CHAPTER XIV (10)

31. Robert Widders is often mentioned in this Journal, having travelled with George Fox in Scotland, as also in many parts of America. They went through great perils by sea and land, in the wilderness and in woods, in danger of wild beasts; yet through all the Lord supported him, and kept him faithful to the end. He was valiant for God’s truth, establishing many in the faith. He was a great sufferer from persecutors; once, at Caldbeck, he was thrown down on the ground, and kicked and beaten so cruelly, that blood gushed out of his mouth, and he was supposed to be dead. At Lamplugh, his clothes were torn on his back, and the hair from off his head; and at Bishop-Auckland, he was stoned and sorely bruised. His cattle, corn, and household goods were also swept away by wholesale, yet he was not at all dejected or concerned, knowing well for what he suffered. He was much resigned during his last sickness, often saying on his death-bed, “his heart was filled with the love of God;” and he departed this life in great peacepeace in 1686, aged sixty-eight years.

32. Near Handsworth Woodhouse, Yorkshire.

33. George Whitehead, who was convinced when about seventeen years old, became a valiant minister for about sixty-eight years, till the time of his decease, which took place, in great peace, after an illness of some weeks. He waited, patiently resigned to the will of God, desiring to be dissolved and be with Christ; saying, “he felt the sting of death to be taken away.” He was a preacher of the gospel in life and power, and turned many from darkness to light, being a chief instrument in gathering a people to the Lord in and about Norwich. At one meeting he had in those parts, it is recorded that “nearly the whole congregation was convinced by the mighty power of God, through his lively and piercing testimony and prayer.” He suffered great hardships, long and sore imprisonments, and severe whipping for his testimony to the truth, much of which is recorded in his published Journal, with his travels and other services, to which the reader is referred.

34. Thomas Holmes was serviceable in his day and generation, suffering imprisonment on Truth’s account. In 1656, he was in jail, at Chester, with seven or eight other Friends. Some of his services in Wales are related, in a letter from him (probably to George Fox,) in Barclay’s Letters of Early Friends, p. 222.

35. “Alexander Parker,” says Whiting, “was an eminent servant of God, and minister of Jesus Christ; born near Bolton, in Lancashire, well-educated, and had a gentleman-like carriage and deportment, for I knew him well.” He travelled extensively in the service of the gospel, often in company with George Fox, being frequently mentioned in this Journal. He suffered fines, imprisonments, and persecution, being once pulled down as he was preaching in London, and fined for it £20. He died in great peace in 1689, having written many books and epistles, in which, though being dead, he yet speaketh.

36. John Crook was a Justice of the Peace, and a man of note in the county of Bedford. He became an eminent preacher of the gospel, in which he laboured extensively, and many were the seals of his ministry. He suffered many imprisonments, which he bore with patience, as also his bodily infirmities, often expressing the inward joy and peace he had with the Lord. He died in 1699, in the eighty-second year of his age, having been a minister about forty-four years, and his writings were published in 1701, entitled, The Design of Christianity testified in the Books, Epistles, and MSS. of John Crook.

37. Sewell states that Samuel Fisher and John Stubbs, when at Rome, conversed with some of the cardinals, and testified against Popish superstitions. They also spread books among the friars, some of whom expressed their contents to be true; but, said they, if we should acknowledge this publicly, we might expect to be burned for it.

Whiting records the death of Samuel Fisher in 1665. “Other Friends,” he says, “were transported; and many died in Newgate, and on shipboard, in order to transportation, to the number of 122, in London, Westminster, and Southwark; particularly Samuel Fisher, &c., faithful ministers and labourers in the work of the Lord, taken at meetings died in the White Lion prison, Southwark, 1665, in the time of the pestilence [plague], which began in the time of the persecution of Friends under the Conventicle Act, as a signal token of the Lord’s displeasure. It broke out first in a house next to that of the first man that was banished, who lived to return to London, and died at a great age.”

38. For some account of Luke Howard, see Piety Promoted, Part ix. He was several times imprisoned; once in Dover Castle, for sixteen months, for going to meetings. At this time, he employed six men in his trade, but was obliged to shut up his shop for six months. He obtained the use of an entry to the prison grate, where meat was drawn up with a cord, and he worked a little there. He suffered another long confinement in 1684. Speaking of his imprisonments, he says, “I had perfect peace, joy, and content in it all; the Lord made it good unto me, both within and without.”

39. Nicholas Beard was an early seeker of the Lord in his youth, and would often travel many miles to hear the best reputed teachers of the times. He became a faithful minister of Christ, and a large sufferer for his sake. For one year’s tithes he had taken from him twelve oxen, six cows, and one bull, which were sold for £111 5s., but worth more. For worshipping God, and refusing to swear or bear arms, he was prosecuted on the statute for £20 a month, and underwent imprisonment several years, and loss of goods to more than £1,000. Yet it pleased the Lord to support and bless him and a large family, so that on his deathbed he was heard to say, “O Lord, my soul blesseth thee, and all that is within me magnifieth thy holy name!” He often desired to depart and be with Christ, and died in great peace, in 1702, aged eighty, a minister about thirty years.

40. This Captain Bishop, who is mentioned as wearing his sword, soon discontinued it, being convinced, and joining Friends. He was the author of An Account of the Persecution in New England, and he issued a prophetic warning to the King and Parliament, in 1664, for banishing Friends, which was fulfilled. See Sewell’s History; Index.

41. Joseph Fuce was one of those faithful ministers who died in White Lion prison, Southwark, in 1665, during the time of the plague.

42. Humphrey Smith became an able gospel minister, turning many to righteousness. He had a vision of the destruction of London by fire, six years before it happened, which vision he made known as a warning to the people to repent. (See Piety Promoted, vol. i. p. 39 and his published works). He had also a clear foresight of his own sufferings and death thereby. He died a prisoner for the testimony of Jesus in Winchester jail, in 1663, where he fell ill after a year’s imprisonment. Whilst he was very ill in prison, he said, “My heart is filled with the power of God;” and then added, “It is good for a man at such a time as this, to have the Lord to be his friend.” Near his departure, he prayed earnestly, saying, “Hear me, O Lord, uphold and preserve me. I know that my Redeemer liveth: Thou art strong and mighty, O Lord;” and prayed “that the Lord would deliver His people from their cruel oppressors”; and for those who had been convinced by him, “that the Lord would be their teacher.”

43. Gerrard Roberts, a merchant of London, was one of the most active members of the Society in making the needful arrangements for the visits of its ministers to foreign parts.

44. William Edmundson was the first person who publicly espoused the principles of Friends in Ireland. He was some time a soldier in Cromwell’s army, but the strivings of the Holy Spirit drew him out of the corruptions of the world, to a nearer acquaintance with God. He left the army, and joined the people called Quakers, though they were much spoken against. His life and property were given up to the service of the gospel, and many were his trials and sufferings on its account, which he bore with exemplary patience. During the civil wars, he had on one occasion twenty of his cows driven away from him. His house was also beset by some hundreds of banditti, and the shots they fired into the house were heard at two miles’ distance. After it was plundered and burned, himself and two sons were led away prisoners, bareheaded, and barefooted, and nearly naked, except they gave William Edmundson an old blanket of his own to wrap about him.

After a toilsome night, journeying through bushes, rough stones, mire, and water knee-deep, they were taken to a wood, and after a mock show of justice, condemned to death; the young men to be hanged, and their father, in compliment to his courage, to be shot. Though death was no terror to this pious man, he expostulated with his persecutors; reminding them of his services in behalf of their countryfolk. Several of them confessed they knew him to be an honest man; yet justice and mercy were disregarded, and they prepared to execute their purpose. The youths were hoodwinked, in order to hang them; and two firelocks made ready to shoot their father, whom they were about to hoodwink also; but he told them they need not, for he could look them in the face, and was not afraid to die.

At this juncture arrived a lieutenant, a brother of one whose life William Edmundson had saved, when the English soldiers were about to hang him. Thus the Lord interposed and would not suffer them to take their lives. The officer released the prisoners from death, but did not restore them to liberty, taking them to Athlone, not from a grateful sense of remembered services, but from a hope of preferment thereby. On entering the town, the high sheriff, soldiers, and rabble, gave them abusive language; and their lives were endangered, had not a lieutenant of the Irish army who recognised William Edmundson, declared aloud his knowledge of him, and of his worth, and thus quieted the tumult. They were then brought to the Irish colonel, before whom he appeared, wrapped in his blanket. Though the colonel was personally acquainted with him, he did not, in these circumstances, know him; but when he said, I am old William Edmundson, the colonel rose, and with tears in his eyes, expressed his sorrow to see him in that condition. After reprimanding the lieutenant, he committed them to the care of one of his captains, sent them food and money, and they met with better treatment.

Great sufferings was it the lot of this faithful man to endure; who was unwearied in his Master’s service for upwards of fifty years of his life, counting nothing too near or dear to part with, or too great to suffer, if he could but win Christ and the souls of his fellow-men. Yet in these and many other great exercises and straits, the Lord’s arm and generous providence, says he, have preserved and supported me. He spared not himself, even to old age, in performing travels and services as a gospel minister, beyond the ordinary course of nature, often saying the Lord was his song and his strength, and had carried him through many and various exercises and perils. As a fixed star in the firmament of God’s power did he continue to hold his integrity to the last, being enabled to say, “O death! where is thy sting? O grave! where is thy victory?”

45. The circumstance above related is reminding of a somewhat similar one recorded of Edward Burrough.

“At London,” says Sewell the historian, “there is a custom in summer-time, when the evening approaches, and tradesmen leave off working, that many lusty fellows meet in the fields, to try their skill and strength in wrestling, where generally a multitude of people stand gazing in a ring.

“Now it so fell out, that Edward Burrough passed by the place where they were wrestling, and standing still among the spectators, saw how a strong and dexterous fellow had already thrown three others, and was waiting for a fourth champion, if any durst venture to enter the lists. At length, none being bold enough to try, Edward Burrough stepped into the ring, which was commonly made up of all sorts of people; and having looked upon the wrestler with a serious countenance, the man was not a little surprised, instead of an airy antagonist, to meet with a grave and awful young man; and all stood amazed as it were at this sight, eagerly expecting what would be the issue of this combat. But it was quite another fight Edward Burrough aimed at. For having already fought against spiritual wickedness, that had once prevailed over him, and having overcome in measure, by the grace of God, he now endeavoured also to fight against it in others, and to turn them from the evil of their ways. With this intention, he began very seriously to speak to the bystanders, and that with such a heart-piercing power, that he was heard by the mixed multitude, with no less attention than admiration; for his speech tended to turn them from darkness to the light, and from the power of Satan unto God. To effect this, he laboured with convincing words, showing how God had not left himself without a witness, but had given to man a measure of his grace, and enlightened every one with the light of Christ.