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there is not any real difference between moral good and evil, &c. all such persons shall suffer six months imprisonment for the first offence; and for the second shall be banished; and if they return without license shall be treated as felons."

Though several ordinances had been made heretofore for the strict observance of the Lord's day, the present house of commons thought fit to enforce them by another, dated April 19, 1650, in which they ordain, "that all goods cried, or put to sale on the Lord's day, or other days of humiliation and thanksgiving appointed by authority, shall be seized. No waggoner or drover shall travel on the Lord's day on penalty of ten shillings for every offense. No persons shall travel in boats, horses, or coaches, except to church, on penalty of ten shillings. The like penalty for being in a tavern. And where distress is not to be made the offender is to be put into the stocks six hours. All peace-officers are required to make diligent search for discovering offenders; and in case of neglect, the justice of peace is fined five pounds, and every constable twenty shillings." Such was the severity of these times.t

The parliament having ordered the sale of bishops lands, and the lands of deans and chapters, and vested the money in the hands of trustees, as has been related, appointed this year, April 5, part of the money to be appropriated for the support and maintenance of such late bishops, deans, prebendaries, singing men, choristers, and other members, officers, and persons destitute of maintenance, whose respective offices, places and livelihoods, were taken away, and abolished, distributing and proportioning the same according to their necessities. How well this was executed I cannot determine; but it was a generous act of compassion, and more than the church of England would do for the non-conformists at the restoration.*

A motion being made in the house about translating all law books into the English language, Mr. Whitlocke made a learned speech on the argument, wherein he observes, that "Moses read the law to the Jews in the Hebrew language; that the laws of all the Eastern nations

§ Seobel, p. 124. † Ibid. p. 119.

* Ibid. p. 111.

were in their mother tongue; the laws of Constantinople were in Greek; at Rome they were in Latin; in France, Spain, Germany, Sweden Denmark, and other places, their laws are published in their native language. As for our

own country, (says he) those who can read the Saxon character may find the laws of our ancestors in that language. Pursuant to this regulation, William, duke of Normandy, commonly called the Conqueror, commanded the laws to be published in English, that none might pretend ignorance. He observes further, that by 36 Eliz. cap. 3, it was ordered, that all pleadings should be in English; and even in the reigns of those princes, wherein our statutes were enrolled in French, the sheriffs were obliged to proclaim them in English, because the people were deeply concerned to know the laws of their country, and not to be kept in ignorance of the rule by which their interests and duty were directed."

The arguments in this speech were so forcible, that the house agreed unanimously to a bill, wherein they ordain, "that all books of law be translated into English; and all proceedings in any court of justice, except the court of Admiralty, after Easter term 1651, shall be in English only; and all writs, &c. shall be in a legible hand, and not in courthand, on forfeiture of twenty pounds for the first offence, half to the commonwealth, and the other half to them that will sue for the same." And though this regulation ceased at the restoration, as all other ordinances did that were made in these times, the late parliament has thought fit to revive it.

From this time we may date the rise of the people called QUAKERS, in whom most of the enthusiasts of these times centered: Their first leader was George Fox, born at Drayton in Lancashire 1621; his father being a poor weaver, put him apprentice to a country shoe-maker, but hav

§ Whitlocke, p. 460.

↑ Scobel, p. 155.

It is to be wished, that Mr. Neal had not used this epithet, poor.It is not in the author, whom he quotes, was needless, and has the appearance of contempt. The parents of Fox were truly respectable: his father, Christopher Fox. of such a virtuous life, that his neighbors called him righteous Christer; his mother, of the stock of martyrs, and a woman of qualifications superior to the generality of her circumstan

ing a peculiar turn of mind for religion, he went away from his master, and wandered up and down the country like an hermit, in a leathern doublet; at length his friends hearing he was at London, persuaded him to return home, and settle in some regular course of employment; but after he had been some months in the country, he went from his friends a second time, in the year 1646, and threw off all further attendance on the public service in the churches : The reasons he gave for his conduct were, because it was revealed to him, that a learned education at the university was no qualification for a minister, but that all depended on the anointing of the Spirit, and that God who made the world did not dwell in temples made with hands. In the year 1647, he travelled into Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, walking through divers towns and villages, which way soever his mind turned, in a solitary manner. He fasted much, (says my author) and walked often abroad in retired places, with no other companion but his bible. He would sometimes set in an hollow tree all day, and fre quently walked about the fields in the night, like a man possessed with deep melancholy; which the writer of his life calls the time of the first working of the Lord upon him. Towards the latter end of this year, he began first

ees in life: They were both members of the national church, distinguished by piety, and cherished the religious turn of mind which their son discovered in his earliest years. Virtuous and sober manners, a peculiar stayedness of mind and gravity of demeanor marked his youth. His chief employment under his master, who also dealt in wool and cattle, was to keep sheep, which was well suited to his disposition both for innocence and solitude. He acquitted himself with a fidelity and diligence, that conduced much to the success of his master's affairs. It was a custom with him to ratify his dealing with the word, verily ; to which he so firmly and conscientiously adhered, that those who knew him would remark, "if George says verily, there is no altering." Mr. Neal's expression," he went away from his master," may be understood as intimating a clandestine and dishonorable leaving his master's service which was not the case. He did not begin his solitary travels, till after his apprenticeship was finished, and he had returned home to his parents. The leathern dress was adopted by him, on account of its simplicity and its durableness, as it required little repairing, which was convenient to him in his wandering and unsettled course of life. Sewel's Hist. p. 6, 12; and Gough's Hist. of the Quakers, vol. i. p. 60. Ed.

Sewel's History of the Quakers, p. 6–12.

to set up for a teacher of others, about Duckinfield and Manchester; the principal argument of his discourse being, that people should receive the inward divine teachings of the Lord, and take that for their rule.

*

In the year 1648, there being a dissolution of all gov ernment both civil and ecclesiastical, George Fox waxed bold, and travelled through the counties of Leicester, Northampton, and Derby, speaking to the people in market-places, &c. about the inward light of Christ within them. At this time (says my authort) he apprehended the Lord had forbid him to put off his hat to any one, high or low; he was required also to speak to the people without distinction in the language of THOU and THEE. He was not to bid people good-morrow, or good-night; neither might be bend his knee to the chief magistrate in the nation; the women that followed him would not make a courtesy to their superiors, nor comply with the common forms of speech. Both men and women affected a plain and simple dress, distinct from the fashion of the times. They neither gave nor accepted any titles of respect or honor, nor would they call any man master on earth. They refused to take an oath on the most solemn occasion. These and the like peculiarities, he supported by such passages of scripture as these, Swear not at all; how can ye believe

* The circumstances of this period, as stated by Gough, will shew the propriety of our author's language here, and preclude the suspieion that has fallen on him, of intending to insinuate that the boldness of George Fox was criminal, and that the dissolution of government had rendered him licentious. At this time the independents amd republicans had accomplished their purpose: regal dominion, the peculiar privileges of the nobility, and the office of bishops, were abolished. Their professed principles were in favor of civil and religious liberty. The places of public worship seem, for a season, to have been open to teachers of different denominations, and not uncommonly appropriated to theological discussion and disputation between the teachers or members of various sects. These propitions circumstances furnished Fox and others with opportunities of disseminating their opinions and a fair opportunity, naturally, inspirits and emboldens to any undertaking. Gough's History, vol. i. p. 72. Ed. + History of the Quakers, p. 18.

The words of Sewel are," That every man was enlightened by the divine light of Christ.". The term used, by this historian, for the followers of Fox, is fellow-believers, without any reference to their sex; nor does his narrative shew, that they consisted more of women than men; which Mr. Neal's expression seems to intimate. Ed.

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who receive honor one of another, and seek not the honor which comes from God only? But these marks of distinction which George Fox and his followers were so tenacious of, unhappily brought them into a great deal of trouble,when they were called to appear before the civil magistrate.

In the year 1649, he grew more troublesome, and began to interrupt the public ministers in time of divine service: His first essay of this kind was at Nottingham, where the minister preaching from these words of St. Peter, We have a more sure word of prophecy, &c. told the people, that they were to try all doctrines, opinions, and religions, by the holy scriptures. Upon which George Fox stood up in the midst of the congregation and said, Oh no! it is not the scripture, but it is the holy spirit, by which opinions, and religions, are to be tried; for it was the spirit that led people into all truth, and gave them the knowledge of it. And continuing his speech to the disturbance of the congregation, the officers were obliged to turn him out of the church, and carry him to the sheriff's house; next day he was committed to the castle, but was quickly released without any other punishment. After this he disturbed the

Mr. Neal's account of this imprisonment of George Fox is censured by a late historian, as not strictly true, nor supported by his authority, Sewel, and through a partial bias a very palliative narration. The fact more exactly and fully stated is this: that Fox was not taken immediately from the church to the sheriff's house, but to prison, and put into a place so filthy and intolerably noisome, that the smell there of was very grievous to be endured. At night he was carried before the mayor, aldermen and sheriffs of the town, and after examination was recommitted. But one of the sheriffs, whose name was Reckless, being much affected with the sentiments he had advanced, removed him to his own house. During his residence there, Mr. Fox was visited by persons of considerable condition; the sheriff, as well as his wife and family, was greatly affected with his doctrine; insomuch that he and several others exhorted the people and the magistrates to repentance. This provoked the latter to remove Fox back to the common prison, where he lay till the assizes. When he was to have been brought before the judge, the officer was so dilatory in the execution of his business, that the court was broken up before he was conducted to it. He was, on this, again ordered into the common jail, and detained there some time longer. As far as appears, he was imprisoned, detained in prison and released at the mere will and pleasure of the magistrates of Nottingham, without any legal cause assigned. "Such arbitrary exertion of power," well observes my author, "ill agrees with a regard for chartered privileges and equal liberty."-Gough's Hist. of the Quakers, vol. i. 83, 4. Sewel's Hist. p. 21, 22.

Ed.

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