Note 83 — Chapter III · Second Visit to New England

This phrase—“a Cage of uncleane birds”—quoted originally from the Bible—“Babylon is become ... a cage of every unclean and hateful bird,” Rev. xviii. 2, was frequently used by early Friends to describe their opponents. Francis Bugg (apostate Quaker) states that George Fox used it “about the year 1662” in reference to “the Church of England” (Pilgrim’s Progress from Quakerism to Christianity, 1698, p. 130).