and suffered Him to rule among them, they would not have made that act against us.

"But we had only a very few in that Parliament, who appeared openly to be our friends; or friends for liberty to tender consciences in those days; namely, Edmund Waller, sen. esq. who was termed, Wit Waller; he was principled against persecution, and for liberty of conscience, and always kind to us; and one Michael Mallett, esq. who afterward was convinced of the Truth; and frequented our meetings even in suffering times, when our meetings were kept out of doors in the streets, in Westminster and London. And Sir John Vaughan, then a young man, appeared also for us; and afterward was convinced of the Truth, and went to our meetings when we were persecuted upon the conventicle act, and was imprisoned in Newgate with our Friends, for a little time, being taken at a meeting at Mile-end. continued afterward among our Friends, and visited us in prison; and though at length some of his relations drew him aside, to his great prejudice, yet he retained a kindness even when he came to be Earl of Carbery; and continued friendly to us, when he was an old man and until his latter end; not wholly forgetting what conviction and knowledge of the Truth he received when among us.

He

"There were also some few more of the members of that Parliament friendly toward us at that time, when we appeared before them. Howbeit the majority being resolved and bent to persecution, they passed the said bill into an act; upon which great persecution and imprisonments followed.*

* Neal, in his history of the Puritans, speaking of this circumstance, says: "Among others who were obnoxious to the ministry were Quakers, who having declared openly the unlawfulness of making use of carnal weapons even in self defence, had the courage to petition the house of lords for a toleration of their religion, and for a dispensation from taking the oaths which they held unlawful, not from any disaffection to the government or a belief that they were less obliged by an affirmation, but from a persuasion that all oaths were unlawful; and that swearing upon the most solemn occasions was forbidden in the New Testament. The lords in a committee rejected their petition and instead of granting them relief passed an act, which had a dreadful influence upon that people, though it was notorious they were far from sedition or disaffection to the government." After mentioning the suffering state of the Quakers at this time, he truly adds: "But this was but the beginning of sorrows." vol. ii. p. 511 and 512.

SECTION IX.

George Whitehead's own account of persecutions in London in 1662 to 1664-An act to prevent and suppress seditious conventicles-Persecution in London 1665He visits the northern counties, &c. and returns to London--Remains there during the plague.

"In the year 1662, our meetings in and about London were broken up by force and violence,

* We cannot have too strongly impressed upon our minds, the sacrifices made by our early Friends for those principles and practices which we now profess and pursue in peace and credit. I shall therefore insert here a few more particulars which George Whitehead does not furnish, from the faithful annalist of the Society, Sewell: "A little before this time there was published in print, a short relation of the persecution throughout all England, signed by twelve persons, showing that more than four thousand two hundred of those called Quakers, both men and women, were in prison in England; and denoting the number of them that were imprisoned in each county, either for frequenting meetings, or for denying to swear, &c. Many of these had been grievously beaten, or their clothes torn or taken away from them; and some were put into such stinking dungeons, that some great men said, they would not have put their hunting dogs there. Some prisons were crowded full both of men and women, so that there was not sufficient room for all to sit down at once; and in Cheshire, sixty-eight persons were in this manner locked up in a small room; an evident sign that they were a harmless

by the trained bands and officers; especially on the First-days of the week; which though professed to be their Christian Sabbaths, no holiness was observed, but rending and tearing innocent

people, that would neither make any resistance, nor use any force.

"By such ill treatment many grew sick; and not a few died in such gaols; for no age or sex was regarded; but even ancient people of sixty, seventy, and more years of age, were not spared: and the most of these being tradesmen, shop-keepers, and husbandmen, were thus reduced to poverty; for their goods were also seized for not going to church, or for not paying tithes.

66

Many times they were fain to be in prison, on cold, nasty ground, without being suffered to have any straw, and often they have been kept several days without victuals: no wonder, therefore, that many died by such hard imprisonments as these.

"In London, and in the suburbs, were, about this time, no less than five hundred of those called Quakers imprisoned; and some in such narrow holes, that every person scarcely had convenience to lie down; and the felons were suffered to rob them of their clothes and money.

"Many that were not imprisoned, nevertheless suffered hardships in their religious meetings, especially that in London, known by the name of Bull and Mouth. Here the trained band came frequently, armed generally with muskets, pikes, and halbards, and conducted by a military officer, by order of the city magistracy; and rushing in, in a very furious manner, fell to beating them, whereby many were grievously wounded, fell down in a swoon, and some were beaten so violently, that they lived not long after it."-Sewel, 2 vol. 7th book, p. 1 and 2.

Nor, in these disastrous days were the persecuted Quakers secure in their private dwellings, "for when some persons were seen to enter a house though it was only to visit their friends, it

people out of their religious assemblies, and haling them to prison such furious work of persecution they commonly wrought on that day they pretend to be their Christian Sabbath, and the Lord's day, and to be kept holy, &c. as Israel was required to observe and keep the Seventh-day for the Sabbath, according to the fourth commandment. Yet these our persecutors made no conscience of violating and profaning their professed Sabbath, by such their works of violence and persecution, yea, even after an act of Parliament was made, for the better observation of the Lord's day. Those self-condemned pretended Christians, in many places furiously went on in their persecution and cruelty, against their fellow-creatures and honest neighbours, without regard to God, or religious worship, or any day; to the great reproach and scandal of the profession of Christianity.

was called a meeting. It happened in one house, that these rude fellows, (musketeers,) found five persons together one of whom was William Ames, who was come thither out of Holland; and another was Samuel Fisher, and when it was demanded what warrant they had, they held up their swords, and said: 'Do not ask us for a warrant ; this is our warrant;' and thereupon they took these persons to Paul's yard, where they were a laughing stock to the soldiers, and thence to alderman Brown, who sent them to Bridewell to be kept to hard labour," p. 10.