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obnoxious ^ Cromwell repeatedly interfered on behalf of the Quakers , but the spirit of persecution was too strong for him . The Independents
indulged it in gross violation of the laws , especially in two memorable cases : the committal of Gorge Fox to Derby goal by two Independent Justices , one of them a preacher : and the brutal treatment of two females
at Oxford , who were publicly whip * ped , by order of Dr . Owen , then vice-chancellor of the university , for no offence but that of public exhortation , and in spite of the refusal of the mayor to legalize the sentence by his seal and signature . Such facts reflect lustre on their refusal to aid the
attempt of Sir George Booth in favour of Charles , though lured by splendid promises , and on their uniform charity to their own former persecutors , wh ^ n suffering under a common persecution .
Every man who believes and loves the principles of Nonconformity , must read with pain and shame of the numerous attempts made by the Presbyt&rians and others to obtain a
Comprehension , and turn away to dwell with complacency on a Sect which neither could nor would make any such endeavours , nor even accept , if offered , what was by them so greedily sought .
With regard to one difference between the conduct of Quakers and that of other Sectarians , it is not easy to decide which pursued the course best adapted to secure , or rather recover , the religious liberties of the country . They did not join in the
common outcry against the Catholics , nor does it appear that they particularly objected to that universal Toleration , against which others protested , under the apprehension that it was only introductory to a popish establishment and civil tyranny . The Dissenters sacrificed their own
liberties to their dread of popery . They were tools with which the Church of England armed itself in the time Of danger ; but which were broken and trampled upon in the hour of triumph . Had they seconded the efforts of the court for universal religious liberty , it must have been obtained . It is by ** o means clear that this would have been followed by . the transformation of the Protestant hierarch y into a Papal
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one . i For that measure they might have ; reserved their union with the church , in opposition to the court , which would probably have been not less successful than in fact it actually was under less favourable
circumstances ; and then , whether the Stuarts had remained , or William been introduced , they would have be * queathed to their posterity the high privilege of religious freedom , instead of the contemptuous boon of Tolera *
tion from that Church which they saved from destruction . They might be right in opposing the entrance of Popery , in limine ; but the probabilities just hinted at should be considered before the Quakers are censured
for not actually abetting them . They honourably concurred in not admitting the dispensing power of the sovereign . . The backwardness of the Quakers on this subject , cannot , injustice , be ascribed to ignorance or indifference
about the civil rights of Englishmen * Of these they had occasion to make frequent and manly assertions . Barclay ' s Dedication of his Apology to Charles , has been deservedly admired and quoted , as a rare instance of plain dealing with a sovereign . We axe reminded of Peter before the
Sanhedrim , or Paul at Philippi , by the reply of Francis Howgill to the magistrates of Bristol , who commanded him to leave the city immediately , " We came not in the will of man , nor stand in the will of man , but when He shall
move us to depart who moved us to come hither , we shall obey ; we are free-born Englishmen , and have served the commonwealth faithfully , being free in the sight of God from the transgression of any law : to your commandments we cannot be
obedient ; but if by violence you put us out of the city , and have power to do it , we cannot resist . " George Fox refused liberation when offered in the shape of a pardon , and demanded a fair trial . It would be unpardonable not to allude to the behaviour of Penn
and Mead upon their trial , and impossible not to estimate it as one of the noblest stands ever made against arbitrary power in a misnamed court of justice . Pennsylvania is a glorious monument of the unri vailed superiority of * the Quakers in the clear conception and
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On the Conduct of the Quakers in the Reign of Charles II 175
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1818, page 175, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2474/page/23/
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