careful look out for the book, a copy has been secured, and is now in
the Manchester Free Library. The title reads:—“A Guide to Heaven from
the Word. Good counsel how to close savingly with Christ. Serious
Questions for Morning and Evening; and rules for the due observation of
the Lord’s Day. John 5, 39. Search the Scriptures. Manchester: Printed
by T. Harper, Smithy Door.” (32 mo, pp. 100.) There is no date, but the
name of Thomas Harper, printer, Smithy Door, may be read in the
“Manchester Directory” for 1788, and the slightest examination of the
“Guide to Heaven” will show that its typography belongs to that period.
From whence, then, did Ford get the date of 1664? If we turn to the
fly-leaf the mystery is explained, for on it we read, “Imprimatur, J.
Hall, R.P.D. Lond. a Sac. Domest. April 14 1664.” The book, in fact,
was first printed in London in 1664, and Thomas Harper, when issuing it
afresh, reprinted the original imprimatur, which Ford then misconstrued
into the date of the Manchester edition. The book is entered as
Bamfield’s “Guide to Heaven” in Clavell’s “Catalogue,” and the
publisher is there stated to be H. Brome. Either Francis or Thomas
Bamfield may have been the author, but the former seems the more
likely. Thomas Bampfield—so the name is usually spelled—was Speaker of
Richard Cromwell’s Parliament of 1658, and he was a member of the
Convention Parliament of 1660, and was the author of some treatises in
the Sabbatarian controversy. Francis was a brother of Thomas, and also
of Sir John Bamfield, and was educated at Wadham College, Oxford, where
he graduated M.A. in 1638. He was ordained, but was ejected from the
Church in 1662, and died minister of the Sabbatarian Church in Pinner’s
Hall. He wrote in favour of the observation of the Saturday as the
seventh day, and therefore real Sabbath, and whilst preaching to his
congregation was arrested and imprisoned at Newgate, where he died 16th
February, 1683-4. His earliest acknowledged writing was published in
1672, and relates to the Sabbath question.
The first book printed in Manchester, so far as the present evidence
goes, was Jackson’s “Mathematical Lectures,” but it was the fruit of
the second printing-press at work in the town.
Thomas Lurting: a Liverpool Worthy.
Quakerism has a very extensive literature, and is especially rich in
books of biography; which are not only of interest from a theological
point, but are valuable for the incidental and sometimes unexpected
light which they throw upon the history and customs of the past. One of
the early Quaker autobiographies is that of Thomas Lurting, a Liverpool
worthy, who has not hitherto been included by local writers in the list
of Lancashire notables.
Thomas Lurting was born in 1629, and, in all probability, at Liverpool.
The name is by no means a common one, but it is a well-known Liverpool
name, and many references to its members will be found in Sir James
Picton’s “Memorials and Records.”[1] From 1580 to the close of the
seventeenth century they appear to have been conspicuous citizens. John
Lurting was a councillor and “Merchant ’Praiser” in 1580. A John
Lurting was bailiff of the town in 1653; but three years earlier had so
little reverence for civic dignity as to style one of the aldermen “a
cheating rogue.”
From his own narrative we learn that in 1646, at the age of fourteen,
Thomas Lurting was “impressed,” and served in the wars against the
Irish, Dutch, and Spaniards. He gives a graphic account of the
sea-fight at Santa Cruz in 1657, by our great English admiral Blake, in
which the Spaniards came off second-best. At the time of his conversion
he was boatswain’s mate on the _Bristol_ frigate. There were two young
men on board, who had some conversation with a soldier who had been
present at a Quaker’s meeting in Scotland. The soldier soon after left
the ship; but what he had said came back to the minds of the young men,
and presently they refused to listen to the chaplain, or to take their
hats off to the captain, who added to his seafaring functions the
quality of a Baptist preacher. The chaplain complimented Lurting as “an
honest man and a good Christian,” so long as, in his capacity of
boatswain’s mate, he persecuted the two youthful Quakers. Great was the
amazement when Lurting joined himself to those despised children of
light. The chaplain and the captain in vain tried to convince him of
the errors of his new theological associates. The Quakers increased,
until instead of two there were fourteen in the ship. There was an
epidemic of sickness, and the Quakers were known by the care they took
of each other and their brotherly sympathy. When he got well the
captain allowed Lurting to have his old cabin—which had the reputation
of being haunted—both for a sleeping room and for a meeting-place.
At this time the Quaker mariners did not object to take their share of
fighting, but when going into an engagement at Barcelona, it came into
Lurting’s mind that it was unlawful to slay. The Quakers having decided
to “bear their testimony” against war, had an unpleasant time. Off
Leghorn, in 1655, the preacher-captain drew his sword to run one of
them through.
Thomas Lurting was several times impressed after the Restoration of
Charles II., but he refused either to do the King’s work or eat the
King’s victual. On one of these occasions, after five days’ fasting, he
was put ashore.
But the most remarkable incident in Lurting’s life was one which
occurred when, after he had become a “harmless Christian,” he was mate
of a ship that was captured by an Algerine pirate. The English sailors,
following Lurting’s instructions, managed to turn the tables and make
the Turks their prisoners; but, instead of selling the pirates for
slaves, as they had the opportunity to do, they put them on shore not
far from an Algerine town. The pirates marvelled greatly at this
unexpected treatment, and the captives and ex-captives took an
affectionate farewell of each other. Lurting’s account of this
remarkable transaction was written at Liverpool in 1680, and was
printed in George Fox’s “To the Great Turk and his King, at Algiers.”
Of this tract there is a copy in the Midgley Library, at Manchester
(Vol. 16, Tract 7), and it is reprinted in the “Doctrinal Books of
George Fox” (London, 1706, p. 778). Lurting’s letter to the founder of
the Society of Friends is sufficiently curious to be worth quoting in
full:—
“OF GEORGE PATTISON’S TAKING THE TURKS ABOUT
THE 8TH MONTH, 1663.
Dear Friend,
Thine I have received: In Answer to thy request, I have given thee
an Account as well and as near as I can; but as to the exact time I
cannot, for I have not my Books. I was George Pattison’s Mate, and
coming from Venice, being near a Spanish Island called May-York,[2]
we were Chased by a Turkish Ship or Patah, as sometimes before we
had been, and thinking by our Vessels well Sailing, might escape:
But Providence Ordered it So, That by carrying over-much Sail, some
of our Materials gave way, by which means the said Turk came up
with us, and commanded the Master on Board, who accordingly went
with four Men more, leaving me and three Men, and a Boy on Board
our Ship; and so soon as our Men came on Board the Turk, they took
them all out of the Boat, and came about 14 Turks in our Boat. All
which time I was under a very great Exercise in Spirit, not so much
for my self, because I had a secret Hope of Relief; but a great
Stress lay upon me, for the Men in this very Juncture of time; for
all Hope of outward Appearance being then gone; the Master being on
board of the Turk, and four more, and the Turks just coming on
Board, I being as one, even as if I were or were not, only desiring
of the Lord for Patience in such an Exercise, and going to the
Vessel-side, to see the Turks come in, the Word of Life, run
through me, Be not afraid, for all this thou shalt not go to
Algier. And I having formerly good Experience of the Lords doing
upon several such like Occasions, as in times of War, I believed
what the Lord did say in me: At this all kind of Fear was taken
from me, and I received them as a Man might his Friend; and they
were as Civil, so shewing them all parts of the Vessel, and what
she was laden with withal, then I said to them that were our Men;
Be not afraid, for I believe for all this we shall not go to
Algier, but let me desire you, as you have been willing to obey me,
so be as willing to obey the Turks. For by our so doing I saw we
got over them, for when they saw our great Diligence, it made them
careless of us, I mean, in securing of us; So when they had taken
some small Matter of what we were laden withal, some went on Board
their own Ship again, and some staid with us, which were about
Eight. Then began I to think of the Master and the other Four,
which were in the Turks ship; for as for my self and the other with
me, I had no fear at all; Nay, I was far from it, That I said to
one then, Were but the Master on Board, and the rest, if there were
twice so many Turks, I should not fear them; So my earnest Desire
was to the Lord, That he would put it into their Hearts, to send
him on Board with the rest, and good was the Lord in answering, for
it was a Seal, to what he before spoke through me. As soon as the
Master was on Board with the rest, all manner of Fear was off me,
as to my going to Algier, and some said to me, I was a strange Man,
I was afraid before I was taken, but now I was taken, I was not; my
answer was, I now believe I shall not go to Algier, and if you will
be ruled by me, I will act for your Delivery, as well as my own.
But as yet I saw no way made, for they were all Arm’d, and we
without Arms. Now we being altogether, except the Master, I began
to reason with them, What if we should overcome the Turks, and go
to May-York? At which they very much rejoyced; and one said, I will
Kill One or Two, another said, I will cut as many of their Throats,
as you will have me; this was our Mens Answer. At which I was much
troubled, and said unto them, If I knew any of them that offered to
touch a Turk, I would tell the Turks my self. But said to them; If
you will be rul’d, I will act for you, if not, I will be still; to
which they agreed to do, what I would have them. Then said I, if
the Turks bid you do any thing, do it without grumbling, and with
as much Diligence and Quickness as you can, for I see that pleases
them, and that will cause them to let us be together: To which they
agreed.
Then I went to the Master, who was a Man of a very bold Spirit, and
told him our Intents; whose answer to me was, If we offered to
rise, and they overcame us, we had as good be burnt alive, the
which I knew very well. But I could get him no way to adhere to me,
in that he being fearful of Blood-shed; for that was his Reason:
Insomuch, that at last I told him we were resolved, and I
question’d not to do it without one Drop of Blood spilt, and I
believ’d that the Lord would prosper it, by Reason, I could rather
go to Algier, than to kill a Turk: So at last he agreed to this, to
let me do what I would, provided we killed none: At that time there
being still two Turks lying in the Cabin with him: So that he was
to lie in the Cabin, that by his being there they should mistrust
nothing, which accordingly he did. And having bad weather, and lost
the Company of the Man of War; the Turks seeing our Diligence, made
them careless of us.
So the second Night, after the Captain was gone to sleep, I
perswaded one to lie in my Cabin, and so one in another, till at
last it raining very much, I perswaded them all down to sleep; and
when asleep, got their Arms in Possession. Then said I to the Men
of our Vessel: Now have we the Turks at our Command; no Man shall
hurt any of them, for if you do, I will be against you: But this we
will do, now they are under, we will keep them so, and go to
May-York. So when I had ordered some to keep the Doors, if any
should come out, straightly charging the Spilling of no Blood; and
so altered our Course for May-York the which in the Morning we were
fair by: So my Order was to our Men, if any offer’d to come out,
not to let out above one at a time. And in the Morning one came
out, expecting to have seen their own Country, but on the contrary,
it was May-York. Now, said I to our Men, be careful of the Door,
for when he goes in, we shall see what they will do. And as soon as
he told them we were going towards May-York, they instead of
Rising, fell all to crying, for their Hearts were taken from them.
So they desired they might not be Sold; the which I promised they
should not. So soon as I had pacified them, then I went in to the
Master, he not yet knowing what was done, and so he told their
Captain what we had done, how that we had over-come his Men, and
that we were going for May-York. At which unexpected News he Wept,
and desired the Master not to Sell him; the which he promised he
would not. Then we told the Captain we would make a Place to hide
them in, where the Spaniards should not find them; at which they
were very glad, and we did accordingly. So when we came in, the
Master went on Shoar, with Four more, and left me on Board with the
Turks, which were Ten. And when he had done his Business, not
taking Product, lest the Spaniards should come and see the Turks.
But at Night an English Master came on Board, being an
Acquaintance; and after some Discourse, we told him if he would not
betray us, we would tell him what we had done; but we would not
have the Spaniards to know it, lest they should take them from us;
The which he promis’d, but broke it; and would fain have had Two or
Three of them, to have brought them for England; but we saw his
end; And when he saw he could not prevail, he said they were worth
Two or Three Hundred Pieces of Eight a Piece; Whereat, both the
Master and I told him, if they would give many Thousands they
should not have One, for we hoped to send them home again. So he
look’d upon us as Fools, because we would not Sell them; the which
I would not have done for the whole Island. But contrary to our
Expectations, he told the Spaniards, who threatned to take them
from us: But so soon as we heard thereof, we called out all the
Turks, and told them they must help us, or the Spaniards would take
them from us. So they resolvedly helped us, and we made all haste
to run from the Spaniards, the which pleased the Turks very well.
So we put our selves to the Hazard of the Turks, and being taken
again, to save them.
So we continued about six or seven days, not being willing to put
into any Port of Spain, for fear of losing the Turks. We let them
have all their liberty for four days, till they made an attempt to
rise, the which I foresaw, and prevented without any harm. I was
very Courteous to them, at the which some of our men grumbled,
saying, I had more care of the Turks than them; My Answer was, They
are Strangers, I must treat them well. At last, I told the Master
it might do well to go to the Turks Coast, for there it was more
likely to miss their Men of War than where we were; and also it
might fall out so, that we might have an Opportunity to put the
Turks on Shoar: To which the Master agreed. And in two days we were
near the Turks Shoar, at a place called Cape Hone, about Fifty
Miles from Algier, as the Turks told us. So when we came about six
Miles from the Shore it fell calm, and I had very much working in
my mind, about getting them ashore.
At last I went to the Master, and told him, I had a great desire to
put the Turks on Shore, but how I knew not; for to give them the
Boat, they might go and get Men and Arms, and so take us again; and
to put half on Shoar, they would raise the Country and surprize us
when we came with the rest. But if he would let me go, and if three
more would go with me, I would venture to put them on Shoar; to
which he consented.
So then I spoke to the men, and there were two more, and my self
and a Boy took in the ten Turks all loose, and went about six miles
and put them on Shore in their own Country, within about four miles
of Two Towns which they knew. Withal, we gave them about fifty
Padas of Bread and other Necessaries to Travel with. They would
fain have enticed us to go to the Towns, telling us we should have
Wines, and many other things: As to their parts, I could have
ventured with them. They all embraced me very kindly in their Arms
when they went ashore. They made one Rising in the Boat when going
ashore, the which I prevented; and we parted with a great deal of
love.
When we came home to England, the King came to the Vessels side,
and enquired an Account, the which the Master gave him. So this is
as near as I can certifie thee; I have writ thee more at large to
give thee the whole as it was; but thou mayst take what is the most
material, and so I rest thine in that which can do good for evil,
which ought to be the practice of all true men.
Liverpoole, the 30th of the fifth Month, 1680.
THOMAS LURTING.”
After a stormy manhood Thomas Lurting had a peaceful old age. Part of
his well-earned leisure was devoted to the preparation of an
autobiography, which appeared in 1710, with the following quaint
title:—“The Fighting Sailor turned peaceable Christian; manifested in
the convincement and conversion of Thomas Lurting. With a short
relation of many great Dangers, and wonderful Deliverances, he met
withal. First written for private satisfaction, and now published for
general service.” This tract, sometimes in an abridged form, has been
several times reprinted, and there were editions in 1711, 1720, no
date, 1766, 1801 (Leeds), 1811, 1813, 1820, and 1842.
Thomas Lurting died 30th First Month, 1713. His corpse was taken to the
Friends’ Meeting House at Horsleydown, Southwark, where a funeral
sermon was preached on the occasion. The body was then interred at the
Friends’ Burial-ground, Long Lane, Bermondsey. He had been a widower
for some years previously, his wife, Eleanor, who was of Rotherhithe,
having died 13th of First Month, 1708-9, aged 65 years.
However much faith may vary and forms of belief change, men will always
respect those who listen to the voice of conscience, and obey that
inward monitor when its behests bring scorn and persecution. The
Quakers had the true martyr-spirit, and would not abate a single iota
of their testimony either for the fear or the favour of man. In
Lurting’s narrative we see the plain, straightforward character of the
man. There is no evidence of self-consciousness to mar the picturesque
force of the essentially heroic quality of his deeds. Liverpool can
boast of some great names, but let her cherish the name of her Quaker
hero, “the Fighting Sailor turned peaceable Christian.”
Footnote 1:
We append a few short notices of this family, in chronological order.
1333-1345. In the time of Richard de Bury, Bishop of Durham, W.
Lurtyng, of Chester, is mentioned. See _31st Report of Record
Office_, p. 82.
_The following are extracts from the “Liverpool Municipal Records_”:—
1581. On the 21st August, John Lyrting, residing in Juggler Street,
Liverpool, was assessed for a “Taxation or Levy at the sum of
xvii^d.”—the highest charge in the street being 2s. 6d., and the
lowest 4d.—ii., 218.
1617. Thomas Lurting, Juggler Street.—ii., 827.
1628, 7th October. “Item, wee prsent Thomas Lurtinge for switchinge
Nicholas Rydinge wth a sticke.”—iii., 63.
1636/7. Nich Lurting first in jury.—iii., 177.
1644. John Lurting, “saler,” burgess of Liverpool.—iii., 359.
1644 and 1649. Peter Lurting and Thomas Lurting, freemen (iii., 361).
Also John Lurting, Smith, Wm. Lurting de Cestr, Wm. Lurting, Smith,
and Robert Lurting.
1651. “Tho. Lurting, for a Tussle upon Tho^s. Hoskins, iiis.
iiiid.”—iii., 506.
1663-4. Peter Lurting, Mayor.
1672. Peter Lurting, tenant of Godscroft, 1s. rent; Rich. Lurting, of
a smithy at Water Side, 5s.; Rich. Lurting, Castle Hill, 13s. for 13
yards front.
Footnote 2:
Majorca.
Kufic Coins found in Lancashire.
In the great find of coins at Cuerdale in North Lancashire, besides a
single Byzantine piece there were several Kufic coins, along with some
of North Italy, about a thousand French and two thousand eight hundred
Anglo-Saxon pieces. In these coins, and in those found over the whole
of Northumbria are to be seen the evidences of the active commercial
intercourse that even in the pre-historic ages prevailed between the
Eastern world and the people of the North of Europe, and especially
those dwelling on the shores of the Baltic. This has been abundantly
proved by the numerous archæological discoveries made from time to
time.[3]
Whilst Scandinavia was still in the Stone and Bronze stages of the
development of civilisation, merchants came to the Baltic for furs,
tin, and the yellow amber so highly prized as an ornament by the
oriental women. Indeed Oppert has shown that ten centuries before the
Christian era the Assyrians had at least indirect communication with
the Baltic shores, the only locality known to the ancient world where
the yellow amber could be procured. The references to amber in Homer
and Hesiod have not passed without dispute, but the discoveries of
Greek coins in various parts leave little or no doubt as to the
existence of commercial routes, which went from the Black Sea, by the
Dnieper, the Bug and the Dniester, to gain the basin of the Niemen and
of the Vistula, and thence spread to the Baltic. The amber commerce in
the hands of the Milesians and the Greeks found various routes. The
Roman women were as passionately partial to amber ornaments as their
sisters of the East, and there is sufficient testimony as to the
commercial intercourse of Rome with the barbarians of the North.
The Arabs, although in the Middle Ages they had the monopoly of the
trade, were not its originators, but merely continued an intercourse
that had existed from remote antiquity. The mediæval geographers had
very little precise knowledge; but in the Mappa Mundi of the tenth
century, in the British Museum, the parts of northern Europe indicated
with the fewest misconceptions are the countries of the amber trade.
The rapid conquest of western Asia by the Arabs was followed by those
internal dissensions which led to the formation of independent
kingdoms. The Samanides, who reigned in Persia and dominated the shores
of the Caspian Sea, were the principal cultivators of the North trade.
The Arabs, if they had little taste for maritime commerce, were
admirably adapted to be the leaders of great caravans, by which the
riches of the East were spread into far lands. From Egypt they went
across the Sahara to Nigritia, from whence they brought gold, ivory,
and slaves. Passing through Persia and Cashmere they worked in the
direction of India. Crossing the immense steppes of Tartary, they
entered China by the province of Shen-si. Their caravans to Europe
passed by Armenia on the south, and by Bokhara and Khorassan on the
east. There were great fairs at Samarcand, Teheran, Bagdad, and other
places. The merchants directed their course to the Caspian, and halted
at Derbend before ascending the Volga. The itinerary of these pilgrims
of commerce can be reconstructed from the Kufic coins and accompanying
ornaments that have been found at Kazan, Perm, Tula, Moscow, Smolensk,
Novgorod, St. Petersburg, and other localities. The finds of Arabic
moneys in the Russian Empire have occurred almost exclusively in the
country watered by the Volga, which was the line of communication for
the Arabs with the Slavs and Scandinavians of the Middle Ages. The
shores of Germany, Lithuania, and Sweden were visited. The most
northerly discoveries of Kufic coins have been by the river Angermann,
which empties itself in the Gulf of Bothnia. The islands of Gothland,
Oland, and Bornholm appear to have been the centre of this commercial
activity. Lithuania, Denmark, and Poland, especially the latter, have
also yielded to the antiquarian investigator many evidences of
intercourse with the Arabs. On the coasts of Pomerania and along the
course of the Oder Kufic coins have been found, the southern limit
being apparently in Silesia.
Worsaae in speaking of some silver ornaments with a triangular pattern
of three or four points, also found at Cuerdale, says “that the
discovery of so many coins of this class in Russia, from the Caspian
and the Black Sea up to the shores of the Baltic, sufficiently proves
that from the eighth until the eleventh century there existed a very
lively intercourse by trade between the East and the northern parts of
Europe.”[4]