[Illustration: John Clarke Memorial First Baptist Church of Newport, R. I.] [Illustration: Grave of John Clarke] The first company of Baptists in this colony came from Rhode Island. William Dugan came there in 1684, three years after Penn received his charter. He settled at Cold Spring, in Bucks County. The first church in Philadelphia was founded by John Holmes in 1686. The first meeting-place was at the corner of Second and Chestnut Streets. [Illustration: The Law in William Penn’s Colony. No Absolute Soul-liberty in Pennsylvania in Those Days.] [Sidenote: Two Thirds of the Members have the Power of a full House. No Member to vote &c. in the House till qualified. The Qualification of every Member of Assembly. Altered by an Act pass’d in the II Geo. I, entitled An Act--prescribing the Forms of Declaration of Fidelity. &c.] AND if any County or Part of this Province shall refuse or neglect to choose their respective Representatives as aforesaid, or if chosen, do not meet to serve in Assembly, those who are so chosen and met shall have the full Power of an Assembly in as ample Manner as if all the Representatives had been chosen and met; Provided, they are not less than two Thirds of the Whole that ought to meet. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED by the Authority aforesaid, That no Person who shall be hereafter a Member of the Assembly, or House of Representatives of this Province, shall be capable to vote in the said House, or sit there during any Debate, after their Speaker is chosen, until he shall make and subscribe the following Declarations and Profession his Belief, _viz._, _I_ A. B. _do sincerely promise, and solemnly declare before GOD and the World, That I will be faithful and bear true Allegiance to Queen_ Anne. _And I do solemnly profess and declare. That I do, from my Heart, abbor, detest and renounce as impious and heretical, that damnable Doctrine and Position, That Princes excommunicated or deprived by the Pope, or any Authority of the See of_ Rome, _may be deposed or murdered by their Subjects, or any other whatsoever_. _AND I do declare, That no foreign Prince, Person, Prelate, State or Potentate hath, or ought to have, any Power, Jurisdiction, Superiority, Preeminence or Authority ecclesiastical or spiritual, within the Realm of_ England, _or the Dominions thereunto belonging_. _AND I_ A. B. _do solemnly and sincerely, in the Presence of_ GOD, _profess, testify and declare, That I do believe that in the Sacrament of the_ LORD’s _Supper there is not any Transubstantiation of the Elements of Bread and Wine into the Body and Blood of_ CHRIST, _at or after the Consecration thereof, by any Person whatsoever; and that the Invocation or Adoration of the Virgin_ Mary, _or any other Saint, and the Sacrifice of the_ Mass, _as they are now used in the Church of_ Rome, _are superstitions and Idolatrous_.