For, try, but even in the other American colonies. incredible as it may seem, it is nevertheless the fact, that in the year 1656, twelve Quakers were banished from the colony of Massachusetts, by order of the General Court of that colony, for no other crime than their inoffensive opinions; and two of their number who had returned to it some time thereafter, were actually executed in the year 1659! In that year, also, an act was passed by the legislature of Virginia, by which it was enacted, that " any commander of any shipp or vessell bringing into the collonie any person or persons called Quakers, is to be fined £100.; and all Quakers apprehended in the collonie, are to be imprisoned till they abjure this countrie, or give securitie to depart from it forthwith. If they return a third time, they are to be punished as felons."* Quakers are, of course, still numerous in the state of Pennsylvania, although it is long since they ceased to be a majority of the population. They are unequally divided into orthodox and Hicksites, or Unitarians ; each of which denominations has two separate meetinghouses in the city of Philadelphia. That city is built on an oblong piece of level ground, lying between the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers, which, in that neighbourhood, pursue a parallel course for some distance, about two miles apart. The streets that run perpendicularly to the course of the rivers are named from the trees of the country-Chestnut, Walnut, Mulberry, Filbert, Cherry, Pine, &c. &c.—while those that run parallel to their course are regularly numbered from the Delaware, Front-street, Second-street, Third-street, up to Thirteenth-street. It is an admirable device for a stranger, who thus gets familiar with the geography of the place at a glance, and it affords a good practical commentary on the Quaker doctrine of utility. *Hemmings' Collection of the Laws of Virginia. It is unnecessary to say a single word about the morality of the Quakers, as an influential portion of the American people; and in regard to the Germans in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Maryland, they are the same plodding, industrious, and virtuous people that we uniformly find their countrymen, especially those of the Lutheran and Reformed communions, in Europe. But the largest portion of that stream of population that had been flowing for a century and upwards, previous to the war of independence, to those colonies that now constitute the middle and southern States of the American republic, was unquestionably derived from the British isles. And it is worthy of remark, that although it continued to flow long after the return of peace and rest to the British churches, it originated exclusively in persecution for conscience' sake. Of the two thousand Presbyterian ministers who were driven from the communion of the Church of England by the famous Act of Uniformity, in the reign of Charles the Second, we are informed by contemporary historians, that not a few found an asylum in the American colonies; and many of their people also followed their example. During the Commonwealth, the Presbyterian system of church government had found many zealous adherents, both among the clergy and people, in the principality of Wales; and when the times of oppression and persecution succeeded to that period of calm, emigration to America was extensively resorted to by both ministers and people. Towards the close of the seventeenth century, the Welsh emigrants in Pennsylvania were so numerous as to occupy six townships on the Schuylkill river, in that State ;* and in the lists of the earlier ministers of the Presbyterian church in America, such names as Evans, Davies, Griffiths, Mor *History of the Presb. Church in America, by Prof. Hodge, of Princeton, New Jersey, vol. i., p. 51. Philadelphia, 1840. gan, and Jones, evidently of Welsh origin, frequently occur. The But it was principally from Scotland and the north of Ireland that the great stream of British emigration to the middle States of America was supplied, from the accession of Charles the Second till the American Revolution. There seems even to have been for some time a fixed purpose, on the part of the wretched government to which the Almighty had at the commencement of that period subjected the British isles, to force the Presbyterians of Scotland and the north of Ireland to emigrate to America, probably because it was at length found impracticable to get rid of them entirely by more violent measures, or because the royal stomach was gorged sufficiently with blood. "It is judged the interest of the government," observes Scot, of Pitlochie, a Scotchman of rank and influence at this period, "to suppress Presbyterian principles altogether; the whole force of the law of this kingdom is levelled at the effectual bearing them down. rigorous putting these laws in execution has, in a great part, ruined many of those who, notwithstanding hereof, find themselves in conscience obliged to retain their principles. A retreat, where by law a toleration is allowed, doth at present offer itself in America, and is nowhere else to be found in His Majesty's dominions." “This is the era,” observes Bancroft, in his History of the United States, "at which New Jersey, till now chiefly colonized from New England, became the asylum of Scottish Presbyterians. And is it strange," asks that writer, 66 that many Scottish Presbyterians of virtue, education, and courage, blending a love of popular liberty with religious enthusiasm, came to New Jersey in such numbers, as to give to the rising commonwealth a character which a century and a half has not effaced ?" "The more wealthy of the Scotch emigrants of that period," observes another writer, were noted for bringing with them a great number of servants, and, in some instances, for transporting whole families of poor labourers, whom they established on their lands."* And in speaking of the town of Freehold, one of the earlier settlements in New Jersey, the Rev. W. Tennent observes: "The settling of that place with a gospel ministry was owing, under God, to the agency of some Scotch people that came to it; among whom there was none so painstaking in this blessed work as one Walter Ker, who, in 1685, for his faithful and conscientious adherence to God and his truth, as professed by the Church of Scotland, was there apprehended and sent to this country, under a sentence of perpetual banishment. By which it appears, that the devil and his instruments lost their aim in sending him from home, where it is unlikely he could ever have been so serviceable to Christ's kingdom as he has been here. He is yet (1744) alive; and, blessed be God, flourishing in his old age, being in his 88th year."+ About the same period, a company of thirty noblemen and gentlemen, headed by Lord Cardross, of Scotland, contracted for a large tract of land in Carolina, as an asylum for their persecuted countrymen; and a Scotch settlement was accordingly formed on Port Royal Island, in that colony, in the year 1682. According to Dr. Hodge, "A considerable number of Scotch also settled in Maryland. Colonel Ninian Beall, a native of Fifeshire, having become implicated in the troubles arising out of the conflict with episcopacy, fled first to Barbadoes, and thence removed to Maryland, where he made an extensive purchase of land, covering much of the present site of Washington and Georgetown. He sent home to urge his friends *Bancroft and Gordon, quoted by Prof. Hodge in his Hist. of the Presb. Ch. in America, vol. i. Rev. W. Tennent, quoted by Prof. Hodge, Hist. &c. ii., P. 24. and neighbours to join him in his exile, and had influence enough to induce about two hundred to come over. They arrived about 1690, bringing with them their pastor, the Rev. Nathaniel Taylor, and formed the church and congregation of Upper Marlborough." ""* Sir William Berkeley, Governor of Virginia during the greater part of the reign of Charles the Second, states, in a paper containing replies to certain inquiries proposed to him by the Lords of Plantations, that the number of emigrants who arrived annually in Virginia during that period was fifteen hundred; and that of these a portion were Scotch and Irish.t As the emigration of Roman Catholics from Ireland to America did not commence till some time after the war of American Independence, it is to be presumed that these Irish were exclusively Presbyterians, and chiefly from the province of Ulster. This, indeed, is rendered almost certain from the fact, that a Presbyterian minister, the Rev. Francis Makemie, was ordained, in all likelihood at their request, by the Presbytery of Donegal, in the north of Ireland, to dispense the ordinances of religion in that colony, and was actually settled in Accomack county, in Virginia, previous to the year 1690. Mr. Makemie was thus the father of the Presbyterian Church (as distinct from the churches of New England) in America; and his memory was long revered in that country as a man of piety, and learning, and apostolic zeal. In the year 1704 he returned to Ireland, to procure additional ministers for the wide field of labour which the American colonies then presented to the Presbyterian Church, and carried out with him, on his return to Virginia, other two ministers, who were immediately settled in the adjoining colony of Maryland. In the year 1707, Mr. Makemie went to visit his countrymen in New York; and during * Prof. Hodge, Hist. of Presb. Ch. in Amer., vol. i., p. 66. † Hemmings' Collection of the Laws of Virginia. Appendix. RA OF THE JIVSEM |