In Prison for not Swearing.
1662-1665.
After I had made some stay in London, and had cleared myself of
those services that at that time lay upon me there, I went into
the country, having with me Alexander Parker and John Stubbs. We
travelled through the country, visiting Friends' meetings, till we
came to Bristol.
There we understood the officers were likely to come and break up
the meeting; yet on First-day we went to the meeting at Broadmead,
and Alexander Parker standing up first, while he was speaking the
officers came and took him away. After he was gone, I stood up and
declared the everlasting Truth of the Lord God in His eternal power,
which came over all; the meeting was quiet the rest of the time, and
broke up peaceably. I tarried till the First-day following, visiting
Friends, and being visited by them.
On First-day morning several Friends came to Edward Pyot's house
(where I lay the night before), and used great endeavours to persuade
me not to go to the meeting that day, for the magistrates, they said,
had threatened to take me, and had raised the trained bands. I wished
them to go to the meeting, not telling them what I intended to do;
but I told Edward Pyot I intended to go, and he sent his son to show
me the way from his house by the fields.
As I went I met divers Friends who were coming to me to prevent my
going, and who did what they could to stop me. "What!" said one,
"wilt thou go into the mouth of the beast?" "Wilt thou go into the
mouth of the dragon?" said another. I put them by and went on.
When I came to the meeting Margaret Thomas was speaking; and when she
had done I stood up. I saw a concern and fear upon Friends for me;
but the power of the Lord, in which I declared, soon struck the fear
out of them; life sprang, and a glorious heavenly meeting we had.
After I had cleared myself of what was upon me from the Lord to the
meeting, I was moved to pray; and after that to stand up again, and
tell Friends how they might see there was a God in Israel that could
deliver.
A very large meeting this was, and very hot; but Truth was over all,
the life was exalted, which carried through all, and the meeting
broke up in peace. The officers and soldiers had been breaking up
another meeting, which had taken up their time, so that our meeting
was ended before they came. But I understood afterwards they were in
great rage because they had missed me; for they were heard to say one
to another before, "I'll warrant we shall have him;" but the Lord
prevented them.
I went from the meeting to Joan Hily's, where many Friends came
to see me, rejoicing and blessing God for our deliverance. In the
evening I had a fine fresh meeting among Friends at a Friend's house
over the water, where we were much refreshed in the Lord.
From Barnet Hills we came to Swannington, in Leicestershire, where
William Smith and some other Friends visited me; but they went away
towards night, leaving me at a Friend's house in Swannington.
At night, as I was sitting in the hall speaking to a widow woman and
her daughter, Lord Beaumont came with a company of soldiers, who,
slapping their swords on the door, rushed into the house with swords
and pistols in their hands, crying, "Put out the candles and make
fast the doors." Then they seized upon the Friends in the house, and
asked if there were no more about the house. The Friends told them
there was one man more in the hall.
There being some Friends out of Derbyshire, one of whom was named
Thomas Fauks, Lord Beaumont, after he had asked all their names, bid
his man set down that man's name as Thomas Fox. The Friend said, Nay;
that his name was not Fox, but Fauks. In the mean time some of the
soldiers came, and fetched me out of the hall to him. He asked my
name. I told him my name was George Fox, and that I was well known
by that name. "Aye," said he, "you are known all the world over." I
said, I was known for no hurt, but for good.
Then he put his hands into my pockets to search them, and plucked out
my comb-case, and afterwards commanded one of his officers to search
further for letters. I told him I was no letter-carrier, and asked
him why he came amongst a peaceable people with swords and pistols
without a constable, contrary to the king's proclamation and to the
late act. For he could not say there was a meeting, I being only
talking with a poor widow-woman and her daughter.
By reasoning thus with him, he came somewhat down; yet, sending for
the constables, he gave them charge of us that night, and told them
to bring us before him next morning. Accordingly the constables set a
watch of the townspeople upon us that night, and had us next morning
to his house, about a mile from Swannington.
When we came before him, he told us that we had met "contrary to
the Act."[137] I desired him to show us the Act. "Why," says he,
"you have it in your pocket." I told him he did not find us in a
meeting. Then he asked whether we would take the oaths of allegiance
and supremacy. I told him I never took any oath in my life, nor
engagement, nor the covenant. Yet still he would force the oath upon
us. I desired him to show us the oath, that we might see whether we
were the persons it was to be tendered to, and whether it was not
for the discovery of popish recusants. At length he brought a little
book, but we called for the statute-book. He would not show us that,
but caused a mittimus to be made, which mentioned that we "were
to have had a meeting." With this mittimus he delivered us to the
constables to convey us to Leicester jail.
[137] This was an act passed in 1662, "for preventing mischiefs
and dangers that may arise by certain persons called Quakers, and
others refusing to take oaths." The act declared it "altogether
unlawful and contrary to the word of God" to refuse to take
an oath, or to persuade another person to refuse to do so. It
further made it an offense for more than five persons, "commonly
called Quakers," "to assemble in any place under pretense of
joining in a religious worship not authorized by the laws of this
realm."
But when the constables had brought us back to Swannington, it being
harvest-time, it was hard to get anybody to go with us. The people
were loth to take their neighbors to prison, especially in such a
busy time. They would have given us our mittimus to carry ourselves
to the jail; for it had been usual for constables to give Friends
their own mittimuses, and they have gone themselves with them to the
jailer. But we told them that, though our Friends had sometimes done
so, we would not take this mittimus; but some of them should go with
us to the jail.
At last they hired a poor labouring man, who was loth to go, though
hired. So we rode to Leicester, being five in number; some carried
their Bibles open in their hands, declaring Truth to the people as we
rode in the fields and through the towns, and telling them we were
prisoners of the Lord Jesus Christ, going to suffer bonds for His
name and Truth. One woman Friend carried her wheel on her lap to spin
on in prison; and the people were mightily affected.
At Leicester we went to an inn. The master of the house seemed
troubled that we should go to the prison; and being himself in
commission, he sent for lawyers in the town to advise with, and would
have taken up the mittimus, kept us in his own house, and not have
let us go into the jail.
But I told Friends it would be a great charge to lie at an inn; and
many Friends and people would be coming to visit us, and it might
be hard for him to bear our having meetings in his house. Besides,
we had many Friends in the prison already, and we had rather be
with them. So we let the man know that we were sensible of his
kindness, and to prison we went; the poor man that brought us thither
delivering both the mittimus and us to the jailer.
This jailer had been a very wicked, cruel man. Six or seven Friends
being in prison before we came, he had taken some occasion to quarrel
with them, and had thrust them into the dungeon amongst the felons,
where there was hardly room for them to lie down. We stayed all that
day in the prison-yard, and desired the jailer to let us have some
straw. He surlily answered, "You do not look like men that would lie
on straw."
After a while William Smith, a Friend, came to me, and he being
acquainted in the house, I asked him what rooms there were in it, and
what rooms Friends had usually been put into before they were put
into the dungeon. I asked him also whether the jailer or his wife
was the master. He said that the wife was master; and that, though
she was lame, and sat mostly in her chair, being only able to go on
crutches, yet she would beat her husband when he came within her
reach if he did not do as she would have him.
I considered that probably many Friends might come to visit us, and
that if we had a room to ourselves, it would be better for them to
speak to me, and me to them, as there should be occasion. Wherefore
I desired William Smith to go speak with the woman, and acquaint her
that if she would let us have a room, suffer our Friends to come out
of the dungeon, and leave it to us to give her what we would, it
might be better for her.
He went, and after some reasoning with her, she consented; and we
were put into a room. Then we were told that the jailer would not
suffer us to have any drink out of the town brought into the prison,
but that what beer we drank we must take of him. I told them I would
remedy that, for we would get a pail of water and a little wormwood
once a day, and that might serve us; so we should have none of his
beer, and the water he could not deny us.
Before we came, when the few Friends that were prisoners there met
together on First-days, if any of them was moved to pray to the Lord,
the jailer would come up with his quarter-staff in his hand, and his
mastiff dog at his heels, and pluck them down by the hair of the
head, and strike them with his staff; but when he struck Friends, the
mastiff dog, instead of falling upon them, would take the staff out
of his hand.
When the First-day came, I spoke to one of my fellow-prisoners, to
carry a stool and set it in the yard, and give notice to the debtors
and felons that there would be a meeting in the yard, and they that
would hear the Word of the Lord declared might come thither. So the
debtors and prisoners gathered in the yard, and we went down, and
had a very precious meeting, the jailer not meddling.
Thus every First-day we had a meeting as long as we stayed in prison;
and several came in out of the town and country. Many were convinced,
and some there received the Lord's Truth who have stood faithful
witnesses for it ever since.
When the sessions came we were brought before the justices, with many
more Friends, sent to prison whilst we were there, to the number of
about twenty. The jailer put us into the place where the thieves
were put, and then some of the justices began to tender the oaths of
allegiance and supremacy to us. I told them I never took any oath in
my life; and they knew we could not swear, because Christ and His
Apostle forbade it; therefore they but put it as a snare to us. We
told them that if they could prove that, after Christ and the Apostle
had forbidden swearing, they did ever command Christians to swear,
then we would take these oaths; otherwise we were resolved to obey
Christ's command and the Apostle's exhortation.
They said we must take the oath that we might manifest our allegiance
to the king. I told them I had been formerly sent up a prisoner by
Colonel Hacker, from that town to London, under pretence that I had
held meetings to plot to bring in King Charles. I also desired them
to read our mittimus, which set forth the cause of our commitment
to be that we "were to have a meeting"; and I said Lord Beaumont
could not by that act send us to jail unless we had been taken at
a meeting, and found to be such persons as the act speaks of;
therefore we desired that they would read the mittimus and see how
wrongfully we were imprisoned.
They would not take notice of the mittimus, but called a jury
and indicted us for refusing to take the oaths of allegiance and
supremacy. When the jury was sworn and instructed, as they were
going out, one that had been an alderman of the city spoke to them,
and bade them "have a good conscience"; and one of the jury, being
a peevish man, told the justices there was one affronted the jury;
whereupon they called him up, and tendered him the oath also, and he
took it.
While we were standing where the thieves used to stand, a cut-purse
had his hand in several Friends' pockets. Friends declared it to
the justices, and showed them the man. They called him up before
them, and upon examination he could not deny it; yet they set him at
liberty.
It was not long before the jury returned, and brought us in guilty;
and after some words, the justices whispered together, and bid the
jailer take us to prison again; but the Lord's power was over them,
and His everlasting Truth, which we declared boldly amongst them.
There being a great concourse of people, most of them followed us; so
that the crier and bailiffs were fain to call the people back again
to the court.
We declared the Truth as we went along the streets, till we came to
the jail, the streets being full of people.
When we were in our chamber again, after some time the jailer came
to us and desired all to go forth that were not prisoners. When they
were gone he said, "Gentlemen, it is the court's pleasure that ye
should be set at liberty, except those that are in for tithes; and
you know there are fees due to me; but I shall leave it to you to
give me what you will."
Thus we were all set at liberty on a sudden, and passed every one
into our services. Leonard Fell went with me again to Swannington.
I had a letter from Lord Hastings, who, hearing of my imprisonment,
had written from London to the justices of the sessions to set me at
liberty. I had not delivered this letter to the justices; whether
any knowledge of his mind received through another hand made them
discharge us so suddenly, I know not. This letter I carried to Lord
Beaumont, who had sent us to prison. When he had broken it open and
read it, he seemed much troubled; but at last he came a little lower,
yet threatened us that if we had any more meetings at Swannington, he
would break them up and send us to prison again.
But, notwithstanding his threats, we went to Swannington, and had a
meeting with Friends there, and he neither came nor sent to break it
up.
[After travelling through Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire and
Warwickshire, he came again to London.]
I stayed not long in London, but went into Essex, and so to Norfolk,
having great meetings. At Norwich, when I came to Captain Lawrence's,
there was a great threatening of disturbance; but the meeting was
quiet. Passing thence to Sutton, and into Cambridgeshire, I heard
of Edward Burrough's decease. Being sensible how great a grief
and exercise it would be to Friends to part with him, I wrote the
following lines for the staying and settling of their minds:
"FRIENDS:
"Be still and quiet in your own conditions, and settled in the
Seed of God, that doth not change; that in that ye may feel dear
Edward Burrough among you in the Seed, in which and by which
he begat you to God, with whom he is; and that in the Seed ye
may all see and feel him, in which is the unity with him in the
life; and so enjoy him in the life that doth not change, which
is invisible.
GEORGE FOX."[138]
[138] This letter well illustrates the difficulties of George
Fox's style. The letter manifests a profound and beautiful
spirit, but the phraseology is none too clear. He means: "Dear
Edward is living in God, who is invisible and unchangeable;
settle your own lives down into that same living God whose divine
presence manifested in Edward Burrough has begotten a spiritual
life in you, and you will feel yourselves united in spirit and
life with the dear departed one."
[Hereupon extensive travels follow, throughout the eastern counties,
then through the southern as far as Land's End, and again through
Wales and the English Lake district. He finally reaches Swarthmore
some time in 1663, and finds that an offer of twenty-five pounds has
been made to any man who would take him. Out of the experiences of
this long, though somewhat uneventful trip we give only the following
discussion, which throws good light on Fox's "principle of truth":
"Next morning, some of the chief of the town[AL] desired to
speak with me, amongst whom was Colonel Rouse. I went, and had a
great deal of discourse with them concerning the things of God.
In their reasoning they said, 'The gospel was the four books of
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John'; and they called it natural. I
told them, the gospel was the power of God, which was preached
before Matthew, Mark, Luke or John were written; and it was
preached to every creature, of which a great part might never
see nor hear of those four books, so that every creature was
to obey the power of God; for Christ, the Spiritual Man, would
judge the world according to the gospel, that is, according
to his invisible power. When they heard this, they could not
gainsay; for the Truth came over them. I directed them to their
Teacher, the grace of God, and showed them the sufficiency of
it, which would teach them how to live, and what to deny; and
being obeyed would bring them salvation. So to that grace I
recommended them, and left them."]
[AL] Truro.
I came over the sands to Swarthmore. There they told me that Colonel
Kirby had sent his lieutenant, who had searched trunks and chests for
me.
That night, as I was in bed, I was moved of the Lord to go next day
to Kirby Hall, which was Colonel Kirby's house, about five miles off,
to speak with him. When I came thither I found the Flemings, and
several others of the gentry (so called) of the country, who were
come to take their leave of Colonel Kirby, he being then about to go
up to London to the Parliament. I was taken into the parlour amongst
them; but Colonel Kirby was not then within, being gone out a little
way. They said little to me, nor I much to them.
After a little while Colonel Kirby came in, and I told him I came to
visit him (understanding he was desirous to see me) to know what he
had to say to me, and whether he had anything against me.
He said, before all the company, "As I am a gentleman, I have nothing
against you." "But," said he, "Mistress Fell must not keep great
meetings at her house, for they meet contrary to the Act."
I told him that that Act did not take hold on us, but on such as "met
to plot and contrive, and to raise insurrections against the King";
whereas we were no such people: for he knew that they that met at
Margaret Fell's were his neighbours, and a peaceable people.
After many words had passed, he shook me by the hand, and said again
that he had nothing against me; and others of them said I was a
deserving man. So we parted, and I returned to Swarthmore.
Shortly after, when Colonel Kirby was gone to London, there was a
private meeting of the justices and deputy-lieutenants at Houlker
Hall, where Justice Preston lived, where they granted a warrant to
apprehend me. I heard over night both of their meeting and of the
warrant, and could have gone out of their reach if I would, for I had
not appointed any meeting at that time, and I had cleared myself of
the north, and the Lord's power was over all. But I considered that
there being a noise of a plot in the north, if I should go away they
might fall upon Friends; but if I gave myself up to be taken, it
might prevent them, and Friends should escape the better. So I gave
myself up to be taken, and prepared for their coming.
Next day an officer came with his sword and pistols to take me. I
told him I knew his errand before, and had given myself to be taken;
for if I would have escaped their imprisonment I could have been
forty miles off before he came; but I was an innocent man, and so it
mattered not what they could do to me. He asked me how I heard of it,
seeing the order was made privately in a parlour. I said it was no
matter for that; it was sufficient that I heard it.
I asked him to let me see his order, whereupon he laid his hand on
his sword, and said I must go with him before the lieutenant to
answer such questions as they should propound to me. I told him it
was but civil and reasonable for him to let me see his order; but he
would not. Then said I, "I am ready."
So I went along with him, and Margaret Fell accompanied us to Houlker
Hall. When we came thither there was one Rawlinson, a justice, and
one called Sir George Middleton, and many more that I did not know,
besides old Justice Preston, who lived there.
They brought Thomas Atkinson, a Friend, of Cartmel, as a witness
against me for some words which he had told to one Knipe, who had
informed them, which words were that I said I had written against
the plotters and had knocked them down. These words they could not
make much of, for I told them I had heard of a plot, and had written
against it.
Old Preston asked me whether I had an hand in that script. I asked
him what he meant. He said, "in the Battledore?" I answered, "Yes."
Then he asked me whether I understood languages. I said, "Sufficient
for myself," and that I knew no law that was transgressed by it. I
told them also that to understand outward languages was no matter of
salvation, for the many tongues began but at the confusion of Babel;
and if I did understand anything of them, I judged and knocked them
down again for any matter of salvation that was in them.
Thereupon he turned away, and said, "George Fox knocks down all the
languages; come," said he, "we will examine you of higher matters."
Then said George Middleton, "You deny God, and the Church, and the
faith."
I replied, "Nay, I own God and the true Church, and the true faith.
But what Church dost thou own?" said I (for I understood he was a
Papist).
Then he turned again and said, "You are a rebel and a traitor."
I asked him to whom he spoke, or whom did he call rebel. He was so
full of envy that for a while he could not speak, but at last he
said, "I spoke it to you."
With that I struck my hand on the table, and told him, "I have
suffered more than twenty such as thou; more than any that is here;
for I have been cast into Derby dungeon for six months together,
and have suffered much because I would not take up arms against this
King before Worcester fight. I was sent up a prisoner out of my
own country by Colonel Hacker to Oliver Cromwell, as a plotter to
bring in King Charles in the year 1654. I have nothing but love and
good-will to the King, and desire the eternal good and welfare of him
and all his subjects."
"Did you ever hear the like?" said Middleton. "Nay," said I. "Ye may
hear it again if ye will. For ye talk of the King, a company of you,
but where were ye in Oliver's days, and what did ye do then for him?
But I have more love to the King for his eternal good and welfare
than any of you have."
Then they asked me whether I had heard of the plot. I said, "Yes, I
have heard of it."
They asked me how I had heard of it, and whom I knew in it. I told
them I had heard of it through the high-sheriff of Yorkshire, who had
told Dr. Hodgson that there was a plot in the north. That was the
way I had heard of it; but I had never heard of any such thing in
the south, nor till I came into the north. As for knowing any in the
plot, I was as a child in that, for I knew none of them.
Then said they, "Why would you write against it if you did not know
some that were in it?"
I said, "My reason was, because you are so forward to crush the
innocent and guilty together; therefore I wrote against it to clear
the Truth[AM] and to stop all forward, foolish spirits from running
into such things. I sent copies of it into Westmoreland, Cumberland,
Durham, and Yorkshire, and to you here. I sent another copy of it to
the King and his council, and it is likely it may be in print by this
time."
[AM] "Truth" is used here and often in Friends' writings for the
CAUSE which Friends represented.
One of them said, "This man hath great power!"
I said, "Yes, I have power to write against plotters."
Then said one of them, "You are against the laws of the land."
I answered, "Nay, for I and my Friends direct all people to the
Spirit of God in them, to mortify the deeds of the flesh. This brings
them into welldoing, and away from that which the magistrate's sword
is against, which eases the magistrates, who are for the punishment
of evil-doers. So people being turned to the Spirit of God, which
brings them to mortify the deeds of the flesh; this brings them from
under the occasion of the magistrate's sword; and this must needs be
one with magistracy, and one with the law, which was added because of
transgression, and is for the praise of them that do well. In this
we establish the law, are an ease to the magistrates, and are not
against, but stand for all good government."
Then George Middleton cried, "Bring the book, and put the oaths of
allegiance and supremacy to him."
Now he himself being a Papist, I asked him whether he, who was a
swearer, had taken the oath of supremacy. As for us, we could not
swear at all, because Christ and the Apostle had forbidden it.
Some of them would not have had the oath put to me, but would have
set me at liberty. The rest would not agree to it, for this was their
last snare, and they had no other way to get me into prison, as all
other things had been cleared to them. This was like the Papists'
sacrament of the altar, by which they ensnared the martyrs.[139]
[139] Most of the Quakers who suffered in prison during the reign
of Charles were imprisoned for refusing to take the oath.
So they tendered me the oath, which I could not take; whereupon they
were about to make my mittimus to send me to Lancaster jail; but
considering of it, they only engaged me to appear at the sessions,
and for that time dismissed me.
I went back with Margaret Fell to Swarthmore, and soon after Colonel
West, who was at that time a justice of the peace, came to see me. He
told us that he had acquainted some of the rest of the justices that
he would come and see Margaret Fell and me; "but it may be," said he,
"some of you will take offence at it." I asked him, what he thought
they would do with me at the sessions? He said they would tender the
oath to me again.
Whilst I was at Swarthmore, William Kirby came into Swarthmore
meeting, and brought the constables with him. I was sitting with
Friends in the meeting, and he said to me, "How now, Mr. Fox! you
have a fine company here." "Yes," said I, "we meet to wait upon the
Lord."
So he began to take the names of Friends, and those that did not
readily tell him their names he committed to the constables' hands,
and sent some to prison. The constables were unwilling to take them
without a warrant, whereupon he threatened to set them by the heels;
but the constable told him that he could keep them in his presence,
but after he was gone he could not keep them without a warrant.
The sessions coming on, I went to Lancaster, and appeared according
to my engagement. There was upon the bench Justice Fleming, who had
bid five pounds in Westmoreland to any man that would apprehend me,
for he was a justice both in Westmoreland and Lancashire. There were
also Justice Spencer, Colonel West and old Justice Rawlinson, the
lawyer, who gave the charge, and was very sharp against Truth and
Friends; but the Lord's power stopped them.
The session was large, the concourse of people great, and way being
made for me, I came up to the bar, and stood with my hat on, they
looking earnestly upon me and I upon them for a pretty space.
Proclamation being made for all to keep silence upon pain of
imprisonment, and all being quiet, I said twice, "Peace be among you."
The chairman asked if I knew where I was. I said, "Yes, I do; but it
may be," said I, "my hat offends you. That's a low thing; that's not
the honour that I give to magistrates, for the true honour is from
above; which," said I, "I have received, and I hope it is not the hat
which ye look upon to be the honour."
The chairman said they looked for the hat, too, and asked wherein
I showed my respect to magistrates if I did not put off my hat. I
replied, "In coming when they called me." Then they bade one take off
my hat.
After this it was some time before they spoke to me, and I felt the
power of the Lord to arise. After some pause old Justice Rawlinson,
the chairman, asked me if I knew of the plot. I told him I had heard
of it in Yorkshire by a Friend, who had it from the high-sheriff.
They asked me whether I had declared it to the magistrates. I said,
"I sent papers abroad against plots and plotters, and also to you,
as soon as I came into the country, to take all jealousies out of
your minds concerning me and my friends; for it is our principle to
declare against such things."
They asked me if I knew not of an Act against meeting. I said I knew
there was an Act that took hold of such as met to the terrifying of
the King's subjects, were enemies to the King, and held dangerous
principles; but I hoped they did not look upon us to be such men, for
our meetings were not to terrify the King's subjects, neither are we
enemies to him or any man.
Then they tendered me the oaths of allegiance and supremacy. I told
them I could not take any oath at all, because Christ and His Apostle
had forbidden it; and they had sufficient experience of swearers,
first one way, then another; but I had never taken any oath in my
life.
Then Rawlinson asked me whether I held it was unlawful to swear. This
question he put on purpose to ensnare me; for by an Act that was made
those were liable to banishment or a great fine that should say it
was unlawful to swear. But I, seeing the snare, avoided it, and told
him that "in the time of the law amongst the Jews, before Christ
came, the law commanded them to swear; but Christ, who doth fulfil
the law in His gospel-time, commands not to swear at all; and the
apostle James forbids swearing, even to them that were Jews, and had
the law of God."
After much discourse, they called for the jailer, and committed me to
prison.
I had about me the paper which I had written as a testimony against
plots, which I desired they would read, or suffer to be read, in open
court; but they would not. So, being committed for refusing to swear,
I bade them and all the people take notice that I suffered for the
doctrine of Christ, and for my obedience to His command.
Afterwards I understood that the justices said they had private
instructions from Colonel Kirby to prosecute me, notwithstanding his
fair carriage and seeming kindness to me before, when he declared
before many of them that he had nothing against me.
Several other Friends were committed to prison, some for meeting
to worship God, and some for not swearing; so that the prison was
very full. Many of them being poor men, that had nothing to maintain
their families by but their labour, which now they were taken from,
the wives of several went to the justices who had committed their
husbands, and told them that if they kept their husbands in jail for
nothing but the truth of Christ, and for good conscience' sake, they
would bring their children to them to be maintained.
A mighty power of the Lord rose in Friends, and gave them great
boldness, so that they spoke much to the justices. Friends also that
were prisoners wrote to the justices, laying the weight of their
sufferings upon them, and showing them both their injustice and
want of compassion towards their poor neighbours, whom they knew to
be honest, conscientious, peaceable people, that in tenderness of
conscience could not take any oath; yet they sent them to prison for
refusing to take the oath of allegiance.
Several who were imprisoned on that account were known to be men that
had served the King in his wars, and had hazarded their lives in the
field in his cause, and had suffered great hardships, with the loss
of much blood, for him, and had always stood faithful to him from
first to last, and had never received any pay for their service. To
be thus requited for all their faithful services and sufferings,
and that by them that pretended to be the King's friends, was hard,
unkind, and ungrateful dealing.
At length the justices, being continually attended with complaints
of grievances, released some of the Friends, but kept divers of them
still in prison.
I was kept till the assize, and Judge Turner and Judge Twisden coming
that circuit, I was brought before Judge Twisden, the 14th of the
month called March, the latter end of the year 1663.
When I was brought to the bar, I said, "Peace be amongst you all."
The Judge looked upon me, and said, "What! do you come into the court
with your hat on!" Upon which words, the jailer taking it off, I
said, "The hat is not the honour that comes from God."
Then said the Judge to me, "Will you take the oath of allegiance,
George Fox?" I said, "I never took any oath in my life, nor any
covenant or engagement." "Well," said he, "will you swear or no?" I
answered, "I am a Christian, and Christ commands me not to swear; so
does the apostle James; and whether I should obey God or man, do thou
judge."
"I ask you again," said he, "whether you will swear or no." I
answered again, "I am neither Turk, Jew, nor heathen, but a
Christian, and should show forth Christianity."
I asked him if he did not know that Christians in the primitive
times, under the ten persecutions, and some also of the martyrs in
Queen Mary's days, refused swearing, because Christ and the apostle
had forbidden it. I told him also that they had had experience
enough, how many had first sworn for the King and then against him.
"But as for me," I said, "I have never taken an oath in my life. My
allegiance doth not lie in swearing, but in truth and faithfulness,
for I honour all men, much more the King. But Christ, who is the
Great Prophet, the King of kings, the Saviour and Judge of the whole
world, saith I must not swear. Now, must I obey Christ or thee? For
it is because of tenderness of conscience, and in obedience to the
command of Christ, that I do not swear and we have the word of a King
for tender consciences."
Then I asked the Judge if he did own the King. "Yes," said he, "I do
own the King."
"Why, then," said I, "dost thou not observe his declaration from
Breda, and his promises made since he came into England, that no
man should be called in question for matters of religion so long
as he lived peaceably? If thou ownest the King," said I, "why dost
thou call me in question, and put me upon taking an oath, which is
a matter of religion; seeing that neither thou nor any one else can
charge me with unpeaceable living?"
Upon this he was moved, and, looking angrily at me, said, "Sirrah,
will you swear?"
I told him I was none of his Sirrahs; I was a Christian; and for him,
an old man and a judge, to sit there and give nicknames to prisoners
did not become either his grey hairs or his office."
"Well," said he, "I am a Christian, too."
"Then do Christian works," said I.
"Sirrah!" said he, "thou thinkest to frighten me with thy words."
Then, catching himself, and looking aside, he said, "Hark! I am using
the word sirrah again;" and so checked himself.
I said, "I spoke to thee in love; for that language did not become
thee, a judge. Thou oughtest to instruct a prisoner in the law, if he
were ignorant and out of the way."
"And I speak in love to thee, too," said he.
"But," said I, "love gives no nicknames."
Then he roused himself up, and said, "I will not be afraid of thee,
George Fox; thou speakest so loud thy voice drowns mine and the
court's; I must call for three or four criers to drown thy voice;
thou hast good lungs."
"I am a prisoner here," said I, "for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake;
for His sake do I suffer; for Him do I stand this day. If my voice
were five times louder, I should lift it up and sound it for Christ's
sake. I stand this day before your judgment-seat in obedience to
Christ, who commands not to swear; before whose judgment-seat you
must all be brought and must give an account."
"Well," said the Judge, "George Fox, say whether thou wilt take the
oath, yea or nay?"
I replied, "I say, as I said before, judge thou whether I ought to
obey God or man. If I could take any oath at all I should take this.
I do not deny some oaths only, or on some occasions, but all oaths,
according to Christ's doctrine, who hath commanded His followers not
to swear at all. Now if thou, or any of you, or your ministers or
priests here, will prove that ever Christ or His apostles, after they
had forbidden all swearing, commanded Christians to swear, then I
will swear."
I saw several priests there, but not one of them offered to speak.
"Then," said the Judge, "I am a servant to the King, and the King
sent me not to dispute with you, but to put the laws in execution;
therefore tender him the oath of allegiance."
"If thou love the King," said I, "why dost thou break his word, and
not keep his declarations and speeches, wherein he promised liberty
to tender consciences? I am a man of a tender conscience, and, in
obedience to Christ's command, I cannot swear."
"Then you will not swear," said the Judge; "take him away, jailer."
I said, "It is for Christ's sake that I cannot swear, and for
obedience to His command I suffer; and so the Lord forgive you all."
So the jailer took me away; but I felt that the mighty power of the
Lord was over them all.
The sixteenth day of the same month I was again brought before Judge
Twisden. He was somewhat offended at my hat; but it being the last
morning of the assize before he was to leave town, and not many
people there, he made the less of it.
He asked me whether I would "traverse, stand mute, or submit." But he
spoke so fast that it was hard to know what he said. However, I told
him I desired I might have liberty to traverse the indictment, and
try it.
Then said he, "Take him away; I will have nothing to do with him;
take him away."
I said, "Well, live in the fear of God, and do justice."
"Why," said he, "have I not done you justice?"
I replied, "That which thou hast done has been against the command of
Christ."
So I was taken to the jail again, and kept prisoner till the next
assizes.
Some time before this assize Margaret Fell was sent prisoner to
Lancaster jail by Fleming, Kirby, and Preston, justices; and at
the assize the oath was tendered to her also, and she was again
committed to prison.
In the Sixth month,[140] the assizes were again held at Lancaster,
and the same judges, Twisden and Turner, again came that circuit. But
Judge Turner then sat on the crown bench, and so I was brought before
him. Before I was called to the bar I was put among the murderers and
felons for about two hours, the people, the justices and also the
Judge gazing upon me.
[140] This would be August of our calendar. Again the pen was
busy during these weeks in jail, and many epistles and documents
were written. A Baptist preacher, named Wiggan, who had been a
great opponent of Fox, was brought into straits over the oath
which he finally took. The episode furnishes this interesting
entry:
"This Wiggan was poor, and while he was prisoner at Lancaster
he sent into the country, and got money gathered for relief of
the poor people of God in prison; and many people gave freely,
thinking it had been for us, when indeed it was for himself. But
when we heard of it, we laid it upon him, and wrote into the
country, that Friends might let the people know the truth of the
matter, that it was not our manner to have collections made for
us, and that those collections were only for Wiggan and another,
a drunken preacher of his society, who was so drunk, that once
he lost his breeches."
After they had tried several others, they called me to the bar, and
empanelled a jury. Then the Judge asked the justices whether they
had tendered me the oath at the sessions. They said that they had.
Then he said, "Give them the book, that they may swear they tendered
him the oath at the sessions." They said they had. Then he said,
"Give them the book, that they may swear they tendered him the oath
according to the indictment."
Some of the justices refused to be sworn; but the Judge said he would
have it done, to take away all occasion of exception. When the jury
were sworn, and the justices had sworn that they had tendered me
the oath according to the indictment, the Judge asked me whether I
had not refused the oath at the last assizes. I said, "I never took
an oath in my life, and Christ, the Saviour and Judge of the world,
said, 'Swear not at all.'"
The Judge seemed not to take notice of my answer, but asked me
whether or not I had refused to take the oath at the last assizes.
I said, "The words that I then spoke to them were, that if they
could prove, either judge, justices, priest, or teacher, that after
Christ and the Apostle had forbidden swearing, they commanded that
Christians should swear, I would swear."
The Judge said he was not at that time to dispute whether it was
lawful to swear, but to inquire whether I had refused to take the
oath.
I told him, "Those things mentioned in the oath, as plotting against
the King, and owning the Pope's, or any other foreign power, I
utterly deny."
"Well," said he, "you say well in that, but did you refuse to take
the oath? What say you?"
"What wouldst thou have me to say?" said I; "I have told thee before
what I did say."
Then he asked me if I would have these men to swear that I had taken
the oath. I asked him if he would have those men to swear that I had
refused the oath, at which the court burst into laughter.
I was grieved to see so much lightness in a court, where such solemn
matters are handled, and thereupon asked them, "Is this court a
play-house? Where is gravity and sobriety," said I; "this behaviour
doth not become you."
Then the clerk read the indictment, and I told the Judge I had
something to speak to it; for I had informed myself of the errors
that were in it. He told me he would hear afterwards any reasons that
I could allege why he should not give judgment.
Then I spoke to the jury, and told them that they could not bring me
in guilty according to that indictment, for the indictment was wrong
laid, and had many gross errors in it.
The Judge said that I must not speak to the jury, but he would speak
to them; and he told them I had refused to take the oath at the last
assizes; "and," said he, "I can tender the oath to any man now, and
præmunire him for not taking it;" and he said they must bring me in
guilty, seeing I refused to take the oath.
Then said I, "What do ye do with a form? Ye may throw away your form
then." And I told the jury it lay upon their consciences, as they
would answer it to the Lord God before His judgment-seat.
Then the judge spoke again to the jury, and I called to him to "do me
justice."
The jury brought me in guilty. Thereupon I told them that both the
justices and they had forsworn themselves, and therefore they had
small cause to laugh, as they did a little before.
Oh, the envy, rage, and malice that appeared against me, and the
lightness! But the Lord confounded them, and they were wonderfully
stopped. So they set me aside, and called up Margaret Fell, who had
much good service among them; and then the court broke up near the
second hour.
In the afternoon we were brought in again to have sentence passed
upon us. Margaret Fell desired that sentence might be deferred until
the next morning. I desired nothing but law and justice at his hands,
for the thieves had mercy; only I requested the Judge to send some to
see my prison, which was so bad they would put no creature they had
in it; and I told him that Colonel Kirby, who was then on the bench,
had said I should be locked up, and no flesh alive should come to me.
The Judge shook his head, and said that when the sentence was given
he would leave me to the favor of the jailer.
Most of the gentry of the country were gathered together, expecting
to hear the sentence; and the noise amongst the people was that I
should be transported. But they were all crossed at that time; for
the sentence was deferred until the next morning, and I was taken to
prison again.
Upon my complaining of the badness of my prison, some of the
justices, with Colonel Kirby, went up to see it. When they came they
hardly durst go in, the floor was so bad and dangerous, and the
place so open to wind and rain. Some that came up said, "Surely it
is a Jakes-house." When Colonel Kirby saw it, and heard what others
said of it, he excused the matter as well as he could, saying that I
should be removed ere long to some more convenient place.
Next day, towards the eleventh hour, we were called again to hear the
sentence; and Margaret Fell, being called first to the bar, she had
counsel to plead, who found many errors in her indictment. Thereupon,
after the Judge had acknowledged them, she was set by.
Then the Judge asked what they could say to mine. I was not willing
to let any man plead for me, but desired to speak to it myself; and
indeed, though Margaret had some that pleaded for her, yet she spoke
as much herself as she would. But before I came to the bar I was
moved in my spirit to pray that God would confound their wickedness
and envy, set His truth over all, and exalt His seed. The Lord heard,
and answered, and did confound them in their proceedings against me.
And, though they had most envy against me, yet the most gross errors
were found in my indictment.
I having put by others from pleading for me, the Judge asked me what
I had to say why he should not pass sentence upon me. I told him I
was no lawyer; but I had much to say, if he would but have patience
to hear. At that he laughed, and others laughed also, and said,
"Come, what have you to say? He can say nothing." "Yes," said I, "I
have much to say; have but the patience to hear me."
I asked him whether the oath was to be tendered to the King's
subjects, or to the subjects of foreign princes. He said, "To the
subjects of this realm." "Then," said I, "look into the indictment;
ye may see that ye have left out the word 'subject'; so not having
named me in the indictment as a subject, ye cannot præmunire me for
not taking an oath."
Then they looked over the statute and the indictment, and saw it was
as I said; and the Judge confessed it was an error.
I told him I had something else to stop his judgment, and desired him
to look what day the indictment said the oath was tendered to me at
the sessions there. They looked, and said it was the eleventh day of
January. "What day of the week was the sessions held on?" said I. "On
a Tuesday," said they. "Then," said I, "look in your almanacs, and
see whether there was any sessions held at Lancaster on the eleventh
day of January, so called."
So they looked, and found that the eleventh day was the day called
Monday, and that the sessions was on the day called Tuesday, which
was the twelfth day of that month.
"Look now," said I, "ye have indicted me for refusing the oath in the
quarter-sessions held at Lancaster on the eleventh day of January
last, and the justices have sworn that they tendered me the oath in
open sessions here that day, and the jury upon their oaths have
found me guilty thereupon; and yet ye see there was no session held
in Lancaster that day."
Then the Judge, to cover the matter, asked whether the sessions did
not begin on the eleventh day. But some in the court answered, "No;
the session held but one day, and that was the twelfth." Then the
Judge said this was a great mistake and an error.
Some of the justices were in a great rage at this, stamped, and said,
"Who hath done this? Somebody hath done this on purpose;" and a great
heat was amongst them.
Then said I, "Are not the justices here, that have sworn to this
indictment, forsworn men in the face of the country? But this is not
all," said I. "I have more yet to offer why sentence should not be
given against me." I asked, "In what year of the King was the last
assize here holden, which was in the month called March last?" The
Judge said it was in the sixteenth year of the King. "But," said I,
"the indictment says it was in the fifteenth year." They looked, and
found it so. This also was acknowledged to be another error.
Then they were all in a fret again, and could not tell what to say;
for the Judge had sworn the officers of the court that the oath was
tendered to me at the assize mentioned in the indictment. "Now," said
I, "is not the court here forsworn also, who have sworn that the oath
was tendered to me at the assize holden here in the fifteenth year of
the King, when it was in his sixteenth year, and so they have sworn
a year false?"
The Judge bade them look whether Margaret Fell's indictment was so or
no. They looked, and found it was not so.
I told the Judge I had more yet to offer to stop sentence; and asked
him whether all the oath ought to be put into the indictment or no.
"Yes," said he, "it ought to be all put in."
"Then," said I, "compare the indictment with the oath, and there
thou mayest see these words: viz., 'or by any authority derived, or
pretended to be derived from him or his see,' which is a principal
part of the oath, left out of the indictment; and in another place
the words, 'heirs and successors,' are left out."
The Judge acknowledged these also to be great errors.
"But," said I, "I have something further to allege."
"Nay," said the Judge, "I have enough; you need say no more."
"If," said I, "thou hast enough, I desire nothing but law and justice
at thy hands; for I don't look for mercy."
"You must have justice," said he, "and you shall have law."
Then I asked, "Am I at liberty, and free from all that ever hath been
done against me in this matter?"
"Yes," said the Judge, "you are free from all that hath been done
against you. But then," starting up in a rage, he said, "I can put
the oath to any man here, and I will tender you the oath again."
I told him he had had examples enough yesterday of swearing and false
swearing, both in the justices and in the jury; for I saw before mine
eyes that both justices and jury had forsworn themselves.
The Judge asked me if I would take the oath. I bade him do me justice
for my false imprisonment all this while; for what had I been
imprisoned so long for? and I told him I ought to be set at liberty.
"You are at liberty," said he, "but I will put the oath to you again."
Then I turned me about and said, "All people, take notice; this is
a snare; for I ought to be set free from the jailer and from this
court."
But the Judge cried, "Give him the book;" and the sheriff and the
justices cried, "Give him the book."
Then the power of darkness rose up in them like a mountain, and a
clerk lifted up a book to me. I stood still and said, "If it be a
Bible, give it me into my hand."
"Yes, yes," said the Judge and justices, "give it him into his hand."
So I took it and looked into it, and said, "I see it is a Bible; I am
glad of it."
Now he had caused the jury to be called, and they stood by; for,
after they had brought in their former verdict, he would not dismiss
them, though they desired it; but told them he could not dismiss them
yet, for he should have business for them, and therefore they must
attend and be ready when they were called.
When he said so I felt his intent, that if I were freed, he would
come on again. So I looked him in the face, and the witness of God
started up in him, and made him blush when he looked at me again, for
he saw that I saw him.
Nevertheless, hardening himself, he caused the oath to be read to me,
the jury standing by; and when it was read, he asked me whether I
would take the oath or not.
Then said I, "Ye have given me a book here to kiss and to swear on,
and this book which ye have given me to kiss says, 'Kiss the Son';
and the Son says in this book, 'Swear not at all'; and so says also
the apostle James. Now, I say as the book says, and yet ye imprison
me; why do ye not imprison the book for saying so? How comes it that
the book (which bids me not swear) is at liberty amongst you, and yet
ye imprison me for doing as the book bids me?"
As I was speaking this to them, and held up the Bible open in my
hand, to show them the place in the book where Christ forbids
swearing, they plucked the book out of my hand again; and the Judge
said, "Nay, but we will imprison George Fox." Yet this got abroad
over all the country as a by-word, that "they gave me a book to swear
on that commanded me 'not to swear at all'; and that the Bible was at
liberty, and I in prison for doing as the Bible said."
Now, when the Judge still urged me to swear, I told him I had never
taken oath, covenant, or engagement in my life, but my yea or nay
was more binding to me than an oath was to many others; for had they
not had experience how little men regarded an oath; and how they
had sworn one way and then another; and how the justices and court
had forsworn themselves now? I told him I was a man of a tender
conscience, and if they had any sense of a tender conscience they
would consider that it was in obedience to Christ's command that I
could not swear. "But," said I, "if any of you can convince me that
after Christ and the apostle had commanded not to swear, they altered
that command and commanded Christians to swear, then ye shall see I
will swear."
There being many priests by, I said, "If ye cannot do it, let your
priests stand up and do it." But not one of the priests made any
answer.
"Oh," said the Judge, "all the world cannot convince you."
"No," said I, "how is it likely the world should convince me; for
'the whole world lies in wickedness'; but bring out your spiritual
men, as ye call them, to convince me."
Then both the sheriff and the Judge said, "The angel swore in the
Revelations." I replied, "When God bringeth His first-begotten Son
into the world, He saith, 'Let all the angels of God worship Him';
and He saith, 'Swear not at all.'"
"Nay," said the Judge, "I will not dispute."
Then I spoke to the jury, telling them it was for Christ's sake that
I could not swear, and therefore I warned them not to act contrary to
the witness of God in their consciences, for before His judgment-seat
they must all be brought. And I told them that as for plots and
persecution for religion and Popery, "I do deny them in my heart;
for I am a Christian, and shall show forth Christianity amongst you
this day. It is for Christ's doctrine I stand." More words I had both
with the Judge and jury before the jailer took me away.
In the afternoon I was brought up again, and put among the thieves
some time, where I stood with my hat on till the jailer took it off.
Then the jury having found this new indictment against me for not
taking the oath, I was called to the bar; and the Judge asked me what
I would say for myself. I bade them read the indictment, for I would
not answer to that which I did not hear. The clerk read it, and as he
read the Judge said "Take heed it be not false again"; but he read it
in such a manner that I could hardly understand what he read.
When he had done the Judge asked me what I said to the indictment. I
told him that hearing but once so large a writing read, and at such
a distance that I could not distinctly hear all the parts of it, I
could not well tell what to say to it; but if he would let me have a
copy, and give me time to consider it, I would answer it.
This put them to a little stand; but after a while the Judge asked
me, "What time would you have?"
I said, "Until the next assize."
"But," said he, "what plea will you now make? Are you guilty or not
guilty?"
I said, "I am not guilty at all of obstinately and wilfully refusing
to swear; and as for those things mentioned in the oath, as
jesuitical plots and foreign powers, I utterly deny them in my heart;
and if I could take any oath, I should take that; but I never took
any oath in my life."
The Judge said, "You speak well; but the King is sworn, the
Parliament is sworn, I am sworn, the justices are sworn, and the law
is preserved by oaths."
I told him that they had had sufficient experience of men's swearing,
and he had seen how the justices and jury had sworn falsely the
other day; and if he had read in the "Book of Martyrs" how many of
the martyrs had refused to swear, both within the time of the ten
persecutions and in Bishop Bonner's days, he might see that to deny
swearing in obedience to Christ's command was no new thing.
He said he wished the laws were otherwise.
I said, "Our Yea is yea, and our Nay is nay; and if we transgress our
yea and our nay, let us suffer as they do, or should do, that swear
falsely." This, I told him, we had offered to the King; and the King
said it was reasonable.
After some further discourse they committed me to prison again, there
to lie until the next assize; and Colonel Kirby gave order to the
jailer to keep me close, "and suffer no flesh alive to come at me,"
for I was not fit, he said, "to be discoursed with by men." I was put
into a tower where the smoke of the other prisoners came up so thick
it stood as dew upon the walls, and sometimes it was so thick that I
could hardly see the candle when it burned; and I being locked under
three locks, the under-jailer, when the smoke was great, would hardly
be persuaded to come up to unlock one of the uppermost doors for
fear of the smoke, so that I was almost smothered.
Besides, it rained in upon my bed, and many times, when I went to
stop out the rain in the cold winter-season, my shirt was as wet as
muck with the rain that came in upon me while I was labouring to stop
it out. And the place being high and open to the wind, sometimes as
fast as I stopped it the wind blew it out again.
In this manner I lay all that long, cold winter till the next assize,
in which time I was so starved, and so frozen with cold and wet with
the rain that my body was greatly swelled and my limbs much benumbed.
The assize began the sixteenth of the month called March, 1664-5.
The same Judges, Twisden and Turner, coming that circuit again,
Judge Twisden sat this time on the crown-bench, and before him I was
brought.
I had informed myself of the errors in this indictment also; for,
though at the assize before Judge Turner said to the officers in
court, "Pray, see that all the oath be in the indictment, and that
the word 'subject' be in, and that the day of the month and year
of the King be put in right; for it is a shame that so many errors
should be seen and found in the face of the country;" yet many
errors, and those great ones, were in this indictment, as well as in
the former. Surely the hand of the Lord was in it, to confound their
mischievous work against me, and to blind them therein; insomuch
that, although, after the indictment was drawn at the former assize,
the Judge examined it himself, and tried it with the clerks, yet the
word "subject" was left out of this indictment also, the day of the
month was put in wrong, and several material words of the oath were
left out; yet they went on confidently against me, thinking all was
safe and well.
When I was brought to the bar, and the jury called over to be sworn,
the clerk asked me, first, whether I had any objection to make to any
of the jury. I told him I knew none of them. Then, having sworn the
jury, they swore three of the officers of the court to prove that
the oath was tendered to me at the last assizes, according to the
indictment.
"Come, come," said the Judge, "it was not done in a corner." Then he
asked me what I had to say to it; or whether I had taken the oath at
the last assize.
I told him what I had formerly said to them, as it now came to my
remembrance.
Thereupon the Judge said, "I will not dispute with you but in point
of law."
"Then," said I, "I have something to speak to the jury concerning the
indictment."
He told me I must not speak to the jury; but if I had anything to
say, I must speak to him.
I asked him whether the oath was to be tendered to the King's
subjects only, or to the subjects of foreign princes.
He replied, "To the subjects of this realm."
"Then," said I, "look in the indictment, and thou mayest see the word
'subject' is left out of this indictment also. Therefore, seeing the
oath is not to be tendered to any but the subjects of this realm,
and ye have not put me in as a subject, the court is to take no
notice of this indictment."
I had no sooner spoken thus than the Judge cried, "Take him away,
jailer, take him away." So I was presently hurried away.
The jailer and people expected that I should be called for again; but
I was never brought to the court any more, though I had many other
great errors to assign in the indictment.
After I was gone, the Judge asked the jury if they were agreed. They
said, "Yes," and found for the King against me, as I was told. But I
was never called to hear sentence given, nor was any given against me
that I could hear of.
I understood that when they had looked more narrowly into the
indictment they saw it was not good; and the Judge having sworn
the officers of the court that the oath was tendered me at the
assize before, such a day, as was set forth in the indictment, and
that being the wrong day, I should have proved the officers of the
court forsworn men again, had the Judge suffered me to plead to the
indictment, which was thought to be the reason he hurried me away so
soon.
The Judge had passed sentence of præmunire upon Margaret Fell before
I was brought in; and it seems that when I was hurried away they
recorded me as a præmunired person,[141] though I was never brought
to hear the sentence, or knew of it, which was very illegal. For they
should not only have had me present to hear the sentence given, but
should also have asked me first what I could say why sentence should
not be given against me. But they knew I had so much to say that they
could not give sentence if they heard it.
[141] "A præmunired person" is one who has incurred the penalty
of being put out of the protection of the crown, of having
his lands, goods, and chattels forfeited to the crown and of
remaining in prison during the sovereign's pleasure.
While I was prisoner in Lancaster Castle there was a great noise and
talk of the Turk's overspreading Christendom, and great fears entered
many. But one day, as I was walking in my prison chamber, I saw the
Lord's power turn against him, and that he was turning back again.
And I declared to some what the Lord had let me see, when there were
such fears of his overrunning Christendom; and within a month after,
the news came that they had given him a defeat.
Another time, as I was walking in my chamber, with my eye to the
Lord, I saw the angel of the Lord with a glittering drawn sword
stretched southward, as though the court had been all on fire. Not
long after the wars broke out with Holland, the sickness broke forth,
and afterwards the fire of London; so the Lord's sword was drawn
indeed.
By reason of my long and close imprisonment in so bad a place I
was become very weak in body; but the Lord's power was over all,
supported me through all, and enabled me to do service for Him, and
for His truth and people, as the place would admit. For, while I
was in Lancaster prison, I answered several books, as the Mass, the
Common-Prayer, the Directory and the Church-Faith,[142] which are the
four chief religions that are got up since the apostles' days.
[142] These "four chief religions which have been got up since
the apostles' days" are respectively the Roman Catholic,
the Episcopalian, Presbyterian and Independent, i. e.,
Congregational.