Note 776 — Chapter XII

As early as 1658 Josiah Coale and Thomas Thurston visited the Susquehanna Indians. They were received with great kindness, and spent some weeks with the red men, travelling over two hundred miles in their company. Coale also visited the tribes of Martha’s Vineyard and others of Massachusetts. He returned to them after being liberated from prison at Sandwich, and was told by a chief: “The Englishmen do not love Quakers, but the Quakers are honest men and do no harm; and this is no Englishman’s sea or land, and the Quakers shall come here and welcome.” Of this early teacher Penn wrote: “Therefore shall his memorial remain as a sweet oyntment with the Righteous, and time shall never blot him out of their remembrance.” Fox had several meetings with the Indians, and at one he says, “They sat very grave and sober, and were all very attentive, beyond many called Christians.” After Fox’s return to England, his interest in the Indians continued, and in 1681 he wrote to the Burlington Meeting to invite the Indians to worship with them. It was thus that the way was prepared for the peaceful settlement of West Jersey and Pennsylvania.