USA > Massachusetts > The Puritans versus the Quakers : a review of the persecutions of the early Quakers and Baptists in Massachusetts, with notices of those persecuted and of some of their descendants and tributes to Roger Williams and William Penn > Part 2
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hang also his friend, Wenlock Christison, for protesting against the hanging of Leddra. When Christison was brought before the court for trial and sentence, he asked Gov. Endicott, in protest against illegal proceedings, " Have you power to make laws repugnant to the laws of England ?" " No," said the governor. "Then," re- plied Christison, " you have gone beyond your bounds, and have forfeited your patent ; and that is more than you can answer." " Are you," continued Christison, " sub- jects to the king, yea or nay ?" " What good will that do you," replied Secretary Rawson. "If you are," an- swered Christison, " say so, for in your petition to the king you desire that he would protect you, and that you may be worthy to kneel among his loyal subjects." To which one of the magistrates said, "Yea, we are so." -- " Well," said Christison, " so am I, and for anything I know, am as good as you, if not better; for if the king did but know your hearts as God knows them, he would see that they are as rotten towards him as they are to- wards God. Therefore, seeing that you and I are sub- jects of the king, I demand to be tried by the laws of my own nation." It was answered, " You shall be tried by a bench and a jury ; " for it seems the magistrates began to be afraid to go on in the former course of trial without a jury, this being contrary to the laws of Eng- land. The upshot of this attempt to take away the life of Wenlock Christison illegally was, that because a clear majority of the court could not be found to sentence him to death, Gov. Endicott said, "I thank God I am not afraid to give judgment," and then sentenced the prisoner to death, but he was soon after released, as were also all the other Quaker prisoners, in consequence
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of a change of government in England. Some of the banished Quakers, including Samuel Shattuck, went over to England, and with their brother Quakers there, in- cluding Edward Burroughs, got the ear of the new king, who, at their request, appointed Samuel Shattuck, who had been banished, to convey his " mandamus " to New England, ordering the liberation of all the Quakers. Some of them had been liberated before this mandamus came, the authorities here beginning to fear that they had carried matters too far to be sustained under the new relation of things across the water, which they soon found out to be the case. This " mandamus," dated at Whitehall, Sept. 9, 1661, and addressed to Gov. John Endicott, was to the effect that, "if there be any of those people called Quakers among you condemned to suffer death or other corporal punishment, or that are imprisoned and obnoxious to the like condemnation, you are to forbear to proceed any further therein," but if any Quakers misbehaved themselves, to send them over to him and he would take care of them! This advice was speedily heeded, and at the ensuing session of the General Court, Dec. 7, 1661, an order was passed direct- ing the " release and discharge " of all the Quakers im- prisoned, which was done forthwith, and the reverend aider and defender of those cruel persecutions, John Norton, was sent over to the king to apologize for and smoothe over, in behalf of the government at Boston, what had been so wickedly done here. When Shattuck came back from England with the king's mandamus it was in a ship full of Quakers, with a Quaker, Ralph Goldsmith, for captain. When Shattuck called at the residence of Gov. Endicott to deliver the missive, the
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governor, before he was aware of the nature of the mes- sage to be delivered to him, rudely ordered his servant to remove the hat of the Quaker, but when he discover- ed what was in the document handed to him, he imme- diately changed his tone, took off his own hat, and or- dered the servant to restore Shattuck's, stying, in behalf of his government, what they could not help doing, " We shall obey his majesty's command."
The chagrin and mortification of the governor when he heard of the arrival of the new shipload of fresh Quakers, may be imagined. Says the historian of that period, " Little can we conceive the consternation which was produced, on a Sabbath morning, the day of their arrival, when the news spread through Boston, that there was a vessel in the harbor filled with Quakers, and that Shattuck, the devil and all, had come."- But the passengers were kept close till the following day, when Shattuck, the king's deputy, with Goldsmith, the captain of the ship, walked to the residence of Gov. Endicott to execute his mission.
Whittier, in his poetic contribution to the Memorial History of Boston, entitled " The King's Missive," has this graphic allusion to Gov. Endicott and events at this crisis :
His brow was clouded, his eye was stern, With a look of mingled sorrow and wrath; " Woe's me !" he murmured, " at every turn The pestilent Quakers are in my path ! Some we have scourged, and banished some, Some hanged, more doomed, and still they come, Fast as the tide of yon bay sets in, Sowing their heresy's seed of sin,
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" Did we count on this? Did we leave behind The graves of our kin, the comfort and case Of our English hearths and homes, to find Troublers of Israel such as these? Shall I spare ? Shall I pity them ? God forbid !
I will do as the prophet to Agag did; They come to poison the wells of the Word, I will hew them in pieces before the Lord !"
The door swung open, and Rawson, the clerk, Entered, and whispered under breath, "There awaits below for the hangman's work A fellow banished on pain of death- Shattuck of Salem, unhealed of the whip, Brought over in Master Goldsmith's ship, At anchor here in a Christian port, With freight of the devil and all his sort !" Twice and thrice on his chamber floor Striding fiercely from wall to wall, " The Lord do so to me and more," The governor cried, " if I hang not all ! Bring hither the Quaker." Calm, sedate, With the look of a man at ease with fate, Into that presence grim and dread Came Samuel Shattuck, with hat on head.
" Off with the knave's hat!" An angry hand Smote down the offence; but the wearer said, With a quiet smile, " By the king's command I bear his message and stand in his stead." In the governor's hand a missive he laid, With the royal arms on its seal displayed ; And the proud man spake, as he gazed thereat, Uncovering, "Give Mr. Shattuck his hat."
He turned to the Quaker, bowing low,- " The king commandeth your friends' release, Doubt not he shall be obeyed, although To his subjects' sorrow and sin's increase,
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What he here enjoineth, John Endicott, fis loval servant, questioneth not. You are free ! God grant the spirit you own May take you from us to parts unknown."
So the door of the jail was open cast, And like Daniel out of the lion's den Tender youth and girlhood passed,
With age-bowed women and gray-locked men. And the voice of one appointed to die Was lifted in praise and thanks on high, And the little maid from New Netherlands Kissed, in her joy, the doomed man's hands.
And one, whose call was to minister To the souls in prison, beside him went, An ancient woman, bearing with her The linen shroud for his burial meant. For she, not counting her own life dear, In the strength of a love that cast out fear, Had watched and served where her brethren died, Like those who waited the cross beside.
One moment they paused on their way to look On the martyr graves by the Common side, And much-scourged Wharton of Salem took His burden of prophecy up, and cried- " Rest, souls of the valiant! Not in vain Have ye borne the Master's cross of pain ; Ye have fought the fight, ye are victors crowned, With a fourfold chain ye have Satan bound !"
But as they who see not, the Quakers saw The world about them ; they only thought With deep thanksgiving and pious awe Of the great deliverance God had wrought. Through lane and alley the gazing town Noisily followed them up and down ; Some with scoffing and brutal jeer, Some with pity and words of cheer.
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One brave voice rose above the din, Upsall, gray with his length of days, Cried from the door of his Red Lion inn- "Men of Boston, give God the praise ! No more shall innocent blood call down The bolts of wrath on your guilty town, The freedom of worship, dear to you, Is dear to all, and to all is due."
" I see the vision of days to come, When your beautiful City of the Bay Shall be Christian liberty's chosen home, And none shall his neighbor's rights gainsay. The varying notes of worship shall blend, And as one great prayer to God ascend, And hands of mutual charity raise Walls of salvation and gates of praise."
So passed the Quakers through Boston town, Whose painful ministers sighed to see The walls of their sheep-fold falling down, And wolves of heresy prowling free. But the years went on, and brought no wrong ; With milder counsels the state grew strong, As outward Letter and inward Light Kept the balance of truth aright.
The Puritan spirit perishing not To Concord's Yeomen the signal sent, And spake in the voice of the cannon-shot That severed the chains of a continent. With its gentler mission of peace and gocd-will The thought of the Quaker is living still, And the freedom of soul he prophesied Is gospel and law where its martyrs died.
The Puritan authorities at Boston then consulted what to do that they might not incur the king's dis- pleasure ; and it was agreed to send a deputation to
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him. First, Col. Temple was sent to acquaint the king with their having set the Quakers at liberty ; and he was soon after followed by the chief priest, John Norton, and Simon Bradstreet, one of the magistrates, as agents of Massachusetts to smoothe over the doings here in or- der to secure a continuance or renewal of the charter by the new king, who had then just been restored to the old seat of his father. But the king, more liberal in his religious views than his colonists here, required among other conditions of the confirmation of their charter, that they should make certain reforms in their govern- ment, allow freedom of conscience in matters of religion as a fundamental principle, admit persons of different religious persuasions to vote in the election of all officers, civil and military, and administer justice in the king's name. These requirements struck at the root of the secular power of the " established " clergy, and roused deep indignation among the people here who had been so savagely persecuting the Quakers for their religious opinions, and who had desired an unconditional pledge from the king that "every thing should remain un- altered" in their charter. The result had so bad an ef- fect on the sensitive mind of priest Norton, says his bi- ographer, as to " embitter the short remnant of his days and hasten his death," which took place in Boston, April 5, 1663, at the age of 57. The Quakers, who had been so savagely persecuted by him, may well be pardoned for representing to the king who had befriended them, that "John Norton, chief priest in Boston, by the imme- diate power of the Lord, was smitten and died." His last words were, " The hand of judgment of the Lord is upon me," as, while walking in his own house, he leaned his head against a chimney piece, and fell to the floor.
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Now, these Quakers were released without any con- ditions, and they went their way rejoicing. Instead of the community receiving any detriment or harm on ac- count of their going at large, it was greatly benefitted by their presence. Yet, in spite of the prohibition of the mother country, such was the obstinate and malig- nant vindictiveness of the Puritanic spirit towards the Quakers, that the persecutions were afterwards renewed for a time, a law being passed in 1675 forbidding the holding of Quaker meetings ; and in May, 1677, it was further enacted that the constables should " make dili- gent search " for such meetings, and " break open any door where peaceable entrance was denied them." Men and women were seized, dragged to jail, imprisoned, fed on bread and water, fined, and publicly whipped, as many as fourteen at one time, and fifteen at another, with hard three-knotted cords, suffering in this way, among numerous other instances at this particular period, till the people rallied and forced the authorities at Boston to put a final quietus to their outrageous treat- ment of a class of people whose only fault was that they claimed the right to worship God in their own way.
Francis Baylies, the historian of Plymouth Colony, speaking of the result of the termination of the perse- cution of the Quakers, says, that, "when unmolested by penal laws, they became the most peaceful, industrious, and moral, of all the religious sects," which shows the folly, to say nothing of the inhuman barbarity, of the persecutions of which they were the victims.
To illustrate in what unenviable light this barbar- ous treatment of the early Quakers appears in contrast with the reception given them by so called barbarous
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nations of the old world, it may be mentioned that Mary Fisher, after her expulsion from the " Puritanic" soil of Massachusetts, repaired alone to Adrianople, in Turkey, and delivered a religious message to the Grand Sultan, but instead of receiving any injury or insult there, she passed through the Turkish dominions "with- out hurt or scoff." Thus was the Turk more civilized and charitable in his religion than the self-righteous Puritan !
The following interesting account is given of this noble Christian woman's visit to Turkey :
Mary Fisher, a maiden, one of the first Friends that vis- ited New-England, being come to Smyrna, to go from thence to Adrianople, was stopped by the English consul, and sent back to Venice, from whence she came by another way to Adrianople at the time that Sultan Mahomet the fourth was encamped with his army near the said town. She went alone to the camp, and got somebody to go to the tent of the grand vizier, to tell him that an English woman was come, who had something to declare from the great God to the Sultan. The vizier sent word, that the next morning he should procure her an opportunity for that purpose. Then she returned to the town, and repaired next morning to the camp again, where be- ing come, she was brought before the Sultan, who had his great men about liim, in such a manner as he was used to ad- mit ambassadors. He asked, by his interpreters, (whereof there were three with him,) whether it was true what had been told him, that she had something to say to him from the Lord God ? She answered, " Yea." Then he bade her speak on ; and she not being forward, weightily pondering what she might say, and he supposing that she might be fearful to utter her mind before them all, asked her, whether she desired that any might go aside, before she spoke. She answered, " No." He then bade her speak the word of the Lord to them, and not
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to fear, for they had good hearts, and could hear it. He also charged her, to speak the word she had to say from the Lord, neither more nor less, for they were willing to hear it, be it what it would. Then she spoke what was upon her mind.
The Turks hearkened to her with much attention and gravity, till she had done; and then the Sultan asking her whether she had anything more to say ; she asked him, whether he understood what she said. And he answered, "Yes, every word ;" and farther said, that what she had spoken was truth. Then he desired her to stay in that country, saying, that they could not but respect such a one, as should take so much pains to come to them so far as from England, with a message from the Lord God. He also proffered her a guard to bring her into Constantinople, whither she intended. But she not accepting this offer, he told her it was dangerous travelling, especially for such a one as she; and wondered that she had passed so safe so far as she had : saying also, it was in respect to her, and kindness that he proffered it, and that he would not for any thing she should come to the least hurt in his dominions. She having no more to say, the Turks asked her, what she thought of their prophet Mahomet. She answered warily, that she knew him not; but Christ the true prophet, the Son of God, who was the light of the world, and enlighteneth every man coming into the world, him she knew. And concerning Mahomet she said, that they might judge of him to be true or false, according to the words and prophecies he spoke ; saying farther, "If the word that a prophet speaketh, come to pass, then shall ye know that the Lord hath sent that prophet ; but if it come not to pass, then shall ye know that the Lord never sent him." The Turks con- fessed this to be true ; and Mary having performed her mes- sage, departed from the camp to Constantinople, without a guard, whither she came without the least hurt or scoff. And so she returned safe to England.
Soon after the passage of the second of the above mentioned severe laws against the Quakers, the aid of
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Rev. John Norton, of Boston, called by his biographer "one of the staunchest of the early Puritans, well grounded in the Calvinistic faith," was called upon by legislative enactment passed October 19, 1658, to write down the Quakers, in order to get up a public senti- ment strong enough to sanction the execution of the diabolical statutes, which he had himself by his influ- ence assisted in getting enacted. For his services in this regard he was remunerated by a grant to him of 250 acres of land in Worcester, and another 250 acres in Sudbury. The book which he wrote crying down the Quakers was entitled " The Heart of New England Rent by the Blasphemies of the Present Generation," full of anathemas. May 28, 1659, as the Norton books were ready for delivery from the printer, the General Court ordered one to be delivered to each member of the Court, one to each minister, and the several towns to be supplied in proportion to their rates. The 250 acres of land in Worcester granted to Norton for this work is described on the records as located on the " west side of a great pond called and known by the name of Quinsigamond Pond, south-ward of the bounds of Lancaster," comprising a tract afterwards pur- chased of Mr. Norton's assignees by Ephriam Curtis, the first white settler in Worcester, the main part of the same being still owned and occupied by the latter's de- scendants, on Lincoln street, the successive owners and occupants through five generations to the present time having been Ephraim, Capt. John, Tyler, John, and Ty- ler P. Curtis, the latter's children intending to continue the old homestead in the family. The celebrated George William Curtis of New York is a descendant in the sixth
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generation from the original Ephraim, through Capt. John, John Jr., David, and George, the last three of whom were born in Worcester, and the last named was father of George William Curtis.
Let us now consider, for a few moments, the terri- ble enormity of the persecutions inflicted upon the Quakers for their religious opinions, in pursuance of laws enacted from time to time by the General Court, of which one to the following effect was passed May 12, 1661, as if in defiance of the mother government, which afterwards put a stop to them, and as if burning holes through their tongues with red hot irons, cutting off their ears, and death itself, were not bad enough for the persecuted victims : "That Quakers, both men and women, be stripped naked from the middle upwards and tied to a cart's tail and whipped through the town, and branded with the letter R on their left shoulder," and the constables of the several towns were empowered to impress carts, oxen, and other assistance for the execu- tion of this order. In pursuance of this enactment in- nocent women were stripped to the waist, and thus ex- posed to the public gaze, were whipped with stripes till the blood ran down their bare backs and bosoms, and their bodies were beaten to a jelly, for attending Quaker meetings and protesting against such bloody and cruel laws. Even such detestable wretches as Edmund Bat- ter, who hunted in vain for a ship master mean enough to transport banished Quakers as victims for sale in a Virginia or Barbadoes slave market, were accounted honored church members and trusted officials in a Puri- tan Commonwealth which some have taught us to be- lieve was " par excellence, the strong-hold of piety and
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religion !" Says a historian of the period, speaking of the enormity of the cruelties practiced upon the Quak- ers : "Delicate women with infants at their breasts, children whose youth should have protected them from harm, and the aged whose years should have excited com- passion, were alike scourged, imprisoned, and fined; nay, some were endeavored to be sold into slavery and several put to death. Appeals to England were for a time treated with contempt; and Endicott, Norton, Wilson, and oth- ers, urged on the work of persecution until the people recoiled from the scene of blood, and clamored for the repeal of the barbarous and inhuman statutes, which had increased in severity in arithmetical progression from fines and confiscations and whippings and bodily mutilations to death upon the gallows." " You are court, jury, judge, accusers, witnesses, and all," said Gov. Wm. Coddington of Rhode Island to the Puritan authorities of Massachusetts at this time, he being one of the Quaker associates of Roger Williams who were driven from Massachusetts and co-operated with him in the founding of Rhode Island colony. Rev. John Wil- son, one of the associates of priest John Norton in the " Puritan " ministry at Boston and vicinity, at that pe- riod, said, "I would carry fire in one hand and faggots in the other, to burn all the Quakers in the world. Hang them," he cried, "or else "-then with a significant gesture he passed his hand across his throat. Endicott, Norton, Wilson-what a trio of Puritans for the admiration of posterity !
Plymouth Colony joined that of Massachusetts in the persecution of the Quakers by the passage of se- vere laws, though the Pilgrims did not go to the ex-
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treme of mutilating or hanging any of them, and very likely they would not have done as they did had not the example of Massachusetts been pressed upon them . As it was, those fleeing from Massachusetts were arrest- ed and cruelly treated while on their way through Ply- mouth territory, so they had to move on speedily to the "land of Roger Williams," where they were secure from " Puritanic " barbarities. As a sample of these persecu- tions, the records say, that " March 1, 1659, Wm. New-" land and wife of Plymouth, for being present at a meet- ing of those called Quakers 18 times, was fined £9; for his wife being at said meeting 20 times, was fined £10 ; and for entertaining John Copeland and another of those called Quakers, was fined £9." And so on, with severer penalties and cruelties.
The Commissioners of Massachusetts and Ply- mouth colonies, chagrined that the Quakers whom they had banished should find shelter in that neighboring territory, joined in a remonstrance, September 12, 1657, against the same, to which the authorities of Rhode Is- land responded, October 13, following, to the effect that they had experienced no difficulty with the persons com- plained of, for the reason that they let them alone, and furthermore, they believed that if the Quakers had been let alone and not persecuted where they were, there need have been no difficulty with them there. While Massachusetts was vigorously executing her cruel laws punishing with death any Quakers who should return after banishment, Rhode Island stood firmly by the no- ble protest of her General Assembly " against the exer- cise of civil power over men's consciences." While the noble colony of the Baptist Roger Williams and Quaker
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Wm. Coddington, was thus defending and putting in practice her liberal sentiments, the citizens of Rhode Island venturing over her borders upon " Puritan " soil suffered the most cruel persecutions. Among others, " Mrs. Gardner of Newport, the mother of several child- ren and a woman of good report, having become a Quaker, went to Weymouth, with an infant at her breast, taking with her a nurse, Mary Stanton, to attend the child. There they were arrested and taken before Gov. Endicott by whom they were sent to prison, flogged with ten stripes each, and closely confined for two weeks. Thomas Harris of Barbadoes, who had settled in Rhode Island, went to Boston with two other Quakers, where for protesting against the cruelties practiced on his brethren and sisters, he was flogged and imprisoned for eleven days, during five of which he was not allowed food or water because he refused to work at the jailer's bidding, was severely whipped by the jailer, and again publicly, with others, received fifteen stripes. Cath- erine, wife of Richard Scott of Providence, went to Bos- ton to witness the mutilation of three of her brethren whose right ears were cut off by the hangman in execu- tion of the law against Quakers, and for remonstrating against this cruelty she was imprisoned two months and then publicly flogged, two of her children suffering for the same cause. The severity of these proceedings and the increasing rigor of the statutes passed at every ses- sion of the General Court against the Quakers, caused many of them to seek a home in Rhode Island, where they were gladly welcomed." So says the historian of that state, the late Gov. Arnold.
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