1687-1690.—George Fox continues to have service in London and the
neighbourhood—writes a paper respecting the gospel and the seed;
being also an incentive to diligence—a general epistle to
Friends, forewarning them of an approaching storm—Moses and
Christ both faithful under their respective dispensations—Christ
is on his throne—George Fox’s health declining, he visits
William Mead again for a few weeks—the world’s teachers and the
emptiness of their teaching—those who turn people from the
inward manifestation of Christ in the heart, remove them from
the heavenly landmark, and bring a curse on themselves—the
prophets, apostles, and holy men of old were husbandmen and
tradesmen, unlike the world’s teachers—the vanity of being too
much busied with, and spending the time in, hearing and telling
news—though still declining, George Fox attends at the
Parliament-house many days on behalf of his Friends—writes to
Peter Hendricks, and to Friends at Dantzic, to strengthen and
comfort them under their sufferings—to the magistrates and
priests at Dantzic, showing the evil of persecution, and
persuading to Christian moderation—an appendix to the Yearly
Meeting’s epistle—an epistle to the Northern Yearly Meeting to
be held at York—George Fox’s health still impaired—writes an
epistle to Friends in Barbadoes—to Friends in Pennsylvania, and
other parts of America—to all that profess the truth of God;
being a warning to the young against the world’s fashions, and
to the old against going into the earthly things—Christ is the
“Ensign,” prophesied of by Isaiah—an appendix to the Yearly
Meeting’s epistle—an epistle to Friends in the ministry—to
Friends in the ministry gone to America—to suffering Friends in
Ireland—death of George Fox in 1690—epistle written with his
hand and found sealed up—some account of the interment.
I returned to London towards the latter end of the 11th month, 1687,
visiting Friends in the way at CHISWICK, and at HAMMERSMITH, where I
had two meetings, one on a First-day, the other upon the occasion of
a marriage there, at which there were many people of other
denominations, amongst whom I had a very seasonable opportunity of
opening the way of truth. Being come to LONDON, I visited Friends’
meetings in and about the city, as the Lord led me, in whose service
I continued labouring in the city until the middle of the first
month, 1687-8. At which time I went down towards ENFIELD, and
visited Friends there and thereabouts, and at BARNET, WALTHAM ABBEY,
and other places, where I had many meetings, and very good service;
in which I spent several weeks.
I then returned to LONDON, where I continued labouring in the work
of the gospel, till after the Yearly Meeting, which this year was
about the beginning of the fourth month. A precious meeting it was;
and a very refreshing season Friends had together, the Lord
vouchsafing to honour our assemblies with his living and glorious
presence in a very plentiful manner. At the conclusion of the
meeting I felt a concern upon my spirit to give forth the following
paper, to be dispersed amongst Friends:—
“All you believers in the light, that are become children of the
light, walk as children of the light, and of the day of Christ; as
a city set on a hill, that cannot be hid. Let your light shine,
that people may see your good works, and glorify your Father,
which is in heaven. For a good tree bringeth forth good fruit;
therefore be ye trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord,
having fruits unto holiness; and then your end will be everlasting
life. Such are the wells and cisterns, that hold the living water,
which springs up in them to eternal life. Ye may all drink water
out of your own cisterns, running water out of your own wells; and
eat every one of his own fig-tree, and of his own vine: having
salt every one in yourselves, to season every one’s sacrifice,
acceptable to God by Jesus Christ; and like unto the wise virgins,
that have oil in their lamps, follow the Lamb, and enter in with
the bridegroom. Now is the time to labour, while it is day (yea,
the day of Christ), to stir up every one’s pure mind, and the gift
of God that is in them; and to improve your talents, that Christ
hath bestowed upon you, that ye may profit; and to walk every one
according to the measure that Christ hath given you; for ‘the
manifestation of the Spirit of God is given to every one to profit
withal.’
“Consider what you have profited in spiritual and heavenly things,
with the heavenly Spirit of God. Be not like the wicked and
slothful, that hid his talent, from whom it was taken, and he cast
into utter darkness. A dwarf, or one that had any blemish, was not
to come nigh to offer upon God’s altar; therefore mind the word of
wisdom, to keep you out of that which will corrupt and blemish
you; and that ye may grow in grace, and in faith, and in the
knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ: and feeding upon the milk of
the word, may grow by it, that ye may not be dwarfs; and so offer
your spiritual sacrifice upon God’s holy altar. For the field or
vineyard of the slothful grows over with thorns and nettles, and
his walls go down. Such are they that are not diligent in the
Spirit of God, and the power, which is the wall, a sure fence. The
Spirit of God will weed all thorns, thistles, and nettles, out of
the vineyard of the heart.
“And you, that are keepers of others’ vineyards, see that you keep
your own vineyard clean with the Spirit and power of Christ.
Sanctify yourselves, and sanctify the Lord in your hearts, that ye
may be a holy people to the Lord, who saith, ‘Be ye holy, for I am
holy:’ that ye may be the holy members of the church of Christ,
that is clothed with the sun, and hath the moon under her feet;
the changeable world with all her changeable worships, religions,
churches, and teachers. Be ye new and heavenly Jerusalem’s
children: for new and heavenly Jerusalem, that is above, is the
mother of all the children of light, and that are born of the
Spirit. These are they that have been persecuted, and have
suffered by the false church, mystery Babylon, the mother of
harlots.
“And now, all heavenly Jerusalem’s and Sion’s children, that are
from above, labour in the gospel, the power of God, and the Seed,
in which all nations, and all the families of the earth are
blessed: which Seed, Christ, bruises the serpent’s head, and
destroys the devil and his works, and overcomes the whore, the
false church, the beast, and the false prophet. He takes away the
curse, and the veil that is spread over all nations, and over all
the families of the earth; and brings the blessing upon all (if
they will receive it) saying, ‘In thy seed shall all nations and
all the families of the earth be blessed.’ This is the gospel of
God preached to Abraham, before Moses wrote his five books, and
was preached in the apostles’ days, and is now preached again;
which brings life and immortality to light; and is the gospel of
peace, life, and salvation, to every one that believes it. So all
nations, and all the families of the earth, must be in Christ, the
Seed, if they be blessed, and be partakers of the blessing in the
Seed.
“This gospel was revealed by Christ unto his apostles, who
preached it; which is not of man, nor from man. Now, God and
Christ hath revealed the same gospel unto me, and many others in
this age (I say, the gospel and the Seed, in which all nations and
families of the earth are blessed;) in which gospel I have
laboured, and do labour, that all may come into this blessed Seed,
Christ, who bruises the head of the serpent, that in it they might
have peace with God. This everlasting gospel is preached again to
them that dwell upon the earth; and they that believe it, and
receive it, receive the blessing, the peace, joy, and comfort of
it; and the stability in it, and the life and immortality, which
it brings to light in them and to them. Such can praise the
everlasting God in his everlasting gospel.
“And Friends, all seek the peace and good of all in Christ: for
truth makes no Cains, Korahs, Balaams, nor Judases; for they come
to be such that go out of the peaceable truth. Therefore walk in
the peaceable truth, and speak the truth in the love of it, as it
is in Jesus.”
G. F.
Some time after the Yearly Meeting, I went to my son Mead’s house,
in ESSEX, and abode there some weeks; often visiting Friends’
meetings near, and sometimes at Barking. After I had been a while
there, I went to visit Friends at WALTHAM ABBEY, HODDESDON, ENFIELD,
SOUTH STREET, FORD GREEN, and WINCHMORE HILL; where I had several
very serviceable meetings, the Lord opening many deep and weighty
things through me, for informing the understandings of inquirers,
building up those that were gathered into the truth, and
establishing them therein.
In the 7th month I returned to London, having been near three months
in the country for my health’s sake, which was very much impaired;
so that I was hardly able to stay in a meeting the whole time; and
often after a meeting had to lie down on a bed. Yet did not my
weakness of body take me off from the service of the Lord, but I
continued to labour in and out of meetings, in his work, as he gave
me opportunity and ability.
I had not been long in London before a great weight came upon me,
and a sight the Lord gave me of the great bustles and troubles,
revolution and change, which soon after came to pass. In the sense
whereof, and in the movings of the Spirit of the Lord, I wrote “A
general epistle to Friends, to forewarn them of the approaching
storm, that they might all retire to the Lord, in whom safety is;”
as follows:—
“My dear Friends and brethren everywhere, who have received the
Lord Jesus Christ, and to whom he has given power to become his
sons and daughters; in Him ye have life and peace, and in his
everlasting kingdom, that is established and cannot be shaken, but
is over all the world, and stands in his power, and in
righteousness, and joy in the Holy Ghost, into which no
unrighteousness, nor the foul, unclean spirit of the devil in his
instruments can enter. Therefore, dear Friends and brethren, every
one in the faith of Jesus, stand in His power, who has all power
in heaven and in earth given to him, and will ‘rule the nations
with his rod of iron, and dash them to pieces, like a potter’s
vessel,’ that are not subject and obedient to his power; whose
voice will shake the heavens and the earth, that that which may be
shaken may be removed, and that which cannot be shaken may appear.
Stand in Him; and all things shall work together for good to them
that love him.
“And now, dear Friends and brethren, though these waves, and
storms, and tempests be in the world, yet you may all appear the
harmless and innocent lambs of Christ, walking in his peaceable
truth, keeping in the Word of power, wisdom, and patience; and
this Word will keep you in the day of trials and temptations, that
will come upon the whole world, to try them that dwell upon the
earth. For the Word of God was before the world, and all things
were made by it; it is a tried Word, which gave all God’s people
in all ages wisdom, power, and patience. Therefore let your
dwelling and walking be in Christ Jesus, who is called the Word of
God; and in his power, which is over all. Set your affections on
things that are above, where Christ sits at the right hand of God
(mark,) on those things which are above, where Christ sits; not on
those things that are below, which will change, and pass away.
Blessed be the Lord God, who by his eternal arm and power hath
gathered a people to himself; and hath preserved his faithful to
himself through many troubles, trials, and temptations; his power
and Seed, Christ, is over all, and in Him ye have life and peace
with God. Therefore in Him all stand, and see your salvation, who
is the First and Last, the Amen. God Almighty preserve and keep
you all in Him, your ark and sanctuary; in Him you are safe over
all floods, storms, and tempests; for He was before they were, and
will be when they are all gone.”
G.F.
London, the 17th of the 8th Month, 1688.
About this time great exercise and weights came upon me (as had
usually done before the great revolutions and changes of
government,) and my strength departed from me; so that I reeled, and
was ready to fall, as I went along the streets. At length I could
not go abroad at all, I was so weak, for some time, till I felt the
power of the Lord to spring over all, and had received an assurance
from him, that he would preserve his faithful people to himself
through all.
In the time that I kept within, I wrote a paper, showing, how
“Moses, as a servant, was faithful in all his house, in the Old
Testament; and Christ, as a Son, is over his house, in the New
Testament.”
“The house of Israel was called God’s Vineyard, in Isa. v. 7, and
all the Israelites were called the house of Israel. Israel
signifies ‘a prince with God, and a prevailer with men,’ Gen.
xxxii. 28. When Peter preached Christ to the house of Israel, he
said, ‘Let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath
made the same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and
Christ,’ Acts ii. 36. So they were all called the house of Israel.
And it is said, ‘Moses was faithful in all his house (to wit, this
house of Israel), as a servant, for a testimony of those things
which were to be spoken after; but Christ, as a son, over his own
house, which house are we, if we hold fast the confidence, and the
rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end,’ Heb. iii. 5, 6. Here it
is manifest, that Moses was faithful in all his house, as a
servant, viz., in the house of Israel, in the Old Testament; but
Christ Jesus, the Son of God, is over his house in his new
Testament and Covenant; and all his true believers are of his
house.
“The apostle tells the Ephesians (who were the church of Christ,)
‘They were fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household
of God,’ Eph. ii. 19. And the saints are called ‘the household of
faith,’ Gal. vi. 10. Peter in his general epistle tells the church
of Christ, they were ‘a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a
holy nation, a peculiar people,’ 1 Pet. ii. 9. And that as lively
stones, they were built up ‘a spiritual house, an holy priesthood,
to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus
Christ,’ ver. 5. The apostle says to the church of Christ at
Corinth, ‘If our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved,
we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in
the heavens,’ 2 Cor. v. 1. And Christ said to his disciples, ‘Let
not your hearts be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in
me. In my Father’s house are many mansions (a mansion is a
dwelling, or abiding place;) if it were not so, I would have told
you; I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a
place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself,
that where I am, there ye may be also,’ John xiv. 1-3. The
Psalmist saith, ‘Those that be planted in the house of the Lord,
shall flourish in the courts of our God; they shall bring forth
fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing,’ Psal. xcii.
13, 14. Again, ‘Holiness becomes thine house, O Lord, for ever,’
Psal. xciii. 5.
“Isaiah also said by way of prophecy, ‘It shall come to pass in
the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be
established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted
above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it,’ Isa. ii. 2.
Is not that a great house? Is not this mountain, Christ, who is
over his house in the New Testament and New Covenant? To this
mountain and house all the children of the New Testament and New
Covenant flow in these latter days, so that it is come to pass,
which was prophesied of by Isaiah; for he said, ‘Many people shall
go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us of his
ways, and we will walk in his paths; for out of Zion shall go
forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he
shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people; and
they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears
into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more. O house of Jacob, come ye,
and let us walk in the light of the Lord,’ ver. 3-5. Here ye may
see, they that come to the mountain of the house of God, and to
God’s teaching, must walk in the light of the Lord; yea the house
of Jacob. Jacob signifies a supplanter; he supplanted profane
Esau, who is hated, and Jacob is loved.
“Now these two births must be known within; and they that walk in
the light of the Lord, and come to Christ, the mountain of the
house of the Lord, established above all mountains and hills,
break their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into
pruning-hooks; and in Christ, this mountain and house of the Lord,
there are no spears, nor swords to hurt one another withal.
Christ, the Son of God, is over his house and great family, the
children of the light, that believe in it, and walk in it, the
children of the day of Christ, his holy and royal priesthood, that
offer up spiritual sacrifice to God by him. All such are of
Christ’s (the spiritual man’s) house, who are born of God, and led
by his Spirit; they are of the Lord of lords, and King of kings’
house and family, which he is over; and are of the household of
the holy, divine, pure, and precious faith, which Christ is the
author and finisher of. And they that are of the Son’s house, are
pure, righteous, and holy, and can do nothing against the truth,
but for it, in their words, lives, and conversations; and so are a
chosen generation, a holy nation, a peculiar people, that they
should show forth the praise of Him, who hath called them out of
darkness into his marvellous light. These are Christ’s lively
stones, that build up a spiritual house, which He (Christ, the
spiritual man, the King of kings, and Lord of lords) is over.”
G.F.
London, the 10th Month, 1688.
Some time after this, my body continuing weak, I went down with my
son Mead to his house in ESSEX, where I stayed some weeks. In which
time I wrote many things relating to the service of truth, of which
some were printed soon after, others were spread abroad in
manuscript; and amongst other things, a few lines to this purpose:—
“That while men are contending for thrones here below, Christ is
on his throne, and all his holy angels are about him; who is the
Beginning and the Ending, the First and the Last, over all. And
that the Lord will make way and room for himself, and for them
that are born of his Spirit, who are heavenly Jerusalem’s
children, to come home to their free mother.”
A few words also I wrote concerning the world’s teachers, and the
emptiness of their teaching. Which were thus:—
“Doth not all that, which is called Christendom, live in talking
of Christ’s, and of the apostles’ and prophets’ words, and the
letter of the Scriptures? And do not their priests minister the
letter, with their own conceptions thereupon, for money, though
the Holy Scriptures were freely given forth from God and Christ,
and his prophets and apostles? Yet the apostle says, ‘The letter
killeth; but the Spirit giveth life,’ 2 Cor. iii. 6. The ministers
of the New Testament are not ministers of the letter, but of the
Spirit; and they sow to the Spirit, and of the Spirit reap life
eternal. But people spending time about old authors, and talking
of them, and of the outward letter, this doth not feed their
souls. For talking of victuals and clothes, doth not clothe the
body, nor feed it. No more are their souls and spirits fed and
clothed, except they have the bread and water of life from heaven
to feed them, and the righteousness of Christ to clothe them.
Talking of outward things and spiritual things, and not having
them, may starve both their bodies and their souls. Therefore,
quench not the Spirit of God, which will lead to be diligent in
all things.”
With this I wrote another short paper, showing the hurt they did,
and the danger they run into, who turned people from the inward
manifestation of Christ in the heart:—
“The Jews were commanded by the law of God, ‘Not to remove the
outward land-mark,’ Deut. xix. 14. They that did so, or that
caused the blind to wander, were cursed in the Old Covenant, Deut.
xxvii. 17. In the New Covenant the apostle saith, ‘Let him be
accursed, that preacheth any other gospel than that which he had
preached,’ Gal. i. 8. Now the gospel that he preached, was ‘The
power of God unto salvation, to every one that believeth,’ Rom. i.
16. And the gospel that was preached to Abraham was, ‘That in his
seed all nations, and all the families of the earth should be
blessed.’ And in order to bring men to this blessed state, God
poureth out of his Spirit upon all flesh; and Christ doth
enlighten every one that cometh into the world; and the grace of
God, which bringeth salvation, hath appeared unto all men, and
teacheth Christians, the true believers in Christ; and God doth
write his law in the true Christians’ hearts, and putteth it in
their minds, that they may ‘all know the Lord, from the greatest
to the least;’ and he giveth his word in their hearts to obey and
do, and the anointing within them; so that they need not any man
to teach them, but as the anointing doth teach them.
“Now all such as turn people from the Light, Spirit, Grace, Word,
and Anointing within, remove them from their heavenly landmark of
their eternal inheritance, and make them blind; and cause the
blind to wander from the living way to their eternal house in the
heavens, and from the new and heavenly Jerusalem. So they are
cursed, that cause the blind to wander out of their way, and to
remove them from their heavenly landmark.”
G. F.
I wrote also a paper to show, by instances from the Scriptures, that
“many of the holy men and prophets of God, and of the apostles of
Christ, were husbandmen and tradesmen;” by which people might see
how unlike to them the world’s teachers now are:—
“Righteous Abel was a shepherd, ‘a keeper of sheep,’ Gen. iv. 2.
Noah was a husbandman; and he was a ‘just man, and perfect in his
generation, and walked with God,’ Gen. ix. 20; vi. 9. Abraham, the
father of the faithful, was a husbandman, and had great flocks of
cattle; and just Lot was a husbandman, and had great flocks and
herds, Gen. xiii. Isaac also was a husbandman, and had great
‘flocks and herds of cattle, and great store of corn,’ Gen xxvi.
12, 14. And the promise was with Isaac; for the Lord said to
Abraham, ‘In Isaac shall thy seed be called,’ Gen. xxi. 12. Jacob
was a husbandman, and his sons keepers of flocks of cattle, Gen.
xlvi. 32, 34, and God loved Jacob. Moses kept sheep, Exod. iii. 1,
and the Lord spake to him when he was keeping sheep, ver. 4, and
sent him to Pharaoh, to bring God’s people, or sheep, out of
Egypt. And by the hand and power of the Lord, he and Aaron his
brother brought them out of Egypt, a land of anguish, bondage,
darkness, and perplexity. And Moses kept the Lord’s people, or
sheep, forty years in the wilderness; a meek shepherd of God he
was, and kept his great flock of sheep: though some of them were
scabbed with the leprosy of contention and murmuring, and were
destroyed in the wilderness.
“David (though he afterwards came to be a king) was a keeper of
his father’s sheep in the wilderness, 1 Sam. xvii. 15, 28. And the
Lord God called him from the sheepcotes to feed his sheep, the
house of Israel, and to defend them from the spiritual wolves,
bears, and lions; and he did it to purpose, who was a man after
God’s own heart.
“Elisha was a ploughman, 1 Kings xix. 19. He was called from the
plough, to teach God’s people, the children of Israel, to plough
up the fallow ground of their hearts, that they might bring forth
seed and fruits to God, their Creator.
“The word of the Lord came to Amos, when he was among the herdsmen
of Tekoa, Amos i. 1. And Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, said to
Amos, ‘Prophesy not again any more at Bethel; for it is the king’s
chapel, and it is the king’s court,’ chap. vii. 13. Then answered
Amos, and said to Amaziah, ‘I was no prophet, neither was I a
prophet’s son; but I was a herdsman, and a gatherer of
sycamore-fruit; and the Lord took me, as I followed the flock. And
the Lord said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel,’ ver.
14, 15. Here ye may see, how the Lord made use of a poor man, and
how he called him from following the outward flock, and from
gathering outward fruits, to gather his fruits, and to follow his
people or flock, the children of Israel.
“Christ called Peter and Andrew his brother, when they were
fishing, and casting their net into the sea (for they were
fishers;) ‘and he said unto them, Follow me, and I will make you
fishers of men,’ Matt. iv. 18, 19. Christ likewise called James
and John his brother, when they were ‘in a ship, with Zebedee,
their father, mending their nets; and they immediately left the
ship, and their father, and followed him,’ ver. 21, 22. He gave
them power (a net that will hold, and not want mending), and made
them fishers of men, to fish them out of the great sea, the world
of wickedness. We read, that when Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, the
sons of Zebedee, and other disciples, went a fishing together, and
that night caught nothing, in the morning Jesus appeared to them
and said, ‘Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye
shall find;’ and they did so, and caught so great a multitude,
that they were not able to draw them to shore. When thereupon one
of the other disciples said unto Peter, ‘It is the Lord,’ Peter
hearing that it was the Lord, ‘girded his fisher’s coat unto him,’
John xxi. 2-7. This was after Christ was risen. So here ye may
see, Peter had not laid aside his fisher’s coat all the while that
he had been preaching before Christ’s death.
“‘Jesus saw Matthew sitting at the receipt of custom, and he said
unto him, Follow me; and he arose and followed him,’ Matt. ix. 9.
And Christ employed Matthew to gather his people, that were
scattered from God; another manner of treasure than the outward
custom of the Romans. Luke was a physician, whom Christ made a
physician spiritual; which was better than outward.
“Paul was a tent-maker; and being one of the same craft with
Aquila and Priscilla, he abode with them at Corinth, and wrought
(for by their occupation they were tent-makers), Acts xviii. 3.”
G.F.
Gooses, the 1st Month, 1688-9.
It was now a time of much talk; and people busied their minds and
spent their time too much in hearing and telling news. To show them
the vanity thereof, and to draw them from it, I wrote the following
lines:—
“In the low region, in the airy life, all news is uncertain; there
nothing is stable; but in the higher region, in the kingdom of
Christ, there all things are stable and sure, and the news always
good and certain. For Christ, who hath all power in heaven and in
earth given unto him, ruleth in the kingdoms of men; and he, who
doth inherit the heathen, and possess the utmost parts of the
earth with his divine power and light, rules all nations with his
rod of iron, and dashes them to pieces like a potter’s vessel, the
vessels of dishonour, and the leaky vessels, that will not hold
his living water; and he doth preserve his elect vessels of mercy
and honour. His power is certain, and changes not, by which he
removes the mountains and hills, and shakes the heavens and the
earth. Leaky, dishonourable vessels, the hills and mountains, and
the old heavens and the earth, are all to be shaken, and removed,
and broken to pieces, though they do not see it, nor him that doth
it; but his elect and faithful both see it and know him, and his
power, that cannot be shaken, and which changeth not.”
G.F.
The 5th of 1st Month, 1688-9.
About the middle of the first month, 1688-9, I went to LONDON, the
parliament then sitting, and engaged about the bill for indulgence.
Though I was weak in body, and not well able to stir about, yet so
great a concern was upon my spirit on behalf of truth and Friends,
that I attended continually for many days, with other Friends, at
the parliament-house, labouring with the members, that the thing
might be done comprehensively and effectually.
In this, and other services, I continued till towards the end of the
second month, when, being much spent with continual labour, I got
out of town for a little while as far as SOUTHGATE and thereabouts.
While I was there I wrote a letter to Peter Hendricks, a Friend at
Amsterdam, in which I enclosed an epistle to the Friends at Dantzic,
who at this time were under great persecution. And as I wrote to
encourage and strengthen them in their testimony, and comfort them
in their sufferings for the truth, so also I wrote a paper to their
persecutors, the magistrates of Dantzic, laying before them the evil
of persecution, and persuading them to Christian moderation, and “to
do unto others in matters of religion as they would be done unto.”
Which papers were as follows:—
“_To Peter Hendricks at Amsterdam, and to Friends at Dantzic who
are under persecution._
“DEAR FRIEND P. H.
“With my love to thee and thy wife, J. Claus, and J. Roeloffs, and
all the rest of Friends everywhere in Christ Jesus, who reigns
over all. I am glad to hear that Friends are well everywhere,
except at Dantzic; and that you were so diligent in spreading my
papers to the strengthening of Friends. I have lately printed the
life of William Caton, but have not made a collection of his
books. I think to send some of them to you, which you may
translate and print, if you will; they may be serviceable among
Friends, especially them that knew him.[63]
“Concerning the dear Friends at Dantzic, whom the Lord hath
supported by his eternal arm and power to this day; I hope by the
same arm and power he will support them, and in it they will feel
his blessed presence with them in all their sufferings; who is
over the cruelty of their persecutors, who will hardly let them
breathe outwardly or inwardly in the common air of their native
soil. Which shows both their immorality, inhumanity, and
unchristianity, and that they want the counsel of a Gamaliel
amongst them; whose actions are below the law of God, to ‘do unto
others as they would have others to do unto them:’ God will not
bless the doings of such. I desire, however, that Friends may mind
the Lord’s power, that is over all; be valiant for his truth, and
keep upon their rock and foundation, Christ Jesus, that stands
sure in this time of the heat of persecution, which is so hot upon
you, that they will not suffer you to have so much as your houses
to work and sleep in, nor to meet, nor serve God in. The Lord
beholds all such actors and their actions. Therefore look over all
to Him, who is able to deal with them and reward them according to
their works. God Almighty preserve you all in Christ Jesus, in
whom you have rest, life, and peace. Amen.”
G.F.
Southgate, the 28th of the 2nd Month, 1689.
“_To the Magistrates of Dantzic:—Christian Shroder, President of
the Council, and Emanuel Dilger, N. Gadecken, and N. Fraterus,
Deputies of the Council, and the rest of the Magistrates and
Priests._
“We have seen your order, and your breathing out persecution
against that little flock, the lambs of Christ, that live under
your jurisdiction in the city of Dantzic; and that you have
imprisoned and banished two by the hangman out of the government
of your city; and others you threatened to do the same to, with
great punishment, if they return. Likewise you threaten those with
punishment they rent their houses of, if they let them have them
either to live in, or meet in to serve and worship the Lord that
made them. Truly I am heartily sorry for both your magistrates and
priests, that go under the name of Christians, and show such
immoral, inhuman, and unchristian actions, below the royal law of
God, which is, to ‘do to others as you would have them do unto
you.’ For would you think it was moral, human, or Christian, or
according to the law of God, if the king of Poland, who is of
another religion than you, should banish you out of your city by
the hangman and call you murderers of souls? Could you say, but
this was according to the law of God, ‘to do unto you as you have
done unto others?’
“But if you say that you have the sword, the horn, and the power;
blessed be the Lord that hath shortened your sword, your power,
and your horn, that it reaches no further than your jurisdiction
at Dantzic; and you do not know how long God may suffer you to
have your horn, your power and your sword. We are sure you have
not the mind, nor the Spirit of Christ; and the apostle saith,
‘They that have not the Spirit of Christ are none of his,’ Rom.
viii. And Christ bids Peter ‘put up his sword:’ they that draw the
sword concerning him, to defend him and his worship and faith,
should perish with the sword. Peter and the apostles never drew
the outward sword after; but said their weapons were spiritual,
not carnal; and they did not wrestle with flesh and blood. Christ
never gave any such command, that they should banish any by the
hangmen that were not of their religion, and would not receive it.
“Are not you worse than the Turks, who let many religions be in
their country, yea, Christians, and to meet peaceably? Yea, the
Turkish patroons let our Friends that were captives meet together
at Algiers, and said, ‘it was good so to do.’ You are worse than
those barbarous people at Sallee who do not profess Christianity,
for you profess Christ in words, but in works deny him. And did
you ever find, either in Scripture or history, that any
persecutors prospered long? You are worse than they are in the
Mogul’s country, who, they say, permits sixty religions in his
dominions: and many others might be mentioned, all of whom you
exceed in your cruelty and persecution of God’s people, only for
meeting together in the name of Jesus, and serving and worshipping
God, their Creator. No, they must not breathe their natural air,
neither natural nor spiritual, in your dominions. I pray, where
had you these commands from? Neither from Christ nor his apostles.
Do not you profess the Scriptures of the New Testament to be your
rule? But, I pray you, what Scripture have you for this practice?
It is good for you to be humble, to do justly, and love mercy;
call home your banished ones, and love and cherish them: yea,
though they were your enemies, you are to obey the command of
Christ, and love them. I wonder how you and your wives and
families can sleep quietly in your beds, that do such cruel
actions, without thinking the ‘Lord may do to you the same!’ You
cannot be without sense and feeling, except you be given over to
reprobation, and your consciences seared with a hot iron. But
Christian charity hopes that you are not all in that state; but
that there may be some relenting or consideration of your actions
among some of you, either according to the law of God, or his
gospel.
“From him that desires your temporal and eternal good and
salvation, and not destruction. Amen.”
G.F.
Middlesex, the 28th of the 2nd Month, 1689.
“Peter, thou mayest translate this into high Dutch, and send them;
and you may print it, if you will, and send it abroad; and
translate that part of the letter that is to Friends into high
Dutch, and send it to them.”
Having stayed in the country about three weeks, I returned to LONDON
a little before the Yearly Meeting, which was in the third month
this year, and was a very solemn, weighty meeting; the Lord, as
formerly, visiting his people, and honouring the assembly with his
glorious presence, to the great satisfaction and comfort of Friends.
After the business was over, it was upon me to add a few lines to
the Epistle which went from the meeting to Friends, after this
manner:—
“DEAR FRIENDS AND BRETHREN,
“Who have known the Lord’s eternal arm and power, that hath
preserved you upon the heavenly rock and foundation, and hath
built your house upon it; you have known many winds, tempests, and
storms, that have risen out of that sea where the beast rose; and
many raging storms that have risen by apostates of several sorts;
but the Seed that bruises the serpent’s head, and is the
foundation of God’s people, stands sure. Dear Friends and
brethren, though there be great shakings in the world, the Lord’s
power is over all, and his kingdom cannot be shaken. Therefore all
ye children of God, children of the light, and heirs of his
kingdom, a joyful, peaceable habitation keep in; keeping out of
all the contentions and disputes about things below. Lay hand on
no man, nor nothing suddenly, lest they should be puffed up with
that which fades, and so come to loss: but mind the Lord’s power,
that keeps open your heavenly eye, to see things present and to
come; and in that ye will see and handle the word of life.
“Dear Friends everywhere, have power over your own spirits. As God
hath blessed you with his outward things, have a care of trusting
in them, or falling into difference one with another about these
outward things that are below, which will pass away. But all live
in the love of God, and in that live in peace with God, and one
with another. Follow the works of charity, and overcome evil with
good to all; for what good have all the tinklers done, with their
cymbals and sounding brass? They always bred confusion, and never
did good in any age; tinkling with their cymbals, and sounding
with their brass, to draw out the simple to follow them.
Therefore, it is good for all the children of God to keep in their
possession of life, and in the love of God, that is everlasting.
“As for all the tumults of the world, and the apostates from the
truth, the Lord’s power is over them all, and Christ reigns; and
the Lord saith, ‘No weapon that is formed against thee shall
prosper,’ Isa. liv. 17. Now, Friends, you are not insensible how
many weapons have been formed against us, who are the sons and
daughters of God; and the Lord hath restrained them according to
his promise; they have not prospered. The Lord said, ‘Every tongue
that shall rise up in judgment against thee, thou shalt condemn:’
so God hath given such a power to his children, to condemn all the
tongues that shall rise up in judgment against them, and this is
the heritage of the servants of the Lord; ‘their righteousness is
of me, saith the Lord.’ You are not insensible of the many tongues
that have risen up against us in judgment, yea, of apostates and
profane. But in and with the truth, the power of God, according to
the promise of God, ‘Every tongue that riseth against thee, thou
shalt condemn.’ It is not one tongue only thou shalt condemn, but
‘every tongue that shall rise up in judgment against thee, thou
shalt condemn.’ The Lord giveth this power to his servants and
children, to judge the evil tongues; and he doth restrain the
weapons formed against them, so that they shall not prosper
against his children that he hath begotten. Praises and honour be
to his holy name for ever! Amen.”
G.F.
Soon after this, the Yearly Meeting began at York; which because of
the largeness of that county, and for the conveniency of Friends in
the northern parts, had for some years been held there. And inasmuch
as there had been some hurt done in that place, by some that were
gone out of the unity of Friends, it was upon me to write a few
lines to that meeting, “to exhort them to keep in the pure, heavenly
love, which brings into, and keeps in, the true unity.” Which was
thus:—
“DEAR FRIENDS AND BRETHREN IN CHRIST JESUS,
“Whom the Lord by his eternal arm and power hath preserved to this
day, all walk in the power and Spirit of God, that is over all, in
love and unity; for love overcomes, builds up, and unites all the
members of Christ to him the Head. Love keeps out of all strife,
and is of God. Love, or charity, never fails, but keeps the mind
above all outward things, and strife about outward things. It
overcomes evil, and casts out all false fears. It is of God, and
unites all the hearts of his people together in the heavenly joy,
concord, and unity. The God of love preserve you all, and
establish you in Christ Jesus, your life and salvation, in whom ye
have all peace with God. So walk in him, that ye may be ordered in
his peaceable, heavenly wisdom, to the glory of God, and the
comfort one of another. Amen.”
G.F.
London, the 27th of the 3rd Month, 1689.
Being much wearied and spent with many large meetings, and much
business with Friends, during the time of the Yearly Meeting, and
finding my health much impaired thereby, I went out of town with my
daughter Rous, to their country-house near KINGSTON, and tarried
there most of the remaining part of the summer. In which time I
sometimes visited Friends at Kingston, and wrote divers things for
the service of truth and Friends. One was an epistle to Friends in
Barbadoes; as follows:—
“_To all Friends in Barbadoes, that are convinced of God’s
truth._”
“My desires are that ye may live and walk in his peaceable truth,
and show forth that ye are children of the light and of the truth;
for the heavenly, gentle, and peaceable wisdom is justified of her
children. But debate, strife, wilfulness, and laying open one
another’s nakedness and weakness, is not the practice of heavenly
wisdom’s children (but of Ham’s,) nor from the Spirit of Christ;
neither such as bite and tear one another; that is from a
devouring spirit, not from the Spirit of Jesus, which covers that
which is uncomely, and can forgive.
“Now, my Friends, you profess that truth which is beyond all the
world’s ways; therefore see that you excel them in the heavenly,
gentle wisdom, that is easy to be entreated; for the wisdom of the
world is not easy to be entreated; and sometimes will not be
entreated at all. Pray see you excel the world in wisdom, in
virtue, in kindness, in love that is over hatred, in meekness and
humility, in sobriety, civility, and modesty, in temperance and
patience, and in all morality and humanity, which will not act
anything below men or unmanly. Show forth true Christianity, and
that ye are the converted and translated believers in Christ,
dwelling in the love of God, that beareth all things, endureth all
things, is not puffed up, and envies not. For they that are out of
this love of God and Christian charity, are nothing, but as a
tinkling cymbal and as sounding brass, and are discontented,
murmurers, and complainers, full of doubts, questions, and false
jealousies. Keep that spirit out of the camp of God; for do not
you read in the Scriptures, both of the New and Old Testament,
that the end of such was misery? Therefore, in the love of God,
build up one another; for love edifies the body of Christ, and he
commands his believers to love enemies, and to love one another;
by this they are known to be the disciples of Christ. But to live
in envy, strife, and hatred, is a mark they are no disciples of
Christ; ‘For he that loveth not his brother, abides in death; and
whosoever hates his brother, is a murderer: and ye know that no
murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. But they that love the
brethren, are passed from death to life,’ 1 John iii. 14, 15. And,
‘if a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar:
for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he
love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from
God, that he who loveth God, love his brother also,’ chap. iv. 20,
21. ‘Therefore, love one another;’ for love is of God, and hatred
is of the devil; and every one that loveth is born of God, and
knows God. All are children of God by creation; therefore in that
state they are to love their neighbours as themselves; and to do
unto all men as they would have them do unto them.
“Secondly, God poureth his Spirit upon all flesh (or all men and
women;) all that are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God,
heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; and are in fellowship
in the everlasting gospel; and in unity in the Spirit, the bond of
peace. They that go out of this unity, out of the bond of peace,
and do not keep it, break the King of king’s peace; but they that
keep in the unity, and fellowship in the Spirit, and walk in the
light, have fellowship one with another, and with the Father and
the Son. It is not everyone that talks of the light, of the word,
of righteousness, of Christ, and of God, but he that ‘doeth the
will of God.’ Therefore, my Friends, strive to excel one another
in love, in virtue, in good life and conversation; and strive all
to be of one mind, heart, and judgment in the Spirit of God; for
in Christ all are one, and are in peace with him. The Lord God
Almighty preserve you in him, your rock and foundation, that is
heavenly and stands sure; that ye may be valiant for the truth
upon earth, for the Lord and his glorious name; that ye may all
serve him in your generation, and in his new creation in Christ
Jesus. Amen.
“And now, that you are come into so much favour with the
magistrates and powers, that they let you serve the office of
constable, &c., without swearing or taking any oaths, hereby
Christ’s doctrine and command, and his apostle’s is set up.
Therefore, I desire, that you may double your diligence in your
offices, in doing that which is just, and true, and righteous; so
that ye may excel and exceed all that are tied or bound by oaths
to perform their offices; and you can do it upon your Yea and Nay;
so say, and so do; according to Christ’s doctrine and command. For
Adam and Eve, by disobeying the command of God, fell under
condemnation; and they that disobey the command of Christ, in
taking oaths and swearing, go into evil and fall into
condemnation, Matt. v.; James v. My love in the Lord is to you
all.”
G.F.
Kingston-upon-Thames, the 10th of the 5th Month, 1689.
I stayed at Kingston till the beginning of the seventh month, where
not only Friends came to visit me, but some considerable people of
the world, with whom I discoursed about the things of God. Then
leaving Kingston, I went to LONDON by water, visiting Friends as I
went, and taking HAMMERSMITH meeting in my way. Having recovered
some strength by being in the country, when I was come to LONDON, I
went from meeting to meeting, labouring diligently in the work of
the Lord, and opening the divine mysteries of the heavenly things,
as God by his Spirit opened them in me. But I found my body would
not long bear the city; wherefore, when I had travelled amongst
Friends there about a month, I went to TOTTENHAM-HIGH-CROSS, and
thence to Edward Mann’s country-house near WINCHMORE-HILL, and to
ENFIELD, spending three weeks among Friends thereabouts; and had
meetings at all those places. Then, being a little refreshed with
being in the country, I went back to LONDON; where I tarried,
labouring in the work of the ministry, till the middle of the ninth
month; at which time I went down with my son Mead to his house in
ESSEX, and abode there all the winter. During which I stirred not
much abroad, unless it were sometimes to the meeting, to which that
family belonged, which was about half-a-mile from thence; but I had
meetings often in the house with the family, and those Friends that
came thither.
Many things also I wrote, while I was there; some of which follow.
One was an epistle to the quarterly and yearly meetings of Friends
in Pennsylvania, New England, Virginia, Maryland, the Jerseys,
Carolina and other plantations in America. Which was thus:—
“MY DEAR FRIENDS AND BRETHREN IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST,
“Who, by believing in his light, are become children of his light
and of his day; my desires are, that you may all walk in the light
and in the day, and keep the feast of Christ our passover, who is
sacrificed for us, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of
malice and wickedness; but let all that be purged out, that ye may
be a new lump, keeping the feast of Christ our passover, with the
unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Let no leavened bread be
found in your houses, nor in your meetings, nor in the camp of
God, or household of faith, which are the household of Christ; but
all that old leaven, which makes people’s hearts sour, and burn
one against another, must be purged out of the camp of God, and
kept out. For the feast of Christ our passover, must be kept in
the New Covenant, with his heavenly unleavened bread of life. The
Jews’ feast in the Old Testament was kept with outward, unleavened
bread; and now in the New Testament, in the gospel day, our feast
is to be kept with the heavenly, unleavened bread of sincerity and
truth.
“Therefore, Friends, I desire you seriously to consider and to
keep this feast, which the apostle directed the church of Christ
to keep. Do you not see Christendom, so called, keep their feasts
with the leavened bread of malice and wickedness? which makes them
so sour, and their hearts so burn one against another, that they
have destroyed, or do destroy one another about religion.
Therefore, all live in the love of God, which keeps above the love
of the world, so that none of your hearts may be choked or
surfeited with these outward things, or with the cares of the
world, which will pass away; but mind ye the world and the life
that is without end, that ye may be heirs of it.
“And Friends, you should strive to excel all, both professor and
profane, in morality, humanity, and Christianity, modesty,
sobriety, and moderation, and in a good, godly, righteous life and
conversation, showing forth the fruits of the Spirit, and that you
are the children of the living God, children of the light, and of
the day, and not of the night. And serve God in newness of life;
for it is the life, and a living and walking in the truth, that
must answer the witness of God in all people; that ‘they, seeing
your good works, may glorify our Father, which is in heaven.’
Therefore, be valiant for God’s holy, pure truth, and spread it
abroad, among both professors and profane, and the Indians.
“And you should write over once a year, from all your yearly
meetings to the yearly meeting here, concerning your diligence in
the truth, and of its spreading, and of people’s receiving it,
both professors and profane, and the Indians; and concerning the
peace of the church of Christ amongst yourselves. For, blessed be
the Lord, truth gains ground in these parts, and many are made
very loving to Friends, and the Lord’s power and seed is over all;
in which God Almighty keep all his people to his glory. Amen.”
G.F.
Gooses, the 28th of the 11th Month, 1689.
While I was in the city, I had a concern upon my spirit with respect
to a twofold danger that attended some who professed truth: one was
of young people’s running into the fashions of the world; and the
other was of old people’s going into earthly things. And that
concern coming now again weightily upon me, I was moved to give
forth the following paper, as a reproof to such, and an exhortation
and warning to all Friends to beware of, and keep out of those
snares:—
“_To all that profess the Truth of God._”
“My desires are, that you may walk in humility in it. For when the
Lord first called me forth, he let me see, that young people grew
up together in vanity and the fashions of the world; and old
people went downwards into the earth, raking it together; and to
both these I was to be a stranger. And now, Friends, I see too
many young people that profess the truth, grow up into the
fashions of the world, and too many parents indulge them; and
amongst the elder, some are going downwards, and raking after the
earth. Therefore take heed, that you are not making your graves,
while you are alive outwardly, and loading yourselves with thick
clay (Hab. ii. 6). For if you have not power over the earthly
spirit, and that which leadeth into a vain mind, and the fashions
of the world, and into the earth, though you have often had the
rain fall upon your fields, you will but bring forth thistles,
briars, and thorns, which are for the fire. Such will become
brittle, peevish, fretful spirits, that will not abide the
heavenly doctrine, the admonitions, exhortations, and reproofs of
the Holy Ghost, or heavenly Spirit of God; which would bring you
to be conformable to the death of Christ, and to his image, that
ye might have fellowship with him in his resurrection. Therefore
it is good for all to bow to the name of Jesus, their Saviour,
that all may confess him to the glory of God, the Father.
“For I have had a concern upon me, in a sense of the danger of
young people’s going into the fashions of the world, and old
people’s going into earthly things, and many going into a loose
and false liberty, till at last they go quite out into the spirit
of the world, as some have done. The house of such hath been built
upon the sand of the sea-shore, not upon Christ, the Rock, that
they are so soon in the world again, under a pretence of liberty
of conscience. But it is not a pure conscience, nor in the Spirit
of God, nor in Christ Jesus; for in the liberty in the Spirit
there is the unity, which is the bond of peace; and all are one in
Christ Jesus, in whom is the true liberty: and this is not of the
world; for He is not of the world. Therefore all are to stand fast
in Him, as they have received Him; for in Him there is peace, who
is the Prince of Peace; but in the world there is trouble. For the
spirit of the world is a troublesome spirit; but the Spirit of
Christ is a peaceable Spirit; in which God Almighty preserve all
the faithful. Amen.”
G.F.
Gooses, the 1st of the 2nd Month, 1690.
Another paper I wrote while I was here, “concerning the Ensign,
which Isaiah prophesied the Lord should set up for the Gentiles,”
which I showed was Christ. Of which follows a copy:—
“The Lord saith, ‘They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy
mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the
Lord, as the waters cover the sea,’ Isa. xi. 9. ‘And in that day
there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an Ensign of
the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek, and his rest shall be
glorious,’ ver. 10. ‘And he shall reign over the Gentiles, and in
him shall the Gentiles trust,’ Rom. xv. 12. This Ensign is Christ,
who was prophesied of by the prophet; which prophecy the apostle,
who was a minister to the Gentiles, showeth was fulfilled in the
New Testament. And in this day of Christ, Isaiah saith, ‘The Lord
shall set his hand again the second time, to recover the remnant
of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria and from Egypt,’
&c. ‘And he shall set up an Ensign for the nations, and shall
assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed
of Judah from the four corners of the earth,’ ver. 11, 12. This is
in the day of Christ, and his gospel of life and salvation, which
is preached to every creature under heaven; who ‘enlighteneth
every man that cometh into the world,’ both Jews and Gentiles;
that by his heavenly, divine light, they may see Christ, their
Ensign, and Captain of their salvation; so Christ is one Ensign
both to the Jews and Gentiles.
“Isaiah saith, ‘The Redeemer shall come to Sion,’ &c., Isa. lix.
20. And, ‘This is my covenant with them, saith the Lord, my
Spirit, that is upon thee (to wit, Christ), and my words, which I
have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out
of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed,
saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever,’ ver. 21. ‘Arise,
shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen
upon thee,’ chap. lx. 1. ‘And the Gentiles shall come to thy
light,’ ver. 3. ‘And the abundance of the sea shall be converted
unto thee,’ ver. 5 (the sea is the world). ‘The Lord shall be thy
everlasting light,’ ver. 20. And, ‘Thou shalt call thy walls,
Salvation, and thy gates, Praise,’ ver. 18. And the Lord saith, ‘I
will make the place of my feet glorious,’ ver. 13. ‘Heaven is his
throne, and the earth is his footstool,’ chap. lxvi. 1. ‘And he
that puts his trust in me, saith the Lord, shall possess the land,
and shall inherit my holy mountain,’ chap. lvii. 13. Which
mountain is established above all the mountains and hills, Isa.
ii. 2. The Lord saith (speaking of Christ), ‘I have put my spirit
upon him, he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles,’ Isa
xlii. 1. And he saith of him, ‘I will give thee for a covenant of
the people, for a light of the Gentiles; to open the blind eyes,
to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in
darkness out of the prison-house. I am the Lord, that is my name,
and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to
graven images,’ ver. 6-8. So Christ the Light is come, and the
glory of the Lord is risen; and the Gentiles are come to the Light
of Christ. This prophecy of Isaiah concerning Christ, many of the
Gentiles witness fulfilled, that ‘Salvation is come to the
Gentiles,’ Rom. xi. 11. God gave his glory to his Son; and Christ
saith, ‘The glory which thou gavest me, I have given them (namely,
his believers and followers), that they may be one, even as we are
one,’ John xvii. 22.
“Now here you may see, the promises and prophecies are fulfilled
in Christ Jesus, whom God hath given for an Ensign both to the
Jews and Gentiles, and the Captain of their salvation; and he doth
enlighten every one that cometh into the world; that with his
heavenly, divine light, they might see Christ, the Lord from
heaven, their Captain and Ensign, and trust in Him, their
Conqueror, who bruises the serpent’s head, and destroys the devil
and his works; and Christ and his followers overcome the dragon,
beast, and false prophet. Therefore all Jews, Gentiles, and
Christians, that come to believe in Christ, are to stand to their
Ensign, Christ; who is also the Captain of their salvation, above
all ensigns and captains below; for he is from above; therefore
all are to trust in him; for he is certain and able to save to the
utmost, &c. He is the same Ensign and Captain to-day that he was
yesterday, and so for ever, the First and the Last, the Beginning
and the Ending, the Lord of all lords, and King of all kings upon
the earth; and there is nothing certain to be trusted in below
Christ Jesus, who is from above.
“You see in the Scriptures there were many ways and religions
among the heathen, as there were many sects among the Jews when
Christ came; and now there are many sects or religions among the
Christians, who believe from the Scriptures that ‘he is come,’ as
the Jews believed ‘he was to come.’ But they that close their
eyes, and stop their ears to the Light of Christ, are not likely
to see Christ, who hath enlightened them, to be their Ensign and
the Captain of their salvation, that see not with the heavenly
eye, nor hear with the heavenly ear, to see and hear their
heavenly Ensign and Captain of their salvation, to convert and
heal them; that they might follow him, and be of his holy camp,
his heavenly soldiers, to whom he gives spiritual arms and armour,
the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the
armour of light, and the shield of faith (which will quench all
the fiery darts of Satan, and give victory), and the sword of the
Spirit, the Word of God, which shall cut, hammer down, and burn up
all the strongholds of Satan. Also he clothed his soldiers with
fine linen, white and clean, his righteousness, and shoeth them
with the everlasting gospel of peace, the power of God; which
clothes and shoes will never wax old. And all that are shod with
the everlasting gospel, the power of God, will never wax old, but
will stand all storms and tempests in the world. They that are
shod with the gospel, the power of God, can in it tread upon
serpents, vipers, and scorpions, and all the venomous beasts upon
the earth, and all the thorns, briars, brambles, thistles, and
sharp rocks and mountains, and never be hurt, nor ever wear out
their shoes; but their feet are always beautiful upon the
mountains. Moses, a captain, the servant of the Lord, said unto
the people of Israel, ‘I have led you forty years in the
wilderness; your clothes are not waxen old upon you, and thy shoe
is not waxen old upon thy foot,’ Deut. xxix. 5. Here ye may see
the Jews in the Old Testament, their clothes and their shoes did
not wax old; so they who are Christ’s followers, whom he shoeth
with his everlasting gospel of peace, clothes with his fine linen,
his righteousness, and arms with his arms and armour, are clothed,
shod, and armed, with that which will never decay, or wax old,
never canker, or rust, corrupt, or grow blunt.
“Now, all (whether Christians, or Jews, or Gentiles) that hate the
Light of Christ, and close their eyes and stop their ears to it,
are not likely to see Christ, their Ensign, and Captain of their
salvation; but are blind. As no outward captain would enlist a
company of blind and deaf men, and clothe and arm them with
outward armour; so such as are blind and deaf, whose eyes are
closed, and ears stopped to the heavenly Light of Christ, he is
not likely to clothe them with his fine linen, and arm them with
his heavenly and spiritual armour; neither are they like to be
heavenly and spiritually disciplined, to see and know his holy,
spiritual, living camp, nor to follow him, while they are deaf and
blind, and hate his Light, which is the Life in Christ. For it is
the Light that shines in the heart, which gives the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus; who is the Ensign
and Captain of men’s salvation, and who hath brought, and doth
bring many sons unto glory; praises, honour, and glory be unto the
Lord over all, who liveth for ever. Amen.”
G.F.
Gooses, the 14th of the 2nd Month, 1690.
A week after this I returned to LONDON; and after a little stay
there went to visit Friends at KINGSTON, where I stayed not long;
but came back to LONDON, and remained there in the Lord’s work till
after the Yearly Meeting, which was in the fourth month this year;
in which the wonted goodness of the Lord was witnessed, his blessed
presence enjoyed, and his heavenly power livingly felt, opening the
hearts of his people unto him, and his divine treasures of life and
wisdom in and unto them; whereby many useful and necessary things,
relating to the safety of Friends and to the honour and prosperity
of truth, were weightily treated of, and unanimously concluded.
After the meeting I wrote the following paper to Friends, to be
added to the epistle which from the Yearly Meeting was sent into the
several counties:—
“All Friends everywhere, that are alive to God through Jesus
Christ, and are living members of Christ, the holy Head, be still;
and stand still in the Lord’s camp of holiness and righteousness;
and therein see the salvation of God, and your eternal life, rest,
and peace. In it you may feel and see the Lord’s power is over
all; and how the Lord is at work in his power, ruling the nations
with his rod of iron, and breaking (in the nations) the old leaky
vessels and cisterns to pieces, like the potter’s vessels, that
will not hold his living water; who are erred from his Spirit.
“But blessed be the Lord God of heaven and earth, who, by his
eternal arm and power hath settled all his people upon the living,
holy rock and foundation, that stands sure; whom he hath drawn by
his Spirit to his Son, and gathered into the name of Jesus Christ,
his only begotten Son, full of grace and truth; who hath all power
in heaven and in earth given to him; whose name is above every
name under the whole heaven; and all his living members know there
is no salvation given by any other name than by the name of Jesus.
He, their salvation and their living head, is felt in the midst of
them in his light, life, Spirit, grace, and truth, and his word of
patience, wisdom, and power; who is his people’s prophet, that God
hath raised up in his New Testament and Covenant, to open to them;
and their living Shepherd, that hath purchased, redeemed, and
bought them with his precious blood.
“Christ, the living One, feeds his living sheep in his pastures of
life, and they know their living Shepherd’s voice with his living
bread and water, and follow him; and will not follow any of the
world’s hirelings, nor thieves, nor robbers, nor climbers, that
are without Christ, the door. Christ’s living children likewise
know him, the bishop of their souls, to oversee them with his
heavenly and spiritual eye, that they may be preserved in his fold
of life, and go no more forth. They also know Christ, their holy
priest, that by the grace of God tasted death for them, and for
every man, and is a propitiation for their sins; and not for
theirs only, but for the sins of the whole world: and by the one
offering up of himself he hath perfected for ever them that are
sanctified.
“Such a High-priest becomes Christ’s sheep in his New Covenant and
Testament, who is holy, harmless, and separate from sinners, and
is made higher than the heavens; who is not made a priest after
the order of Aaron, with his tithes, offerings, &c., but makes an
end of all those things, having abolished them; and is made a
High-priest after the power of an endless life, who ever liveth to
make intercession for his people: and is able to save to the
uttermost all that come to God through him. He is the one holy
Mediator between God and man; who sanctifies his people, his
church, that he is head of, and presents them to God without spot,
or wrinkle, or blemish, or any such thing; and makes them a holy,
royal priesthood, to offer up spiritual, holy sacrifices,
acceptable to God by Jesus Christ, who is King of all kings, and
Lord of all lords in the earth; so a holy, heavenly King, who hath
all power in heaven and in earth given to him; and rules in all
the hearts of his sheep and lambs, by his holy, divine, precious
faith, that is held in all the pure consciences of his people: of
which holy faith Christ, the holy One, is the author and finisher.
By this holy faith all the just live: in which divine and precious
faith all the just and holy ones have unity; by it they quench all
the fiery darts of Satan, have access to the pure God, and in it
please him.
“Christ, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty
in heaven, in his New Testament and New Covenant, is the minister
of the sanctuary and true tabernacle which the Lord hath pitched,
and not man. Therefore all the lambs and sheep of Christ must feel
this holy Minister in their temple and sanctuary, who ministers
spiritual, holy, and heavenly things to them in their sanctuary
and tabernacle. For all the tabernacles and sanctuaries that are
built or pitched by man, men make ministers for them; and such
ministers are of men and by men, with their worldly sanctuaries
and tabernacles of men’s pitching, by men’s hands.
“And now, dear Friends and brethren everywhere that are of the
flock of Christ; Christ our passover is sacrificed for us.
Therefore let us all keep this heavenly feast of our passover in
his New Testament and Covenant, not with old leaven, neither of
malice nor wickedness; but let all that be purged out, with the
sour, old leavened bread, that all may become a new lump; and so
keep this heavenly feast of Christ, our heavenly Passover, with
the unleavened bread (mark, with the unleavened bread) of
sincerity and truth. My desires are, that all the flock of Christ
everywhere may keep this heavenly feast of Christ, our heavenly
passover, with his heavenly, unleavened bread of sincerity and
truth. Amen.”
G.F.
I stayed in town three weeks or a month after the Yearly Meeting;
and then went to TOTTENHAM-HIGH-CROSS, where was a meeting on
First-day, which I was at; and then went to Edward Mann’s house, at
FORD-GREEN, near Winchmore-Hill; and on the First-day following to
the meeting at ENFIELD, where the Lord gave me many precious
openings to declare to the people. Afterwards moving amongst Friends
thereabouts, I visited the meetings at CHESHUNT, WALTHAM ABBEY,
ENFIELD, TOTTENHAM, and WINCHMORE-HILL, frequently; the Lord being
with me, and opening many deep and weighty truths, divine and
heavenly mysteries to his people, through me, to their great
refreshment, and my joy. After some time I went to HERTFORD, to
visit Friends there; and was at their meeting on a First-day. And
having something more particular upon me to the ancient Friends of
that place, I had a meeting with some of them the next day, and
imparted what the Lord had given me for them. Then passing to WARE,
I made a little stay amongst Friends there, and was at their
meeting. After which, returning, amongst Friends about EDMONTON side
and TOTTENHAM, and taking meetings as I went, I came back to LONDON
the end of the seventh month.
I remained at London till the beginning of the ninth month, being
continually exercised in the work of the Lord, either in public
meetings, opening the way of truth to people, and building up and
establishing Friends therein, or in other services relating to the
church of God. For the parliament now sitting, and having a bill
before them concerning oaths, and another concerning clandestine
marriages, several Friends attended the house, to get those bills so
worded, that they might not be hurtful to Friends. In this service I
also assisted, attending on the parliament, and discoursing the
matter with several of the members.
Having stayed more than a month in London, and much spent myself in
these services, I went to TOTTENHAM; and some time after to
FORD-GREEN; at which places I continued several weeks, visiting
Friends’ meetings round about there, at TOTTENHAM, ENFIELD, and
WINCHMORE-HILL. In this time several things came upon me to write;
one was
“_An epistle to Friends in the ministry._”
“All Friends in the ministry everywhere, to whom God hath given a
gift of the ministry, and who travel up and down in it, do not
‘hide your talent, nor put your light under a bushel, nor cumber
or entangle yourselves with the affairs of this world.’ For the
natural soldiers are not to cumber themselves with the world, much
less the soldiers of Christ, who are not of this world; but are to
mind the riches and glory of the world that is everlasting.
Therefore, stir up the gift of God in you, and improve it; do not
sit down, Demas-like, and embrace this present world, that will
have an end; lest ye become idolaters. Be valiant for God’s truth
upon the earth, and spread it abroad in the day-light of Christ,
you who have sought the kingdom of God, and the righteousness
thereof, and have received it, and preached it; which ‘stands in
righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.’
“As able ministers of the Spirit sow to the Spirit, that of the
Spirit ye may reap life everlasting. Go on in the Spirit,
ploughing with it in the purifying hope; and thrashing, with the
power and Spirit of God, the wheat out of the chaff of corruption,
in the same hope. For he that looks back from the spiritual plough
into the world, is not fit for the spiritual and everlasting
kingdom of God; and is not likely to press into it, as the
faithful do. Therefore you that are awakened to righteousness, and
to the knowledge of the truth, keep yourselves awakened in it;
then the enemy cannot sow his tares in your field; for truth and
righteousness is over him, and before he was. My desires are, that
all may fulfil their ministry, that the Lord Jesus Christ hath
committed to them; and then by the blood (or life) and testimony
of Jesus you will overcome the enemy that opposes it, within and
without.
“All All you that preach the truth, do it as it is in Jesus, in
love: and all that are believers in Jesus, and receivers of him,
he gives them power to become the sons of God, and joint-heirs
with Christ; whom he calleth brethren; and he gives them the water
of life, which shall be a well in them, springing up as a river to
eternal life, that they may water the spiritual plants of the
living God. So that all may be spiritual planters, and spiritual
waterers; and may see with the spiritual eye the everlasting,
eternal God over all, to give the increase, who is the infinite
fountain. My desires are, that you may be kept out of all the
beggarly elements of the world, which are below the spiritual
region, to Christ, the Head; and may hold Him, who bruiseth the
head of enmity, and was before it was; that ye may all be united
together in love, in your Head, Christ, and be ordered by his
heavenly, gentle, peaceable wisdom, to the glory of God. For all
that be in Christ, are in love, peace, and unity. In Him they are
strong, and in a full persuasion; and in Him, who is the first and
the last, they are in a heavenly resolution and confidence for
God’s everlasting honour and glory. Amen.
“From him, who is translated into the kingdom of his dear Son,
with all his saints, a heavenly salutation. Salute one another
with a holy kiss of charity, that never faileth.”
G.F.
Ford-Green, the 25th of the 9th Month, 1690.
Another epistle I wrote soon after, more particularly to the Friends
in the ministry that were gone into America; after this manner:—
“Dear Friends and Brethren, Ministers, Exhorters, and Admonishers,
that are gone into America and the islands thereaway. Stir up the
gift of God in you, and the pure mind, and improve your talents,
that ye may be the light of the world, a city set upon a hill,
that cannot be hid. Let your light shine among the Indians, the
Blacks, and the Whites, that ye may answer the truth in them, and
bring them to the standard and ensign, that God hath set up,
Christ Jesus. For from the rising of the sun to the going down of
the same, God’s name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in
every temple, or sanctified heart, incense shall be offered up to
God’s name.
“And have salt in yourselves, that ye may be the salt of the
earth, that ye may salt it; that it may be preserved from
corruption and putrefaction; so that all sacrifices offered up to
the Lord may be seasoned, and be a good savour to God. All grow in
the faith and grace of Christ, that ye may not be like dwarfs, for
a dwarf shall not come near to offer upon God’s altar; though he
may eat of God’s bread, that he may grow by it. And Friends, be
not negligent, but keep up your negroes’ meetings and your family
meetings; and have meetings with the Indian kings, and their
councils and subjects everywhere, and with others. Bring them all
to the baptizing and circumcising Spirit, by which they may know
God, and serve and worship Him. And all take heed of having your
minds in earthly things, coveting and striving for them; for to be
carnally minded brings death, and covetousness is idolatry. There
is too much strife and contention about that idol, which makes too
many go out of the sense and fear of God; so that some have lost
morality, humanity, and true Christian charity.
“O therefore, be awakened to righteousness, and keep awakened: for
the enemy soweth his tares, while men and women sleep in
carelessness, and security. Therefore so many slothful ones go in
their filthy rags, and have not the fine linen, the righteousness
of Christ; but are straggling, and ploughing with their ox and
their ass, in their woollen and linen garments, mixed stuff,
feeding upon torn food that dieth of itself, and drinking of the
dregs of their old bottle, and eating the sour, leavened bread,
which makes their hearts burn one against another. But all are to
keep the feast of Christ, our passover, with the unleavened bread
of sincerity and truth. This unleavened bread of life from heaven,
makes all hearts and souls glad and joyful, lightsome and
cheerful, to serve and love God, and to love, and serve one
another in the peaceable truth, and to keep in the unity of God’s
Spirit, which is the bond of peace. In this love and peace, God
Almighty keep and preserve all his people, and make them valiant
for his truth upon the earth, to spread it abroad in doctrine,
good life and conversation. Amen.
“All the members of Christ have need one of another. For the foot
hath need of the hand, and the hand of the foot; the ear hath need
of the eye, and the eye of the ear. So that all the members are
serviceable in the body, which Christ is the head of; and the head
sees their service. Therefore, let none despise the least member.
“Have a care to keep down that greedy, earthly mind, that raveneth
and coveteth after the riches and things of this world, lest ye
fall into the low region, like the Gentiles or heathen, and so
lose the kingdom of God, that is everlasting; but seek that first,
and God knows what things ye have need of; who takes care for all,
both in heaven and in the earth: thanks be unto God for his
unspeakable gifts, both temporal and spiritual.”
G. F.
Tottenham, the 11th of the 10th Month, 1690.
Not long after I returned to LONDON, and was almost daily with
Friends at meetings. When I had been near two weeks in town, the
sense of the great hardships and sore sufferings that Friends had
been and were under in Ireland,[64] coming with great weight upon
me, I was moved to write the following epistle, as a word of
consolation unto them:—
“Dear Friends and Brethren in the Lord Jesus Christ, whom the Lord
by his eternal arm and power hath upheld through your great
sufferings, exercises, trials, and hardships (more, I believe,
than can be uttered), up and down that nation, which I am very
sensible of; and the rest of the faithful Friends, who have been
partakers with you in your sufferings; and who cannot but suffer
with the Lord’s people that suffer. My confidence hath been in the
Lord, that he would and will support you in all your sufferings;
and that he would preserve all the faithful in his wisdom, that
they might give no just occasion to one nor other to make them
suffer; and if you did suffer wrongfully, or unjustly, that the
righteous God would assist and uphold you; and reward them
according to their works, that oppressed or wronged you.
“And now my desire is unto the Lord, that in the same holy and
heavenly wisdom, ye may all be preserved to the end of your days,
to the glory of God, minding His supporting hand and power, who is
God All-sufficient, to strengthen, help, and refresh, in time of
need. Let none forget the Lord’s mercies and kindnesses, which
endure for ever; but always live in the sense of them. And truly,
Friends, when I consider the thing, it is the great mercy of the
Lord, that ye have not been all swallowed up, seeing with what
spirits ye have been compassed about. But the Lord carrieth his
lambs in his arms, and they are as tender to him as the apple of
his eye; and his power is his hedge about his vineyard of heavenly
plants.
“Therefore it is good for all his children, to be given up to the
Lord with their minds and souls, hearts and spirits, who is a
faithful keeper, that never slumbers nor sleeps; but is able to
preserve and keep you, and to save to the utmost; and none can
hurt so much as a hair of your heads, except he suffer it, to try
you; for he upholds all things, in heaven and in earth, by the
Word of his power; all things were made by Christ, and by him all
things consist (mark, consist), whether they be visible or
invisible, &c. So he hath power over all; for all power in heaven
and in earth is given to him; and to you that have received him,
he hath given power to become the sons and daughters of God; so
living members of Christ, the living head, grafted into Him, in
whom ye have eternal life. Christ, the Seed, reigns, and his power
is over all; who bruises the serpent’s head, and destroys the
devil and his works, and was before he was. So all of you live and
walk in Christ Jesus; that nothing may be between you and God, but
Christ, in whom ye have salvation, life, rest, and peace with God.
“As for the affairs of truth in this land and abroad, I hear that
in Holland and Germany and thereaway, Friends are in love, unity,
and peace; and in Jamaica, Barbadoes, Nevis, Antigua, Maryland,
and New England, I hear nothing but Friends are in unity and
peace. The Lord preserve them all, out of the world (in which
there is trouble), in Christ Jesus, in whom there is peace, life,
love, and unity. Amen. My love in the Lord Jesus Christ to all
Friends everywhere in your land, as though I named them.”
G.F.
London, the 10th of the 11th Month, 1690.
----------------------------
Thus, reader, thou hast had some account of the life and travels,
labours, sufferings, and manifold trials and exercises of this holy
man of God, from his youth to almost the time of his death, of which
himself kept a journal; out of which the foregoing sheets were
transcribed. It remains that an account be added of the time, place,
and manner of his death and burial, which were thus:—
The day after he had written the foregoing epistle to Friends in
Ireland, he went to the meeting at Gracechurch Street, which was
large, being the First-day of the week; and the Lord enabled him to
preach the truth fully and effectually, opening many deep and
weighty things with great power and clearness. After which having
prayed, and the meeting being ended, he went to Henry Goldney’s, in
White-Hart-Court, near the meeting-house; and some Friends going
with him there, he told them “he thought he felt the cold strike to
his heart, as he came out of the meeting;” “yet,” he added, “I am
glad I was here; now I am clear, I am fully clear.” As soon as the
Friends withdrew, he lay down upon a bed (as he sometimes used to
do, through weariness after meeting,) but soon rose again; and in a
little time lay down again, complaining still of cold. And his
strength sensibly decaying, he was soon obliged to go into bed;
where he lay in much contentment and peace, and very sensible to the
last.
And as, in the whole course of his life, his spirit, in the
universal love of God, was bent upon the exalting of truth and
righteousness, and the making known the way thereof to the nations
and people afar off; so now, in the time of his outward weakness,
his mind was intent upon, and (as it were) wholly taken up with
that; and some particular Friends he sent for, to whom he expressed
his mind and desire for the spreading of Friends’ books, and truth
thereby in the world. Divers Friends came to visit him in his
illness; to some of whom he said, “All is well; the Seed of God
reigns over all, and over death itself. And though,” said he, “I am
weak in body, yet the power of God is over all, and the Seed reigns
over all disorderly spirits.”
Thus lying in a heavenly frame of mind, his spirit wholly exercised
towards the Lord, he grew weaker and weaker in his natural strength;
and on the third day of the week, between the hours of nine and ten
in the evening, he quietly departed this life in peace, and sweetly
fell asleep in the Lord, whose blessed truth he had livingly and
powerfully preached in the meeting but two days before. Thus ended
he his day in his faithful testimony, in perfect love and unity with
his brethren, and in peace and good-will to all men, on the 13th of
the 11th Month [old style], 1690, being in the 67th year of his age.
After the death of George Fox, an epistle was found written with his
own hand, and left sealed up, with this superscription; “Not to be
opened before the time”; that is, not till after his decease. When
it was opened, it was found to be addressed to Friends, and to all
the Children of God, in all places in the world. It was afterwards
printed, and is inserted in the Appendix to this Journal.
On the day appointed for the interment of George Fox, a very great
concourse of Friends, and others, assembled at the meeting-house in
White-Hart-Court, near Gracechurch Street, about the middle of the
day, to attend his body to the grave. The meeting held about two
hours with great and heavenly solemnity, manifestly attended with
the Lord’s blessed presence and glorious power; in which divers
living testimonies were given, from a lively remembrance and sense
of the blessed ministry of this dear and ancient servant of the
Lord, his early entering into the Lord’s work at the breaking forth
of this gospel-day, his innocent life, long and great travels, and
unwearied labours of love in the everlasting gospel, for the turning
and gathering of many thousands from darkness to the light of Christ
Jesus, the foundation of true faith; the manifold sufferings,
afflictions, and oppositions, which he met withal for his faithful
testimony, both from his open adversaries, and from false brethren;
and his preservations, deliverances, and dominion in, out of, and
over them all, by the power of God; to whom the glory and honour
always was by him, and is, and always ought to be by all, ascribed.
After the meeting was ended, his body was borne by Friends, and
accompanied by very great numbers, to Friends’ burying-ground, near
Bunhill-Fields; where, after a solemn waiting upon the Lord, and
several living testimonies borne, recommending the company to the
guidance and protection of that Divine Spirit and power, by which
this holy man of God had been raised up, furnished, supported, and
preserved, to the end of his day, his body was committed to the
earth; but his memorial shall remain, and be everlastingly blessed
among the righteous.
-----
Footnote 63:
William Caton, whose service was much in Holland, died at
Amsterdam in 1665. He was one of the earliest associates of George
Fox, being convinced by him in 1652, and is often mentioned in the
earlier part of this Journal. He was not only a literary man, but
zealous for religion; and being of a courteous and affable
disposition, was in general esteem. When about fourteen years of
age he went to reside in Judge Fell’s family at Swarthmore Hall,
as a companion for his son, sharing with him, both in instruction
and recreation. He was very early inclined to religion, and, as he
grew in years, he advanced in godliness.
After joining Friends, he travelled considerably as a gospel
minister, and underwent many sufferings for Christ’s sake. At
Maidstone, in 1654, he and another Friend were stripped, their
necks and arms put in the stocks, and, in that condition, they
were desperately whipped. At Yarmouth he was, with seven other
Friends, taken from a religious meeting on the first day of the
week, and confined six months in prison.
A valuable collection of letters of early Friends was met with at
Swarthmore some years ago, written nearly throughout by William
Caton, and appears to have been intended by him for publication.
It has a title page, dated Swarthmore, 23rd of 6th Month, 1659;
and a preface signed by himself, dated 7th of 2nd Month, 1660. The
life of Caton, George Fox mentions as having been printed, was
re-published in 1839, by John Barclay, forming one of the _Select
Series_, to which the reader is referred for further particulars.
Footnote 64:
The sufferings of Friends in Ireland at this time were very great.
The havoc and spoil they underwent were enormous, as related by
the historians Sewell and Rutty, and more minutely by Besse, in
his _Collection of Sufferings_, to which allusion has been made
before, and to which the reader is now finally referred. The loss
sustained by Friends from persecution in a single year (1689) was
estimated at £100,000, many being deprived of all their substance.
Great numbers were immured for years in prison, and many died
there for Christ’s sake. Others when there was a prospect of their
being released, because they could not satisfy the unjust demand
of fees, as having done no wrong (thus bravely, though passively,
asserting their Christian liberty,) were either detained or
stripped of their clothes, and turned out.
Surrounded as they were with perils on every hand, they placed
their confidence in Divine protection; and in the worst times of
trial, when not in prison, they kept up their meetings for
worship, as well as discipline; collected at the latter the
accounts of the sufferings of their members, and took what care
they could for their relief.
APPENDIX;
CONTAINING
TESTIMONY OF MARGARET FOX RESPECTING HER HUSBAND GEORGE FOX.
TESTIMONY OF SOME OF THE AUTHOR’S RELATIONS.
TESTIMONY FROM THE MORNING MEETING IN LONDON.
TESTIMONY OF THOMAS ELLWOOD.
AN EPISTLE OF GEORGE FOX, FOUND AFTER HIS DEATH SEALED UP,
ADDRESSED TO THE CHILDREN OF GOD EVERYWHERE.
THE APPEARANCE OF THE LORD’S EVERLASTING TRUTH, AND ITS BREAKING
FORTH AGAIN IN HIS ETERNAL POWER, IN THIS OUR DAY AND AGE, IN
ENGLAND.
A CHRONOLOGICAL REGISTER OF THE PLACES VISITED BY THE AUTHOR.
TEXTS OF SCRIPTURE OCCURRING IN THIS JOURNAL.
PARTICULARS OF THE VARIOUS EDITIONS OF GEORGE FOX’S JOURNAL, ETC.
TESTIMONY OF MARGARET FOX,
CONCERNING HER LATE HUSBAND
GEORGE FOX;
WITH A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF SOME OF HIS TRAVELS, SUFFERINGS, AND
HARDSHIPS ENDURED FOR THE TRUTH’S SAKE.
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It having pleased Almighty God to take away my dear husband out of
this evil, troublesome world, who was not a man thereof, being
chosen out of it; who had his life and being in another region, and
whose testimony was against the world, that the deeds thereof were
evil, and therefore the world hated him: so I am now to give in my
account and testimony for him, whom the Lord hath taken unto his
blessed kingdom and glory. And it is before me from the Lord, and in
my view, to give a relation, and leave upon record the dealings of
the Lord with us from the beginning.
He was the instrument in the hand of the Lord in this present age,
which he made use of to send forth into the world, to preach the
everlasting gospel, which had been hid from many ages and
generations; the Lord revealed it unto him, and made him open that
new and living way, that leads to life eternal, when he was but a
youth, and a stripling. And when he declared it in his own country
of Leicestershire, and in Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, and
Warwickshire, his declaration being against the hireling priests and
their practices, it raised a great fury and opposition amongst the
priests and people against him; yet there were always some that
owned him in several places; but very few that stood firm to him
when persecution came on him. He and one other were put in prison at
Derby, but the other declined, and left him in prison there, where
he continued almost a whole year; and when he was released out of
prison, he went on with his testimony abroad, and was put in prison
again at Nottingham; and there he continued a while, and after was
released again.
He then travelled on into Yorkshire, and passed up and down that
great county, and several received him, as William Dewsbury, Richard
Farnsworth, Thomas Aldam, and others, who all came to be faithful
ministers of the Spirit for the Lord. He continued in that country,
and travelled through Holderness and the Wolds, and abundance were
convinced: and several were brought to prison at York for their
testimony to the truth, both men and women: so that we heard of such
a people that were risen, and we did very much inquire after them.
And after a while he travelled up farther towards the Dales in
Yorkshire, as Wensleydale, and Sedbergh; and amongst the hills,
dales, and mountains he came on, and convinced many of the eternal
Truth.
In the year 1652 it pleased the Lord to draw him towards us; so he
came on from Sedbergh, and so to Westmorland, as Firbank Chapel,
where John Blakelin came with him; and so on to Preston, Grayrigg,
Kendal, Underbarrow, Poolbank, Cartmel, and Stavely; and so on to
Swarthmore, my dwelling-house whither he brought the blessed tidings
of the everlasting gospel, which I, and many hundreds in these
parts, have cause to praise the Lord for. My then husband, Thomas
Fell, was not at home at that time, but gone to the Welsh circuit,
being one of the judges of assize; and our house being a place open
to entertain ministers and religious people at, one of GEORGE FOX’S
friends brought him hither, where he stayed all night.
The next day being a lecture, or a fast-day, he went to Ulverstone
steeple-house, but came not in till people were gathered; I and my
children had been a long time there before. And when they were
singing before the sermon, he came in; and when they had done
singing, he stood up upon a seat or form, and desired that he might
have liberty to speak; and he that was in the pulpit said he might.
And the first words that he spoke were as followeth: “He is not a
Jew that is one outward; neither is that circumcision which is
outward; but he is a Jew that is one inward; and that is
circumcision which is of the heart.” And so he went on, and said,
how that Christ was the Light of the world, and lighteth every man
that cometh into the world; and that by this light they might be
gathered to God, &c. I stood up in my pew and wondered at his
doctrine; for I had never heard such before. And then he went on,
and opened the Scriptures, and said, “the Scriptures were the
prophets’ words, and Christ’s and the apostles’ words, and what, as
they spoke, they enjoyed and possessed, and had it from the Lord:”
and said, “then what had any to do with the Scriptures, but as they
came to the Spirit that gave them forth? You will say, Christ saith
this, and the apostles say this; but what canst thou say? Art thou a
child of Light, and hast thou walked in the Light, and what thou
speakest, is it inwardly from God?” &c. This opened me so, that it
cut me to the heart; and then I saw clearly we were all wrong. So I
sat down in my pew again, and cried bitterly: and I cried in my
spirit, to the Lord, “We are all thieves; we are all thieves; we
have taken the Scriptures in words, and know nothing of them in
ourselves.” So that served me, that I cannot well tell what he spoke
afterwards; but he went on in declaring against the false prophets,
and priests, and deceivers of the people.
And there was one John Sawrey, a justice of peace, and a professor,
that bid the churchwarden take him away; and he laid his hands on
him several times, and took them off again, and let him alone; and
then after a while he gave over, and came to our house again that
night. And he spoke in the family amongst the servants, and they
were all generally convinced; as William Caton, Thomas Salthouse,
Mary Askew, Anne Clayton, and several other servants. And I was
struck into such a sadness, I knew not what to do, my husband being
from home. I saw it was the truth, and I could not deny it; and I
did as the apostle saith, “I received the truth in the love of it:”
and it was opened to me so clear, that I had never a tittle in my
heart against it; but I desired the Lord that I might be kept in it;
and then I desired no greater portion.
Then he went on to Dalton, Aldingham, Dendron, and Rampside chapels
and steeple-houses, and several places up and down, and the people
followed him mightily; and abundance were convinced, and saw that
what he spoke was truth; but the priests were all in a rage. About
two weeks after, James Naylor and Richard Farnsworth followed him,
and inquired him out, till they came to Swarthmore, and there stayed
a while with me at our house, and did me much good, for I was under
great heaviness and judgment. But the power of the Lord entered upon
me within about two weeks that he came; and about three weeks’ end
my husband came home; and many were in a mighty rage. And a deal of
the captains and great ones of the country went to meet my then
husband as he was coming home, and informed him “that a great
disaster was befallen amongst his family, and that they were
witches; and that they had taken us out of our religion: and that he
might either set them away, or all the country would be undone.” But
no weapon formed against the Lord shall prosper, as you may see
hereafter.
So my husband came home greatly offended: and any may think what a
condition I was like to be in, that either I must displease my
husband, or offend God; for he was very much troubled with us all in
the house and family, they had so prepossessed him against us. But
James Naylor and Richard Farnsworth were both then at our house, and
I desired them to come and speak to him, and so they did, very
moderately and wisely; but he was at first displeased with them,
till they told him they came in love and goodwill to his house. And
after that he had heard them speak a while, he was better satisfied;
and they offered as if they would go away; but I desired them to
stay, and not to go away yet, for George Fox will come this evening.
And I would have had my husband to have heard them all, and
satisfied himself farther about them: because they had so
prepossessed him against them of such dangerous, fearful things, in
his coming first home. And then he was pretty moderate and quiet;
and his dinner being ready, he went to it; and I went in, and sat me
down by him. And whilst I was sitting, the power of the Lord seized
upon me: and he was struck with amazement, and knew not what to
think; but was quiet and still. And the children were all quiet and
still, and grown sober, and could not play on their music that they
were learning: and all these things made him quiet and still.
At night George Fox came: and after supper my husband was sitting in
the parlour, and I asked him, if George Fox might come in; and he
said, Yes. So George came in without any compliment, and walked into
the room, and began to speak presently; and the family, and James
Naylor, and Richard Farnsworth came all in: and he spoke very
excellently as ever I heard him, and opened Christ’s and the
apostles’ practices, which they were in, in their day. And he opened
the night of apostasy since the apostles’ days, and laid open the
priests and their practices in the apostasy; that if all England had
been there, I thought they could not have denied the truth of those
things. And so my husband came to see clearly the truth of what he
spoke, and was very quiet that night, said no more and went to bed.
The next morning came Lampitt, priest of Ulverstone, and got my
husband into the garden, and spoke much to him there; but my husband
had seen so much the night before, that the priest got little
entrance upon him. And when the priest Lampitt was come into the
house, George spoke sharply to him, and asked him “when God spoke to
him, and called him to go and preach to the people?” but after a
while the priest went away: this was on a Sixth day of the week,
about the Fifth month, 1652. And at our house divers Friends were
speaking one to another, how there were several convinced hereaways;
and we could not tell where to get a meeting; my husband also being
present, he overheard, and said of his own accord, “You may meet
here, if you will;” and that was the first meeting we had that he
offered of his own accord. And then notice was given that day and
the next to Friends, and there was a good large meeting on the day’,
which was the first meeting that was at Swarthmore; and so continued
there a meeting from 1652 till 1690. And my husband went that day to
the steeple-house, and none with him but his clerk and his groom
that rode with him; and the priest and people were all fearfully
troubled: but praised be the Lord, they never got their wills upon
us to this day.
After a few weeks George went to Ulverstone steeple-house again, and
the said Justice Sawrey, with others, set the rude rabble upon him;
and they beat him so that he fell down as in a swoon, and was sore
bruised and blackened in his body, and on his head and arms. Then my
husband was not at home; but when he came home he was displeased
that they should do so; and spoke to Justice Sawrey, and said it was
against law to make riots. And after that he was sore beat and
stoned at Walney till he fell down; and also at Dalton was he sore
beat and abused; so that he had very hard usage in divers places in
those parts. And then when a meeting was settled there, he went
again into Westmorland, and settled meetings there; and there was a
great convincement, and abundance of brave ministers came out
thereaways, as John Camm, John Audland, Francis Howgill, Edward
Burrough, Miles Halhead, and John Blakelin, with divers others. He
also went over the sands to Lancaster, and Yealand, and Kellet,
where Robert Widders, Richard Hubberthorn, and John Lawson, with
many others, were convinced. And about that time he was in those
parts, many priests and professors rose up, and falsely accused him
of blasphemy, and did endeavour to take away his life; and got
people to swear at a sessions at Lancaster that he had spoken
blasphemy. But my then husband and Colonel West, having had some
sight and knowledge of the truth, withstood the two persecuting
justices, John Sawrey and Thompson, and brought him off, and cleared
him; for indeed he was innocent. And after the sessions there was a
great meeting in the town of Lancaster; and many of the
town’s-people came in, and many were convinced. And thus he was up
and down about Lancaster, Yealand, Westmorland, and some parts of
Yorkshire, and our parts above one year; in which time there were
above twenty-four ministers brought forth, that were ready to go
with their testimony of the Eternal Truth unto the world; and soon
after Francis Howgill and John Camm went to speak to Oliver
Cromwell.
In the year 1653, George’s drawings were into Cumberland, by Millom,
Lamplugh, Embleton, and Brigham, Pardshaw and Cockermouth, where at
or near Embleton he had a dispute with some priests, as Larkham and
Benson; but chiefly with John Wilkinson, a preacher at Embleton and
Brigham, who was afterwards convinced, and owned the Truth, and was
a serviceable minister both in England, Ireland, and Scotland. Then
he went to Coldbeck and several places, till he came to Carlisle,
and went to their steeple-house; there they beat and abused him, and
had him before the magistrates, who examined him, and put him in
prison in the common jail among the thieves. At the assizes was one
Anthony Pearson, who had been a justice of peace, and was convinced
at Appleby (when he was upon the bench) by James Naylor and Francis
Howgill, who were then prisoners there, and brought before him; so
Anthony Pearson spoke to the justices at Carlisle, he being
acquainted with them, having married his wife out of Cumberland; and
after a while they released him. Afterwards he went into several
parts of Cumberland, and many were convinced, and owned the Truth;
and he gathered and settled meetings there amongst them, and up and
down in several parts in the North.
In the year 1654, he went southward to his own country of
Leicestershire, visiting Friends. And then Colonel Hacker sent him
to Oliver Cromwell; and after having been kept prisoner a while, he
was brought before Oliver, and released. He then stayed a while,
visiting Friends in London, and the meetings therein; and so passed
westward to Bristol and visited Friends there. He afterwards went
into Cornwall, where they put him in prison at Launceston, and one
Edward Pyot with him, where he had a bad, long imprisonment. When he
was released, he passed into many parts of that county of Cornwall,
and settled meetings there. Then he travelled through many counties,
visiting Friends and settling meetings all along; and so came into
the North, and to Swarthmore, and to Cumberland.
And so for Scotland he passed in the year 1657, and there went with
him Robert Widders, James Lancaster, John Grave, and others. He
travelled through many places in that nation, as Douglas, Heads,
Hamilton, Glasgow, and to Edinburgh, where they took him, and
carried him before General Monk and the council, and examined him,
and asked him his business into that nation; who answered, he came
to visit the seed of God. And after they had threatened him, and
charged him to depart their nation of Scotland, they let him go.
Then he went to Linlithgow, and Stirling, and Johnstone, and many
places, visiting the people; and several were convinced. And after
he had stayed a pretty while, and settled some meetings, he returned
into Northumberland, and into the bishopric of Durham, visiting
Friends and settling meetings as he went; and then returned back
again to Swarthmore, and stayed amongst Friends a while, and so
returned south again. In 1658, Judge Fell died.
In 1660 he came out of the South into the North, and had a great
general meeting about Balby in Yorkshire; and so came on, visiting
Friends in many places, till he came to Swarthmore again. And King
Charles then being come in, the justices sent out warrants, and took
him at Swarthmore, charging him in their warrants, that he drew away
the king’s liege people, to the endangering the embruing the nation
in blood; and sent him prisoner to Lancaster castle. And I having a
great family, and he being taken in my house, I was moved of the
Lord to go to the king at Whitehall; and took with me a declaration,
and an information of our principles, and a long time, and much ado
I had, to get to him. But at last, when I got to him, I told him if
he was guilty of those things, I was guilty, for he was taken in my
house; and I gave him the paper of our principles, and desired that
he would set him at liberty, as he had promised that none should
suffer for tender consciences; and we were of tender consciences,
and desired nothing but the liberty of our consciences. Then with
much ado, after he had been kept prisoner near half a year at
Lancaster, we got a _habeas corpus_, and removed him to the king’s
bench, where he was released. And then would I gladly have come home
to my great family, but was bound in my spirit, and could not have
freedom to get away for a whole year. The king had promised me
several times that we should have our liberty, but then the
Monarchy-men rose; and then came the great and general imprisonment
of Friends the nation through; and so could I not have freedom nor
liberty to come home, till we had got a general proclamation for all
our Friends’ liberty. Then I had freedom and peace to come home.
In 1663 he came North again, and to Swarthmore. Then they sent out
warrants, and took him again; and had him to Holker before the
justices, who tendered him the oath of allegiance, and sent him
prisoner to Lancaster castle. And about a month after, the justices
sent for me also out of my house, and tendered me the oath, and sent
me prisoner to Lancaster. And the next assizes they again tendered
the oath of allegiance and supremacy to us both, and premunired me;
but they had missed the date, and other things in the indictment,
and so it was quashed; but they tendered him the oath again, and
kept him prisoner a year and a half at Lancaster castle. And then
they sent him to Scarbro’ castle in Yorkshire, where they kept him
prisoner close under the soldiers much of a year and a half, so that
a Friend could scarcely have spoken to him; yet after that, it
pleased the Lord that he was released; but I continued in prison,
and a prisoner four years at that time; and an order was procured
from the council, whereby I was set at liberty. And in that time I
went down into Cornwall with my son and daughter Lower, and came
back by London to the Yearly Meeting; and there I met with him
again; and then he told me the time was drawing on towards our
marriage, but he might first go into Ireland. And a little before
this time was he prisoner in his own country at Leicester for a
while, and then released. So into Ireland he went, and I went into
Kent and Sussex, and came back to London again; and afterwards I
went to the West, towards Bristol, in 1669, and there I stayed till
he came over from Ireland, which was eleven years after my former
husband’s decease. In Ireland he had had a great service for the
Lord and his eternal truth, amongst Friends and many people there,
but escaped many dangers, and times of being taken prisoner, they
having laid in wait aforehand for him in many places. And then he
being returned, at Bristol he declared his intentions of marriage;
and there also was our marriage solemnized. Within ten days after I
came homewards, but my husband stayed up and down in the countries
amongst Friends, visiting them.
Soon after I came home, there came another order from the council to
cast me into prison again; and the sheriff of Lancashire sent his
bailiff, and pulled me out of my own house, and had me prisoner to
Lancaster castle (upon the old premunire), where I continued a whole
year, and most part of that time was I sick and weakly; my husband
also was weak and sickly at that time. After a while he recovered,
and went about to get me out of prison, and a discharge at last was
got under the great seal; and so I was set at liberty. Then I was to
go up to London again, for my husband was intending for America. He
was full two years away, before he came back again into England; and
having arrived at Bristol, he came thence to London, intending to
come to the middle of the nation with me; but when we came into some
parts of Worcestershire, they got there information of him; and one
Justice Parker, by his warrant, sent him and my son Lower to
Worcester jail. The justices there tendered him the oath, and
premunired him, but released my son Lower, who stayed with him most
of the time he was prisoner there.
After some time he fell sick, in a long, lingering sickness, and
many times was very ill; so they writ to me from London, that if I
would see him alive, I might go to him; which accordingly I did.
After I had tarried seventeen weeks with him at Worcester, and no
discharge likely to be obtained for him, I went up to London, and
wrote to the king an account of his long imprisonment, and how he
was taken in his travel homewards, and that he was weak and sick,
and not likely to live if they kept him long there. I went with it
to Whitehall myself, where I met with the king and gave him the
paper; and he said, I must go to the chancellor, he could do nothing
in it. Then I wrote also to the lord chancellor, and went to his
house, gave him my paper, and spoke to him, that the king had left
it wholly to him; and if he did not take pity and release him out of
that prison, I feared he would end his days there. The Lord
Chancellor Finch was a very tender man, and spoke to the judge, who
gave out an _habeas corpus_ presently. When we got it we sent it
down to Worcester, and they would not part with him at first, but
said he was premunired, and was not to go out on that manner. Then
we were forced to go to Judge North, and to the attorney-general,
and we got another order, and sent down from them; and with much
ado, and great labour and industry of William Mead and other
friends, we got him up to London, where he appeared in Westminster
Hall at the king’s bench, before Judge Hale, who was a very honest,
tender man; and he knew they had imprisoned him but in envy. So that
which they had against him was read, and our counsel pleaded that he
was taken up in his travel and journey. And there was but a little
said till he was acquitted. This was the last prison that he was in,
being freed by the court of king’s bench.
When he was at liberty he recovered again; and then I was very
desirous to go home with him, which we did. This was the first time
that he came to Swarthmore after we were married; and he stayed here
much of two years, and then went to London again to the Yearly
Meeting; and after a while went into Holland, and some parts of
Germany, where he stayed a pretty while, and then returned to London
again at the next Yearly Meeting. And after he had stayed a while in
and about London, he came into the North to Swarthmore again, and
stayed that time near two years; and then he grew weakly, being
troubled with pains and aches, having had many sore and long
travels, beatings, and hard imprisonments. But after some time he
rode to York, and so passed on through Nottinghamshire and several
counties, visiting Friends, till he came to London to the Yearly
Meeting, and stayed there, and thereaways, till he finished his
course, and laid down his head in peace.
And though the Lord had provided an outward habitation for him, yet
he was not willing to stay at it, because it was so remote and far
from London, where his service most lay. And my concern for God, and
his holy eternal truth, was then in the North, where God had placed
and set me, and likewise for the ordering and governing of my
children and family; so that we were very willing both of us, to
live apart for some years on God’s account, and his truth’s service,
and to deny ourselves of that comfort which we might have had in
being together, for the sake and service of the Lord and his truth.
And if any took occasion, or judged hard of us because of that, the
Lord will judge them; for we were innocent. And for my own part, I
was willing to take many long journeys, for taking away all occasion
of evil thoughts; and though I lived two hundred miles from London,
yet have I been nine times there, upon the Lord and his truth’s
account; and of all the times that I was at London, this last was
most comfortable, that the Lord was pleased to give me strength and
ability to travel that great journey, being seventy-six years of
age, to see my dear husband, who was better in his health and
strength than many times I had seen him before. I look upon it, that
the Lord’s special hand was in it, that I should go then, for he
lived but about half a year after I left him; which makes me admire
the wisdom and goodness of God, in ordering my journey at that time.
And now he hath finished his course, and his testimony, and is
entered into his eternal rest and felicity. I trust in the same
powerful God, that his holy arm and power will carry me through,
whatever he hath yet for me to do; and that he will be my strength
and support, and the bearer up of my head unto the end, and in the
end. For I know his faithfulness and goodness, and I have experience
of his love; to whom be glory and powerful dominion for ever. Amen.
M.F.
TESTIMONY OF SOME OF THE AUTHOR’S RELATIONS.
Neither days nor length of time with us can wear out the memory of
our dear and honoured father, George Fox, whom the Lord hath taken
to himself. And though his earthly house of this tabernacle be
dissolved, and mortality put off, yet we believe he has a “building
with God eternally in the heavens, and is entered into rest,” as a
reward to those great labours, hard sufferings, and sore trials he
patiently endured for God and his truth. Of which truth he was made
an able minister, and one, if not the first promulgator of it in our
age; who, though of no great literature, nor seeming much learned,
as to the outward (being hid from the wisdom of this world), yet he
had the tongue of the learned, and could speak a word in due season
to the conditions and capacities of most, especially to them that
were weary, and wanted soul’s rest; being deep in the divine
mysteries of the kingdom of God. And the word of life and salvation
through him reached unto many souls, whereby many were convinced of
their great duty of inward retiring to wait upon God; and as they
became diligent in the performance of that service, were also raised
up to be preachers of the same everlasting gospel of peace and glad
tidings to others; who are as seals to his ministry both in this and
other nations, and may possibly give a more full account thereof.
Howbeit we knowing his unwearied diligence, not sparing, but
spending himself in the work and service whereunto he was chosen and
called of God, could not but give this short testimony of his
faithfulness therein, and likewise of his tender love and care
towards us; who, as a tender father to his children (in which
capacity we stood, being so related to him), never failed to give us
his wholesome counsel and advice.
And not only so, but, as a father in Christ, he took care of the
whole family and household of faith, which the Lord had made him an
eminent overseer of, and endued him with an excellent spirit of
wisdom and understanding, to propose and direct such helps and
advantages to the well-ordering and establishing of affairs and
government in the church, as now are found very serviceable
thereunto; and have greatly disappointed and prevented the false,
loose, and libertine spirit of some who, to their own confusion,
have endeavoured, by separation and division, to disturb the
church’s peace. And although many of that sort have at sundry times
shot their poisonous darts at him, publicly in print, and privately
other ways, yet he has been always preserved by the heavenly power
of God, out of the reach of their envy, and all perils and
difficulties that attended on their account; who, as a fixed star in
the firmament of God’s power, did constantly abide, and held his
integrity to the last, being of a sweet, savoury life; and as to
conversation, kept his garments clean: and though outwardly dead,
yet he liveth, and his memory is right precious unto us; as it is
and will be to all that abide in the love of truth, and have not
declined the way of it. For he was one of the Lord’s worthies,
valiant for the truth upon earth, not turning his back in the day of
battle; but his bow still abiding in its strength, he, through many
hardships, brought gladness and refreshment to Israel’s camp, being
assisted by the might of that power that always put the armies of
aliens and enemies to flight. And now having finished his course, he
is removed from us into a glorious state of immortality and bliss,
and is gathered unto the Lord as a shock of corn in its full season,
and to that habitation of safety where the wicked cease from
troubling and the weary are at rest.
JOHN ROUS, MARGARET ROUS,
WILLIAM MEAD, SARAH MEAD,
THOMAS LOWER, MARY LOWER,
WILLIAM INGRAM, SUSANNA INGRAM,
DANIEL ABRAHAM, RACHEL ABRAHAM,
ABRAHAM MORRICE, ISABEL MORRICE.
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AN EPISTLE BY WAY OF TESTIMONY,
TO FRIENDS AND BRETHREN OF THE MONTHLY AND QUARTERLY MEETINGS
IN ENGLAND, WALES, AND ELSEWHERE, CONCERNING THE DECEASE
OF OUR FAITHFUL BROTHER, GEORGE FOX.
From our Second-day’s Morning-Meeting in London, the 26th of 11th
Month, 1690.
Dear and truly beloved friends, brethren and sisters in Christ
Jesus, our blessed Lord and Saviour, we sincerely and tenderly
salute you all in his free and tender love wherewith he hath
graciously visited us, and largely shed it abroad in our hearts and
souls, to our own unspeakable comfort and consolation, and towards
his whole heritage and royal offspring; blessed be his pure and
powerful name forevermore. And our souls do truly and fervently
desire, and breathe unto the God of all our mercies, that you all
may be preserved, and kept truly faithful and diligent in his work
and service, according to your heavenly calling and endowments with
his light, grace, and truth, unto the end of your days; as being
livingly engaged thereby all your appointed time to serve him, and
to wait till your change come; that none may neglect that true
improvement of your times and talents, that God has afforded you
here, for your eternal advantage hereafter, in that inheritance and
life immortal that never fades away. And that the whole flock and
heritage of Christ Jesus, which he has purchased and bought for
himself with a price incorruptible, may always be so preserved in
his own pure love and life, as to grow, increase, and prosper in the
same; and thereby be kept in love, unity, and peace with one
another, as becomes his faithful and true followers, is that which
our very hearts and souls desire, being often truly comforted and
enlarged in the living sense and feeling of the increase and
aboundings thereof, among faithful friends and brethren.
And, dear brethren and sisters, unto this our tender salutation we
are concerned, in brotherly love and true tender-heartedness, to add
and impart unto you some account of the decease of our dear and
elder brother in Christ, namely, His and His church’s true and
faithful servant and minister, George Fox; whom it hath pleased the
Lord to take unto himself, as he hath divers others of his faithful
servants and ministers of late time; who have faithfully served out
their generation, and finished their testimony and course with joy
and peace. Howbeit, O dear brethren and friends! that so many
worthies in Israel, and serviceable instruments in the Lord’s hand,
are of late taken away and removed from us so soon one after
another, appears a dispensation that deeply and sorrowfully affects
us, and many more whose hearts are upright and tender towards God,
and one to another in the truth. The consideration of the depth,
weight, and meaning thereof is very weighty upon our spirits, though
their precious life and testimony live with us, as being of that
same body, united to one head, even Christ Jesus; in which we still,
and hope ever shall, have secret comfort and union with them, whom
the Lord has removed and taken to himself, out of their earthly
tabernacles and houses into, their heavenly and everlasting
mansions.
This our said dear brother, George Fox, was enabled, by the Lord’s
power, to preach the truth fully and effectually in our public
meeting in White-Hart Court, by Gracechurch Street, London, on the
11th day of this instant 11th month, 1690: after which he said, “I
am glad I was here; now I am clear, I am fully clear.” Then he was
the same day taken with some illness or indisposition of body more
than usual; and continued weak in body for two days after, at our
friend Henry Goldney’s house, in the same court, close by the
meeting-house, in much contentment and peace, and very sensible to
the last. In which time he mentioned some divers Friends, and sent
for some in particular; to whom he expressed his mind for the
spreading of Friends’ books and truth in the world, and through the
nations thereof; as his spirit in the Lord’s love and power was
universally set and bent for truth and righteousness, and the making
known the way thereof to the nations and people afar off: signifying
also to some Friends, “That all is well; and the Seed of God reigns
over all, and over death itself: that though he was weak in body,
yet that the power of God is over all, and the Seed reigns over all
disorderly spirits;” which were his wonted sensible expressions,
being in the living faith and sense thereof, which he kept to the
end. And on the 13th instant, between the ninth and tenth hour in
the night, he quietly departed this life in peace; being two days
after the Lord enabled him to publish and preach the blessed truth
in the meeting as aforesaid. So that he clearly and evidently ended
his days in his faithful testimony, in perfect love and unity with
his brethren, and peace and good-will to all men; being about sixty
and six years of age (as we understand) when he departed this life.
And on the 16th of this instant, being the day appointed for his
funeral, a very great concourse of Friends and people assembled at
our meeting-house in White-Hart Court aforesaid, about the
mid-day, in order to attend his body to our burying-place, near
Bunhill-Fields, to be interred, as Friends’ last office of love
and respect due on that account. The meeting was held about two
hours, with great and heavenly solemnity, manifestly attended with
the Lord’s blessed power and presence; and divers living
testimonies given, from a lively remembrance and sense of this his
dear ancient servant, his blessed ministry and testimony of the
breaking forth of this gospel-day; his innocent life, long and
great travels, and labours of love in the everlasting gospel, for
the turning and gathering many thousands from darkness to the
light of Christ Jesus, the foundation of true faith; also of his
manifold sufferings, afflictions, and oppositions, which he met
withal for his faithful testimony, both from his open adversaries
and false brethren; and his preservations, dominion, and
deliverances out of them all by the power of God; to whom the
glory and honour was and is ascribed, in raising up and preserving
this his faithful witness and minister to the end of his days;
whose blessed memorial will everlastingly remain.
He loved truth and righteousness, and bore faithful testimony
against deceit and falsehood, and the mystery of iniquity; and
often, of late time especially, warned Friends against covetousness,
earthly-mindedness, against getting into the earth, and into a
brittle spirit; and the younger sort, against looseness and pride of
life, &c.
A few days before he died, he had a great concern upon his mind
concerning some in whom the Lord’s power was working, to lead them
into a ministry and testimony to his truth; who, through their too
much entangling themselves in the things of this world, did make
themselves unready to answer the call and leadings of the power of
God, and hurt the gift that was bestowed upon them, and did not take
that regard to their service and ministry as they ought; and
mentioned the apostle’s exhortation to Timothy, to “take heed to his
ministry, and to show himself approved,” &c.: and expressed his
grief concerning such as preferred their own business before the
Lord’s business, and sought the advancing worldly concerns before
the concerns of truth: and concluded with a tender and fatherly
exhortation to all to whom God had imparted of his heavenly
treasure, that they would improve it faithfully, and be diligent in
the Lord’s work, that the earth might be sown with the seed of the
kingdom, and God’s harvest might be minded by those whom he had
called and enabled to labour therein: and that such would commit the
care of their outward concerns to the Lord, who would care for them,
and give a blessing to them. However, this is not mentioned to
encourage any to run unsent, or without being called of God.
Many are living witnesses that the Lord raised him up by his power,
to proclaim his mighty day to the nations, and made him an effectual
instrument in our day to turn many from darkness to light, and from
Satan’s power to God; and freely to suffer and bear all reproaches,
and the manifold persecutions, bufferings, halings, stonings,
imprisonments, and cruelties, that were in the beginning, and for
some time inflicted on him and others, for the name of Christ Jesus.
He was in his testimony as a fixed star in the firmament of God’s
power, where all that be truly wise, and that turn many to
righteousness, shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and
as the stars, for ever and ever. He knew and preached the mystery of
Christ revealed, the life and substance, and the power of godliness,
above all shadows and forms. The Lord endued him with a hidden
wisdom and life. He loved peace, and earnestly laboured for
universal love, unity, peace, and good order in the churches of
Christ; and wherever he met with the contrary, it was his great
grief and burthen. He was greatly for the encouragement of faithful
labourers in the Lord’s work; and it was a great offence and grief
to him to have their testimony weakened, or labours slighted,
through prejudice in any professing truth.
And inasmuch as the Lord suffered him not to be delivered up to the
will of his enemies and persecutors, who often heretofore breathed
out cruelty against him, and designed his destruction; but in his
good pleasure so fairly and quietly took him away in his own time,
when his testimony was so blessedly finished, and his work
accomplished: this is all remarkable, and worthy of serious and due
observation, as being by a special and Divine Providence and wisdom
of God; to whom we ascribe the glory of all, and not unto man or
creatures. Though we must needs allow, and own, that good report and
due esteem, which faithful elders, ministers, and servants of God
and Christ have by faith obtained, to the praise of that blessed
Power, that upheld them in every age in their day; many whereof are
even of late taken away from the evil to come, and are at rest in
the Lord, out of the reach of all envy and persecution, where the
wicked cannot trouble them any more.
And we must patiently bear our parting with them, and our loss and
sorrow on that account, with respect to their unspeakable gain; yet
how can we avoid being deeply affected with sadness of spirit, and
brokenness of heart, under the sense and consideration of such loss
and revolutions, which we have cause to believe are ominous of
calamities to the wicked world, though of good to the righteous? Did
the death of plain upright Jacob, namely, Israel (who was as a
prince of God), so deeply affect both his own children and kindred,
as that they made a great and exceeding sore lamentation for him;
and even the Egyptians also, that they bewailed him seventy days?
and the death of Moses so deeply affect the children of Israel, as
that they “did weep and mourn for him in the plain of Moab thirty
days?” and the death of Stephen, that faithful martyr of Jesus, so
deeply affect certain men, fearing God, as “that they made great
lamentation for him?” and the apostle Paul, when taking his leave of
the elders of the church of Ephesus, and telling them, “they should
see his face no more?” If this did so deeply affect them, that they
“wept all abundantly, sorrowing most of all for these words, that
they should see his face no more;” with many more of this kind; how
then can we otherwise choose, but be deeply affected with sorrow and
sadness of heart, though not as those who have no hope, when so many
of our ancient, dear, and faithful brethren, with whom we have had
much sweet society, are removed from us one after another? (We pray
God raise up and increase more such!) Yet must we all contentedly
submit to the good pleasure and wisdom of the Lord our God in all
these things; who taketh away, and none can hinder him, nor may any
say unto him, What doest thou? Yet we have cause to bless the Lord
that he hath of late raised, and is raising up, more to publish his
name in the earth. And we that yet remain have but a short time to
stay after them that are gone; but we shall be gone to them also.
The Lord God of life keep us all faithful in his holy truth, love,
unity, and life, to the end. He hath a great work still to bring
forth in the earth, and great things to bring to pass, in order to
make way for truth and righteousness to take place therein; and that
his seed may come forth and be gathered, and the power and kingdom
of our God and of his Christ made known and exalted in the earth,
unto the ends thereof.
Dear Friends and brethren, be faithful till death, that a crown of
life you may obtain. All dwell in the love of God in Christ Jesus,
in union and peace in him; to whom we tenderly commit you to keep
and strengthen you, bless and preserve you, to the end of your days.
In whose dear and tender love we remain,
Your dear friends and brethren,
STEPHEN CRISP, NICHOLAS GATES, DANIEL MONRO,
GEO. WHITEHEAD, FRANCIS STAMPER, JOHN HEYWOOD,
FRA. CAMFIELD, JOHN VAUGHTON, GEORGE BOWLES,
JAMES PARK, GILBERT LATEY, WILLIAM ROBINSON,
JOHN ELSON, CHARLES MARSHALL, WILLIAM BINGLEY,
PETER PRICE, RICH. NEEDHAM, JOHN BUTCHER,
JOHN FIELD, JAMES MARTIN, BENJAMIN ANTROBUS.
JOHN EDRIDGE,
These names are since added, at the desire of the persons
following:—
AMB. RIGG, SAM. GOODAKER, WILLIAM FALLOWFIELD.
P.S.—Before his death he wrote a little paper, desiring all Friends,
everywhere, that used to write to him about the sufferings and
affairs of Friends in their several countries, should henceforth
write to their several correspondents in London, to be communicated
to the Second-day’s meeting, to take care that they be answered.
THOMAS ELLWOOD’S ACCOUNT OF THAT EMINENT AND HONOURABLE SERVANT OF
THE LORD, GEORGE FOX.[65]
This holy man was raised up by God in an extraordinary manner, for
an extraordinary work, even to awaken the sleeping world, by
proclaiming the mighty day of the Lord to the nations, and
publishing again the everlasting gospel to the inhabitants of the
earth, after the long and dismal night of apostasy and darkness. For
this work the Lord began to prepare him by many and various trials
and exercises from his very childhood; and having fitted and
furnished him for it, he called him into it very young, and made him
instrumental, by the effectual working of the Holy Ghost, through
his ministry, to call many others into the same work, and to turn
many thousands from darkness to the light of Christ, and from the
power of Satan unto God.
I knew him not till the year 1660; from that time to the time of his
death I knew him well, conversed with him often, observed him much,
loved him dearly, and honoured him truly; and upon good experience
can say, he was indeed a heavenly-minded man, zealous for the name
of the Lord, and preferred the honour of God before all things. He
was valiant for the truth, bold in asserting it, patient in
suffering for it, unwearied in labouring in it, steady in his
testimony to it; immovable as a rock. Deep he was in divine
knowledge, clear in opening heavenly mysteries, plain and powerful
in preaching, fervent in prayer. He was richly endued with heavenly
wisdom, quick in discerning, sound in judgment, able and ready in
giving, discreet in keeping counsel; a lover of righteousness, an
encourager of virtue, justice, temperance, meekness, purity,
chastity, modesty, humility, charity, and self-denial in all, both
by word and example. Graceful he was in countenance, manly in
personage, grave in gesture, courteous in conversation, weighty in
communication, instructive in discourse, free from affectation in
speech or carriage; a severe reprover of hard and obstinate sinners;
a mild and gentle admonisher of such as were tender, and sensible of
their failings; not apt to resent personal wrongs; easy to forgive
injuries; but zealously earnest, where the honour of God, the
prosperity of truth, the peace of the church, were concerned; very
tender, compassionate, and pitiful he was to all that were under any
sort of affliction; full of brotherly love, full of fatherly care;
for, indeed, the care of the churches of Christ was daily upon him,
the prosperity and peace whereof he studiously sought. Beloved he
was of God; beloved of God’s people; and (which was not the least
part of his honour) the common butt of all apostates’ envy; whose
good, notwithstanding, he earnestly sought.
He lived to see the desire of his soul, the spreading of that
blessed principle of divine light, through many of the European
nations, and not a few of the American islands and provinces, and
the gathering many thousands into an establishment therein; which
the Lord vouchsafed him the honour to be the first effectual
publisher of, in this latter age of the world. And having fought a
good fight, finished his course, and kept the faith, his righteous
soul, freed from the earthly tabernacle, in which he had led an
exemplary life of holiness, was translated into those heavenly
mansions, where Christ our Lord went to prepare a place for his;
there to possess that glorious crown of righteousness, which is laid
up for, and shall be given by the Lord the righteous judge to all
them that love his appearance.
Ages to come and people yet unborn shall call him blessed, and bless
the Lord for raising him up. And blessed shall we also be, if we so
walk, as we had him for an example; for whom this Testimony lives in
my heart, “He lived and died the SERVANT of the LORD.”
T.E.
-----
Footnote 65:
(It was Thomas Ellwood who first transcribed this Journal for the
press. See note at p. 211, Seventh Edition, vol. ii.)
AN EPISTLE OF GEORGE FOX’S,
WRITTEN WITH HIS OWN HAND, AND LEFT SEALED UP WITH THIS
SUPERSCRIPTION, VIZ., “NOT TO BE OPENED BEFORE THE TIME;” WHICH
AFTER HIS DECEASE BEING OPENED, WAS THOUGHT MEET TO BE PRINTED,
VIZ.:—
“_For the Yearly and Second-day’s Meeting in London, and to all
the Children of God in all places in the world._
_By and from G.F._
“This for all the children of God everywhere, who are led by his
Spirit, and walk in his Light, in which they have life,
unity, and fellowship with the Father, and the Son, and one
with another.
“Keep all your meetings in the name of the Lord Jesus, that be
gathered in his name by his Light, Grace, Truth, Power, and Spirit;
by which you will feel his blessed and refreshing presence among
you, and in you, to your comfort, and God’s glory.
“And now, Friends, all your meetings, both men’s and women’s,
monthly, quarterly, and yearly, &c., were set up by the power, and
Spirit, and wisdom of God: and in them you know, that you have felt
his power, and Spirit, and wisdom, and blessed refreshing presence
among you, and in you, to his praise and glory, and your comfort; so
that you have been ‘a city set on a hill, that cannot be hid.’
“And although many loose and unruly spirits have risen betimes to
oppose you and them, in print and other ways, you have seen how they
have come to nought. The Lord hath blasted them, brought their deeds
to light and made them manifest to be trees without fruit, wells
without water, wandering stars from the firmament of God’s power,
and raging waves of the sea, casting up their mire and dirt; and
many of them are like the dog turned to his old vomit, and the sow
that was washed, turned again to the mire. This hath been the
condition of many, God knoweth, and his people!
“Therefore all stand steadfast in Christ Jesus, your Head, in whom
you are all one, male and female, and know His government, of the
increase of whose government and peace there shall be no end; but
there will be an end of the devil’s, and of all that are out of
Christ, who oppose it and him, whose judgment doth not linger, and
their damnation doth not slumber. Therefore in God and Christ’s
light, life, Spirit, and power, live and walk, that is over all (and
the seed of it) in love, in innocency, and simplicity. In
righteousness and holiness dwell, and in his power and Holy Ghost,
in which God’s kingdom doth stand. All children of New and Heavenly
Jerusalem, that is from above, and is free, with all her holy,
spiritual children, to her keep your eyes.
“As for this spirit of rebellion and opposition, that hath risen
formerly and lately, it is out of the kingdom of God and Heavenly
Jerusalem; and is for judgment and condemnation, with all its books,
words, and works. Therefore Friends are to live and walk in the
power and Spirit of God, that is over it, and in the Seed, that will
bruise and break it to pieces. In which Seed you have joy and peace
with God, and power and authority to judge it; and your unity is in
the power and Spirit of God, that doth judge it: all God’s witnesses
in his tabernacle go out against it, and always have and will.
“Let no man live to self, but to the Lord, as they will die in him;
and seek the peace of the church of Christ, and the peace of all men
in him: for ‘blessed are the peace-makers.’ Dwell in the pure,
peaceable, heavenly wisdom of God, that is gentle, and easy to be
entreated, that is full of mercy; all striving to be of one mind,
heart, soul, and judgment in Christ, having His mind and Spirit
dwelling in you, building up one another in the love of God, which
doth edify the body of Christ, his church, who is the holy Head
thereof. Glory to God through Christ, in this age and all other
ages, who is the Rock and Foundation, the Emmanuel, God with us,
Amen, over all, the Beginning and the Ending. In Him live and walk,
in whom you have life eternal; in whom you will feel me, and I you.
“All children of New Jerusalem, that descends from above, the holy
city, which the Lord and the Lamb is the light of, and is the
temple; in it they are born again of the Spirit; so Jerusalem that
is above, is the mother of them that are born of the Spirit. They
that come, and are come to heavenly Jerusalem, receive Christ; and
he giveth them power to become the sons of God, and they are born
again of the Spirit; so Jerusalem that is above is their mother.
Such come to heavenly Mount Sion, and the innumerable company of
angels, to the spirits of just men made perfect; and to the church
of the Living God written in heaven, and have the name of God, and
of the city of God, written upon them. So here is a new mother, that
bringeth forth a heavenly and spiritual generation.
“There is no schism, no division, no contention, nor strife, in
heavenly Jerusalem, nor in the body of Christ, which is made up of
living stones, a spiritual house. Christ is not divided, for in Him
there is peace. Christ saith, ‘In me you have peace.’ And He is from
above, and not of this world; but in the world below, in the spirit
of it, there is trouble: therefore keep in Christ, and walk in Him.
Amen.
“Jerusalem was the mother of all true Christians before the
apostasy; and since the outward Christians are broken into many
sects, they have got many mothers: but all they that are come out of
the apostasy by the power and Spirit of Christ, Jerusalem that is
above, is their mother (and none below her), who doth nourish all
her spiritual children.”
G.F.
[This epistle was read at the Yearly Meeting in London, 1691.]
----------------------------
THE APPEARANCE OF THE LORD’S EVERLASTING TRUTH,
AND ITS BREAKING FORTH AGAIN IN HIS ETERNAL POWER, IN THIS OUR DAY
AND AGE IN ENGLAND—
Wherein the Lord’s mighty power and word of life hath been richly
and freely preached, to the gathering of many into reconciliation
with God by it; to the exaltation and glory of the great God,
through the bringing forth of the heavenly and spiritual fruits,
from such as have been gathered by his eternal light, power, and
Spirit, unto himself. And by the sowing to the Spirit in the hearts
of people, life eternal hath been reaped; that the flocks have been
gathered, which have the milk of the word plenteously; that the
riches of the word have flourished, and mightily abounded; and God’s
heavenly plough with his spiritual men hath gone on cheerfully, to
the overturning the fallow ground of the hearts, that had not borne
heavenly fruit to God. And God’s heavenly thrashers with his
heavenly flail, have with joy and delight thrashed out the chaff,
and the corruptions, that have been a-top of God’s seed and wheat in
man and woman. And thus have they thrashed in hope, and are made
partakers of their hope, through which God’s seed is come into his
garner.
O! the unutterable glory, and the inexpressible excellency of the
everlasting glorious truth, gospel, and word of life, that the
infinite, invisible, and wise God (who is over all), hath revealed
and manifested! And how have the professors, priests, and powers
risen up in opposition against his children, that are born of the
immortal Seed by the word of God! And, O! how great have the
persecutions, and reproaches, and spoiling of goods been, that have
been executed upon them! But notwithstanding these sufferings from
such as have touched them, and do touch them, which are as dear to
God as the apple of his eye, how hath the Lord manifested himself to
stand by them, in overthrowing powers, priests, and states! What
changes have there been since 1644, and 1650, and 1652! How have the
jails been filled since then in this nation with the heirs of life,
God’s chosen ones, who had no helper in the earth but the Lord and
his Christ! So that truth’s faithful witnesses were scarcely to be
found, but in jails and prisons, where the righteous were numbered
among the transgressors; who had neither staff nor bag from man, but
the staff, the bread of life, and the bag that holds the treasure
that waxes not old. But the Lord Jesus Christ, that sent them forth,
was their exceeding great supporter and upholder by his eternal
power and Spirit, both then and now.
G.F.
A CHRONOLOGICAL REGISTER OF THE PLACES VISITED
BY THE AUTHOR.
1643.—[Vol. I.]
He leaves home and goes to
Lutterworth,
Northampton,
Newport-Pagnell.
1644.
Barnet,
London,
Returns home—goes to
Coventry,
Returns home—goes to
Mancetter.
1645 and 1646.
Tamworth,
Coventry and other places.
1647.
Derbyshire,
Leicestershire,
Nottinghamshire,
Lancashire,
Dukinfield,
Manchester,
Broughton.
1648.
Nottingham,
Mansfield,
Derbyshire,
Leicestershire,
Warwickshire,
Leicester,
Nottinghamshire,
Vale of Beavor,
Nottinghamshire,
Mansfield,
Eaton, near Derby,
Mansfield,
Nottingham,
Clawson, in Vale of Beavor.
1649.
Nottingham, imprisoned,
Mansfield-Woodhouse,
Leicestershire,
Barrow,
Bagworth,
Coventry,
Atherstone,
Market-Bosworth,
Leicestershire,
Twy-Cross,
Derbyshire,
Chesterfield,
Kidsey-Park.
1650.
Derby, imprisoned a year.
1651.
Leicestershire,
Burton-on-Trent,
Bushel-House,
Lichfield,
Nottinghamshire,
Mansfield,
Derbyshire,
Yorkshire,
Doncaster,
Balby,
Wakefield,
Selby,
Beverley,
Cranswick,
York,
Burraby,
Cleveland,
Staithes,
Whitby,
Scarbro’,
Malton,
Pickering,
The Moors,
Cranswick,
Holderness,
Oram [supposed Ottringham],
Patrington,
Hull,
Balby,
Nottinghamshire,
Lincolnshire,
Gainsbro’,
Yorkshire,
Warmsworth,
Balby,
Doncaster,
Tickhill,
Balby.
1652.
Wakefield,
Hightown,
Bradford,
Pendle-Hill,
Wensleydale,
Hawes,
Grisdale,
Dent,
Sedbergh,
Firbank Chapel,
Preston-Patrick,
Kendal,
Underbarrow,
Crook,
Newton in Cartmel,
Lyndale,
Ulverstone,
Swarthmore,
Aldingham,
Rampside,
Swarthmore,
Dalton,
Isle of Walney,
Swarthmore,
Baycliff,
Gleaston,
Swarthmore,
Westmorland,
Kendal,
Grisdale,
Swarthmore,
Underbarrow,
Kellet,
Lancaster,
Kendal,
Underbarrow,
Swarthmore,
Ulverstone,
Swarthmore,
Westmorland,
Crossland,
Lancashire,
Ulverstone,
Swarthmore,
Isle of Walney,
Cockan,
Swarthmore,
Yealand,
Lancaster,
Kellet,
Justice West’s,
Swarthmore,
Westmorland,
Grayrig,
Cartmel.
1653.
Swarthmore,
Gleaston,
Lancashire,
Swarthmore,
Arnside,
Cumberland,
Col. West’s,
Swarthmore,
Cumberland,
Bootle,
Nr. Cockermouth,
Millom-in-Bootle,
Cockermouth,
Brigham,
Coldbeck,
Carlisle, imprisoned,
Coldbeck,
Westmorland,
Strickland-Head,
Swarthmore,
Coldbeck,
Wigton,
Bishoprick,
Northumberland,
Derwent-Water,
Hexham,
Gilsland,
Cumberland,
Langlands,
Brigham.
1654.
Swarthmore,
Lancaster,
Halifax,
T. Taylor’s (Brighouse),
Synderhill-Green
Yorkshire,
Holderness,
Thos. Taylor’s (Brighouse),
Balby,
Lincolnshire,
Derbyshire,
Nottinghamshire,
Skegby,
Kidsey-Park,
Peak Country,
Derbyshire,
Swannington,
Twy-Cross,
Warwickshire,
Drayton,
Swannington,
Leicester,
Whetstone,
Harborough,
London,
Theobald’s, near Waltham,
Whitehall,
Bedfordshire.
1655.
Luton (John Crook’s),
London,
Kent,
Rochester,
Cranbrook,
Rye,
Romney,
Dover,
Canterbury,
Cranbrook,
Sussex,
Horsham,
Steyning,
Reading,
London,
Essex,
Coggeshall,
Colchester,
Ipswich,
Mendlesham,
Norfolk,
Norwich,
Yarmouth,
Lynn,
Sutton, near Isle of Ely,
Cambridge,
Bishop-Stortford,
Hertford,
London,
Bedfordshire,
Northamptonshire,
Wellingborough,
Leicestershire,
Whetstone,
Sileby,
Drayton,
Baddesley,
Nottinghamshire,
Derbyshire,
Warwickshire,
Worcestershire,
Birmingham,
Chattan,
Evesham,
Worcester,
Tewkesbury,
Warwick,
Coventry,
Dun-Cow,
Leicestershire,
Baddesley,
Swannington,
Higham,
Northamptonshire,
Bedfordshire,
Baldock,
Market Street,
Alban’s,
London,
Ryegate,
Binscomb, in Godalming,
Horsham Park,
Arundel,
Chichester,
Portsmouth,
Ringwood,
Poole,
Southampton,
Dorchester,
Weymouth,
Honiton,
Topsham,
Totness,
Plymouth,
Cornwall,
Menheniot,
Penryn,
Helstone,
Market-Jew,
Ives, where he & Edward Pyot are taken into custody and imprisoned
in Launceston jail about eight months.
1656.
Humphrey Lower’s,
Loveday Hambley’s,
Thos. Mounce’s,
Launceston,
Oakhampton,
Exeter,
Collumpton,
Taunton,
Puddimore,
J. Dander’s,
Bristol, E. Pyot’s,
Slaughterford,
N. Crisp’s,
Marlbro’,
Newbury,
Reading,
Kingston-on-Thames,
London,
Buckinghamshire,
Northamptonshire,
Notts,
Lincolnshire,
Huntingdonshire,
Cambridgeshire,
Fen Country,
Crowland,
Boston (Lincolnshire),
Yorkshire,
Holderness,
Leicestershire,
Staffordshire,
Worcestershire,
Warwickshire,
Edge-Hill,
Warwick,
Bagley,
Gloucestershire,
Oxford,
Col. Grimes’s,
Nat. Crisp’s,
Cirencester,
Evesham,
London,
Kent,
Sussex,
Surrey,
Farnham,
Basingstoke,
Bridport,
Portsmouth.
1657.
Poole,
Ringwood,
Weymouth,
Dorchester,
Lyme,
Exeter,
Bristol,
Wales,
The Slone,
Cardiff,
Swansea,
Brecknock,
Pontemoil,
Shrewsbury,
Wm. Gandy’s (Cheshire),
Wales,
Montgomeryshire,
Radnorshire,
Leominster,
Tenby,
Pembrokeshire,
Pembroke,
Haverford-west,
Dolgelly,
Caernarvon,
Beaumaris,
Near Wrexham,
Flintshire,
Wrexham, and through every County in Wales,
West Chester,
Liverpool,
Richard Cubban’s,
Malpas,
Manchester,
Preston,
Lancaster,
Kellet,
Sands-Side,
Swarthmore,
Westmorland,
John Audland’s,
Kendal,
Strickland-Head,
Cumberland,
Gilsland,
Carlisle,
Abbey-Holm,
Langlands,
Pardshaw-Crag,
Scotland,
Dumfries,
Douglas,
Heads,
Badcow,
Highlands,
Heads,
Badcow,
Garshore,
Linlithgow,
Edinburgh,
Leith,
Edinburgh,
Heads,
Glasgow,
Badcow,
Highlands,
Stirling,
Burnt Island,
Johnstons,
Leith,
Edinburgh,
Johnstons,
Edinburgh,
Dunbar,
Berwick,
Morpeth,
Newcastle,
Northumberland,
Bishoprick,
City of Durham,
A. Pearson’s,
Cleveland,
Hull,
Pontefract,
G. Watkinson’s,
Scale-House,
Swarthmore,
Yorkshire,
Cheshire,
Derbyshire.
1658.
Nottinghamshire
Nottingham,
Warwickshire,
Northamptonshire,
Leicestershire,
Bedfordshire,
London,
Kingston,
Hampton-Court,
Kingston,
Isaac Penington’s
London,
Essex,
London,
Twickenham,
Reading.
1659.
London,
Essex,
Suffolk,
Norfolk,
Norwich,
Huntingdonshire,
Cambridgeshire,
London,
Surrey,
Sussex,
Hampshire,
Dorsetshire,
Ringwood,
Poole,
Dorchester,
Somersetshire,
Devonshire,
Plymouth,
Cornwall.
1660.
Land’s End,
Horse-Bridge,
Devonshire,
Somersetshire,
Bristol,
Olveston,
Nailsworth,
Nat. Crisp’s,
Gloucester,
Col. Grimes’s,
Tewkesbury,
Worcester,
Baddesley,
Drayton,
Twy-Cross,
Swannington,
Derbyshire,
Derby,
Nottinghamshire,
Synderhill-Green,
Yorkshire,
Balby,
Warmsworth,
Barton-Abbey,
Thos. Taylor’s (Brighthouse),
Skipton,
Lancaster,
R. Widder’s (Kellet),
Arnside,
Kellet,
Swarthmore, apprehended and imprisoned in Lancaster jail—an Habeas
Corpus is sent down and he is liberated on parole—he visits
Swarthmore,
Lancaster,
Preston,
Wm. Gandy’s (Cheshire),
Staffordshire,
A. Bickley’s Warwickshire,
Nuneaton,
London, appears to the writ, and is liberated by the King.
1661.—Visits
Essex,
Colchester,
Coggeshall,
London.
1662.
Bristol,
Wiltshire,
Berkshire,
London,
Leicestershire,
Skegby,
Barnet-Hills,
Swannington,
Leicester, imprisoned, but soon liberated.
Swannington,
Twy-cross,
Warwickshire,
Northamptonshire,
Bedfordshire,
London,
Essex,
Norfolk,
Norwich,
Sutton,
Cambridgeshire,
Little-Port,
Isle of Ely,
Lincolnshire,
Huntingdonshire.
Fen Country,
Lynn.
1663.—[Vol. II.]
Norfolk,
Suffolk,
Essex,
Hertfordshire,
London,
Kent,
Ashford,
Cranbrook,
Tenterden,
Newick,
Hampshire,
Southampton,
Pouner,
Wiltshire,
Dorsetshire,
Topsham,
Totness,
Kingsbridge,
Plymouth,
Cornwall,
Falmouth,
Penryn,
Helstone,
Land’s End,
Redruth,
Truro,
Stoke,
Horse Bridge,
Devonshire,
Tiverton,
Collumpton,
Wellington,
Taunton,
Street,
Puddimore,
Bristol,
Slaughterford (Wilts),
Gloucestershire,
Herefordshire,
Hereford,
Radnorshire,
Wales,
Shropshire,
Warwickshire,
Derbyshire,
Staffordshire,
Whitehaugh,
Peak Country,
Synderhill-Green,
Holderness,
Scarbro’,
Whitby,
Malton,
York,
Boroughbridge,
Bishoprick,
Stainmoor,
Yorkshire,
Sedbergh,
Westmorland,
Lancashire,
Swarthmore,
Arnside,
Kellet,
Underbarrow,
Grayrig,
Sedbergh,
Strickland-Head,
Northumberland,
Derwent-Water,
Cumberland,
Wigton,
Pardshaw-Crag,
Westmorland,
Keswick,
Cartmel,
Swarthmore,
Kirby-Hall,
Swarthmore,
Holker-Hall,
Swarthmore,
Lancaster, imprisoned.
1664 and 1665.
Removed to Scarbro’ Castle.
1666.
Liberated by the King, after being incarcerated nearly 3 years—he
then goes
To Whitby,
Burlington,
Oram,
Marmaduke Stor’s,
Grace Barwick’s,
Richard Shipton’s,
Malton,
Hull,
Howden-Dyke,
York,
Geo. Watkinson’s,
Thos. Taylor (Brighouse),
Synderhill-Green,
Derbyshire,
Nottinghamshire,
Skegby,
Mansfield,
Nottingham,
Leicester,
Sileby,
John Penford’s,
Warwick,
Baddesley,
Northamptonshire,
Bedfordshire,
Buckinghamshire,
Oxfordshire,
London,
Kingston,
Reading,
Wiltshire,
Bristol,
Nat. Crisp’s,
London,
Essex,
Suffolk,
Norfolk,
Huntingdonshire,
Bedfordshire,
Nottinghamshire,
Lincolnshire,
Nottinghamshire.
1667.
Leicestershire,
Warwickshire,
Derbyshire,
Peak-Hills,
Staffordshire,
Cheshire,
Lancashire,
Sankey, near Warrington,
Jane Milner’s (Cheshire),
Shropshire,
Wales,
Denbighshire,
Montgomeryshire,
Merionethshire,
Shropshire,
Worcestershire,
Pashur,
Worcester,
Droitwich,
Shrewsbury,
Radnorshire,
Herefordshire,
Monmouthshire,
Ross,
Gloucestershire,
Bristol,
Wiltshire,
London,
Hertfordshire,
Baldock,
Waltham,
Shacklewell,
London,
Buckinghamshire,
Weston,
North-Newton, near Banbury,
Gloucestershire,
Monmouthshire.