A Visit to Oliver Cromwell
1653-1654.
About this time the priests and professors fell to prophesying
against us afresh. They had said long before that we should be
destroyed within a month; and after that, they prolonged the time
to half a year. But that time being long expired, and we mightily
increased in number, they now gave forth that we would eat out one
another. For often after meetings many tender people, having a great
way to go, tarried at Friends' houses by the way, and sometimes more
than there were beds to lodge in; so that some lay on the hay-mows.
Hereupon Cain's fear possessed the professors and world's people; for
they were afraid that when we had eaten one another out, we should
all come to be maintained by the parishes, and be chargeable to them.
But after awhile, when they saw that the Lord blessed and increased
Friends, as he did Abraham, both in the field and in the basket, at
their goings forth and their comings in, at their risings up and
their lyings down, and that all things prospered with them; then they
saw the falseness of all their prophecies against us, and that it was
in vain to curse whom God had blessed.
At the first convincement, when Friends could not put off their hats
to people, or say You to a single person, but Thou and Thee;--when
they could not bow, or use flattering words in salutation, or adopt
the fashions and customs of the world, many Friends, that were
tradesmen of several sorts, lost their customers at first, for the
people were shy of them, and would not trade with them; so that for a
time some Friends could hardly get money enough to buy bread.
But afterwards, when people came to have experience of Friends'
honesty and faithfulness, and found that their yea was yea, and their
nay was nay; that they kept to a word in their dealings, and would
not cozen and cheat, but that if a child were sent to their shops for
anything, he was as well used as his parents would have been;--then
the lives and conversation of Friends did preach, and reached to the
witness of God in the people.
Then things altered so, that all the inquiry was, "Where is there
a draper, or shop-keeper, or tailor, or shoemaker, or any other
tradesman, that is a Quaker?" Insomuch that Friends had more trade
than many of their neighbours, and if there was any trading, they had
a great part of it. Then the envious professors altered their note,
and began to cry out, "If we let these Quakers alone, they will take
the trade of the nation out of our hands."[68]
[68] This record of the effect of Quaker honesty is supported by
impartial contemporary testimony. A curious confirmation of the
business successes of the Quaker traders is found in a satiric
ballad of the times, called "Wickham Wakened; or, the Quakers
Madrigall in Rime Dogerell," published in Ebsworth's "Choyce
Drollery." The Rhymster tells how the Quaker is settling down to
"great thrift," his period of "tipling being done," i.e., his
days of ranting being over, and those who come into competition
with him wish him back in the ranting stage.
"O be drunk again, Quaker,
Take thy canniken and shake her,
For thou art the worse for thy mending."
This has been the Lord's doing to and for His people! which my
desire is that all who profess His holy truth may be kept truly
sensible of, and that all may be preserved in and by His power
and Spirit, faithful to God and man. Faithful first to God, in
obeying Him in all things; and next in doing unto all men that
which is just and righteous in all things, that the Lord God may
be glorified in their practising truth, holiness, godliness, and
righteousness amongst people in all their lives and conversation.
While Friends abode in the northern parts, a priest of Wrexham,
in Wales, named Morgan Floyd, having heard reports concerning
us, sent two of his congregation into the north to inquire
concerning us, to try us, and bring him an account of us. When
these triers came amongst us, the power of the Lord seized on
them, and they were both convinced of the truth. So they stayed
some time with us, and then returned to Wales; where afterwards
one of them departed from his convincement; but the other, named
John-ap-John, abode in the truth, and received a part in the
ministry, in which he continued faithful.[69]
[69] This was the beginning of the movement in Wales. In 1657,
George Fox travelled and laboured extensively in Wales, where
many followers were gathered.
About this time the oath or engagement to Oliver Cromwell was
tendered to the soldiers, many of whom were disbanded because, in
obedience to Christ, they could not swear.[70] John Stubbs, for
one, who was convinced when I was in Carlisle prison, became a good
soldier in the Lamb's war, and a faithful minister of Christ Jesus;
travelling much in the service of the Lord in Holland, Ireland,
Scotland, Italy, Egypt, and America. And the Lord's power preserved
him from the hands of the papists, though many times he was in great
danger of the Inquisition. But some of the soldiers, who had been
convinced in their judgment, but had not come into obedience to
the Truth, took Oliver Cromwell's oath; and, going afterwards into
Scotland, and coming before a garrison there, the garrison, thinking
they had been enemies, fired at them, and killed divers of them,
which was a sad event.
[70] Nothing caused Friends so much trouble as their absolute
refusal to take any kind of an oath.
When the churches were settled in the north, and Friends were
established under Christ's teaching, and the glory of the Lord shined
over them, I passed from Swarthmore to Lancaster about the beginning
of the year 1654, visiting Friends, till I came to Synder-hill
green, where a meeting had been appointed three weeks before. We
passed through Halifax, a rude town of professors, and came to
Thomas Taylor's, who had been a captain, where we met with some
janglers;[AB] but the Lord's power was over all; for I travelled in
the motion of God's power.
[AB] Ranters.
When I came to Synder-hill green, there was a mighty meeting.
Some thousands of people, as it was judged, were there, and many
persons of note, captains and other officers. There was a general
convincement; for the Lord's power and Truth was set over all, and
there was no opposition.
About this time did the Lord move upon the spirits of many whom He
had raised up and sent forth to labour in His vineyard, to travel
southwards, and spread themselves in the service of the gospel to the
eastern, southern, and western parts of the nation. Francis Howgill
and Edward Burrough went to London; John Camm and John Audland to
Bristol; Richard Hubberthorn and George Whitehead towards Norwich;
Thomas Holmes into Wales; and many others different ways: for above
sixty ministers had the Lord raised up, and did now send abroad out
of the north country. The sense of their service was very weighty
upon me.[71]
[71] At the end of six years of ministry these sixty ministers
had been gathered to the work which now absorbed George Fox. It
was a remarkable group of men,--young, vigorous, ready speakers,
eager for the hard service, welcoming persecution and undaunted
by any dangers or difficulties. They so completely caught the
idea of Fox that they practically all spoke the same religious
language.
To them George Fox addressed a quaint, but strikingly spiritual,
epistle of advice as they went out to begin their labours. Here
are a few sentences from it:
"All Friends everywhere, Know the Seed of God, which bruiseth
the seed of the serpent, and is atop of the seed of the serpent:
which Seed sins not, but bruiseth the serpent's head that doth
sin, and that tempts to sin: to which Seed is God's promise and
blessing; and which Seed is one in the male and in the female....
"This is the Word of the Lord to you all: Every one in the
measure of life wait, that with it all your minds may be guided
up to the Father of life, the Father of spirits: to receive power
from Him, and wisdom, that with it you may be ordered to His
glory: to whom be all glory forever! All keep in the Light and
Life, that judgeth down that which is contrary to the Light and
Life. So the Lord God Almighty be with you all....
"All Friends that speak in public, see that it be in the life
of God; for that begets to God; the fruits of that shall never
wither. This sows to the Spirit which is in prison, and of the
Spirit reaps life; and the other sows to the flesh, and of the
flesh reaps corruption. This you may see all the world over
amongst these seeds-men,--that which may be reaped in the field,
that is the world. Therefore wait in the Spirit of the Lord,
which cuts down and casts out all this, the root and branches of
it. So in that wait to receive power, and the Lord God Almighty
preserve you in it; whereby you may come to feel the Light, that
comprehends time and the world, and fathoms it: which, believed
in, gives you victory over the world. Here the power of the Lord
is received, which subdues all the contrary, and puts off the
garments that will stain and pollute."
About this time Rice Jones, of Nottingham, (who had been a Baptist,
and was turned Ranter), and his company, began to prophesy against
me; giving out that I was then at the highest, and that after that
time I should fall down as fast. He sent a bundle of railing papers
from Nottingham to Mansfield, Clawson, and the towns thereabouts,
judging Friends for declaring the Truth in the markets and in
steeple-houses; which papers I answered. But his and his company's
prophecies came upon themselves; for soon after they fell to pieces,
and many of his followers became Friends, and continued so.
And through the Lord's blessed power, Truth and Friends have
increased, and do increase in the increase of God: and I, by the same
power, have been and am preserved, and kept in the everlasting Seed,
that never fell, nor changes. But Rice Jones took the oaths that were
put to him, and so disobeyed the command of Christ.
Many such false prophets have risen up against me, but the Lord hath
blasted them, and will blast all who rise against the blessed Seed,
and me in that. My confidence is in the Lord; for I saw their end,
and how the Lord would confound them, before He sent me forth.
I travelled up and down in Yorkshire, as far as Holderness, and to
the land's end that way, visiting Friends and the churches of Christ;
which were finely settled under Christ's teaching. At length I came
to Captain Bradford's house, whither came many Ranters from York to
wrangle; but they were confounded and stopped. Thither came also she
who was called the Lady Montague, who was then convinced, and lived
and died in the Truth.
Thence I went to Drayton in Leicestershire to visit my relations. As
soon as I was come in, Nathaniel Stephens, the priest, having got
another priest, and given notice to the country, sent to me to come
to them, for they could not do anything till I came. Having been
three years away from my relations, I knew nothing of their design.
But at last I went into the steeple-house yard, where the two priests
were; and they had gathered abundance of people.
When I came there, they would have had me go into the steeple-house.
I asked them what I should do there; and they said that Mr. Stephens
could not bear the cold. I told them he might bear it as well as I.
At last we went into a great hall, Richard Farnsworth being with
me; and a great dispute we had with these priests concerning their
practices, how contrary they were to Christ and His apostles.
The priests would know where tithes were forbidden or ended. I showed
them out of the seventh chapter to the Hebrews that not only tithes,
but the priesthood that took tithes, was ended; and the law by which
the priesthood was made, and tithes were commanded to be paid, was
ended and annulled. Then the priests stirred up the people to some
lightness and rudeness.
I had known Stephens from a child, therefore I laid open his
condition, and the manner of his preaching; and how he, like the rest
of the priests, did apply the promises to the first birth, which must
die. But I showed that the promises were to the Seed, not to many
seeds, but to one Seed, Christ; who was one in male and female; for
all were to be born again before they could enter into the kingdom of
God.
Then he said, I must not judge so; but I told him that He that was
spiritual judged all things. Then he confessed that that was a full
Scripture; "but, neighbours," said he, "this is the business; George
Fox is come to the light of the sun, and now he thinks to put out my
star-light."
I told him that I would not quench the least measure of God in any,
much less put out his star-light, if it were true star-light--light
from the Morning Star. But, I told him, if he had anything from
Christ or God, he ought to speak it freely, and not take tithes from
the people for preaching, seeing that Christ commanded His ministers
to give freely, as they had received freely. So I charged him to
preach no more for tithes or any hire. But he said he would not yield
to that.
After a while the people began to be vain and rude, so we broke up;
yet some were made loving to the Truth that day. Before we parted
I told them that if the Lord would, I intended to be at the town
again that day week. In the interim I went into the country, and had
meetings, and came thither again that day week.
Against that time this priest had got seven priests to help him;
for priest Stephens had given notice at a lecture on a market-day at
Adderston, that such a day there would be a meeting and a dispute
with me. I knew nothing of it; but had only said I should be in
town that day week again. These eight priests had gathered several
hundreds of people, even most of the country thereabouts, and they
would have had me go into the steeple-house; but I would not go in,
but got on a hill, and there spoke to them and the people.
There were with me Thomas Taylor, who had been a priest, James
Parnell, and several other Friends. The priests thought that day
to trample down Truth; but the Truth overcame them. Then they grew
light, and the people rude; and the priests would not stand trial
with me; but would be contending here a little and there a little,
with one Friend or another. At last one of the priests brought his
son to dispute with me; but his mouth was soon stopped. When he could
not tell how to answer, he would ask his father; and his father was
confounded also, when he came to answer for his son.
So, after they had toiled themselves, they went away in a rage to
priest Stephens's house to drink. As they went away, I said, "I never
came to a place where so many priests together would not stand the
trial with me." Thereupon they and some of their wives came about me,
laid hold of me, and fawningly said, "What might you not have been,
if it had not been for the Quakers!"
Then they began to push Friends to and fro, to thrust them from me,
and to pluck me to themselves. After a while several lusty fellows
came, took me up in their arms, and carried me into the steeple-house
porch, intending to carry me into the steeple-house by force; but the
door being locked they fell down in a heap, having me under them.
As soon as I could, I got up from under them, and went to the hill
again. Then they took me from that place to the steeple-house wall,
and set me on something like a stool; and all the priests being come
back, stood under with the people.
The priests cried, "Come, to argument, to argument." I said that I
denied all their voices, for they were the voices of hirelings and
strangers. They cried, "Prove it, prove it." Then I directed them to
the tenth of John, where they might see what Christ said of such. He
declared that He was the true Shepherd that laid down His life for
His sheep, and His sheep heard His voice and followed Him; but the
hireling would fly when the wolf came, because he was a hireling.
I offered to prove that they were such hirelings. Then the priests
plucked me off the stool again; and they themselves got all upon
stools under the steeple-house wall.
Then I felt the mighty power of God arise over all, and I told them
that if they would but give audience, and hear me quietly, I would
show them by the Scriptures why I denied those eight priests, or
teachers, that stood before me, and all the hireling teachers of
the world whatsoever; and I would give them Scriptures for what I
said. Whereupon both priests and people consented. Then I showed
them out of the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Micah, Malachi,
and others, that they were in the steps of such as God sent His true
prophets to cry against.
When I appealed to that of God in their consciences, the Light of
Christ Jesus in them, they could not abide to hear it. They had been
all quiet before; but then a professor said, "George, what! wilt thou
never have done?" I told him I should have done shortly. I went on a
little longer, and cleared myself of them in the Lord's power. When I
had done, all the priests and people stood silent for a time.
At last one of the priests said that they would read the Scriptures
I had quoted. I told them I desired them to do so with all my heart.
They began to read the twenty-third of Jeremiah, where they saw the
marks of the false prophets that he cried against. When they had read
a verse or two I said, "Take notice, people"; but the priests said,
"Hold thy tongue, George." I bade them read the whole chapter, for it
was all against them. Then they stopped, and would read no further.
My father, though a hearer and follower of the priest, was so well
satisfied that he struck his cane upon the ground, and said, "Truly,
I see that he that will but stand to the truth, it will bear him
out."[72]
[72] This is the only indication of the extent of "Righteous
Christer's" sympathy with his son's somewhat revolutionary
message.
After this I went into the country, had several meetings, and came to
Swannington, where the soldiers came; but the meeting was quiet, the
Lord's power was over all, and the soldiers did not meddle.
Then I went to Leicester; and from Leicester to Whetstone. There
came about seventeen troopers of Colonel Hacker's regiment, with
his marshal, and took me up before the meeting, though Friends were
beginning to gather together; for there were several Friends from
divers parts.[73] I told the marshal he might let all the Friends go;
that I would answer for them all. Thereupon he took me, and let all
the Friends go; only Alexander Parker went along with me.
[73] Colonel Hacker and his regiment superintended the execution
of Charles I., and held back the threatening crowd of London
citizens. He apparently now suspected that Fox and the Quakers
were in a plot to bring in Charles II. Cromwell had for about
six months been Lord Protector. Gerard and Vowel's plot was
discovered about this time.
At night they had me before Colonel Hacker, his major, and captains,
a great company of them; and a great deal of discourse we had about
the priests, and about meetings; for at this time there was a noise
of a plot against Oliver Cromwell. Much reasoning I had with them
about the Light of Christ, which enlighteneth every man that cometh
into the world. Colonel Hacker asked whether it was not this Light of
Christ that made Judas betray his Master, and afterwards led him to
hang himself? I told him, "No; that was the spirit of darkness, which
hated Christ and His Light."
Then Colonel Hacker said I might go home, and keep at home, and not
go abroad to meetings. I told him I was an innocent man, free from
plots, and denied all such work. His son Needham said, "Father, this
man hath reigned too long; it is time to have him cut off." I asked
him, "For what? What have I done? Whom have I wronged? I was bred
and born in this country, and who can accuse me of any evil, from
childhood up?" Colonel Hacker asked me again if I would go home,
and stay at home. I told him that if I should promise him this, it
would manifest that I was guilty of something, to make my home a
prison; and if I went to meetings they would say I broke their order.
Therefore I told them I should go to meetings as the Lord should
order me, and could not submit to their requirings; but I said we
were a peaceable people.
"Well, then," said Colonel Hacker, "I will send you to-morrow morning
by six o'clock to my Lord Protector, by Captain Drury, one of his
life-guard."
That night I was kept prisoner at the Marshalsea; and the next
morning by the sixth hour I was delivered to Captain Drury. I desired
that he would let me speak with Colonel Hacker before I went; and
he took me to his bedside. Colonel Hacker again admonished me to go
home, and keep no more meetings. I told him I could not submit to
that; but must have my liberty to serve God, and to go to meetings.
"Then," said he, "you must go before the Protector." Thereupon I
kneeled at his bedside, and besought the Lord to forgive him; for
he was as Pilate, though he would wash his hands; and I bade him
remember, when the day of his misery and trial should come upon
him, what I had said to him. But he was stirred up and set on by
Stephens,[74] and the other priests and professors, wherein their
envy and baseness was manifest. When they could not overcome me by
disputes and arguments, nor resist the Spirit of the Lord that was in
me, they got soldiers to take me up.
[74] This is the minister of Drayton, who said "there was never
such a plant bred in England" as George Fox.
Afterwards, when Colonel Hacker was imprisoned in London, a day or
two before his execution, he was put in mind of what he had done
against the innocent; and he remembered it, and confessed it to
Margaret Fell, saying he knew well whom she meant; and he had trouble
upon him for it.
Now I was carried up a prisoner by Captain Drury from Leicester; and
when we came to Harborough he asked me if I would go home and stay a
fortnight? I should have my liberty, he said, if I would not go to,
nor keep meetings. I told him I could not promise any such thing.
Several times upon the road did he ask and try me after the same
manner, and still I gave him the same answers. So he brought me to
London, and lodged me at the Mermaid[AC] over against the Mews at
Charing-Cross.
[AC] This was not the famous "Mermaid" of Shakespeare and Ben
Jonson.
As we travelled I was moved of the Lord to warn people at the inns
and places where I came of the day of the Lord that was coming
upon them. William Dewsbury and Marmaduke Storr being in prison at
Northampton, Captain Drury let me go and visit them.
After Captain Drury had lodged me at the Mermaid, he left me there,
and went to give the Protector an account of me. When he came to
me again, he told me that the Protector required that I should
promise not to take up a carnal sword or weapon against him or the
government, as it then was, and that I should write it in what words
I saw good, and set my hand to it. I said little in reply to Captain
Drury.
The next morning I was moved of the Lord to write a paper to the
Protector, Oliver Cromwell; wherein I did, in the presence of the
Lord God, declare that I denied the wearing or drawing of a carnal
sword, or any other outward weapon, against him or any man; and
that I was sent of God to stand a witness against all violence, and
against the works of darkness; and to turn people from darkness to
light; and to bring them from the causes of war and fighting, to the
peaceable gospel. When I had written what the Lord had given me to
write, I set my name to it, and gave it to Captain Drury to hand to
Oliver Cromwell, which he did.
After some time Captain Drury brought me before the Protector himself
at Whitehall.[75] It was in a morning, before he was dressed, and
one Harvey, who had come a little among Friends, but was disobedient,
waited upon him. When I came in I was moved to say, "Peace be in this
house"; and I exhorted him to keep in the fear of God, that he might
receive wisdom from Him, that by it he might be directed, and order
all things under his hand to God's glory.
[75] Cromwell and Fox were at this period the two most striking
men in England. Cromwell's greatest work was already done; Fox,
now thirty years old, was only getting well under way with
his earthly mission. He never comprehended the greatness of
Cromwell's work, nor did he appreciate the complex tangle which
the Protector had to unravel. He was so sun-clear and ingenuous
himself that he could not fathom a man who skillfully zigzagged
toward the ends which he could not reach by perfectly direct
steps. Carlyle gives a happy paraphrase of this passage in the
Journal: "'I exhorted him,' writes George, 'to keep in the fear
of God,' whereby he might 'receive Wisdom from God,' which would
be a useful guidance for any sovereign person. In fact, I had
'much discourse' with him; explaining what I and Friends had
been led to think 'Concerning Christ and His Apostles' of old
time, and His Priests and Ministers of new; concerning Life
and concerning Death; concerning the Unfathomable Universe in
general, and the Light in it from Above and the Darkness in it
that is from Below: to all which the Protector 'carried himself
with much moderation.' Yes, George; this Protector has a sympathy
with the Perennial; and feels it across the Temporary: no hulls,
leathern or other, can entirely hide it from the sense of him."
Carlyle's "Oliver Cromwell's Letters and Speeches." (Centenary
Edition.) Vol. III., p. 225.
I spoke much to him of Truth, and much discourse I had with him about
religion; wherein he carried himself very moderately. But he said
we quarrelled with priests, whom he called ministers. I told him I
did not quarrel with them, but that they quarrelled with me and my
friends. "But," said I, "if we own the prophets, Christ, and the
apostles, we cannot hold up such teachers, prophets, and shepherds,
as the prophets, Christ, and the apostles declared against; but we
must declare against them by the same power and Spirit."
Then I showed him that the prophets, Christ, and the apostles
declared freely, and against them that did not declare freely; such
as preached for filthy lucre, and divined for money, and preached for
hire, and were covetous and greedy, that could never have enough; and
that they that have the same spirit that Christ, and the prophets,
and the apostles had, could not but declare against all such now, as
they did then. As I spoke, he several times said, it was very good,
and it was truth. I told him that all Christendom (so called) had
the Scriptures, but they wanted the power and Spirit that those had
who gave forth the Scriptures; and that was the reason they were
not in fellowship with the Son, nor with the Father, nor with the
Scriptures, nor one with another.
Many more words I had with him; but people coming in, I drew a little
back. As I was turning, he caught me by the hand, and with tears in
his eyes said, "Come again to my house; for if thou and I were but
an hour of a day together, we should be nearer one to the other";
adding that he wished me no more ill than he did to his own soul. I
told him if he did he wronged his own soul; and admonished him to
hearken to God's voice, that he might stand in his counsel, and obey
it; and if he did so, that would keep him from hardness of heart; but
if he did not hear God's voice, his heart would be hardened. He said
it was true.
Then I went out; and when Captain Drury came out after me he told me
the Lord Protector had said I was at liberty, and might go whither I
would.
Then I was brought into a great hall, where the Protector's gentlemen
were to dine. I asked them what they brought me thither for. They
said it was by the Protector's order, that I might dine with them. I
bid them let the Protector know that I would not eat of his bread,
nor drink of his drink. When he heard this he said, "Now I see there
is a people risen that I cannot win with gifts or honours, offices or
places; but all other sects and people I can." It was told him again
that we had forsaken our own possessions; and were not like to look
for such things from him.
Being set at liberty, I went to the inn where Captain Drury at first
lodged me. This captain, though he sometimes carried it fairly, was
an enemy to me and to Truth, and opposed it. When professors came to
me, while I was under his custody, and he was by, he would scoff at
trembling, and call us Quakers, as the Independents and Presbyterians
had nicknamed us before.[76] But afterwards he came and told me
that, as he was lying on his bed to rest himself in the daytime, a
sudden trembling seized on him; that his joints knocked together,
and his body shook so that he could not rise from his bed. He was so
shaken that he had not strength enough left to rise. But he felt the
power of the Lord was upon him; and he tumbled off his bed, and cried
to the Lord, and said he would never speak more against the Quakers,
such as trembled at the word of God.
[76] This implies that the nickname was given because the Friends
trembled when they spoke.
During the time I was prisoner at Charing-Cross, there came abundance
to see me, almost of all sorts, priests, professors, officers of the
army, etc. Once a company of officers, being with me, desired me to
pray with them. I sat still, with my mind retired to the Lord. At
last I felt the power and Spirit of God move in me; and the Lord's
power did so shake and shatter them that they wondered, though they
did not live in it.
Among those that came was Colonel Packer, with several of his
officers. While they were with me, there came in one Cob, and a great
company of Ranters with him. The Ranters began to call for drink and
tobacco; but I desired them to forbear it in my room, telling them if
they had such a mind to it, they might go into another room. One of
them cried, "All is ours"; and another of them said, "All is well."
I replied, "How is all well, while thou art so peevish, envious,
and crabbed?" for I saw he was of a peevish nature. I spake to
their conditions, and they were sensible of it, and looked one upon
another, wondering.
Then Colonel Packer began to talk with a light, chaffy mind,
concerning God, and Christ, and the Scriptures. It was a great grief
to my soul and spirit when I heard him talk so lightly; so that I
told him he was too light to talk of the things of God, for he did
not know the solidity of a man. Thereupon the officers raged, and
were wroth that I should speak so of their colonel.
This Packer was a Baptist, and he and the Ranters bowed and scraped
to one another very much; for it was the manner of the Ranters to
be exceedingly complimentary (as they call it), so that Packer bade
them give over their compliments. But I told them they were fit to go
together, for they were both of one spirit.
This Colonel Packer lived at Theobald's, near Waltham, and was made
a justice of the peace. He set up a great meeting of the Baptists at
Theobald's Park; for he and some other officers had purchased it.
They were exceedingly high, and railed against Friends and Truth, and
threatened to apprehend me with their warrants if ever I came there.
Yet after I was set at liberty, I was moved of the Lord God to go
down to Theobald's, and appoint a meeting hard by them; to which many
of his people came, and divers of his hearers were convinced of the
way of Truth, and received Christ, the free teacher, and came off
from the Baptist; and that made him rage the more. But the Lord's
power came over him, so that he had not power to meddle with me.
Then I went to Waltham, close by him, and had a meeting there; but
the people were very rude, and gathered about the house and broke the
windows. Thereupon I went out to them, with the Bible in my hand,
and desired them to come in; and told them that I would show them
Scripture both for our principles and practices. When I had done so,
I showed them also that their teachers were in the steps of such as
the prophets, and Christ, and the apostles testified against. Then I
directed them to the Light of Christ and Spirit of God in their own
hearts, that by it they might come to know their free teacher, the
Lord Jesus Christ.
The meeting being ended, they went away quieted and satisfied, and a
meeting hath since been settled in that town. But this was some time
after I was set at liberty by Oliver Cromwell.
When I came from Whitehall to the Mermaid at Charing-Cross, I stayed
not long there, but went into the city of London, where we had great
and powerful meetings. So great were the throngs of people that I
could hardly get to and from the meetings for the crowds; and the
Truth spread exceedingly. Thomas Aldam, and Robert Craven, who had
been sheriff of London, and many Friends, came up to London after me;
but Alexander Parker abode with me.[77]
[77] During this same year, 1654, a remarkable work was done in
London by Edward Burrough and Francis Howgill. It is estimated
that not less than 10,000 adherents were gathered in the city
during these early years of Friends' ministry.
After a while I went to Whitehall again, and was moved to declare the
day of the Lord amongst them, and that the Lord was come to teach His
people Himself. So I preached Truth, both to the officers, and to
them that were called Oliver's gentlemen, who were of his guard. But
a priest opposed while I was declaring the Word of the Lord amongst
them; for Oliver had several priests about him, of which this was his
newsmonger, an envious priest, and a light, scornful, chaffy man. I
bade him repent, and he put it in his newspaper the next week that I
had been at Whitehall and had bidden a godly minister there to repent.
When I went thither again I met with him; and abundance of people
gathered about me. I manifested the priest to be a liar in several
things that he had affirmed; and he was put to silence. He put in
the news that I wore silver buttons; which was false, for they were
but alchemy.[78] Afterwards he put in the news that I hung ribands
on people's arms, which made them follow me. This was another of his
lies, for I never used nor wore ribands in my life.
[78] A cheap metal made to imitate gold.
Three Friends went to examine this priest, that gave forth this false
intelligence, and to know of him where he had had that information.
He said it was a woman that told him so, and that if they would come
again he would tell them the woman's name. When they came again he
said it was a man, but would not tell them his name then, but said
that if they would come again he would tell them his name and where
he lived.
They went the third time; and then he would not say who told him;
but offered, if I would give it under my hand that there was no such
thing he would put that into the news. Thereupon the Friends carried
it to him under my hand; but when they came he broke his promise, and
would not put it in: but was in a rage, and threatened them with the
constable.
This was the deceitful doing of this forger of lies; and these lies
he spread over the nation in the news, to render Truth odious and
to put evil into people's minds against Friends and Truth; of which
a more large account may be seen in a book printed soon after this
time, for the clearing of Friends and Truth from the slanders and
false reports raised and cast upon them.
These priests, the newsmongers, were of the Independent sect, like
them in Leicester; but the Lord's power came over all their lies,
and swept them away; and many came to see the naughtiness of these
priests. The God of heaven carried me over all in His power, and His
blessed power went over the nation; insomuch that many Friends about
this time were moved to go up and down to sound forth the everlasting
gospel in most parts of this nation, and also in Scotland; and the
glory of the Lord was felt over all, to His everlasting praise.
A great convincement there was in London; some in the Protector's
house and family. I went to see him again, but could not get to him,
the officers were grown so rude.