1674.
In the month called January, 1673-4, G. Fox and Thomas Lower, were
brought to their trial in the court at Worcester, it being the last day
of the sessions; and when they came in, those on the bench were struck
with paleness in their faces, and continued awhile speechless, insomuch
that a butcher in the hall said, ‘What! are they afraid? Dare not the
justices speak to them?’ At length justice Parker, by whose order G.
Fox and T. Lower had been committed, made a long speech, much to the
same effect as the contents of the mittimus, and added, that he thought
it a milder course to send them two to jail, than to put his neighbours
to the loss of two hundred pounds, which they must have suffered, if
he had put the law in execution against conventicles. But this was a
very poor shift, and silly evasion; for there being no meeting when he
came, nor any to inform, he had no evidence to convict them, or his
neighbours by. When Parker had ended his speech, the justices spoke
to the prisoners, and began with Lower, whom they examined why he
came into that country. And when they had done with him, they asked
of G. Fox an account of his travel, which he gave them, and showed
them clearly, that he and his friends, of whom so great a noise had
been made by justice Parker, as if many had come together from several
parts, were in a manner all but one family. When he had ended speaking,
the chairman Simpson said, ‘Your relation or account is very innocent.’
Then he and Parker having whispered awhile together, the said chairman
stood up, and said, ‘You, Mr. Fox, are a famous man, and all this may
be true which you have said; but that we may be the better satisfied,
will you take the oaths of allegiance and supremacy?’ Now, though G.
Fox answered to this, that they had said they would not ensnare him,
and that this was a plain snare, since they knew he and his friends
would not take any oath; all was in vain, and they caused the oath to
be read, which being done, he told them, ‘I never took oath in my life,
but I have always been true to the government. I was cast into the
dungeon at Darby, and kept prisoner six months there, because I would
not take up arms against king Charles, at Worcester fight; and for
going to meetings, I was carried out of Leicester, and brought before
Oliver Cromwell, as a plotter to bring in king Charles; and ye know in
your own consciences, that we, the people called Quakers, cannot take
an oath, or swear in any case, because Christ hath forbidden it; but
as to the matter or substance contained in the oaths, this I can and
do say, that I do own and acknowledge the king of England to be lawful
heir and successor to the realm of England; and do abhor all plots
and plotters, and contrivances against him; and I have nothing in my
heart but love and good will to him and all men, and desire his and
their prosperity; the Lord knows it, before whom I stand an innocent
man. And as to the oath of supremacy, I deny the pope and his power,
and abhor it with my heart.’ Whilst he was yet speaking, they cried,
‘Give him the book,’ viz. the Bible. ‘The book,’ saith G. Fox, ‘saith
“Swear not at all:”’ and he going on to declare his mind further, they
cried, ‘Take him away, jailer:’ who not showing himself very forward,
they cried again, ‘Take him away: we shall have a meeting here; why
do you not take him away?’ And one of the bench said, ‘That fellow,’
meaning the jailer, ‘loves to hear him preach.’ The jailer then taking
him away, as he was turning from them, he said, ‘The Lord forgive you,
who cast me into prison for obeying the doctrine of Christ.’ After G.
Fox was led away, the justices told T. Lower, he was at liberty; for
they did not think it safe to deal with him at the same rate as they
did with G. Fox, because they thought he had some protection at court.
Lower asked then, why his father-in-law might not be set at liberty,
as well as he, since they were both taken together, and their case was
alike? But they telling him they would not hear him, said, ‘you may
be gone about your business, for we have nothing more to say to you,
seeing you are discharged.’
This was all he could get from them; therefore after the court was
risen, he went to speak with them at their chamber, desiring to
know, what cause they had to detain his father, seeing they had
discharged him; and wishing them to consider, whether this was not
partiality.--Upon this Simpson said, ‘If you be not content, we will
tender you the oath also, and send you to your father.’ To which Lower
replied, ‘You may do that, if you think fit; but whether ye send me
or no, I intend to go, and wait upon my father in prison; for that is
now my business in this country.’ Then justice Parker said to him, ‘Do
you think, Mr. Lower, that I had no cause to send your father and you
to prison, when you had such a great meeting, insomuch that the parson
of the parish complained to me, that he had lost the greatest part of
his parishioners; so that when he comes amongst them, he hath scarce
any auditors left.’ To this Lower returned, ‘I have heard that the
priest of that parish comes so seldom to visit his flock, but once, it
may be, or twice in a year, to gather up his tithes, that it was but
charity in my father, to visit such a forlorn and forsaken flock: and
therefore thou hadst no cause to send my father to prison for visiting
them, or for teaching, instructing, and directing them to Christ their
true teacher, who had so little comfort or benefit from their pretended
pastor, who comes amongst them only to seek for his gain from his
quarter.’ Upon this the justice fell a laughing; for Dr. Crowder, the
priest spoken of, was then in the room, sitting among them; though
Lower did not know him, and he had the wit to hold his tongue, and not
to vindicate himself. But after Lower was gone away, the justices so
jested on Crowder, that he grew ashamed; and was so nettled with it,
that he threatened to sue T. Lower in the bishop’s court upon an action
of defamation: which Lower having heard of, sent him word that he might
begin if he would; and that he would answer him, and bring his whole
parish in evidence against him. And he told him the same afterwards to
his face; which so cooled the priest’s eagerness, that he thought it
more safe for him to let him alone.
Soon after the sessions were over, an _habeas corpus_ was sent down to
Worcester, for the sheriff to bring up G. Fox to the king’s bench bar;
whereupon his son-in-law, Lower, conducted him: for the under sheriff
had made Lower his deputy, to convey G. Fox to London, who being
arrived there, appeared before the court of king’s bench, where he
found the judges moderate, and they patiently heard him, when he gave
them an account how he had been stopped in his journey, and committed
to jail; and how at his trial, the oath of allegiance and supremacy had
been tendered to him; and also what he had offered to the justices as
a declaration, that he was willing to sign, instead of the said oaths.
To this it was told him, by the chief justice, that they would consider
further of it. Being then delivered to the keeper of the king’s bench,
he was suffered to go and lodge at the house of one of his friends; for
though he continued a prisoner, yet they were sufficiently persuaded
that he would not run away. But after this, justice Parker, as it was
said, moved the court that G. Fox might be sent back to Worcester, that
his cause might be tried there; for Parker saw clearly, that if G.
Fox had been acquitted here, this would have tended to his shame, for
having committed him unjustly.
A day then being appointed for another hearing, and G. Fox appearing
again at the king’s bench, and hearing that it was under deliberation
to send him back to Worcester, signified, that this was only to ensnare
him, by putting the oath to him, that so they might premunire him, who
never took oath in his life. And he further told them, if he broke his
yea, or nay, he was content to suffer the same penalty as those that
break their oaths. Now seeing Parker had spread a report at London, and
it had been said in the parliament-house, that when he took G. Fox,
there were many substantial men with him, out of several parts of the
nation, and that they had a design or plot in hand, G. Fox did not omit
to show the fallacy of that malicious story: and since he thus laid
open Parker’s shame, it was not strange, that by his friends at court,
he procured that the king’s judges complied with his desire that G.
Fox should be remanded to Worcester jail; insomuch that whatever he
said, he could not prevent it; only this favour was granted him, that
he might go his own way, and at his leisure, provided he would be there
without fail, by the assizes, which were to begin on the 2d day of the
month called April.
G. Fox then after some stay, went down leisurely, and being come to
Worcester, he was on the 2d day of the aforesaid month, brought from
the jail, to an inn near the sessions hall; but not being called that
day, the jailer came to him at night, and told him he might go home,
meaning to the jail: whereupon he walked thither, being accompanied by
one of his friends. Next day being brought up again, a boy of about
eleven years old was set to be his keeper. Having in my relation of
the proceedings before the king’s bench, passed by most part of the
pleading, so I shall do here likewise, to avoid repetitions of what
hath been several times related already, concerning such kind of
trials; yet I cannot pass by in silence, that after he had given an
account of his journey before he was taken, he added, that since his
imprisonment, he had understood that his mother, who was an ancient and
weak woman, and had desired to see him before she died, hearing that he
was stopped and imprisoned in his journey, so that he was not likely
to come and see her, it struck her so, that she died soon after; which
had been very hard to him. Judge Turner, who formerly had been very
severe to him, seemed now, as some thought, inclined to have him set at
liberty, since he saw they had nothing justly against him; but Parker
who had committed him, endeavoured to incense the judge against him;
for if he had been released, then he himself must have borne the blame
of having committed G. Fox unjustly; and therefore he told the judge
that G. Fox was a ringleader, that many of the nation followed him; and
one knew not what it might come to. Yet the judge gave but little ear
to all this, being willing to be easy; but he could not resolve to do
this, by setting G. Fox at liberty, lest he should displease others;
and thus in conclusion, G. Fox and his cause were referred to the
sessions again, and he continued prisoner, but with this proviso, that
he should have the liberty of the town; which accordingly he had.
By this he got opportunity to speak with many persons, and sometimes
with priests too, one of which asked him, whether he was grown up to
perfection? To which he answered, what he was, he was by the grace
of God. ‘This is,’ replied the priest, ‘a modest and civil answer.’
‘But,’ continued he in the words of the apostle John, “If we say that
we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”
And asking what he said to that? G. Fox returned with the words of
the same apostle, “if we say that we have not sinned, we make him a
liar, and his word is not in us.” Moreover he said, ‘Christ came to
destroy sin, and to take away sin. There is a time for people to see
that they have sinned, and there is a time for them to confess their
sin, and to forsake it, and to know the blood of Christ to cleanse
from all sin.’ After some more reasoning, the priest said, ‘We must
always be striving;’ to which G. Fox returned, that it was a sad and
comfortless sort of striving, to strive with a belief that we should
never overcome: and he told him also, that Paul, who once cried out
because of the body of death, did also thank God, who gave him the
victory; and that he said there is no condemnation to them that are
in Christ Jesus: so that there was a time of crying out for want of
victory, and a time of praising God for the victory. ‘But,’ said the
priest, ‘Job was not perfect.’ To which G. Fox returned, that God hath
signified in Scripture, that Job was perfect and upright, and that he
eschewed evil: and that the devil himself was forced to confess, that
God had set an hedge about him; which was not an outward hedge, but
the invisible heavenly power. Yet said Job, replied the priest, ‘he
charged his angels with folly, and the heavens are not clean in his
sight.’ ‘That is a mistake,’ said G. Fox, ‘for it was not Job said so,
but Eliphaz, who contended against Job.’ ‘Well, but,’ said the priest,
‘what say you to that Scripture, the justest man that is, sinneth seven
times a day?’ ‘There is,’ answered G. Fox, ‘no such scripture.’ So the
priest was silent, and this conference broken off, of which I have
related thus much to show that G. Fox was not such a simple person, as
some from mere envy have represented him: for he was never at a loss
for an answer, but had it always in readiness.
Now the time of the sessions being come again, where the justice,
who was chairman, was one Street, G. Fox was called there before the
justices, and then the said justice exceedingly misrepresented the
case, by telling the people, that G. Fox had a meeting at Tredington
from all parts of the nation, to the terrifying of the king’s
subjects; for which he had been committed, and that for the trial of
his fidelity, the oaths had been tendered to him. And then turning to
G. Fox, he asked him, since he had time to consider of it, whether
he would now take the oaths? G. Fox having obtained liberty to speak
for himself, gave a relation of his journey, and showed that he and
his friends had in no wise kept a meeting that occasioned terror to
any of the king’s subjects; and as to the oaths, he showed why he
could not take them, and what he could declare instead thereof. But
notwithstanding all this, the oaths were read to him again; and he
persisting in his refusal to take them, the indictment was read also;
and afterwards the chairman asked him ‘if he was guilty?’ G. Fox
answered, ‘No, since the indictment was a bundle of lies,’ which he
proved in several particulars, asking him, if he did not know in his
conscience that they were lies? To which he said, it was their form.
Whereupon G. Fox returned, it was not a true form. Then the chairman
told the jury what they should do in this case: and before they gave
in their verdict, G. Fox said to them, that it was for Christ’s sake,
and in obedience to his and his apostle’s command that he could not
swear: ‘and therefore,’ said he, ‘take heed what ye do; for before his
judgment-seat ye shall all be brought.’ The chairman then said, ‘This
is canting.’ ‘Why,’ said G. Fox, ‘if to confess Christ our Lord and
Saviour, and to obey his command, be called canting by a judge of a
court, it is to little purpose for me to say more among you. Yet ye
shall see that I am a Christian, and shall show forth Christianity;
and my innocency shall be manifest.’ By this his speaking, the people
generally were affected; but the jury however found the bill against
him; which G. Fox nevertheless traversed. Thus the matter could not be
finished now, and therefore he was asked to put in bail, till the next
sessions; this he refused, and warned his friends that seemed willing
to be bound for him, not to meddle with that, since there was a snare
in it. Yet he told the justices, that he would promise to appear, if
the Lord gave him health and strength, and he were at liberty. Some
of the justices showed themselves loving, and endeavoured to stop the
rest from indicting him, or putting the oath to him. But the chairman
said he must go according to law. Yet liberty was given G. Fox to go at
large, till next quarter-sessions.
He then went up to London; where the time of the yearly meeting
approached; but at the instance of some of his friends, he appeared
again before the judges of the king’s bench, and delivered to them
the following declaration, setting forth what he was ready to promise
instead of the oaths of allegiance and supremacy.
‘This I do in the truth, and in the presence of God declare,
that king Charles the Second is lawful king of this realm, and
of all others his dominions; and that he was brought in, and set
up king over this realm by the power of God: and I have nothing,
but love and good-will to him and all his subjects, and desire
his prosperity and eternal good. And I do utterly abhor and deny
the pope’s power and supremacy, and all his superstitious and
idolatrous inventions; and do affirm, that he hath no power to
absolve sin: and I do abhor and detest his murderings of princes,
or other people, by plots and contrivances. And likewise I do
deny all plots and contrivances, and plotters and contrivers
against the king and his subjects; knowing them to be works of
darkness, and the fruits of an evil spirit, and against the peace
of the kingdom, and not from the spirit of God, the fruit of
which is love. I dare not take an oath, because it is forbidden
by Christ and the apostle; but if I break my yea or nay, then let
me suffer the same penalty, as they that break their oaths.