This made G. Fox say, he could remedy that; for since the jailer could not deny them water, he would get a pail of it once a day, and put some wormwood into it, and that might serve their turn. So long as G. Fox was in prison there, he and his friends had a meeting every First-day of the week in the yard, to which came not only the debtors and felons that were prisoners, but also several people out of the town and country; whereby many were convinced of the truth he preached, and continued to be faithful witnesses for it.
Whilst G. Fox was confined there, several more of his friends were sent to prison; to the number of about twenty. And when the sessions came they were brought before the justices, who tendered to them the oaths of allegiance and supremacy: for this was the ordinary snare, when no other thing could be found to lay hold on. But G. Fox told them he never took any oath in his life; ‘And ye know we cannot swear because Christ and his apostles forbade it; and therefore this is but as a snare to us; yet if ye can prove that after Christ and his apostles forbade swearing, they ever did command Christians to swear, then we will take these oaths; otherwise we are resolved to obey Christ’s command, and the apostle’s exhortation.’ To this it was returned that they must take the oath to manifest their allegiance to the king. G. Fox, to show that he was not unfaithful to the king, told them that formerly he had been sent up a prisoner by colonel Hacker, from that town to London, under pretence that he held meetings to plot for bringing in king Charles. Then he desired that their mittimus might be read, which set forth the cause of their commitment to be, that they were to have a meeting. And he said also, that the lord Beaumont could not by the act send them to jail, unless they had been taken at a meeting; and therefore he urged the reading of the mittimus, that it might be seen how wrongfully they were imprisoned. But whatever he said, they would not take notice of the mittimus, but called a jury, and indicted the prisoners for refusing to take the oaths of allegiance and supremacy. When the jury was sworn and instructed, as they were going out, one that had been an alderman spoke to them, and recommended them to have a good conscience: but one of the jury being a peevish man, told the justices there was one affronted the jury. Whereupon he was called up, and to try whether he was a Quaker, the oath was also tendered to him, and he took it; and thus the snare intended against him did not hold.
Whilst the prisoners stood waiting, a cut-purse had put his hand into the pockets of some of them, which they told the justices of, and showed them the man. They then called him up, and upon examination he could not deny the fact, yet they let him go free, just as if the robbing of those called Quakers was no crime.
It was not long before the jury returned, and brought the prisoners in guilty. And then the justices whispered together, and bade the jailer take the prisoners and carry them back to jail. But a little after they were in prison again, the jailer came to them and said, ‘Gentlemen, it is the court’s pleasure that ye should all be set at liberty,’ &c. Thus they were released on a sudden, which was indeed remarkable, because the jury had brought them in guilty; on which passing of sentence must have followed. But G. Fox’s liberty seems to have been owing to the following cause: he had a letter from the lord Hastings, who having heard of his imprisonment, had written from London to the justices of the sessions to set him at liberty. This letter he had not as yet delivered to the justices, who perhaps had some knowledge of the said lord’s mind from another hand, which made them resolve on this sudden discharge. G. Fox being now free, carried this letter to the lord Beaumont, who having opened and read it, seemed somewhat troubled; and yet threatened him, if he had any more meetings at Swanington, he would disperse them, and send him to prison again. But notwithstanding these threatenings, he and his friends went to Swanington, and had a meeting there without being disturbed. From thence he travelled to London, where we will leave him, and in the meanwhile see what happened elsewhere.
Some time before, Thomas Goodair and Benjamin Staples were imprisoned at Oxford, and being brought into the court of judicature before Sir William Walter, who sat there as judge, and Goodair being examined and nothing found against him, the oath of allegiance was tendered, to which he answered, that he acknowledged the king as supreme ruler in civil temporal matters, and that he was willing to obey him in all just commands. ‘But,’ said he, ‘if king Charles and those who are in authority under him, enjoin me to any thing contrary to the command of Christ, then I will rather obey Christ than king Charles, or those in authority under him. It is for conscience-sake that I cannot swear, though I could gain the whole world thereby; for Christ hath forbidden it, and said “Swear not at all;” and James saith, “Above all things swear not.”’ But whatever Goodair said was in vain, for they would needs have him swear. He continuing to refuse swearing, justice Walker asked those that were with him on the bench, whether they had any thing to say against his passing sentence against them: to which they having said no, he spoke thus to Goodair, ‘Hearken to your sentence: you are out of the king’s protection. All your lands, real estate, and chattels, are forfeited, and shall be seized for the king’s use: and you are to remain prisoner during the king’s pleasure.’ Then he bid the jailer take Goodair away, who asked whether the jailer had charge to fetter him, for he had been fettered as thieves and felons, before he had been brought into the court. Whereupon the judge answered, ‘The jailer may do with you what he will: for you are now out of the king’s protection.’ Then he was led away, and B. Staples brought to the bar, to whom the oath being also tendered, and he refusing to take it, the same sentence was passed on him. Both being returned to prison, the jailer said to the other prisoners that were there for evil or debts, ‘If ye want coats, ye may take those of the Quakers, for they are now out of the protection of the law.’ But one of the prisoners was so honest as to say he would rather go naked, than take away those men’s coats. How long they were in prison, and whether they died there, or were at length released, I know not.[21]
[21] They both were supposed to be discharged at the next general jail delivery: for T. Goodair in 1666, had been prisoner some years at Warwick, being premunired without legal trial or judgment. At length he died at Selby in Yorkshire, 1693.—J. Whiting’s Account.
But now I return to Ambrose Rigge, who being come to Hurst Pierpoint in Sussex, had a meeting there at the house of his father-in-law, captain Thomas Luxford; this so displeased the priest Leonard Letchford, that Rigge was taken and brought before the Justices, Walter Burril, Nisel Rivers, and Richard Bridger, who being minded to bring him under sufferings, tendered him the oath of allegiance; and he, saying that for conscience-sake he could not swear, was forthwith sent to Horsham prison, and at the time of the assizes brought into the court, where judge Samuel Brown then sat, and passed the sentence of premunire upon him. Then he was carried back, and by the instigation of the said Leonard Letchford, committed close prisoner, where he continued above ten years, and suffered during that time much hardship by the malice of the jailers, since such prisoners as he was, are shut out of the king’s protection. In the meanwhile the aforesaid priest Letchford summoned Rigge’s wife for tithes, and she refusing payment, was also imprisoned at the prosecution of this priest; and then he seized her goods, taking away also that which her husband had earned in prison by his hard labour, not leaving him and his wife a bed to lie on; nay, he also took away a pot they had borrowed from other prisoners to boil victuals in, and vaunted he had Rigge so fast, that it was not in the King’s power to release him. But notwithstanding this wicked boast, yet to his great disquiet and vexation, he lived to see Rigge released by the king under the great seal. And Thomas Luxford, A. Rigge’s father-in-law, being also become one of the society of those called Quakers, and refusing to pay him tithes, felt likewise the effects of his fury; for he caused him also to be cast into jail, where he kept him six years: and the prisoners being then released by the sheriff, he was excommunicated by Letchford, and afterwards at his suit, by virtue of the statute De Excommunicato capiendo, shut up again in prison, from which he was set at liberty by an act of parliament.
Not long after, Letchford got a warrant to sue also some others of the Quakers, so called, belonging to his parish, for not paying tithes: but before he could get them imprisoned, it happened, that having at night gone to bed healthy, in the morning he was found stiff dead in his bed, according to the testimony of his neighbours; and this prevented the stroke he had levelled against others.
Not being willing to finish this relation abruptly, I am advanced in time, but now I return to the year 1662. In the middle of this year, Sir Henry Vane and John Lambert, both vigorous champions against king Charles the First, and having been in great authority under the former government, were brought to their trial. Vane behaved himself with very great presence of mind: how far he was guilty I am not to inquire; but he was declared guilty, and afterwards beheaded on Tower-Hill. He was reputed to be a man of great knowledge, having been one of the chief members of the long parliament, and also an opposer of Cromwell: for he was an entire republican, and had a great share in the administration of state affairs. Lambert, who had been an eminent general, saved his life: for since Vane, as Ludlow saith, pleaded for the lives and liberties of his country, and Lambert for his own, he evaded the storm which took away Vane. Lambert now, though condemned to death, begged mercy, and was confined to perpetual imprisonment, and carried to a small isle near Plymouth, where he finished his days.
Seeing, on the insurrection of the Fifth-monarchy-men, occasion was taken to make an act against plotting, and seditious meetings, the persecution against the Quakers increased, under a pretence that their meetings were dangerous, and to the terror of the king’s subjects, and an act was made against those who refused to take an oath, as appeared by the title of it, viz: