Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1885-12-18

Tuscarora meeting house now
stands, in the county of Berkeley,
is the first place where the gospel
was publicly preached aud divine
service performed west OF the Blue
Ridge.(a) This was and still re-
mains a Presbyterian edifcc.
1t is not within the plan of this
work to give general history of
the rise and progress Of the various
religious societies of our country.
1t may not, however, be uninterest-
ing to the general reader to have a
brief sketch of the difficulties and
prosecutions which the Quakers
and Baptists had to encounter in
their first attempts to propagate
their doctrines and principles in
Virginia.
In Henlng's Statutes at Large,
vol. i. PIP. 532-33, the following
most extraordinary law, if indeed
it deserves the name, was enacted
by the then Legislature of Virginia,
March, 1860:
GAN ACT FOR THE SURPRISING
THE QUAKERs.p
"Whereas there is an vnreasOn-
able and turbulent sort of people,
commonly called Quakers, who con-
trary to the law do dayly gather
together vnto them vnlaw'll assem-
blies and congregations OF people,
tea ching and publishing, lies, mir
acles, false visions, prophecies and
doctrines, which have influence
vpOn the comunities of men, both
ecclesiastical and civil, endeavour-
ing and attempting thereby to de-
strOy religion, lawes, communities,
and all bonds of civil societic,
leaveing i. arbitrairie to eyerie
vaine and vitious person whether
men shall be safe, laws established,
offenders punished, and governOurs
rule, hereby disturbing the pub
lique peace and just interest: to
prevent and restraine which mis-.
chief, 1t is enacted, That no master
or commander Of any shipp or
other vessel do bring into this
cOllonie any person or persons call
ed Quakers, vnder the penalty Of
one hundred pounds sterling, to be
leavied ypon him and his estate by
order from the gOvernour and
council, or the commissioners IN the
several counties where such ships
shall arrive: That all such Quakers
as have been questioned, or shall
hereafter arrive, shall be appre-
hended wheresoever they shall be
found, and they be imprisoned
without bale or mainpIize, till
they do adiure tins country, or
putt in security with all speed to
depart the collOnie and not to re-
turn again: And if any should
dare to presume to returne hther
after such departure, to be pro-
ceeded against as contemners of
the lawes and magistracy, and pun
ished accordingly, and caused
again to depart the country, aud if
they should the thirG time be so
audacious and impudent as to re-
turne hither, to be proceeded
against as flelons: That noe per
sou shall entertain any of the
Quakers that have heretofore been
questioned by the gOvernOur and
council, or which shall hereafter be
questioned, nor permit in or near
bis house any assemblies Of Quak.
ers, in the like penalty of one hun.
dred pounds sterling That cOmis-
si0ners and officers are hereby re-
quired and authorized, as they will
answer the contrary at their PERIL,
to take notice of this act, to see it
fully effected and executed And
that no person do presume on their
peril to dispose or publish their
bookes, pamphlets or libells, bear
ing the title of their tenets and
opinions"
This high.handed and cruel pro-
ceeding took place in the time of
Oliver Cromwelps usurpation in
England, and at a time when some
glimmering Of rational, civil, and
religious liberty, manifested itself
in the mother country. The pre-
amble to this act is contradicted
by the whole history of Quakerism,
from its foundation to the present
period. In all the written and
traditional accounts harded down
to us, the Quakers are represented
as a most inoffensive, orderly, and
strictly moral people, in all their
department and habits.
This unreasonable and unwise
legislation, it is presumed, was
suffered to die a natural death, as,
in the progress Of the peopling of
our country, we find that many
Quakers, at pretty early period,
migrated and formed considerable
settlements & in different parts of
the State.
1t has already been noticed that
the Baptists were not among the
of our earliest immigrants.
Mr.. Semple says "Tbe Baptists
in Virginia originated from three
sources. The first were immigrants
from England, who abOut the year
1714 settled in the southeast part