G. Fox thinking his wife now at liberty, understood that her enemies,
notwithstanding the king’s order to release her, had found means to
hold her still in prison. Therefore he did not give himself rest, till
by the help of others he obtained from the king a discharge under the
great seal, to clear both her and her estate, after she had been ten
years a prisoner, and premunired. This royal order he sent forthwith
down to her, and thus she was set at liberty.
Now since the heat of persecution began to cool, he felt himself
inclined to make a voyage to America, to visit his friends there. Of
this his intention he gave notice to his wife by a letter, and desired
her to come up to London; which she did accordingly. And he having
taken leave of her, set sail in the latter part of the summer towards
America, with several of his friends that accompanied him.
Now whilst I leave him on ship-board, I cannot forbear to mention,
that this year at London came forth a witty pamphlet with this title,
An easy Way to get Money _cum Privilegio_, without fear or cumber,
printed for the society of informers. This book contained a satirical
rebuke to the informers, and began thus: ‘To all you that can work,
and will not; and to all those that through other ways of extravagancy
have brought yourselves into debt, necessity, or other wants, (for your
speedy supply and future support,) there is an opportunity put into
your hands, that is both safe, profitable, and honourable. It is to be
informers.’
Next the author said, ‘That it was an easy way, since it was no
more than to seek out where there were in any house, barn, stable,
or backside, five persons besides those of the family; though they
spoke never a word. If you do but swear it, (thus he continued,) to
be a conventicle, then it is a conventicle. It is no matter if there
were never a thought in their hearts as to plotting or contriving
insurrections; (for which the law was made,) they being there, it is
sufficient to have them fined five shillings apiece the first time,
and twenty pounds for the house: and for the second time ten shillings
apiece; and if the justices be not well advised, it may be for the
second time for the house you may get twenty pounds more, although the
act doth not grant it. And of all this it is said, the thirds is yours:
this you may easily have; for the justices are afraid of your power,
since you have them under your lee; so they will not much question you,
lest they be counted fanatics; and they know that if they do not please
your wills, your power is such, that you may recover fifty pounds for
your parts, by action, suit, bill or plea, in any of his majesty’s
courts at Westminster, wherein no essoign, protection, or wager of law
shall lie. Can your hearts desire more? who will not be informers? that
must have all clauses construed most largely and beneficially to their
justification and encouragement!’
As to the profitableness, the author said, ‘Besides the twenty pounds
and ten shillings apiece for meeting, if you can but tempt any by your
questions, or other provocations, to speak but a word to answer you, it
will serve to make him a preacher, and then for the first time there is
twenty pounds, and for the second forty pounds. It is no matter what is
spoke, or to what concern; if you swear you did hear such an one speak,
it is enough to make him a preacher. And as to the inability, there is
no danger that you should fall short of your salary; for you can by
your power make void that old proverb, Where it is not to be had, the
king must lose his right. But your prerogative is such, that if the
offender hath it not, you can command your servants to levy it on any
other that is not an offender in that nature, provided he be there,
otherwise an appeal will be granted.’
At this rate the author treated the matter, taking out of the way all
difficulties and scruples which any might have objected; and though
he did this mostly in a burlesque way, yet what he said was so firm
and strenuous, that he gave proofs of being a man of understanding,
and of a great wit; for though in an ingenious way he showed the
abominableness of this informing trade, yet he proposed it safe every
way: and if any might tell them they were knights of the post; yet
however the thing fell out, it was never attended with loss, but
always with a certain gain; since in the prosecution nothing could be
objected, but what might be easily quashed, and the opposers thus
frustrated.--‘And when to all these infallible profits was added the
honourableness of the office, what could one desire more? for was
it not honourable indeed to command both magistrates and military
officers, to follow the informers where they will? and to obtain
this office, one needed not to be at great cost to purchase it, nor
to break his pate with studying; since at the very first conventicle
they entered they might commence doctors.’ But of what religion or
profession these informers should be, the author himself seemed not to
know: ‘They must be no jews,’ said he, ‘for these were not to covet
their neighbours’ ox, nor ass, nor any thing that was their neighbours;
neither should they be gentiles, for they had conscience accusing, and
did by nature the things contained in the law, having the law writ
in their hearts. And Christians they could be by no means; for they
say they forsake the devil and all his works, and all the lusts of
the flesh, and not to hurt any by word nor deed, which is less than
by swearing,’ [the common fact of the informers.] To conclude, the
author said: ‘for any into whose hands this may come, if they fear any
danger in it, they ought not to conceal it, but to bring it before some
justice, or the chief magistrate of the place, with an account how they
came by it, and then they are innocent: then if it cannot clear itself,
let it lie in prison till it perish.’
Now I return to George Fox, whom we left in the ship going to America.
During his voyage he suffered much in his body; for the many hurts
and bruises he had formerly received, and the griefs and infirmities
he had contracted in England by cold, and hardships, and long
imprisonments, returned upon him now he came to sea, and caused great
pain. And after having been seven weeks and some odd days at sea, he,
with his fellow-travellers, came safe to the island of Barbadoes. His
occurrences there he hath described at large in his journal. Many of
the great ones, especially the governor, showed him much kindness. And
after he had edified his friends there on many occasions, and exhorted
them to the maintaining of good order, both in things relating to the
church, and in the governing of their blacks; he now, being restored
to health again, departed the island after a stay of three months, and
set sail for Jamaica, where he had not been long, ere Elizabeth Hooton,
several times mentioned in this work, departed this life, having been
well the day before she died; and thus she finished her days in a good
frame of mind. After he had been there about seven weeks, he performed
his service to his satisfaction.
1672.
In the beginning of the year 1672 he took shipping for Maryland,
where being come, he with those with him travelled through woods and
wildernesses, over bogs and great rivers, to New England. By the way
he had sometimes opportunity to speak to the Indians and their kings;
and at other times he met with singular cases, all which, for brevity’s
sake, I pass by in silence. He went also to the town formerly called
New Amsterdam, which name is now changed into that of New York. Here
he lodged at the governor’s house, and had also a meeting there. From
thence he returned again to Maryland, and came also into Virginia, and
Carolina, and thus spent above a year travelling to and fro in America.
Whilst he was there, England and France were entered into war against
Holland. Now though I have yet in fresh remembrance those sad times,
and in what a wonderful manner it pleased the Lord to save our
country from being quite overrun and subdued, yet I shall not mention
those things, since they are at large set down by other writers. Yet
transiently I will give a touch of the remarkable exaltation of William
III. prince of Orange, and afterwards king of Great Britain.
I have already said in its due place, how it was endeavoured to exclude
him by the perpetual edict from ever being stadtholder or deputy.
But how strong soever this edict was sworn to, yet heaven brought it
to nought, and broke the ties of it by the refuse of the nation: for
women, and many others of the mob, forced the magistrates, when the
French were come into the province of Utrecht, and all seemed to run
into confusion, to break their oaths, and to restore that young and
magnanimous prince to the honour and dignity of his renowned ancestors.
The miserable fate of the two brethren, John and Cornelius de Wit, who
had been chief instruments in making the said perpetual edict, and were
killed and butchered in a most abominable manner by the inhabitants of
the Hague, was not without good reason disapproved by many grave and
serious people. It is true, it was a great mistake that they acted so,
that they seemed to set limits to the Almighty; though I do not believe
their intent was such, but rather that what they did in making void the
stadtholdership, they judged conducive to the benefit of their country.
After they were murdered, the widow of Cornelius de Wit seemed to
have a firm belief that they were entered into everlasting glory: for
though for some time after their death she was under a great concern,
considering how on a sudden, and at unawares, they were hurried out of
this life; yet at length, early in the morning, either in a dream or
in a vision, she beheld them both in a cloud in a glorious form, with
hands lifted up, and clothed with pure white raiment. By this sight all
her former solicitude and fear was taken from her, and she was fully
satisfied concerning their eternal well-being. I have this relation
from several credible persons, who said they had it from her own mouth;
and they all agreed in the material circumstances.
1673.
In England, where it was observed that persecution for religion, during
the war, could not but be prejudicial to the public, the king published
a declaration, whereby the execution of the penal laws was suspended.
But since the Papists, against whom the most of these laws had been
made, thus got liberty to enter into offices of trust, many of the
people grew jealous on this account; insomuch that the parliament in
the year 1673, showed their dislike to the king, telling him, that the
penal statutes about ecclesiastical matters could not be suspended but
by an act of parliament. The king, wanting money to continue the war,
yielded somewhat to parliament, in respect to the popish priests and
jesuits, consenting that the laws against them should continue in force.
This summer G. Fox returned to England, and arrived at Bristol, of
which he gave notice to his wife by a letter; and she delayed not to
go to him; with her came also her son-in-law Thomas Lower, and two of
her daughters: her other son-in-law John Rouse, accompanied by William
Penn, &c. came also from London; and since at that time there was a
fair at Bristol, many of his friends came thither from other parts of
the country, and so were at a great meeting he had there, in which
he preached concerning the three chief teachers, viz. ‘That God was
the first teacher of man and woman in paradise; and that as long as
they kept to God’s teaching, they kept in the image of God, and in
righteousness, holiness, and dominion over all that God hath made: but
when they hearkened to the false teaching of the serpent, who was out
of truth, and so disobeyed God, they lost the image of God, to wit,
righteousness and holiness; and so coming under the power of satan,
were turned out of paradise. That this serpent was the second teacher,
and that man following his teaching, came into misery, and into the
fall. And that Christ Jesus was the third teacher, of whom God said,
“This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, hear ye him:” and
that this Son himself said, “Learn of me:” that he was the true gospel
teacher, that never fell, and therefore was to be heard in all things,
since he was the Saviour and the Redeemer, and having laid down his
life, had bought his sheep with his precious blood.’ Of this he treated
at large in the said meeting. After some stay at Bristol, he went to
Gloucestershire; and going from thence to Oxfordshire, he came at
length to London, where persecution being not so hot now as formerly,
the Baptists and Socinians were very active in blackening the Quakers,
by publishing several books against them, in which they averred that
the Quakers were no Christians. But these malicious books were not left
unanswered, nor the falsehoods contained in them.
After G. Fox had been some time at London, he went with his wife and
Thomas Lower to Worcester; and when he signified to her that it was
like a prison would be his share, she seemed not without reason grieved
at it. And not long after had a meeting at Armscot in Tredington
parish, after the meeting was ended, he, with Thomas Lower, sitting in
the parlour, and discoursing with some friends, they both were under
pretence of having kept great meetings that might be prejudicial to the
public peace, taken by Henry Parker, justice, and sent to Worcester
jail, on the 17th of December, and his wife with her daughter returned
into the north; and by that time he thought she could be got home,
he wrote a short letter to her, and exhorted her, to be content with
the will of the Lord. He also wrote a letter to the lord Windsor, who
was lieutenant of Worcestershire, and other magistrates, wherein he
informed them of his imprisonment, and that he had not been taken in a
meeting, but in a house where he had some business. He also signified,
that he intended to have visited his mother, from which he had now been
stopped. But he could not thus obtain his liberty; yet Thomas Lower
might have got free if he would; for his brother Dr. Lower, being one
of the king’s physicians, had procured Henry Savil, a gentleman of the
king’s bed-chamber, to write to the said lord Windsor to release Thomas
Lower: but his love to his father-in-law, G. Fox, was such, that he
kept the said letter by him unsent; and so they were both continued
prisoners.
Now whilst I leave them in prison, I return once more to Miles Halhead,
of whom mention hath been often made already. He being at Plymouth in
this year, felt himself stirred up to go see John Lambert, who having
formerly been a general, was now, as hath been said in due place,
confined to perpetual imprisonment, in a little island not far from
Plymouth. To this island Halhead passed over, and though he found there
a strong guard of soldiers, yet he got leave to see Lambert; and being
come to him, he said, ‘Friend, is thy name John Lambert?’ To which
Lambert answered, ‘Yea:’ which made Miles say, ‘Then I pray thee,
friend, hear what the servant of the Lord hath to say to thee:’ and he
continued thus: ‘Friend, the Lord God made use of thee and others for
the deliverance of his people, and when you cried to him, he delivered
you in your distresses, as at Dunbar, and other places, and gave an
opportunity into your hands to do good: and you promised what great
things you would do for the Lord’s people: but truly John Lambert, ye
soon forgot your promises ye made to the Lord in that day and time
of your great distress, and turned the edge of your sword against
the Lord’s servants and handmaids, whom he sent forth to declare his
eternal truth; and made laws, and consented to laws, and suffered
and permitted laws to be made against God’s people.’ To this Lambert
said, ‘Friend, I would have you know, that some of us never made laws,
nor consented to laws to persecute you, or any of your friends; for
persecution we ever were against.’ To which Miles returned, ‘It may be
so; but the Scripture of truth is fulfilled by the best of you: for
although thou and some others have not given your consent to make laws
against the Lord’s people, yet ye suffered and permitted it to be made
and done; and when power and authority was in your hands, ye might have
spoken the word, and the servants and handmaids of the Lord might have
been delivered out of the devourers’ hands; but none was found amongst
you that would be seen to plead the cause of the innocent; so the Lord
God of life was grieved with you, because ye slighted the Lord and his
servants, and began to set up your self-interest, and to lay field to
field, and house to house, and make your names great in the earth. Then
the Lord took away your power and authority, your manhood and your
boldness, and caused you to flee before your enemies, and your hearts
fainted with fear, and some ended their days in grief and sorrow, and
some lay in holes and caves to this day. So the Lord God of heaven and
earth will give a just reward to every one according to his works. So,
my dear friend, prize the great love of God to thee, who hath not given
thy life into the hands of the devourers, but hath given thee thy life
for a prey, and time to prepare thyself, that thou mayest end thy days
in peace. And truly the Lord is good to all them that fear him, and
believe in his name: for, though all the powers of the earth rise up
against a poor innocent people, yet the Lord God of life and love was
with them, and pleaded their cause, although all men slighted them: and
truly, the best was but as a brier, and the most upright among them as
a thorn hedge. If the Lord had not pleaded our innocency, we had not
had a being in the land of our nativity, glory to his name forever, who
hath not suffered or permitted more of the wrath of man, nor laws, nor
decrees of men, to come against his people, that believe in his name,
than hath been for his honour, and for his glory, and for the eternal
good of all his sons and daughters, and servants; and the remainder,
the Lord God of life and love hath restrained to this day: glory, and
honour, and living eternal praises be given and returned to the Lord
God, and the Lamb for ever!’
Thus Halhead ended his speech, and Lambert, who had heard him with
good satisfaction, desired him to sit down, which Halhead did; and
then Lambert called for beer, and gave him drink; after which he said
to him, ‘Friend, I do believe thou speakest to me in love, and so I
take it,’ And then he asked him, if he was at Dunbar fight? To which
Halhead having answered ‘No:’ he further asked, ‘How do you know what
great danger we were in at that time?’ Upon which Halhead gave him to
understand, that he coming that way a little time after the fight,
and having viewed the town of Dunbar, and the ground about it where
the English army lay, how the sea was on one hand of them, and the
hills and mountains on the other, and the great Scotch army before and
behind them, he then took into serious consideration, the great danger
the English had been in, and thought how greatly the Englishmen were
engaged to the Lord for their deliverance, to serve him in truth and
uprightness of heart all the days of their life. ‘Truly John,’ said
Halhead then to Lambert, ‘I never saw thy face before to know thee,
although I have been brought before many of our English commanders
in the time of Oliver Cromwell.’ Lambert then asking, who they were,
Halhead named the generals Fleetwood and Desborough, major Blackmore,
and colonel Fenwick, before whom he had been when he was governor of
Edinburgh. Lambert then said, he knew the most of those men to have
been very moderate, and that they ever were against persecution. To
which Miles replied, ‘Indeed they were very moderate, and would not
be much seen to persecute, or be severe with the Lord’s people; but
truly they permitted others to do it, and took little notice of the
sufferings of the people of God: so that none were found to plead our
cause, but the Lord God.’ To this Lambert said, ‘Although you and
your friends suffered persecution, and some hardships in that time,
your cause therein is never the worse for that.’ ‘That is very true,’
returned Miles, ‘but let me tell thee, in the plainness of my heart,
that is no thanks to you, but glory to the Lord for ever.’ About two
hours Miles discoursed with Lambert, and his wife and two daughters,
and after he had cleared himself, he took leave of them, and so parted
in love.
Now before I leave Halhead, I will insert here a copy of a letter he
wrote in the year 1674, to G. Fox, who was then prisoner in Worcester
jail: the said letter was thus:
‘_George Fox_,
‘Thou dear and well beloved of the Lord, whom he sent, out of
his eternal love to me, and many more, who were in darkness and
in blindness, seeking the living among the dead, to show and
direct us the way that leads out of sin and evil, up to God
eternal, blessed for evermore. The living, eternal God of life
and love, that sent thee into the north, keep and preserve me, by
his eternal arm and power and all my dear friends and brethren
truly sensible of his eternal love, which I hear record hath
been exceeding great, since the day the Lord made his precious
truth known amongst us. Therefore, dear George Fox, pray for
me, for I am old, and infirm of body, and the sight of my eyes
grows exceeding weak, that I may be kept faithful and upright
to the Lord, in my measure I have received of the Lord, in this
day of his eternal love; that I may give my account with joy and
rejoicing, and gladness of heart, and be presented with thee, and
all my brethren, blameless to the Lord, that I may go to my grave
in peace, and rest for evermore. Amen.
‘My dear love to my good old friends, Margaret Fox, and Thomas
Lower; their dear and tender love and care to me in months past,
by me cannot be forgotten, as I dwell and abide faithful to him,
who is my light and life, my joy and peace, God over all, blessed
for evermore. Amen.