CHAPTER XIV (8)

While we were standing where the thieves used to stand, a cut-purse had his hand in several Friends’ pockets. Friends declared it to the justices, and showed them the man. They called him up before them, and upon examination he could not deny it; yet they set him at liberty.[75]

It was not long before the jury returned, and brought us in guilty; and then, after some words the justices whispered together, and bid the jailer take us down to prison again; but the Lord’s power was over them and his everlasting truth, which we declared boldly amongst them. There being a great concourse of people, most of them followed us; so that the cryer and bailiffs were fain to call the people back again to the court. We declared the truth as we went down the streets all along till we came to the jail, the streets being full of people. When we were in our chamber again, after some time the jailer came to us, and desired all to go forth that were not prisoners. When they were gone, he said, “Gentlemen, it is the court’s pleasure that ye all should be set at liberty, except those that are in for tithes; and you know, there are fees due to me; but I shall leave it to you to give to me what you will.”

Thus we were all set at liberty suddenly, and passed everyone into his service. Leonard Fell stayed with me, and we two went again to Swannington. I had a letter from Lord Hastings, who hearing of my imprisonment, had written from London to the justices of the sessions to set me at liberty. I had not delivered this letter to the justices, but whether they had any knowledge of his mind from any other hand, which made them discharge us so suddenly, I know not. But this letter I carried to Lord Beaumont who had sent us to prison; and when he had broken it open and read it, he seemed much troubled; but at last came a little lower; yet threatenedthreatened us, if we had any more meetings at Swannington, he would break them up and send us to prison again. But notwithstanding his threats we went to Swannington, and had a meeting with Friends there, and he neither came, nor sent to break it up.

From Swannington we went to Twy-cross, where that great man formerly mentioned, whom the Lord God raised up from his sickness, in the year 1649 (and whose serving-man came at me with a drawn sword to do me a mischief,) and his wife came to see me. Thence we travelled through Warwickshire, where we had brave meetings; and into Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire, visiting Friends till we came to London.

I stayed not long in London, but went into Essex, and so into Norfolk, having great meetings. At Norwich, when I came to Captain Lawrence’s,[76] there was a great threatening of disturbance; but the meeting was quiet. Passing thence to Sutton, and so into Cambridgeshire, I heard of Edward Burrough’s decease. And being sensible how great a grief and exercise it would be to Friends to part with him, I wrote the following lines for the staying and settling of their minds;—

“Friends,

“Be still and quiet in your own conditions, and settle in the Seed of God that doth not change, that in that ye may feel dear E.B. among you in the Seed, in which and by which he begat you to God, with whom he is; and that in the Seed ye may all see and feel him, in which is the unity with him in the life: and so enjoy him in the life that doth not change, which is invisible.”

Thence I passed to Little Port and the Isle of Ely; where the ex-mayor with his wife, and the wife of the then mayor of Cambridge, came to the meeting. Travelling into Lincolnshire and Huntingdonshire, I came to Thomas Parnell’s, where the mayor of Huntingdon came to see me, and was very loving. Thence I came into the Fen-County, where we had large and quiet meetings. While I was in that country, there came so great a flood that it was dangerous to go out, yet we did get out, and went to Lynn, where we had a blessed meeting.

Next morning I went to visit some prisoners there; and then back to the inn, and took horse. As I was riding out of the yard, the officers came to search the inn for me. I knew nothing of it then, only I felt a great burden come upon me as I rode out of the town, till without the gates. When some Friends that came after, overtook me, they told me, that the officers had been searching for me in the inn, as soon as I was gone out of the yard. So by the good hand of the Lord, I escaped their cruel hands. After this we passed through the countries, visiting Friends in their meetings.

The Lord’s power carried us over persecuting spirits, and through many dangers; his truth spread and grew, and Friends were established therein; praises and glory to his name for ever.

1. At present (1891), there are eleven Yearly Meetings on the American continent also, in association with each other, and with that of London.

2. This is not now quite correct. A committee still draws up the General Epistle; but the minutes of the transactions of the meeting are made as matters occur during its several sittings.

3. Called the Meeting for Sufferings, and now held monthly, except exigencies require more frequent sittings.

4. Old Style.

5. Elizabeth Hooton was born at Nottingham about the year 1600; was the wife of a person who occupied a respectable position in society. In 1647, when George Fox first met with her, she formed one of a company of serious persons, who occasionally met together. Little is known of her, but “the meetings and discourses” she had with George Fox appear to have been the means of convincing her of the spiritual views of Friends. Sewell says in 1650—“From a true experience of the Lord’s work in man, she felt herself moved publicly to preach the way of salvation to others.” She was therefore not only the first of her sex, but the second individual who appeared in the character of a minister amongst the newly-gathered society. The preaching of women was not at this period considered singular, several being thus engaged among the various religious sects then in England. Elizabeth Hooton had not long publicly testified as a minister, before her sincerity and faithfulness were tested by persecution. Besides suffering in other ways, she endured several imprisonments, sometimes for months together. As a gospel minister, she stood high in the estimation of her friends, and in advanced life performed two religious visits to America and the West Indies, the latter of which occupied her several years. She was one who travelled with George Fox amongst the West India Islands, as related elsewhere in these volumes, being suddenly taken ill in Jamaica, where she died the day following, aged about 71 years, a minister 21 years.

6. The term “steeplehouse” occurs not unfrequently in this Journal, and in the early writings and records of Friends. Though it may sound harsh, and appear to savour of the scurrility and intolerance of that zealous age, yet this, or any other mode of speech adopted by Friends, was by no means taken up for the purpose of opprobrium, but rather significantly to discover the little veneration or distinction they could show for these buildings more than others; believing that the Almighty is equally present everywhere, to bless and to sanctify every place and everything to those that walk uprightly on the earth, his footstool.

One of the chief points of George Fox’s ministry was to overturn that insidious reverence for names and things which is too frequently substituted for the worship that is “in spirit and in truth.” Few instances more distinctly exhibit this sort of covert idolatry, than the general notion of sanctity which is attached to the building called a “church.” The word “church” is, in the Holy Scriptures, never applied to an outward temple or building, but to a company of believers, whether generally or particularly. The use of this term appears to have crept in among Christians, and with it a superstitious consecration of those places, as possessing some latent quality not affecting other works of art or nature. To this Stephen the martyr evidently alluded when he said, “Howbeit the Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands,” &c., Acts vii. 48. Clemens of Alexandria says, “Not the place, but the congregation of the elect, I call a church,” Stromat. vii., 715 B.

7. By a royal proclamation of James I., issued in 1618 (for Lancashire), these pastimes were made lawful recreations for the First-day of the week, provided they did not interfere with the times appointed for worship. Many of the clergy at first refused to promulgate the proclamation, though by so doing they acted contrary to their canonical obedience, and laid themselves open to penalties. In the seventh year of Charles I., this proclamation, at the instigation of Archbishop Laud, was revived, and extended to the whole nation, and was enjoined to be published and advocated from the pulpit by all ministers, to their disgrace. By the revival of this offensive proclamation, these disorderly revels had arrived to such a height of licentious depravity, that some well-disposed justices, in the county of Somerset, petitioned the judges on the western circuit, Sir Thomas Richardson, Lord Chief Justice, and Baron Denham, to suppress them. For so doing, they were summoned before the King and Council, by Archbishop Laud, for illegally interfering with the ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and the council rescinded the prohibitions, and cashiered the judges.—(See Fuller’s Church Hist., Book x., p. 74: and Book xi., p. 147).

8. The designation “Quakers,” which was at first applied in scorn, has ever since been used by the world to distinguish Friends from other professors of religion. The first use of the term in the records of Parliament, occurs in the journals of the House of Commons in 1654.

9. The English nation at this period was much engrossed with the great subjects of religion and politics, and both were mingled together in strange conjunction. The chief rulers of the Commonwealth, more especially Oliver Cromwell, had contrived to interweave their own views on spiritual matters into the minds of the soldiers; who, in those days, commonly united, with the profession of arms, the profession also of Christianity. The unsettled state of the country caused them to be stationed in considerable numbers in most of the principal towns of the north, and several of them had made acquaintance with George Fox during his imprisonment, and were so much impressed in his favour, that it appears they were desirous, as the time of his release drew near, to engage him in the capacity of their captain.

10. Richard Farnsworth became an eminent minister, and many were turned to God by him. He was mighty in discourses with priests and professors, and laboured much in the gospel. He was twelve months imprisoned at Banbury in 1655, and after great sufferings and persecutions, he finished his testimony in London, in 1666. A short time before his death, sitting up in bed, he spoke in as much power and strength of spirit as he had done at any time in his health, testifying that he was filled with the love of God more than he was able to express. He published many small works in defence of truth.

11. William Dewsbury, often mentioned in this Journal, became a valiant minister of the gospel, travelling extensively in its advocacy. Whiting says, “he was an extraordinary man many ways, and I thought as exact a pattern of a perfect man as ever I knew.” His health became impaired through the sharp persecutions he passed through, consisting of many long imprisonments, beatings, and bruisings. In 1688, going up to London to visit the brethren, he was taken ill of a distemper contracted in prison. Returning home, he died shortly after, leaving a heavenly testimony behind him, expressed about a week before he died. This, with other information, is recorded in Piety Promoted, vol. i., pp. 163-168, and further particulars in Whiting’s Memoirs, p. 25, and at pp. 376-387. His works were published in 1 vol. quarto, in 1689.

12. The leathern garments worn by George Fox were chosen by him for their simplicity and durability; and though they often subjected their wearer to ridicule and abuse, he had no motive beyond the above-mentioned for choosing such a garb. Many persons have been amused, if not offended at him for having worn such a dress when he was a young man. In those days leathern garments were not so singular as some suppose. It was a well authenticated fact, that an eminent merchant of the city of London, about 150 years ago, travelled on foot from Newcastle, in search of a livelihood, clad in a coat of leather. He opened a warehouse in London for the sale of heavy articles of iron, which were manufactured in the neighbourhood of Newcastle. In a few years he became prosperous, accumulated a large fortune, and ranked with the magnates of the city, sharing in all the civic honours of the corporation. The firm which he established still continues to conduct a flourishing business, at a warehouse in Thames Street, which is familiarly known in the trade by “The Leathern Doublet;” a representation of the founder’s original dress being fixed as a sign in front of the building.