A year after Ames came again into the Palatinate, with John Higgins, and visiting the prince Elector, he understood from the captain of the prince’s guard, that the prince was glad of Ames’s return thither. Awhile after Higgins delivered to the prince Elector a book of G. Fox, with a letter of Ames to the said prince, who was so well pleased with it, that he bade Higgins to thank Ames on his behalf, saying also that he took the coming of Ames and Higgins to him and his family very kindly, and really believed that what they spoke was in love to their souls.
Several years after this, some others of Ames’s friends from England, visited the aforesaid prince Elector, and he always, (to his praise be it said,) received them kindly. W. Ames, who was at sundry times in Germany, came not only to Hamburgh, but travelled also through Bohemia to Dantzick, and from thence to Poland. At Hamburgh and Dantzick he met with some that received the Truth he preached; but in Poland people were too rude and haughty, to get entrance among them.
In the forepart of this year, W. Ames being at Rotterdam in Holland, was confined there in Bedlam; which having made a great a noise, I will give a brief relation of it here. At Moordrecht, a village near Gouda, lived at that time one Martin Martinson, a cooper by trade; this man approving the doctrine preached by Ames at Rotterdam and elsewhere, began to assert it as truth: and seeing now and then he with some of his sober neighbours kept a meeting at his house, this caused a great stir in the town, insomuch that sometimes he suffered rude treatment from the people. Ames coming once there, and keeping a meeting in Martin’s house, great insolence was committed by the wicked rabble. And going from thence to pass over the water to Gouwerek, he was followed by a multitude of riotous people, both young and old, with a hideous cry of ‘Quake, Quake, Quake!’ And was pelted with stones and clods, till he came to the boat that carried him over. The preacher of Gouwerek hearing the noise, came to the boat, and asked what the matter was, why people made such a sad noise? To which Ames answered, ‘It seems the people are not taught better.’ To which the preacher returned, ‘They are not used to make such ado against honest people; but I believe you to be a deceiving wolf, that comes among the sheep to seduce them, and therefore they cry so.’ ‘Prove this,’ replied Ames. ‘I do not know you,’ said the preacher. ‘Learn then,’ returned Ames, ‘better manners, than to call one thou knowest not, a wolf and deceiver.’ And so going his way, shortly after he wrote from Rotterdam to Martin, and bade him go to the preacher, and desire him to appoint a time to prove that Ames was a deceiving wolf. But to this the preacher showed himself backward; yet to be rid of Martin, he said at length, ‘Come, I will prove it presently.’ But Martin replied, ‘I am not come for that; but this must be done to Ames;’ and insisting thereon, ‘Well,’ said the preacher, ‘let him come next Sunday before noon, after sermon; then I will prove it publicly before all the people.’
Of this Martin sent word to Ames; but things were managed so, that this project of proof was quashed: for the preacher of Gouwerek went to his colleague at Moordrecht, and consulted with him what to do in the case; and Ames being come to Moordrecht on the first day of the month called March, and the last of the week, though it was late at night, was seen and known by some; who committed much violence upon the house of Martin, where Ames was entered. The next day it was reported that some of the sheriff’s men of Gouda were come to Gouwerek to apprehend Ames when he came there; and at Moordrecht the dikegrave’s men came for the same purpose; and so they took Ames prisoner, and carried him to Rotterdam, where he was locked up in Bedlam, as a madman. And a week after, Martin, for having kept meetings at his house, where not above eight persons were come together, was also by the dikegrave’s men taken prisoner in his house, and carried to Rotterdam, where he was locked up with Ames. Who were the instigators of this business is plain enough, though I do not mention them.
After Ames had not been much above three weeks in Bedlam, the deputy-governor of the house, on the 27th of the month, about night, came to him and Martin, and said, ‘If I was in your place, I would go out.’ Which made Ames ask, whether he would suffer them to do so? To which he answered, that he should not hinder them. Then Ames returned, ‘I will not be reputed as one that broke prison.’ To which the deputy replied, ‘Nay, why should you be reputed so? You may go out freely; all is unlocked, and the door will stand open for you; for the governors are not minded that you should stay here.’ Then Ames said, ‘Well, I intend to go out to-morrow.’ The next day Martin’s wife came to see her husband; but the deputy told her, that he had an order in writing from the dikegrave, that rather than to let Martin’s wife come to him, he might let him and Ames go out together. The issue was, that they were both let out that morning, it being the 28th of the month. But they staid at Rotterdam, intending not to depart the town before they had given notice to the dikegrave of their being let out; lest occasion might be given for saying that they had broken prison. And it was not without reason they were so cautious; for the next day, in the morning, the deputy came to them, and said, ‘I desire that you will not bring me into trouble, for I am an ancient man; and the dikegrave hath been with me, and asked for you; to which I answered, that you were gone out; but he took this very ill. I desire, therefore, that you would say that you were gone out without my knowledge.’ But this was not to be expected from Ames, whom I knew so well, that I truly believe that he would rather have died, than to have spoken a lie: for in such a case he was without question of the same mind as formerly Christian Langedul, uncle to my grandmother by the mother’s side, who, when at Antwerp, he, with others, martyrs, was led to the stake to be burnt, cried out undauntedly, ‘If we would once but have told a lie, we might have escaped this.’ But to return to Ames, he told the deputy, that he himself intended to go and speak with the dikegrave; and if he was displeased at their going out, he might put them in again where they had been; for they would not have the name of prison-breakers.
Then they both went to the dikegrave, and told him after what manner they were come out; saying also that they would not have it said, that they broke out. ‘That name,’ said the dikegrave, ‘you would have had, if you had departed the town; for the deputy hath told me that you got out by breaking a window.’ After some other words were exchanged, he further said, ‘I have nothing to object against your life and conversation, having heard nothing concerning you but a good report; neither do I seek to persecute you. But would you be willing to return to Bedlam?’ Ames answered, ‘Here we stand before thee; thou mayest do with us according to thy pleasure. And if thou desirest us to return thither, we will do so.’ The dikegrave signifying that this was his desire, said that they might go and walk in the gallery then, till another order came. And so he caused his messenger to go along with them. Being come thither, they not long retained the liberty to walk in the gallery, but on the 31st of the month, they were locked up again, each in a hole by himself. Now Ames acquainted the deputy that he heard from the dikegrave, that he had been informed by him, that they were got out by breaking a window. But the deputy denied to have said so. They were detained there yet sometime, and were pretty much visited, and this often by such as sought nothing but to scoff at them; and among these a certain clergyman did not stick to say to Ames, that he was a deceiver, because he wore pewter buttons, to make people believe they were silver ones. Whilst Ames was confined here, he wrote some papers which afterwards he published, and among these a reply to an answer of one Jacob Koelman, to eighty-three queries given forth by the said Ames; who now being set at liberty, travelled to Germany, as hath been said before, and from thence going back to his native country, after some time returned again into Holland, as did also William Caton.
But now I turn again to England, where an account was published in print of the sufferings of the people called Quakers, which being offered to the parliament, was delivered to the speaker, Thomas Bampfield. This contained a relation of above one hundred and forty persons, all distinguished by their names, who for keeping of meetings, refusing to swear, not putting off their hats, not paying of tithes, and their travelling up and down the country, had been taken up and imprisoned, and many also had been deprived of their goods, and one and twenty of these died either by sickness in prison, or by violent abuses; among whom was Richard Sale, near West Chester, who being constable, had a minister of the people called Quakers brought to him, with a pass as a vagabond, whose conversation so convinced the constable, that he gave him his pass and liberty. And because the said Sale judged both priests and people to be exceedingly darkened, he entered upon an extraordinary act, to show them by a sign that they wanted to be enlightened, viz. he came in the day time with a lantern and a burning candle into the steeple-house, during the sermon. But this was resented to such a high degree, that by order of the mayor he was put into prison, and thrust into a hole called Little Ease, which was so strait, that it could not well receive his body; but he was thrust in with such violence, that his body was bruised, and he spit blood, and shortly after grew sick; and his body swelling, occasioned by the squeezing it into the hole, he died in great pain. In the before mentioned account it was also said that in the last six years, about two thousand persons, for being Quakers, had suffered in their body and goods. To this was added a paper, signed by more than one hundred and sixty persons, (several of whom I knew,) whereby they offered to the parliament to put themselves in the stead of their brethren, who were confined either in prisons, or houses of correction, or in dungeons, some being fettered, and others lying sick only on a little straw; wherefore they declared themselves ready to change places with them out of true love, that so they might go out, and not die by hardship, as many had done already; to prevent which, they were willing to take upon themselves the sufferings of their brethren, and lay down their lives for them. Under their names they added, ‘If we had been of Esau’s race, we should have fainted before this time; and if we had been of Cain’s progeny, we should have fought with his weapons: but this never was, neither is it the way of the righteous and chosen, of which we are, from the foundation of the world.’ It was in the month called April, that this paper was delivered to the parliament, but I do not find that this offer was accepted, or any thing done for releasing the imprisoned.
About this time also Edward Burrough published a paper, containing a very remarkable prediction of what followed the next year; when king Charles the Second was placed on the throne. In it he saith, that as he was travelling in Warwickshire, in the 1st month, his meditations being upon the Lord, and considering what unjust and woful sufferings had been inflicted upon the Lord’s people within these few years, a cry went through him, ‘The Lord will be avenged, the Lord will be avenged upon his enemies, and he will avenge the cause of his people.’ This cry stuck close upon him, and his heart was even broken therewith, and his spirit melted before the Lord, it being as it were said to him, ‘Write unto the rulers, and yet once more warn them of that recompense, and of that indignation, which is at hand upon them, even a just recompense for all their deeds; and as they have done, even so shall it be done to them; as they have sought to destroy the generation of the righteous, even so shall they be destroyed from off the face of the earth; and as they have unjustly judged and condemned the innocent, so shall they be condemned, and justly judged of the Lord; and as they have cast the bodies of the poor lambs of Christ into prison, and been a snare upon them, even so shall they be insnared, and into captivity shall they go. And as they have caused the goods and possessions of the innocent to be spoiled, and made a prey, even so in like manner shall the curse of the Lord spoil their substance. And as they have done, so shall it be done unto them; and as they have meted to others, so shall it be meted to them again.’ ‘And I saw a great misery and desolation nigh at hand, even the sword of the Lord; and that it should slay them; and I beheld it was made ready for the slaughter; and in the sense of these things a sadness fell upon my spirit, considering the desolation and the judgment that is at hand, to be executed upon the cruel oppressors.
‘Wherefore all ye rulers, and all ye that have trodden down the heritage of God, and ye that have disregarded these many warnings that ye have had; I say unto you all, in the power of the Lord God, in his dominion, and by his Spirit, this is once more a warning to you from the Lord, and that these things must surely come to pass, and be fulfilled in their season, and no man shall be able to deliver his brother; but every man shall bear his own burden, and drink his own cup prepared for him: and though it hath been counted a light thing amongst you, and you have despised the reproof, and gone on without fear; yet in as much as the Lord hath spared you, and not speedily executed judgment upon you, but rather waited for your return; yet the dealing of the Lord towards you, in sparing of you, you have not accepted; and therefore shall his judgments be the greater upon you. For if you do now come to the witness in your own consciences, what evil hath this people done? Whose ox have they taken, or what have they desired of you? Or what have they sought from you? Or wherein have they been a burden to you? Saving that they have reproved you for your iniquities, and desired your redemption? Would you but now at last come to consider this, and confess the Truth in your consciences, will not that tell you, that they have patiently suffered all things that you have cruelly imposed upon them? And have not they walked peaceably towards you, and humbly, meekly, and justly among their neighbours? And have they not been meek and innocent even as lambs, and as the sheep before the shearers? And have they wrought offences towards any? Have they sought the overthrow of the government, or have they sought vengeance against their enemies? Or what injury have they done to any man’s person, or estate, saving to satan and his kingdom? Have they not sought to reform and reclaim the ungodly from their ways? And have they not pitied and prayed for their enemies? And have they not in all things walked in good conscience towards the Lord, and towards all men? Yea, my friends, in the day of the Lord, when the witness in your consciences shall not be limited, but shall speak plainly, and when the impartial judge shall appear upon his throne, then shall you acknowledge these things.
‘Wherefore I say unto you, receive the judgment of the Lord to purify you, otherwise the judgment shall destroy you; and now come to be more wise, that some of you may be as a brand plucked out of the fire, and be reserved from being consumed; for the visitation of the Lord is near an end, when his loving kindness will be shut from you, and his long suffering turned into fury; and he will make you know that we are his people, with whom you have thus dealt; yea, you shall suddenly know it; the time is not long till he will crown his people in the sight of his enemies; he will crown them with praise and with righteousness, with honour and majesty, and he will keep them in safety, even when sorrow compasses you about; his mercy and loving kindness shall extend towards them, even when his wrath and judgment smites you, and confound you. O! What shall I say unto you; for the deep sense thereof remains upon my heart; when I consider, how that in all ages the Lord did avenge his people’s cause, and when the time of their suffering was expired, he broke the bonds of iniquity, and set them free. Thus did he with his people Israel of old, and many times it was his way with his people, to bring them low by suffering, and then to raise them up again in glory; and he suffered their enemies for a season to glory over them, that he might bring them down. And thus he did in England, in the case between the bishops and their crew of persecutors, and the poor people at that day called Puritans: did not he confound that persecuting crew, and deliver his people? And is not he the same to effect the same work at this very day? Yea, doubtless, and much more will he do, in as much as the manifestation of Truth is more clear than it was in their days; and in as much as the rulers and people of this nation have rejected a more clear testimony, than either the Papists in Queen Mary’s days, or the bishops and prelates in their days; even so much the more will the Lord God execute his vengeance with more violence, in a more manifest way; and all shall know, that it is he that doth it, and he will set his people free: for he hath regarded their sufferings, and he hath said it is enough; for he hath tried them, and found them faithful; and all this hath been suffered to prove them, and not to destroy them: and like as he hath preserved them in patience and peace through it all, even so will he give them hearts to walk answerably to their deliverance; and as they have abounded in patience in their sufferings, so shall they abound in praises everlasting in the day of their freedom; and the earth shall be glad, and shall yield the increase and blessing: the heavens and earth shall rejoice, and the hearts of the righteous shall leap for joy; when the Lord hath broken the yoke of the oppressed, and set his people free, inwardly and outwardly; and then shall they sing to the Lord over all their enemies, who shall be tormented and vexed in the Lord’s sore displeasure; for their reward cometh, and their recompense shall be even as their work, and he will give unto them sorrow and anguish, instead of rejoicing.