HEre is a Declaration of the Sufferings of the People of God in Cambridge, by the Savage Schollers, and Others now called young Ministers; whose practice follows Oxford their Example: which two Places are called the Well-Heads, two Eyes, two Mothers, two seed-Plots of good Nursery; the Fountains of Piety, and Nurses of Virtue: Now see whether they do not shew that they are puddles and unsavory, and their People are bred up in filth, and to filthyness as their Actions and Fruits declares it to all People, and for conscience-sake towards God they cannot feed them, whose Fruits thus shews forth themselves; That are a disgrace to their Heads called Vice-Chancellors, Doctors, and Proctors; and a Dishonour to Virtue, and to Breeding, and to Modesty, and to Go­vernment, and to the Heads of this Nation that feeds them; That these Fruits should appear openly like Sodom and Gomorrah; Idlenesse, Wickednesse, and Filthynesse; these things will stink among the Hea­then, and be loathsome among them; nor is not of a good Report, but a shame to all that have the name of a Minister, and are not worthy to have the name, and a dishonour and a shame to all their Tutors and Proctors in Oxford and Cambridge, (as see Oxford Sufferings Printed, at Thos Symonds at the Bull and Mouth near Aldersgate,) and are a shame to all their Parents that sends them thither, and it is enough to make all sober People to be afraid to send their Children there, for fear there they should be spoyled; and they are a dishonour to Christianity, and all them that professeth Faith in God, and owns Jesus Christ, the holy Example, to be their Rule to walk by.

Anne Cock Widdow, aged about threescore years, being moved of the Lord to go to Sidney Colledge Chappel in the time of their Wor­ship, and they being singing David's Conditions, did say unto them, in the Word of the Lord. That their Praises and Services were not ac­ceptable to the Lord, but they were an abomination to Him; and she had no sooner spake these Words, but she was hauled out by one John [Page 4]Hudson a Glover, [...] he did kick her all the way out of the Colledge, and did justle her against the Colledge Gates, and as she was passing homeward to her outward dwelling Place, one of the aforesaid Hud­son's Daughters was at a Pump right against her Fathers house, and threw warer upon her into her neck; and passing a little further, one Edmond Sa [...]ter a Taylor, did throw a piss-pot of Urine upon her, and several other abuses which the poor old Woman hath suffered, which would be too tedious to relate; Likewise, another poor old Woman being moved to go to the Steeple House, before that she could get into it, to declare her message, she was stopped by the rude multitude both of Schollars and Others; and hauled away, they thrown against the ground, and kicked and stoned along the Streets, and threw dirt upon her, and abused her shamefully; and several other times she hath been persecuted either coming into the Town, or coming home, her House being almost at the Towns-end: Likewise two Maides passing out of the Town with a Friend, they were mocked at, and scoffed at, and abu­sed; and at length passing over a Bridge (they were both thrown into the Water by the Schollars, and one of them was almost stifled in the Wa­ter, and the Schollars mocked them, and said they had Baptized them) they threw them off of a high stone Bridge into a deep and dangerous place, and it was a mercy they were not drowned.

And John Peace passing out of the Town in the Winter Season, when the Snow was great, the unruly Boyes seeing him coming, they hasted to make great Snowballs; and when he passed by, they threw at him with all the Force they could; & one snow-ball hit him on the Eye, so as he thought it had dropt out into his hand, so that his Eye was very sore for a Week: and at another time standing in the Market-place in Obe­dience to the Lord, he was mocked, and scoffed, and abused, and kick­ed by the Schollars, and they thrust pinns into his Leggs; and likewise there was one rude Fellow did come upon his Back, and thrust him with all the force he could from one end of the Market Hill to the other, several times, insomuch as he could hardly keep himself from falling.

And Luce Feild going to the Steeple House with another freind, she with the other Woman had their Head-cloaths pul'd off their Heads by the Schollars, and their Cloathes rent and torn, and abused them very shamefully, and threw dirt and dirted their Faces and Eyes, that they could not see. And when our Friends have been moved to speak to the Schollars, they threatned to kick them; This we have suffered, be­sides all other abuses we have suffered from time to time, going to [Page 5]Meetings, and about our Occasions; sometimes being stoned, and dirt flung upon us, and our Cloathes torne and rent-in-pieces, and spit in our Faces as we pass along the Streets; all which is, and hath been done by the Schollars and young Ministers (so called,) at the Nursery of young Ministers, as they are called: And when these comes from their Nursery, they sell their Ware at a dear rate; and after all these things had been done unto us, by the Nursery of young Ministers, and we had patiently borne all these things of the Schollars, at the length it was so ordered for the truths sake, that we suffer for, That we hired a House for a publique Meeting place, and then as truth began more and more to be published openly, the rage of the Heathen began to be great: And first of all the Schollars envy appeared against the House, and some wished that it were pulled down, others that it were burnt down to the ground; and in the night time the Schollars threw stones and dirt against the VVindowes, and broke the VVindowes very much; and they shott Bullets into the Chambers at us, and slung great stones; but the Man that we hired the House of, carryed them to the Master of the Colledge, and shewed them to him, and told him, how that if those things were suffered, That he durst not lye in the rooms, and said, he lay in danger of his Life, or words to that purpose; and then he making them give him satisfaction for breaking the VVindowes, they were a little quiet as to that thing: then the Priests and Professors began to be in a great rage, and would have given any thing to have prevented our Meetings so publiquely; and some (as the Man informed us, which we hired the House of) offered sums of money to have prevented our Mee­tings, and the Priests would have given the Man that Lett us the House so much a year as we gave for it, to have prevented us of the House; and one (who is called Mr. Huffe, one of Jesus Colledge so called,) as we are informed, offered 10 l. for his own particular, That the House might be taken from us again: And one who is called Major Jordan, which was a Master of Arts, as they call them, That have taken the De­gree whereby they may go forth to deceive the People, (he now lives as a private man in the Town) he said, if God's Plague was in the House, (meaning the Meeting-place,) it could not be more offensive to the Colledges then the Quakers Meetings were: and moreover encoura­ged the rude Schollars, and the young Ministers (so called) to rudeness; and he said further, That the Man that lett us the House, had better have set fire to it, and have burnt it down, then to have let us have it.

And further as any Friends came out of the Country to hear the Truth declared, they were stopped, and had before Alderman Br [...] ­an, [Page 6]as looking upon him to be the Man to act most against the Truth, he being a great favourite of the rude Priests, having much trading by and from them; but as he did commit any to Custody, the then Mayor did set them Free, (being a moderate man, and considering their envy and wickedness): And Priest Hill of Magdalen Colledge, (so called) on a first-day coming from his morning worship, (being a Proctor so called) he met with one or two of our Friends, and he caused them to go with him to the Constable, and wished him to have them before a Justice, but he was unwilling, in regard he knew that the Mayor had released some before, of our Friends: he came forth with the Constable, and what order he had, we knew not; but the then Mayor sent for them, and charged the Constable to release them, which did exceedingly inrage the Schollars, and the rude multitude, insomuch that they came into the Meeting House, and stormed like so many bedlams or mad People, because they could not have their wills, nor any wayes break our Meetings, so that many hundreds of the Schollars came re­solved to do what they could, in the malice of their hearts against us: and one rude fellow, a Painter (who hath preached for the Schollars; when they have not a Sermon ready, they get him,) came in, and was sett on by the Schollars to sing a Psalm, and so he did, and a great many sang with him, and some laughed and hollow­ed, and made a noise, mocking and scoffing; but did sing but three or sour lines, and then the Schollars broke out into a laughter: and so as in former Ages the Drunkards made songs of David, and he was had in derision daily by such unclean Birds as these are. But they not prevailing this way over us, with all their mockings and scoffings, and tauntings at us; The Schollars then fell to acting with their hatts and hands all they could imagine, and having a Mayor come to bear Rule in the Town, who they thought would let them alone in whatsoever they did, they took incouragement, and fell on to do their Masters Works with boldness, and for several first-dayes were so brutish, that it is even a shame to relate: but, that all may see what Fruits are brought forth in this Fountain; and see what bitter-water streams forth into this Nation from this Place, I shall give a little taste of the Schollars Fruits which they bring forth.

And first, As we were fitting peaceably, and waiting upon the Lord to hear his Truth declared unto us, they came and put up our Hats, and looked us in the Faces, talking unto us, sometimes hollow­ing, hissing, and making sport: and when it hath been desired of them to be sober, they said, They did not come there to be sober; sometimes [Page 7]calling for Bear and Tobacco, and telling us, We [...] out the Spirit. Now if these things are not all to be condemned, judge you yourselves; and whether it is not a shame that these should have the name of Nur­sers of Piety, and Plants for Ministers.

And when they had done what they could to provoke us unto words, by pulling some of our Hats off, and taking us by the hand, and some by the nose, and yet could not prevent our Meeting, or break it up; they threw several things at us, as Apple Cores and Parings, and Tobac­co-pipes; besides mockings and scoffings: and one Paris an antient man was hauled about, and tumbled down, and trod upon, by the Schollars in the Meeting: and several times they cracked nuts, and slung handfulls of shells at Friends saces, and said, They would by these Actions make the Spirit speak; And the Schollars pul'd the Wo­mens Head cloathes ost in the Meetings, and daub'd their hands over their Face, and piss'd in the Entry among the People, and daub'd the look of the Door and key with Dung, that we could not tell how to touch it.

After one of their Doctors in Cambridge had assaulted Thomas Nicholson, the late Mayor in the Street; the next day at the Steeple-House several Schollars there appeared in Contempt against the Mayor, and one of the Schollars hung a piece of his shirt-tayl or linnen, or some such thing, upon the Gown of the Mayor's Officer, in contempt and derision to the Mayor, because the Doctor had not the Wall of the Mayor as he would, when he in contempt assaulted the Mayor. And when Friends have been moved to speak to the Schol­lars, they have threatned to kick them; And is this called an Eye of the Nation and the Nursery? And is this great pudder in the Nation for Maintenance for this Nursery, to maintain these Schollars in these Actions? And are these the Men that must teach the Nations? And is this Your breeding of Them? Surely, modesty would shame at these things if it were amongst You, Who have been warned often: But your Actions must come to Publique View, that the Nations may not be deceived by you; Who are worse then the Pharisees, whose out-sides are not fair.

And at one meeting, when the Schollars saw that all their unseemly and irreverent Scossing and Mocking at what was declared would not break up the Meeting; then they threw Tobacco-pipes, and when that would not do what they intended to have done, nor did not move us, but we patiently suffering for the Truth's sake, then the Schollars were resolved to pull down him that spake, and cryed aloud, Down with him, [Page 8]Down with him, several times together, and did attempt to do the thing, but were prevented by the power of the Lord; and they would run through our Meeting-place like so many wild Horses, throwing all down afore them, and did hollow, stamp, hisse, and shout, on purpose that none should hear what was declared, and thinking thereby to si­lence William Allen (who then spake) but could not; and they seeing all this would not do any thing as to fulfil their wicked desires, then they let down the windowes, and shut up the doors, so that at one end of the House, next the street, we had not any light: and then the Schollars laughed, and scoffed, and said, Our Light was Darkness, and they had shut us up in Darknesse, and words to that purpose; and then the Schollars clapt the windows up and down, as if they would have broke them off the Hindges, and when we opened the doors they shut them again, and when they threw Friends down they would tread on them: And these things they acted in the time of their Worship.

And seeing they could not, with all these wicked Actions, break up the Meeting, then they appeared more and more filthy and brutish, and the Schollars began to stamp with their Heels against the boards, and made a noise as if several Drums had been beating up, and laboured what they could to prevent him [William Allen] from speaking: Then they went out into the next Yard, and took old wet Mapps, and old Dish-cloaths, and dragged them through the dirty Kennels, and came and threw them at our Friend that was speaking, and at us also, and therewith mired and dirted Friends. And there was a great strong wooden Chaire which a Friend sate in, to bear the rude Schollars and People off from William Allen that spake; and because the Schollars could not make him rise up that sate in the Chaire, to give them way to fulfil their Wills, the Schollars pulled the Chaire all to pieces, and made it in two horns, and poked William Allen in the face with it, and shouted and hollowed as if they had done a great matter, and threw some of the Chaire at him, and at Friends; But this would not satisfy their mischievous desires, but they did abuse the Friend that sate in the Chaire, and pulled his Coat all to pieces off from his back. And the Mayor being coming from the Steeple-house, the Friend went and told him what the Schollars had done unto him, and shewed him his Coat which was so rent; but there was John Lowrey one of the last Par­liament, he, instead of doing Justice and punishing the Offendors, said That he might have stayd at home, after he had asked him, Wherefore he came? And the man said, To hear the Word of God I came 9 or 10 [...], out of the Isle of Ely.

[Page 9] And further, at the same meeting, the Schollars threw dirt, and clay, and stones, and other things, as Bones, and rotten Apples, and what they could gather up in the street, and flung at William Allen, and friends; and cut his lipp that the Blood gushed forth, and battered his head in two or three places, besides what blows he had on the body: and the Schollars tore Alderman Blackley's Son's Coat off his shoulders; and one rude Schollar took John Peace by the hand, and took two fing­ers in one hand, and two in the other hand, and pulled them, as if he would have broke them each from the other, which put him to great pain, & the Schollar threatned him, that when he mett him in the street he would baste him: And the rude Schollars called Alderman Blakely Old Rogue, and scoffed at him, and abused him very much. And John Peace hearing the Mayor was coming by, he went forth of the meeting, and spake to the Mayor and some others with him, desiring him in the fear of the Lord to execute Justice upon the Transgressors; and one of the rude Schollars, standing by the Mayor, which had threatned him, and pulled him by the fingers, as above mentioned, he told the Mayor of him, and the Mayor turning and looking upon the Schollar, did say something to him, but the Schollar denyed what he had said and done; and then John Peace told the Schollar he was a Lyar, whereat the May­or was offended at him, for reproving him of his wickedness; So that Night he was moved to write to the Mayor, and carry some of the Dirt, and Stones, and shewed him them, and told him, if he did not execute Justice against such Offenders, the stones should be a witness against him, and so laid them at his Door, and left him to read those lines; and soon after, the Mayor sent for John Peace, when his Passion was over, and began to reason with him, and said, It was not civil for him to tell the Schollar, He lyed; I told him I spake Truth in so saying; He said, I was not to speak Truth at all times: And this was sad that a Magi­strate should teach such a Saying; and at that time the Mayor gave him a Warrant to the Constables, but they did nothing to prevent the rude Schollars; for the next day, many of the rude Schollars came to the Meeting, and were resolved to pull William Allen down, and to break up our Meeting, which they had often atempted; and truly it is to be feared that Murther was in their hearts.

For some of the People of the World, have come to some of our houses, who have seen the Carriage of these rude Schollars, in our Meetings towards us, to know whether some of us were not murthered.

And they have spoken great swelling words forth, but the Lord kept them from acting any such thing, if they did intend it; but at the Meeting, they were so [Page 10]wild and bruitish, and shameless and nasty (we mean the Schollars), That they did hawk and spit such nasty filth upon William Allen, and Friends faces, and hair, and loathes, that his hair was like unto froth, and that it was a shame to see it: and William Allen said his face was stiff with the filth which was spat upon his face by the Schollars, and as we par­ted from the Meeting, one Luce Field was thrown down into the kennel by the Schollars, and her Hart trode in the dirt: And several times passing from the Meeting several Friends have had mire and dirt thrown upon them by the Schollars, and there hath been almost a whole street full of them hollowing and tearing of Us, and the Keeper of the Li­brary in Cambridge hath boasted of these and such like Actions of the Schollars.

And the rude Schollars have eften taken up Womens Coates in the Streets, as they passe along, and in the Meeting; fleshly, filthy, lustfull Beasts; and would lay hold on Women in the Streets, and lugg them, and pull them, and kisse them in the Meeting, and in the Street: and if they turned their Heads from one Company, other Schollars would come on the other side and kisse them: and these Schollars have made antient Women to stand in the sink, untill they had torn the Coates off their Backs. Now are not these a stink in your Nostrills, and are these your Ministers you send out into the Nation? Is Cambridge become as Sodom? there was so many hundreds of them, that the Women can hardly pass the Streets, but are abused by them; here you may see Cambridge Fruits, and the Fruits of the Priests which are come from Oxford and Cambridge; as let Cheshire and Lancashire witness, and the whole Nation, What filthy work they make with poor People, prisoning them for their hellies, even such they do no work for.

And one Friend was put in the stocks by William Pikering Mayor, and set many hours, and the Schollars were very rude, and did much abuse him; and some of them got bread, and spread tallow and dirt upon the Bread, and put it to the Friends mouth, and said, They would make him eat it.

And the Schollars have taken up Excrements, and thrown it into the meeting to Friends. Now if We should serve Your Mase-Houses so, Your old Popish Colledges, what a rage would You have been in? And it may be taken notice of, that several of the Fellows and Proctor of Sidney Colledge have stood by, and seen the Schollars act some of this wickedness and brutishness; and yet did nor reprove them, but rather encouraged them.

[Page 11] And when Alderman Nicholson went into the Colledge, and told the Proctor of the Actions of the Schollars, and spoke to him to keep them quiet; he told him in plain words, he could not, nor would not: Now these things cannot be otherwise expected from these Proctors, Vice-Chancellors, and Tutors, and Schollars; Who have their Bowles, their Games, and their Tennis-Courts in their Colledges, and Fidles and Musick, and Musick-Arts, and Cards, Dice, Shovel-Boards; and fencing, more liker Tinkers, and Pedlars, and Colliers, then Houses for Professors of the Gospel: Are these Places to make Ministers for Christ? Are these good Examples? more liker Taverns for Drunkards; Nay, there are hardly the Actions as (they have Acted before mentioned) done in the Taverns and Ale houses in the Nation, in their Houses, as are Acted in your Houses amongst you: Oh this grieves the Righte­ous! and makes the Just sick, That the Nation should be loaded with such filth, such a House of filth.

And further, the said Smith, Priest, before mentioned, caused the place in the Masse House, where the Holy Water, as they call it, used to be put in, to be opened, and a Crosse to be put a top of the Steeple­house.

And at another Meeting, as George Whitehead was a declaring the Truth to the People, the Schollars came and were very rude, and crow­ded much upon him, and cryed our, let us smother him; and if the Mayor had not appeared presently in the Meeting, it is likely they would have mischiefed him; besides, the said G. W. hath suffered seve­ral times by the rude Schollars, and the Schollars took Alderman Blacklyes Hatt off his head, and threw it away among the rude multi­tude, and he stood bare-headed untill they threw it to him again, and John Peace aforesaid, had his Coat rent, at their publique Commence­ment, for giving some Papers to the Vice Chancellor; and he was hurried to and fro, and some cryed, hang him, some stone him, some knock him on the head.

And I homas Nicholson being a sober man, Who was the former Mayor, understanding some thing of their filthy behaviour at our Mee­tings, and being sensible of their cruelty and wickedness, was Resolved the next day to come in Person, and so he did, and brought half adozen Constables with him, and so prevented their mischeivous Ends and In­tentions: and the said Alderman Nicholson very boldly and valiantly stood upon a forme to the view of all the People some hours, and heard the Truth, which was of good service to the Lord, to stop the vio­lent.

[Page 12] And several times the Constables have been fain to stand to keep our Meetings.

Therefore let these things be sufficient which are past, and repent, and amend your lives, lest your wickedness swell to a mountain, and your filthiness and ungodliness running out of so many fountains, may gather together to be a Sea: And is not this the Cage of unclean Birds spoken of in the Revelations? Are these the Ministers you lay your hands on? to send them out in the Nations to deceive People for disho­nest gain, and to haul People before Courts because they will not put in­to their mouths, and cast them into Prison that they do no work for; Therefore every one, High and Low, ye have time now, prize it, and consider in your selves whether these things be not an ill savour both with God and Man; Therefore do so no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.

We whose Names are here under-Written, have been Eye-wit­nesses of these filthy and abominable Practises.

WHereas the Lord by his Providence hath called thee to be chief Magistrate, or Governour of this Town: This the Lord God requires of thee; Thou having the Sword in thy hand, Know this from the Lord, that it is not put into thy hand in vain; For it is not given into thy hand thereby to rule for thy self, or any waies to set up thy self, but thou art to rule in the fear of the Lord (for God), with­out having respect to any Man's Person for any advantage whatsoever. And thou art to defend and protect his People from all manner of Vio­lence, Wrongs, and Injuries, offered unto them, which many of the dear Servants of the Lord have suffered, and do daily suffer, for bearing their Testimony against their ungodly practises; But know thou this, That they are as dear to him as the Apple of his Eye, and what is done to one of the least of his little Ones, he takes as done unto himself. Therefore in His fear, I exhort thee to stir up that noble Principle of God in thee, even that which reproves thee in secret, and stands a living Witness for God against the least appearance of Evil in thy own parti­cular; and that being minded in thy own particular, the same will lead thee forth to act for God in the general, and it will cause thee to lay thy Sword upon Evil-Doers, thereby to cut down all manner of Sin and Wickedness, and that thou maist be a terror to all the wicked and un­godly in this Town, and to punish all that do Evil, and not a praise to them; that so Righteousness may be the Fruit of thy Government, that so thou maist have the Praise of all them that do well, and that thou maist be an Instrument in the hand of the Lord, for the staying of the heavy Judgments which will undoubtedly come upon all that do act wicked­ly and malitiously in this Town against the Servants of the Lord: And know thou this from the Lord, That if thou wink at Iniquity, and [Page 15]call the proud Happy, and set up and strengthen the hands of Evil-Do­ers, and turn thy Sword backward like a blind man, then the Lord will requite thee, who damms not up the ungodly unrighteous floods of Iniquity from running down the streets; for the Schollars and young Ministers should be such Plants as should damm up the Ungodly and stop the way of the wicked. This is the Fruit of the Plants of Renown which comes from the Nursery of Christ; so let your Gates be a praise and not prophane, let your Gates be righteous and not ungodly, so cleanse this Nursery of ungodly men, unfruitful Plants, fruitful Plants of Unrighteousness, but unfruitful towards God, which are the Work­ers of Darkness, with whom no Fellowship is to be had, but to be re­proved: And if thou countenance those that act wickedly, in abusing the Servants of the living God, thou shalt not escape the Judgments of the Lord, but thou with them that do wickedly shall receive a Reward according to your Works.

Therefore, once more from the Lord, in Bowels of Love to thy Soul, and in pure Subjection to thy Authority (so far as thou rulest for God) do I desire, that thou wouldest discharge thy Conscience in executing Justice and true Judgment upon all Ungodliness, that there may be a good savour in your streets. And so in obedience to the motions of God, I have cleared my Conscience.