinions, despising government, and the order of God in the church and commonwealth, speaking evil of dignities, reproaching and reviling magistrates and ministers, seeking to turn the people from the faith, and gain proselytes to their pernicious ways. This court, taking into consideration the premises, and to prevent the like mischief, as by their means is wrought in our land, doth hereby order, and by authority of this court, be it ordered and enacted, that what master, or commander of any ship, bark, pink, or ketch, shall henceforth bring into any harbor, creek or cove, within this jurisdiction, any Quaker or Quakers, or other blasphemous heretics, shall pay or cause to be paid, the fine of one hundred pounds to the treasurer of the country, except it appears he lacks true knowledge or information of their being such, and in that case he has liberty to clear himself by his oath, when sufficient proof to the contrary is lacking. And for default of good payment, or good security for it, shall be cast into prison, and there to continue till the said sum is satisfied to the Treasurer as before said. And the commander of any ketch, ship or vessel, being legally convicted, shall give in sufficient security to the governor, or any one or more of the magistrates, who have power to determine the same, to carry them back to the place where he brought them, and on his refusal so to do, the governor, or one or more of the magistrates, are hereby empowered to issue out his or their warrants, to commit such master or commander to prison, there to continue till he gives in sufficient security to the satisfaction of the governor, or any of the magistrates before said. And it is hereby further ordered and enacted: That whatever Quaker shall arrive in this country from foreign parts, or shall come into this jurisdiction from any parts adjacent, shall be quickly committed to the house of correction, and, at their entrance, to be severely whipped, and by the master thereof to be kept constantly to work, and none allowed to converse or speak with them during the time of their imprisonment, which shall be no longer than necessity requires. And it is ordered: If any person shall knowingly import into any harbor of this jurisdiction any Quaker books, or writings concerning their devilish opinions, they shall pay for such book or writing, being legally proved against him or them, the sum of five pounds; and whosoever shall disperse or conceal any such book, or writing, and it is found with him or her, or in his or her house, and shall not immediately deliver the same to the next magistrate, shall forfeit or pay five pounds for the dispersing or concealing of every such book or writing. And it is hereby further enacted: That if any person within this colony shall take upon themselves to defend the heretical opinions of the Quakers, or any of their books or papers as before said, if legally proved, shall be fined for the first time forty shillings; if they shall persist in the same, and shall again defend it the second time, four pounds; if notwithstanding they shall again defend and maintain the said Quakers' heretical opinions, they shall be committed to the house of correction till there is convenient shipping to send them out of the land, being sentenced by the court of assistants to banishment. Lastly, it is hereby ordered: That whatever person or persons shall revile the persons of magistrates or ministers, as is usual with the Quakers, such person or persons shall be severely whipped, or pay the sum of five pounds.This is a true copy of the court's order, as attests.Edward Rawson, Secretary
The passing of the foregoing law in the
usual way, together with its official recognition on the statute books
of the colony, was, in the estimation of its advocates, a method too
subtle for disposing of the measure. It was important in their view
that the settlers of Massachusetts should be thoroughly impressed with
the fearful character of the "cursed sect," and the dangerous
consequences to which they would be exposed, if such "blasphemous
heretics" were permitted to come among them. With beat of drum,
therefore, in order to arouse the attention of the population, the law
in question, was in a few days publicly proclaimed in the streets of
Boston, producing an unprecedented degree of excitement and commotion.
Turning again to the imprisoned Friends,
we find as the time for their embarkation approached, that the officers
under the provisions of another warrant, made a order for seizure on
the goods of the prisoners for the payment of the jailer's fees, in
pursuance of which all their bedding was taken. In this state,
unprepared for a voyage across the wide Atlantic, the sufferers were
inhumanly thrust on board the vessel now about to sail, and had not
their goods been kindly redeemed by some of the inhabitants, who were
touched with sympathy for them in their distress—they would have been
forced away, thus un-provided, from the shores of America. After an
imprisonment of about eleven weeks, and in the Eighth Month, 1656, the
Friends were borne off from Boston, and after crossing the ocean in
safety, they landed at London. Thus ended the second attempt of members
of the Quakers to preach the gospel on the continent of the western
world.
The preceding details of Puritan
persecution in New England, relate to the treatment of those, who came
as strangers to that country. Our attention will now be directed to
cruelties practiced towards colonists, who had been convinced that the
principles of the banished Quakers, harmonized with the doctrines and
precepts of Christ. In the relation of the treatment which Mary Fisher
and Anne Austin received at Boston, allusion is made to the christian
conduct of an aged inhabitant of the place, in supplying those
persecuted women with provisions during their imprisonment. This
individual was Nicholas Upshal, whose sufferings we have now to record,
under the conscientious testimony which he bore, against the wicked
and arbitrary proceedings of his countrymen. He had "long been an
inhabitant and freeman of Boston," was a zealous and faithful
christian, and one, who, from his earlier years, had been held in much
esteem, as a man of "sober and innocent conversation." He had been a
Puritan in religious profession, and in the prosperity of the
particular congregation to which he belonged, he had been deeply
interested for a long series of years. But the forms and ceremonies of
his church had for some time past been burdensome to him. He had felt
their insufficiency to satisfy the soul in its longing and thirsting
after God; and he was prepared to receive more spiritual views of
religious truth. When therefore, he found on inquiry, that the views of
the persecuted strangers, who renounced all outward observances in
religion, pointed emphatically to the inward appearance of Christ, as
the consolation and strength of the Christian, and as the leader and
guide of his people everywhere, they met with a response in his bosom,
and "he was much refreshed."
The cruel law enacted in New England
against Friends, and which had been ostentatiously announced to the
citizens of Boston by beat of drum, deeply affected the mind of this
good man. Being "grieved at the heart," therefore, under the impression
that these unrighteous actions would be followed by the just judgments
of the Most High, when the proclamation of the law was made before his
own door, he felt constrained to raise his voice in public
disapprobation of the act. He was anxious that his fellow-citizens
might know that he disclaimed any participation in proceedings utterly
at variance with the character of true religion. The conscientious
course pursued by the venerable colonist, was viewed by the
self-righteous rulers as a grave offence against their authority, and
one which required the marked severity of the court. On the following
morning, therefore, he was cited to appear before them, to answer the
charge preferred against him, "for having expressed his disapprobation
of the law against Quakers." Thus arraigned, Nicholas Upshal, "in much
tenderness and love," pleaded with his fellow-citizens on the
iniquitous course they were pursuing, and warned them "to take heed for
fear that they should be found fighting against God." The magistrates
were untouched by his appeal, and in their determination to crush any
questioning of their acts, fined, imprisoned, and banished him from the
colony. The fine was twenty pounds, and the time allowed him to prepare
for his expatriation was only thirty days, four of which he passed in
prison. He was also subjected to an additional fine of three pounds,
for not attending the usual place of worship, while under sentence of
banishment. The time had arrived when Nicholas Upshal was to bid a
final farewell to a city, memorable to himself, and others of the older
inhabitants, as a place of refuge, which, through many trials and
difficulties, they had sought in the wilds of the western world, from
"persecution at home." The weak and "aged" colonist leaving his wife
and children, towards the close of the Tenth Month, proceeded southward
in the hope of finding a shelter at Sandwich, within the colony of
Plymouth. The governor of this colony, had it appears, been apprised of
his intention, and, desiring to assist in driving Quakers from
Massachusetts, had issued a warrant, forbidding any of the people of
Sandwich to entertain him. The inhabitants of the town, however, were
not disposed to close their doors on the distressed, many of them had
too much regard for the precepts of Christianity, to abandon the
houseless and aged stranger to the inclement of a wintry season; and
Nicholas Upshal found a ready home among them. But the hospitality of
the kind-hearted people of Sandwich, displeased their governor, who,
desired having this victim of priestly intolerance more immediately
within his grasp, issued a special warrant for his appearance before
him at Plymouth. The coldness of the winter, together with the
precarious state of Nicholas Upshal's health, would, he believed,
endanger his life, if he attempted to obey the summons. He, therefore,
wisely concluded not to comply, and informed the governor by letter,
that if the warrant should be enforced, and he perished, his blood
would be required at his hands. His resolution not to remove from
Sandwich is supposed to have received encouragement from the townsmen,
by whom also it appears the constabulary were restrained from enforcing
the warrant, and to the same course some of the more moderate of the
magistrates inclined. In the early part of the following spring,
however, the authorities of Sandwich at the unremitting solicitation of
the governor, resolved that the banished man should find a home
elsewhere. On the intimation of this resolution, the attention of the
exile was directed to Rhode Island, as a place of safety. He knew that
its liberal-minded settlers would allow him a home among them; could he
be favored to reach their free soil. This he attempted, and, through
many difficulties and dangers," at last landed at Newport, its principal
town. Here his banishment became the general theme of conversation.
The untutored Indians, who still lingered about the dwellings of the
white man, heard the tale with emotions of sorrow; and one, who was
touched with the hardness of his lot, offered him a home among his
tribe; and promised that, " if he would come and live with him, he
would make him a good warm house." Another chief, whose contemplative
mind led him to reflect on the character of that religion, which could
prompt its followers to such acts of inhumanity, was heard to exclaim,
"What a God have the English, who deal so with one another about their
God!"
The tyranny which had marked the conduct
of the rulers of Massachusetts began to open the eyes of many of the
settlers, to the incongruity of the spirit, which prompted to such
deeds, with that of the benign religion of Jesus Christ. Notwithstanding
the earnest endeavors of the priests and rulers, by the stringent
clauses of their act against Quakers, to prevent the introduction of
their tenets, a desire was excited in the minds of not a few, to
acquaint themselves more intimately with the doctrines and practices of
a sect, whose presence it was even deemed improper to allow among
them; and, thus, very soon, a knowledge of Quaker doctrines was more or
less spread abroad in all the New England colonies. Among these, as
in the mother country, there were found piously disposed individuals,
who were, to a great extent, prepared to receive the simple and
spiritual views of Christianity, as professed by Friends, and some, at a
very early period became united in religious fellowship with them.
Further remarks on this interesting point will be given in a future
chapter.
This web site's purpose is to show how to become
free from sin
by benefiting from the changing power of God through the cross,
which leads to union with God in his Kingdom.
free from sin
by benefiting from the changing power of God through the cross,
which leads to union with God in his Kingdom.
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