Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

house, to be sold for servants or bond-slaves; and last of all, in the height of the spirit of the wicked one, the spirit of madness, blindness, blood, and murder, they spared not, but cruelly put to death some of the servants of the living God. And now, O king, since the very day the Lord brought thee into this land again, and gave unto thee thy regal power, have they, in thy name, made strange and cruel havoc of thy true subjects, in putting to death and banishing; with many torturing whippings of old and young, at posts, and at wheels of great guns, and at carts'-tails, dragging the naked bodies of parents and children through divers long towns, through the dirt and filth of their channels and cartways; and in thy name commanding one friend and brother to help imprison the other; yea, in thy name they have lately pressed the son to help to force his tender father and mother sundry miles to gaol, in the extremity of Winter, to the hazard of their lives; and such as refused to obey their unnatural and abominable commands, they have fined at their Courts; and thus from Court to Court do these monsters of men, in thy name, fine, and break open the houses of the Quakers, and rob them of their goods, and take away that in which they should eat, and that in which they should drink; yea, the very clothes from their backs in Winter, and the bed they should lie on, while they keep the body many miles off in prison; driving husbands and wives divers miles to prison in times of great frost and snow, keeping them close prisoners in a very cold room, to the endangering of their lives, and to the ruin of their families, had not the Lord preserved them. All this, and much more, too tedious to mention at this time, have they done to the servants of the Lord in New England, in thy name, saying, that thou ownest their doings, and esteemest their laws as thy laws. And the servants of the Lord have patiently suffered and sustained these hard things at their hands, for no other cause but for their faithful obedience to the Spirit of the Lord in their hearts, which Spirit of Holiness teacheth them that forced worships and worshippers are both abomination to the Lord. These few lines are written, not from any desire of This is like the papists.

the least revenge from thy hand upon them, but that thou mayest know it, and make known thy dislike of their wickedness, that so the blood of the innocent there, if possible, might not be laid to 'your charge in the terrible day of the Lord, in which both high and low must come to judgment, and receive according to their deeds done in the body; in which day the Lord will make known, in the sight of all His enemies, His mighty power for the saving of His beloved ones, and for the delivering and helping of them, who had no helper in the earth.

A BRIEF RELATION

OF THE

Eminent hand and judgments of the Lord upon some of the rulers, priests, and people of New England, who had a hand in persecuting the people of the Lord, there called Quakers.

ON

N the day the rulers and priests of Boston had agreed to mingle their sacrifice with the blood and lives of the innocent, as sundry of the persecutors were returning, and rejoicing in the murdering and hanging of William Robinson and Marmaduke Stevenson, passing over a great drawbridge, it suddenly, broke down in pieces with them, and divers of them were wounded and bruised with the weighty fall thereof; and of one or two who seemed to joy in the death of the innocent, it is said, "That the bones of their arms and thighs, with other parts of their bodies, were broken to pieces, and after a few days' torment of body they died, rotting alive." In this also was fulfilled the Word of the Lord, spoken to the Bench, by the mouth of that faithful martyr, who said, "Take heed, ye rulers, what ye do, and be warned before it be too late; and know, that in that day you put us to death, shall the judgments of God come upon this place."

Old John Endicott, the governor, that Nero-like, unjust judge of the innocent, whose death is mentioned before, in his mad Nebuchadnezzar-like spirit, threatened and endeavoured to weary out and to destroy the servants of the Most High, and to root out their very name from amongst them. He, with that murderer his hangman, who together had imbrued their hands in the blood of the innocent lambs of the living God, were both hewed down

by the hand of the Lord, and laid at one time on their deathbeds, so that some did say, "Who would have thought the head and tail should go so near together?" So the Lord cut down Endicott root and branch, and his hangman, it is said, died in great horror of mind and torment of body. And this is according to the Word of the Lord concerning them, forespoken by the mouth of His servants.

Humphry Adderton, another eminent persecutor, who vaunted concerning the judgments of God, saying, "They were not come yet," and said, "That Mary Dyer hung as a flag of warning," was killed by a fall off his horse, as before related.

John Davenport, a member of their church, and captain of their castle near Boston, being laid upon his bed in the heat of the day, the hand of the Lord in a strange manner, with a clap of thunder and flash of lightning, in a moment smote him to death; it is testified, "He never spake more."

Old Thomas Wiggins, a magistrate and bloody persecutor, was deeply engaged in the sufferings and in the taking away of the lives of the martyrs of Jesus, and often without bowels of pity would shed the blood and devour the goods of the innocent; him hath the hand of the Lord cut down, and his children may come to want. And this also is according to the Word of the Lord unto him, by the mouths of His servants.

James Oliver, that beastly and bloody-spirited creature, as one implacable, unmerciful, without bowels or common natural affection, was so swift to shed innocent blood, that he struck down the servant of the Lord, William Robinson, as he was taking him out of prison to hang him. The righteous God hath the cruelty, bloodshed, and murderous spirit of this man, who was fierce to take away the lives of the righteous, in remembrance; the blasting hand of the Lord is risen up against and over him, according to the Word of the Lord spoken by His faithful servants, whom he helped to hang on a tree.

The Lord hath also laid waste John Webb, that proud persecutor, who, with a body of men in arms, led forth Mary Dyer to be murdered and hanged. It is said, "As he was busy in killing

a whale, or great fish, he was suddenly after a strange manner carried into the sea, and drowned." And here was a remarkable hand also upon this persecutor, according to the Word of the Lord spoken by the mouth of His servants.

Captain Johnson, who led forth the servant of the Lord, William Leddra, to be murdered and hanged, compassing him about with men of war, with swords, guns, and drums; the just hand of the Lord hath fallen upon him also, for his bloody act; for he is as a man unmanned, and bereft of his wonted understanding; and so sottish, "that his brethren," as it is said, "have degraded him;" and this is according to the Word of the Lord, spoken by His servants, concerning him.

Marshal Brown, of Ipswich, who persecuted the servants of the Lord, and unrighteously took away their goods, the Lord soon after cast upon the bed of languishing, where, it is testified, "He lay in great horror of conscience, and torment of body, and so departed this life." And this is according to the Word of the Lord, by the mouth of His faithful witnesses.

Samuel Archer, marshal in Salem, who was of their churchfellowship, and had often robbed and spoiled the goods of the people called Quakers, to pay his master's reckonings at the taverns, was suddenly cut off, and is come to nought, and his remembrance rots; according to the Word of the Lord against such as do resist the holy one wilfully.

James Underwood, a wicked persecuting constable, made it his work to disturb the people of God in their holy waitings on the Lord, would press one Friend to help him to lead another as prisoner; after this wickedness against the Lord and His people, though he had a considerable estate, yet he came to nought, the hand of the Lord being against him; this also is according to the Word of the Lord, which His servants testified concerning persecutors.

The eminent hand of God's displeasure hath also been manifest on some of the priests; as John Norton, chief priest in Boston, and chief in stirring up the rulers to persecute and take away the lives of the innocent, who sunk down, and died sud

« AnteriorContinuar »