^ PRINCETON, N. J. <3' —V y (T V «? Shelf. Number Division .... .P. A. . J. .fej . .jw ' Section ....>.D..Lv?. :yu ^\Z,\MP CHAPTER XVIII. Mary Tomkins, Alice Ambrose, and others visit the colony of New York — The religious services and sufferings of John Liddal — John Buru- yeat's gospel labours in New York and on Long Island — George Fox and other ministers visit the province : their religious labours on Long Island — William Edmundson visits the colony in 1672 and again in 1676 — The gospel services of William and Alice Curwen, John Boweter and Joan Vokins — Epistle of Joan Vokins — Brief notice of the lives of Robert Hodgson and John Taylor — Remarks on the increase of Friends in the colony of New York, Meetings for Worship, and the general state of the Society in 1682. During the time of John Bowne's banishment, in 1663, the colony of New Netherlands was visited by several gospel labourers. Mary Tomkins, and Alice Ambrose, on leaving New England proceeded to Oyster Bay, accompanied by Edward Wharton and William Reap. From Oyster Bay they journeyed to Flushing, where " they were much refreshed/'* on witnessing " the faithful- ness and fellowship'^ of Friends. They then passed on to Gravesend, where they met with their fellow-labourers in the ministry, Joseph Nicholson, John Liddal, and Jane Millard, who had just returned from a visit to Virginia and Maryland. The unexpected meet- ing of these gospel messengers in a foreign land, was a source of much joy to them, and they were comforted "in the love and fellowship of the Lord, and one another ["-f Whilst the Friends above referred to were at Gravesend, they felt it to be their religious duty to proceed to New Amsterdam ; a service in which they were joined by John and Mary Tilton of the former place. On their way they visited Flatbush, a town about ten miles from the capital. In passing through this place, * New England Judged, p. 422. t Ibid, p. 424. VOL. I. Z 328 NEW YOKK. [1666. John Liddal felt constrained publicly to exhort the inhabitants to repentance. With a view to deter Friends from visiting the colony, the governor had issued instructions to the ofl&cers, im- mediately to seize and place in irons all " Quakers who should preach amongst them.-"* John Liddal was, therefore, imme- diately arrested, ironed, and conveyed under an escort of Dutch soldiery to New Amsterdam. The rest of the company followed, and the entrance of the motley group into the city of New Netherlands, gave rise to much excitement. As they passed through the streets, John Liddal again felt called to address the people ; " the trumpet of the Lord,^' observes Bishop, "sounded with great dread, and was very terrible, and much people came together." On approaching the Fort, where the governor resided, the company were met by the Fiscal, who, dis- pleased on seeing so many of the inhabitants assembled and listening to Quaker ministrations, committed all the Friends to prison. To have nine Friends in the prisons of New Amsterdam at one time, was a new circumstance in the history of that city, and the Fiscal appeared somewhat ashamed of his proceeding ; but, wishing to make it appear a mild policy, in comparison of the persecutions at Boston, he remarked " that they did not hang them, as their countrymen in New England did." After a few days' imprisonment, at the request of a humane Dutch Captain, who offered to convey them from the colony, they were all re- leased, except John and Mary Tilton. About this time, Thomas Newhouse visited New Netherlands. He also was imprisoned, and soon after, banished to New England. f After their expul- sion from New Amsterdam, Alice Ambrose, and Mary Tomkins, in company with George Preston, again visited Long Island. In the year 1666, that unwearied labourer in the work of the gospel, John Burnyeat, landed at New York. No particulars, however, of his services in this province have come down to us ; and the only reference which he himself makes to them is, that he " spent some time there amongst Friends in going through their * New England Judged, p. 424. t Ibid, p. 425. 1671.] NEW YORK. 329 meetings.* In 1671, during John Burnyeafs second visit to the western continent, he again laboured in this province. He landed on this occasion at New York, in the Second Month, and pro- ceeded without much delay to visit his brethren of Long Island, and attended the half-yearly meeting held at Oyster Bay. The first notice of the existence of a meeting for discipline, among Friends of Long Island, is that of the one in question ; but there is good reason to believe, that this meeting had been established for some years prior to this date. After a journey of some months in New England, John Burnyeat returned to Long Island, and was present at the half-yearly meeting in the Eighth Month, 1671, and which, he remarks, was "a blessed time.'' On Long Island, as in some other parts of America, there were those who had imbibed the notions of John Perrot, and who were opposed to the establishment of meetings for discipline. The most prominent of these attended the half-yearly meeting for the purpose of promoting their schismatical opinions. Their object, however, was not accomplished, for John Burnyeat was enabled, under the influence of that wisdom which is profitable to direct, to point out this snare to his brethren, and to confirm them in " the blessed order of the truth into which they were gathered and sweetly settled." " The Lord's power," he writes, " broke in upon the meeting, and Friends' hearts were broken, and great meltings in the power there were amongst us ; and in the same we blessed the Lord, and praised him.^t Leaving Oyster Bay, he proceeded to Flushing, Gravesend, and New York ; at each of which places, he was enabled publicly to preach the way of salva- tion with convincing energy and power. It was the intention of John Burnyeat to quit the shores of America soon after leaving New York ; but having unexpectedly met with George Fox, Robert Widders, and George Pattison, in the south, he returned with them to Oyster Bay in time to attend the half-yearly meeting held there in the Third Month, 1672. The presence of George Fox and his companions on this occasion, * Journalof J. Burnyeat. t Ibid. z2 330 NEW YORK. [1672. is mentioned as having been of " great service to the truth, and of great comfort to Friends." The meeting lasted four days ; the first and second of which were occupied in holding meetings for the inhabitants at large, the third to meetings for discipline, and the fourth to a meeting with the " dissatisfied ones." Re- specting the proceedings of the fourth day, George Fox remarks, " the Lord's power broke forth gloriously, to the confounding of the gainsayers, — and the glorious truth of God was exalted and set over all, and they were all brought down and bowed under."* After visiting some other parts of Long Island, the English Friends took boat for New England. The next gospel labourer who visited the province of New York, was William Edmundson, who arrived soon after the de- parture of George Fox for New England. Although there were many Friends on Long Island, yet up to this period none, it appears, had united with the Society in the city of New York, and William Edmundson on landing took up his abode at an inn. It is somewhat singular, that New York and Boston, the capitals of their respective provinces, and at that time the only two places of much importance in North America, were alike unfavourable to the progress of Quakerism. With respect to New York, we do not find that Friends had been much drawn to preach their enlightened views in this rising emporium of the new world ; William Edmundson, however, felt it right to con- vene a meeting ; and in the dining-room of his hostess, he met many of its citizens. Here, he remarks, " we had a brave large meeting ; some of the chief ofiicers, magistrates, and leading men of the town were at it ; very attentive they were, the Lord's power being over them all."t On leaving New York, William Edmundson proceeded to Long Island, where, he observes, " were many honest tender Friends." He held several meetings with his brethren on this island, in which, he says, " we were well refreshed, and com- forted together in the Lord." From thence he passed to Shelter Island, where he met with George Fox. Here, in the enjoy- * Journal of George Fox, vol. ii., p. 159. t Journal of William Edmundson p. 93. 1676.] NEW YOKE. 331 ment of the generous hospitality of Nathaniel Silvester, these two eminent servants of the Most High related their travels and their services on the western continent ; and, under a sense of the Divine presence and blessing that had attended their labours, their hearts were lifted up in praise to their Great Master for these tokens of his goodness. From Shelter Island George Fox and his companions, who now included James Lancaster, and, it appears, also Christopher Holder, took shipping for Oyster Bay, where they arrived in the Sixth Month. At this place, and also at Flushing, they had very large meetings, some of those who attended them having come from a distance of thirty miles. Whilst George Fox was engaged in the work of his Redeemer at these places, Christopher Holder and some others were similarly occupied in the town of Jamaica. At Gravesend, George Fox held three meetings, " to which," he says, "many would have come from New York but that the weather hindered them.'' About two months after, John Burn- yeat, on his return from New England, again visited Long Island, and New York, being accompanied on this occasion, by John Cartwright ; from whence he proceeded to Maryland, and in a few weeks after embarked for Ireland. In the year 1676, William Edmundson went on a second visit to the churches in America. He landed on this occasion at Rhode Island, and, after much religious service in New England, he came to Long Island, where " Friends received him gladly." " We stayed in that part," he observes, " for some time, and had large and precious meetings." His labours were also blessed to some of those who had been led astray under the delusive notions of Perrot, and who had, at times, been troublesome. " Some of them," he remarks, " were reached and brought back to the truth."* During the year 1676, this portion of America was also visited by William and Alice Curwen. Their services were ex- tended to Shelter Island, Long Island and New York. The interest of these devoted ministers was much awakened on behalf * Journal of William Edmundson, p. 117. 832 NEW YOKK. [1680. of Friends in these localities, and, after leaving them, they en- deavoured by epistolary communications to strengthen them in their christian course. In the following year, John Boweter arrived in the province ; he, however, gives us no particulars of his religious engagements, further than that he held meetings at New York, Gravesend, Flushing, and Oyster Bay. The next gospel labourer whom we have to notice is Joan Vokins, who landed at New York in 1680. At this place there had been, she says, " hurt done by some,'' and which had led to the dis- continuance of their week-day meeting. " I laboured to settle it again," she continues, "and God's eternal power wrought wonderfully in me, in several meetings with his people, and we were well refreshed.'" From this city she crossed over to Long Island, and laboured in the love of the gospel among her brethren in the towns of that locality. " The Lord," she remarks, " had a tender people there, and his power was amongst them, and we were sweetly refreshed together." Like her friends William and Alice Curwen, Joan Vokins was also engaged, when separated from this part of the Society, to cheer and encourage them on their heavenly way, by written exhortations. The following, selected from one of these, shows the ardency of her soul for the welfare of her brethren : — For Friends at Gravesend, in Long Island, and elsewhere. Dear Friends, — My love and life salutes you, and in that which unites unto our God, and endears us in the heavenly rela- tion, you are often in my remembrance ; and my soul's desire is, that we may feel each other in a living growth in that life and love of God which reaches over sea and land, and satisfieth our souls. The breathing of my soul to the God of my life is, that we may all keep low in the valley of our Father's love, where the well-spring of life doth OA^erflow, that our souls through its sweet refreshings may live unto him ; that through its arising, we may magnify his name, and celebrate his praise. Oh ! dear hearts, feel his love, for it requires love, my 1680.] NEW YORK. 333 soul can truly say. Oh ! what manner of love, is this, that he hath loved us with, that, when we were afar off and strangers to him, he made known his precious truth unto us, and revealed a measure thereof in us, to help our infirmities and to teach us, when we could find no comfort of all the teachings of the idol shepherds, nor any help for our infirmities. Oh, how precious was his voice, and comely was his countenance, and how tenderly were our hearts afiected therewith, in the day of our convince- ment ! Oh, it was a day of love never to be forgotten ! And how hath he surrounded us by his power ever since. Surely his fatherly love hath been, and is, sufficient to oblige us to obedience. Therefore, let our hearts magnify his name, and our souls, and all that is within us, return praises and thanksgiving unto him ; for he is worthy, who is God blessed for ever, and evermore. Amen, saith my soul, who am a traveller in spirit for the tender seed, and a rejoicer in its prosperity. Joan Vokins. Written, it is supposed, soon after her return home from America. A notice of the lives of several of the gospel ministers who laboured in the colony of New York has already been given. We here insert a similar brief sketch respecting Robert Hodgson and John Taylor. Robert Hodgson. The first notice that we find respecting Robert Hodgson occurs in 1655, while on a gospel mission in Berkshire ; in the course of which he was imprisoned at Reading, for refusing to take the oath of allegiance when tendered to him by the mayor, before whom he was brought for ministering to the people.* In the following year he again visited Reading, and, as on the former occasion, he was again taken before a magistrate, who sent him to gaol for not taking off his hat when in his presence, and for not having, as it is stated, " a certificate of his travel." Of the place of his * MS. Sufferings. S34 NEW YOEK. 1680. residence it is difficult to sjjeak with certainty, but the probabilities are, that it was near Skipton in Yorkshire. After his release from the dungeon at New Amsterdam, he proceeded to New England, and towards the close of ] 658, he appears to have joined his aged friend William Brend and a few others in a visit to the West India islands ; from whence he sailed to Virginia. For about ten years from this date, he appears to have been occupied in the service of his Lord in the colonies of North America, his return to England having taken place in 1669.* After remaining in England about two years and a half, he embarked a second time for the shores of America, and five years later we find him engaged on Rhode Island, being the latest account which we have been able to find respecting him. It appears somewhat probable that he settled and died in America. John Taylor. John Taylor was born about the year 1638. His parents at a later date were residing in Huntingdonshire, and there is reason to believe his birth took place in that county. At an early age he had living desires after a knowledge of the truth, and in his youthful years, when the meetings of Friends were first established in Huntingdonshire, he occasionally attended them ; but the persecution and derision, to which Friends were then exposed, caused him to hesitate in openly professing with them. In 1656, George Fox first visited this county, and, under his baptizing ministry, John Taylor was fully convinced of the spiritual views of Friends, and " by whom," he remarks, " I was thoroughly resolved of all doubts, and settled in the blessed truth.^' He was then about eighteen years of age. George Fox became deeply interested in the best welfare of his convert, and a free conversation took place between them. John Taylor observed, that Friends " were a people despised, hated, and persecuted by all ;" that he " saw nothing to be had among them but a righteous life ; and that," he continued, " one might have among others that were not so hated and persecuted." George Fox saw the conflict of his • Letter of Ellis Hookes to Margaret Fell, 1669. 1680.] NEW YORK. 335 mind, and that he was struggling to reconcile an easier path as the pathway to peace. " He then/' says John Taylor, " took me by the hand, and said, ' Young man, here are three scriptures thou must witness fulfilled. Thou must be turned from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, and so thou mayst come to the knowledge of the glory of God ; and thou shalt be changed from glory to glory ; and this is the word of the Lord unto thee.' "* Following on to know the Lord, John Taylor " grew in the truth," and "in a little time," he writes, " I was moved of the Lord to travel into the West of England, to preach the everlasting gospel, and to tell to others what the Lord had done for my soul." On his return from this journey he proceeded to London, and soon after embarked on his religious visit to America. He sailed in the Second Month ]659, being then only about twenty-one years of age. After a long and tedious voyage, he arrived at Shelter Island, where he was kindly received by Nathaniel Silvester. He then proceeded to Long Island, New England, and thence to the West Indies, and returned after an absence of about three years. Soon after John Taylor^s return from his transatlantic visit, he went on gospel service to London. His arrival there was during the severe persecution of Friends which followed the out- break of the Fifth monarchy men, and in common with a large number of his friends, he was taken from a meeting and com- mitted to gaol, from which, however, he was released in the Second Month, 1661. "After awhile," he observes, " it was upon me from the Lord to go into America again." Obedient to the heavenly call, he left London, in 1662, for the West Indies, and visited the Islands of Nevis, Barbadoes, and Jamaica. At Jamaica he believed it was required of him to settle. Having lived about one year on this island, he returned to London to accomplish an intended marriage, after which he resided for about two years longer at Jamaica as a merchant. Early in 1666, he left Jamaica with his wife and family, in a ship '' bound for Barbadoes, through the gulf of Florida." But ♦ Journal of John Taylor, p. 2. 336 NEW YORK. [1680. the vessel having been carried out of its course, the voyage was so prolonged that at last it was deemed needful to sail to New England for supplies. They reached Boston in the Third Month, where John Taylor and his family landed. At this place he stayed three weeks and then removed to Rhode Island, from whence, after remaining about six months, he pro- ceeded to Barbadoes and resided there until the year 1676, when he returned to England and settled at York, as a sugar refiner. During his residence in Barbadoes he was frequently from home in the service of his Divine Master, not only in the islands of the West Indies, but also in England, Ireland and Holland. After he settled at York he was also largely engaged in the work of the ministry in different parts of the nation, to the comfort and edification of his friends. He died in the Twelfth Month, 1708, aged about seventy years, having been a minister about fifty years.* As in New England, so also in the province of New York, the Society of Friends from its rise made a gradual and onward progress, and many of those who had embraced its doctrines, shone brightly in the cause of truth, and were as lights to the inhabitants of the land. They were concerned in their daily walk, to adorn the doctrine of God their Saviour ; and by their faithfulness, they were instrumental to the gathering of others to the enjoyment of the substantial realities of religion. The blessing of the Lord was upon this portion of his people, and the heavenly dew evidently rested upon them. Under the constraining influences of divine love and life, the mouths of several were opened to declare of the riches of the heavenly kingdom, and of the peace and joy which was to be found within the safe enclosure of the fold of Christ. The churches in the province of New York had been abun- dantly watered by servants and hand-maidens from other lands, and in the divine economy, it pleased the Great Head of the Church, to call some of his devoted ones of this part to travel in * Journal of John Taylor. Preface. 1682.] NEW YORK. 837 other countries in his holy cause. About the year 1664, Mary "Wright of Oyster Bay, proceeded on a gospel mission to New England, and again in 1677. She also visited most of the other colonies of North America. Her sister, Hannah Wright, when only fourteen years of age, visited Boston to warn the per- secutors of that place, " in the name of the Lord," to cease from their wicked work. She entered one of the courts, and, it is said, the authorities were dumb with astonishment at the " dread and power of the Lord,'^ that attended her on the occasion."^ In 1680, Lydia Wright, another Friend of Oyster Bay, also travelled to the neighbouring colonies, in the work of the gospel. John Bowne of Flushing, and Elizabeth Bowne, his wife, who were both called to the work of the ministry not only visited the colonies of America, but, about the year 1675, extended their labours to Great Britain, About the year 1682, meetings for worship appear to have been settled on the mainland at New York, and Westchester, and on Long Island, at Oyster Bay, Flushing, Gravesend, Jamaica, and also on Shelter Island. How many Monthly Meetings had been established, it does not appear. In an epistle addressed by the Half- Yearly Meeting to the Yearly Meeting of London about this period, meetings for worship and discipline are thus alluded to : " First, as touching our worship ; we keep our meetings according to the wholesome order and institution of Friends, to wit. Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, and Half- Yearly Meetings, both men and women's ; the same meetings we enjoy in great peace, and [they are,] many times attended with an extraordi- nary heavenly sense of the holy power and presence of God, to our great joy and comfort ; and are, thereby, many times occa- sioned to render living praises and thanksgiving unto the Lord." It has already been mentioned, that Friends of Long Island, had been tried by some who had fallen from their first love, and who, in a spirit of opposition, had, at times, disturbed the meetings of Friends. These troubles, however, gradually disap- peared: " through patience and quietness,'^ continues the epistle * New England Judged, p. 461. So8 NEW ENGLAND. [1682- referred to, " we have overcome in and through the Lamb ; and we of a truth have found, that the Lord takes care of his people, and makes them ashamed who grieve his heritage. So that our testimonies go forth without any hinderance, and return not unto us wholly empty again, but have their fruitful workings upon both Dutch and English nations ; in the sense of which, our hearts rejoice in the Lord, for that his holy light of life breaketh through darkness as the dawning of the day, to the re- demption and salvation of the poor creature, and to the praise, honour, and glory of his holy name.''* * MS. Epistle. CHAPTER XIX. Elizabeth Harris visits Virginia — Letter from Robert Clarkson, an in- fluential colonist — Josiah Cole and Thomas Thurston's travels in the province — Letter of Josiah Cole to Margaret Fell — The intolerance of the legislature of Virginia towards Friends — The gospel labours and sufferings of George Wilson — He dies in the dungeon of James's Town — Some particulars of his life — The sufferings of William Coale — William Robinson, Christopher Holder and Robert Hodgson pro- ceed to the province — Josiah Cole goes on a second visit to Virginia — George Rofe's services in the provinces — His letter to Steven Crisp — The religious labours of Elizabeth Hooton, Joane Brocksoppe, Joseph Nicholson, John Liddal, Jane Millard, Mary Tomkins and Alice Ambrose — The schism produced by John Perrot — John Burnyeat visits Virginia in 1666 and again in 1672 — The labours and travels of William Edmundson, George Fox and others in the colony- Epistle from Friends of Virginia to Bristol Monthly Meeting, 1673 — ■ George Fox sends to Virginia copies of the works of Edward Burrough — William Edmundson's second visit to the province — The travels of John Bowetex' — Brief memoirs of Josiah Cole and George Rofe. The colony of Virginia, was another district in the new world, to which the attention of the Society of Friends, soon after its rise, was directed. At a very early date, several of its ministers were attracted in gospel love to this plantation, among whom was Elizabeth Harris of London, who appears to have been the first who visited that country. No account of the precise date of her embarkation for Virginia has been preserved, but it is evident that it took place as early as the year 1656. Her religious labours were blessed to many in that province, who were sincere seekers after heavenly riches, and she was instrumental in convincing many, of the primitive and spiritual views of the christian religion professed by Friends. Elizabeth Harris returned from Virginia in the Fifth Month, 1657, but, solicitous for the welfare of her converts in that land, 340 VIRGINIA. [1657. she endeavoured to strengthen and encourage them by episto- lary exhortations, and by supplying them with books illustrative of our religious principles. One item in the national stock accounts for 1657, is, " For books to Virginia <^2. 5s/''^ Among those in Virginia who were convinced by the ministry of Elizabeth Harris, was Robert Clarkson, an influential settler, who resided at Severne, and who is spoken of by Thomas Hart of London, in a letter to George Taylor, of Kendal, as being, he supposed, the " governor of that part." Robert Clarkson took much interest in the prosperity of the little community of Friends in that colony, and a letter addressed by him to Eliza- beth Harris, in 1657, contains some particulars of its state, from which we give the following : — " From Robert Clarkson to Elizabeth Harris. " Elizabeth Harris, dear heart, — I salute thee in the tender love of the Father, which moved thee towards us, and do own thee to have been a minister, by the good will of God, to bear outward testimony, to the inward word of truth in me and others ; even as many as the Lord in tender love and mercy, did give an ear to hear. Praises be to his name for ever. Of which word of lifcj God hath made my wife partaker with me, and hath established our hearts in his fear, and likewise Ann Dorsey.in a more large * The following letter, addressed by Gerard Roberts of London, to George Fox, refers to the return of Elizabeth Harris from Virginia, and of her services there : — "Dear G. F. — These enclosed papers I received from John Stubbs, who is now in Kent : my dear love is to thee. I could not but write these few lines to thee to acquaint thee that the Friend who went to Vii'ginia is returned in a pi'etty condition ; and there she was gladly received by many who met together. The governor is convinced. Our meetings here are pretty quiet. Dear E. Burrough is not very well : his service is and hath been very great of late. Glad should I be to see thee this way. John Perrot is gone to Turkey. Friends to New England went two months since, who may be there by this time. " Thy dear friend, Ger. Roberts." "London, 9th of Fifth Month, 1657." 1657.] VIRGINIA. 841 measure ; her husband I hope abideth faithful ; likewise John Baldwin and Henry Caplin ; — Charles Balye, the young man who was with us at our parting, abides convinced, and several others in those parts where he dwells. Elizabeth Beaseley abides as she was when thou wast here. Thomas Cole and William Cole have both made open confession of the truth ; likewise Plenry Wool- church ; and many others suffer with us the reproachfvxl name. William Fuller abides unmoved : I know not but that William Durand doth the like ; he frequents our meetings but seldom ; indeed we have but a small company. Nicholas Wayte abides convinced. Thus I have been moved to write thee word, briefly concerning the work of the Lord amongst us, both in myself and others, since thy departure from hence, as the Lord hath given me to discern it. Though absent in body, yet being kept present in that love which did first move in thee towards us ; I say, being kept abiding in that, we may rejoice together ; there being joy in heaven at the conversion of one sinner ; and truly in the remem- brance of it, I have been filled with refreshment and joy unspeak- able. Glory be to his name, who is the living fountain which fills all that abide in Him. " The two messengers thou spoke of in thy letters, are not yet come to this place ; we heard of two come to Virginia in the fore part of the winter, but we heard that they were soon put in prison, and not suffered to pass ; we heard further that they desired liberty to pass to this place, but it was denied them, whereupon one of them answered, that though they might not be suffered, yet he must come another time. We have heard that they are to be kept in prison till the ship that brought them be ready to depart the country again, and then to be sent out of the country. We have disposed of the most part of the books which were sent, so that all parts are furnished, and every one that desire it, may have benefit by them ; at Herring Creek, Roade River, South River, all about Severen, the Brand Neck, and thereabout, the seven mountains, and Kent ; all these parts are so furnished that every one may have also of them. Some we have yet to dispose of; as the Lord gives opportunity we shall give them forth to those that desire them. 342 VIRGINIA. [1658. " With my dear love I salute thy husband and the rest of Friends [at London], and rest with thee, and the rest of the gathered ones in the Eternal Word, which abideth for ever. Farewell. " Robert Clarkson.'' " From Severn, the lAth of the Eleventh Month, 1657. " This is in Virginia." About the time that Elizabeth Harris embarked for the shores of Virginia, Josiah Cole and Thomas Thurston, who both resided in Gloucestershire, also had an impression of religious duty to visit that land. They appear to have sailed from Bristol, and reached Virginia towards the close of 1657, and they are, without doubt, the " two messengers^^ referred to in Robert Clarkson's letter. Their religious labours were continued in this province until the Sixth Month, 1658, when they proceeded on their memorable visit to the Indians, and travelled through the forests of the interior, to New England.* * The following letter, in reference to this religious prospect, was addressed by Josiah Cole to Margaret Fell some months previous to his embarkation. It is without date, but endorsed by George Fox, "From Josiah Cole to M. F., 1656." " Fhom Josiah Cole to Margaret Fell. " Dear heart, when I was with thee I saw little of my going to Vir- ginia with Thomas Thurston ; bnt since, I have been made sensible of the groanings of the oppressed seed in that place ; unto which my soul's love dearly reacheth, and I am much pressed in spirit to go there, and to pass through the Indian's country amongst them, and to go into New England : and it is also upon my dear brother Thomas Thurston to go through with me. Dear, let thy prayers be, that in unity and love we may be preserved and kept together faithful to the Lord, in his power and wisdom to stand continually ; that wheresoever the Lord calls us, we may have a good savour unto God in all his servants which shall come after us, which is the desire and breathings of my soul ; that the Lord alone may be honoured and glorified, who is worthy. 1658. J VIRGINIA. 343 Although Josiah Cole makes no mention of his being im- prisoned in Virginia, yet it is evident by the reference which Robert Clarkson makes to the imprisonment of the two strangers, that the rulers of this province, like those of New England and New York, were disposed to exert their power to prevent the principles of Friends from spreading in their territory, and in 1658 they passed a law for the banishment of Friends, and making it an act of felony, should they venture to return."^ Thomas Thurston, soon after he had reached Rhode Island, returned to Virginia, where he was again imprisoned. In a let- ter which Josiah Cole sent to Margaret Fell, about this period, the circumstance is thus alluded to : — "As concerning my dear brother Thomas Thurston, when I parted from him at Rhode Island he was very well ; and since, I hear, he is returned to Virginia, where he has been imprisoned, but U now at liberty again, and the governor of that place hath promised that he shall have his liberty in the country ; where there is like to be a great gathering, and the living power of the Lord goes along with him."t The colony of Virginia having been founded by rigid li^pisco- palians, they insisted that their doctrines should be the only ones recognised in its jurisdiction, and in 164'3, when a con- siderable number of Puritans in New England, were making preparations to settle on the inviting lands of the province, they passed a law that no minister should preach or teach but in con- formity to the English church. { Under the commonwealth, however, the cords of religious bigotry were loosened, and but for the law passed in 1658, for the banishment of Friends, re- ligious freedom would, at that period, have been universal in Vir- ginia. On the restoration of the monarchy, a political revolu- tion followed, opposed to the principles of popular liberty, and the former exclusive policy was revived. One of the first acts of the royalist assembly of Virginia, in 1661, was the disfran- chisement of " Major John Bond," a magistrate, for " factious and * Bancroft's United States, t Manuscript Letters of Early Friends. X Act 64, Hening, i. p. 277. VOL. I. 2 A 344 VIRGINIA. [1661. scMsmatical demeanours •''* and though there was not a minister in more than one parish in five, every settler was, nevertheless, required to contribute to the maintenance of the English church, and, following the example of the rulers at home, the laws made against Papists in the reign of Elizabeth, were directed with great severity against Friends ; a monthly fine of twenty- pounds v,as imposed upon them for absence from church, and their own meetings were forbidden under heavy penalties. These exhibitions of Episcopalian intolerance in Virginia, were identical with the outburst of persecution towards Friends in England, and under the new enactments, large numbers of Friends were arraigned as nonconformists. On one of these occasions, one of the sufferers, after pleading for " tender con- sciences," informed the authorities that he and his friends felt bound to " obey the law of God, however they might suffer." But the hearts of his judges were untouched by his appeal, and the answer he received was, that with them there was " no toler- ation for wicked consciences. "t It was during this period of persecution that George Wilson of Cumberland went on a gospel mission to Virginia, and, as a victim to the reigning intolerance, he was soon incarcerated in the dungeon at James's Town. The circumstances of his case evinced great barbarity on the part of his persecutors. The place of his imprisonment was an extremely loathsome one, witliout light and without ventilation. Here, after being cruelly scourged and heavily ironed, for a long period, George Wilson had to feel the heartlessness of a persecuting and dominant hierarchy ; until at last his flesh actually rotted from his bones, J and within the cold damp walls of the miserable dungeon of Jamas's Town, he laid down his life a faithful martyr for the testimony of Jesus. § Four Friends bad been publicly executed in New England, for nonconformity to Puritan opinions, and the cruelty exhibited towards George Wilson, for simply dissenting from Episcopacy, * Hening, ii. p. 39. t Richmond Records, No. 2, in Bancroft. % New England Judged, p. 351. § Testimony concerning W. Coale, printed 1682. 1661.] VIRGINIA. 345 was of nearly equal atrocity. The American wilderness had been sought as a refuge by men of almost every shade of re- ligious opinion, but, excepting the colony of Ehode Island, and Nathaniel Silvester's little domain of Shelter Island, the new world at this period, presented nothing inviting to the persecuted Quaker. The Puritans in New England, the Episcopalians in Virginia, the Papists of Maryland, and the Calvinistic authorities of New Amsterdam, whilst differing with and persecuting each other joined in a common effort to crush this rising and harmless people. Respecting the life of George Wilson, but few particulars have been met with. His home, it appears, was in Cumberland, and as early as 1657 he sufiered imprisonment in that county " for reproving a priest."* When he left his native land for the shores of the new world it is not mentioned, but in 1661 we find him a suiferer in New England for the truth. In this year he was imprisoned at Boston, and, preparatory to banishment, he was subjected to the torture of the lash in three towns of Massa- chusetts ; soon after which he proceeded on a gospel mission to Virginia. The patience and resignation with which he bore his aggravated sufferings in this province, and his faithfulness unto death, form another striking instance of the inflexible ad- herence to conscientious conviction, which so remarkably charac- terised our early Friends. Living near Him who is the fountain and fulness of love, his enemies also became the objects of his solicitude ; and whilst lingering in the wretched dungeon of James's Town, his heart was lifted up in prayer for his persecu- tors. " For all their cruelty," he writes, " I can truly say, Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.*"t During his imprisonment in Virginia, he gave forth, it is said, " many precious writings,''' which were, after his death, forwarded to Friends in England. William Coale of Maryland, was another who experienced the cruelty of Episcopalian bigotry in Virginia. He was a fellow- * Besse, vol. i. p. 128. t Ibid, ii. p. 384. 2 A 2 846 VIRGINIA. [1661. prisoner with George Wilson in James's Town, and lie never entirely recovered the cruelties he endured during this imprison- ment. His visit to Friends in this part was blessed ; " some were turned to the Lord through his ministry, and many were established in the truth.''* The rulers of Virginia pursuing their restrictive policy, im- posed, in 1662, heavy fines on those, who, to use their own lanfi'uas;e, were " so filled with the new-fangled conceits of their own heretical inventions, as to refuse to have their children bap- tised, "t Ship-masters were also forbidden, on pain of banish- ment, to receive nonconformists as passengers, and John Porter, one of the colonial representatives, who became a Friend, was expelled the assembly in 1663, " because he was well -affected to the Quakers, "j Towards the close of 1658, the feet of other gospel messengers were directed towards Virginia ; these were, William Robinsouj Christopher Holder, and Robert Hodgson, three of those who crossed the A tlantic in the " Woodhouse/' Of their gospel labours in this province we have but little information, but by some remarks in a letter from William Ptobinson, it appears that their ministry was blessed to not a few^ " There are many people convinced," he says, " and some that are brought into the sense and feeling of truth in several places."§ In the course of the following year it seems probable that Humphrey Norton also visited this province. The religious welfare of Friends in Virginia, was a subject in which few felt a deeper solicitude than Josiah Cole, and during his second visit to the western world in 1660,- he was again drawn to visit them. Writing to George Fox from Barbadoes in the following year, he says, " I left Friends in Virginia generally very well, and fresh in the truth ; of my departure from hence I know not at present, but I believe it will be to Virginia again. '"|| During the year 1661, George Rofe, in the course of his travels Piety Tromoted, Part i. t Hening, ii. p. 166. % Ibid, ii. p. 198 § W. Robinson's Letter, 1659. || Swarthmore MSS. 1661.] VIRGINIA. 347 in America, also visited Virginia. He has left us no very cir- cumstantial account of his services in this land ; but a letter addressed by him to his intimate friend Stephen Crisp, briefly adverting to them, is worthy of insertion. From George Eofe to Stephen Crisp. Barbadoes, 15th of Ninth Month, 1661. " Dear S. C. — My life salutes thee in that which is pure and eternal ; wherein the Lord hath prospered my soul according to my desire, and blessed me and his work in my hands, and hath made me an instrument of good to many through these countries ; to the gathering many into the knowledge of the truth, and the settling of many in a good sense of the life and power of the Lord ; whereby they bless the Lord for his visitation, knowing it is life unto them, and virtue to their souls, who believe and obey it ; though it brings anguish upon the souls of all who do not believe unto obedience ; so that the gospel is a savour of life unto life, and a savour of death unto death. " But to mention passages at large I cannot now ; but this thou mayst understand, that the truth prevaileth through the most of all these parts, and many settled meetings there are in Maryland, and Virginia, and New England, and the islands thereabouts ; and in the island of Bermuda ; through all which places I have travelled in the power of the Spirit, and in the great dominion of the truth, having a great and weighty service for the Lord ; in which I praise Him, he hath prospered me in all things to this day. " I remain, thy dear brother," ^ y In the year 1661, Elizabeth Hooton and Joan Brocksoppe also visited this colony. They came to it direct from England, and at a subsequent date, on their expulsion from Massachusetts, returned to it ; but no particulars of their services in this colony have been met with. The next gospel labourers who appear to have 348 VIRGINIA. [1663. visited Virginia, were Joseph Nicholson, John Liddal, and Jane Millard ; this was about the latter end of 1662. In reference to the visit of these Friends, it is said that " they had many hard travels and sufferings in the service of the Lord.""^ In the fol- lowing year Mary Tonakins and Alice Ambrose also visited this colony. How long they were occupied in gospel labours there it does not appear ; their visit, however, was very opportune in checking the progress of the schism occasioned by John Perrot, who had recently arrived in that part. The following letter, addressed by these dedicated women to George Fox, contains some particulars of their services in Virginia. The C'lijf'i in Maryland, the I8th of the Eleventh Month, 1663. "Dear G. F. — The remembrance of thee, and the precious words which thou spoke unto us when we were with thee, remaineth with us a seal on our spirits. Dear George, we are well, and God is with us. We have been in Virginia, where we have had good service for the Lord. Our sufferings have been large amongst them. John Perrot is now amongst them ; many there are leavened with his unclean spirit. He has done much hurt, which has made our travels hard, and our labours sore ; for which we know he will have his reward, if he repent not. What we have borne and suffered concerning him, have been more and harder than all we have received from our enemies ; but the Lord was good, and was with us, and in his power kept us over him. We have not time to acquaint thee of much more. We are now about to set sail for Virginia again. We are not clear of New England ; if the Lord will, we may pass there in a little time, if he maketh way for us. Dear George, it is our desire, if it were the will of God, to go to England again as soon as we can see our way there, for we greatly desire to see thee and Friends again. Let thy prayers be to the Lord for us, that we may live unto him for ever. " Mary Tomkins. " Alice Ambrose." * New England Judged, p. 423. 1664] VIRGINIA. 349 Agreeably to the intimation contained in the foregoing letter, Mary Tomkins and Alice Ambrose returned to Virginia. In the course of their first visit to that colony, they appear to have suffered much from its Episcopalian rulers, but on this occasion the conduct of their persecutors was extremely barbarous. The lash was resorted to with great cruelty, each of the sufferers having been subjected to " thirty-two stripes" from a knotted and " nine-corded whip." Their goods were then seized, and in the Fourth Month, 1664, they were expelled the colony.* In every age of the world, the church has been more or less subject to troubles arising from the unfaithful within its own borders, who, through unwatchfulness, have fallen from their first love, and become a prey to the snares of Satan. The early Christian church had painful experience of these things. Judas, though one of the chosen twelve, fell from his apostleship and sold his Lord. Hymena3us and Philetus departed from the truth, and became dangerous corrupters of tlie brethren. " Their word eat as a canker," and, it is recorded, "overthrew the faith of some."t Alexander the coppersmith was another painful in- stance. " He did me much evil,'' writes Paul, and "greatly withstood our words."! The Nicolaitan heresy was also another fruitful source of evil to the primitive church, and although its doctrines were so utterly at variance with the purity of the religion of Christ, there were, nevertheless, not a few of the early Christian converts, who embraced its sin-pleasing principles. § If, then, in the purest age of the church, such afflictions were permitted to befal it, it ought, surely, to excite no surprise, that the followers of Him who was betrayed by Judas, should, in after times, have to experience similar dispensations from the wicked- ness of unregenerate man, and the malice of the unwearied adver- sary of the church. The Society of Friends, arising as it did, in a time of peculiar excitement in reference to religious things, was remarkably pre- served in harmony and love, and from the withering influence of * New England Judged, p. 440. + 2 Timothy i. 17,18. X 2 Timothy iv. 14, 15. § Revelations ii. 1-5. 350 VIRGINIA. [1 664*. jars and contentions. It was not, however, entirely free from troubles of the kind to which we have adverted. The schism l^roduced by John Perrot, was a melancholy proof of this ; and which also extended itself to Friends in America. The division occasioned by John Perrot commenced in 1661, and arose by his endeavouring to introduce among Friends what George Fox calls " the evil and uncomely practice of keeping on the hat in time of public prayer."* Perrot^ whom Sewel describes as " a man of great natural parts,t united at a very early period with Friends ; and in 1660, travelled in the ministry to Rome, with a view, it is said, to convert the Pope. J Whilst at Rome, he bore a public testimony against the idolatrous usages of the Papists, but for which he was soon subjected to the terrors of the Inquisition. Notwithstanding the appearance of great sanctity which marked the character of John Perrot, it was the sense of some discerning Friends of that day, that he proceeded to Rome, more in his own will, than from a divine call. During his imprisonment in that city, he evinced no inconsiderable degree of spiritual pride ; and his addresses were written in a style so affected and fantastic, as induced the belief that he was of unsound mind, and the inquisitors accordingly selected Bedlam as the place of his incarceration. § The imprisonment of Perrot at Rome was a very prolonged one ; and his sufferings there, together with the great outward sanctity which he manifested, brought him into much notoriety among Friends. His true character, however, soon began to show itself ; and, declaring that he was more enlightened than George Fox and his brethren, he maintained that the practice of uncovering the head in time of prayer, was a mere form, and one which ought to be testified against. To such a woeful extent had forms and ceremonies, altogether unauthorised by Scripture, crept into the professing churches of Christendom, that Friends, in bearing a testimony against these inventions, at once became a peculiarly distinguished people. Drawn off as our early Friends * Journal of G. Fox, vol. i. p. 555. t Sewel, p. 249. i Life of Thomas EUwood, p. 241. § Ibid, p. 242. 1664.] VIRGINIA. 851 were, from the routine of lifeless observances, and participating so abundantly as they did in the true refreshment and consolations of the gospel without such outward means, it is not at all sur- prising that a readiness to listen to suggestions against forms of every kind should be a besetment ; and, unhappily, the notions of Perrot found an entrance. There is no doubt but that Perrot was a man of much plausi- bility of manner, and of some eloquence. The number of Friends who were led away with his new notion was considerable, and caused no little anxiety to those faithful watchmen, who saw in it a snare of the enemy. Another extravagancy adopted by Perrot, was to let his beard grow ; a practice in which many of his fol- lowers joined. With a view to propagate his opinions, he pro- ceeded to America and the West India islands, where, by his " show of greater spirituality,^'* he was successful in gaining many adherents from among the newly-convinced ; and particu- larly in Virginia. Subsequently, Perrot also discouraged the attendance of meetings for worship, under the notion that this also was a mere form ; and so greatly were Friends of Virginia led astray by him, that most of them followed his pernicious example, and forsook their religious assemblies. John Perrot resided for some time in Barbadoes, where a con- siderable number professed with us. On his arrival there, Friends, several of whom were in affluent circumstances, in the hope of reclaiming him, showed him much kindness, and contributed largely to his wants. " He was even loaded with the love and kindness of Friends,'' writes John Taylor, "in the hope that he would become a reformed man ; but," he continues, " he, like an unhappy and unworthy man, abused all the kindness of Friends, and the very mercies of God unto him."t He afterwards removed to Jamaica, and became clerk of the court on that island. Here, he manifested a degree of depravity which clearly evinced that he was out of the truth ; for he not only exhibited much haugh- * Life of EUwood, p. 243. t John Taylor's " Loving and Friendly Invitation to all Sinners to Repent, with a Brief Account of John Perrot," printed 1683, p. 7. 352 VIRGINIA. [1666. tiness of manner, and pride in dress, but he fell also into gross sensuality. He afterwards practised as a lawyer in Jamaica, but died soon after, and so much in debt, that all his property was seized by his creditors.* Though most of the influential Friends in England continued to bear a very decided testimony against the unsound notions of John Perrot, yet it was some years before " this strange fire," as Sewel calls it, was entirely extinguished. The manifest depar- ture of the author of this schism, not only from a religious life, but from the paths of morality also, tended to open the eyes of his followers to their error, and prepared them for a restoration to their brethren. In the year '1666, at the express desire of George Fox, a meeting on this painful subject was held in London. It lasted several days, and was a memorable and solemn occasion. f " Those that had run out from the truth and clashed against Friends,'' observes George Fox, "were reached unto by the power of the Lord, which came wonderfully over them — and the Lord's everlasting power was over aW'l " In the motion of life," writes Thomas Ellwood, " were the healing waters stirred, and many through the virtuous power thereof restored to soundness ; and, indeed, not many lost."§ The effects of the unsound notions were sorrowfully apparent in Virginia. The Friends of this part, in their conscientious endeavours to follow their Lord, had borne much suffering, and under it had been bright examples of faithfulness. They were a tender-hearted people, who had received the truth in the love of it, and who were ready to embrace whatever might appear to make for the glory of God, or to advance that holy cause which had become dear to them. When, therefore, John Perrot came amongst them, and preached a seemingly higher degree of spiri- tuality, many listened to his specious declarations, and, under the idea that his views were founded in truth, they adopted them. The enemy of their soul's peace appeared to thei^i in the character * J. Taylor's " Loving and Friendly Invitation, &c., p. 9. t Life of Ellwood, p. 244. % Journal of G. Fox, vol. ii., p. 86. § Life of Ellwood, p. 244. 1671.] VIRGINIA, 853 of an anpjel of light ; tliey were dazzled by the luminous mani- festation, and betrayed into his snares. One wrong step having been taken, others followed ; and, deviating little by little from the true path, they at last went so far astray as to become even careless in regard to religion, and " much one with the world in many things."* But it pleased Him who watcheth over his church, to look with an eye of tender regard on these his erring children, and by his servants to point out their delusions and their dangers. About the time that the meeting referred to was held in London, John Burnyeat, whom George Fox mentions as " a pillar in the house of God,'' arrived on a gospel mission in Virginia, and laboured in the love of Christ among his brethren ; especially among those who had been led aside by the vmsound notions of Perrot. He had some difficulty in obtaining a meet- ing with them, but at last one was held, in which the gathering arm of the Great Shepherd was manifested. " The Lord's power," remarks John Burnyeat, " was with us, and amongst us ; several were revived and refreshed, and through the Lord's goodness, and his renewed visitations, raised up into a service of life, and in time came to see over the wiles of the enemy.""t During a second visit which, in 1671, John Burnyeat made to America, he again visited Virginia, accompanied by Daniel Gould of Rhode Island. Their services on this occasion are thus de- scribed by John Burnyeat : " I went down to Virginia to visit Friends there, and found a freshness amongst them ; and they were many of them restored, and grown up to a degree of their former zeal and tenderness ; and a great openness I found in the country, and I had several blessed meetings. I advised them to have a men's meeting, and so to meet together to settle things in good order amongst them, that they might be instrumental to the gathering of such as were cold and careless ; and so to the keeping of things in order, sweet, and well amongst them."| A few months after the visit of John Burnyeat and his com- panion, WilHam Edmundson arrived in Virginia. His attention was also directed to the settlement of meetings for discipline in * Journal of J. Burnyeat. t Ibid. I Ibid. 354 VIRGINIA. [1672. these parts. After having had " several powerful meetings, I appointed," he says, " a men's meeting for the settling of them in the way of truth's discipline."* He then proceeded to Caro- lina ; but on his return to Virginia, renewed his labours in establishing meetings for discipline. At a meeting specially con- vened for this object, he remarks that the Lord's power was with them, and that " Friends received truth's discipline in the love of it, as formerly they had received the doctrine of truth."t William Edmundson laboured in the cause of his Eedeemer in several parts of Virginia, to the convincement of some, and the confirmation of others. At Green Springs, he was instrumental to the gathering of some who had been scattered, through the unfaithfulness of one who had been a minister among them. " These," he writes, " were much comforted, as sheep that had been astray, and returned again to the shepherd, Christ Jesus ; so I left them tender and loving."" Ilis meetings were frequently attended by " persons of note" in that country ; General Bennett, and Major-General Colonel Dewes were of this number. Colonel Dewes was one who sought after the substantial enjoyments of religion, and who rejoiced in the revival of those truths which Friends had to declare, and which he afterwards openly professed. " He was a brave, solid, wise man,"" observes William Edmundson, " and who received the truth and died in the same."j The next gospel labourers from Britain who visited Virginia were George Fox, Robert Widders, James Lancaster, and George Pattison. This was in the Ninth Month, 1672, and ^fter George Fox had travelled through most of the colonies in the north. At Nancemum they had " a great meeting of Friends and others," at which Colonel Dewes, and several others of the civil and military authorities were present, and who, observes George Fox, " were much taken with the truth declared."§ Another meeting was held about four miles distant, and a third at William Parrett's, at Pagan Creek. The latter was so largely attended, that it was found needful to hold it in the open air. The powerful preach- * Journal of W. Edmundson, p. 88. t Ibid, p. 90. X Ibid, p. 93. § Journal of G. Fox, vol. ii. p. 171. 1 672.] viKGiNiA. 355 ing of George Fox and his companions, among the planters of Virginia, roused many of them to a serious consideration of their spiritual condition. The truths they had heard sank deep into their hearts, and to many " were as nails fastened in a sure place/' " A great openness," remarks George Fox, " there was ; the sound of truth spread abroad, and had a good savour in the hearts of the people/' After visitino; Carolina, these indefatio;able labourers in the work of the gospel returned to Virginia, where they were engaged for about three weeks," having many large and precious meet- ings/' At one held at Crickatrough, George Fox says, " many considerable people" were present. On leaving Virginia, George Fox proceeded to the adjacent colony of Maryland, from whence he embarked for England, after having, as he remarks, " travelled through most parts of North America, and visited most of the plantations ; having alarmed people of all sorts where we came, and proclaimed the day of God's salvation amongst them."* The gospel labours of Burnyeat and Edmundson in America, and their exertions in settling meetings for discipline, largely benefited the rising Society in that land ; but the labours of George Fox were, in no ordinary degree, blessed to the settlers in the western world. In almost every place where he came, numbers were convinced of the doctrines he preached ; and in no part was this more strikingly apparent than in Virginia. It is stated that the number of Friends in this province was nearly doubled by his powerful ministrations ; and among the newly- convinced were individuals both of influence and station. At a very early period of the Society's history, George Fox was impressed with the advantages to be derived by mutual epistolary intercourse between Friends in England and their distant brethren ; but up to this date, no correspondence had, it appears, taken place between London Yearly Meeting and the churches in other countries. On his return from America, he landed at Bristol, where a numerous body of Friends resided ; and, as there were frequent opportunities at that place of sending ♦ Journal of G. Fox, vol. ii. p. 181., 356 VIRGINIA. [1674. to Virginia and Maryland, he suggested an epistolary intercourse with Friends of those provinces. The recommendation was approved, and in a few months, Bristol Monthly Meeting for- warded an epistle to Friends of Virginia. The communication was cordially received ; and in a feeling of true Christian love and fellowship, they responded to the interest thus manifested towards them, and returned the following answer : — From Feiends of Virginia, to Bristol Monthly Meeting. " Dear friends, in the endless love of the Almighty, do we reach unto and kindly salute and embrace you. These are to let you understand, that we received your loving letters, and have had them read in our meetings, to the refreshment of ourselves and other Friends, in hearing and considering your declared love unto us, chiefly and above all things desiring of the Lord, that, by the operation of his power, we may grow up together with you, in the life and power of God ; to the praise of his great and glorious name, and to the establishment of our everlasting unity and fellowship, in the same life and power. The four books you sent by Lot Ricketts, by the ship Comfort, we have received, and have also disposed of them according to your order ; and we are also greatly refreshed, and glad to hear that truth prospers so well amongst you in England, than which nothing can be more welcome tidings unto us ; and we, also, in some measure, can give you the like intelligence. Everlasting praises be given to God. Since our dear friend George Fox's departure hence, (whose coming amongst us, hath been very prosperous,) our meetings, which at that time were not large, are at this time, (as we suppose,) more than doubled ; and several of them, (we do believe,) are very true and savoury Friends ; and not only so, but (as we judge,) a large convincement is upon many who as yet stand ofl"; and some there are amongst us, as well as amongst you, that througli their miscarriages and disobedience, do give advantage to the enemies to speak reproachfully of truth ; which at some times doth cause some dissettlement amongst us, and doth so at this present also, we being not many in number ; but 1674.] VIRGINIA. 857 as the power of God hath in a large measure expelled all former slights of the enemy, and cleared up the understandings of Friends to a new gathering into his truth, so we trust, that by the same power, all things that are contrary to trvith, and the prosperity thereof, shall be brought to nought ; and we do hope, that he that hath begun the work amongst us will carry it on in power, to the eternal praise of his name, and to the everlasting welfare of such as abide in it. " We kindly bid you farewell, and remain your friends and brethren." " William Denson, " William Parratt, " Thomas Jordan." " Nansemiim, 25th of Fourth Month, 1674." A few months previous to the return of George Fox from America, the works of Edward Burrough, in one thick folio volume, had issued from the press. It was ten years since the death of this remarkable man had taken place, but his memory was still fresh in the remembrance of his friends, and many of his powerful addresses to them under suffering, and to the rulers of the nation who persecuted them, were revived in the volume in question. Like many others of our early Friends, Edward Burrough had a clear apprehension of the rights of conscience, and his views of civil and religious liberty on the one hand, and of the duty which, as christian citizens, we owe to the govern- ment under which we live, on the other, were set forth by him, on several occasions, in clear and powerful language. George Fox, ever alive to what might promote the cause of righteous- ness, was desirous that some of the rulers and influential persons he had met with in the course of his transatlantic journeyings, should peruse the works of his deceased friend. He was per- suaded that the truth would be promoted by such a step, and, acting upon this conclusion, he sent a copy of the work to six- teen individuals of the class referred to. The care of forwarding them was entrusted to Friends of Bristol, who thus Avrite to the parties in America to whom they were consigned. " Our be- 358 VIRGINIA. [1676. loved George Fox, when at Bristol, was refreshed in the remem- brance of the free-passage of the gospel in America, and of the many kindnesses shown to him there by some in authority, and with the remembrance of his love to them, doth send to each of them a large book, being the memorable works of a servant of the Lord, Edward Burrough ; which, when come to your hands, we desire your care to convey unto each man one, whose names we here underwrite, being the persons he nominated to us."* A few years after William Edmundson returned from America, he proceeded on a second gospel mission to that land, and in 1676, again arrived in Virginia. His visit to the province at this period was peculiarly acceptable to Friends, who were placed in circumstances of considerable difficulty in consequence of a civil commotion which then raged in the colony. " Friends," he * MSS. of Bristol Jlonthly Meeting. Tlie following is a list of the several parties to whom the book was to be presented, prepared evi- dently by George Fox himself. Colonel Thomas Dews, at Nansemum. Major-General Bennett. Lieutenant-Colonel Waters, in Accomack. Judge Stephens, at Anemessy. Thomas Taylor, one of the Council, and Speaker of the Assembly. The Judge at Wye River, to be left with Robert Harwoods. The Judge of the Court and his wife, at Sassifrax River. Justice Frisby. Major-General Maleverate. Deputy-Governor Gransuck, in Rhode Island. Governor Winthrop, in New England. The Governor of Delaware. The Governor of New York. Nicholas Easton, Governor of Rhode Island. Dr. Winsor, and the Judge that liveth near him, in Chopthank, in Maryland. One of the Council and his wife, that liveth near Margaret Holland, in Maryland. The Judge that liveth near Henry Wilcox, in Maryland. Let Thomas Turner deliver the books to the Judge and Justices on that side ; he liveth at Seaverne. Justice Jordan, near Accomack, in Potomac. One Floyd, about Wye, in Maryland. Justice Jonson and Coleman, at Anemessy. The Governor of Carolina. 1678.] viEGiNiA. 359 remarks, " stood neuter, and my being there was not vain on that account." The quarrel was one of a very exciting character. The revolutionary party, as they were considered, were urged on by real or supposed grievances, and a cry for popular liberty, with which the authorities, who were strongly attached to the aristo- cratic views of the old royalists, did not sympathize. The former, though including most of the colonists, were nevertheless held by the government at home, as rebels, and a force was despatched to suppress them. The affair ended in the restoration of the governor, who evinced his revenge on the subdued party ; twenty- two of whom he had executed, and he would have proceeded further in his sanguinary course, had he not been stopped by a resolution of the assembly. Amidst these distractions, William Edmundson was favoured to pursue his gospel errand without obstruction, and held " many precious meetings" with his Friends. About the year 1678, John Boweter visited Virginia. He appears to have travelled through most of the settled parts of the province ; but no particulars of his religious engagements, have been preserved, further than the names of the places he visited.* We shall conclude the present chapter by inserting a brief memorial of the lives of George Rofe and Josiah Cole. * In a list of " The names of places and Friends in America, where John Boweter was received and had meetings and service for the Lord in the gospel of peace," the following in Virginia are mentioned : — James River in Virginia. James River at Chuckatuck Eliz. Outland. Pagan Creek - . . Wm. Parretts, Wm. Bodilie. Southward _ _ . Edward Perkins. Nansemun - - - - Matthew Atkinson. Accomack. Pongaleg by Accomack shore. Pocomock Bay. Annamesiah - . _ Ambrose Dickson. Moody Creek in Accomack - George Johnson. Savidge Neck - - - Robert Harris. Nesswatakes - - - - George Brickhouse. Ocahanack . _ _ Jonas Jackson. Moody Creek - - - John Parsons. Annamesiah - - - George Johnson and George Wilson. VOL. I. 2 b 360 VIRGINIA. [1682. George Rofe. On the rise of the Society of Friends in the eastern parts of England, George Rofe was residing at Halstead in Essex, and was by trade a glazier. No particulars of his convincement have been handed down to us ; it must, however, have been at a very early date, as in 1655 we find him on a gospel mission in Kent.* During the same year, whilst travelling in Suffolk, he was im- prisoned at Bury for being, as the mittimus expresses it, "a Quaker," and at the ensuing sessions, together with George Whitehead and John Harwood, he was indicted as a " common disturber of magistrates and ministers." George Fox the younger was present at the trial, and observing that the accusing parties were themselves the judges, he remonstrated with them on such injustice. But his Christian boldness offended the authorities, and he also was committed to prison. The place in which they were confined was a very miserable one, and for about seven months their only resting-place was on the damp earthen floor, and subsequently the gaoler, a cruel and heartless man, placed three of the sufferers in a small dungeon about twelve feet under ground. Considerable exertion was made for their release, and at last their case was laid before Cromwell and his council, " wherein,'^ says Besse, '' Mary Saunders, awaiting gentlewoman in the Protector's family, was very serviceable. "t After an im- * Besse, vol. i. p. 289. t Mary Saunders at this time was a Friend, having been convinced by the ministry of Francis Howgill, on his visit to the Court in 1654, and it is interesting to notice that her acceptance of our religious views did not subject her to expulsion from the Protector's family. During George Fox's visit to London in 1656, he met with Cromwell at Hyde Park, when he remonstrated with him on the persecuting conduct of the authorities towards Fx'iends. Cromwell, on his return to the palace, said to Mary Saunders with much meaning that he would tell her " some good news." Mary, whose attention was much excited by the remark, asked him what it was. Cromwell answered, "George Fox is come to town." "That," replied Mary, "was good news," and on the following day she hastened to his lodgings. 1682.] VIRGINIA. 361 prisonment of more than a year, an order for their liberation was issued from Whitehall in the Eighth Month, 1656.^ In the year 1657, George Rofe was again subjected to im- prisonment for his religion, and passed five months in one of tlie gaols of his own county, and in the Ninth Month of the same year, whilst travelling in Suffolk, he was placed in the stocks. Towards the close of 1657, his religious eno-ao-ements were more extended, and he proceeded, in company with William Ames, to the Continent of Europe. At Creishiem, a village in the Pala- tinate of the Rhine, they were instrumental in the convincement of a little company, who, in after years, emigrated in a body to Pennsylvania, and settled at a place which they named German- town. How long George Eofe was occupied in gospel labours on the continent is not ascertained, neither have we any further account of his religious engagements until near the close of 1659, when he proceeded on a visit to the West India islands and America. He was accompanied in the early part of this trans- atlantic visit by Richard Pinder of Westmoreland, who, in writing to George Fox, from Barbadoes, in the Sixth Month, 1660, remarks thus, " I have lately been at an island called Ber- muda, where I left George Rofe. Great service," he adds, " is done in that place. '"f The success, indeed, that attended his ministry on this island greatly disturbed the priests, and at their instigation he was committed to prison. | Towards the latter end of 1660, he proceeded to North America, and for about one year laboured in the service of his Lord in most of the English colonies of that region, after which he returned to the West Indies. In the early part of 1663, he paid a second visit to North America, during which he was much engaged in New England, and on Long Island. In addition to his labours in the ministry, George Rofe also endeavoured to promote the cause of his divine Master through the aid of the press, and from 1656, to 1663, several small pieces issued from his pen. The work of this dedicated Friend was now nearly accomplished. Soon after leaving Long Island, in * Besse, vol. i. p. 663. t Swarthmore MSS. X Besse, vol. ii. p. 366. 2 B 2 362 viEGiNiA. [1682. 1663, he was drowned during a storm in Chesapeake Bay. In a letter addressed to Stephen Crisp hy WiUiam Caton, dated from Amsterdam, in the Fifth Month, 1664, the cir- cumstance is thus referred to: — "I had lately a letter out of Maryland, with a book of dear George Rofe's, from a Friend there, who did absolutely confirm the truth of the report of dear George's being cast away in a little boat upon Maryland's river, in a storm.""^ The following remark respecting him occurs in an ancient American manuscript: — " And so having visited Friends in these parts, of whom he was well beloved and accepted, he lastly went to Maryland, and there finished his course and ended his life." JosiAH Cole. Josiah Cole was convinced of the principles of our religious Society through the instrumentality of John Camm and John Audland, during their memorable visit to the city of Bristol in the year 1654, He was then about twenty- one years of age, of a highly respectable family, and resided at Winterbourne, near Bristol. Before his convincement, his mind had been much turned to the consideration of divine things, and he became deeply im- pressed with the emptiness and lifelessness of forms and ceremo- nies in religion. " I saw nothing of God in them," he observes, " for they were but as a shadow, vanity, and nothing — and in my heart I could not join with them. But how to come into the way of life I was still a stranger, until the Lord in his eternal power sent the ministers of the word of life, who were anointed of Him, and endued with power from on High, to preach the glad tidings of the Gospel, whose voice I rejoiced to hear, and whose testimony I gladly received ; for they declared the way of life, that it was in the midst of the paths of judgment."t He subsequently passed through deep conflict of mind. " I saw," he says, " that my heart was polluted, and that there was no habitation for God, which caused me to mourn in desolation and to wander in solitary * Swarthmore MSS. -!• A Song of Judgment and Mercy, in his collected works, p. 132. 1682.] viiiGi.NiA. 363 places, until I was ready to faint ; and I said in my heart, never man's sorrow was like my sorrow/' In this time of trial he cried earnestly unto the Lord, and covenanted with Him. " If thou wilt indeed bring me through thy judgments, and grant me thy ever- lasting peace ; if thou wilt destroy the enemy of my soul, and give me rest from those that oppress me ; then will I teach sinners thy way, and transgressors shall be converted unto thee ; yea, I made many promises unto Him that I would give up my life unto his service, and that I would follow him whithersoever he would lead me."* Having in no ordinary degree experienced the baptizing and purifying power of Christ, he became an able and powerful minister of the Gospel; '^' his declarations to the ungodly world," says Wilham Penn, who knew him well, " were like an axe, a hammer, or a sword, sharp and piercing, being mostly attended with an eminent appearance of the dreadful power of the Lord ; but to the faithful and diligent, the soft and pleasant streams of life immortal that have run through him to the refreshing of those of the Lord's heritage. "f " In prayer and supplication," writes Croese, " he did it with so much effect, and with such a grace and mode of speech, though without affectation, that he infinitely surpassed many of his brethren.''^ Devotedness to the cause of truth and righteousness was a remarkable characteristic of our early Friends, but in no instance was it more strikingly exemplified than in the life and character of Josiah Cole. Almost from the time of his convincement to the time of his death, he laboured incessantly in the heavenly warfare. It has already been stated that he twice visited North America and the West India islands ; subsequently he also went on a Gospel mission to Holland and the Low Countries, whilst in England his religious labours were extended to nearly every county. On several occasions he was interrupted in his Gospel travels by imprisonments. As early as 1654 he w^as imprisoned in Biistol, and two years later at Weymouth. In 1660 he was * A Song of Judgment and Mercy, p. 133. t W. Penn's Testimony concerning Josiah Cole ; Works, p. 16. X Croese Hist, of Friends, p. 52, 364 VIRGINIA. [1682. confined in the goals of Leicester and Cambridge. Under the provisions of the Conventicle Act, he was committed in 1664 to Newgate, and towards the close of the same year he was also imjDrisoned at Launceston, in Cornwall, and in the following year at Kendal, in Westmoreland. " For the sake of his blessed testimony," writes William Penn, "he baulked no danger, and counted nothing too dear for the name and service of the Lord."'* Sewel, our historian, who knew him well, has left us this testi- mony respecting him : — " It was his life and joy to declare the Gospel, and to proclaim the word of God, for which he had an excellent ability ; and when he spoke to the ungodly world, an awful gravity appeared in his countenance, and his words were like a hammer and a sharp sword. But though he was a son of thunder, yet his agreeable speech flowed from his mouth like a pleasant stream, to the consolation and comfort of pious souls. Oh ! how pathetically have I heard him pray, when he, as trans- ported and ravished, humbly beseeched God, that it might please him to reach to the hard-hearted, to support the godly, and to preserve them stedfast ; nay, with what a charming and melo- dious voice did he sound forth the praises of the Most High in his public prayers ! Though he went through many persecutions imprisonments, and other adversities, yet he was not afraid of danger, but was always valiant ; and he continued in an unmar- ried state that so he might the more freely labour in the heavenly harvest ; and many were converted by his ministry.^t The decease of this dedicated Friend took place in London, and his end was emphatically a triumphant one. " I have peace with the Lord ; his majesty is with me, and his crown of life is upon me." These were nearly his last words. Among the few who were present at his close were George Fox and Stephen Crisp ; and from their arms his spirit passed into the presence of Him, the promotion of whose cause among men had been his paramount delight. He had been a minister twelve years, during which he also published many religious treatises. He wrote zealously against Popery ; and one of his longest pieces was * W. Penn's Testimony. t SeweFs History, p. 463. 1682.] VIRGINIA. 365 entitled " The Mystery of the Deceit of the Church of Rome Revealed," The following is a copy of his burial register : — " Josiah Cole, aged about thirty-five years, departed this life the loth day of the Eleventh Month, 1668, at Mary Forster's, in John Street, having weakened and worn out his outward man in the work and service of the Lord in the ministry of the ever- lasting gospel, and was interred in the burying-ground in Chequer Alley."' His death was a circumstance that was deeply felt by his brethren ; and it is recorded that more than a thousand of them attended his funeral.* * Sewel's History, p. 465. CHAPTER XX. Maryland first visited by Josiah Cole and Thomas Thurston — Imprison- ment of Thomas Thurston — Friends persecuted by the authorities — The religious labours of William Robinson, Christopher Holder, and Robert Hodgson, in the colony — The sufferings of Friends for testi- fying against judicial swearing, and for refusing to bear arms — Josiah Cole arrives on a second gospel mission to Maryland — Letter of Josiah Cole to George Fox — He is banished from the colony — Gospel mission of George Rofe, Joseph Nicholson, John Liddal, Jane Millard, Mary Tomkins, and Alice Ambrose — Sufferings of Friends continue — John Burnyeat's religious labours in Maryland — The gospel travels and services of George Fox, William Edmundson, Robert Widders, and others — Epistle from Bristol Monthly Meeting to Friends of Maryland, with a reply from the latter — William Edmundson's second visit to the province — Religious labours of John Boweter — proceedings of Friends with the colonial legislature on the subject of judicial swearing — State of the Society in Mary- land in 1682 — Epistle from their Half- Yearly Meeting. The next in the order of date among the colonies of the New world, where the Society of Friends arose, was that of Maryland. Josiah Cole and Thomas Thurston, whilst visiting the Indians of the interior in 1658, appear to have been the first who travelled in this part of America. Towards the close of this year, Thomas Thurston returned to the colony ; his object being now to labour in the gospel among the settlers. In Maryland, as in the other colonies of North America, there were piously-disposed individuals whose hearts were much prepared to appreciate those views of primitive Christianity which, in the convincing and tendering power of Christ, the gospel ministers of the Society of Friends preached to their fellow-men. When, therefore, Thomas Thurston came amongst the colonists of Maryland, many of them 1658.] MARYLAND. o67 were given to feel that " the living power of the Lord" attended his ministrations ; and from them he met with a cordial welcome, and in several places little communities were soon gathered, who professed the doctrines he preached. The prejudice which calumny and misrepresentation had raised against Friends in the mother country, had also found entrance into the unsectarian colony of Maryland ; and when, on the arrival of Thomas Thurston, it became known that he was a minister of the new sect, the courts of the colony for the first time lent their aid to religious persecution, and he was arrested and sentenced to an imprisonment of " a year and a day.""^' The excitement which prevailed in Maryland on the first appearance of Friends in that province, was considerable ; and the authori- ties, in their anxiety to prevent the introduction of views which they regarded as an evil of a grave character, imitating the example of the rulers of Massachusetts, imposed fines on any of the settlers who should '' entertain Quakers," and four indi- viduals were fined in the sum of .£'3. los. for evincing; their hospitality to Thomas Thurston ; whilst another was cruelly whipped " for not assisting the sheriff to apprehend him."t In the early part of the year 1659, Maryland was visited by other gospel labourers of the new society, but no attempts appear to have been made for their arrest ; these were William Robin- son, Christopher Holder, and Robert Hodgson, and through the religious labours of these Friends, a considerable convincement took place. For some years prior to the rise of Friends in Maryland, there had been great political strife and commotion among the colonists, arising from conflicting claims for the proprietary between Lord Baltimore, and a resolute man of the name of Clayborne. The pretensions of Clayborne resulted in a recourse to arms, in which his party was successful and obtained the power. In 1658, a compromise was effected, and the agent of Baltimore was allowed to rule under certain restrictions. In 1660, however, the colonists, influenced probably by the adoption at that period of an indepen- * MS. Letter of W. Robinson, 1659. t Besse's Sufferings, vol. ii. p, 380. 368 MARYLAND. [1659. dent legislation in Virginia, followed the example, and also de- clared themselves independent. But this state of things was but of short duration, for, soon after the restoration of Charles II., the power of Baltimore was again established in Mar3'land. During the years 1658, and 1659, the period in which the Clay- bornites admitted the agent of Baltimore to rule, it was with the express stipulation that they should be allowed to retain their arms. Baltimore's representative, in order to strengthen the cause of his master, on the other hand organized a militia, a course which prominently developed the principles of the Society of Friends against all wars and fightings. The authorities of Maryland, finding that their orders for enrolling in this service were disobeyed by the settlers who had embraced our views, endeavoured to subdue their conscientious scruples by excessive fines and distraints. A list of thirty Friends who suffered on this account has been preserved, from whom property amounting in the aggregate to ^172. 45. 9d. was taken. Many Friends also suffered about the same time for conscientiously refusing to swear.* * The following ai'e recorded in . Besse's Sujferings as having suffered about the year 1658. FOR REFUSING TO BEAR ARMS £. s. d. £. s. d. Brought forward . . 75 6 William Fuller I 8 15 6 Hugh Drew . . • . 4 10 Thomas Homewood William Davis . . . 4 10 Richard Keene . . . 6 15 William Cole . . IG William Muffit . . . 6 15 Robert Dunn . . 18 15 John Knap . . , . 7 10 Francis Barnes . . 6 5 Michael Brooks . 4 10 John Ellis . . . 6 5 Edmund Hinchman . 4 10 William Eliott . . 4 17 6 Henry Osborne . 4 10 Edward Coppcd^e . 5 7 John Day . , . . 4 10 Henry Carliua . . . 5 13 6 John Baldwin . . . 5 5 John Walcott . . . 5 5 Thomas Mears . . . 5 William Read . . . 7 10 Rohert Clarksou . . 2 Ismael Wriglit :}.. Henry AVoolchurch . 5 5 William Stockdtn John Homewood . . 7 10 Guy White . . Jonathan Neale , 2 5 John Holyday . , . 5 6 £Vr2 4 3 Carried forward , . 75 6 9 1660.] MARYLAND. 869 Soon after the restoration of Charles II. the persecution of Friends in Maryland, as in some other parts of the new world, was, for a time, suspended. It was during this time of religious freedom that Josiah Cole arrived on a second visit to this colony. His presence among the newly convinced was peculiarly helpful at that time, for, owing to some who had " run into words without life," and others who "judged rashly," the harmony of the new society had been interrupted. After labouring about two months among his brethren, he had the heartfelt consolation to witness a change for the better. " These things," he writes, " are well over, and life ariseth over it all."* Whilst Josiah Cole was pursuing his gospel mission in Maryland, he addressed the follow- ing to George Fox : — From Josiah Cole to George Fox. The Province of Maryland, this 2lst of Eleventh Month, 1660. Dear George, — "Whom my spirit loveth, and whom I honour in the Lord, and who, in the life of truth, art dear and precious to me, in which, according to my measure which I have received, do I dearly salute and embrace thee. Dear George, as concerning passages here, all is quiet as yet in relation to the truth, and meetings are precious ; and the Lord manifests his precious pre- sence and love amongst us in our assemblies ; and persecution doth not yet appear in this province of Maryland, but the spirit FOR REFUSING TO SWEAR. £. s. d. £. s. d. Brought forward . . 38 John Knap , . . . 3 10 John Larkin . . . 15 Michael Brooks . . 7 10 Robert Harwood . . 11 "William Stockley . .3 15 Thomas Underwood . 7 10 Thomas Coale . . 2 Ralph Hawkins . 10 5 Thomas Mears . . 8 5 Ismael Wright . . 2 5 Robert Clarkson 5 Edmund Burton . 8 Francis Billingsley, Tobacco. £84 Carried forward . 38 590 lbs. Tf MS. Letter of Josiah Cole, 1660. 370 MARYLAND. [1G61. thereof is chained down for a season, that the babes may renew their strength. — I have been amongst them about ten weeks, and have at present well nigh cleared myself in this province, and am upon passing down into Virginia to visit the remnant that is there, and to sound forth God's mighty day amongst the heathen ; and as way is made, I shall pass to Barbadoes, and from thence to New England. I remain thine in the truth, d^pJ^t Soon after the foregoing was written, religious intolerance was again manifested in Maryland, and Josiah Cole was banished from its jurisdiction. During the year 1661 George Rofe appears also to have visited this province ; but no particulars of his services there have been met with, excepting the brief but full expression that he " travelled in the power of the spirit, and in the great dominion of the truth.''* Towards the close of 1662, Joseph Nicholson, John Liddal and Jane Millard proceeded on religious service to Maryland ; and in the following year Mary Tomkins and Alice Ambrose, but of their religious engagements no account has been preserved. During the year 1661, and the following year, several Friends in this colony had their principles against swearing and against bearing arms strongly tested. Three were imprisoned for several months, and others were heavily fined for adhering to their con- scientious convictions respecting these things. Towards the close of 1662, no fewer than twenty-three Friends, who, in previous years had enrolled in the militia, but who now, in accordance with their altered views on the subject of war, declined to sanction such an ti- christian proceedings, were each of them fined 500lbs. of tobacco for, as the warrant expresses it, "delinquency and breach of an Act, intituled ' An Act for military discipline.' "t Reli- * G. Rofe to Stephen Crisp, 1661. + Besse's Sufferings, vol. ii. p. 381. 1665.] MARYLAND. S71 gious persecution, however, was but of short duration in this province, and for sixteen years from this date, no act of intoler- ance appears to have disgraced the colonial records of Maryland. The European population of Maryland at this period was but small, not exceeding, it is estimated, 10,000. Unlike the Puritan colonies of the north, it possessed no towns, nor indeed any village of much importance ; the settlers being scattered up and down in log houses of one story high on the banks of the rivers or among the forests. The absence of towns was considered an evil, and attempts were made to form them under the provisions of law, but this proved an entire failure. The schism in the Society arising from the notions of John Perrot extended itself also to Maryland. Thomas Thurston, who had "run well for a season," and who had been instrumental in gathering many to the truth, unhappily imbibed the opinions of Perrot, and for a while " drew a party after him." In the Second Month, 1665, John Burnyeat arrived in the colony, where he spent the whole of the summer in religious labours among the settlers. " Large meetings we had," he observes, " and the Lord's power was with us, and Friends Avere greatly comforted, and several were convinced."* The Perrot division was a subject to which the attention of John Burnyeat was much directed, and it was with much sorrow that he saw Thomas Thurston unholdins: the erroneous sentiments which led to it. " Great was the exercise and travail," he says, " which was upon my spirit day and night, both upon the truth's account, which suffered by him, and also for the people who were betrayed by him to their hurt ; but," he con- tinues, " through much labour and travail in the Lord's wisdom and power, I and other faithful Friends of that province had to search things out, and to clear things to their understanding, — -it pleased the Lord so to assist us, and bless our endeavours, that most of the people came to see through him, and in the love of God to be restored into the unity of truth again, to our great comfort, truth's honour, and their everlasting happiness, "-f Al- though John Burnyeat was favoured to be thus instrumental for the good of his brethren, he was not so as it regarded Thomas * Journal of J. Burnyeat. t Ibid. 372 MARYLAND. [1672. Thurston. Like John Perrot this deluded individual proceeded from one wrong thing to another, until at last he had wandered far from the true sheepfold. " He was lost as to truth/' writes John Burnyeat, " and became a vagabond and fugitive as to his spiritual condition, and little otherwise as to the outward."* What a teaching lesson do instances of this kind furnish of the frailty of man, and of the necessity there is for continued watch- fulness and self-abasement. A departure from true lowliness of mind, and a self-confident spirit, are indubitable marks that our foundation is not laid in Him who is the Rock of ages. For more than five years after this visit of John Burnyeat, no minister from England appears to have arrived in the province ; in the Eighth Month, 1671, however, he again visited Maryland. He had previously been in New England, and was accompanied on this occasion by Daniel Gould, of Rhode Island. In the Second Month, 1672, after returning from the south, John Burnyeat appointed a meeting to be held at West River, in Maryland, for all the Friends in the province. His object in calling this meeting was, " that he might see them together before he departed," for the purpose, it appears, of establishing meetings for discipline among them. At the date of the foregoing, George Fox, who had completed his religious service in the West Indies, was making his way to Maryland, together with James Lancaster, John Cartwright, William Edmundson, Robert Widders, and George Pattison. They had no knowledge of the meeting that John Burnyeat had appointed, but, observes George Fox, " it was so ordered by the good providence of God, that we landed just in time to reach it."t The gathering was a very large one. Friends from all parts of the province attended it, and it continued for four days. But the attendance was not confined to Friends ; " many other people," says George Fox, " came, divers of whom were of con- siderable quality in the world's account ; for there were amongst them five or six justices of the peace, a speaker of their assembly, one of the council, and divers others of note ; who seemed well * Journal of J. Burnyeat. t Journal of George Fox, vol. ii. p. 156. 1672.] MARYLAND. 373 satisfied with the meeting."''"* " After the public meetings were ended," he continues, " the men's and women's meetings began." This General Meeting was an important occasion in the history of the Society in Marj'land. A few years previous, George Fox, in order to settle meetings for discipline, had travelled through most parts of Great Britain and Ireland ; and in addition to his jDublic ministrations, an engagement for the same object attended him in the western world. There had been meetings of the Society in Maryland for about fourteen years, but no attempt to establish those for discipline had been made. The subject was, therefore, a new oue to Friends of this province. The benefits to be derived from such meetings, were largely explained to them by George Fox, who, observes John Burnyeat, " did wonderfully open the service thereof unto them, and they with gladness of heart received advice in such necessary things as were opened unto them ; and all were comforted and edified."" * After this memorable meeting at West Eiver, George Fox and his companions proceeded to a place called the Cliffs, where another general meeting was held, to which, besides Friends, large numbers of the colonists came, including both Puritans and Papists. Here also, as at West Eiver, meetings for discipline were proposed and established. From the Cliffs some of the European Friends pro- ceeded to other colonies, but George Fox, John Burnyeat, Robert Widders and George Pattison crossed the Chesapeake to the Eastern shore of Maryland. On the first day following they had a meeting in this district; "a very large and heavenly one it was," remarks George Fox ; "several persons of quality in that country were at it, two of whom were justices of the peace, — many received the truth with gladness, and Friends were greatly re- freshed.''^ George Fox in the course of his transatlantic journeyings did not forget the aborigines. They also were the objects of his gospel love, and he held two meetings with those of the eastern shore. "God/' said he to them, "was raising up his tabernacle of * Journal of George Fox, vol. ii. p. 156. + Journal of J. Burnyeat. t Journal of George Fox, vol, ii. p 157. 374 MARYLAND. [1772. witness in their wilderness country, and was setting up his standard and glorious ensign of righteousness." The untutored North American Indian listened to his powerful ministrations with deep attention, and "confessed" to the truths he declared, and "carried themselves very courteously and lovingly.'^ So deeply, indeed, had they been impressed with what had been said, that they evinced a desire to hear more, and enquiring where the next meet- ing would be held, expressed their desire to attend it. Ou leaving Maryland, George Fox proceeded inland through Delaware and the Jerseys to Long Island. Excepting a few places on the coast, this portion of North America was untenanted by Europeans, and but an inhospitable wild, the difficulties of travers- ing which, were very great. They left the eastern shore at the head of Tredhaven Creek, and it occupied them ten days to reach Middletown in East Jersey. " It was," remarks George Fox, " a tedious journey through the woods and wilderness, over bogs and great rivers." At nights, by a watch fire, they some- times lodged in the woods ; and at others in the wigwams of the friendly Indians. The country was so much of a wilderness that for a whole day together they travelled " without seeing man or woman, house or dwelling-place." After George Fox had completed his religious engagements in New England and Long Island, he proceeded on a second visit to Maryland accompanied by P^obert Widders, James Lancaster and Georo-e Pattison. His return was throuo-h the forest wilds of the Jerseys and Delaware. The journey occupied them nine days, and, as on the former occasion, they experienced many difficulties and dangers. In the course of this journey they passed through many Indian towns, and to the inhabitants of these humble dwellings, George Fox and his fellow-travellers were led to speak of the things of eternal life, and as he expresses it, to declare "the day of the Lord to them."" In the Seventh Month, 1672, these gospel labourers reached Miles river, on tlie Eastern shore, in the vicinity of which they had several meetings, and then proceeded to the Kentish shore w^here two others were also held. Travelling about twenty miles further, they had another and a very memorable one, which was 1672.] MARYLAND. 375 • attended by several hundreds of the colonists, among whom were four justices and the high sherifif of Delaware. " A blessed meeting/^ says George Fox, " this was, and of great service, both for convincing and establishiDg in the truth those that were convinced of it. Blessed be the Lord who caviseth his blessed truth to spread." George Fox now returned to Tredhaven Creek, and from thence, on the third of the Eighth Month, to a general meeting on the Eastern shore, appointed specially for all the Friends of Maryland. The gospel mission of George Fox in the New World was a very remarkable one. The settlers everywhere evinced an eagerness to listen to his declarations, and by the effect of his preaching large numbers were added to the Society. His presence among his fellow-professors in this land was hailed as a blessing of no ordinary kind, and the churches were greatly strengthened by his labours. That double lionour should be paid to such an one can excite no surprise. But it was not from those of his own Society only that George Fox received a welcome in America. Everywhere, governors, magistrates, and the authorities, both civil and military, received him with cordiality, and paid him marked attention. When we reflect upon the position which George Fox occupied, we need not wonder that this should have been so. The Society of Friends, of which it was understood that he was the founder, though of less than thirty years' stand- ing, and notwithstanding the violent persecution it encountered, had now become, both at home and abroad, a numerous and in- creasing body, and included in its ranks men both of wealth and station. Another circumstance which caused the settlers in America to frequent the meetings of George Fox, was the rarity of ministers of any sort among them ; for, excepting in New England, there were at that period but few ecclesiastics in the land. None had yet settled in Carolina, and in Virginia they were so few that a bounty was offered to allure them ; and scattered as the settlers were along the banks of the rivers and creeks, it was a rare thing for them to hear a sermon of any kind. When, therefore, it was known that George Fox, " the head of the Quakers in England," had come amongst them, VOL. I. 2 c 876 MARYLAND. [1672. and was going to have a general meeting at Tredhaven Creek, the lonely settlers of both the Eastern and Western shore of Maryland, flocked from far and near to hear him. The following, penned by George Fox himself, gives us a graphic account of the meeting in question : — " This meeting held five days ; the first three we had meetings for public worship, to which people of all sorts came ; the other two were spent in the men's and women's meetings. To those public meetings came many Protestants of divers sorts, and some Papists ; amongst these were several magistrates and their wives, and other persons of chief account in the country. There were so many, besides Friends, that it was thought there were some- times a thousand people at one of those meetings. So that though they had not long before enlarged their meeting-place, and made it as laro;e ao-ain as it was before, it could not con- DO y tain the people. I went by boat every day four or five miles to the meeting, and there were so many boats at that time passing upon the river, that it was almost like the Thames. The people said ' there were never so many boats seen there together before.'* And one of the justices said * he never saw so many people together in that country before.' It was a very heavenly meeting, wherein the presence of the Lord was gloriously manifested, and Friends were sweetly refreshed, the people generally satisfied, and many convinced ; for the blessed power of the Lord was over all ; everlasting praises to his holy name for ever ! After the public meetings were over, the men's and women's meetings began, and were held the other two days ; for I had something to impart to them which concerned the glory of God, the order of the gospel, and the government of Christ Jesus. When these meetings were over, we took our leave of Friends in those parts, whom we left well established in the truth.^t Leaving Tredhaven Creek, George Fox and his companions proceeded by way of Crane's Island, Swan Island, and Kent * The mode of travelling in these parts at that period was mostly in boats on the ci'eeks and rivers, or on horseback through the forests. t Journal of George Fox, vol. ii. p. 168. 1673.] MARYLAND. 377 Island, to the otlier side of the " Great Bay.'' From thence they travelled about six miles to the house of a Friend who was a magistrate, where a meeting was held. On the following day, they had another meeting near the head of Hatton's Island ; and on the succeeding one, at a place about three miles distant. The next was held at Severn, to which " divers chief magistrates and many other considerable people'' came ; " and a powerful, thun- dering testimony for the truth was borne." From this place he passed to the Western shore, and had a large meeting at William Coale's, " where," says George Fox, " the speaker of the Assem- bly" and several others " of quality" were present. The next meeting tool: place about seven miles off, and, two days later, another at the Cliflfs, which was attended by " many of the magistrates and upper rank of people," and is mentioned as " a heavenly meeting." They next travelled to James Preston's, on the river Patuxent, where, remarks George Fox, " we had a meeting to take our leave of Friends, and a powerful meeting it was." As stated in the preceding chapter, George Fox, on his return to England, encouraged his friends of Bristol to maintain a correspondence with their brethren in America ; and, acting on the suggestion, in 1673, an epistle, from which the following is extracted, was addressed by Bristol Monthly Meeting to Friends of Maryland : — Epistle from Bristol Monthly Meeting to Friends in Maryland. " Dearly beloved Friends and Brethren, — Although our abiding be at so great a distance, and we never had opportunity to see one another, yet are you very near and dear unto us in the Spirit ; in which we can and do embrace you as members of our body ; and are comforted in you ; and having heard of your obedience and faithfulness to the truth, by our beloved George Fox, and other Friends that came from you, we could not well forbear to write unto you, not only to manifest our unity 2 c 2 378 MARYLAND. [1673. with you, and the inward joy and consolation we have in you, but also to exhort you all to continue in the faith, and to walk worthy of that honour which the Lord God hath given you, in all lowliness of mind, and meekness of spirit ; every one waiting to feel a very hearty and willing subjection in themselves, to all the manifestations and revelations of the Truth ; and that none pro- fessing the truth, do walk, or move, or act in their own wills, or after the imaginations and thoughts of their own hearts ; but that every one wait to feel that will subjected, by the operation of the heavenly power mightily working in them ; yea, that the cross of Christ be known more and more, and abode in and daily taken up, until the creaturely will, or will of the flesh, be crucified, mortified, and slain ; not obeyed, not fed or nourished ; and so all giving up in the holy will that sanctifieth, may be able truly to say, I came to do thy will, God. And so self in all its desires and lusts, being destroyed and baptized into death, the Lord God of life and power will be more and more manifested, and, in the overflowings of his own life and power, exalted and magnified ; and before the glory of his appearance, all crowns will be cast down before Him who liveth, and will reign for evermore. " And now, dearly beloved friends, we give you to know that in this nation, the blessed truth which is pure, prospereth and spreadeth abundantly, and is of a good savour among men. — The meetings of Friends are very large and peaceful. Multitudes flock to hear the declaration of truth, and some come to abide in it, " Our beloved George Fox, after his arrival from you in this place, stayed in and about the city about two months or more, and afterwards went for London, in and about which place he still remains, enjoying a good measure of bodily health and strength, which we esteem a very great mercy. The good report he gives of Friends in your country enlargeth the hearts of Friends here to love and embrace you ; and therefore let not the tender mercies and visitations of the Lord easily be forgotten or shut out of your remembrance, and glad shall we be as your free- 1660. J MARYLAND. 379 dom is, to receive some lines from you, whereby we may under- stand of your welfare and the prosperity of the precious truth in your hearts, and through your country, in the love of which truth we remain " Your endeared friends and brethren, " TlIO. GOULDNEY. " Thomas Callowhill. " Charles Harford. " William Ford. " John Love." " From the Men's Meeting in Bristol, for ordering the affairs of truth, the 24th day of Ninth Month, 1673." The epistle from Bristol was refreshing to the Friends of Maryland ; and, feeling that they were indeed brethren, baptized by the one Spirit into one body, and of the same household of faith, they responded to the address in the following affectionate language : — Epistle from Maryland to Bristol Monthly Meeting. " Dearly beloved Friends and Brethren, — In the blessed truth and covenant of the light, life, and peace, do we dearly salute you, whose lines of dear and tender love are come safe to our hands. Though absent in body, yet present in spirit, we dearly and truly embrace you, and truly receive your good exhor- tations ; and in the footsteps of you our beloved companions and elder brethren in the blessed truth, who are followers of the Lord in the way of holiness, we truly desire to tread and walk, truly blessing the Lord in the secret of our hearts through his Spirit, for his great loving-kindness and tender mercy to us-ward, who hath highly favoured us, and made us partakers of his heavenly gift, which is eternal life, and given us a part amongst them that are sanctified. — We do not write these things in commendation of ourselves, but of the living God, whose blessed work is begun in our hearts and carried on by his blessed power, that God over 380 MARYLAND. [1674. all may have the praise of his own work in us all, to whom be the glory of all, from us all for ever, amen. And that you, whom we dearly love, may more and more be comforted in us, and we in you, in the blessed truth, in which we truly and dearly salute you all, ye dear and faithful ones. And now, dearly beloved friends and brethren, we give you to understand that the enclosed paper of condemnation hath been of service amongst us ; and whereas you do very earnestly desire our watchfulness over any professing the truth that may come from your parts hither ; likewise, do we earnestly desire you to be very careful and watchful over any professing truth that may come from hence into your parts, that so as much as in us lieth, the worthy name of the Lord may not be dishonoured, nor his blessed truth and way of holiness reproached, to the grieving of any of his dear children. And now, dearly beloved, to acquaint you that the blessed truth of the Lord is more and more precious unto us, and the heavenly virtue of the same doth do us much good, blessed for ever be the Lord our God, whose mercy endures for ever, to all them that truly fear him. Much people there be in our country that comes to hear the truth declared, which in its eternal authority is over all, and many by it are convinced. But too many there be that doth not readily stoop to it, for that they come not to partake of the heavenly virtue of it. But blessed be die Lord God Almighty, for with the faithful and obedient it is not so. And now, dearly beloved brethren, we may not forget to make mention of our dearly beloved George Fox, with the rest of the servants of the Lord who accompanied him in the service of the blessed God in our country, whose labours, travels, and service, the Lord did exceedingly bless, to our great comfort, and consolation, and benefit, for which we then did and still do bless the Lord. Since their departure from us, we plainly understand their dear and tender love is toward us, which we feel the benefit of in our own hearts, and do return the salutation of our dear love in the blessed truth unto them all. And dearly beloved friends and brethren, glad shall we be, as you have opportunity and freedom, to receive some lines from you, whereby we may further understand of your welfare and the prosperity of the truth 1676.J MARYLAND. 381 in England, in which blessed truth we once more dearly salute you, and remain your endeared friends and brethren. " Signed by the order and appointment of the meeting, by " William Coale. " William Richards. " John Gary." " From the Men's General Aleeting, at West River, in Maryland, the 6th day of the Fourth Month, 1674." " To the Men's Meeting of Friends in Bristol." " Dear Friend, — The eight books sent by our friend Thomas Hucker, we had opportunity at our meeting to send away by safe hands to be delivered as directed, and with each book a note to signify to each person from whom and per what account they were sent. The other eight came by our friend George Hawes, which we have taken care to convey as speedily as opportunity presents, and so we remain. " W. C." On the 12th of the Eighth Month, 1674, Bristol Monthly Meeting ag-ain addressed an epistle of encouragement " To the General Meeting of men Friends at West River, in Maryland." About the year 1676, William Edmundson was again drawn to visit the colonies of America. His labours in Maryland, though not extended, were blessed to his brethren. He held meetings both on the Eastern and Western shores of the Chesa- peake. In the following year, John Boweter also visited this province. Of his religious services, however, we have no account further than a list of the places where " he was received and had meetings."* * The following are those mentioned for Maryland : — {William Berry. Walter Dickson. 382 MARYLAND. [1 G78. About the year 1677, the faithfulness of Friends in Maryland, against judicial swearing, was severely tested by the imposition of excessive fines. In 1678, one Friend was fined 500 lbs. of to- bacco for not taking the oath of a constable, and another was mulct in the same amount for refusing the oath of a juryman. The sufferings to which the Society in this plantation were ex- posed in this respect, obtained the notice of Friends in England, and, at the instance of the Meeting for Suff"erings, William Penn had conferences with Lord Baltimore, the Proprietary, on the subject, in which he promised to adopt means to relieve his Quaker population from the grievance ; a promise, however, which he failed to fulfil until nearly ten years after. Consider- able exertions were also made by friends of Maryland to obtain a legal absolution from swearing, by the recognition of a simple affirmation. In 1681 they presented a statement of their case to Lord Baltimore and his council. " It hath been sufficiently known" they state, " that we have been a suffering people, both m our persons and estates, ever since the Lord was pleased first to raise us up to be a people, and particularly in the discharge of our consciences to God in refusing all oaths whatsoever, which command of Christ we dare not disobey ; for which cause we are Tuchahow - - - - J Meeting-house and ( Betty Cove's. John Pitts. Ralph Fishborns. Kent Island - - - - Sarah Thomas. Richard Snoden. West Shore - - - Rode River - - - West River - - - - Meetings. Herring Creek _ - _ Meeting. East Shore - - - - Meeting. Kent Island - - - - Hoil Powels. Little Chopthanck - - William Stevens. Miles River - - - - Bryan Amaliell. West River - - - - Thomas Taylor. South River - - - - Thomas Linscomb's. Herring Creek - - - Meetings. The Cliffs - - - - John Garie. Patuxent - - _ - Benjamin Lawrence. ]681.] MARYLAND. 383 many ways laid open to our enemies, as a spoil both in our per- sons and estates. Nor are our sufferings like to terminate in our own persons, but also extend to the ruining of our wives and children.^'* After setting forth the impolicy of declining the civil services of Friends because they refused to swear, they add " We are made in many cases unserviceable to the Proprietary ; for although we are a considerable member of this province, and in many respects might be serviceable by bearing divers offices, yet because we cannot take the formal oaths, we are therefore made almost as useless."' The address was well received by the Upper House of Assem- bly, which, desirous of promoting the objects of Friends, made the following record on the occasion : — " Upon reading the paper delivered yesterday by William Berry and Richard Johns, this House do say, That if the rights and privileges of a freeborn Englishman, settled on him by Magna Charta, so often confirmed by subsequent Parliaments, can be preserved by yea and nay, in wills and testaments, and other occurrents, the Lower House may do well to prepare such a law, and then the Upper House will consider of it." • The Lower House was also decidedly favourable to Friends in this matter ; many indeed of this representative assembly were members of the Society.-}- On receiving the minute, therefore, from the Upper House, they requested the two Friends who had presented the address, to prepare an answer to the question raised in reference to Magna Charta. This was readily under- taken, and a document on the subject prepared, entitled " Some reasons given to show, that this law desired in favour of tender consciences as to oaths, is not against Magna Charta, nor de- structive to the ancient rights and privileges of Enghshmen.^'j The " reasons" were satisfactory, and an Act was accordingly prepared and passed by the two Houses for the relief of Friends on this subject. An unexpected difficulty however now arose. For, it is said, " some particular reasons of state," Baltimore de- * Besse, vol. ii. p. 383. t MS. Letter of W. Richardson to Geo. Fox, Second Month, 1681. . X Besse, vol. ii. p. 384. 384 MARYLAND. [1682, clined to sanction the measure, and it was not until the year 1688, that Friends of Maryland were relieved from the suf- ferings to which the anti-christian imposition of oaths subjected them. The Society of Friends in Maryland, though less numerous than those professing with them in New England, and probably also than those in the province of New York, was, nevertheless, an increasing body. By their religious life and conversation, they had gained the esteem of the inhabitants at large, and on public occasions their meetings were numerously attended by them. "William Richardson, of West River, a zealous and influential Friend, in a letter to George Fox in 1682, in speaking of their half-yearly meeting held in the spring of that year, says : — " We have had a very great meeting ; for number of people, never more in Maryland, and very peaceable to hear the truth declared." Of the Society itself he thus speaks : — " Friends are in general well, and in love and unity one with another, and I may truly say I never knew them more, or so much concerned for the truth, in the good order of our men's and women's meetings for keeping all thills sweet and clean amongst Friends than they now are. Blessed be the Lord for it.'' Almost from the commencement of the discipline, a strong jealousy was entertained by some, that its institution involved an undue interference with individual freedom of thought and action. Those who objected to meetings for discipline were for the most part persons whose conduct was more or less inconsistent with the self-denying professions of Friends, and who, consequently, were averse to the adoption of measures which would subject them to censure or control. There were some of this class in Maryland, and these, at' times, proved troublesome to the Society. It was in order to expose the fallacious reasoning of those who objected to church discipline that William Penn wrote his " Brief Examina- tion of Liberty Spiritual " and Robert Barclay his " Anarchy of the Ranters," in which the order of the discipline established among Friends is vindicated with great clearness and ability. But notwithstanding these things, the Society in Maryland was favoured to enjoy much harmony and love, and in their 1682.] MARYLAND. 385 epistle from the Half-yearly Meeting held in the early part of 1683, they could speak encouragingly of their state and condition. We close this chapter by the following, taken from the epistle re- ferred to : — An Epistle from the Half-year's Meeting in Maryland. The ISth of Fourth Month, 1683. " Dear George Fox, — Whom we dearly love and esteem in the blessed Truth and love of God, which is universal. Our Half-yearly Meeting in the Third Month last, having a sense of the care that is laid upon thee for the churches' welfare, did appoint us to give thee and Friends at London an account of the affairs of Truth in this province ; but we, finding the ships gone oixt of this province, so that sending is very difficult at this time, shall not enlarge as otherwise we might have done. So care may for the future be taken yearly from our Half-yearly Meeting in the Eighth Month, to give thee full account of Truth's concerns amongst us. ''At present Truth prospers in this province, and l-riends that abide in the Truth are strong and valiant for God and the honour of his Truth. " A heavenly time and great service we had at our Half-yearly men's Meeting in the Third Month last, which continued three days. The Lord crowned our meeting with his heavenly presence, which bound and chained down the enemy's power, which was felt to be great at that time, so that although he had made what strength he could, by his wicked, unruly instruments, to spoil, destroy, and devour, even in our assembly, the power of God they perceived to be amongst us in a mighty measure, so that shame and confusion covered their faces, and many young and tender Friends were thereby greatly strengthened, the Lord having evidently owned our proceedings ; for which we return glory and praise to God for ever. Amen. Here are many Friends of this province who find a concern laid upon them to visit the seed of God in Carolina, for we understand that the spoiler makes havoc of the flock there ; so here are many weighty Friends, intending S86 MARYLAND. [1661. [to go] down there on that service, and may visit Virginia and Accomack, and then "we may inform thee how things are on Truth's account in those places. Our very dear love to thy wife, to A. Parker, W. Gibson, and G. Whitehead, and all the faithful. We remain thy friends in our measure of that glorious unerring Truth which the Lord hath manifested to us. " Wm. Richardson, " Wm. Berry, " Richard Johns, " Thomas Taylor." Jcun>^ P-vndcr, I'wmu: n'l/ls UUu 36 BiisiJiffhaU ^"lundcn CHAPTER XXL Early history of New Jersey — Berkley and Carteret its Proprietaries- America a refuge for the persecuted — Exertions of Friends in 1660 to found a colony in the New World — Berkley sells West New Jersey to Friends — Dispute between Fenwick and Billinge — The settlement at Salem — The charter for West New Jersey — Address of William Penn, Gawen Laurie, and Nicholas Lucas to Friends — The settle- ment at Burlington — Large numbers of Friends emigrate to West New Jersey — Their early privations — Letter of a settler — The settle- ment of meetings for worship and discipline — Epistle to London Yearly Meeting — Satisfactory progress of the colony — Arrival of fresh emigrants — Friends purchase East New Jersey — Address of George Fox to the settlers. The territory of New Jersey previous to the year 1664 was in- cluded in the Dutch possessions of North America. At this date New Netherlands fell by conquest into the hands of the English, and the country between the Delaware and the Hudson was granted to Lord Berkley and Sir George Carteret, and in honour of the latter, who was then governor of the island of Jersey, it was called New Jersey. The number of settlers at the period when it first became an English plantation was but few, as but little attempt to colonize this district had as yet been made. In 1663, some Puritans from New England had settled on the banks of the Ptaritan, and in the following year a few families of the Society of Friends are said to have sought refuge near the same spot.* In 1665, several settlements took place in East New Jersey, and the towns of Middleton and Shrewsbury were begin- ning to rise, and Elizabethtown, with four houses only, was the capital of the province. Puritans from New England continued to arrive, and, under their influence, in 1668 a colonial legislature was convened at Elizabethtown. The proprietaries in England * Bancroft's United £'tates. 888 NEW JERSEY. [1660. had appointed Philip Carteret governor of New Jersey, and things went smoothly on until the awkward question of quit-rents was mooted. The payment of this demand was resisted by the settlers ; angry disputes with the governor followed, and at last the colo- nists, claiming the right to legislate independently of the pro- prietaries, displaced the governor. While the province was thus distracted, the English were at war with the Dutch, and a force having been sent by the latter to recover New Netherlands, and being successful, New Jersey in 1673 came a second time under Dutch control. But the change was of short duration ; in a treaty between the two powers, New Netherlands, in 1674, was finally transferred to British dominion. The successful colonization of New Jersey, like that of New England, was a result of the Eeformation, but not arising from efforts of the Church of Eome to regain her lost power and influence in Christendom, so much as from the antichristian and unwise policy of Protestant England in enforcing conformity to the national church. It is a remarkable circumstance, that when Western Europe became convulsed with religious persecution, the North American continent was the asylum to which its victims almost instinctively fled for refuge ; and it was thus that Puritans and Papists from England, exiled Covenanters from Scotland, and Huguenots from France, became inhabitants of the New World. The Society of Friends soon after its rise suffered severely for the maintenance of views opposed to those of the ruling sects in England, but on the return of the Eoyalists to power the perse- cution towards them became most intense. During the hottest time of persecution, however, it was never contemplated by Friends to remove in a body to America in order to escape the cruelties of the mother country, but on the outbreak of persecution which ensued on the restoration of the monarchy, the idea of possessing a territory in the western world to which those of its members who desired it might flee for shelter, was seriously entertained by some of the most influential Friends of that day, and particularly by George Fox. To obtain land in North America for the founda- 1661.] NEW JERSEY. 389 tion of a colony was, however, no easy matter, for the whole coast from Maine to Florida was either colonized or claimed by parties for that purpose. The Society of Friends, therefore, in pursuance of this interesting object, had to turn its attention to a territory inland. Josiah Cole, who had travelled extensively as a gospel minister in America, and particularly among the Indians of the interior, on his second visit to that country in ]660, appears to have been commissioned by his brethren at home to treat with the Susquehanna Indians, whom he had visited about two years before, for the purchase of land. For this purpose he had intervicAvs with them, but their being at that time involved in a deadly war with some neighbouring tribes, together with the absence of William Fuller, a Friend of considerable influence in Maryland, and who had, it appears, taken some steps on this subject, presented an insurmountable obstacle to any progress in the matter at tliat time.^ On the restoration of New Netherlands to the English, Berkley and Carteret were again acknowledged as the proprietaries of New Jersey. Berkley, who was now a very old man, and whose expectations of colonial wealth, in the prospect of disputes with the independent settlers for quit-rents, was not likely to be realised, came to the conclusion to sell his moiety of the territory. The opportunity was a favourable one for Friends, and in the Third * The following extract from a letter written from Maryland by Josiah Cole to George Fox in the Eleventh Month, 1660, which is pre- served among the Swarthmore MSS., refers to this interesting sub- ject :— " Dear George, — As concerning Friends buying a piece of land of the Susquehanna Indians, I have spoken of it to them, and told them what thou said concerning it, but their answer was, that there is no land that is habitable or fit for situation beyond Baltimore's liberty till they come to or near the Susquehanna's fort, and besides William Fuller, who was the chief man amongst Friends with the Indians, by reason he was late governor amongst the English, he is withdrawn at present, for there are of them who are in present authority that seek his life with much greediness for some old matter that they had against him, and their enemy is stirred up afresh, by reason he had a hand in changing of the government the last year, when they took away the 390^ NEW JERSEY. [1674. Month, 1674, a few months after George Fox had returned from his gospel mission in America, Berkley conveyed the whole of his right and interest in New Jersey to John Fenwick and Edward Billinge for the sum of .£1000. Fenwick and Billinge were both members of the Society ; the former appears to have resided in Buckinghamshire, and the latter was a merchant of London ; and there is good reason to believe that the property was acquired by them for the advantage of the Society at large. In the transfer of New Jersey from Berkley, the conveyance was made to John Fenwick in trust for Edward Billinge and his assigns. Subsequently, a disagreement arose between the two Friends as to their respective interests in the purchase ; but act- ing on the recognised views of the Society against " brother going to law with brother,"' they mutually agreed to submit their dis- pute to arbitration. The subject was an important one, and requiring, in its right disposition, the exercise of a sound judg- ment. William Penn then lived at Rickmansworth, in Hert- fordshire, not far from the residence of John Fenwick ; and his talents and integrity pointed him out as a fit arbitrator of the question. He accepted the office, and, after considerable diffi- culty, finally awarded that one-tenth of the territory, with a con- authority from Baltimore, which hath much stirred up their rage against him, so that without him there can little be done at present with the Indians ; and besides, these Indians are at war with another nation of Indians, who are very numerous, and it is doubted by some that in a little space they will be so destroyed that they will not be a people. " Thine in the Truth, ff^f^^^P William Fuller, before he united with Friends, took an active part in the quarrel between Clayborne and Baltimore for the proprietary of Maryland, and in 1656 acted as governor under an appointment by Clayborne. He therefore became obnoxious to Baltimore and his party, who, on regaining power, would doubtless have taken his life, had he fallen into their hands. 1674.] NEW JERSEY. 391 siderable sum of money, should be given to Fenwick, and that the remainder of the province should be the property of Edward Billinge.* * The nature or cause of the dispute between John Fenwick and Edward Billinge is unknown. The former, however, appears to have been litigious and troublesome in the business. Among the Harleian MSS, in the British Museum, No. 7001, are three letters of William Penn to John Fenwick, upon this subject : these throw some light on the transaction, which we subjoin : — London, 20lh of Eleventh Month, 1674. " John Fexwick, — The present diflference betwixt thee and E. B. fills the hearts of Friends with grief, and a resolution to take it in two days into their consideration to make a public denial of the persons and accusation that offers violence to the award made, or that will not end it without bringing it upon the public stage. God the righteous judge will visit him that stands off'. E. B. will refer it to me again. If thou wilt do the like, send me word ; and as oppressed as I am with business, I will give an afternoon to-morrow or next day to determine, and so prevent the mischief that will certainly follow divulging it in West- minster Hall ; let me know by the bearer thy mind. 0, John, let truth and the honour of it in this day prevail ; woe be to him that causeth offences ! I am an impartial man. " W. Penn." The foregoing letter has the following endorsement by Fenwick : — " The Heads of my Answer to W. P. " I desire to perform the award, and not to infringe it, but to receive my money securely, and to reserve my two parts entirely. To have up all my writs, and my reputation repaired and vindicated. All which W. Penn promised he would see performed. " If any other thing be proposed contrary to the award, it must not be yielded unto, for several reasons, especially it will immediately open a door for a suit in Chancery." Rickmansworth, oOth of Eleventh Month, 1674. " J. F., — I am sorry for thy arrest. E. B. I stopt from any proceed ; but for the Lord Berkley, it was not in my power. As to thy counsel, mine has told me that he was with him, and has stated it quite upon another footing, giving, as I perceive, a relation with all advantages for thee. Now, I must need complain of that proceeding. I took care to hide the offences on both hands, as to the original of the thing, because VOL. I. , 2 P 392 NEW JERSEY. [1674. It was not long ere a new difficulty arose. Edward Billinge became embarrassed in his circumstances, and was obliged to make a conveyance of his property in New Jersey for the benefit of his creditors ; and, desirous that the contemplated benefit to it reflects on you both, and, which is worse, on the truth. Therefore, I undertook it that I might hide your shame, and serve the truth ; and let me tell thee, that it was an unworthy, secret piece of undermining of my conduct in the matter, to give any such accompt, which concerned the present award. I cannot enough express my resentment of this thing. I intend to be to-morrow night at London, and design to make one essay more ; if that will not do, I intend no further concern therein. And for the award, I say that it is broke in nothing, but that of the way of raising money ; and if thou wilt not acquiesce in that particular, rather than come before the world, I am heartily sorry. I wish thee true felicity which stands in the blessed truth ; and thy conformity to it. " Thy well-wishing friend, " W. Penn." London, IZth of Twelfth Month, 1674. " J. F., — I have, upon serious consideration of the present difference (to end it with benefit to you both, and as much quiet as may be), thought my counsel's proposals very reasonable ; indeed, thy own de- sire : the eight parts added was not so pleasant to the other party that it should be now shrunk from by thee as injurious ; and when thou hast once a proposal reasonable, and given power to another to fix it. 'Tis not in thy power, nor a discreet, indeed, a civil thing, to alter or warp from it, and call it a being forced. John, I am sorry that a toy, a trifle, should thus rob men of time, quiet, and a more profitable employ. I have a good conscience in what I have done in this affair ; and if thou reposest confidence in me, and believest me to be a good and just man, as thou hast said, thou shouldst not be upon such nicety and uncer- tainty. Away with vain fancies, I entreat thee, and fall closely to thy business. Thy days spend on, and make the best of what thou hast • thy great grand-children may be in the other world, before what land thou hast allotted will be employed. My counsel, I will answer for it, shall do thee all right and service in the affair that becomes him, whom, I told thee at first, should draw it up as for myself. If this cannot scatter thy fears, thou art unhappy, and I am sorry. " Thy sincere friend, " Will. Penn." 1675.] NEW JERSEY. 393 the Society might not be lost through his embarrassments, he assigned his nine-tenths of the new territory to three of his fellow- members, viz., William Penn, Gawen Lawrie of London, and Nicholas Lucas of Hertford. The remaining tenth part being still held by John Fenwick. Soon after Friends had become possessed of a territory in the New World, Fenwick, who was active in his endeavours to pro- mote emigration, sold lands to those who had concluded to seek a home in the Quaker colony, an adventure in which he himself intended to embark. Fenwick, however, before he left England, obtained a sum of money from two individuals, John Eldridge and Edmund Warner, to whom he gave as security for its repay- ment, a lease on his portion of the province for 1000 years, with power for them to sell as much land as would repay the advances made. Notwithstanding the power which the lessees had thus acquired, Fenwick considered himself entitled to enter at once upon the territory, and to use it for his own particular benefit ; and, acting upon this conclusion, he set sail with a number of others, in the Griffiih, from London, and in the Fourth Month, 1675, they landed on a pleasant fertile spot, on a creek of the Delaware, where a permanent settlement was made, to which they gave the name of Salem.* This was the first English ship which touched the shores of West Jersey. Fenwick, who claimed the authority of chief proprietor in the province, began to divide the land and to make grants to the several settlers, and also entered into treaty with the natives for the purchase of an exten- sive tract of country. Whilst things were thus going forward, measures had been taken for a more general settlement of the province. William Penn and his co-assignees, in the exercise of their trust for the creditors of Edward Billinge, had disposed of considerable portions of the province ; several of the creditors, indeed, who were Friends, * Among those who emigrated with Fenwick were Edmund Champ- ness, his son-in-law ; Edward Wade, Samuel Wade, John Smith, Samuel Nicholson, Richard Guy, Richard Noble, Richard Hancock, John Pledger, Hipolite Lefever, and John Matlock, who are all said to be " masters of families." 2 D 2 394 NEW JERSEY. [1676. accepted lands in liquidation of their claims ; and thus, in com- mon with the assignees, became proprietors.* In the right settlement of West New Jersey as a colony, it was necessary that a form of government should be adopted. Previous, however, to any decided steps being taken for this purpose, it was considered needful that the boundary line between East and West New Jersey, should be clearly defined, and an agreement was accordingly entered into between Sir George Carteret, the pro- prietor of East New Jersey of the one part, and William Penn, Gawen Lawrie, Nicholas Lucas, and Edward Billinge, of the other part ; by which the line of division was settled to extend from Little Egg Harbour to a point on the Delaware in 41° of north latitude. After the boundary had been thus settled, Edward Billinge and his trustees re-conveyed the share that had belonged to Fenwick to Eldridge and Warner in fee, by which they were constituted proprietors. The proceedings of Fenwick, in entering West Jersey and dis- posing of land as his own, after his conveyance to Eldridge and Warner, were regarded by the proprietaries with much dissatis- faction ; and with a view to assert their right to govern, and for conducting the aifairs of the province until the form of govern- ment should be definitively settled, a provisional commission, dated Sixth Month, 1676, was given to Richard Hartshorne and Richard Guy, two Friends who resided in East Jersey, together with James Wasse, who was sent specially from England for the purpose.f The proprietaries, in a letter addressed to Richard Hartshorne at this period, refer to the principles which they intended to recognize in the future government of the colony. ♦ Thomas Hutchinson, Thomas Peirson, Joseph Helmsley, George Hutchinson, and Mahlon Stacey, Friends of Yorkshire, who were all principal creditors of Edward Billinge, and to whom several other credi- tors made assignments of their debts, accepted as an equivalent for their aggregate debts of £3,500., ten of the ninetieth parts of West Jersey. t Richard Hartshorne was a Friend of London, who emigrated to East Jersey in the year 1669, and settled at Middleton. He is described as a " considerable settler," and " of good reputation and public cha- racter." Richard Guy emigrated to West .Jersey in company with Jolin Fenwick. 1676.] NEW JERSEY. .395 " We have made concessions by ourselves/' they say, " being such as Friends liere and tliere (we question not) will approve of, having sent a copy of them by James Wasse. There we lay a foundation for after ages to understand their liberty as men and Christians, that they may not be brought in bondage, but by their own consent ; for we put the power in the people, that is to say, they to meet and choose one honest man for each proprietary, who hath subscribed to the concessions ; all these men to meet as an assembly there, to make and repeal laws, to choose a governor, or a commissioner, and twelve assistants to execute the laws during their pleasure ; so every man is capable to choose or be chosen. No man to be arrested, condemned, imprisoned, or molested in his estate or liberty, but by twelve men of the neigh- bourhood. No man to lie in prison for debt, but that his estate satisfy as far as it will go, and be set at liberty to work. No person to be called in question or molested for his conscience, or for worshipping according to his conscience ; with many more things mentioned in the said concessions,"* "We hope," con- tinues the letter, " West Jersey will soon be planted, it being in the minds of many Friends to prepare for their going against the spring." The place Fenwick had chosen for a town, was not, in the judgment of William Penn and co-proprietaries, the best for a '•' first settlement," and Richard Hartshorne was requested " to go over to Delaware side," and on " some creek or river, find out a fit place to take up for a town, and agree w'ith the natives for a tract of land. "f The charter or fundamental laws of West New Jersey were settled and passed in the Third Month, 1 676, under the desig- nation of " Concessions and Agreements of the Proprietors, Free- holders, and inhabitants of the province of West New Jersey, in America," and was signed by one hundred and sixty-two persons. It consisted of forty-four chapters, and was framed with much method, and throughout the principle of democratic equality is fully and unconditionally recognized, and a full toleration of individual sentiment in religion prominently upheld. " No men, * The History of Nova-Cfesaria, or New Jersey, by Samuel Smith, p. 80. t Ihid. p. 82. 396 KEVV JERSEY. [1676. or number of men upon earth, hath power or authority to rule over men"'s consciences in religious matters," says chapter xvi. ; " therefore it is consented, agreed, and ordained, that no person or persons whatsoever, within the said province, at any time or times, hereafter, shall be any ways, upon any pretence whatsoever, called in question, or in the least punished or hurt, either in l^erson, estate, or privilege, for the sake of his opinion, judgment, faith or worship towards God, in matters of religion ; but that all and every such person and persons, may from time to time, and at all times, freely and fully have and enjoy his and their judg- ments, and the exercise of their consciences, in matters of religious worship throughout all the said province." In its civil arrange- ments, the members of the general assembly were to be chosen by the balloting box, and every man was eligible for election. The electors were empowered to give their representatives instruc- tions, which, under hand and seal, they might be called upon to obey. The executive was to be vested in ten commissioners, to be appointed by the people ; and justices and constables were chosen directly by them. No man was to be imprisoned for debt ; courts were to be conducted without attorneys or counsellors. The aborigines were protected against encroachments ; the help- less orphan was to be educated by the state ; and " all and every person inhabiting the province, by the help of the Lord, and by these concessions and fundamentals, were to be free from oppression and slavery.""^ For the information of Friends, a description of the province of West New Jersey was soon published, and many, invited by the prospects which were held out, made preparations for emi- grating. William Penn, Gawen Laurie, and Nicholas Lucas, anxious that none of their brethren should take a step of so much moment without very deliberate consideration, published the following cautionary address to their friends on the subject : — " Dear Friends and Brethren,— In the pure love and pre- cious fellowship of our Lord Jesus Christ, we very dearly salute you. Forasmuch as there was a paper printed several months * Smith's History of New Jcrs'jy— Appendix, p. 521—539, 1676.] NEW JERSEY. 397 since, entitled The Description of West New Jersey, in the wliich our names were mentioned as trustees for one undivided moiety of the said province ; and because it is alleged that some, partly on this account, and others apprehending that the paper by the manner of its expression came from the body of Friends, as a religious society of people, and not from particulars, have through these mistakes weakly concluded that the said description in matter and form might be written, printed, and recommended on purpose to prompt and allure people to dis- settle and trans- plant themselves and families to the said province ; and lest any of them (as is feared by some) should go, out of a curious and unsettled mind, and others to shun the testimony of the blessed cross of Jesus, of which several weighty Friends have a godly jealousy upon tlieir spirits ; lest an unwarrantable forward- ness should act or hurry any beside or beyond the wisdom and counsel of the Lord, or the freedom of his light and spirit in their own hearts, and not upon good and weighty grounds ; it truly laid hard upon us to let Friends know how the matter stands, which we shall endeavour to do with all clearness and fidelity. [After setting forth the manner by which the province came into their hands, they thus proceed :] " The ninety parts remaining are exposed to sale, on behalf of the creditors of Edward Billinge. And forasmuch as several Friends are concerned as creditors, as well as others, and the dis- posal of so great a part of this country being in our hands ; we did in real tenderness and regard to Friends, and especially to the poor and necessitous, make Friends the first offer, that if any of them, though particularly those that, being low in the world, and under trials about a comfortable livelihood for themselves and families, should be desirous of dealing for any part or parcel thereof, that they might have the refusal. " This was the real and honest intent of our hearts, and not to prompt or allure any out of their places, either by the credit our names might have with our people throughout the nation, or by representing the thing otherwise than it is in itself. " As relating to liberty of conscience, we would not have any to think that it is promised or intended to maintain the liberty 398 NEW JERSEY. [1676, of the exercise of religion by force and arms ; though we shall never consent to any the least violence on conscience ; yet it was never designed to encourage any to expect by force of arms to have liberty of conscience fenced against invaders thereof. " And be it known unto you all, in the name and fear of Almighty God, his glory and honour, power and wisdom, truth and kingdom, is dearer to us than all visible things ; and as our eye has been single, and our heart sincere to the living God, in this as in other things ; so we desire all whom it may concern, that all groundless jealousies may be judged down and watched against, and that all extremes may be avoided on all hands by the power of the Lord ; that nothing which hurts or grieves the holy life of truth in any that go or stay, may be adhered to ; nor any provocations given to break precious unity. " This am I, William Penn, moved of the Lord, to write unto you, lest any bring a temptation upon themselves or others ; and in offending the Lord, slay their own peace. Blessed are they that can see and behold Him their Leader, their Orderer, their Conductor and Preserver, in staying or going : whose is the earth and the fulness thereof, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. And as we formerly wrote, we cannot but repeat our request unto you, that in whomsoever a desire is to be concerned in this in- tended plantation, such would weigh the thing before the Lord, and not heavily or rashly conclude on any such remove ; and that they do not offer violence to the tender love of their near kindred and relations ; but soberly and conscientiously endeavour to obtain their good wills, the unity of Friends where they live ; that whether they go or stay, it may be of good savour before the Lord (and good people), from whom only can all heavenly and earthly blessings come. " This we thought good to write for the preventing of all mis- understandings, and to declare the real truth of the matter ; and so we commend you all to the Lord, who is the watchman of his Israel. We are your friends and brethren, " William Penn. " Gawen Lawrie. " Ni«:ii<)Las Lucas." 1678.] NEW JERSEY. 399 In the early part of the year J 677, many of those who had become proprietors in West New Jersey, left the shores of England to settle on their newly-acquired possessions. The ship sailed from London, and the emigrants, two hundred and thirty in number, consisted of two companies of Friends, one from Yorkshire, and the other from London. The circumstance of so large a number of Friends emigrating in a body to America, was a subject which attracted public attention. The King partici- pated in this feeling, and, meeting the ship, whilst yachting on the Thames, and being informed that the passengers were Quakers who were bound for the new country, " he gave them his bles- sing. =^- After a tedious passage, the ship anchored safely in the waters of the Delaware, and in the Sixth Month the passengers were all landed near Racoon Creek. Almost immediately after they had landed, the Commissioners, acting on the instructions received from William Penn and his colleagues, proceeded further up the Delaware, to the place where Burlington now stands "to treat with the Indians about the land, and to regulate the settlements." Several purchases of land were made from the natives, but as Friends at the time had not goods sufficient to pay for all they had bought, it was further agreed not to occupy any part until it was all paid for. A few months after the settlement at Burlington, another ship arrived from London, having on board about seventy passengers. Some of these settled at Salem, and others at Burlinjjton. A vessel also arrived from Hull during the same year with one hundred and fourteen emigrants. In the following year another ship, called the Shield, left Hull with above one hundred pas- sengers. In the course of 1678, another ship with emigrants also left London. The number of Friends who emigrated to the new colony during the years 1677 and 1678, is stated to be in all about eight hundred, a large number of whom were persons of property. Up to the year 1681, it is calculated that at least fourteen hundred persons had found their way to the new province. ♦ Smith's History, p. n;3. — Ibid, p. 93. 400 NEW JERSEY. [1678. In common with most of the early emigrants to the western world, the first settlers of West New Jersey were exposed to many hardships and privations. The country was, for the most part, a wilderness, and yielded nothing for the support of man but such as the chace afforded ; and the only dwellings of the settlers during the first winter, were hastily constructed wigwams. But the Christian conduct of Friends towards the Indians had o-ained their good-will, and enhsted their sympathies, and they were considerably relieved in their difficulties by supplies of corn and venison from these untutored aborigines. The providential manner in which the early settlers of this new colony were cared for, made a deep impression on the minds of many of them, and, sensible that they were regarded by Him who fed Israel in the wilderness, their hearts were lifted up in thanks- giving for the manifestation of his fatherly regard. The fol- lowing, extracted from a paper written by one of the settlers Avho embarked from Hull in the Shield, in 1678, indicates this feeling, and will be read with interest. " The first settlers were mostly of the people called Quakers, who were well-beloved where they came from, and had valuable estates : and though, while they lived in their native country, they had plenty of all necessaries, yet their desire to remove to America was so strong, that they could not be content without going thither ; and chose to venture themselves, their wives, children, and all they had, in the undertaking. " But, notwithstanding the masters of families were men of good estates, yet, before they could get their land in order, and corn and stock about them, they endured great hardships, and went through many difficulties and straits ; nevertheless, I never perceived any of them to repine, or repent of their coming. As it is said in holy writ, the preparation of the heart in man is of the Lord, so it may well be believed that the hearts of these people were prepared for this service ; even to labour for the replenishing of the land ; it being a wilderness indeed, and they unacquainted with the nature of the soil, and also with the in- habitants ; altogether pilgrims and strangers at their first coming amono; them. 1678.] NEW JEKSEy. 401 *' A provideutial hand was very visible and remarkable, in many instances that might be mentioned ; and the Indians were even rendered our benefactors and protectors. Without any carnal weapon we entered the land and inhabited therein, as safe as if there had been thousands of garrisons ; for the Most High preserved us from harm, both of man and beast. " The aforesaid people were zealous in performing their religious service ; for, having at first no meeting-house to keep public meetings in, they made a tent or covert of sail-cloth to meet under ; and after they got some little houses to dwell in, then they kept their meetings in one of them, till they could build a meeting-house. Thomas Olive and William Peachy were two of the first settlers who had a public ministry.""^ The emigrant Friends to West New Jersey were individuals who had been awakened to the importance of religion, and who were zealous for the honour of the truth. From the time of their landing they were diligent in assembling for the public worship of the Most High, and having seen in their native land the benefits to be derived from meetings for discipline, in about seven months after Friends landed at Racoon Creek, a Monthly Meeting was regularly established at Burlington, the records of which com- mence with the following minute : — " Since, by the good providence of God, many Friends with their families have transported themselves into this province of West Jersey, the said Friends in these upper parts have found it needful, according to the practice in the place we came from, to settle Monthly Meetings, for the well ordering of the afi'airs of the church ; it was agreed that accordingly it should be done, the 15th of the Fifth Month, 1678." A care to discourage the sale of strong liquors to the Indians, and arrangements for the relief of their poor members, by insti- tuting monthly collections, were some of the earliest acts of their discipline. Instituting the usual inquiries relative to proposals of marriage also formed no inconsiderable portion of their busi- ness. Within three years from the establishment of Burlington • Proud's History of Pennsylvania, &c., vol. i. p. 157. 402 NEW JERSEY. [ItfSO- Monthly Meetinf^, thirteen couples, it appears, passed the Monthly Meeting with this object. Another subject which very early claimed their attention, was the propriety of having certificates of removal on behalf of Friends who had emigrated or mio;ht emigrate from England ; and with a vieAV to forward this object, the Monthly Meeting, in the year 1680, addressed an Epistle to the Yearly Meeting of London.* * This Epistle is the earliest, of which we have any record, that was received by the Yearly Meeting of London from any of the meetings in America : we subjoin a copy of it : — " To OUR DEAR Friends and Brethren at the Yearly Meeting AT London. " Dear Friends and Brethren, — Whom God hath honoured with his heavenly presence and dominion, as some of us have been eye-wit- nesses (and in our measures partakers with you) in those solemn annual assemblies ; in the remembrance of which, our souls are consolated, and do bow before the Lord with reverent acknowledgment to him, to whom it belongs for ever. And, dear Friends, being fully satisfied of your love, and care, and zeal for the Lord and his truth, and your travail and desire for the promotion of it, hath given us encouragement to address ourselves to you, to request your assistance in these following particu- lars, being sensible of the need of it, and believing it will conduce to the honour of God and benefit of his people ; for the Lord having, by an over-ruling providence, cast our lots in these remote parts of the world, our care and desire is, that he may be honoured in us and through us, and his dear truth which we profess may be had in good repute and esteem by those that are yet strangers to it. " Dear Friends, our first request unto you is, that in your several counties and meetings out of which any may transport themselves into this place, that you will be pleased to take care that we may have cer- tificates concerning them ; for here are several honest and innocent people that brought no certificate with them from their respective Monthly Meetings, not foreseeing the service of them, and so never desired any, which for the future, in cases of which defect we do entreat you who are sensible of the need of certificates, to put them in mind of them ; for in some cases where certificates are required (and they have none) it occasions a great and tedious delay before they can be had from England, besides the hazard of letters miscarrying, which is very uneasy to the parties immediately concerned, and no ways grateful nor desirable to us ; yet in some cases necessity urgcth it, or we must act very un- safely, and particularly in cases of marriage in which we are often con- 1681.] NEW JERSEY. 403 lu the year 1681, a considerable number of Irish Friends from Dublin and its vicinity settled in the province. The vessel in which they came belonged to Thomas Lurting, whose name is cerned. So if the parties that come are single and marriageable at their coming away, we desire to be satisfied of their clearness or unclear ness from other parties ; and what else you think meet for our knowledge. And if they have parents, whether they will commit them to the care of Friends in general in that matter, or appoint any particular person whom they can trust. And if any do incline to come that do profess truth, and yet walk disorderly, and so become dishonourable to truth, and the profession they have made of it, we desire to be certified of them and it by some other hand (as there are frequent opportunities from London of doing it), for we are sensible that here are several that left no good savour in their native laud from whence they came, and it may be probable that more of that kind may come, thinking to be absconded in this obscure place ; but, blessed be the Lord, he hath a people here whom he hath provoked to a zealous affection for the glory of his name, and are desirous that the hidden things of Esau may be brought to light, and in it be condemned ; for which cause we thus request your assistance, as an advantage and furtherance to that work ; for though some have not thought it necessary either to bring certifi- cates themselves, or require any concei'uing others, we are not of that mind, and do leave it to the wise in heart to judge whence it doth pro- ceed ; for though we desire this as an additional help to us, yet not as some have surmised, that we wholly build upon it without exercising our own mediate sense as God shall guide us. Some, we know, that have been otherwise deserving, have been unadvisedly denied this their impartial right of a certificate, and very hardly could obtain it, merely through the dislike of some to their undertaking in their coming hither, which we believe to be an injury : and though we would not have any should reject any sound advice or counsel in that matter ; yet we do believe that all the faithful ought to be left to God's direction in that matter ; most certainly knowing by the surest evidence that God hath had a hand in the removal of some into this place, which we desire that all that are inclined to come hither, who know God, may be careful to know before they attempt it, lest their trials become insupportable to them : but if this they know, they need not fear, for the Lord is known by sea and land the shield and strength of them that fear him. " And, dear friends, one thing more we think needful to intimate to you, to warn and advise all that come, professing of truth, that they be careful and circumspect in their passage. " So, dear friends, this, with what further you may apprehend to tend 404 NEW JERSEY. [1682. conspicuous in the history of Friends. Some of these emigrants settled at Salem, and others at Burlington, but most of them at a new settlement on Newtown Creek. A meeting was settled at this place, and in two years after a meeting-house was built. Previous to this date, a Monthly Meeting, including Friends on Cooper's and Woodbury creeks, had been set up ; and, some time after. Friends of Salem and Newtown Monthly Meetings constituted a Quarterly Meeting. Burlington Monthly Meeting consisted of Friends settled about the Falls, and of the particular meetings of Rancocas, Shackamaxon, and Chester, in Pennsylvania. There were also settlements of Friends at the Hoarkills and Newcastle. Burlington Quarterly Meeting appears to have been established in 1680 ; and in 1682, Shrewsbury Monthly Meeting, which had previously belonged to Long Island, was annexed to it. At Burlington Monthly Meeting, in the Third Month, 1681, it was concluded to establish a Yearly to truth's promotion in this place, we desire your assistance in, which will be very kindly and gladly received by us, who are desirous of an amicable correspondence with you, and do claim a pai't with you in the holy body and eternal union, which the bond of life is the strength of ; in which God preserve you and us who are your friends and brothers. Thomas Budd. Rob. Powell. Scath Smith. Wm. Peachy. John Bourton. Walter Pumphrey. Wm. Brightown. Jo. Woolston. Tho. Ellis. Tho. Gardiner. Daniel Leeds. Samuel Jenings. Rob. Stacey. Jo. Butcher. James Satterthwaite. Tho. Barton. Henry Grubb. John Coips. John Hollinshed. William Butler. " Several Friends not being present at the said meeting, have since, as a testimony of their unity with the thing, subscribed their names. Mahlon Stacey. William Billes. Abra. Hewlings. Thomas Lambert. Tho. Harding. Peter Fretwell. John Kinsey. Wm. Hewlings. Tho. Eaves. Samuel Pleft. Rich. Arnold. Wm. Clark. Wm. Cooper. John Woolman. John Paine. John Shin. John Stacey. " From our Men's Monthly Meeting, in Burlington, in West New Jersey, the 7th of the Twelfth Month, 1680." 1682.] NEW JERSEY, 405 Meeting, the first to be held in the Sixth Month following. A notice of this conclusion was circulated among Friends of the provinces of East and West New Jersey ; and on the 28th of the Sixth Month, 1681, the meeting assembled at the house of Thomas Gardner, of Burlington. But very little information of the proceedings of this Yearly Meeting, which occupied four days, has been preserved ; the times and places of holding meetings for worship and discipline, however, including a Yearly Meeting for worship to be held in the Second Month at Salem, formed an important part of its deliberations. It was also agreed that the next Yearly Meeting should be held in the Seventh Month of the following year.* * In " An account of the first settlement of Friends' meetings, &c., in New Jersey," the following particulars appear : — " About 1670, a meeting was settled at Shrewsbury, Monmouth county, being the first settled meeting of Friends in these provinces. Their first house was built in 1672. About 1670, a Monthly and General Meeting was also held there. The first settlers there were nearly, or quite all, Friends. The first child born there was Elizabeth, daughter of Eliakim Wardell, in 1667. Meetings were probably held there occasionally for a few years previous to the regular settlement of the meeting in 1670. " At a very early day, a settlement of Friends at Middletown, in the same county, held meetings at each other's houses, but built no house. The Baptists built a meeting-house there, upon ground purchased from Richard Hartshorne, in which he reserved a privilege of holding Friends' meetings when strangers visited them. " A meeting for worship was held at Amboy, from about 1680, for some time ; then by turns at that place and at Woodbridge. At a very early day, a meeting was held once in three months, on Staten Island, for the sake of the families of John and Daniel Shotwell, who lived there. " Meetings for worship were first settled at Burlington in 1677, and first held under tents. Afterwards they were held at Friends' houses, till the building of their great meeting-house in 1696. " Friends at Chesterfield held meetings for some time at private houses. " In 1687, the meeting-house at Newtown was built ; previous to which meetings were there held at Friends' houses. In 1682, a Monthly Meeting was settled to be held there. " Salem was the first part of West Jersey settled by the English. The Friends who came with John Fenwick, in 1675, first held their meetings 406 NEW JERSEY. [1682. Among the settlers who had left Great Bi-itain were several who had received a gift in the ministry, and who were felt to be as watchmen among their brethren, under their new circum- stances ; among these were John Butcher from London ; Samuel Jennings from Aylesbury ; John Skein from Scotland, Thomas Olive and WilHam Peachey, Samuel Jennings and John Skein both filled the office of Governor. The progress of Friends in West Jersey had proved in the highest degree satisfactory. " Let every man write according to his judgment." said one of the early settlers, " this is mine con- cerning this country ; I do really believe it to be as good a country as any man need to dwell in. — I cannot but admire the Lord for his mercies, and often in secret bless his name, that ever he turned my face thitherward."* " This is a most brave place/' writes another, " w^hatever envy, or evil spies may speak of it, I could but wish you all here.^J " I would not have any- thing to remain as a discouragement to planters," writes the cautious Samuel Jennings, the governor, in 16S0, " here are several good and convenient settlements already, and here is land enough, and good enough for many more."t ^^^ encouraging- language of the settlers, proved inviting to their brethren in England, and in the year 1682, a ship of considerable size arrived in the Delaware, having on board three hundred and sixty emi- grants, who were landed in West Jersey, on the country between Burlington and Philadelphia. Whilst the English population of West Jersey was thus rapidly increasing, East Jersey made but very slow progress. Sir George Carteret, the proprietor of the latter, died in 1679, and by will directed that East Jersey should be sold in order to pay his debts. for worship at each other's houses, and sometimes joined with Friends at what was called Robert Wood's landing (now Chester), on the west side of the Delaware. The Monthly Meeting was first set up in 1676. They built a large meeting-house in early times." • Letter of D. Willis, in Smith's Hist. p. 115. t Proud's Pennsylvania, vol. i. p. 152. X Smith's Hist. 1681.] NEW JERSEY. 407 The success that had attended the colony of West Jersey, nnder the auspices of Friends, led them very naturally to direct their attention to the intended sale of the adjoining province, and at the instance of William Penn and some other influential members of the Society, it was concluded to purchase East Jersey, and in the Second Month, 1681, it was conveyed by Carteret to the following twelve Friends, viz. : William Penn, Robert West, Thomas Rudyard, Samuel Groome, Thomas Hart, Richard Mew, Thomas Wilcox, Ambrose Rigge, John Haywood, Hugh Hartshorne, Clement Plumstead, and Thomas Cooper, The date of this purchase was the era of those civil wars in Great Britain, during which the followers of Cameron in Scot- land were hunted with great cruelty by the Royalists. The Quaker Colonies of East and West New Jersey had become popular, and by the persecuted Scots were hailed as a blessing, and considerable numbers of them left their mountainous region to bestow their industry on the forest lands of the Jerseys. The attention of the Scotch was immediately directed to East Jersey in consequence of the original twelve proprietors extending the proprietary to twelve others, several of whom were natives of Scot- land and of rank and influence, among whom may be named the Earl of Perth, Lord Drummond, Robert Barclay, Robert Gordon, Aarent Sonnemans, and Gawen Lawrie. " Among the pro- prietaries," remarks Oldmixon the historian, in alluding to the purchase of East Jersey, " are several extraordinary persons besides Lord Perth, as Robert West, Esq., the lawyer ; William Penn the head of the Quakers in England ; and Robert Barclay the head of the Quakers in Scotland and Ireland.'' In the year following that of the purchase, " Robert Barclay of Urie" was elected by the proprietaries as governor for life of East Jersey, who appointed Thomas Rudyard as his deputy, and after him Gawen Lawrie. Previous to the purchase of the Jerseys by Friends, but few of their gospel ministers who proceeded to America visited this part ; the paucity of English settlers in that territory is sufficient to account for this. George Fox passed through it in 1672, and VOL. I. 2 E 408 NEW JERSEY. 1682 William Edmundson visited it soon after the landing of John Fen wick. In 1681, Joan Vokins also visited the province. The attention of George Fox was very early directed to his brethren in the Jerseys, and anxious that, under their new cir- cumstances, the truth might be exalted by a right use of the political power which they had acquired, he was led to exhort them by epistolary communications. " Let your lives, and words, and conversations,"" he writes in 1676, "be as becomes the gospel, that you may adorn the truth, and honour the Lord in all your undertakings. Let that be your desire, and then you will have the Lord's blessing, and increase both in basket, and field, and storehouse ; and at your lyings down you will feel him, and at your goings forth and coming in. And let temperance and patience, and kindness, and brotherly love, be exercised among you, so that you may abound in virtue and the true humility ; living in peace, showing forth the nature of Christianity ; that you may all live as a family and the church of God."* On another occasion he thus addresses them : " My Friends, that are gone and are going over to plant, and make outward plantations in America, keep your own plantations in your hearts with the spirit and power of God, that your own vines and lilies be not hurt.^'f " You that are governors and judges, you should be eyes to the blind, feet to the lame, and fathers to the poor, that you may gain the blessing of those who are ready to perish, and cause the widow's heart to sing for gladness. If you rejoice because your hand hath gotten much ; if you say to fine gold, ' Thou art my confidence,"' you will have denied the God that is above. — The Lord is ruler among nations, he will crown his people with dominion."]: * Epistles of George Fox, p. 401. t Ibid. p. 477. X Hazard's Register, p. 200. CHAPTER XXII. Early settlement of Friends in Carolina — William Edmundson visits the Colony — Friends the first religious body in North Carolina — The travels of George Fox and others — George Fox's labours among the Indians of Carolina — He addresses Friends of the province — William Edmundson goes on a second visit to the colony — Friends settle in South Carolina — Establishment of Monthly Meetings — The position and influence of Friends in the Carolinas — Letter of George Fox — John Archdale a proprietor and governor of North Carolina — His letter to George Fox — Brief notice of the lives of William Edmund- son, John Burnyeat, Robert Widders, James Lancaster, and George Fox — Conclusion. The earliest Friends in the Carolinas of whom we have any account, are those of the family of Henry Phillips, who settled on the banks of the Albemarle about the year 1665. He pre- viously resided in New England, where both himself and wife were convinced of the principles of Friends. The settlement of Henry Phillips in Carolina was prior to the scheme of English colonization under the " Constitutions " of Locke, and when some enterprizing adventurers had their attention turned to this por- tion of the new world. One of these, a Barbadoes planter, and the son of an English baronet, was anxious to encourage the influx of New England men. " Make things easy to the people of New England," were his instructions in 1663, " from thence the greatest supplies are expected." The first gospel minister who appears to have visited Carolina was William Edmundson. He landed in Maryland in the early part of 1672, in company with George Fox and others, and whilst the latter passed northwards to New England, William Edmundson proceeded to visit the plantations in Carolina, accompanied by two Friends whose names are not given. The journey, which 2 E 2 410 CAROLINA. 1672. occupied them several days, uas a very dangerous and tedious one, the country through which they passed " heing all wilder- ness, and no pathways f and at times they " were sorely foiled in the swamps and rivers," and at nights, by a watch fire, their only slielter was such as the forests afforded. Having at last reached the river Albemarle, they were warmly received and hos- pitably entertained at the house of Henry Phillips, and, observes William Edmundson, " not having seen a Friend for seven years before, he and his wife wept with joy to see us.""* At the house of Henry Phillips, a meeting was proposed to be held, and many of the inhabitants attended. The important concerns of religion do not appear to have had much place in the minds of the settlers of Carolina. " Tliey had little or no religion," remarks William Edmundson, " for they came and sat down in the meeting smoking their pipes; but," he continues, " in a little time, the Lord's testimony arose in the authority of his power, and their hearts being reached with it, several of them were tendered and received the testimony." Among those who were present at the meeting was a magistrate, who resided about three miles off, on the south side of the Albemarle, and by whom the gospel truths declared on the occasion were much appreciated. He " received the truth with gladness," and at his desire a meet- ing was held at his house on the following day, " and," writes William Edmundson, "a blessed meeting it was, for several were tendered with a sense of the power of God, received the truth, and abode in it."t The visit of this gospel labourer to Carolina on this occasion was but short, for, having appointed a meeting for discipline with his brethren of Virginia, but little time was afforded him for religious service in the south. The European population of Carolina at this period was but small, not exceeding, it is believed, three thousand. Neither city nor township had yet been founded, and scarcely a hamlet was to be seen in the province, or, indeed, one house within sight of another ; there were no roads, and the paths from house to house, which were mostly along the banks of the rivers and the inlets, were marked by notches in the trees ; and so far from religious • Journal of W. Edmundson, p. 88. t Ibid, p. 00. 1672. J CAROLINA. 411 edifices having been erected, there appears not to have been a religious sect in the colony. " From the comraencenieut of the settlement," says an historian, " there seems not to have been a minister in the land ; there ^as no public worship, but such as burst from the hearts of the people themselves, and when at last William Edmundson came to visit his Quaker brethren among the groves of Albemarle, he met ' with a tender people,' delivered his doctrine ' in the authority of truth,' and made converts to the Society of Friends. A Quarterly Meeting for discipline was established, and this sect was the first to organize a religious government in Carolina."* Towards the close of 1672, George Fox, Robert Widders, James Lancaster and George Pattison, visited Carolina. " Having," writes George Fox " travelled hard througli the woods, and over many bogs and swamps, we reached Bonner's Creek, and there we lay that night by the fire-side, the woman lending iis a mat to lie on. This was the first house we came to in Carolina ; here we left our horses over-wearied with travel. "-f- From Bon- ner's Creek they passed down the river Maratuc or lloanoke to Connie Oak Bay and the river Albermarle. With the scattered planters of North Carolina, George Fox and his companions held several meetings, and he observes, " the people were very tender, and very good service we had amongst them." By the authori- ties they were received with much respect and attention, and they all became the guests of the governor, ivho, with his wife, " received them lovingly." From the hospitable residence of the governor they travelled about thirty miles to the house of Joseph Scott, "one of the representatives of the country," where they had " a sound and precious meeting." At another meeting " the chief secretary of the province," who " had been formerly convinced," was present, and by whom they were also kindly entertained. The religious well-being of the Indians of North America was a subject that deeply interested the feelings of George Fox. * Bancroft's United States, and Martin in Bancroft, vol. i. p. 155, 156. t Journal of George Fox, vol. ii. p. 172. 412 CAROLINA. [1672. He longed that the tribes of the western wilderness should be brought to a knowledge of the truth, and in Carolina, as in other parts, he was engaged to hold up to their view the blessings of the everlasting gospel. " I spoke to them/' he writes, " con- cerning Christ, showing them that he died for all men, for their sins, as well as for others, and had enlightened them as well as others ; and that if they did that which was evil, he would burn them, but if they did well, they should not be burned."* Anxious that the untutored red men might be instructed in the things of eternal life, George Fox was also led to press their case upon the attention of his American brethren." In all places where you do outwardly live and settle, " he wrote," invite all the Indians, and their kings, and have meetings with them, or they with you ; so that you may make inward plantations with the light and power of God." His exhortations were not unheeded. In 1673, we find him thus addressing his friends of Virginia. "I re- ceived letters giving me an account of the service some of you had with and amongst the Indian king and his council ; and if you go over again to Carolina, you may inquire of Captain Batts, the governor, with whom I left a paper to be read to the Em- peror, and his thirty kings under him of the Tuscaroras." At a later date, in addressing Friends of Carolina, he says, "you should sometimes have meetings with the Indian kings and their people, to preach the gospel of peace, of life, and of salva- tion to them ; for the gospel is to be preached to every creature, so that you may come to see the light of Christ's glorious gospel set up in those parts.""f* The visit of George Fox to Carolina occupied him about eighteen days. During his subsequent travels his mind, however, was frequently introduced into a feeling of deep solicitude for the religious welfare of his scattered converts in this part, and before he quitted the shores of the western world he was led to address them in the language of encouragement. He exhorted them in their lonely situation, to seek Him who is the fountain * Journal of George Fox, vol. ii. p 173. + Epistles of George Fox, p. 463. 1681.] CAROLINA. 413 and fulness of the Christian's strength ; " to keep their meetings and meet together in the name of Jesus, whose name is above every name, and gathering above every gathering ;"" and he en- deavoured to impress them with the important truth that *' there is no salvation in any other name, but by the name of Jesus." " Gather in his name" he continues, " He is your Prophet, your Shepherd, your Bishop, your Priest in the midst of you, to open to you, and to sanctify you, and to feed you with life, and to quicken you with life ; wait in his power and light, that ye may be the children of the light, and built upon Him the true Foundation."* During William Edmundson's second visit to America in 1677, the religious welfare of the little society in Carolina was not forgotten by him, and he again travelled south as far as the banks of the Albemarle. " I had," he writes, " several precious meet- ings in that colony, and several were turned to the Lord ; people were tender and loving ; there was no room for the priests (viz., hirelings), for Friends were finely settled, and I left things well among them.*"t Although no gospel labourers had yet visited South Carolina, there were, nevertheless, settlers in that colony who professed with Friends ; and at an early date a Monthly Meeting appears to have been established among them. At Perquimons, in North Carolina, a Monthly Meeting had also been set up, and in 1681, we find George Fox proposing the establishment of a Yearly or Half-yearly Meeting. " If you of Ashley River and that way, and you of Albemarle River and that way,'' he writes, " had once a year, or once in a half-year, a meeting together, somewhere in the middle of the country, it might be well." In South Carolina, and also in North Carolina, Friends en- joyed unlimited toleration in religion, and though their number was comparatively small, yet they occupied an influential position in the country. Almost, indeed, from the commencement of the colonial legislature, some of them had been active members of the Assembly. " North Carolina," says the historian Bancroft, who * Epistles of George Fox, 1672. + Journal of W. Edmundson. 414 CAROLINA. [1682, evidently considered Friends to be the ruling people of the pro- vince, " was settled by the freest of the free ; by men to whom the restraints of other colonies were too severe. But the settlers were gentle in their tempers, of serene minds, enemies to violence and bloodshed ; and the spirit of humanity maintained its influence in the paradise of Quakers." The responsible position of Friends in Carolina did not escape the vigilant eye of George Fox. He was desirous that in their outward ease and prosperity, they might be preserved in the truth, and in his addresses to them he did not fail to exhort them to much circumspection in their daily walk, and to increased dili- gence in their heavenly calling. The following is a specimen of one of these communications : — From George Fox to Friends in Charlestown, Carolina. "Dear Friends, of the Monthly Meeting of Charlestown, in Ashley Cooper river, in Carolina, I received your letter, dated the sixth day of the Eighth Month, 1 682 ; wherein you give an account of your meeting, and of the country, and of your liberty in that province ; which I am glad to hear of, though your Meet- ing is but small. But however, stand all faithful in truth and righteousness, that your fruits may be unto holiness ; and your end will be everlasting life. — " My desire is, that you may prize your liberty, both natural and spiritual, and the favour that the Lord hath given you, that your yea is taken instead of an oath; and that you do serve both in assem- blies, juries and other oflices, without swearing, according to the doc- trine of Christ : which is a great thing, worth prizing. And take heed of abusing that liberty, or losing the savour of the heavenly salt, which seasons your lives and conversations in truth, holiness, and righteousness : for you know, when the salt hath lost its savour, it is good for nothing but to be trodden under the foot of men. — '•' My love to you all in Christ Jesus. — The Lord God Almighty preserve and keep you all holy, pure and clean to liis glory. ci "■London, the 2"rd of the Twdfth Munlk, IG83. 1682.] CAROLINA. 415 It was about this time tliat John Arclidale, an opulent Friend from England, and one of the eight proprietaries of North Caro- lina, was residing in the colony. Of the precise date of his arrival we have no account. During his stay he appears to have acted as governor, at least in the absence of Seth Sothel, a co-proprietor, who was elected governor by his partners in 1680. The adminis- tration of Sothel gave great dissatisfaction to the colonists. He endeavoured to enforce the obnoxious " Constitutions,^' but without success. He was accused of acting arbitrarily, and of employing his power to gratify a sordid desire for accumulation. After a few years the settlers deposed him, and the assembly, to whom he appealed, sentenced him to twelve months' banishment, and a perpetual incapacity for the government. It was after his banishment, that John Archdale appears to have been invested with the government. Whilst engaged in the civil aifairs of the province, John Archdale, aware of the strong interest felt by George Fox iu the welfare of Friends in the New World, occasionally addressed him. The following is a copy of one of his letters : — John Archdale to George Fox. ''North Carolina, 25th of First Month, 1686. " Dear and Highly-esteemed Friend, — I have written unto thee formerly but as yet have received no answer, which makes me doubt the miscarriage of mine : and, indeed, for the present, we have not immediate opportunities to send to England, by reason there is no settled trade thither ; which, notwithstanding, may conveniently be effected in its proper season ; there being commo- dities, as tobacco, oil, hides and tallow, to transport thither ; and Hollands Busses may come in safety of about 150 tons, drawing about nine feet of water. The country produces plentifully, all things necessary for the life of man, with as little labour as any I have known ; it wants only industrious people, fearing God. We at present have peace with all the nations of the Indians ; and the great fat King of the Tuscaroras was not long since 416 CAROLINA. [1682. with me, having had an Indian slain in these parts : he was informed it was by the English, but upon inquiry I found out the murderer, who was a Chowan Indian, one of their great men's sons, whom I immediately ordered to be apprehended ; but the Chowan Indians bought his life of the Tuscarora king; for a g-reat quantity of wamp and bage. This Tuscarora king was very desirous to cut oif a nation of Indians called the Matchepungoes ; which I have at present prevented, and hope I shall have the country at peace with all the Indians, and one M'ith another. The people are very fearful of falling into some troubles again if I should leave them before my brother Sothell returns, which makes my stay the longer. This Tuscarora king seems to be a very wise man as to natural parts ; some of the Indians near me are so civilized as to come into English habits, and have cattle of their own, and I look upon their outward civilizing as a good prepara- tion for the gospel, which God in his season without doubt, will cause to dawn among them : I wish all that had it had been faithful, then had the day broken forth in its splendour as it began. I am sure God forsakes none but the unfaithful ; who by disobedience are cut off, whereas the obedient come to be grafted into the true stock, through the growth of the holy seed in their minds and hearts. ! that my spirit were thoroughly purged and established by that power which is the Rock of ages, the founda- tion of all generations ; but blessed be God, I possess more than I ever deserved, and desire patiently to wait for the accomplish- ment of his inward work of regeneration ; which is a word easily writ or expressed, but hardly attained. What I writ unto thee in my former, I cannot but again repeat ; which is a desire to be had in remembrance by thee, having a faith in the power that was by thee, in this last age of the world, first preached, and convinced me in the beginning, and separated me from my father's house ; the sense of which love I desire may for ever dwell upon my spirit, and in the end bring forth the true fruit of regeneration. I wish these parts had been more visited by Friends, if it had been the will of God : however, the immediate sense and growth of the Divine Seed, is encouragement to all that witness the same. Thus 1682.] CAROLINA. 417 with my true and real love to thee in my measure of the truth, I rest thy loving friend. A few biographical notices are again introduced. The follow- ing relate to some of those whose religious labours have been alluded to in the latter chapters of this volume. William Edmundson. By his own account, William Edmundson was born in West- moreland in the year 1627, of parents who, he says, "were well accounted among men,^' and who apprenticed him to the trade of a carpenter and joiner, at York, In his youthful days he was much exercised in mind on religious things, and was often brought low under the consideration of his spiritual condition. " The priest and congregation," he remarks, " took notice of me ; but none did direct me aright to the physician that could heal my wounded spirit.''* On the expiration of his appren- ticeship he entered the Parliament army, and in 1650, he served under Cromwell in his Scotch campaign, and in the following year was engaged in the great battle at Worcester. Having married in 1652, he left the army and united with a brother at Antrim, in Ireland, as a shopkeeper, or merchant, " promising," he says, " great matters to ourselves and religion besides. "^f* In the Puritan army, religious subjects were the all engrossing to])ics of conversation, and William Edmundson heard frequent allusion made to the Quakers ; " the priests every where," he found, " were angry against them, and the baser sort of people spared not to tell strange stories of them." But the more he heard of Friends the more he was attracted towards them, and " loved * Journal, p. 42. t Ibid. p. 44. 418 CAROLINA. [1682. them." Having occasion, in 1653, to go on business to the North of England, he first met with Friends, and, by the ministry of George Fox and James Nayler, he was convinced of those spiritual views in religion which in after life he so powerfully advocated. Subsequent to his uniting with Friends, William Edmundson experienced great spiritual conflicts : his change of view attracted the attention of his neighbours, " some of whom," he says, *' would come to gaze on me, jangle and contend against the truth '■, some would say I was bewitched ; and others that I was going mad." It was the design of the most High to prepare him as a chosen vessel of his mercy to others, and, patiently enduring all the turnings of his holy hand, he became an able minister of the gospel. He was profound in the mysteries of the heavenly kingdom, which were largely communicated to him, and, as a faithful steward, he brought out of his treasury things new and old. It is evident, by the many testimonies given of him, that he was a powerful instrument in turning many to righteousness. In the course of his gospel labours he visited the continent of North America and the West India Islands three times ; he also frequently went on gospel missions to England, and laboured abun- dantly in different parts of Ireland. During his early travels in the ministry he was several times imprisoned for the truth's sake. His contemporaries describe him as a minister of the gospel, "sound in doctrine and in judgment ; plain in preaching, and free from affectation : in apparel and gesture, grave ; in his deportment, manly ; of few words, and very exemplary in life and conversa- tion ; a man of a thousand for promoting virtue in the many branches thereof, as well as a sharp instrument for threshing and cutting down that which was evil and hurtful in the churches." Although he was a man of but a limited education, he appears to have possessed considerable ability, and, observe some of his friends, " the truth invigorating his understanding, made him bold as a lion." So powerful was his ministry, that he was frec^uently called " the great hammer of Ireland." He died in the Sixth Month 1712, at the age of eighty-five years, having been a minister fifty- seven years. 1682.] carolina. 419 John Burnyeat. John Bumyeat was born in the parisli of Lowswater, in Cum- berland, about the year 1631. His parents, who are spoken of as being " of good repute," gave him an education, " suited," says Gough, " to his circumstances and line of life." From early life he was seriously inclined, and took much delight in perusing the Holy Scriptures. In his pursuit after a knowledge of divine things, he sought instruction from those who were re- garded as persons of religious experience, but from whom he failed to obtain that true peace and consolation which he sought after. About the twenty-second year of his age George Fox visited Cumberland, by whom he was directed to the inward manifestations of Christ his Saviour, and whose ministry was blessed to his tossed and tried soul. He was now brought to see the emptiness of his former high professions in religion, and that a regenerated heart, and a holy life, were necessary to salvation- " Then," he writes, " began the warfare of true striving to enter the kingdom, and when this war was truly begun, all my high conceit in my invented notional faith, and my pretence and hopes of justification thereby, were overthrown." He subse- quently ])assed through much deep conflict of mind, and after assembling for four years with a little company of Friends who waited mostly in silence, he came forth in the ministry. The first gospel mission of John Burnyeat was to Scotland in 1658, and in the following year his religious labours were ex- tended to Ireland. Both before and after his visits to America, he also travelled extensively in England. In 1685, he removed to Ireland. During his early travels in the ministry, he was twice imprisoned, once at Carlisle for about five months, and at Ripon in Yorkshire, for three months. In a testimony given forth by the Morning IMeeting of London, he is described as an able and powerful minister of the gospel ; "a strengthener of the weak, and an encourager of the upright and sincere hearted — a skilful marksman, yea one of the Lord's worthies of Israel ; a valiant man in the camp of the Lord, and an undaunted warrior in his holy host ; and his bow abode in strength, and wisdom was given him to direct his arrows to the A'cry mark ; so that the 420 CAROLINA. [1682. sturdy were wounded, the meek were comforted, the tender in spirit refreshed. He was a choice and seasoned vessel of Christ, the special workmanship of his power and wisdom, by which he was effectually qualified for the ministry of his everlasting gospel, thoroughly furnished, may we say, to every good word and work, which God called him unto : — deep and large in his gift, reaching what was seasonable to every state • in judgment sound, free in utterance, zealous for holiness ; severe against unsound and dividing spirits ; most tender to penitents and returning prodigals ; affectionate to the brethren, and careful over the flock of God : of a grave and steady temper, yet sweet ; hardy in constitution, and undaunted and unwearied in mind. He was the father of many children in Christ, who through his ministry were begotten again to a living hope ; and the builder up of more, through the same, in the precious faith of God's elect. He laid down his head in peace with God, and love to his people, and good will to all men ; and is entered into eternal habitations, to praise the God of his mercies in the living family of the spirits of the just for ever." He died in the Seventh Month, 1690, in the fifty-ninth year of his age, having been a minister thirty -three years. James Lancaster. James Lancaster resided on the Island of Walney, in Lanca- shire, and was convinced by George Fox during his first visit to that county in 1652. In the following year he came forth as a minister, and in 1654, went on a gospel mission to Scotland, with Miles Halhead. In 1665, he visited many of the midland counties of England. There was not, perhaps, any one who was so much associated in gospel labours with George Fox as James Lan- caster. He not only accompanied him throughout his visit to the western hemisphere, but he was also with him during his visit to Scotland in 1657, and to Ireland in 1669, and on these occasions it appears that he frequently acted as his amanuensis. Robert Widders. Robert Widders was of Upper Kellet, in Lancashire, where, 1682.] CAROLINA. 421 Whiting tells us, he was born " of honest substantiantial parents, about the year 1618." In early manhood he appears to have had living desires after heavenly things, and in 1652, when George Fox visited Lancashire, he was fully convinced of the truths declared by him. He first travelled in the work of the ministry in 1653, to the adjoining county of Cumberland, where he suffered considerable abuse and was imprisoned at Carlisle for about one month. He also was much associated with George Fox in gospel travels. In 1657 he went with him into Scotland, and a few years later throughout most of the western counties of England. He was one who suffered much for his religious testimony, for, in addition to several imprisonments at Lancaster, he was subjected to excessive distraints for tithes. " Many sufferings, trials, and exercises/' remarks Whiting, "he went through outwardly and inwardly, being a valiant man for God and his truth ; a grave solid man, and had a great discerning of spirits."'* He was " a thundering man," says George Fox, " against hypocrisy, deceit, and the rottenness of the priests."t He died in the First Month, 1687, about the sixty-eighth year of his age. George Fox. George Fox was born at Drayton-in-the-Clay, in Leicestershire, in the year 1624. His parents, who were in respectable circum- stances, and esteemed for their piety and integrity, gave him an education suited to the sphere in which they moved, and brought him up in the worship of the national church. His mother, who was a woman of superior qualifications, and accomplished beyond those of her class, took notice of the religious gravity and ob- serving mind which he evinced even from his childhood. In the eleventh year of his age, he M^as, by his own account, favoured with clear views of righteousness and purity, and was taught of the Lord to be " faithful in all things — inwardly to God and out- wardly to man." The questions he would put, and the answers he would give respecting Divine things, even in early boyhood, were such as to cause astonishment to those who heard him. His employ- ment during his apprenticeship was mostly in keeping sheep, an * Whiting's Memoirs. t Journal of G. Fox, vol. i., p. 442. 422 CAROLINA. , [1G82. engagement in wliicli he was skilful, and took much delight. At the termination of his apprenticeship, being then in his nineteenth year, he returned to his parents ; religious things, however, liad the predominance in his mind, and he was led to be very circumspect in all his words and actions. For about three years subsequently, he spent his time in moving from place to place in some of the midland counties of England, and during this period he under- went a variety of probations, and advanced in religious experience and the work of sanctification. At times in his solitary wanderings his mind was brought under deep anguish, and he was tempted almost to despair. In reference to this season he thus remarks : "I fasted much, and walked abroad in solitary places many days, and often took my Bible and went and sat in hollow trees and lonesome places till night came on, and frequently in the night walked mournfully about by my- self : for I was a man of sorrows, in the times of the first working of the Lord in me.''' As his troubles were great, so also at times Jiis consolations abounded, and he adds, " Though my exercises and troubles were very great, yet were they not so continual but that I had some intermission, and was sometimes brought into such a heavenly joy, that I thought I had been in Abraham's bosom. As I cannot declare the misery I was in, it was so great and heavy upon me ; so neither can I set forth the mercies of God unto me in all my misery. Oh, the everlasting love of God to my soul, when I was in great distress ! when my troubles and torments were great, then was his love exceeding great." About the twenty-third year of his age he came forth in the work of the ministry, in which he laboured most devotedly throughout the remainder of his eventful life. His interesting journal contains a full account of his travels and services in the gospel ; it is, therefore, needless for us to make any allusion to them here. He was the first who preached the gospel principles of our religious Society, and as such has been aptly called " the founder of the Quakers." " He was a man," says Ellwood, raised up by God in an extraordinary manner, for an extraordinary work, even to awaken the sleeping world, by proclaiming the mighty day of the Lord to the nations. — He was valiant for the truth, bold in asserting it, patient in suflfering for it, unwearied in labouring in 1682.] CAROLINA. 423 it, steady in his testimony to it ; unmoveable as a rock. Deep hq ■was in divine knowledge, clear in opening heavenly mysteries, plain and powerful in preaching, fervent in prayer."* There were few, if any, who had better opportunities of forming an estimate of the character of George Fox than William Penn, and to whom posterity is indebted for the following testimony respecting him : — " He was a man that God endued with a clear and wonderful depth : a discerner of others' spirits, and very much a master of his own. And though that side of his understanding which lay next to the world, and especially the expression of it, might sound uncouth and unfashionable to nice ears, his matter was neverthe- less veij profound ; and would not only bear to be often considered, but the more it was so, the more weighty and instructing it appeared. And as abruptly and brokenly as sometimes his sen- tences would seem to fall from him, about divine things, it is well- known they were often as texts to many fairer declarations. And indeed it showed, beyond all contradiction, that God sent him, in that no arts or parts had any share in the matter or manner of his ministry ; and that so many great, excellent, and necessary truths, as he came forth to preach to mankind, had therefore nothing of man's wit or wisdom to recommend them. " In his testimony or ministry, he much laboured to open truth to the people's understandings; and to bottom them upon Christ Jesus, the light of the world ; that by bringing them to something that was from God in themselves, they might the better know and judge of him and themselves. " He had an extraordinary gift in opening the Scriptures. He would go to the marrow of things and show the mind, harmony, and fulfilling of them, with much plainness and to great comfort and edification. " The mystery of the first and secbnd Adam, of the fall and restoration, of the law and the gospel, of shadows and substance, of the servant's and the son's state, and the fulfilling of the Scriptures in Christ, and by Christ the true light, in all that are his throuo-h the obedience of faith, were much of the substance and VOL. I. T. Ellwood's Testimony. 2 F 4-24 CAROLINA. [1682. drift of his testimonies : in all which, he was witnessed to be of God ; being sensibly felt to speak that which he had received of Christ and was his own experience io that which never errs nor fails. " But above all, he excelled in prayer. The inwardness and weight of his spirit, the reverence and solemnity of his address and behaviour, and the fewness and fulness of his words, have often struck even strangers with admiration, as they used to reach others with consolation. The most awful, living, reverent frame I ever felt or beheld, I must say, was his, in prayer. And tmly it was a testimony, he knew and lived nearer to the Lord than other men ; for they that know Him most, will see most reason to approach Him with reverence and fear. " He was of an innocent life ; no busy-body, nor self-seeker ; neither touchy nor critical : what fell from him was very inoffensive, if not very edifying. So meek, contented, modest, easy, steady, tender, it was a pleasure to be in his company. He exercised no aiithority but over evil, and that every where, and in all ; but with love, compassion, and long-suffering. A most merciful man, as ready to forgive as unapt to take or give offence. Thousands can truly say he was of an excellent spirit and savour amongst them ; and because thereof, the most ex- cellent spirits loved him with an unfeigned and unfading love. " He was an incessant labourer ; and as he was unwearied, so he was undaunted, in his services for God and his people ; he was no more to be moved to fear than to wrath : his behaviour at Derby, Litchfield, Appleby, before Oliver Cromwell, at Launceston, Scarborough, Worcester, and Westminster Hall, with many other places and exercises, did abundantly evidence it, to his enemies as well as his friends. " And truly I must say, that though God had visibly clothed him with a divine preference and authority, yet he never abused it ; but held his place in the Church of God with great meekness and a most engaging humility and moderation ; for, upon all occasions, like his blessed Master, he was a servant to all ; holding and exercising his eldership in the invisible power that had gathered them, with reverence to the Head, and care over the body : and was received, only in that Spirit and power of 1682.] CAROLINA. 425 Christ, as the first and chief elder in this age ; who, as he was therefore worthy of double honour, so, for the same reason, it was given by the faithful of this day ; because his authority was inward, not outw^ard, and that he got it and kept it by the love of God, and the power of an endless life. I write my knowledge? and not report ; and my witness is true, having been with him for weeks and months together on divers occasions, and those of the nearest and most exercising nature ; and that by day and by night, by sea and by land, in this and in foreign countries ; and I can say I never saw him out of his place, or not a match for every service or occasion." The earnest solicitude of George Fox for the prosperity of the truth was the predominating feeling of his mind to his last moments, and shortly before his close he addressed an epistle " to the Churches of Christ throughout the whole world." But the welfare of his brethren in the western world claimed his particular attention at this solemn period, and " mind poor Friends in America" was nearly his last request. His decease took place at London in the Eleventh Month, 1690, in the sixty-seventh year of his age. "I have done,'' says William Penn, in concluding his testimony, "when I have left this short epitaph to his name : — Many sons have done virtuously in this day, but, dear George, thou excelled them all." A history of the Society of Friends in America for about twenty- five years from its rise on that continent, has been now related. In that land, ps in almost every other Protestant country where its principles had been enunciated, many, as we have seen, soon openly professed them, and at the period to which this history has been brought down, the Society had extended itself throughout all the English colonies of the New World. The Yearly Meetings of New England and Burlington had been established, and Half- Yearly Meetings were held respectively on Long Island, and in Virginia, Maryland, and Carolina. In Newfoundland also there were at this early period some who professed our principles,* whilst John * Vide Appendix to Leonard Bacon's Thirteen Historical Discourses, m»m ' (f PRINTED IN U. S. A. i