FOX'S BOOK OF MARTYRS
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,
1. The Christian resolution of assembling publicly for the
worship of God, in a manner most agreeable to their consciences.
2. Their refusal to pay tithes, which they esteemed a Jewish
ceremony, abrogated by the coming of Christ.
3. Their testimony against wars and fighting, the practice
of which they judged inconsistent with the command of Christ:
"Love your enemies," Matt. 5:44.
4. Their constant obedience to the command of Christ: "Swear
not at all," Matt. 5:34.
5. Their refusal to pay rates or assessments for building
and repairing houses for a worship which they did not approve.
6. Their use of the proper and Scriptural language, "thou,"
and "thee," to a single person: and their disuse of the custom of
uncovering their heads, or pulling off their hats, by way of
homage to man.
7. The necessity many found themselves under, of publishing
what they believed to be the doctrine of truth; and sometimes
even in the places appointed for the public national worship.
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.
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2 Samuel 3:11 (KJV)