King Charles n. !664. ~ 7he HISTORY af the PuRITANs. VoL. 11. not immediately paid, there was a feizure of their effeCts, the goods and w~res were taken out of the !hops ; and in the country, cattle were dnven away and fold for half the value. If the feizure did not anfwer the fin<;, the minifl:er and people were hurried to prifon, and held under clofe confine1nent for three or fix months. The trade of an informer began to be very gainful, by the encouragement of the fpiritual courts. At every quarter feffion.s, feveral were fined for not coming to church, ~nd others excommumcated ; nay fome have been fentenced to abjure the realm, and fined in a fum much larger than all they were worth in the w·orld. <Jbeir eauBefore the conventic1e aCt: took place, the laity were courageous, and tzous condutf h d h · · 'll h '11 J 'fi Haxter. ·ex orte t _e1r miOIHers to preac tl t 1ey went to pn on; but when p. 43 6. it came home to themfclves, and they had been. once in gaol, they be– gan to be more cautious, and confulted among themfelves, how to avoid the edge of the law in the beft manner they could; for this purpofe their aifemblies were fi·equently held at midnight, and in the molt private places; and yet, notwithftanding all their caution, they were frequently difturbed ; but 'lis remarkable, that under all their hardfhips, they never made the leaft refittance, but went quietly along with the foldiers or officers, when they could not fly from them. The difl:re(s of fo many families; made feme confine themfelves within their own houfes, fome re- . move to the plantations, and others have recourfe to occcifional conjormi· ty, to avoid the penalty for not coming to church; but the independentJ, anabnpti.fts, and quakers, declined the praCt:ice ; for they faid, if perjecu– tiOil was the mark of a falfe church, it muft be abfolutely unlawful to join with one that was fo notoriouily guilty. Suffirings of Indeed the quakers gloried in their fufft:rings, and were fo refolute as to the quakers. affemble openly at the Bull and Mouth near Alderfiate, from whence the Sewel, foldiers and other officers dragged them to prifon, till Newgate was filled, P· 445 · and multitudes died by clofe confinement in feveral the gaols. The nccount · publifi1ed about this time fays, there were li){ hundred of them in pri– fon, merely for religion foke, of whom feveral were banilhed to the plan– taions. Sometimes the quakers met and continued filent, upon which it was queflioned, whether fuch an aifembly wa·s a conventicle for religious exerctji!; and when !ome were tried for it in order to banifhment, they were acquitted of the banilhment, and came off with a fine, which they feldom paid, and were therefore continued in prifon. . In fhort, the quakers about London gave fuch full employment to the u?[ormers, that they had Jefs leifure to attend the meetings of other Jiifenters. '/lnd othm. So great was the feverity of thefe. times, an~ the a~bitrary .Pro~eedings of the juftices, that many were afraid to pray m. the1r famil1es, 1f above four of their acquaintance who came only to v1fit them were prefent. · Some
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