The History of the Christian People Called Quakers

1685

Thomas Briggs, who also had suffered very much, having been one of the first preachers among the Quakers, and being become old and weak, about this time wrote a letter to G. Fox, in which he signified his perseverance in godliness; and not long after, viz. about the beginning of the year 1685, he died.

It was about this time also, that the king was seized with such violent fits of convulsion, that he died in the month called February. The throne by his death being become vacant, was filled again by his brother James the Second, who succeeding him, was the same day proclaimed king. Now I cannot but take notice, that persecution went on to the death of king Charles, and continued hot to that very instant; and he being gone off the stage, many seemed to fear that worse times were at hand, and that burning of heretics would come in vogue again, as in the former age: yet some there were who imagined that ease was like to follow; and that they guessed not amiss, time showed.

King James had not been long at the helm of the government, but the dissenters applied to him for liberty of worship, and among these were also the Quakers, who made the following petition:

To the King and both houses of parliament, the suffering condition of the peaceable people called Quakers, only for tender conscience towards Almighty God, humbly presented.

‘Showing, that of late above one thousand five hundred of the said people, both men and women, having been detained prisoners in England, and part of them in Wales, (some of which being since discharged by the judges, and others freed by death, through their long and tedious imprisonment,) there are now remaining, according to late accounts, about one thousand three hundred, eighty and three; about two hundred of them women. Many under sentence of premunire, both men and women, and more than three hundred near it; not for denying the duty, or refusing the substance of allegiance itself, but only because they dare not swear: many on writs of excommunication and fines for the king, and upon the act for banishment: besides above three hundred and twenty have died in prison, and prisoners, since the year 1660, near one hundred whereof, by means of this long imprisonment, as it is judged, since the account delivered to the late king and parliament, in 1680; thereby making widows and fatherless, and leaving them in distress and sorrow: the two last hard winters restraint, and the close confinement of great numbers in divers jails, unavoidably tending towards their destruction, their healths being evidently impaired thereby.

’And here in London, the jail of Newgate hath been from time to time crowded, within these two years, (sometimes near twenty in one room) to the prejudice of their health; and several poor innocent tradesmen, of late, have been so suffocated by the coldness of the prison, that they have been taken out sick of a malignant fever, and died in a few days after.

‘Besides these long-continued and destructive hardships upon the persons of men and women, as aforesaid, great violences, outrageous distresses, and woful havoc and spoil have been, and still are frequently made upon our goods and estates, both in and about this city of London, and other parts of this nation, by a company of idle, extravagant, and merciless informers, and their prosecutions upon the conventicle act; many being convicted and fined, unsummoned and unheard in their own defence. As also on qui tam writs, at the suit of informers, who prosecute for one-third part for themselves, and on other processes, for twenty pounds a month, and two-thirds of estates, seized for the king; all tending to the ruin of trade, husbandry, and farmers, and the impoverishing of many industrious families, without compassion shown to widows, fatherless, or desolate: to some not a bed left to rest upon; to others, no cattle to till their ground, nor corn for bread or seed, nor tools to work withal: the said informers and sheriffs bailiffs in some places being outrageous and excessive in their distresses, and seizures, breaking into houses, and making great waste and spoil. And all these and other severities done against us by them, under pretence of serving the king and the church, thereby to force us to a conformity, without inward conviction or satisfaction of our tender consciences, wherein our peace with God is concerned, which we are very tender of.

‘The statutes on which we, the said people, suffer imprisonment, distress, and spoil, are as followeth:

‘The 5th of Eliz. ch. 23. De excommunicato Capiendo.
‘The 23d of Eliz. ch. 1, for twenty pounds per month.
‘The 29th of Eliz. ch. 6, for continuation.
‘The 35th of Eliz. ch. 1, for abjuring the realm, on pain of death.
‘The 1st of Eliz. ch. 2, for twelve pence a Sunday.

‘The 3d of K. James I. ch. 4, for premunire, imprisonment during life, and estates confiscated.

‘The 13th and 14th of K. Charles II. against Quakers, &c. transportation.
‘The 22d of K. Charles II. ch. 1, against seditious conventicles.
‘The 17th of K. Charles II. ch. 2, against non-conformists.
‘The 27th of Hen. VIII. ch. 20, some few suffer thereupon.

‘Upon indictments at common law, pretended and framed against our peaceable religious assemblies, for riots, routs, breach of the peace, &c. many, both men and women, thereupon fined, imprisoned, and detained for non-payment, some till death. Instance, the city of Bristol, what a great number have been these divers years straitly confined and crowded in jail, mostly above one hundred on such pretence, about seventy of them women, many aged. And in the city of Norwich, in the years 1682 and 83, about seventy kept in hold, forty-five whereof in holes and dungeons for many weeks together, and great hardships have been, and are in other places. So that such our peaceable meetings are sometimes fined on the conventicle act, as for a religious exercise, and other times at common law, as riotous, routous, &c. when nothing of that nature could ever be proved against them, there being nothing of violence or injury either done, threatened, or intended, against the person or property of any other whatsoever.

‘The during and tedious imprisonments, are chiefly on the writs de excommunicato capiendo, upon the judgment of premunire, and upon fines, said to be for the king.

‘The great spoil and excessive distresses and seizures, are chiefly upon the conventicle act, and for twenty pounds a month, two-thirds of estates, and on qui tam writs. In some counties divers have suffered by seizures and distresses above eight years last past, and writs issued out for further seizures in several counties, for twenty pounds a month, amounting to the value of many thousands of pounds, sometimes seizing for eleven months at once, and making sale of all goods and chattels, within doors and without, both of household goods, beds, shop-goods, moveables, cattle, &c. and prosecution hereupon still continued, and in divers counties much increased; so that several, who have long employed some hundreds of poor families in manufacture, and paid considerable taxes to the king, are greatly disabled from both, by these writs and seizures, as well as by long imprisonments. So many serge-makers of Plymouth, as kept above five hundred poor people at work, disabled by imprisonment. Many in the county of Suffolk, under a long imprisonment, sentenced to a premunire, one whereof employed at least two hundred poor people in the woollen manufacture, when at liberty. Omitting other instances, that we may not seem too tedious, these may evince how destructive such severities are to trade and industry, and ruinous to many poor families.

‘On the conventicle act, within these two years last past, many in and about this city of London have been extremely oppressed, impaired, and spoiled in their estates and trades, upon numerous convictions and warrants, made against them in their absence, upon the credit of informations sworn by concealed informers, divers of them impudent women, who swear for their profit in part of the fines and seizures, their husbands being prisoners for debt through their own extravagancies. The warrants commonly made to break open and enter houses, which is done with rigour and great spoil, not sparing widows, fatherless, or poor families, who are sustained by their daily care and industry, not leaving them a bed to rest upon. The fines upon one justice’s warrants amounting to many hundreds of pounds; frequently ten pounds a warrant, and two warrants at once for twenty pounds, executed upon one person; and three warrants at once from another justice, for sixty pounds upon another person, and all his goods carried away in about ten cart loads; and five warrants at once for fifty pounds upon another, &c. besides what we have suffered by others in the like kind. And in this destructive course the informers have encouragement, and are suffered still to go on, to the ruining many families in their trades and livelihoods; divers so discouraged and disabled, that they are forced to give over their shops and trades.

‘These informers being accepted for credible witnesses, yet parties, swearing for their own profit and gain, in the absence of the persons prosecuted; this we think is very hard, and undue proceeding, and not consistent with common law or justice.

’As also convicting and fining us upon their depositions, unsummoned and unheard in our own defence, and so keeping us ignorant of our accusers, unless upon traverse of our appeals. This procedure appears contrary to the law of God, common justice, and equity, and to the law and justice of the ancient Romans, and of nations.

’And although it has been openly manifested, upon trial of appeals, at several quarter-sessions, both for Middlesex and London, and other places, that the depositions of divers informers have been false in fact: yet the great trouble and charge in the traverse of appeals, and the great encouragement informers have from him who grants the most warrants, hath been a discouragement to many from seeking such difficult remedy, considering also the treble costs against the appellant, in case he succeeds not, or is not acquitted upon trial: whereas there is no costs nor restitution awarded nor given against the informers, for unjust prosecution. Some also have refused to grant appeals, others denied copies of warrants to prevent appeals: which, whether this be equal or just, pray consider, ye that are wise and judicious men: and whether it be for the king’s honour, and the people’s interest, that idle, drunken, extravagant informers, should either be encouraged or suffered to go on thus to ruin trade, husbandry and families, or to command and threaten justices of peace, with the forfeiture of an hundred pounds, if they do not make convictions, and issue out warrants upon their late informations, and uncertain depositions, frequently in the absence of the accused.

‘And lastly, one-third part of the fines being assigned to the king, he can only remit that; but the informers and poor being assigned two-third parts, seems not to allow him to remit them, how much cause soever may appear to him, to extend his favour in that case. Is not this against the king’s prerogative, to restrain his sovereign clemency? And how far it reflects upon the government, and is scandalous thereto, for beggarly rude informers, some of them confident women, not only to command, threaten, and disquiet justices, peace-officers, &c. but to destroy the king’s honest, industrious and peaceable subjects, in their properties and estates, is worthy of your serious considerations: and whether the said conventicle act ought not therefore justly to be repealed. A noted instance of the like case, we have, concerning the statute of the 11 Hen. VII. ch. 3, for determining certain offences and contempts only upon informers’ prosecutions, being repealed in the first year of K. Hen. VIII. ch. 6, though that, in some respects, was more tolerable than this.

‘Be pleased to make our case your own, and do to us as you would be done unto; as you would not be oppressed or destroyed in your persons, or estates, nor have your properties invaded, and posterities ruined for serving and worshipping Almighty God, that made all mankind, according to your persuasions and consciences, but would, no doubt, enjoy the liberty thereof, so we intreat you to allow the same liberty to tender consciences, that live peaceably under the government, as you would enjoy yourselves; and to disannul the said conventicle act, and to stop these devouring informers, and also take away all sanguinary laws, corporal and pecuniary punishments, merely on the score of religion and conscience; and let not the ruin and cry of the widow, fatherless, and innocent families, lie upon this nation, nor at your door, who have not only a great trust reposed in you for the prosperity and good of the whole nation, but also do profess Christianity, and the tender religion of our Lord Jesus Christ.

’And notwithstanding all these long-sustained extremities, we, the said suffering people, do solemnly profess and declare in the sight of the all-seeing God, who is the searcher of hearts, that as we have never been found in any seditious or treasonable designs, they being wholly contrary to our Christian principle and profession, so we have nothing but good will, and true Christian affection to the king and government, sincerely desiring his and your safety, prosperity, and concurrence in mercy and truth, for the good of the whole kingdom.

‘Having thus given you, in short, the general state of our suffering case, in matter of fact, without personal reflection, we, in Christian humility, and for Christ’s sake, intreat that you will tenderly and charitably consider of the premises, and find out some effectual expedient or way for our relief from prisons, spoil, and ruin.’

The following application was likewise presented.

TO KING JAMES THE SECOND.

The humble application of the people called Quakers.

‘Whereas it hath pleased Almighty God, by whom kings reign, to take hence the late king Charles the Second, and to preserve thee peaceably to succeed; we thy subjects heartily desire, that the Giver of all good and perfect gifts, may please to endue thee with wisdom and mercy in the use of thy great power, to his glory, the king’s honour, and the kingdom’s good; and it being our sincere resolution, according to our peaceable principles and conversation, by the assistance of Almighty God, to live peaceably and honestly, as becomes true and faithful subjects under the king’s government, and a conscientious people, that truly fear and serve God; we do humbly hope that the king’s tenderness will appear and extend, with his power to express the same; recommending to his princely clemency, the case of our present suffering friends hereunto annexed.

TO THE KING.
The distressed Case and request of the suffering people commonly called Quakers, humbly presented.
‘Showing,

‘That according to accounts lately given, above fourteen hundred of the said people, both men and women, are continued prisoners in England and Wales, only for tender conscience towards Almighty God that made them; many under sentence of premunire, and many near it, not for refusing the duty or substance of allegiance itself, but only because they dare not swear; others under fines upon the act of banishment, many on writs of excommunication; besides some hundreds have died prisoners; many by means of this long imprisonment since the year 1680, (as it is judged,) thereby making widows and fatherless, and leaving poor innocent families in distress and sorrow; these two hard winters confinement, tending also to the destruction of many in cold holes and jails, their healths being greatly impaired thereby; besides the violence and woful spoil made by merciless informers on the conventicle act, upon many, convicted unsummoned and unheard in their own defence, both in city and county, as also on qui tam writs, and other process, on twenty pounds a month, and two-thirds of estates seized for the king, all tending to the ruin of trade, husbandry, and industrious families; to some not a bed left; to others no cattle to till their ground, or give them milk; nor corn for bread or seed; nor tools to work withal. And also these and other severities done under pretence of serving the king, and church, thereby to force us to violate our consciences, and consequently to destroy our souls, which we are very tender of, as we are of our peace with God, and our own consciences, though accounted as sheep for the slaughter: and notwithstanding all these long extremities, we the said people do solemnly profess and declare in the sight of the heart Searcher, that we have nothing but good-will and true affection to the king, praying for his safety, and the kingdom’s peace. We have never been found in any seditious or treasonable designs, as being wholly contrary to our Christian principles and holy profession.

‘And knowing that where the word of a king is, there is power, we in Christian humility, and for Christ’s sake, intreat, that the king will please to find out some expedient for our relief in these cases, from prison, spoil, and ruin, and we shall, as in Christian duty bound, pray God for the king’s welfare in this world, and his eternal happiness in that which is to come.’

An account of the number of the said prisoners called Quakers, in the several counties.

Prisoners.
Bedfordshire	30
Berkshire	37
Bristol	103
Buckinghamshire	19
Cambridgeshire	8
Ely	11
Cheshire	9
Cornwall	32
Cumberland	22
Derbyshire	1
Devonshire	104
Dorsetshire	13
Durham	39
Essex	10
Gloucestershire	66
Hertfordshire	18
Herefordshire	1
Huntingdonshire	10
Kent	16
Lancashire	73
Leicestershire	37
Lincolnshire	12
London and Middlesex	66
Norfolk	52
Northampton	59
Nottinghamshire	6
Oxon	17
Shropshire	18
Somersetshire	36
Southampton	15
Staffordshire	1
Suffolk	79
Surry	29
Sussex	17
Warwickshire	31
Westmoreland	5
Wiltshire	34
Worcestershire	15
Yorkshire	279
Wales	30
——
Sum of Prisoners	1460

Delivered to the king the 3d of the First month called March, 1684-5.

This list, with the aforesaid petition to the king and parliament, was not altogether ineffectual: for there was much talk now of liberty of conscience; but since all the liberty that was enjoyed was only precarious, it could be but little depended upon; yet many seemed to be in expectation that some grant of that liberty would be published in print, and thus it became a common saying that liberty of conscience was in the press, which being of an equivocal signification, sometimes afforded matter of sport. But many of the Episcopal church were so strongly bent to withhold that liberty from other Protestants, that there were no ill-grounded reports, that some in authority had promised the king, to give their vote for liberty of conscience to the Papists, provided it was not granted to other dissenters. Nevertheless the abovesaid petition of the Quakers had such effect, that the king resolved to ease them from the burden of their oppression, by way of pardon; for thus far his power reached; but the abrogating of laws could not be done without the consent of the parliament, which grew jealous that by the repeal of those laws, the Papists, who now had a king of their own religion, would become too powerful. In the meanwhile the king published the following proclamation:

‘James R.

‘Whereas our most entirely beloved brother, the late king, deceased, had signified his intentions to his attorneys general for the pardoning such of his subjects who had been sufferers in the late rebellion for their loyalty, or whose parents or nearest relations had been sufferers in the late rebellion for that cause, or who had themselves testified their loyalty and affection to the government, and were prosecuted, indicted, or convicted for not taking, or refusing to take the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, or one of them, or had been prosecuted upon any writ, or any penalty, or otherwise, in any of the courts of Westminster Hall, or in any of the ecclesiastical courts, for not coming to church, or not receiving the sacrament:

’And whereas the several persons, whose names are mentioned in the schedule annexed to this our warrant; have produced unto us certificates for the loyalty and sufferings of them and their families:

‘Now in pursuance of the said will of our said most dear brother, and in consideration of the sufferings of the said persons, our will and pleasure is, that you cause all process and proceedings, ex officio, as well against the said persons mentioned in the said schedule hereunto annexed, as against all other persons as shall hereafter be produced unto you, to be wholly superseded and stayed; and if any of the said persons be decreed or pronounced excommunicated, or have been so certified, or are in prison upon the writ de excommunicato capiendo, for any of the causes aforesaid, our pleasure is, that you absolve and cause such persons to be absolved, discharged, or set at liberty, and that no process or proceedings whatsoever be hereafter made in any court against any of the said persons for any cause before mentioned, until our pleasure therein shall be further signified.

‘Given at our Court at Whitehall, this 18th of April, 1685, in the first year of our reign.

‘To all archbishops and bishops, to their chancellors and commissioners, and to all archdeacons and their officials, and all other ordinaries and persons executing ecclesiastical jurisdiction.

By his majesty’s command,
SUNDERLAND.’

This was the king’s first step towards liberty of conscience, as well for Papists, as other persons mentioned in the schedule annexed, which put an effectual stop to persecution, and the power of the informers was thereby much broken. And since the most of these were generally base fellows, and profligate persons, who did not care what they did, provided they might enrich themselves, they often dealt treacherously even with the persecuting justices; who also were eager for having part of the prey, and yet by the artifices of these rapacious wretches were deprived of it, which some of them now smarted for. Among the rest, I find that one John Hilton was committed to jail, as may appear from this warrant of the recorder.

To the keeper of Newgate.

‘Receive into your custody the body of John Hilton, herewith sent you, being charged upon oath before me, for compounding several warrants under my hand and seal, for levying of several sums of money on persons convicted for being at several conventicles in Kent, London, and Middlesex; and being also indicted for the same in the several counties aforesaid, and the bills found against him; and also that he the said John Hilton, hath refused to obey the right honourable sir Edward Herbert, lord chief justice’s warrant. And him safely keep, until he shall be discharged by due course of law. And for so doing this shall be your warrant. Dated the 23d of December, 1685.

THO. JENNER, Recorder.

‘Let notice be given to me before he be discharged.’

Thus the informers met with a stop, and the persecuted Quakers got some rest; for persecution not only ceased, but many, who for religion’s sake had been several years kept in prison, obtained liberty by the favour of a popish prince, which they had not been able to get from his brother, king Charles the Second. Now many of the fierce persecutors came to shame, some to poverty, and others to a miserable end, of which no small number of instances might be produced, if I were minded to enlarge; however I will mention one or two.

One Edward Davis, who once professed to be a Quaker, but not being sincere, found that way too narrow for him, and so left his friends, whom afterwards, being become keeper of the jail of Ivelchester in Somersetshire, he vexed most grievously; and from mere malice fettered some, saying to John Whiting, and another, whom he had hand-bolted together, those bolts should not be taken off if lice did eat them up. And his comrade Joseph Newberry was but little better, for when somebody told him, that their hands did swell with the irons, he said, he did not care if their hearts did swell also. And when one John Dando once asked Davis, what he thought would become of him when he came to die; he answered, that he knew what would become of him then, and therefore he would make the best of his time now. Also, that he knew where he went out, and where he must come in again, if ever he was saved; and if he thought he should never return again, he would be as wicked as he could. Truly a most desperate saying, just as if the door of mercy always continued open for man, and the day of the visitation of God’s love never passed over his head, though he persevered in rebellion. But this Davis came to a most pitiful state, so that he fell into poverty, and was himself imprisoned for debts, of which more hereafter. And Newberry fell into a sad condition, being taken with a severe palsy, and yet he did not leave off cursing and swearing, talking of the devil in a dreadful manner. And by lying long in bed, the flesh rotted on his back, and he who had formerly said concerning the hand-bolted prisoners, he did not care if their hearts did swell, got now such a sore tongue, that it swelled out of his mouth, and grew black, and so he died miserably on the 10th of December. Thus God sometimes punisheth the wicked even in this life. And though persecutors come not always to such a miserable end, yet many of these fell into poverty, and others were discontented because they saw that those whom they had cruelly persecuted, now enjoyed an undisturbed liberty; for the king who was now on the throne, continued to give liberty to those that had been oppressed for religion.

But before I say more of this, I cannot but mention something of the design of the unhappy duke of Monmouth, who at the death of his father king Charles the Second, was gone to Brussels, and being come from thence into Holland, he was spurred on so vigorously by some hot-headed Englishmen, that having got money and assistance of malcontents, he went over to England with three men of war and some forces, having given forth a declaration against king James, which vented a fiery passion toward that prince, and was written, as I have been credibly told, by the violent Robert Ferguson. Monmouth being landed with his forces in the West of England, near Lime, and afterwards routed by the king’s troops, was taken prisoner by the perfidiousness of a certain lord, who thereby obtained pardon for himself; but Ferguson escaped by a cunning artifice, crying along the road where he came galloping on horseback, ‘The rebels are routed, the rebels are routed!’ Just as if he had been a courier sent on purpose to court and elsewhere. But thus he escaped, and come again into Holland, he told this crafty trick to his acquaintance. Monmouth having been declared guilty of high treason by a bill of attainder, as soon as the news came of his design, was but two or three days after his arrival at London, beheaded. I count it not unworthy to be mentioned, that he undauntedly received the news of the death-warrant being come; and on the scaffold on Tower-Hill, he told the bishops that accompanied him, ‘If I had no true repentance, I should not be so free from the fear of death.’ And when it was objected, that he ought not to rely too much on that, since that might be the effect of natural courage, he said, ‘No; I do not ascribe this to my nature; for naturally I am more fearful than others; but now I am freed from fear; because I feel something in me, which gives me assurance that I shall go to God.’ The executioner gave him several strokes with the axe, before the head was severed from the body; and some ecclesiastics afterwards said, he died an enthusiast: for not showing himself very ready to comply with their service, and his saying that something within him assured him that he should go to God, seemed to them an enthusiastical tenet. But whatever it was, yet it seems very probable to me, that he was a true penitent, and so he died in peace; for though I cannot but disapprove his design, yet by true repentance he might not only have obtained forgiveness of God, but also have had a full assurance of it.

The earl of Argyle, who rebelled in Scotland against king James, had no better lot; but I will not detain my reader therewith, neither with a relation of the dismal execution of many, who having been found guilty of high treason, either for actual rebellion, or having been abetters of Monmouth, were sentenced to death by the infamous Jeffries, who then was lord chief justice, and afterwards chancellor; the fierceness of cruelty of this judge being such, that some lost their lives only for having given some hay or victuals to Monmouth’s soldiers. But this not being within my circuit, I will pass it by, and go over to the year 1686.