CHAPTER XVIII
The Rise, Progress, Persecutions, and Sufferings of the Quakers
In treating of these people in a historical manner, we are obliged
to have recourse to much tenderness. That they differ from the
generality of Protestants in some of the capital points of religion
cannot be denied, and yet, as Protestant dissenters they are included
under the description of the toleration act. It is not our business
to inquire whether people of similar sentiments had any existence
in the primitive ages of Christianity: perhaps, in some respects,
they had not, but we are to write of them not as what they were,
but what they now are. That they have been treated by several
writers in a very contemptuous manner is certain; that they did
not deserve such treatment, is equally certain.
The appellation Quakers, was bestowed upon them as a term of reproach,
in consequence of their apparent convulsions which they labored
under when they delivered their discourses, because they imagined
they were the effect of divine inspiration.
It is not our business, at present, to inquire whether the sentiments
of these people are agreeable to the Gospel, but this much is
certain, that the first leader of them, as a separate body, was
a man of obscure birth, who had his first existence in Leicestershire,
about the year 1624. In speaking of this man we shall deliver
our own sentiments in a historical manner, and joining these to
what have been said by the Friends themselves, we shall endeavor
to furnish out a complete narrative.
George Fox was descended of honest and respected parents, who
brought him up in the national religion: but from a child he appeared
religious, still, solid, and observing, beyond his years, and
uncommonly knowing in divine things. He was brought up to husbandry,
and other country business, and was particularly inclined to the
solitary occupation of a shepherd; an employment, that very well
suited his mind in several respects, both for its innocency and
solitude; and was a just emblem of his after ministry and service.
In the year 1646, he entirely forsook the national Church, in
whose tenets he had been brought up, as before observed; and in
1647, he travelled into Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, without
any set purpose of visiting particular places, but in a solitary
manner he walked through several towns and villages, which way
soever his mind turned. "He fasted much," said Swell,
"and walked often in retired placed, with no other companion
than his Bible." "He visited the most retired and religious
people in those parts," says Penn, "and some there were,
short of few, if any, in this natiojn, who waited for the consolation
of Israel night and day; as Zacharias, Anna, and Simeon, did of
old time. To these he was sent, and these he sought out in the
neighboring counties, and among them he sojourned until his more
ample ministry came upon him. At this time he taught, and was
an example of silence, endeavoring to bring them from self-performances;
testifying of, and turning them to the light of Christ within
them, and encouraging them to wait in patience, and to feel the
power of it to stir in their hearts, that their knowledge and
worship of God might stand in the power of an endless life, which
was to be found in the light as it was obeyed in the manifestation
of it in man: for in the Word was life, and that life is the light
of men. Life in the Word, light in men; and life in men too, as
the light is obeyed; the children of the light living by the life
of the Word, by which the Word begets them again to God, which
is the generation and new birth, without which there is no coming
into the Kingdom of God, and to which whoever comes is greater
than John: that is, than John's dispensation, which was not that
of the Kingdom, but the consummation of the legal, and forerunning
of the Gospel times, the time of the Kingdom. Accordingly several
meetings were gathering in those parts; and thus his time was
employed for some years."
In the year 1652, "he had a visitation of the great work
of God in the earth, and of the way that he was to go forth, in
a public ministry, to begin it." He directed his course northward,
"and in every place where he came, if not before he came
to it, he had his particular exercise and service shown to him,
so that the Lord was his leader indeed." He made great numbers
of converts to his opinions, and many pious and good men joined
him in his ministry. These were drawn forth especially to visit
the public assemblies to reprove, reform, and exhort them; sometimes
in markets, fairs, streets, and by the highway-side, "calling
people to repentance, and to return to the Lord, with their hearts
as well as their mouths; directing them to the light of Christ
within them, to see, examine, and to consider their ways by, and
to eschew the evil, and to do the good and acceptable will of
God."
They were not without opposition in the work they imagined themselves
called to, being often set in the stocks, stoned, beaten, whipped
and imprisoned, though honest men of good report, that had left
wives, children, houses, and lands, to visit them with a living
call to repentance. But these coercive methods rather forwarded
than abated their zeal, and in those parts they brought over many
proselytes, and amongst them several magistrates, and others of
the better sort. They apprehended the Lord had forbidden them
to pull off their hats to anyone, high or low, and required them
to speak to the people, without distinction, the the language
of thou and thee. They scrupled bidding people good-morrow, or
good-night, nor might they bend the knee to anyone, even in supreme
authority. Both men and women went in a plain and simple dress,
different from the fashion of the times. They neither gave nor
accepted any titles of respect or honor, nor would they call any
man master on earth. Several texts of Scripture they quoted in
defence of these singularities; such as, "Swear not at all."
"How can ye believe, which receive honor one of another,
and seek not the honor that cometh from God only?" etc.,
etc. They placed the basis of religion in an inward light, and
an extraordinary impulse of the Holy Spirit.
In 1654, their first separate meeting in London was held in the
house of Robert Dring, in Watling-street, for by that time they
spread themselves into all parts of the kingdom, and had in many
places set up meetings or assemblies, particularly in Lancashire,
and the adjacent parts, but they were still exposed to great persecutions
and trials of every kind. One of them in a letter to the protector,
Oliver Cromwell, represents, though there are no penal laws in
force obliging men to comply with the established religion, yet
the Quakers are exposed upon other accounts; they are fined and
imprisoned for refusing to take an oath; for not paying their
tithes; for disturbing the public assemblies, and meeting in the
streets, and places of public resort; some of them have been whipped
for vagabonds, and for their plain speeches to the magistrate.
Under favor of the then toleration, they opened their meetings
at the Bull and Mouth, in Aldersgate-street, where women, as well
as men, were moved to speak. Their zeal transported them to some
extravagancies, which laid them still more open to the lash of
their enemies, who exercised various severities opn them throughout
the next reign. Upon the suppression of Venner's mad insurrection,
the government, having published a proclamation, forbidding the
Anabaptists, Quakers, and Fifth Monarchy Men, to assemble or meet
together under pretence of worshipping God, except it be in some
parochial church, chapel, or in private houses, by consent of
the persons there inhabiting, all meetings in other places being
declared to be unlawful and riotous, etc., etc., the Quakers thought
it expedient to address the king thereon, which they did in the
following words:
"O King Charles!
"Our desire is, that thou mayest live forever in the fear
of God, and thy council. We beseech thee and thy council to read
these following lines in tender bowels, and compassion for our
souls, and for your good.
"And this consider, we are about four hundred imprisoned,
in and about this city, of men and women from their families,
besides, in the county jails, about ten hundred; we desire that
our meetings may not be broken up, but that all may come to a
fair trial, that our innocency may be cleared up.
"London, 16th day, eleventh month, 1660."
On the twenty-eighth of the same month, they published the declaration
referred to in their address, entitled, "A declaration from
the harmless and innocent people of God, called Quakers, against
all sedition, plotters, and fighters in the world, for removing
the ground of jealousy and suspicion, from both magistrates and
people in the kingdom, concerning wars and fightings." It
was presented to the king the twenty-first day of the eleventh
month, 1660, and he promised them upon his royal word, that they
should not suffer for their opinions as long as they lived peaceably;
but his promises were very little regarded afterward.
In 1661 they assumed courage to petition the House of Lords for
a toleration of their religion, and for a dispensation from taking
the oaths, which they held unlawful, not from any disaffection
to the government, or a belief that they were less obliged by
an affirmation, but from a persuasion that all oaths were unlawful;
and that swearing upon the most solemn occasions was forbidden
in the New Testament. Their petition was rejected, and instead
of granting them relief, an act was passed against them, the preamble
to which set forth, "That whereas several persons have taken
up an opinion that an oath, even before a magistrate, is unlawful,
and contrary to the Word of God; and whereas, under pretence of
religious worship, the said persons do assemble in great numbers
in several parts of the kingdom, separating themselves from the
rest of his majesty's subjects, and the public congregations and
usual places of divine worship; be it therefore enacted, that
if any such persons, after the twenty-fourth of March, 1661-2,
shall refuse to take an oath when lawfully tendered, or persuade
others to do it, or maintain in writing or otherwise, the unlawfulness
of taking an oath; or if they shall assemble for religious worship,
to the number of five or more, of the age of fifteen, they shall
for the first offence forfeit five pounds; for the second, ten
pounds; and for the third shall abjure the realm, or be transported
to the plantations: and the justices of peace at their open sessions
may hear and finally determine in the affair."
This act had a most dreadful effect upon the Quakers, though it
was well known and notorious that these conscientious persons
were far from sedition or disaffection to the government. George
Fox, in his address to the king, acquaints him that three thousand
and sixty-eight of their friends had been imprisoned since his
majesty's restoration; that their meetings were daily broken up
by men with clubs and arms, and their friends thrown into the
water, and trampled under foot until the blood gushed out, which
gave rise to their meeting in the open streets. A relation was
printed, signed by twelve witnesses, which says that more than
four thousand two hundred Quakers were imprisoned; and of them
five hundred were in and about London, and, the suburbs; several
of whom were dead in the jails.
Six hundred of them, says an account published at that time, wer
ein prison, merely for religion's sake, of whom several were banished
to the plantations. In short, the Quakers gave such full employment
to the informers, that they had less leisure to attend the meetings
of other dissenters.
Yet, under all these calamities, they behaved with patience and
modesty towards the government, and upon occasion of the Ryehouse
plot in 1682, thought proper to declare their innocence of that
sham plot, in an address to the king, wherein "appealing
to the Searcher of all hearts," they say, "their principles
do not allow them to take up defensive arms, much less to avenge
themselves for the injuries they received from others: that they
continually pray for the king's safety and preservation; and therefore
take this occasion humbly to beseech his majesty to compassionate
their suffering friends, with whom the jails are so filled, that
they want air, to the apparent hazard of their lives, and to the
endangering an infection in divers places. Besides, many houses,
shops, barns, and fields are ransacked, and the goods, corn, and
cattle swept away, to the discouraging trade and husbandry, and
impoverishing great numbers of quiet and industrious people; and
this, for no other cause, but for the exercise of a tender conscience
in the worship of Almighty God, who is sovereign Lord and King
of men's consciences."
On the accession of James II they addressed that monarch honestly
and plainly, telling him: "We are come to testify our sorrow
for the death of our good friend Charles, and our joy for thy
being made our governor. We are told thou art not of the persuasion
of the Church of England, no more than we; therefore we hope thou
wilt grant us the same liberty which thou allowest thyself, which
doing, we wish thee all manner of happiness."
When James, by his dispensing power, granted liberty to the dissenters,
they began to enjoy some rest from their troubles; and indeed
it was high time, for they were swelled to an enormous amount.
They, the year before this, to them one of glad release, in a
petition to James for a cessation of their sufferings, set forth,
"that of late above one thousand five hundred of their friends,
both men and women, and that now there remain one thousand three
hundred and eighty-three; of which two hundred are women, many
under sentence of praemunire; and more than three hundred near
it, for refusing the oath of allegiance, because they could not
swear. Three hundred and fifty have died in prison since the year
1680; in London, the jail of Newgate has been crowded, within
these two years sometimes with near twenty in a room, whereby
several have been suffocated, and others, who have been taken
out sick, have died of malignant fevers within a few days. Great
violences, outrageous distresses, and woful havoc and spoil, have
been made upon people's goods and estates, by a company of idle,
extravagant, and merciless informers, by persecutions on the conventicle-act,
and others, also on qui tam writs, and on other processes, for
twenty pounds a month, and two thirds of their estates seized
for the king. Some had not a bed to rest on, others had no cattle
to till the ground, nor corn for feed or bread, nor tools to work
with; the said informers and bailiffs in some places breaking
into houses, and making great waste and spoil, under pretence
of serving the king and the Church. Our religious assemblies have
been charged at common law with being rioters and disturbers of
the public peace, whereby great numbers have been confined in
prison without regard to age, and many confined to holes and dungeons.
The seizing for 20 pounds a month has amounted to many thousands,
and several who have employed some hundreds of poor people in
manufactures, are disabled to do so any more, by reason of long
imprisonment. They spare neither widow nor fatherless, nor have
they so much as a bed to lie on. The informers are both witnesses
and prosecutors, to the ruin of great numbers of sober families;
and justices of the peace have been threatened with the forfeiture
of one hundred pounds, if they do not issue out warrants upon
their informations." With this petition they presented a
list of their friends in prison, in the several counties, amounting
to four hundred and sixty.
During the reign of King James II these people were, through the
intercession of their friend Mr. Penn, treated with greater indulgence
than ever they had been before. They were now become extremely
numerous in many parts of the country, and the settlement of Pennsylvania
taking place soon after, many of them went over to America. There
they enjoyed the blessings of a peaceful government, and cultivated
the arts of honest industry.
As the whole colony was the property of Mr. Penn, so he invited
people of all denominations to come and settle with him. A universal
liberty of conscience took place; and in this new colony the natural
rights of mankind were, for the first time, established.
These Friends are, in the present age, a very harmless, inoffensive
body of people; but of that we shall take more notice hereafter.
By their wise regulations, they not only do honor to themselves,
but they are of vast service to the community.
It may be necessary here to observe, that as the Friends, commonly
called Quakers, will not take an oath in a court of justice, so
their affirmation is permitted in all civil affairs; but they
cannot prosecute a criminal, because, in the English courts of
justice, all evidence must be upon oath.
An Account of the Persecutions of Friends, Commonly Called Quakers, in the United States
About the middle of the seventeenth century, much persecution
and suffering were inflicted on a sect of Protestant dissenters,
commonly called Quakers: a people which arose at that time in
England some of whom sealed their testimony with their blood.
For an account of the above people, see Sewell's, or Gough's history
of them.
The principal points upon which their conscientious
nonconformity rendered them obnoxious to the penalties of the
law, were,
Their conscientious noncompliance in the preceding particulars,
exposed them to much persecution and suffering, which consisted
in prosecutions, fines, cruel beatings, whippings, and other corporal
punishments; imprisonment, banishment, and even death.
To relate a particular account of their persecutions and sufferings,
would extend beyond the limits of this work: we shall therefore
refer, for that information, to the histories already mentioned,
and more particularly to Besse's Collection of their sufferings;
and shall confine our account here mostly to those who sacrificed
their lives, and evinced, by their disposition of mind, constancy,
patience, and faithful perseverance, that they were influenced
by a sense of religious duty.
Numerous and repeated were the persecutions against them; and
sometimes for transgressions or offences which the law did not
contemplate or embrace.
Many of the fines and penalties exacted of them, were not only
unreasonable and exorbitant, but as they could not consistently
pay them, were sometimes distrained to several times the value
of the demand; whereby many poor families were greatly distressed,
and obliged to depend on the assistance of their friends.
Numbers were not only cruelly beaten and whipped in a public manner,
like criminals, but some were branded and others had their ears
cut off.
Great numbers were long confined in loathsome prisons; in which
some ended their days in consequence thereof.
Many were sentenced to banishment; and a considerable number were
transported. Some were banished on pain of death; and four were
actually executed by the hands of the hangman, as we shall here
relate, after inserting copies of some of the laws of the country
where they suffered.
"At a General Court Held at Boston, the Fourteenth 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 from 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 appear he want true knowledge or information
of their being such; and, in that case, he hath liberty to clear
himself by his oath, when sufficient proof to the contrary is
wanting: and, for default of good payment, or good security for
it, shall be cast into prison, and there to continue until the
said sum be satisfied to the treasurer as foresaid.
"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 whence 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, until he give in sufficient security to the content
of the governor, or any of the magistrates, as aforesaid.
"And it is hereby further ordered and enacted, that what
Quaker soever shall arrive in this country from foreign parts,
or shall come into this jurisdiction from any parts adjacent,
shall be forthwith committed to the House of Correction; and,
at their entrance, to be severely whipped, and by the master thereof
be kept constantly to work, and none suffered 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 Quakers' books or writings,
concerning their devilish opinions, 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 be 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 any such book or writing.
"And it is hereby further enacted, that if any persons
within this colony shall take upon them to defend the heretical
opinions of the Quakers, or any of their books or papers, 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 again defend and maintain the said Quakers'
heretical opinions, they shall be committed to the House of Correction
until there be convenient passage to send them out of the land,
being sentenced by the court of Assistants to banishment.
"Lastly, it is hereby ordered, that what person or persons
soever, shall revile the persons of the 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, SEC."
"At a General Court Held at Boston, the Fourteenth of
October,
1657"
"As an addition to the late order, in reference to the
coming or bringing of any of the cursed sect of the Quakers into
this jurisdiction, it is ordered that whosoever shall from henceforth
bring, or cause to be brought, directly, or indirectly, any known
Quaker or Quakers, or other blasphemous heretics, into this jurisdiction,
every such person shall forfeit the sum of one hundred pounds
to the country, and shall by warrant from any magistrate be committed
to prison, there to remain until the penalty be satisfied and
paid; and if any person or persons within this jurisdiction, shall
henceforth entertain and conceal any such Quaker or Quakers, or
other blasphemous heretics, knowing them so to be, every such
person shall forfeit to the country forty shillings for every
hour's entertainment and concealment of any Quaker or Quaker,
etc., as aforesaid, and shall be committed to prison as aforesaid,
until the forfeiture be fully satisfied and paid.
"And it is further ordered, that if any Quaker or Quakers
shall presume, after they have once suffered what the law requires,
to come into this jurisdiction, every such male Quaker shall,
for the first offence, have one of his ears cut off, and be kept
at work in the House of Correction, until he can be sent away
at his own charge; and for the second offence, shall have his
other ear cut off; and every woman Quaker, that has suffered the
law here, that shall presume to come into this jurisdiction, shall
be severely whipped, and kept at the House of Correction at work,
until she be sent away at her own charge, and so also for her
coming again, she shall be alike used as aforesaid.
"And for every Quaker, he or she, that shall a third time
herein again offend, they shall have their tongues bored through
with a hot iron, and be kept at the House of Correction close
to work, until they be sent away at their own charge.
"And it is further ordered, that all and every Quaker
arising from among ourselves, shall be dealt with, and suffer
the like punishment as the law provides against foreign Quakers.
"EDWARD RAWSON, Sec."
"An Act Made at a General Court, Held at Boston, the Twentieth
of
October, 1658"
Whereas, there is a pernicious sect, commonly called Quakers,
lately risen, who by word and writing have published and maintained
many dangerous and horrid tenets, and do take upon them to change
and alter the received laudable customs of our nation, in giving
civil respects to equals, or reverence to superiors; whose actions
tend to undermine the civil government, and also to destroy the
order of the churches, by denying all established forms of worship,
and by withdrawing from orderly Church fellowship, allowed and
approved by all orthodox professors of truth, and instead thereof,
and in opposition thereunto, frequently meeting by themselves,
insinuating themselves into the minds of the simple, or such as
are at least affected to the order and government of church and
commonwealth, whereby divers of our inhabitants have been infected,
notwithstanding all former laws, made upon the experience of their
arrogant and bold obtrusions, to disseminate their principles
amongst us, prohibiting their coming into this jurisdiction, they
have not been deferred from their impious attempts to undermine
our peace, and hazard our ruin.
"For prevention thereof, this court doth order and enact,
that any person or persons, of the cursed sect of the Quakers,
who is not an inhabitant of, but is found within this jurisdiction,
shall be apprehended without warrant, where no magistrate is at
hand, by any constable, commissioner, or selectman, and conveyed
from constable to constable, to the next magistrate, who shall
commit the said person to close prison, there to remain (without
bail) until the next court of Assistants, where they shall have
legal trial.
"And being convicted to be of the sect of the Quakers,
shall be sentenced to banishment, on pain of death. And that every
inhabitant of this jurisdiction, being convicted to be of the
aforesaid sect, either by taking up, publishing, or defending
the horrid opinions of the Quakers, or the stirring up mutiny,
sedition, or rebellion against the government, or by taking up
their abusive and destructive practices, viz. denying civil respect
to equals and superiors, and withdrawing from the Church assemblies;
and instead thereof, frequenting meetings of their own, in opposition
to our Church order; adhereing to, or approving of any known Quaker,
and the tenets and practices of Quakers, that are opposite to
the orthodox received opinions of the godly; and endeavoring to
disaffect others to civil government and Church order, or condemning
the practice and proceedings of this court against the Quakers,
manifesting thereby their complying with those, whose design is
to overthrow the order established in Church and state: every
such person, upon conviction before the said court of Assistants,
in manner aforesaid, shall be committed to close prison for one
month, and then, unless they choose voluntarily to depart this
jurisdiction, shall give bond for their good behavior and appear
at the next court, continuing obstinate, and refusing to retract
and reform the aforesaid opinions, they shall be sentenced to
banishment, upon pain of death. And any one magistrate, upon information
given him of any such person, shall cause him to be apprehended,
and shall commit any such person to prison, according to his discretion,
until he come to trial as aforesaid."
It appears there were also laws passed in both of the then
colonies of New Plymouth and New Haven, and in the Dutch settlement
at New Amsterdam, now New York, prohibiting the people called
Quakers, from coming into those places, under severe penalties;
in consequence of which, some underwent considerable suffering.
The two first who were executed were William Robinson, merchant,
of London, and Marmaduke Stevenson, a countryman, of Yorkshire.
These coming to Boston, in the beginning of September, were sent
for by the court of Assistants, and there sentenced to banishment,
on pain of death. This sentence was passed also on Mary Dyar,
mentioned hereafter, and Nicholas Davis, who were both at Boston.
But William Robinson, being looked upon as a teacher, was also
condemned to be whipped severely; and the constable was commanded
to get an able man to do it. Then Robinson was brought into the
street, and there stripped; and having his hands put through the
holes of the carriage of a great gun, where the jailer held him,
the executioner gave him twenty stripes, with a threefold cord
whip. Then he and the other prisoners were shortly after released,
and banished, as appears from the following warrant:
"You are required by these, presently to set at liberty
William Robinson, Marmaduke Stevenson, Mary Dyar, and Nicholas
Davis, who, by an order of the court and council, had been imprisoned,
because it appeared by their own confession, words, and actions,
that they are Quakers: wherefore, a sentence was pronounced against
them, to depart this jurisdiction, on pain of death; and that
they must answer it at their peril, if they or any of them, after
the fourteenth of this present month, September, are found within
this jurisdiction, or any part thereof.
"EDWARD RAWSON"
"Boston, September 12, 1659."
Though Mary Dyar and Nicholas Davis left that jurisdiction for
that time, yet Robinson and Stevenson, though they departed the
town of Boston, could not yet resolve (not being free in mind)
to depart that jurisdiction, though their lives were at stake.
And so they went to Salem, and some places thereabouts, to visit
and build up their friends in the faith. But it was not long before
they were taken and put again into prison at Boston, and chains
locked to their legs. In the next month, Mary Dyar returned also.
And as she stood before the prison, speaking with one Christopher
Holden, who was come thither to inquire for a ship bound for England,
whither he intended to go, she was also taken into custody.
Thus, they had now three persons, who, according to their law,
had forfeited their lives. And, on the twentieth of October, these
three were brought into court, where John Endicot and others were
assembled. And being called to the bar, Endicot commanded the
keeper to pull off their hats; and then said, that they had made
several laws to keep the Quakers from amongst them, and neither
whipping, nor imprisoning, nor cutting off ears, nor banishment
upon pain of death, would keep them from amongst them. And further,
he said, that he or they desired not the death of any of them.
Yet, notwithstanding, his following words, without more ado were,
"Give ear, and hearken to your sentence of death." Sentence
of death was also passed upon Marmaduke Stevenson, Mary Dyar,
and William Edrid. Several others were imprisoned, whipped, and
fined.
We have no disposition to justify the Pilgrims for these proceedings,
but we think, considering the circumstances of the age in which
they lived, their conduct admits of much palliation.
The fathers of New England, endured incredible hardships in providing
for themselves a home in the wilderness; and to protect themselves
in the undisturbed enjoyment of rights, which they had purchased
at so dear a rate, they sometimes adopted measures, which, if
tried by the more enlightened and liberal views of the present
day, must at once be pronounced altogether unjustifiable. But
shall they be condemned without mercy for not acting up to principles
which were unacknowledged and unknown throughout the whole of
Christendom? Shall they alone be held responsible for opinions
and conduct which had become sacred by antiquity, and which were
common to Christians of all other denominations? Every government
then in existence assumed to itself the right to legislate in
matters of religion; and to restrain heresy by penal statutes.
This right was claimed by rulers, admitted by subjects, and is
sanctioned by the names of Lord Bacon and Montesquieu, and many
others equally famed for their talents and learning. It is unjust,
then, to 'press upon one poor persecuted sect, the sins of all
Christendom.' The fault of our fathers was the fault of the age;
and though this cannot justify, it certainly furnishes an extenuation
of their conduct. As well might you condemn them for not understanding
and acting up to the principles of religious toleration. At the
same time, it is but just to say, that imperfect as were their
views of the rights of conscience, they were nevertheless far
in advance of the age to which they belonged; and it is to them
more than to any other class of men on earth, the world is indebted
for the more rational views that now prevail on the subject of
civil and religious liberty.
END CHAPTER XVIII
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