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THE JOURNAL OF GEORGE FOX.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
EIGHTH EDITION
OF THE
JOURNAL OF GEORGE FOX.
TWO VOLUMES, 5/- NET.
With Map, recently prepared to accompany same, 6/6 net.
The Map separately, in case, 2/6 net.
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“His life well repays study. It is a rich mine, and every page of it
seems to be solid gold. Books now-a-days are spun out, and you get
little after reading much; but _The Journal of George Fox_ contains
ingots of gold—things to be thought on and that will have to be thought
on month by month before you get at the bottom of them.”—CHARLES HADDON
SPURGEON.
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THE JOURNAL
OF
GEORGE FOX;
BEING AN
HISTORICAL ACCOUNT
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HIS LIFE, TRAVELS, SUFFERINGS, AND
CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCES.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. I.
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_THE EIGHTH (Bi-Centenary) EDITION, reprinted from stereotype plates,
with revised and enlarged indexes._
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NOTICE TO THE READER.
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The present issue of _The Journal of George Fox_ has been printed from
the stereotype plates of the Eighth (Bi-Centenary) Edition, slightly
corrected, and has been furnished with additional particulars of
previous editions of _The Journal_ (see pp. 541-544) and with greatly
enlarged Indexes.
To accompany this issue, a map has been prepared to show the places
mentioned in _The Journal_, the spelling of the names being mostly taken
from the First Edition. This work has necessitated a considerable amount
of research and enquiry in order to identify some of the more obscure
localities referred to by George Fox. It is hardly to be expected that
the positions of all these, after this lapse of time, will accord with
the judgment of all readers, but it is hoped that the map may promote
the intelligent perusal of these volumes.
_The Journal_ may be obtained with or without the map (see advertisement
on page ii.).
NORMAN PENNEY,
_Hon. Sec. Friends’ Tract Association_.
LONDON, 1901.
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INTRODUCTION
TO THE EIGHTH EDITION.
The following Eighth Edition of _The Journal of George Fox_, taken from
the Seventh Edition, as prepared by the late Wilson Armistead, of Leeds,
has been carefully read and collated with the original or First Edition
of that Work. And the reader can be confidently assured, making due
allowance for the translation or omission of a few obsolete expressions,
that the Work is now, in truth and substance, _the same_ as when it was
first printed. A large number of corrections in the spelling of names,
and of other chiefly clerical errors, have also been made, bringing all
down, so far as practicable, into harmony with the usage of the present
date in these respects.
DANIEL PICKARD.
LEEDS, 1891.
INTRODUCTION
TO THE SEVENTH EDITION.
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The present re-issue of the _Journal of George Fox_ has, in a great
measure, resulted from the concern of a Friend lately deceased, who was
actively engaged in the last edition, and who provided a handsome sum
towards the further republication of this valuable Testimony to the
Truth.
Assisted by the above bequest, and prompted by the encouragement of many
Friends, the Editor of this Seventh Edition of the Journal has
endeavoured to increase the usefulness by issuing it in a manner
considerably more adapted, than heretofore, for general usefulness, and
calculated, he hopes, to insure a still more extended circulation.
In printing from the last edition (which was collated with the first and
third) some further slight improvements in the style have been made, and
redundancies omitted, with an occasional transposition in the
construction of a sentence, or the omission or insertion of a word to
impart clearness to the sense of the author, care being taken in every
instance not in the least to misrepresent his meaning. In addition to
this, the work has now, for the first time, been divided into chapters;
a general table of contents has been supplied; and a considerable number
of Notes, chiefly biographical and historical, have been added, which
must materially increase its interest.
Though highly approved as a standard work, there is reason to believe
that the _Journal of George Fox_ has not obtained that attention which
its real worth justly demands, even from the members of the Society
which the author was so eminently instrumental in forming. Let those who
have not perused it be induced to make themselves acquainted with its
contents; and may those who are of ability, be stimulated to expend a
portion of their means in promoting the circulation of a work recording
the labours of so eminent a servant of the Lord, concerning whom the
following character was given by one of his contemporaries—not the less
truthful and applicable from having been often quoted—that “He was
indeed a heavenly-minded man, zealous for the name of the Lord, and
preferred the honour of God before all things. He was valiant for the
Truth, bold in asserting it, patient in suffering for it, unwearied in
labouring in it, steady in his testimony to it, immovable as a rock.”
The many and important truths unfolded in this work, though conveyed in
a style not always suited to the taste of the present day, will, if
patiently and seriously perused, amply compensate the reader, of
whatever denomination, for the time and attention he may bestow upon it.
Sir JAMES MACKINTOSH says, it “Is one of the most extraordinary and
instructive narratives in the world, which no reader of competent
judgment can peruse without revering the virtue of the writer;” and
COLERIDGE in his _Biographia Literaria_ observes: “There exist folios on
the human understanding, and the nature of man, which would have a far
juster claim to their high rank and celebrity, if, in the whole huge
volume, there could be found as much fulness of heart and intellect, as
bursts forth in many a simple page of George Fox.”
In every point of view, George Fox was a character of no ordinary rank.
Though a stranger to the polish of human learning, he possessed a truly
enlightened mind, connected with sound practical knowledge; and
fearlessly inculcated, amongst persons of all ranks, sentiments and
views on various points, equally conducive to the immediate comfort, and
to the amelioration and advancement of the various classes of civil
society. These views, though then rejected by many as visionary, have
since met with very general acceptance, and in some cases have even
obtained the favourable attention of government.
But what is of still more importance, he was well taught in the school
of Christ. He was thoroughly versed in the Holy Scriptures, which, to
use his own expression, were “very precious” to him, and he always held
them in high estimation. He firmly believed in the Son of God—in the
atoning efficacy of his sacrifice upon the cross, and in all his offices
and works both _for_ us, and _in_ us; and by obedience to the Light of
Life, the illuminating, renovating power of the Holy Spirit—to Christ in
his spiritual appearance, he realized in himself the benefits conferred
upon mankind by the sufferings and death of the Saviour. By a variety of
preparatory baptisms, he was, on the one hand, given to see the depths
of Satan, and on the other, richly instructed in the mysteries of the
everlasting kingdom of God. Thus trained and exercised he became
abundantly furnished, and qualified to enter upon the arduous service,
to which he believed himself Divinely called; and proved himself to be,
as his _Journal_ largely testifies, “a workman that needed not to be
ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth.”
Contemplating the character of George Fox in this twofold light, the
Editor may, in conclusion, say with his predecessors, that he “indulges
a hope that the history of the author’s life, written by his own hand,
unfolding the energy and operation of that grace by which he was what he
was, will be found interesting to persons of every class, especially to
the really religious of whatever denomination, and still more peculiarly
so to those who profess to believe in the same doctrines he was engaged
so strenuously in preaching. To the promulgation of these doctrines he
steadily devoted upwards of forty years of his life—a life which
exhibited throughout ‘an example of suffering affliction, and of
patience;’ evincing him to be, both in principle and in practice, a
genuine disciple of his crucified LORD—a real CHRISTIAN.”
W.A.
P.S.—The Editor is also desirous of directing the special attention of
the reader to the admirable Preface to this work, by William Penn.
LEEDS, 1852.
CONTENTS OF VOL. I.
PAGE.
THE PREFACE; Being a summary account of the divers dispensations
of God to men, from the beginning of the world to that of our
present age, by the ministry and testimony of his faithful
servant, George Fox, as an introduction to the ensuing Journal. xix.
CHAPTER I.—1624-1647.—George Fox’s birth and parentage—his
gravity and piety in youth—apprenticed to a shoemaker, who is
also a grazier, &c.—his integrity in dealing—refuses to drink
healths—his exercises of mind commence—he lives retired—is
tempted to despair—his sorrows continue for some years—has a
sense of Christ’s sufferings—confutes a people who held women
to be devoid of souls—begins to travel on Truth’s account—meets
with Elizabeth Hooton—fasts often, and retires to solitary
places with his Bible—his exercises intermit—sees why none but
Christ could speak to his condition—visits a woman who had
fasted twenty-two days—first declares the Truth at Dukinfield
and Manchester—preaches at a great meeting at Broughton—his
troubles wear off, and he weeps for joy—sees things which
cannot be uttered—is reported to have a discerning
spirit—overcomes his temptations through the power of Christ. 1
CHAPTER II.—1648-1649.—Begins to have great meetings—at Mansfield
he is moved to pray—the Lord’s power so great the house is
shaken—cannot pray in his own will—a temptation besets him that
there is no God, which is dissipated by an inward voice—he
afterwards disputes with and confounds some Atheists—goes to
courts and steeple-houses, &c., to warn against oppression and
oaths—reproves a notorious drunkard, who is reformed—sees who
are the greatest deceivers—shows how people read and understand
the Scriptures—various mysteries are revealed to him—he is sent
to turn people to the Inward Light, Spirit, and Grace, the
Divine Spirit which he infallibly knew would not
deceive—priests and professors rage at these innovations—he
cries for justice in courts and against various wrong
things—denounces the trade of preaching—is sent to preach
freely. 23
CHAPTER III.—1649-1650.—George Fox is first imprisoned at
Nottingham, where the sheriff is convinced—he is liberated and
quiets a distracted woman—he is cruelly treated at
Mansfield-Woodhouse—is taken before the magistrates at
Derby—acknowledges that he is sanctified—is temptingly asked if
he were Christ, which he denies, yet is committed for
blasphemy—his mittimus to Derby prison—writes to the priests of
Derby against preaching for hire, &c.—also against
persecution—to Barton and Bennet, justices, on the same
subject—to Justice Bennet against covetousness—to Justice
Barton, a preacher and a persecutor—to the Mayor of Derby
against persecution and oppression—to the court of Derby
against oaths and oppression—to the bell-ringers of Derby
against vanities and worldly pleasures—his jailer is
convinced—Justice Bennet first gives Friends the name of
Quakers in derision—writes to Friends and others, to open their
understandings, and to direct them to their true Teacher within
themselves—to the convinced people, directing them to internal
silence and to true obedience—an encouragement to the
faithful—to the justices of Derby against persecution, thrice
repeated—to the priests of Derby, on the same subject—to the
justices of Derby, to prize their time, and to depart from
evil—the like to Colonel Barton, justice, and warning of the
plagues and vengeance hanging over the oppressor. 42
CHAPTER IV.—1650-1651.—A trooper visits George Fox from an inward
intimation—declines a commission in the army, and is put in the
dungeon—confutes one who denied Christ’s outward appearance,
from whence a slander is raised against Friends—testifies
against capital punishments for small matters—writes for more
speedy justice to prisoners—intercedes for the life of a young
woman, imprisoned for stealing, who is brought to the gallows,
but reprieved, and afterwards convinced—again refuses to bear
arms, and is committed close prisoner—writes to Barton and
Bennet, justices, against persecution—addresses the convinced
and tender people against hirelings—to the magistrates of Derby
against persecution, and foretelling his own enlargement and
their recompense—is greatly exercised for the wickedness of
Derby—sees the visitation of God’s love pass away from the
town, and writes a lamentation over it—a great judgment fell
upon the town—he is liberated after a year’s
imprisonment—visits Lichfield—preaches repentance through
Doncaster—many dread “the man with leather breeches”—goes to
steeple-houses, as the apostles did to the temples, to bring
people off from them—is denied entertainment, and ill-treated
at some places—refuses to inform against his persecutors—many
are convinced in Yorkshire, amongst others, Richard Farnsworth,
James Naylor, William Dewsbury, Justice Hotham, and Captain
Pursloe. 67
CHAPTER V.—1652.—George Fox visits great men’s houses, warning
them to repent—is accused of calling himself Christ—refutes the
charge, and tells the accuser that Judas’s end would be his,
which shortly came to pass, hence a slander is raised against
Friends—is stoned at Doncaster—a scoffing priest made to
tremble at the Lord’s power—a slandering priest cut off in his
wickedness—a murderous man seeks George Fox, but misses him—he
lays in a wood all night—the influence of one man or woman, who
lives in the same spirit that the prophets and apostles were
in, is to be felt within a circuit of ten miles—George Fox
ascends Pendle Hill, whence he sees the place of a great
gathering of people—on descending, refreshes himself at a
spring of water, having taken little sustenance for several
days—foresees a great people in white raiment about Wensleydale
and Sedbergh—a wicked man designs to injure him, but is
prevented—many are convinced in Dent, and a meeting is settled
at Sedbergh, where he had seen a people in white
raiment—preaches for several hours in the steeple-house yard
there—preaches on a rock, near Firbank chapel, to 1,000 people
for three hours—the family of Judge Fell convinced, and a
meeting settled at his house, and continued for forty
years—preaches through Lancaster streets—at a meeting of
priests at Ulverstone he speaks in great power, so that one of
them said, “the church shook”—disputes with priest
Lampitt—Justice Sawrey is the first persecutor in the
north—forty priests appear against George Fox at Lancaster
Sessions for speaking blasphemy; they are confounded, and he is
cleared of the charge—James Naylor’s account of George Fox’s
trial at Lancaster Sessions—priest Jackus is reproved from the
bench for his blasphemy—these priests are reproved by the
populace—Colonel West defends and protects George Fox against
the machinations of the priests, and the design of Judge
Windham, at the risk of losing his place. 100
CHAPTER VI.—1652-1653.—George Fox is branded by the priests as a
witch—writes to Justice Sawrey, prophesying of the judgments
impending over him—warning to priest Lampitt—exhortation to the
people of Ulverstone—to the followers of Lampitt, against a
hireling ministry, &c.—a rebuke to Adam Sands for his
wickedness—to priest Tatham, against his hireling ministry and
his suing for tithes—foretells the dissolution of the Long
Parliament—fasts ten days—James Milner and Richard Myer create
a schism, which is soon healed—the latter is miraculously
healed of his lameness, but afterwards disobeys the Lord, and
dies not long after—Anthony Pearson, an opposer, is
convinced—the priests are shown to be Antichrist—George Fox
preaches at John Wilkinson’s steeple-house three
hours—admonishes a professor _for praising him_—reproves
Wilkinson for speaking against his conscience—many hundreds are
convinced—discerns an unclean spirit in a woman, and speaks
sharply to her—the like of some other women—speaks sharply to
an envious Baptist—preaches in the steeple house at Carlisle,
where the Lord’s power was such that the people
trembled—committed to Carlisle prison as a blasphemer, heretic,
and seducer—the priests who come to see him are exceedingly
rude—Anthony Pearson’s remonstrance to the Judges of assize
against the unjust imprisonment and detention of George Fox—he
is put in the dungeon, a filthy place, where a woman is found
eaten to death with vermin—here James Parnell visits him—a
challenge to professors to declare their objections to George
Fox’s ministry—it being reported that George Fox was to die for
religion, the Little Parliament write to the sheriff respecting
him—he himself expostulates with Justices Craston and Studholm
on their imprisoning him—A. Pearson and the governor visit the
prison, blame the magistrates, require sureties of the jailer,
and put the under-jailer in the dungeon for his cruelty to
George Fox, who is soon after liberated—George Fox has great
meetings, and _thousands_ are convinced—visits Gilsland, a
noted country for thieving—has a glorious meeting of many
thousands, near Langlands, on the top of a hill—great
convincement in the six northern counties. 145
CHAPTER VII.—1653-1654.—George Fox disputes most of the day with
priest Wilkinson—Many Friends lose their business for declining
the world’s salutations, but afterwards their tried
faithfulness and integrity procure them more than their
neighbours—George Fox issues an address to Friends
everywhere—two persecuting justices at Carlisle are cut off and
a third disgraced—George Fox passes through Halifax, a rude
town of professors—at Synderhill-Green, he has a mighty meeting
of some thousands, and there was a general convincement—about
sixty ministers are now raised up in the north, to travel
towards the south, the east, and the west, in Truth’s
service—George Fox’s address to Friends in the ministry—Rice
Jones and many other false prophets rise up against friends and
are blasted—a wicked man binds himself with an oath to kill
George Fox, but is prevented—great convincement in
Lincolnshire—at Swannington, George Fox has much controversy
with professors—has a great dispute with priest Stevens and
seven other priests at Drayton—his father being present was
convinced, and said, “Truly I see he that will but stand to the
truth it will carry him out”—priest Stevens propagates lies
respecting George Fox, which the Lord swept away—is taken
before Colonel Hacker, who sends him before the
Protector—speaks prophetically to the Colonel—has a friendly
conference with the Protector—is dismissed by him very
friendly—refuses his entertainment—Captain Drury scoffs at
trembling, but is made to tremble in a remarkable manner—George
Fox prays with some officers, who are greatly shaken by the
Lord’s power—priests and professors greatly disturbed because
many of the people are convinced, and moved to declare against
the rest. 184
CHAPTER VIII.—1654-1655.—Address to professors of Christianity
against persecution—to such as follow the world’s fashions—to
the Pope, and all kings, and rulers in Europe, against
persecution—to the justices appointed for trying ministers of
religion, being a testimony against hireling ministers—Samuel
Fisher and others are convinced at a meeting at Romney, where
the Lord’s power is marvellously displayed—a large meeting at
Coggeshall of about two thousand people, which lasted several
hours—many reproaches are cast upon the truth, and lying,
slanderous books published, which are answered, and the truth
set over the gainsayers—to those who scorn trembling and
quaking—great rage is manifested against the truth and Friends,
and their plainness is contemned—to the churches gathered into
outward forms, opening their state and warning of the woes
coming upon them—to the Protector, respecting the imprisonment
of Friends for refusing to take oaths and pay tithes, &c.—to
Friends to offer themselves to lie in prison for a brother or
sister—an encouragement to Friends in their several exercises. 216
CHAPTER IX.—1655-1656.—Friends slandered by Presbyterians and
Independents, suffer much from them and the Baptists for
refusing to pay tithes—the priests hunt after a fallen benefice
like crows after carrion—great miracles wrought through
several—an Independent preacher convinced, but relapses—address
to the convinced in Ireland—a sick woman at Baldock
restored—George Fox parts and reconciles two furious
combatants—to the seven parishes at the Land’s End,
recommending attention to the Inward Light—George Fox parts
with James Naylor, and has a presentiment of his fall—Major
Ceely places George Fox and Edward Pyot under arrest—they are
sent to Launceston jail—put into Doomsdale, and suffer a long
and cruel imprisonment—a paper against swearing—Peter Ceely’s
mittimus—George Fox has great service in jail—many are
convinced and opposers are confounded—experiences some
remarkable preservations—Edward Pyot writes an excellent letter
to Judge Glynne on the liberty of the subject, and on the
injustice and illegality of their imprisonment—Truth spreads in
the west by the very means taken to prevent it—exhortation and
warning to magistrates—answer to the Exeter general warrant for
taking up and imprisoning Friends—exhortation to Friends in the
ministry—warning to priests and professors—cruel jailer
imprisoned in Doomsdale, and further judgments upon him
follow—a Friend offers to lie in prison instead of George
Fox—Edward Pyot to Major General Desborough, in answer to his
conditional offer of liberty—George Fox to the same—he and his
Friends are soon after liberated. 250
CHAPTER X.—1656-1657.—Address to those who are given to pleasures
and wantonness—to the bowlers in Castle-Green at
Launceston—George Fox visits Friends imprisoned at Exeter,
amongst whom is James Naylor, who has apostatized, but
afterwards returned into the Truth—at a meeting in the orchard
at Bristol about ten thousand persons are present—Paul Gwin, a
rude Baptist, creates a disturbance, but is reproved and
silenced—meeting of two or three thousand persons at N.
Crisp’s—Justice Stooks prevents the magistrates from
apprehending George Fox—speaks to the Protector at Hyde Park,
who invites him to his house—accordingly goes to Whitehall, and
speaks to the Protector about Friends’ sufferings—travels
through most parts of the nation after his liberation from
Launceston jail—this year, 1656, there were seldom fewer than
one thousand Friends in prison—to Friends on the schism of J.
Naylor—to Friends to keep up their meetings—on judging the
ministry, &c.—an answer to a high-flown professor—to
professors, priests, and teachers on immediate revelation and
universal grace, &c. &c.—at Cardiff, George Fox sends word to
some who had run out that “the day of their visitation was
over”—at Brecknock, his companion, John-ap-John, preaches in
the streets—at night, there is a great uproar, like that of
Diana’s craftsmen—at William Gandy’s has a large meeting of two
or three thousand persons—Cromwell proclaims a fast for rain,
and is told by George Fox that the drought was a sign of their
barrenness—concerning the true fast and the false—preaches
three hours at a great meeting in Radnorshire, and many are
convinced—their horses are twice robbed of their oats—from a
high hill sounds the day of the Lord, and foretells where God
would raise up a people to himself, which came to pass—travels
through every county in Wales, where there is a brave people,
who sit under Christ’s teaching—has a large meeting on the top
of a hill near Liverpool—at Manchester is taken into custody,
but soon released. 323
CHAPTER XI.—1657.—Exhortation to Friends to take heed to the
Light of Christ—an expostulation with persecutors—to Friends to
be valiant for the truth—in parts of Cumberland the priests are
so forsaken that some steeple-houses stand empty—John
Wilkinson, the priest, is so deserted, that he sets up a
meeting in his own house—then a silent meeting, and at last
joins Friends, and becomes an able minister—George Fox travels
into Scotland with Colonel Osburn and Robert Widders—the latter
was a thundering man against the rottenness of the priests’
hypocrisy and deceit—Lady Hamilton is convinced—the Scotch
priests raise the war-cry, and draw up their curses, which
George Fox answers—they are in a rage and panic when he comes
there, thinking “that all was gone”—some Baptists, with their
logic and syllogisms, are confuted by George Fox’s logic—he is
banished from Scotland by the council, but disregards their
order—George Fox and William Osburn are waylaid by thieves, who
are admonished by the former, and overawed by the Lord’s
power—the Highlanders run at them with pitchforks—at Johnstons
they are banished the town—on hearing that the council of
Edinburgh had issued warrants against him, George Fox goes
thither, and is not molested. 384
CHAPTER XII.—1657-1659.—George Fox journeys from Scotland to
England—dissuades a person from setting up a college at Durham
to make ministers—has a meeting with Rice Jones and his
people—attends a general Yearly Meeting for the whole nation,
held at John Crook’s, which continued three days—address to
Friends in the ministry—disputes with a Jesuit—writes to Lady
Claypole—writes to Cromwell respecting the fast on account of
persecution abroad, whilst there was much of it at home—writes
a reproof to Parliament for their hypocrisy—speaks to the
Protector in Hampton-Court Park about Friends’ sufferings—the
Protector invites Fox to his house—he goes next day, but the
Protector being sick he does not see him—the Protector died
soon after—writes to encourage Friends to faithfulness—has a
foresight of the King’s restoration long before the event
occurred, as well as several others—Friends are disseized of
their copyhold lands for refusing to swear—cautions Friends to
avoid plots, &c.—against bearing arms—great places in the army
are offered to Friends, but invariably refused—priest Townsend
fails to substantiate his charge of error and blasphemy against
George Fox, and is signally defeated—George Fox’s vision of the
city of London is realized—he gives a final warning to those in
authority, before their overthrow. 413
CHAPTER XIII.—1659-1660.—Address to the Cornish people,
respecting shipwrecks—the soldiers at Bristol are punished for
disturbing Friends’ meetings—several thousands attend a general
meeting at Edward Pyot’s—General Monk also restrains his
soldiers—great drunkenness at elections for Parliament-men—the
Yearly Meeting is held at Balby—and a general meeting of
discipline for several counties held at Skipton—a Friend goes
naked (divested of the upper garments) through the town,
declaring truth, and is much abused—general meeting at Arnside
for three counties—George Fox is committed to Lancaster Castle
by Major Porter—writes an answer to his mittimus—Margaret Fell
writes to the magistrates thereon—address on true
religion—against persecution—to Friends, on the change of
government—to Charles II., exhorting him to exercise mercy and
forgiveness towards his enemies, and to restrain
profaneness—the sheriff of Lancashire’s return to George Fox’s
writ of _Habeas Corpus_—M. Fell and Ann Curtis speak to the
King on the subject—the King orders his removal to London by
_Habeas Corpus_, and there sets him at liberty. 456
CHAPTER XIV.—1660-1662.—George Fox writes an epistle of
consolation to Friends unjustly imprisoned in consequence of
the insurrection of the Fifth-Monarchy Men—Friends’ declaration
against war and plots—John Perrot and Charles Bailie create a
schism—some Friends in New England are put to death, a sense
whereof is given to George Fox at the time—the King’s mandamus
to the Governor of New England and others, to restrain them
from executing Friends—the _Battledore_ is published, showing
by examples from thirty languages, that “Thou” and “Thee” are
proper to one person—on true worship—George Fox disputes with
some Jesuits, and with _all_ other sects—John Perrot’s heresy
condemned—on judicial swearing—George Fox and Richard
Hubberthorn write to the King, showing the number of Friends
imprisoned prior to, and during the first year of the
Restoration, and the number who died in prison during the
Commonwealth—Thomas Sharman, jailer at Derby, convinced, and
writes to George Fox—George Fox applies to Lord D’Aubigny on
behalf of two Friends imprisoned in the Inquisition at Malta,
who procures their liberation—the ground and rise of
persecution set forth—great service at _Bristol_, where also he
has a vision—visits Capt. Brown and his wife; the former had
fled from persecution, and was judged in himself, but
afterwards convinced—George Fox and several others are arrested
by Lord Beaumont, and sent to Leicester jail—they are suddenly
liberated—to Friends on the death of Edward Burrough—escapes
from persecutors—Friends established on Christ, the Rock of
Ages. 489
THE PREFACE;
BEING
A SUMMARY ACCOUNT OF THE DIVERS DISPENSATIONS OF
GOD TO MEN,
FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD TO THAT OF OUR PRESENT AGE, BY THE
MINISTRY AND TESTIMONY OF HIS FAITHFUL SERVANT, GEORGE FOX, AS AN
INTRODUCTION TO THE ENSUING JOURNAL.
BY
WILLIAM PENN.
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Divers have been the dispensations of God since the creation of the
world unto the sons of men; but the great end of all of them has been
the renown of his own excellent name in the creation and restoration of
man: man, the emblem of himself, as a god on earth, and the glory of all
his works. The world began with innocency: all was then good that the
good God had made: and as he blessed the works of his hands, so their
natures and harmony magnified Him their Creator. Then the morning stars
sang together for joy, and all parts of his works said Amen to his law;
not a jar in the whole frame, but man in paradise, the beasts in the
field, the fowl in the air, the fish in the sea, the lights in the
heavens, the fruits of the earth; yea the air, the earth, the water, and
fire worshipped, praised, and exalted his power, wisdom, and goodness! O
holy sabbath! O holy day to the Lord.
But this happy state lasted not long: for man, the crown and glory of
the whole, being tempted to aspire above his place, unhappily yielded
against command and duty, as well as interest and felicity; and so fell
below it, lost the divine image, the wisdom, power, and purity he was
made in. By which, being no longer fit for paradise, he was expelled
that garden of God, his proper dwelling and residence, and was driven
out, as a poor vagabond, from the presence of the Lord, to wander in the
earth, the habitation of beasts.
Yet God that made him, had pity on him; for He seeing he was deceived,
and that it was not of malice, or an original presumption in him, but
through the subtilty of the serpent (that had first fallen from his own
state), and by the mediation of the woman, man’s own nature and
companion (whom the serpent had first deluded), in his infinite goodness
and wisdom found out a way to repair the breach, recover the loss, and
restore fallen man again by a nobler and more excellent Adam, promised
to be born of a woman; that as by means of a woman the evil one had
prevailed upon man, by a woman also he should come into the world, who
would prevail against him and bruise his head, and deliver man from his
power; and which, in a signal manner, by the dispensation of the Son of
God in the flesh, in the fulness of time, was personally and fully
accomplished by him, and in him, as man’s Saviour and Redeemer.
But his power was not limited, in the manifestation of it, to that time;
for both before and since his blessed manifestation in the flesh he has
been the light and life, the rock and strength of all that ever feared
God: present with them in their temptations, he followed them in their
travels and afflictions, and supported and carried them through and over
the difficulties that have attended them in their earthly pilgrimage. By
this, Abel’s heart excelled Cain’s, Seth obtained the pre-eminence, and
Enoch walked with God. It was this that strove with the old world, and
which they rebelled against, and which sanctified and instructed Noah to
salvation.
But the outward dispensation that followed the benighted state of man,
after his fall, especially among the patriarchs, was generally that of
angels; as the Scriptures of the Old Testament do in many places
express, as to Abraham, Jacob, &c. The next was that of the law by
Moses, which was also delivered by angels, as the apostle tells us. This
dispensation was much outward, and suited to a low and servile state;
called therefore that of a schoolmaster, to point out and prepare that
people to look and long for the Messiah, who would deliver them from the
servitude of a ceremonious and imperfect dispensation, by knowing the
realities of those mysterious representations in themselves. In this
time the law was written on stone, the temple built with hands, attended
with an outward priesthood, and external rites and ceremonies, that were
shadows of the good things that were to come, and were only to serve
till the Seed came, or the more excellent and general manifestation of
Christ, to whom was the promise, and to all men only in him, in whom it
was Yea and Amen; even life from death, immortality and eternal life.
This the prophets foresaw, and comforted the believing Jews in the
certainty of it; which was the height of the Mosaical dispensation, and
which ended in John’s ministry, the forerunner of the Messiah, as John’s
was finished in him, the fulness of all. And God, that at sundry times
and in divers manners, had spoken to the fathers by his servants the
prophets, spoke then by his Son Christ Jesus, “who is heir of all
things”; being the gospel day, which is the dispensation of sonship;
bringing in thereby a nearer testament and a better hope; even the
beginning of the glory of the latter days, and of the restitution of all
things; yea, the restoration of the kingdom unto Israel.
Now, the Spirit, that was more sparingly communicated in former
dispensations, began to be “poured forth upon all flesh,” according to
the prophet Joel; and the light that shined in darkness, or but dimly
before, the most gracious God caused to shine out of darkness: and the
day-star began to arise in the hearts of believers, giving unto them the
knowledge of God in the face (or appearance) of his Son Christ Jesus.
Now, the poor in spirit, the meek, the true mourners, the hungry and
thirsty after righteousness, the peace-makers, the pure in heart, the
merciful, and the persecuted, came more especially in remembrance before
the Lord, and were sought out and blessed by Israel’s true Shepherd. Old
Jerusalem with her children grew out of date, and the New Jerusalem into
request, the mother of the sons of the gospel day. Wherefore no more at
Old Jerusalem, nor at the mountain of Samaria, will God be worshipped,
above other places; for, behold, he is declared and preached a Spirit,
and he will be known as such, and worshipped in the Spirit and in the
Truth. He will come nearer than of old time, and he will write his law
in the heart, and put his fear and Spirit in the inward parts, according
to his promise. Then signs, types, and shadows flew away, the day having
discovered their insufficiency in not reaching to the inside of the cup,
to the cleansing of the conscience; and all elementary services were
expired in and by Him that is the substance of all.
And to this great and blessed end of the dispensation of the Son of God,
did the apostles testify, whom he had chosen and anointed by his Spirit,
to turn the Jews from their prejudice and superstition, and the Gentiles
from their vanity and idolatry, to Christ’s Light and Spirit that shined
in them; that they might be quickened from the sins and trespasses in
which they were dead, to serve the living God in the newness of the
Spirit of life, and walk as children of the light, and of the day, even
the day of holiness: for such “put on Christ,” the light of the world,
“and make no more provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.”
So that the Light, Spirit, and Grace that comes by Christ, and appears
in man, was what the apostles ministered from, and turned people’s minds
unto, and in which they gathered and built up the churches of Christ in
their day. For which cause they advised them not to quench the Spirit,
but wait for the Spirit, and speak by the Spirit, and pray by the
Spirit, and walk in the Spirit too, as that which approved them the
truly begotten children of God; “born, not of flesh and blood, or of the
will of man, but of the will of God;” by doing his will, and denying
their own; by drinking of Christ’s cup, and being baptised with his
baptism of self-denial: the way and path that all the heirs of life have
trod to blessedness. But, alas! even in the apostles’ days, those bright
stars of the first magnitude of the Gospel light, some clouds,
foretelling an eclipse of this primitive glory, began to appear, and
several of them gave early caution of it to the Christians of their
time; that even then there was, and yet would be more and more, a
falling away from the power of godliness, and the purity of that
spiritual dispensation, by such as sought to make a fair show in the
flesh, but with whom the offence of the cross ceased; yet with this
comfortable conclusion, that they saw beyond it a more glorious time
than ever, to the true church. Their sight was true, and what they
foretold to the churches, gathered by them in the name and power of
Jesus, came so to pass: for Christians degenerated apace into outsides,
as days, and meats, and divers other ceremonies. And which was worse,
they fell into strife and contention about them, separating one from
another, then envying, and as they had power, persecuting one another,
to the shame and scandal of their common Christianity, and grievous
stumbling and offence to the heathen, among whom the Lord had so long
and so marvellously preserved them. And having got at last the worldly
power into their hands, by kings and emperors embracing the Christian
profession, they changed what they could, the kingdom of Christ, which
is not of this world, into a worldly kingdom; or at least styled the
worldly kingdom that was in their hands the kingdom of Christ, and so
they became worldly, and not true Christians. Then human inventions and
novelties, both in doctrine and worship, crowded fast into the church; a
door being opened thereunto by the grossness and carnality that appeared
then among the generality of Christians; who had long since left the
guidance of God’s meek and heavenly Spirit, and given themselves up to
superstition, will-worship, and voluntary humility. And as superstition
is blind, so it is heady and furious; for all must stoop to its blind
and boundless zeal, or perish by it: in the name of the Spirit,
persecuting the very appearance of the Spirit of God in others, and
opposing that in them which they resisted in themselves, viz., the
Light, Grace, and Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ; but always under the
notion of innovation, heresy, schism, or some such plausible name.
Though Christianity allows of no name or pretence whatever for
persecuting any man for matters of mere religion; religion being in its
very nature, meek, gentle, and forbearing; and consists of faith, hope,
and charity, which no persecutor can have, whilst he remains a
persecutor; in that a man cannot believe well, or hope well, or have a
charitable or tender regard to another, whilst he would violate his mind
or persecute his body for matters of faith or worship towards his God.
Thus the false church sprang up, and mounted the chair. But though she
lost her nature, she would keep her good name of the Lamb’s bride, the
true church and mother of the faithful; constraining all to receive her
mark, either in the forehead, or right hand, publicly or privately: but
in deed and in truth she was Mystery, Babylon, the mother of harlots;
mother of those that, with all their show and outside of religion, were
adulterated and gone from the Spirit, nature, and life of Christ, and
grown vain, worldly, ambitious, covetous, cruel, &c., which are the
fruits of the flesh, and not of the Spirit.
Now it was that the true church fled into the wilderness, that is, from
superstition and violence, to a retired, solitary, and lonely state;
hidden, and as it were out of sight of men, though not out of the world:
which shows that her wonted visibility was not essential to the being of
a true church in the judgment of the Holy Ghost; she being as true a
church in the wilderness, though not as visible and lustrous, as when
she was in her former splendour of profession. In this state many
attempts she made to return, but the waters were yet too high, and her
way blocked up, and many of her excellent children, in several nations
and centuries, fell by the cruelty of superstition, because they would
not fall from their faithfulness to the truth.
The last age did set some steps towards it, both as to doctrine,
worship, and practice. But practice quickly failed, for wickedness
flowed in a little time, as well among the professors of the
Reformation, as those they reformed from; so that by the fruits of
conversation they were not to be distinguished. And the children of the
reformers, if not the reformers themselves, betook themselves very early
to earthly policy and power to uphold and carry on their reformation,
that had been begun with spiritual weapons; which I have often thought
has been one of the greatest reasons the Reformation made no better
progress, as to the life and soul of religion; for whilst the reformers
were lowly and spiritually minded, and trusted in God, and looked to
him, and lived in his fear, and consulted not with flesh and blood, nor
sought deliverance in their own way, there were daily added to the
church such as, one might reasonably say, should be saved. For they were
not so careful to be safe from persecution, as to be faithful under it,
being more concerned to spread the truth by their faith and patience in
tribulation, than to get the worldly power out of their hands, that
inflicted their sufferings upon them; and it will be well if the Lord
suffer them not to fall by the very same way they took to stand. In
doctrine, they were in some things short; in other things, to avoid one
extreme they ran into another; and for worship, there was, for the
generality, more of man than of God. They owned the Spirit, Inspiration,
and Revelation indeed, and grounded their separation and reformation
upon the sense and understanding they received from it, in the reading
of the Scriptures of Truth; and this was their plea, the Scripture was
the text, the Spirit the interpreter, and that to every one for himself.
But yet there was too much of human invention, tradition, and art, that
remained both in praying and preaching, and of worldly authority and
worldly greatness in their ministers, especially in this kingdom,
Sweden, Denmark, and some parts of Germany. God was therefore pleased
among us, to shift from vessel to vessel: and the next remove humbled
the ministry, so that they were more strict in preaching, devout in
praying, and zealous for keeping the Lord’s day, and catechising
children and servants, and repeating at home in their families what they
had heard in public.
But even as these grew into power, they were not only for whipping some
out, but others into the temple; and they appeared rigid in their
spirits, rather than severe in their lives, and more for a party than
for piety; which brought forth another people, that were yet more
retired and select. They would not communicate at large, or in common
with others; but formed churches among themselves of such as could give
some account of their conversion, at least of very promising experiences
of the work of God’s grace upon their hearts, and under mutual
agreements and covenants of fellowship they kept together. These people
were somewhat of a softer temper, and seemed to recommend religion by
the charms of its love, mercy, and goodness, rather than by the terrors
of its judgments and punishments; by which the former party would have
terrified people into religion.
They also allowed greater liberty to prophesy than those before them;
for they admitted any member to speak or pray, as well as their pastor
(whom they always chose, and not the civil magistrate), if such found
anything pressing upon them to either duty, even without the distinction
of clergy or laity; persons of any trade, be it never so low and
mechanical. But alas! even these people suffered great loss: for tasting
of worldly empire, and the favour of princes, and the gain that ensued,
they degenerated but too much. For though they had cried down national
churches, and ministry, and maintenance too, some of them, when it was
their own turn to be tried, fell under the weight of worldly honour and
advantage, got into profitable parsonages too much, and outlived and
contradicted their own principles: and which was yet worse, turned some
of them absolute persecutors of other men for God’s sake, that but so
lately came themselves out of the furnace; which drove many a step
farther, and that was into the water—another baptism, as believing they
were not scripturally baptized; and hoping to find that presence and
power of God in submitting to that ordinance, which they desired and
wanted.
These people made also profession of neglecting, if not renouncing, and
censuring, not only the necessity but use of all human learning as to
the ministry; and all other qualifications to it, besides the helps and
gifts of the Spirit of God, and those natural and common to men; and for
a time they seemed like John of old, a burning and a shining light to
other societies.
They were very diligent, plain, and serious, strong in Scripture, and
bold in profession, bearing much reproach, and contradiction: but that
which others fell by, proved their hurt. For worldly power spoiled them
too; who had enough of it to try them, what they would do if they had
more; and they rested also too much upon their watery dispensation,
instead of passing on more fully to the fire and Holy Ghost, which was
his baptism, who came with a “fan in his hand that he might thoroughly
(and not in part only) purge his floor,” and take away the dross and the
tin of his people, and make a man finer than gold. Withal, they grew
high, rough, and self-righteous, opposing further attainment; too much
forgetting the day of their infancy and littleness, which gave them
something of a real beauty; insomuch that many left them, and all
visible churches and societies, and wandered up and down, as sheep
without a shepherd, and as doves without their mates; seeking their
beloved, but could not find Him (as their souls desired to know him)
whom their souls loved above their chiefest joy.
These people were called Seekers by some, and the Family of Love by
others; because, as they came to the knowledge of one another, they
sometimes met together, not formally to pray or preach, at appointed
times or places, in their own wills, as in times past they were
accustomed to do; but waited together in silence, and as anything rose
in any one of their minds that they thought savoured of a divine spring,
so they sometimes spoke. But so it was, that some of them not keeping in
humility, and in the fear of God, after the abundance of revelation,
were exalted above measure; and for want of staying their minds in an
humble dependence upon Him that opened their understandings to see great
things in his law, they ran out in their own imaginations, and mixing
them with those divine openings, brought forth a monstrous birth, to the
scandal of those that feared God, and waited daily in the temple not
made with hands, for the consolation of Israel; the Jew inward, and
circumcision in spirit.
This people obtained the name of Ranters, from their extravagant
discourses and practices. For they interpreted Christ’s fulfilling of
the law for us, to be a discharging of us from any obligation and duty
the law required, instead of the condemnation of the law for sins past,
upon faith and repentance; and that now it was no sin to do that which
before it was a sin to commit, the slavish fear of the law being taken
off by Christ, and all things good that man did, if he did but do them
with the mind and persuasion that it was so. Insomuch that divers fell
into gross and enormous practices; pretending in excuse thereof that
they could, without evil, commit the same act which was sin in another
to do; thereby distinguishing between the action and the evil of it, by
the direction of the mind, and intention in the doing of it. Which was
to make sin superabound by the aboundings of grace, and to turn from the
grace of God into wantonness, a securer way of sinning than before; as
if Christ came not to take away sin, but that we might sin more freely
at his cost, and with less danger to ourselves. I say, this ensnared
divers, and brought them to an utter and lamentable loss, as to their
eternal state; and they grew very troublesome to the better sort of
people, and furnished the looser with an occasion to profane.
It was about that very same time, as you may see in the ensuing annals,
that the eternal, wise, and good God was pleased, in his infinite love,
to honour and visit this benighted and bewildered nation with his
glorious dayspring from on high; yea, with a most sure and certain sound
of the Word of Light and Life, through the testimony of a chosen vessel,
to an effectual and blessed purpose, can many thousands say, Glory be to
the name of the Lord for ever!
For as it reached the conscience and broke the heart, and brought many
to a sense and search, so what people had been vainly seeking _without_,
with much pains and cost, they by this ministry found _within_; where it
was they wanted what they sought for, viz., the right way to peace with
God. For they were directed to the Light of Jesus Christ within them, as
the seed and leaven of the kingdom of God; near all, because _in_ all,
and God’s talent to all; a faithful and true witness and just monitor
_in_ every bosom; the gift and grace of God to life and salvation, that
appears to all, though few regard it. This, the traditional Christian,
conceited of himself, and strong in his own will and righteousness, and
overcome with blind zeal and passion, either despised as a low and
common thing, or opposed as a novelty, under many hard names or
opprobrious terms; denying, in his ignorant and angry mind, any fresh
manifestation of God’s power and Spirit in man in these days, though
never more needed to make true Christians: not unlike those Jews of old,
that rejected the Son of God at the very same time that they blindly
professed to wait for the Messiah to come; because, alas, he appeared
not among them according to their carnal mind and expectation.
This brought forth many abusive books, which filled the greater sort
with envy, and lesser with rage, and made the way and progress of this
blessed testimony strait and narrow indeed to those that received it.
However, God owned his own work, and this testimony did effectually
reach, gather, comfort, and establish, the weary and heavy laden, the
hungry and thirsty, the poor and needy, the mournful and sick of many
maladies, that had spent all upon physicians of no value, and waited for
relief from heaven; help only from above: seeing, upon a serious trial
of all things, nothing else would do but Christ himself, the light of
his countenance, a touch of his garment, and help from his hand, who
cured the poor woman’s issue, raised the centurion’s servant, the
widow’s son, the ruler’s daughter, and Peter’s mother; and like her,
they no sooner felt his power and efficacy upon their souls, than they
gave up to obey him in a testimony to his power, and with resigned wills
and faithful hearts, through all mockings, contradictions, beatings,
prisons, and many other jeopardies that attended them for his blessed
name’s sake.
And truly, they were very many and very great; so that in all human
probability they must have been swallowed up quick of the proud and
boisterous waves that swelled and beat against them; but that the God of
all their tender mercies was with them in his glorious authority, so
that the hills often fled and the mountains melted before the power that
filled them; working mightily for them, as well as in them, one ever
following the other. By which they saw plainly, to their exceeding great
confirmation and comfort, “that all things were possible with him with
whom they had to do.” And that the more that which God required seemed
to cross man’s wisdom, and expose them to man’s wrath, the more God
appeared to help and carry them through all to his glory; insomuch that
if ever any people could say in truth, “Thou art our sun and our shield,
our rock and sanctuary, and by thee we have leaped over a wall, and by
thee we have run through a troop, and by thee we have put the armies of
the aliens to flight,” these people had right to say it. And as God had
delivered their souls of the wearisome burdens of sin and vanity, and
enriched their poverty of spirit, and satisfied their great hunger and
thirst after eternal righteousness, and filled them with the good things
of his own house, and made them stewards of his manifold gifts; so they
went forth to all quarters of these nations, to declare to the
inhabitants thereof, what God had done for them; what they had found,
and where and how they had found it; viz., the way to peace with God;
inviting them to come and see and taste for themselves, the truth of
what they declared unto them.
And as their testimony was to the principle of God in man, the precious
pearl and leaven of the kingdom, as the only blessed means appointed of
God to quicken, convince, and sanctify man; so they opened to them what
it was in itself, and what it was given to them for; how they might know
it from their own spirit, and that of the subtle appearance of the evil
one; and what it would do for all those, whose minds are turned off from
the vanity of the world and its lifeless ways and teachers, and adhere
to this blessed light in themselves, which discovers and condemns sin in
all its appearances, and shows how to overcome it, if minded and obeyed
in its holy manifestations and convictions; giving power to such to
avoid and resist those things that do not please God, and to grow strong
in love, faith, and good works; that so man, whom sin hath made as a
wilderness, overrun with briars and thorns, might become as the garden
of God, cultivated by his Divine power, and replenished with the most
virtuous and beautiful plants of God’s own right hand planting, to his
eternal praise.
But these experimental preachers of glad tidings of God’s truth and
kingdom, could not run when they list, or pray or preach when they
pleased, but as Christ their Redeemer prepared and moved them by his own
blessed Spirit, for which they waited in their services and meetings,
and spoke as that gave them utterance, and which was as those having
authority, and not like the dreaming, dry, and formal Pharisees. And so
it plainly appeared to the serious-minded, whose spiritual eye the Lord
Jesus had in any measure opened; so that to one was given the word of
exhortation, to another the word of reproof, to another the word of
consolation, and all by the same Spirit and in the good order thereof,
to the convincing and edifying of many.
And truly they waxed strong and bold through faithfulness; and by the
power and Spirit of the Lord Jesus became very fruitful; thousands, in a
short time, being turned to the Truth through their testimony in
ministry and sufferings, insomuch as in most counties, and many of the
considerable towns of England, meetings were settled, and daily there
were added such as should be saved. For they were diligent to plant and
to water, and the Lord blessed their labours with an exceeding great
increase; notwithstanding all the opposition made to their blessed
progress, by false rumours, calumnies, and bitter persecutions; not only
from the powers of the earth, but from every one that listed to injure
and abuse them; so that they seemed indeed to be as poor sheep appointed
to the slaughter, and as a people killed all the day long.
It were fitter for a volume than a preface, but so much as to repeat the
contents of their cruel sufferings from professors as well as from
profane, and from magistrates as well as from the rabble, that it may
well be said of this abused and despised people, they went forth weeping
and sowed in tears, bearing testimony to the precious seed, the seed of
the kingdom, which stands not in words, the finest, the highest that
man’s wit can use, but in power; the power of Christ Jesus, to whom God
the Father hath given all power in heaven and in earth, that he might
rule angels above, and men below; who empowered them, as their work
witnesseth, by the many that were turned through their ministry from
darkness to the light, and out of the broad into the narrow way,
bringing people to a weighty, serious, and godly conversation; the
practice of that doctrine which they taught.
And as without this secret Divine power there is no quickening and
regenerating of dead souls, so the want of this generating and begetting
power and life, is the cause of the little fruit that the many
ministries that have been, and are in the world, bring forth. O that
both ministers and people were sensible of this! My soul is often
troubled for them, and sorrow and mourning compass me about for their
sakes. O that they were wise! O that they would consider, and lay to
heart the things that truly and substantially make for their lasting
peace!
Two things are to be briefly touched upon; the doctrine they taught, and
the example they led among the people. I have already touched upon their
fundamental principle, which is as the corner-stone of their fabric; and
to speak eminently and properly, their characteristic, or main
distinguishing point or principle, viz., the Light of Christ within, as
God’s gift for man’s salvation. This, I say, is as the root of the
goodly tree of doctrines that grew and branched out from it, which I
shall now mention in their natural and experimental order.
First, Repentance from dead works to serve the living God; which
comprehends three operations, first, a sight of sin; secondly, a sense
and godly sorrow for it; thirdly, an amendment for the time to come.
This was the repentance they preached and pressed, and a natural result
from the principle they turned all people unto. For of light came sight;
and of sight came sense and sorrow; and of sense and sorrow came
amendment of life; which doctrine of repentance leads to justification;
that is, forgiveness of the sins that are past, through Christ, the
alone propitiation; and to the sanctification or purgation of the soul
from the defiling habits of sin present; which is justification in the
complete sense of that word; comprehending both justification from the
guilt of the sins that are past, as if they had never been committed,
through the love and mercy of God in Christ Jesus; and the creature’s
being made inwardly just through the cleansing and sanctifying power and
Spirit of Christ revealed in the soul which is commonly called
sanctification.
From hence sprang a second doctrine they were led to declare, as the
mark of the prize of the high calling of all true Christians, viz.,
perfection from sin, according to the Scriptures of Truth, which testify
it to be the end of Christ’s coming, the nature of his kingdom, and for
which his Spirit was given. But they never held a perfection in wisdom
and glory in this life, or from natural infirmities or death, as some
have with a weak or ill mind, imagined and insinuated against them.
This they called a redeemed state, regeneration, or the new birth;
teaching everywhere, according to their foundation, that unless this
work were known, there was no inheriting of the kingdom of God.
Third, to an acknowledgment of eternal rewards and punishments, as they
have good reason; for else of all people, certainly they must be the
most miserable; who for about forty years have been exceedingly great
sufferers for their profession, and in some cases, treated worse than
the worst of men, yea, as the refuse and offscouring of all things.
This was the purport of their doctrine and ministry; which, for the most
part, is what other professors of Christianity pretend to hold in words
and forms, but not in the _power_ of godliness; that has been long lost
by men’s departing from that principle and Seed of Life that is in man,
and which man has not regarded, but lost the sense of; and in and by
which only he can be quickened in his mind to serve the living God in
newness of life. For as the life of religion was lost, and the
generality lived and worshipped God after their own wills, and not after
the will of God, nor the mind of Christ, which stood in the works and
fruits of the Holy Spirit; so that which they pressed, was not notion,
but experience, not formality, but godliness; as being sensible in
themselves, through the work of God’s righteous judgments, that without
holiness no man should ever see the Lord with comfort.
Besides these doctrines, and out of them, as the larger branches, there
sprang forth several particular doctrines, that did exemplify and
further explain the truth and efficacy of the general doctrine before
observed, in their lives and examples. As,
I. Communion and loving one another. This is a noted mark in the mouth
of all sorts of people concerning them. “They will meet, they will help
and stick one to another.” Whence it is common to hear some say, “Look
how the Quakers love and take care of one another.” Others less moderate
will say, “The Quakers love none but themselves”; and if loving one
another, and having an intimate communion in religion, and constant care
to meet to worship God and help one another, be any mark of primitive
Christianity, they had it, blessed be the Lord, in an ample manner.
II. To love enemies. This they both taught and practised; for they did
not only refuse to be revenged for injuries done them, and condemned it
as of an unchristian spirit, but they did freely forgive, yea, help and
relieve those that had been cruel to them, when it was in their power to
have been even with them; of which many and singular instances might be
given; endeavouring, through patience, to overcome all injustice and
oppression, and preaching this doctrine as Christian for others to
follow.
III. The sufficiency of truth speaking, according to Christ’s own form
of words, of Yea, Yea, and Nay, Nay, among Christians without swearing,
both from Christ’s express prohibition, “Swear not at all,” Matt. v.;
and for that they being under the tie and bond of truth in themselves
there was both no necessity for an oath, and it would be a reproach to
their Christian veracity to assure their truth by such an extraordinary
way of speaking; but offering at the same time, to be punished to the
full, for false speaking, as others for perjury, if ever guilty of it;
and hereby they exclude with all true, all false and profane swearing;
for which the land did and doth mourn, and the great God was and is not
a little offended with it.
IV. Not fighting but suffering, is another testimony peculiar to this
people; they affirm that Christianity teacheth people “to beat their
swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks, and to
learn war no more,” so that the wolf may lie down with the lamb, and the
lion with the calf, and nothing that destroys be entertained in the
hearts of people; exhorting them to employ their zeal against sin, and
turn their anger against Satan, and no longer war one against another;
because all wars and fightings come of men’s own hearts’ lusts,
according to the apostle James, and not of the meek spirit of Christ
Jesus, who is captain of another warfare, and which is carried on with
other weapons. Thus, as truth-speaking succeeded swearing, so faith and
truth succeeded fighting, in the doctrine and practice of this people.
Nor ought they for this to be obnoxious to civil government, since if
they cannot fight for it, neither can they fight against it; which is no
mean security to the state; nor is it reasonable that people should be
blamed for not doing more for others than they can do for themselves.
And Christianity set aside, if the costs and fruits of war were well
considered, peace, with its inconveniences, is generally preferable. But
though they were not for fighting, they were for submitting to
government; and that, not only for fear, but for conscience’ sake, where
government doth not interfere with conscience; believing it to be an
ordinance of God, and where it is justly administered, a great benefit
to mankind; though it has been their lot, through blind zeal in some,
and interest in others, to have felt the strokes of it with greater
weight and rigour than any other persuasion in this age; whilst they, of
all others (religion set aside) have given the civil magistrate the
least occasion of trouble in the discharge of his office.
V. Another part of the character of this people is, they refuse to pay
tithes, or maintenance to a national ministry, and that for two reasons;
the one is, that they believe all compelled maintenance, even to gospel
ministers, to be unlawful, because expressly contrary to Christ’s
command, who said, “Freely you have received, freely give;” at least
that the maintenance of gospel ministers should be free, and not forced.
The other reason of their refusal is, because those ministers are not
gospel ones, in that the Holy Ghost is not their foundation, but human
arts and parts; so that it is not matter of humour or sullenness, but
pure conscience towards God, that they cannot help to support national
ministries where they dwell, which are but too much and too visibly
become ways of worldly advantage and preferment.
VI. Not to respect persons, was another of their doctrines and
practices, for which they were often buffeted and abused. They affirmed
it to be sinful to give flattering titles, or to use vain gestures and
compliments of respect; though to virtue and authority they ever made a
difference, but after their plain and homely manner, yet sincere and
substantial way; well remembering the example of Mordecai and Elihu, but
more especially the command of their Lord and Master Jesus Christ who
forbade his followers to call men Rabbi, which implies lord and master,
also the fashionable greetings and salutations of those times; that so
self-love and honour, to which the proud mind of man is incident, in his
fallen estate, might not be indulged but rebuked.
VII. They also used the plain language of Thou and Thee, to a single
person, whatever was his degree among men. And indeed the wisdom of God
was much seen, in bringing forth this people in so plain an appearance;
for it was a close and distinguishing test upon the spirit of those they
came among; showing their insides and what predominated, notwithstanding
their high and great profession of religion. This, among the rest,
sounded so harsh to many of them, and they took it so ill, that they
would say, “Thou me, thou my dog; if thou thouest me, I’ll thou thy
teeth down thy throat,” forgetting the language they use to God in their
own prayers, and the common style of the Scriptures, and that it is an
absolute and essential propriety of speech; and what good had their
religion done them, who were so sensibly touched with indignation for
the use of this plain, honest, and true speech?
VIII. They recommended silence by their example, having very few words
upon all occasions; they were at a word in dealing; nor could their
customers with many words tempt them from it; having more regard to
truth than custom, to example than gain. They sought solitude; but when
in company, they would neither use, nor willingly hear, unnecessary as
well as unlawful discourses; whereby they preserved their minds pure and
undisturbed from unprofitable thoughts and diversions; nor could they
humour the custom of “Good night, Good morrow, God speed;” for they knew
the night was good, and the day was good, without wishing of either; and
that in the other expression, the holy name of God was too lightly and
unthinkingly used, and therefore taken in vain. Besides, they were words
and wishes of course, and are usually as little meant, as are love and
service in the custom of cap and knee; and superfluity in those, as well
as in other things, was burdensome to them; and therefore they did not
only decline to use them, but found themselves often pressed to reprove
the practice.
IX. For the same reason they forbore drinking to people, or pledging of
them, as the manner of the world is; a practice that is not only
unnecessary, but they thought evil in the tendencies of it; being a
provocation to drinking more than did people good, as well as that it
was in itself vain and heathenish.
X. Their way of marriage is peculiar to them; and is a distinguishing
practice from all other societies professing Christianity. They say that
marriage is an ordinance of God, and that God only can rightly join man
and woman in marriage. Therefore they use neither priest nor magistrate,
but the man and woman concerned, take each other as husband and wife, in
the presence of divers credible witnesses, “promising unto each other,
with God’s assistance, to be loving and faithful in that relation, till
death shall separate them.” But, antecedent to all this, they first
present themselves to the Monthly Meeting for the affairs of the church,
where they reside, there declaring their intentions to take one another
as man and wife, if the said meeting have nothing material to object
against it. They are constantly asked the necessary questions,[A] as in
case of parents, or guardians, if they have acquainted them with their
intention, and have their consent, &c. In case it appears they proceeded
orderly, the meeting passes their proposal, and so records it in their
meeting book; and in case the woman is a widow and hath children, due
care is there taken, that provision also be made by her for the orphans
before the said marriage; advising the parties concerned to appoint a
convenient time and place, and to give fitting notice to their
relations, and such friends and neighbours, as they desire should be the
witnesses of their marriage: where they take one another by the hand,
and by name promising reciprocally after the manner before expressed. Of
all which proceedings, a narrative, in the way of certificate, is made,
to which the said parties first set their hands, thereby making it their
act and deed; and then divers of the relations, spectators, and auditors
set their names as witnesses of what they said and signed; which
certificate is afterward registered in the record belonging to the
meeting where the marriage is solemnized. Which regular method has been,
as it deserves, adjudged in courts of law a good marriage where it has
been disputed and contested, for want of the accustomed formality of
priest and ring, &c., which ceremonies they have refused, not out of
humour, but conscience reasonably grounded, inasmuch as no Scripture
example tells us, that the priest had any other part of old time, than
that of a witness among the rest, before whom the Jews used to take one
another: and therefore this people look upon it as an imposition, to
advance the power and profits of the clergy. And for the use of the
ring, it is enough to say, that it was a heathenish and vain custom, and
never in practice among the people of God, Jews, or primitive
Christians. The words of the usual form, as “With my body I thee
worship,” &c., are hardly defensible: in short, they are more careful,
exact, and regular than any form now used, and it is free from the
inconveniences other methods are attended with; their care and checks
being so many, and such, that no clandestine marriages can be performed
among them.
XI. It may not be unfit to say something here of their births and
burials, which make up so much of the pomp and solemnity of too many
called Christians. For births, the parents name their own children,
which is usually some days after they are born, and afterward sign a
certificate, for that purpose prepared, of the birth and name of the
child, or children, which is recorded in a proper book, in the Monthly
Meeting, to which the parents belong; avoiding the accustomed ceremonies
and festivals.
XII. Their burials are performed with the same simplicity. If the corpse
of the deceased be near any public meeting place, it is usually carried
thither, for the more convenient reception of those that accompany it to
the ground they bury in, and it so falls out sometimes, that while the
meeting is gathering for the burial, some or other have a word of
exhortation, for the sake of the people there met together: after which,
the body is borne away by the young men, or those that are of their
neighbourhood, or that were most intimate with the deceased party: the
corpse being in a plain coffin, without any covering or furniture upon
it. At the ground, they pause some time before they put the body into
its grave, that if any there should have anything upon them to exhort
the people, they may not be disappointed, and that the relations may the
more retiredly and solemnly take their last leave of the corpse of their
departed kindred, and the spectators have a sense of mortality, by the
occasion then given them to reflect upon their own latter end. Otherwise
they have no set rites or ceremonies on those occasions; neither do the
kindred of the deceased wear mourning, they looking upon it as a worldly
ceremony and piece of pomp; and that what mourning is fit for a
Christian to have, at the departure of a beloved relation or friend,
should be worn in the mind, which is only sensible of the loss; and the
love they had to them, and remembrance of them, to be outwardly
expressed by a respect to their advice, and care of those they have left
behind them, and their love of that they loved. Which conduct of theirs,
though unmodish or unfashionable, leaves nothing of the substance of
things neglected or undone; and as they aim at no more, so that
simplicity of life is what they observe with great satisfaction, though
it sometimes happens not to be without the mockeries of the vain world
they live in.
These things gave them a rough and disagreeable appearance with the
generality; who thought them turners of the world upside down, as indeed
in some sense they were: but in no other than that wherein Paul was so
charged, viz., to bring things back into their primitive and right order
again. For these, and such like practices of theirs, were not the result
of humour, as some have fancied, but a fruit of inward sense, which God,
through his fear, had begotten in them. They did not consider how to
contradict the world, or distinguish themselves; being none of their
business, as it was not their interest; no, it was not the result of
consultation, or a framed design to declare or recommend schism or
novelty. But God having given them a sight of themselves, they saw the
whole world in the same glass of truth; and sensibly discerned the
affections and passions of men, and the rise and tendency of things;
what gratified “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the
pride of life, which are not of the Father, but of the world.” And from
thence sprang, in that night of darkness and apostacy, which hath been
over people, through their degeneration from the Light and Spirit of
God, these and many other vain customs; which are seen, by the heavenly
day of Christ which dawns in the soul, to be, either wrong in their
original, or, by time and abuse, hurtful in their practice. And though
these things seemed trivial to some, and rendered this people stingy and
conceited in such persons’ opinions; there was and is more in them than
they were aware of. It was not very easy to our primitive Friends to
make themselves sights and spectacles, and the scorn and derision of the
world; which they easily foresaw must be the consequence of so
unfashionable a conversation in it. But herein was the wisdom of God
seen in the foolishness of these things; first, that they discovered the
satisfaction and concern that people had in and for the fashions of this
world, notwithstanding their pretences to another; in that any
disappointment about them came so very near them, that the greatest
honesty, virtue, wisdom, and ability were unwelcome without them.
Secondly, it seasonably and profitably divided conversation; for making
their society uneasy to their relations and acquaintance, it gave them
the opportunity of more retirement and solitude, wherein they met with
better company, even the Lord God, their Redeemer, and grew strong in
his love, power, and wisdom, and were thereby better qualified for his
service; and the success abundantly showed it: blessed be the name of
the Lord.
And though they were not great and learned in the esteem of this world
(for then they had not wanted followers upon their own credit and
authority), yet they were generally of the most sober of the several
persuasions they were in, and of the most repute for religion; and many
of them of good capacity, substance, and account among men.
And also some among them neither wanted for parts, learning, nor estate;
though then, as of old, not many wise, nor noble, &c., were called, or
at least received the heavenly call; because of the cross that attended
the profession of it in sincerity; but neither do parts or learning make
men the better Christians, though the better orators and disputants; and
it is the ignorance of people about the divine gift that causes that
vulgar and mischievous mistake. Theory and practice, expression and
enjoyment; words and life; are two things. O! it is the penitent, the
reformed, the lowly, the watchful, the self-denying and holy soul that
is the Christian; and that frame is the fruit and work of the Spirit,
which is the life of Jesus; whose life, though hid in God the Father, is
shed abroad in the hearts of them that truly believe. O! that people did
but know this to cleanse them, to circumcise them, to quicken them, and
to make them new creatures indeed; re-created, or re-generated after
Christ Jesus unto good works; that they might live to God and not to
themselves; and offer up living prayers and living praises to the living
God, through his own living Spirit, in which he is only to be worshipped
in this gospel day. O! that they that read me could but feel me; for my
heart is affected with this merciful visitation of the Father of Lights
and Spirits, to this poor nation, and the whole world, through the same
testimony. Why should the inhabitants thereof reject it? Why should they
lose the blessed benefit of it? Why should they not turn to the Lord
with all their hearts, and say, from the heart, “Speak, Lord, for now
thy poor servants hear? O! that thy will may be done, thy great, thy
good and holy will, in earth as it is in heaven: do it in us, do it upon
us, do what thou wilt with us, for we are thine and desire to glorify
thee our Creator, both for that, and because thou art our Redeemer; for
thou art redeeming us from the earth; from the vanities and pollutions
of it, to be a peculiar people unto thee.” O! this were a brave day for
England, if so she could say in truth. But alas, the case is otherwise,
for which some of thine inhabitants, O land of my nativity I have
mourned over thee with bitter wailing and lamentation. Their heads have
been indeed as waters, and their eyes as fountains of tears, because of
thy transgression and stiffneckedness; because thou wilt not hear and
fear, and return to the Rock, even thy Rock, O England! from whence thou
wert hewn. But be thou warned, O land of great profession, to receive
him into thy heart; behold at that door it is, he hath stood so long
knocking, but thou wilt yet have none of him. O! be thou awakened, lest
Jerusalem’s judgments do swiftly overtake thee, because of Jerusalem’s
sins that abound in thee. For she abounded in formality, but made void
the weighty things of God’s law, as thou daily doest.
She withstood the Son of God in the flesh, and thou resistest the Son of
God in the Spirit. He would have gathered her as a hen gathereth her
chickens under her wings, and she would not; so would he have gathered
thee out of thy lifeless profession, and have brought thee to inherit
substance, to have known his power and kingdom, for which he often
knocked within by his grace and Spirit, and without, by his servants and
witnesses; but thou wouldst not be gathered. On the contrary, as
Jerusalem of old persecuted the manifestation of the Son of God in the
flesh, and crucified him, and whipped and imprisoned his servants; so
hast thou, O land, crucified to thyself afresh the Lord of life and
glory, and done despite to his Spirit of grace; slighting the fatherly
visitation, and persecuting the blessed dispensers of it by thy laws and
magistrates; though they have early and late pleaded with thee in the
power and Spirit of the Lord; in love and meekness, that thou mightest
know the Lord and serve him, and become the glory of all lands.
But thou hast evilly entreated and requited them. Thou hast set at
naught all their counsel, and wouldst have none of their reproof, as
thou shouldst have done. Their appearance was too strait, and their
qualifications were too mean for thee to receive them; like the Jews of
old, that cried, “Is not this the carpenter’s son, and are not his
brethren among us; which of the scribes, of the learned, (the orthodox)
believe in him?” prophesying their fall in a year or two, and making and
executing severe laws to bring it to pass; by endeavouring to terrify
them out of their holy way, or destroying them for abiding faithful to
it. But thou hast seen how many governments that rose against them, and
determined their downfall, have been overturned and extinguished, and
that they are still preserved, and become a great and a considerable
people among the middle sort of thy numerous inhabitants. And
notwithstanding the many difficulties, without and within, which they
have laboured under, since the Lord God Eternal first gathered them,
they are an increasing people, the Lord still adding unto them, in
divers parts, such as shall be saved, if they persevere to the end. And
to thee were they, and are they lifted up as a standard, and as a city
set upon a hill, and to the nations round about thee, that in their
light thou mayest come to see light, even in Christ Jesus, the Light of
the world; and therefore thy Light, and Life too, if thou wouldst but
turn from thy many evil ways, and receive and obey it. For in the “Light
of the Lamb, must the nations of them that are saved walk,” as the
Scriptures testify.
Remember, O nation of great profession! how the Lord has waited upon
thee since the days of reformation, and the many mercies and judgments
with which he has pleaded with thee; awake and arise out of thy deep
sleep, and yet hear his Word in thy heart, that thou mayest live.
Let not this thy day of visitation pass over thy head, nor neglect thou
so great salvation as is this which is come to thy house, O England! For
why shouldst thou die, O land that God desires to bless? Be assured it
is He that has been in the midst of this people, in the midst of thee,
and no delusion, as thy mistaken teachers have made thee believe. And
this thou shalt find by their marks and fruits, if thou wilt consider
them in the spirit of moderation.
I. They were changed men themselves before they went about to change
others. Their hearts were rent as well as their garments; and they knew
the power and work of God upon them. And this was seen by the great
alteration it made, and their stricter course of life, and more godly
conversation, that immediately followed upon it.
II. They went not forth, or preached in their own time and will, but in
the will of God, and spoke not their own studied matter, but as they
were opened and moved of his Spirit, with which they were well
acquainted in their own conversion; which cannot be expressed to carnal
men so as to give them any intelligible account; for to such it is as
Christ said, “like the blowing of the wind, which no man knows whence it
cometh, or whither it goeth;” yet this proof and seal went along with
their ministry, that many were turned from their lifeless professions,
and the evil of their ways, to the knowledge of God, and a holy life, as
thousands can witness. And as they freely received what they had to say
from the Lord, so they freely administered it to others.
III. The bent and stress of their ministry was conversion to God,
regeneration, and holiness; not schemes of doctrines and verbal creeds,
or new forms of worship; but a leaving off in religion, the superfluous,
and reducing the ceremonious and formal part, and pressing earnestly the
substantial, the necessary and profitable part; as all upon a serious
reflection must and do acknowledge.
IV. They directed people to a principle by which all that they asserted,
preached and exhorted others to, might be wrought in them, and known to
them, through experience, to be true; which is a high and distinguishing
mark of the truth of their ministry; both that they knew what they said,
and were not afraid of coming to the test. For as they were bold from
certainty, so they required conformity upon no human authority, but upon
conviction, and the conviction of this principle, which they asserted
was in them that they preached unto, and unto that they directed them,
that they might examine and prove the reality of those things which they
had affirmed of it, and its manifestation and work in man. And this is
more than many ministries in the world pretend to. They declare of
religion, say many things true in words, of God, Christ, and the Spirit,
of holiness and heaven; that all men should repent and mend their lives,
or they will go to hell, &c. But which of them all pretend to speak of
their own knowledge and experience; or ever directed men to a divine
principle or agent, placed of God in man, to help him; and how to know
it, and wait to feel its power to work that good and acceptable will of
God in them?
Some of them indeed have spoken of the Spirit and the operations of it
to sanctification, and the performance of worship to God; but _where_
and _how_ to find it, and wait in it to perform this duty, was yet as a
mystery reserved for this further degree of reformation. So that this
people did not only in words more than equally press repentance,
conversion, and holiness, but did it knowingly and experimentally; and
directed those to whom they preached to a sufficient principle, and told
them where it is, and by what tokens they might know it, and which way
they might experience the power and efficacy of it to their soul’s
happiness; which is more than theory and speculation, upon which most
other ministries depend; for here is certainty,—a bottom upon which man
may boldly appear before God in the great day of account.
V. They reached to the inward state and condition of people, which is an
evidence of the virtue of their principle, and of their ministering from
it, and not from their own imaginations, glosses, or comments upon
Scripture. For nothing reaches the heart, but what is from the heart, or
pierces the conscience, but what comes from a living conscience:
insomuch that as it hath often happened, where people have under secrecy
revealed their state or condition to some choice friends for advice or
ease, they have been so particularly directed in the ministry of this
people, that they have challenged their friends with discovering their
secrets, and telling the preachers their cases. Yea, the very thoughts
and purposes of the hearts of many have been so plainly detected, that
they have, like Nathaniel, cried, out of this inward appearance of
Christ, “Thou art the Son of God, thou art the King of Israel.” And
those that have embraced this divine principle have found this mark of
its truth and divinity (that the woman of Samaria did of Christ when in
the flesh, to be the Messiah, viz.), “it had told them all that ever
they had done;” shown them their insides, the most inward secrets of
their hearts; and laid judgment to the line and righteousness to the
plummet; of which thousands can at this day give in their witness. So
that nothing has been affirmed by this people of the power and virtue of
this heavenly principle, that such as have turned to it have not found
true, and more; and that one half had not been told to them of what they
have seen of the power, purity, wisdom, mercy, and goodness of God
herein.
VI. The accomplishments with which this principle fitted, even some of
the meanest of this people, for their work and service; furnishing some
of them with an extraordinary understanding in divine things, and an
admirable fluency and taking way of expression, which gave occasion to
some to wonder, saying of them, as of their Master, “Is not this such a
mechanic’s son? how came he by this learning?” As from thence others
took occasion to suspect and insinuate they were Jesuits in disguise,
who have had the reputation of learned men for an age past, though there
was not the least ground of truth for any such reflection.
VII. They came forth, low, and despised, and hated, as the primitive
Christians did, and not by the help of worldly wisdom or power, as
former reformations in part did: but in all things, it may be said, this
people were brought forth in the cross, in a contradiction to the ways,
worships, fashions, and customs of this world; yea, against wind and
tide, that so no flesh might glory before God.
VIII. They could have no design to themselves in this work, thus to
expose themselves to scorn and abuse, to spend and be spent; leaving
wife and children, house and land, and all that can be accounted dear to
men, with their lives in their hands, being daily in jeopardy, to
declare this primitive message, revived in their spirits by the good
Spirit and power of God, viz., “That God is light, and in him is no
darkness at all; and that he has sent his Son a light into the world to
enlighten all men in order to salvation; and that they that say they
have fellowship with God and are his children and people, and yet walk
in darkness, viz., in disobedience to the light in their consciences,
and after the vanity of this world, lie, and do not the truth. But that
all such as love the light, and bring their deeds to it, and walk in the
light, as God is in the light, the blood of Jesus Christ his Son should
cleanse them from all sin.”
IX. Their known great constancy and patience in suffering for their
testimony, in all the branches of it, and that, sometimes unto death, by
beatings, bruisings, long and crowded imprisonments, and noisome
dungeons. Four of them in New England dying by the hands of the
executioner, purely for preaching amongst that people; besides
banishments and excessive plunders and sequestrations of their goods and
estates, almost in all parts, not easily to be expressed, and less to be
endured, but by those that have the support of a good and glorious
cause: refusing deliverance by any indirect ways or means, as often as
it was offered to them.
X. That they did not only not show any disposition to revenge, when it
was at any time in their power, but forgave their cruel enemies; showing
mercy to those that had none for them.
XI. Their plainness with those in authority; not unlike the ancient
prophets, not fearing to tell them to their faces of their private and
public sins; and their prophecies to them of their afflictions and
downfall, when in the top of their glory: also of some national
judgments, as of the plague, and fire of London, in express terms, and
likewise particular ones to divers persecutors, which accordingly
overtook them, and which were very remarkable in the places where they
dwelt, and in time they may be made public for the glory of God.
Thus, reader, thou seest this people in their rise, principles,
ministry, and progress, both their general and particular testimony, by
which thou mayest be informed how and upon what foot they sprung, and
became so considerable a people. It remains next that I show also their
care, conduct, and discipline, as a Christian and reformed Society, that
they might be found living up to their own principles and profession.
And this, the rather, because they have hardly suffered more in their
character from the unjust charge of error, than by the false imputation
of disorder; which calumny indeed has not failed to follow all the true
steps that were ever made to reformation, and under which reproach none
suffered more than the primitive Christians themselves, that were the
honour of Christianity, and the great lights and examples of their own
and succeeding ages.
This people increasing daily, both in town and country, a holy care fell
upon some of the elders among them, for the benefit and service of the
church. And the first business in their view, after the example of the
primitive saints, was the exercise of charity; to supply the necessities
of the poor, and answer the like occasions. Wherefore collections were
early and liberally made for that and divers other services in the
church, and entrusted with faithful men, fearing God, and of good
report, who were not weary in well-doing; adding often of their own, in
large proportions, which they never brought to account, or desired
should be known, much less restored to them, that none might want, nor
any service be retarded or disappointed.
They were also very careful that every one that belonged to them,
answered their profession in their behaviour among men upon all
occasions; that they lived peaceably, and were in all things good
examples. They found themselves engaged to record their sufferings and
services; and in case of marriage, which they could not perform in the
usual methods of the nation, but among themselves, they took care that
all things were clear between the parties and all others. And it was
rare then, that any one entertained such inclinations to a person on
that account, till he or she had communicated it secretly to some very
weighty and eminent friends among them, that they might have a sense of
the matter; looking to the counsel and unity of their brethren as of
great moment to them. But because the charge of the poor, the number of
orphans, marriages, sufferings, and other matters multiplied, and that
it was good that the churches were in some way and method of proceeding
in such affairs among them, to the end they might the better correspond
upon occasion, where a member of one meeting might have to do with one
of another; it pleased the Lord, in his wisdom and goodness, to open the
understanding of the first instrument of this dispensation of life,
about a good and orderly way of proceeding; and he felt a holy concern
to visit the churches in person throughout this nation, to begin and
establish it among them; and by his epistles the like was done in other
nations and provinces abroad; which he also afterwards visited, and
helped in that service, as shall be observed when I come to speak of
him.
Now the care, conduct, and discipline I have been speaking of, and which
are now practised among this people, are as followeth:—
This godly elder, in every county where he travelled, exhorted them,
that some out of every meeting of worship, should meet together once in
the month, to confer about the wants and occasions of the church. And as
the case required, so those monthly meetings were fewer or more in
number in every respective county; four or six meetings of worship
usually making one monthly meeting of business. And accordingly the
brethren met him from place to place, and began the said meetings, viz.,
for the Poor; Orphans; Orderly Walking; Integrity to their Profession;
Births, Marriages, Burials, Sufferings, &c. And that these monthly
meetings should, in each county, make up one quarterly meeting, where
the most zealous and eminent friends of the county should assemble to
communicate, advise, and help one another, especially when any business
seemed difficult, or a monthly meeting was tender of determining a
matter.
Also these quarterly meetings should digest the reports of the monthly
meetings, and prepare one for the county, against the yearly meeting, in
which the quarterly meetings resolve, which is held yearly in London;
where the churches in this nation and other nations[1] and provinces
meet, by chosen members of their respective counties, both mutually to
communicate their church affairs, and to advise, and be advised in any
depending case to edification; also to provide a requisite stock for the
discharge of general expenses for general services in the church, not
needful to be here particularized.
Footnote 1:
At present (1891), there are eleven Yearly Meetings on the American
continent also, in association with each other, and with that of
London.
At these meetings any of the members of the churches may come if they
please, and speak their minds freely, in the fear of God, to any matter;
but the mind of each meeting therein represented is chiefly understood,
as to particular cases, in the sense delivered by the persons deputed or
chosen for that purpose.
During their yearly meeting, to which their other meetings refer in
their order and resolve themselves, care is taken by a select number,
for that service chosen by the general assembly, to draw up the
minutes[2] of the said meeting, upon the several matters that have been
under consideration therein, to the end that the respective quarterly
and monthly meetings may be informed of all proceedings, together with a
general exhortation to holiness, unity, and charity. Of all which
proceedings in yearly, quarterly, and monthly meetings, due record is
kept by some one appointed for that service, or that hath voluntarily
undertaken it. These meetings are opened, and usually concluded, in
their solemn waiting upon God, who is sometimes graciously pleased to
answer them with as signal evidences of his love and presence, as in any
of their meetings for worship.
Footnote 2:
This is not now quite correct. A committee still draws up the General
Epistle; but the minutes of the transactions of the meeting are made
as matters occur during its several sittings.
It is further to be noted, that in these solemn assemblies for the
church’s service, there is no one who presides among them after the
manner of the assemblies of other people; Christ only being their
president, as he is pleased to appear in life and wisdom in any one or
more of them, to whom, whatever be their capacity or degree, the rest
adhere with a firm unity, not of authority but conviction, which is the
divine authority and way of Christ’s power and Spirit in his people:
making good his blessed promise, “that he would be in the midst of his,
where and whenever they were met together in his name, even to the end
of the world.” So be it.
Now it may be expected, I should here set down what sort of authority is
exercised by this people, upon such members of their society, as
correspond not in their lives with their profession, and that are
refractory to this good and wholesome order settled among them; and the
rather, because they have not wanted their reproach and suffering from
some tongues, upon this occasion, in a plentiful manner.
The power they exercise is such as Christ has given to his own people,
to the end of the world, in the persons of his disciples, viz., “to
oversee, exhort, reprove,” and after long suffering and waiting upon the
disobedient and refractory, “to disown them, as any more of their
communion, or that they will any longer stand charged in the sight and
judgment of God or men, with their conversation or behaviour as one of
them until they repent.” The subject matter about which this authority,
in any of the foregoing branches of it, is exercised, is first, in
relation to common and general practice; and secondly, about those
things that more strictly refer to their own character and profession,
and distinguish them from all other professors of Christianity; avoiding
two extremes upon which many split, viz., persecution and libertinism;
that is, a coercive power to whip people into the temple; that such as
will not conform, though against faith and conscience, shall be punished
in their persons or estates; or leaving all loose and at large, as to
practice, unaccountable to all but God and the magistrate. To which
hurtful extreme nothing has more contributed than the abuse of church
power, by such as suffer their passions and private interests to prevail
with them to carry it to outward force and corporal punishment—a
practice they have been taught to dislike, by their extreme sufferings,
as well as their known principle for an universal liberty of conscience.
On the other hand, they equally dislike an independency in society, an
unaccountableness in practice and conversation to the terms of their own
communion, and to those that are the members of it. They distinguish
between imposing any practice that immediately regards faith or worship
(which is never to be done, nor suffered, or submitted unto), and
requiring Christian compliance with those methods that only respect
church-business in its more civil part and concern, and that regard the
discreet and orderly maintenance of the character of the society, as a
sober and religious community. In short, what is for the promotion of
holiness and charity, that men may practice what they profess, live up
to their own principles, and not be at liberty to give the lie to their
own profession, without rebuke, is their use and limit of church power.
They compel none to them, but oblige those that are of them to walk
suitably, or they are denied by them; that is all the mark they set upon
them, and the power they exercise, or judge a Christian society can
exercise, upon those that are the members of it.
The way of their proceeding against one who has lapsed or transgressed
is this. He is visited by some of them, and the matter of fact laid home
to him, be it any evil practice against known and general virtue, or any
branch of their particular testimony, which he, in common, professeth
with them. They labour with him in much love and zeal for the good of
his soul, the honour of God, and reputation of their profession, to own
his fault and condemn it, in as ample a manner as the evil or scandal
was given by him; which, for the most part, is performed by some written
testimony under the party’s hand; and if it so happen that the party
proves refractory, and is not willing to clear the truth they profess
from the reproach of his or her evil-doing or unfaithfulness, they,
after repeated entreaties and due waiting for a token of repentance,
give forth a paper to disown such a fact, and the party offending;
recording the same as a testimony of their care for the honour of the
truth they profess.
And if such shall clear their profession and themselves, by sincere
acknowledgment of their fault, and godly sorrow for so doing, they are
received and looked upon again as members of their communion. For as
God, so his true people, upbraid no man after repentance.
This is the account I had to give of the people of God called Quakers,
as to their rise, appearance, principles, and practices, in this age of
the world, both with respect to their faith and worship, discipline and
conversation. And I judge it very proper in this place, because it is to
preface the Journal of the first blessed and glorious instrument of this
work, and for a testimony to him in his singular qualifications and
services, in which he abundantly excelled in this day, and which are
worthy to be set forth as an example to all succeeding times; to the
glory of the most high God, and for a just memorial to that worthy and
excellent man, his faithful servant and apostle to this generation of
the world.
I am now come to the third head or branch of my Preface, viz., the
instrumental author. For it is natural for some to say, Well, here is
the people and work, but where and who was the man, the instrument? he
that in this age was sent to begin this work and people? I shall, as God
shall enable me, declare who and what he was, not only by report of
others, but from my own long and most inward converse, and intimate
knowledge of him; for which my soul blesseth God, as it hath often done;
and I doubt not, that by the time I have discharged myself of this part
of my Preface, my serious readers will believe I had good cause so to
do.
The blessed instrument of this work in this day of God, of whom I am now
about to write, was GEORGE FOX, distinguished from another of that name,
by that other’s addition of Younger to his name in all his writings; not
that he was so in years, but that he was so in the truth; but he was
also a worthy man, witness, and servant of God in his time.
But this George Fox was born in Leicestershire, about the year 1624. He
descended of honest and sufficient parents, who endeavoured to bring him
up, as they did the rest of their children, in the way and worship of
the nation; especially his mother, who was a woman accomplished above
most of her degree in the place where she lived. But from a child he
appeared of another frame of mind than the rest of his brethren; being
more religious, inward, still, solid, and observing, beyond his years,
as the answers he would give, and the questions he would put upon
occasion, manifested to the astonishment of those that heard him,
especially in divine things.
His mother taking notice of his singular temper, and the gravity,
wisdom, and piety that very early shined through him, refusing childish
and vain sports and company, when very young, she was tender and
indulgent over him, so that from her he met with little difficulty. As
to his employment, he was brought up in country business: and as he took
most delight in sheep, so he was very skilful in them; an employment
that very well suited his mind in several respects, both from its
innocency and solitude; and was a just figure of his after ministry and
service.
I shall not break in upon his own account, which is by much the best
that can be given, and therefore desire, what I can, to avoid saying any
thing of what is said already, as to the particular passages of his
coming forth; but, in general, when he was somewhat above twenty, he
left his friends, and visited the most retired and religious people in
those parts; and some there were in this nation, who waited for the
consolation of Israel night and day; as Zacharias, Anna, and good old
Simeon did of old time. To these he was sent, and these he sought out in
the neighbouring counties, and among them he sojourned till his more
ample ministry came upon him. At this time he taught, and was an example
of silence, endeavouring to bring them from self-performances,
testifying and turning to the Light of Christ within them, and
encouraging them to wait in patience to feel the power of it to stir in
their hearts, that their knowledge and worship of God might stand in the
power of an endless life, which was to be found in the Light, as it was
obeyed in the manifestation of it in man. “For in the Word was Life, and
that Life is the Light of men,” Life in the Word, Light in men—and Life
in men too, as the Light is obeyed; the children of the Light living in
the Life of the Word, by which the Word begets them again to God, which
is the regeneration and new birth, without which there is no coming unto
the kingdom of God; and which, whoever comes to, is greater than John,
that is, than John’s dispensation, which was not that of the kingdom,
but the consummation of the legal, and forerunning of the gospel
dispensation. Accordingly, several meetings were gathered in those
parts; and thus his time was employed for some years.
In 1652, he being in his usual retirement to the Lord upon a very high
mountain, in some of the higher parts of Yorkshire, as I take it, his
mind exercised towards the Lord, he had a vision of the great work of
God in the earth, and of the way that he was to go forth to begin it. He
saw people as thick as motes in the sun, that should in time be brought
home to the Lord; that there might be but one shepherd and one sheepfold
in all the earth. There his eye was directed northward, beholding a
great people that should receive him and his message in those parts.
Upon this mountain he was moved of the Lord to sound forth his great and
notable day, as if he had been in a great auditory, and from thence went
north, as the Lord had shown him; and in every place where he came, if
not before he came to it, he had his particular exercise and service
shown to him, so that the Lord was his leader indeed; for it was not in
vain that he travelled, God in most places sealing his commission with
the convincement of some of all sorts, as well publicans as sober
professors of religion. Some of the first and most eminent of them which
are at rest, were Richard Farnsworth, James Naylor, William Dewsbury,
Francis Howgill, Edward Burrough, John Camm, John Audland, Richard
Hubberthorn, T. Taylor, John Aldam, T. Holmes, Alexander Parker, William
Simpson, William Caton, John Stubbs, Robert Widders, John Burnyeat,
Robert Lodge, Thomas Salthouse, and many more worthies, that cannot be
well here named, together with divers yet living of the first and great
convincement, who, after the knowledge of God’s purging judgments in
themselves, and some time of waiting in silence upon him, to feel and
receive power from on high to speak in his name (which none else rightly
can, though they may use the same words), felt the divine motions, and
were frequently drawn forth, especially to visit the public assemblies,
to reprove, inform, and exhort them; sometimes in markets, fairs,
streets, and by the highway-side, calling people to repentance, and to
turn to the Lord with their hearts as well as their mouths; directing
them to the Light of Christ within them, to see, examine, and consider
their ways by, and to eschew the evil, and do the good and acceptable
will of God. They suffered great hardships for this their love and
goodwill, being often put in the stocks, stoned, beaten, whipped, and
imprisoned, though honest men and of good report where they lived, that
had left wives and children, and houses and lands, to visit them with a
living call to repentance. And though the priests generally set
themselves to oppose them, and write against them, and insinuated most
false and scandalous stories to defame them, stirring up the magistrates
to suppress them, especially in those northern parts; yet God was
pleased so to fill them with his living power, and give them such an
open door of utterance in his service, that there was a mighty
convincement over those parts.
And through the tender and singular indulgence of Judge Bradshaw and
Judge Fell, who were wont to go that circuit in the infancy of things,
the priests were never able to gain the point they laboured for, which
was to have proceeded to blood, and, if possible, Herod-like, by a cruel
exercise of the civil power, to have cut them off and rooted them out of
the country. Especially Judge Fell, who was not only a check to their
rage in the course of legal proceedings, but otherwise upon occasion,
and finally countenanced this people; for his wife receiving the truth
with the first, it had that influence upon his spirit, being a just and
wise man, and seeing in his own wife and family a full confutation of
all the popular clamours against the way of truth, that he covered them
what he could, and freely opened his doors, and gave up his house to his
wife and her friends, not valuing the reproach of ignorant or
evil-minded people, which I here mention to his and her honour, and
which will be, I believe, an honour and a blessing to such of their name
and family, as shall be found in that tenderness, humility, love, and
zeal for the truth and people of the Lord.
That house was for some years at first, till the truth had opened its
way in the southern parts of this island, an eminent receptacle of this
people. Others of good note and substance in those northern counties,
had also opened their houses with their hearts, to the many publishers,
that in a short time the Lord had raised to declare his salvation to the
people, and where meetings of the Lord’s messengers were frequently
held, to communicate their services and exercises, and comfort and edify
one another in their blessed ministry.
But lest this may be thought a digression, having touched upon this
before, I return to this excellent man; and for his personal qualities,
both natural, moral, and divine, as they appeared in his converse with
his brethren, and in the church of God, take as follows:—
I. He was a man that God endued with a clear and wonderful depth, a
discerner of others’ spirits, and very much a master of his own. And
though the side of his understanding which lay next to the world, and
especially the expression of it, might sound uncouth and unfashionable
to nice ears, his matter was nevertheless very profound; and would not
only bear to be often considered, but the more it was so, the more
weighty and instructing it appeared. And as abruptly and brokenly as
sometimes his sentences would fall from him, about divine things, it is
well known they were often as texts to many fairer declarations. And
indeed it showed, beyond all contradiction, that God sent him; that no
arts or parts had any share in the matter or manner of his ministry; and
that so many great, excellent, and necessary truths as he came forth to
preach to mankind, had therefore nothing of man’s wit or wisdom to
recommend them; so that as to man he was an original, being no man’s
copy. And his ministry and writings show they are from one that was not
taught of man, nor had learned what he said by study. Nor were they
notional or speculative, but sensible and practical truths, tending to
conversion and regeneration, and the setting up of the kingdom of God in
the hearts of men; and the way of it was his work. So that I have many
times been overcome in myself, and been made to say, with my Lord and
Master upon the like occasion; “I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven
and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent of
this world, and revealed them to babes.” For many times hath my soul
bowed in an humble thankfulness to the Lord, that he did not choose any
of the wise and learned of this world to be the first messenger, in our
age, of his blessed truth to men; but that he took one that was not of
high degree, or elegant speech, or learned after the way of this world,
that his message and work he sent him to do, might come with less
suspicion or jealousy of human wisdom and interest, and with more force
and clearness upon the consciences of those that sincerely sought the
way of truth in the love of it. I say, beholding with the eye of my
mind, which the God of heaven had opened in me, the marks of God’s
finger and hand visibly, in this testimony, from the clearness of the
principle, the power and efficacy of it, in the exemplary sobriety,
plainness, zeal, steadiness, humility, gravity, punctuality, charity,
and circumspect care in the government of church affairs, which shined
in his and their life and testimony that God employed in this work, it
greatly confirmed me that it was of God, and engaged my soul in a deep
love, fear, reverence, and thankfulness for his love and mercy therein
to mankind; in which mind I remain, and shall, I hope, to the end of my
days.
II. In his testimony or ministry, he much laboured to open truth to the
people’s understandings, and to bottom them upon the principle and
principal, Christ Jesus, the Light of the world, that by bringing them
to something that was of God in themselves, they might the better know
and judge of him and themselves.
III. He had an extraordinary gift in opening the Scriptures. He would go
to the marrow of things, and show the mind, harmony, and fulfilling of
them with much plainness, and to great comfort and edification.
IV. The mystery of the first and second Adam, of the fall and
restoration, of the law and gospel, of shadows and substance, of the
servant’s and Son’s state, and the fulfilling of the Scriptures in
Christ, and by Christ, the true Light, in all that are his through the
obedience of faith, were much of the substance and drift of his
testimonies. In all which he was witnessed to be of God, being sensibly
felt to speak that which he had received of Christ, and which was his
own experience, in that which never errs nor fails.
V. But above all he excelled in prayer. The inwardness and weight of his
spirit, the reverence and solemnity of his address and behaviour, and
the fewness and fulness of his words, have often struck, even strangers,
with admiration, as they used to reach others with consolation. The most
awful, living, reverent frame I ever felt or beheld, I must say, was his
in prayer. And truly it was a testimony he knew and lived nearer to the
Lord than other men; for they that know Him most, will see most reason
to approach him with reverence and fear.
VI. He was of an innocent life, no busy-body, nor self-seeker, neither
touchy nor critical; what fell from him was very inoffensive if, not
very edifying. So meek, contented, modest, easy, steady, tender, it was
a pleasure to be in his company. He exercised no authority but over
evil, and that everywhere and in all; but with love, compassion, and
long-suffering. A most merciful man, as ready to forgive, as unapt to
take or give an offence. Thousands can truly say, he was of an excellent
spirit and savour among them, and because thereof, the most excellent
spirits loved him with an unfeigned and unfading love.
VII. He was an incessant labourer; for in his younger time, before his
many great and deep sufferings and travels had enfeebled his body for
itinerant services, he laboured much in the word, and doctrine, and
discipline in England, Scotland, and Ireland, turning many to God, and
confirming those that were convinced of the truth, and settling good
order as to church affairs among them. And towards the conclusion of his
travelling services, between the years 1671 and 1677, he visited the
churches of Christ in the plantations in America, and in the United
Provinces, and Germany, as his following Journal relates, to the
convincement and consolation of many. After that time he chiefly resided
in and about the city of London; and besides the services of his
ministry, which were frequent and serviceable, he wrote much, both to
them that are within, and those that are without, the communion. But the
care he took of the affairs of the church in general was very great.
VIII. He was often where the records of the affairs of the church are
kept, and the letters from the many meetings of God’s people over all
the world, where settled, come upon occasions; which letters he had read
to him, and communicated them to the meeting that is weekly[3] held
there for such services; and he would be sure to stir them up to
discharge them, especially in suffering cases, showing great sympathy
and compassion upon all such occasions, carefully looking into the
respective cases, and endeavouring speedy relief, according to the
nature of them. So that the churches, or any of the suffering members
thereof, were sure not to be forgotten or delayed in their desires, if
he were there.
Footnote 3:
Called the Meeting for Sufferings, and now held monthly, except
exigencies require more frequent sittings.
IX. As he was unwearied, so he was undaunted in his services for God and
his people; he was no more to be moved to fear than to wrath. His
behaviour at Derby, Lichfield, Appleby, before Oliver Cromwell, at
Launceston, Scarborough, Worcester, and Westminster-Hall, with many
other places and exercises, did abundantly evidence it to his enemies as
well as his friends.
But as in the primitive times, some rose up against the blessed apostles
of our Lord Jesus Christ, even from among those that they had turned to
the hope of the gospel, who became their greatest trouble; so this man
of God had his share of suffering from some that were convinced by him,
who through prejudice or mistake ran against him, as one that sought
dominion over conscience; because he pressed by his presence or
epistles, a ready and zealous compliance with such good and wholesome
things as tended to an orderly conversation about the affairs of the
church, and in their walking before men. That which contributed much to
this ill work, was, in some, a begrudging of this meek man the love and
esteem he had and deserved in the hearts of the people; and weakness in
others, that were taken with their groundless suggestions of imposition
and blind obedience.
They would have had every man independent; that as he had the principle
in himself, he should only stand and fall to that, and nobody else; not
considering that the principle is one in all; and though the measure of
light or grace might differ, yet the nature of it was the same; and
being so, they struck at the spiritual unity, which a people, guided by
the same principle, are naturally led into; so that what is evil to one,
is so to all, and what is virtuous, honest, and of good report to one,
is so to all, from the sense and savour of the one universal principle
which is common to all, and, which the disaffected also profess to be,
the root of all true Christian fellowship, and that Spirit into which
the people of God drink, and come to be spiritually-minded, and of one
heart and one soul.
Some weakly mistook good order in the government of church affairs, for
discipline in worship, and that it was so pressed or recommended by him
and other brethren. And they were ready to reflect the same things that
Dissenters had very reasonably objected upon the national churches, that
have coercively pressed conformity to their respective creeds and
worships. Whereas these things related wholly to conversation, and the
outward (and as I may say) civil part of the church, that men should
walk up to the principles of their belief, and not be wanting in care
and charity. But though some have stumbled and fallen through mistakes,
and an unreasonable obstinacy, even to a prejudice; yet, blessed be God,
the generality have returned to their first love, and seen the work of
the enemy, that loses no opportunity or advantage by which he may check
or hinder the work of God, disquiet the peace of his church, and chill
the love of his people to the truth and one to another; and there is
hope of divers of the few that are yet at a distance.
In all these occasions, though there was no person the discontented
struck so sharply at as this good man, he bore all their weakness and
prejudice, and returned not reflection for reflection; but forgave them
their weak and bitter speeches, praying for them that they might have a
sense of their hurt, see the subtilty of the enemy to rend and divide,
and return into their first love that thought no ill.
And truly, I must say, that though God had visibly clothed him with a
divine preference and authority, and indeed his very presence expressed
a religious majesty, yet he never abused it; but held his place in the
church of God with great meekness, and a most engaging humility and
moderation. For upon all occasions, like his blessed Master, he was a
servant to all; holding and exercising his eldership, in the invisible
power that had gathered them, with reverence to the Head and care over
the body; and was received only in that spirit and power of Christ, as
the first and chief elder in this age; who, as he was therefore worthy
of double honour, so for the same reason it was given by the faithful of
this day; because his authority was inward and not outward, and that he
got it and kept it by the love of God, and power of an endless life. I
write my knowledge and not report, and my witness is true, having been
with him for weeks and months together on divers occasions, and those of
the nearest and most exercising nature, and that by night and by day, by
sea and by land, in this and in foreign countries: and I can say I never
saw him out of his place, or not a match for every service or occasion.
For in all things he acquitted himself like a man, yea, a strong man, a
new and heavenly-minded man; a divine and a naturalist, and all of God
Almighty’s making. I have been surprised at his questions and answers in
natural things; that whilst he was ignorant of useless and sophistical
science, he had in him the foundation of useful and commendable
knowledge, and cherished it everywhere. Civil, beyond all forms of
breeding, in his behaviour; very temperate, eating little, and sleeping
less, though a bulky person.
Thus he lived and sojourned among us: and as he lived, so he died;
feeling the same eternal power, that had raised and preserved him, in
his last moments. So full of assurance was he, that he triumphed over
death; and so even in his spirit to the last, as if death were hardly
worth notice or a mention; recommending to some with him, the despatch
and dispersion of an epistle, just before written to the churches of
Christ throughout the world, and his own books; but above all, Friends,
and, of all Friends, those in Ireland and America, twice over saying,
“Mind poor Friends in Ireland and America.”
And to some that came in and inquired how he found himself, he answered,
“Never heed, the Lord’s power is over all weakness and death; the Seed
reigns, blessed be the Lord:” which was about four or five hours before
his departure out of this world. He was at the great meeting near
Lombard Street on the first day of the week, and it was the third
following, about ten at night, when he left us, being at the house of
Henry Goldney at the same court. In a good old age he went, after having
lived to see his children’s children, to many generations, in the truth.
He had the comfort of a short illness, and the blessing of a clear sense
to the last; and we may truly say, with a man of God of old, that “being
dead, he yet speaketh;” and though absent in body, he is present in
spirit; neither time nor place being able to interrupt the communion of
saints, or dissolve the fellowship of the spirits of the just. His works
praise him, because they are to the praise of Him that wrought by him;
for which his memorial is, and shall be blessed. I have done, as to this
part of my Preface, when I have left this short epitaph to his name:
“Many sons have done virtuously in this day; but, dear George, thou
excellest them all.”
And now, Friends, you that profess to walk in the way this blessed man
was sent of God to turn us into, suffer, I beseech you, the word of
exhortation, as well fathers as children, and elders as young men. The
glory of this day, and foundation of the hope that has not made us
ashamed since we were a people, you know, is that blessed principle of
Light and Life of Christ which we profess, and direct all people to, as
the great instrument and agent of man’s conversion to God. It was by
this we were first touched, and effectually enlightened as to our inward
state, which put us upon the consideration of our latter end, causing us
to set the Lord before our eyes, and to number our days, that we might
apply our hearts to wisdom. In that day we judged not after the sight of
the eye, or after the hearing of the ear; but according to the light and
sense this blessed principle gave us, we judged and acted in reference
to things and persons, ourselves and others, yea, towards God our Maker.
For being quickened by it in our inward man, we could easily discern the
difference of things; and feel what was right and what was wrong, and
what was fit and what not, both in reference to religious and civil
concerns. That being the ground of the fellowship of all saints, it was
in that our fellowship stood. In this we desired to have a sense one of
another, and acted towards one another, and all men, in love,
faithfulness, and fear.
In the feeling of the motions of this principle we drew near to the
Lord, and waited to be prepared by it, that we might feel those drawings
and movings before we approached the Lord in prayer, or opened our
mouths in ministry. And in our beginning and ending with this, stood our
comfort, service, and edification. And as we ran faster, or fell short,
we made burdens for ourselves to bear; our service finding in ourselves
a rebuke instead of an acceptance, and in lieu of “Well done,” “Who hath
required this at your hands?” In that day we were an exercised people;
our very countenances and deportment declared it.
Care for others was then much upon us, as well as for ourselves,
especially the young convinced. Often had we the burden of the word of
the Lord to our neighbours, relations, and acquaintance; and sometimes
strangers also. We were in travail for one another’s preservation; not
seeking but shunning occasions of any coldness or misunderstanding,
treating one another as those that believed and felt God present; which
kept our conversation innocent, serious, and weighty, guarding ourselves
against the cares and friendships of the world. We held the truth in the
spirit of it, and not in our own spirits, or after our own wills and
affections. These were bowed and brought into subjection, insomuch that
it was visible to them that knew us. We did not think ourselves at our
own disposal, to go where we list, or say or do what we list, or when we
list. Our liberty stood in the liberty of the Spirit of Truth; and no
pleasure, no profit, no fear, no favour, could draw us from this
retired, strict and watchful frame. We were so far from seeking
occasions of company, that, we avoided them what we could, pursuing our
own business with moderation, instead of meddling with other people’s
unnecessarily.
Our words were few and savoury, our looks composed and weighty, and our
whole deportment very observable. True it is, that this retired and
strict sort of life from the liberty of the conversation of the world,
exposed us to the censures of many, as humourists, conceited and
self-righteous persons, &c.; but it was our preservation from many
snares, to which others were continually exposed from the prevalency of
the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life, that
wanted no occasions or temptations to excite them abroad in the converse
of the world.
I cannot forget the humility and chaste zeal of that day. O how constant
at meetings, how retired in them, how firm to Truth’s life, as well as
Truth’s principles! and how entire and united in our communion, as
indeed became those that profess One Head, even Christ Jesus the Lord!
This being the testimony and example the man of God before mentioned was
sent to declare and leave amongst us, and we having embraced the same as
the merciful visitation of God to us, the word of exhortation at this
time is, that we continue to be found in the way of this testimony with
all zeal and integrity, and so much the more, by how much the day
draweth near.
And first, as to you, my beloved and much honoured brethren in Christ,
that are in the exercise of the ministry: Oh, feel Life in your
ministry! Let Life be your commission, your well-spring and treasury on
all such occasions, else, you will know, there can be no begetting to
God, since nothing can quicken or make people alive to God, but the Life
of God: and it must be a ministry in and from Life, that enlivens any
people to God. We have seen the fruit of all other ministries, by the
few that are turned from the evil of their ways. It is not our parts or
memory, the repetition of former openings in our own will and time, that
will do God’s work. A dry, doctrinal ministry, however sound in words,
can reach but the ear, and is but a dream at the best. There is another
soundness, that is soundest of all, viz., Christ the power of God. This
is the key of David, that opens and none shuts, and shuts, and none can
open; as the oil to the lamp, and the soul to the body, so is that to
the best of words: which made Christ to say, “My words they are spirit,
and they are life;” that is, they are from life and therefore they make
you alive, that receive them. If the disciples that had lived with Jesus
were to stay at Jerusalem till they received it, so must we wait to
receive before we minister, if we will turn people from darkness to
light, and from Satan’s power to God.
I fervently bow my knees to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that you may always be like-minded, that you may ever wait reverently
for the coming and opening of the Word of Life, and attend upon it in
your ministry and service, that you may serve God in his Spirit. And be
it little, or be it much, it is well; for much is not too much, and the
least is enough, if from the motion of God’s Spirit; and without it
verily, ever so little is too much, because to no profit.
For it is the spirit of the Lord immediately, or through the ministry of
his servants, that teacheth his people to profit; and to be sure, so far
as we take him along with us in our services, so far we are profitable,
and no farther. For if it be the Lord that must work all things in us,
and for our own salvation, much more is it the Lord, that must work in
us, for the conversion of others. If therefore it was once a cross to us
to speak, though the Lord required it at our hands, let it never be so
to be silent, when he does not.
It is one of the most dreadful sayings in the book of God, that “he that
adds to the words of the prophecy of this book, God will add the plagues
written in this book.” To keep back the counsel of God is as terrible;
for “he that takes away from the words of the prophecy of this book, God
shall take away his part out of the book of life.” And truly, it has
great caution in it to those that use the name of the Lord, to be well
assured that the Lord speaks, that they may not be found of the number
of those that add to the words of the testimony of prophecy, which the
Lord giveth them to bear; nor yet to mince or diminish the same, both
being so very offensive to God.
Wherefore, brethren, let us be careful neither to out-go our Guide, nor
yet loiter behind him; since he that makes haste may miss his way, and
he that stays behind, lose his Guide: for even those that have received
the word of the Lord, had need wait for wisdom, that they may see how to
divide the word aright; which plainly implieth, that it is possible for
one that hath received the word of the Lord, to miss in the division and
application of it, which must come from an impatiency of spirit, and a
self-working, which makes an unsound and dangerous mixture; and will
hardly beget a right-minded, living people to God.
I am earnest in this, above all other considerations, as to public
brethren, well knowing how much it concerns the present and future
state, and preservation of the church of Christ Jesus, that has been
gathered and built up by a living and powerful minister, that the
ministry be held, preserved, and continued in the manifestations,
motions, and supplies, of the same life and power, from time to time.
And wherever it is observed that any one does minister more from gifts
and parts than life and power, though they have an enlightened and
doctrinal understanding, let them in time be advised and admonished for
their preservation, because insensibly such will come to depend upon a
self-sufficiency; to forsake Christ the living Fountain, and to hew out
unto themselves cisterns that will hold no living waters; and by degrees
draw others from waiting upon the gift of God in themselves, and to feel
it in others, in order to their strength and refreshment, to wait upon
them, and to turn from God to man again, and so to make shipwreck of the
faith once delivered to the saints, and of a good conscience towards
God; which are only kept by that Divine gift of life, that begat the
one, and awakened and sanctified the other in the beginning.
Nor is it enough that we have known the Divine gift, and in it have
reached to the spirits in prison, and been the instruments of the
convincing of others of the way of God, if we keep not as low and poor
in ourselves, and as depending upon the Lord as ever; since no memory,
no repetitions of former openings, revelations, or enjoyments, will
bring a soul to God, or afford bread to the hungry, or water to the
thirsty, unless life go with what we say; and that must be waited for.
O that we may have no other fountain, treasury or dependence! that none
may presume at any rate to act of themselves for God; because they have
long acted from God; that we may not supply want of waiting with our own
wisdom, or think that we may take less care, and more liberty in
speaking, than formerly; and that where we do not feel the Lord by his
power to open us and enlarge us, whatever be the expectation of the
people, or has been our customary supply and character, we may not
exceed or fill up the time with our own.
I hope we shall ever remember who it was that said, “Of yourselves you
can do nothing;” our sufficiency is in Him. And if we are not to speak
our own words, or take thought what we shall say to men in our defence,
when exposed for our testimony, surely we ought to speak none of our own
words, or take thought what we shall say in our testimony and ministry
in the name of the Lord to the souls of the people; for then of all
times, and of all other occasions, should it be fulfilled in us, “for it
is not you that speak, but the Spirit of my Father that speaketh in
you.”
And indeed, the ministry of the Spirit must and does keep its analogy
and agreement with the birth of the Spirit; that as no man can inherit
the kingdom of God unless he be born of the Spirit, so no ministry can
beget a soul to God but that which is from the Spirit. For this, as I
said before, the disciples waited before they went forth; and in this
our elder brethren, and messengers of God in our day, waited, visited,
and reached to us. And having begun in the Spirit, let none ever hope or
seek to be made perfect in the flesh. For what is the flesh to the
Spirit, or the chaff to the wheat? And if we keep in the Spirit, we
shall keep in the unity of it, which is the ground of true fellowship.
For by drinking into that one Spirit, we are made one people to God, and
by it we are continued in the unity of the faith, and the bond of peace.
No envying, no bitterness, no strife, can have place with us. We shall
watch always for good, and not for evil, over one another and rejoice
exceedingly and not begrudge one another’s increase in the riches of the
grace with which God replenisheth his faithful servants.
And, brethren, as to you is committed the dispensation of the oracles of
God, which give you frequent opportunities, and great place with the
people among whom you travel, I beseech you that you would not think it
sufficient to declare the word of life in their assemblies, however
edifying and comfortable such opportunities may be to you and them. But,
as was the practice of the man of God before mentioned, in great
measure, when among us, inquire the state of the several churches you
visit; who among them are afflicted or sick, who are tempted, and if any
are unfaithful or obstinate; and endeavour to issue those things in the
wisdom and power of God, which will be a glorious crown upon your
ministry. As that prepares your way in the hearts of the people to
receive you as men of God, so it gives you credit with them to do them
good by your advice in other respects. The afflicted will be comforted
by you; the tempted, strengthened; the sick, refreshed; the unfaithful,
convicted and restored; and such as are obstinate, softened and fitted
for reconciliation: which is clenching the nail, and applying and
fastening the general testimony by that particular care of the several
branches of it, in reference to them more immediately concerned in it.
For though good and wise men, and elders too, may reside in such places,
who are of worth and importance in the general, and in other places; yet
it does not always follow, that they may have the room they deserve in
the hearts of the people they live among; or some particular occasion
may make it unfit for him or them to use that authority. But you that
travel as God’s messengers, if they receive you in the greater, shall
they refuse you in the less? And if they own the general testimony, can
they withstand the particular application of it in their own cases? Thus
ye will show yourselves workmen indeed, and carry your business before
you to the praise of His name that hath called you from darkness to
light, that you might turn others from Satan’s power unto God and his
kingdom, which is _within_. And O that there were more of such faithful
labourers in the vineyard of the Lord!—Never more need since the day of
God.
Wherefore I cannot but cry and call aloud to you, that have been long
professors of the truth, and know the truth in the convincing power of
it, and have had a sober conversation among men, yet content yourselves
only to know truth for yourselves, to go to meetings, and exercise an
ordinary charity in the church, and an honest behaviour in the world,
and limit yourselves within those bounds; feeling little or no concern
upon your spirits for the glory of the Lord in the prosperity of his
truth in the earth, more than to be glad that others succeed in such
service. Arise ye in the name and power of the Lord Jesus! Behold how
white the fields are unto harvest, in this and other nations, and how
few able and faithful labourers there are to work therein! Your country
folks, neighbours, and kindred, want to know the Lord and his truth, and
to walk in it. Does nothing lie at your door upon their account? Search
and see, and lose no time, I beseech you, for the Lord is at hand. I do
not judge you, there is one that judgeth all men, and his judgment is
true. You have mightily increased in your outward substance; may you
equally increase in your inward riches, and do good with both, while you
have a day to do good. Your enemies would once have taken what you had
from you, for his name’s sake, in whom you have believed; wherefore he
has given you much of the world in the face of your enemies. But, O let
it be your servant and not your master—your diversion rather than your
business! Let the Lord be chiefly in your eye, and ponder your ways, and
see if God has nothing more for you to do; and if you find yourselves
short in your account with him, then wait for his preparation, and be
ready to receive the word of command, and be not weary of well-doing,
when you have put your hand to the plough; and assuredly you shall reap
(if you faint not) the fruit of your heavenly labour in God’s
everlasting kingdom.
And you, young convinced ones, be you entreated, and exhorted to a
diligent and chaste waiting upon God, in the way of his blessed
manifestation and appearance of himself to you. Look not out, but
within. Let not another’s liberty be your snare. Neither act by
imitation, but sense and feeling of God’s power in yourselves. Crush not
the tender buddings of it in your souls, nor overrun in your desires,
and warmness of affections, the holy and gentle motions of it. Remember
it is a still voice that speaks to us in this day, and that it is not to
be heard in the noises and hurries of the mind; but it is distinctly
understood in a retired frame. Jesus loved and chose solitudes; often
going to mountains, to gardens, and sea-sides, to avoid crowds and
hurries, to show his disciples it was good to be solitary, and sit loose
to the world. Two enemies lie near your states, imagination and liberty;
but the plain, practical, living, holy truth, that has convinced you,
will preserve you, if you mind it in yourselves, and bring all thoughts,
imaginations, and affections to the test of it, to see if they are
wrought in God, or of the enemy, or your ownselves. So will a true
taste, discerning, and judgment, be preserved to you, of what you should
do and leave undone. And in your diligence and faithfulness in this way
you will come to inherit substance: and Christ, the eternal wisdom, will
fill your treasury. And when you are converted, as well as convinced,
then confirm your brethren, and be ready to every good word and work,
that the Lord shall call you to; that you may be to his praise, who has
chosen you to be partakers, with the saints in light, of a kingdom that
cannot be shaken, an inheritance incorruptible, in eternal habitations.
And now, as for you that are the children of God’s people, a great
concern is upon my spirit for your good; and often are my knees bowed to
the God of your fathers for you, that you may come to be partakers of
the same divine life and power, that has been the glory of this day;
that a generation you may be to God, a holy nation and a peculiar
people, zealous of good works, when all our heads are laid in the dust.
O you young men and women, let it not suffice you, that you are the
children of the people of the Lord! you must also be born again, if you
will inherit the kingdom of God. Your fathers are but such after the
flesh, and could but beget you in the likeness of the first Adam; but
you must be begotten into the likeness of the second Adam by a spiritual
generation. And therefore look carefully about you, O ye children of the
children of God! consider your standing, and see what you are in
relation to this divine kindred, family, and birth. Have you obeyed the
Light, and received and walked in the Spirit, that is the incorruptible
Seed of the Word and kingdom of God, of which you must be born again?
God is no respecter of persons. The father cannot save or answer for the
child, or the child for the father, but “in the sin thou sinnest, thou
shalt die; and in the righteousness thou doest, through Jesus Christ,
thou shalt live;” for it is the willing and obedient that shall eat the
good of the land. Be not deceived, God is not mocked; such as all
nations and people sow, such they shall reap at the hand of the just
God. And then your many and great privileges, above the children of
other people, will add weight in the scale against you, if you choose
not the way of the Lord. For you have had line upon line, and precept
upon precept, and not only good doctrine, but good example; and which is
more, you have been turned to, and acquainted with, a principle in
yourselves, which others have been ignorant of; and you know, you may be
as good as you please, without the fear of frowns and blows, or being
turned out of doors and forsaken of father and mother for God’s sake,
and his holy religion, as has been the case of some of your fathers, in
the day they first entered into this holy path. If you, after hearing
and seeing the wonders that God has wrought in the deliverance and
preservation of them, through a sea of troubles, and the manifold
temporal, as well as spiritual blessings, that he has filled them with,
in the sight of their enemies, should neglect and turn your backs upon
so great and so near a salvation, you would not only be most ungrateful
children to God and them, but must expect that God will call the
children of those that knew him not, to take the crown out of your
hands, and that your lot will be a dreadful judgment at the hand of the
Lord. But O, that it may never be so with any of you! The Lord forbid,
saith my soul.
Wherefore, O ye young men and women, look to the rock of your fathers!
choose the God of your fathers. There is no other God but he; no other
Light but his; no other grace but his, nor Spirit but his, to convince
you, quicken, and comfort you: to lead, guide, and preserve you to God’s
everlasting kingdom. So will you be possessors, as well as professors,
of the truth; embracing it not only by education, but judgment and
conviction, from a sense begotten in your souls, through the operation
of the eternal Spirit and power of God in your hearts, by which you may
come to be the seed of Abraham through faith, and the circumcision not
made with hands, and so heirs of the promise made to the fathers of an
incorruptible crown; that (as I said before) a generation you may be to
God, holding up the profession of the blessed truth in the life and
power of it. For formality in religion is nauseous to God and good men;
and the more so, where any form or appearance has been new and peculiar,
and begun and practised upon a principle, with an uncommon zeal and
strictness. Therefore, I say, for you to fall flat and formal, and
continue the profession, without that salt and savour, by which it is
come to obtain a good report among men, is not to answer God’s love, nor
your parents’ care, nor the mind of truth in yourselves, nor in those
that are without; who, though they will not obey the truth, have sight
and sense enough to see if they do, that make a profession of it. For
where the divine virtue of it is not felt in the soul, and waited for,
and lived in, imperfections will quickly break out, and show themselves,
and detect the unfaithfulness of such persons, and that their insides
are not seasoned with the nature of that holy principle which they
profess.
Wherefore, dear children, let me entreat you to shut your eyes at the
temptations and allurements of this low and perishing world, and not
suffer your affections to be captivated by those lusts and vanities that
your fathers, for truth’s sake, long since turned their backs upon. But
as you believe it to be the truth, receive it into your hearts, that you
may become the children of God; so that it may never be said of you, as
the Evangelist writes of the Jews of his time, that Christ, the true
Light, “came to his own, but his own received him not; but to as many as
received him, to them he gave power to become the children of God; which
were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will
of man, but of God.” A most close and comprehensive passage to this
occasion. You exactly and peculiarly answer to those professing Jews, in
that you bear the name of God’s people, by being the children and
wearing the form of God’s people; so that he, by his light in you, may
be said to come to his own, and if you obey it not, but turn your back
upon it, and walk after the vanities of your minds, you will be of those
that receive him not, which, I pray God, may never be your case and
judgment; but that you may be thoroughly sensible of the many and great
obligations you lie under to the Lord for his love, and to your parents
for their care; and with all your heart, and all your soul, and all your
strength, turn to the Lord, to his gift and Spirit in you, and hear his
voice, and obey it, that you may seal to the testimony of your fathers,
by the truth and evidence of your own experience; that your children’s
children may bless you, and the Lord for you, as those that delivered a
faithful example, as well as record of the truth of God unto them. So
will the grey hairs of your dear parents yet alive, go down to the grave
with joy, to see you the posterity of truth, as well as theirs, and that
not only their nature but spirit shall live in you when they are gone.
I shall conclude this Preface with a few words to those that are not of
our communion, into whose hands this may come; especially those of our
own nation.
Friends, as you are the sons and daughters of Adam, and my brethren
after the flesh, many and earnest have been my desires and prayers to
God on your behalf, that you may come to know your Creator to be your
Redeemer and Restorer to the image that, through sin, you have lost, by
the power and Spirit of his Son Jesus Christ, whom he hath given for the
light and life of the world. And O that you who are called Christians,
would receive him into your heart! for there it is you want him, and at
that door he stands knocking, that you should let him in, but you do not
open to him; you are full of other guests, so that a manger is his lot
among you now, as well as of old. Yet you are full of profession, as
were the Jews when he came among them, who knew him not, but rejected
and evilly entreated him. So that if you come not to the possession and
experience of what you profess, all your formality in religion will
stand you in no stead in the day of God’s judgment.
I beseech you ponder with yourselves your eternal condition, and see
what title, what ground and foundation you have for your Christianity;
if more than a profession, and an historical belief of the gospel. Have
you known the baptism of fire, and the Holy Ghost, and the fan of Christ
that winnows away the chaff,—the carnal lusts and affections?—that
divine leaven of the kingdom, that, being received, leavens the whole
lump of man, sanctifying him throughout, in body, soul, and spirit? If
this be not the ground of your confidence, you are in a miserable state.
You will say, perhaps, that though you are sinners, and live in the
daily commission of sin, and are not sanctified, as I have been
speaking, yet you have faith in Christ, who has borne the curse for you,
and in him you are complete by faith; his righteousness being imputed to
you.
But, my friends, let me entreat you not to deceive yourselves in so
important a point, as is that of your immortal souls. If you have _true_
faith in Christ, your faith will make you clean, it will sanctify you:
for the saints’ faith was their victory. By this they overcame sin
within, and sinful men without. And if thou art in Christ, thou walkest
not after the flesh, but after the Spirit, whose fruits are manifest.
Yea, thou art a new creature, new made, new fashioned after God’s will
and mould; old things are done away, and, behold, all things are become
new; new love, desires, will, affections, and practices. It is not any
longer thou that livest, thou disobedient, carnal, worldly one; but it
is Christ that liveth in thee; and to live is Christ, and to die is thy
eternal gain; because thou art assured, that “thy corruptible shall put
on incorruption, and thy mortal immortality:” and that thou hast a
glorious house, eternal in the heavens, that will never wax old or pass
away. All this follows being in Christ, as the sensation of heat follows
fire, and light the sun.
Therefore have a care how you presume to rely upon such a notion, as
that you are in Christ, whilst in your old fallen nature. For what
communion hath light with darkness, or Christ with Belial? Hear what the
beloved disciple tells you; “If we say we have fellowship with God, and
walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth.” That is, if we go on in
a sinful way, are captivated by our carnal affections, and are not
converted to God, we walk in darkness, and cannot possibly have any
fellowship with God. Christ clothes them with his righteousness, that
receive his grace in their hearts, and deny themselves, and take up his
cross daily, and follow him. Christ’s righteousness makes men inwardly
holy, of holy minds, wills, and practices. It is nevertheless Christ’s,
because we have it; for it is ours, not by nature, but by faith and
adoption. It is the gift of God. But still, though not ours, as of or
from ourselves, for in that sense it is Christ’s, for it is of and from
him; yet it is ours, and must be ours in possession, efficacy, and
enjoyment, to do us any good, or Christ’s righteousness will profit us
nothing. It was after this manner, that he was made to the primitive
Christians, righteousness, sanctification, justification, and
redemption; and if ever you will have the comfort, kernel, and marrow of
the Christian religion, thus you must come to learn and obtain it.
Now, my friends, by what you have read, and will read in what follows,
you may perceive that God has visited a poor people among you with this
saving knowledge and testimony; whom he has upheld and increased to this
day, notwithstanding the fierce opposition they have met withal. Despise
not the meanness of this appearance; it was, and yet is (we know) a day
of small things, and of small account with too many; and many hard and
ill names are given to it; but it is of God; it came from Him because it
leads to Him. This we know, but we cannot make another know it, as we
know it, unless he will take the same way to know it that we took. The
world talks of God; but what do they do? They pray for power, but reject
the principle in which it is. If you would know God, and worship and
serve God as you should do, you must come to the means he has ordained
and given for that purpose. Some seek it in books, some in learned men,
but what they look for is _in themselves_, yet they overlook it. The
voice is too still, the Seed too small, and the Light shineth in
darkness. They are abroad, and so cannot divide the spoil; but the woman
that lost her silver, found it at home, after she had lighted her candle
and swept her house. Do you so too, and you shall find what Pilate
wanted to know, viz., Truth.
The Light of Christ within, who is the Light of the world (and so a
light to you, that tells you the truth of your condition), leads all
that take heed unto it, out of darkness into God’s marvellous light; for
light grows upon the obedient. It is sown for the righteous, and their
way is a shining light, that shines forth more and more to the perfect
day.
Wherefore, O friends, turn in, turn in, I beseech you! Where is the
poison, there is the antidote; there you want Christ, and there you must
find him; and, blessed be God, there you may find him. “Seek and you
shall find,” I testify for God; but then you must seek aright, with your
whole heart, as men that seek for their lives, yea, for their eternal
lives; diligently, humbly, patiently, as those that can taste no
pleasure, comfort, or satisfaction in anything else, unless you find him
whom your souls want, and desire to know and love above all. O, it is a
travail, a spiritual travail! let the carnal, profane world think and
say as it will. And through this path you must walk to the city of God,
that has eternal foundations, if ever you will come there.
And what does this blessed Light do for you? 1. It sets all your sins in
order before you; it detects the spirit of this world in all its baits
and allurements, and shows how man came to fall from God, and the fallen
estate he is in. 2. It begets a sense and sorrow, in such as believe in
it, for this fearful lapse. You will then see Him distinctly whom you
have pierced, and all the blows and wounds you have given him by your
disobedience; and how you have made him to serve with your sins, and you
will weep and mourn for it, and your sorrow will be a godly sorrow. 3.
After this it will bring you to the holy watch, to take care that you do
so no more, that the enemy surprise you not again. Then thoughts as well
as words and works, will come to judgment, which is the way of holiness,
in which the redeemed of the Lord do walk. Here you will come to love
God above all, and your neighbours as yourselves. Nothing hurts, nothing
harms, nothing makes afraid on this holy mountain; now you come to be
Christ’s indeed, for you are his in nature and spirit, and not your own.
And when you are thus Christ’s, then Christ is yours, and not before;
and here communion with the Father and with the Son you will know, and
the efficacy of the blood of cleansing, even the blood of Jesus Christ,
that immaculate Lamb, which speaketh better things than the blood of
Abel, and which cleanseth from all sin the consciences of those that,
through the living faith, come to be sprinkled with it from dead works
to serve the living God.
To conclude; behold the testimony and doctrine of the people called
Quakers! Behold their practice and discipline! and behold the blessed
man and men that were sent of God in this excellent work and service!
all which will be more particularly expressed in the ensuing annals of
the man of God; which I do heartily recommend to my reader’s most
serious perusal, and beseech Almighty God, that his blessing may go
along with it, to the convincing of many, as yet strangers to this holy
dispensation, and also to the edification of the church of God in
general; who, for his manifold and repeated mercies and blessings to his
people, in this day of his great love, is worthy ever to have the glory,
honour, thanksgiving, and renown; and be it rendered and ascribed, with
fear and reverence, through Him in whom he is well pleased, his beloved
Son and Lamb, our Light and Life, that sits with him upon the throne,
world without end. Amen,
Says one whom God has long since mercifully favoured with his fatherly
visitation, and who was not disobedient to the heavenly vision and
call; to whom the way of Truth is more lovely and precious than
ever, and who knowing the beauty and benefit of it above all worldly
treasure, has chosen it for his chiefest joy; and therefore
recommends it to thy love and choice, because he is with great
sincerity and affection thy soul’s friend,
WILLIAM PENN.
-------------------------------------------
[For the testimonies respecting George Fox, which were here inserted in
former editions of this work, see Appendix at the conclusion of Vol.
II.]
JOURNAL OF GEORGE FOX.
---------------------
CHAPTER I.
1624-1647.—George Fox’s birth and parentage—his gravity and piety in
youth. Apprenticed to a shoemaker, who is also a grazier, &c.—his
integrity in dealing. Refuses to drink healths—his exercises of mind
commence—he lives retired—is tempted to despair. His sorrows
continue for some years—has a sense of Christ’s sufferings. Confutes
a people who held women to be devoid of souls—begins to travel on
Truth’s account—meets with Elizabeth Hooton—fasts often, and retires
to solitary places with his Bible—his exercises intermit. Sees why
none but Christ could speak to his condition. Visits a woman who had
fasted twenty-two days—first declares the Truth at Dukinfield and
Manchester. Preaches at a great meeting at Broughton. His troubles
wear off, and he weeps for joy—sees things which cannot be
uttered—is reported to have a discerning spirit—overcomes his
temptations through the power of Christ.
That all may know the dealings of the Lord with me, and the various
exercises, trials, and troubles through which he led me, in order to
prepare and fit me for the work unto which he had appointed me, and may
thereby be drawn to admire and glorify his infinite wisdom and goodness,
I think fit (before I proceed to set forth my public travels in the
service of Truth), briefly to mention how it was with me in my youth,
and how the work of the Lord was begun, and gradually carried on in me,
even from my childhood.
I was born in the month called July, 1624, at DRAYTON-IN-THE-CLAY, in
LEICESTERSHIRE. My father’s name was Christopher Fox: he was by
profession a weaver, an honest man; and there was a seed of God in him.
The neighbours called him Righteous Christer. My mother was an upright
woman; her maiden name was Mary Lago, of the family of the Lagos, and of
the stock of the martyrs.
In my very young years I had a gravity and stayedness of mind and
spirit, not usual in children; insomuch, that when I saw old men behave
lightly and wantonly towards each other, I had a dislike thereof raised
in my heart, and said within myself, “If ever I come to be a man, surely
I shall not do so, nor be so wanton.”
When I came to eleven years of age, I knew pureness and righteousness;
for while a child I was taught how to walk to be kept pure. The Lord
taught me to be faithful in all things, and to act faithfully two ways,
viz., inwardly to God, and outwardly to man; and to keep to Yea and Nay
in all things. For the Lord showed me, that though the people of the
world have mouths full of deceit, and changeable words, yet I was to
keep to Yea and Nay in all things; and that my words should be few and
savoury, seasoned with grace; and that I might not eat and drink to make
myself wanton, but for health, using the creatures in their service, as
servants in their places, to the glory of Him that created them; they
being in their covenant, and I being brought up into the covenant, as
sanctified by the Word which was in the beginning, by which all things
are upheld; wherein is unity with the creation.
But people being strangers to the covenant of life with God, they eat
and drink to make themselves wanton with the creatures, wasting them
upon their own lusts, and living in all filthiness, loving foul ways,
and devouring the creation; and all this in the world, in the pollutions
thereof, without God: therefore I was to shun all such.
Afterwards, as I grew up, my relations thought to make me a priest; but
others persuaded to the contrary: whereupon I was put to a man, a
shoemaker by trade, but who dealt in wool, and was a grazier, and sold
cattle; and a great deal went through my hands. While I was with him, he
was blessed; but after I left him he broke, and came to nothing. I never
wronged man or woman in all that time; for the Lord’s power was with me,
and over me to preserve me. While I was in that service, I used in my
dealings the word Verily, and it was a common saying among people that
knew me, “If George says Verily, there is no altering him.” When boys
and rude people would laugh at me, I let them alone, and went my way;
but people had generally a love to me for my innocency and honesty.
When I came towards nineteen years of age, being upon business at a
fair, one of my cousins, whose name was Bradford, a professor, and
having another professor with him, came to me and asked me to drink part
of a jug of beer with them, and I, being thirsty, went in with them; for
I loved any that had a sense of good, or that sought after the Lord.
When we had drunk each a glass, they began to drink healths, calling for
more, and agreeing together, that he that would not drink should pay
all. I was grieved that any who made profession of religion, should do
so. They grieved me very much, having never had such a thing put to me
before, by any sort of people; wherefore I rose up to go, and putting my
hand into my pocket, laid a groat on the table before them, and said,
“If it be so, I will leave you.” So I went away; and when I had done
what business I had to do, I returned home, but did not go to bed that
night, nor could I sleep, but sometimes walked up and down, and
sometimes prayed and cried to the Lord, who said unto me, “Thou seest
how young people go together into vanity, and old people into the earth;
thou must forsake all, both young and old, and keep out of all, and be
as a stranger unto all.”
Then at the command of God, on the ninth day of the seventh month, 1643,
I left my relations, and broke off all familiarity or fellowship with
old or young. I passed to LUTTERWORTH, where I stayed some time; and
thence to NORTHAMPTON, where also I made some stay: then to
NEWPORT-PAGNELL, whence, after I had stayed a while, I went to BARNET,
in the fourth month, called June,[4] in 1644. As I thus travelled
through the country, professors took notice and sought to be acquainted
with me; but I was afraid of them, for I was sensible they did not
possess what they professed.
Footnote 4:
Old Style.
Now during the time that I was at BARNET, a strong temptation to despair
came upon me. Then I saw how Christ was tempted, and mighty troubles I
was in; sometimes I kept myself retired in my chamber, and often walked
solitary in the chace, to wait upon the Lord. I wondered why these
things should come to me; and I looked upon myself and said, “Was I ever
so before?” Then I thought, because I had forsaken my relations, I had
done amiss against them; so I was brought to call to my mind all the
time that I had spent, and to consider whether I had wronged any. But
temptations grew more and more, and I was tempted almost to despair; and
when Satan could not effect his design upon me that way, he laid snares
for me, and baits to draw me to commit some sin, whereby he might take
advantage to bring me to despair. I was about twenty years of age when
these exercises came upon me; and I continued in that condition some
years, in great trouble, and fain would have put it from me. I went to
many a priest to look for comfort, but found no comfort from them.
From BARNET I went to LONDON, where I took a lodging, and was under
great misery and trouble there; for I looked upon the great professors
of the city, and I saw all was dark and under the chain of darkness. I
had an uncle there, one Pickering, a Baptist (and they were tender
then,) yet I could not impart my mind to him, nor join with them; for I
saw all, young and old, where they were. Some tender people would have
had me stay, but I was fearful, and returned homewards into
LEICESTERSHIRE again, having a regard upon my mind unto my parents and
relations, lest I should grieve them; who, I understood, were troubled
at my absence.
When I was come down into Leicestershire, my relations would have had me
marry, but I told them I was but a lad, and I must get wisdom. Others
would have had me into the auxiliary band among the soldiery, but I
refused; and I was grieved that they proffered such things to me, being
a tender youth. Then I went to COVENTRY, where I took a chamber for a
while at a professor’s house, till people began to be acquainted with
me; for there were many tender people in that town. After some time I
went into my own country again, and was there about a year, in great
sorrows and troubles, and walked many nights by myself.
Then the priest of DRAYTON, the town of my birth, whose name was
Nathaniel Stevens, came often to me, and I went often to him; and
another priest sometimes came with him; and they would give place to me
to hear me, and I would ask them questions, and reason with them. And
this priest Stevens asked me a question, viz., Why Christ cried out upon
the cross, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” and why he said,
“If it be possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not my will, but
thine be done?” I told him that at that time the sins of all mankind
were upon Him, and their iniquities and transgressions with which He was
wounded, which He was to bear, and to be an offering for, as He was man,
but He died not as He was God; and so, in that He died for all men, and
tasted death for every man, He was an offering for the sins of the whole
world. This I spoke, being at that time in a measure sensible of
Christ’s sufferings, and what He went through. And the priest said, “It
was a very good, full answer, and such a one as he had not heard.” At
that time he would applaud and speak highly of me to others; and what I
said in discourse to him on the week-days, he would preach on the
first-days; for which I did not like him. This priest afterwards became
my great persecutor.
After this I went to another ancient priest at MANCETTER, in
Warwickshire, and reasoned with him about the ground of despair and
temptations; but he was ignorant of my condition; he bade me take
tobacco and sing psalms. Tobacco was a thing I did not love, and psalms
I was not in a state to sing; I could not sing. Then he bid me come
again, and he would tell me many things; but when I came he was angry
and pettish, for my former words had displeased him. He told my
troubles, sorrows, and griefs to his servants; which grieved me that I
had opened my mind to such a one. I saw they were all miserable
comforters; and this brought my troubles more upon me. Then I heard of a
priest living about TAMWORTH, who was accounted an experienced man, and
I went seven miles to him; but I found him only like an empty hollow
cask. I heard also of one called Dr. Cradock, of COVENTRY, and went to
him. I asked him the ground of temptations and despair, and how troubles
came to be wrought in man? He asked me, Who was Christ’s father and
mother? I told him, Mary was his mother, and that he was supposed to be
the son of Joseph, but he was the Son of God. Now, as we were walking
together in his garden, the alley being narrow, I chanced, in turning,
to set my foot on the side of a bed, at which the man was in a rage, as
if his house had been on fire. Thus all our discourse was lost, and I
went away in sorrow, worse than I was when I came. I thought them
miserable comforters, and saw they were all as nothing to me; for they
could not reach my condition. After this I went to another, one Macham,
a priest in high account. He would needs give me some physic, and I was
to have been let blood; but they could not get one drop of blood from
me, either in arms or head (though they endeavoured to do so,) my body
being as it were, dried up with sorrows, grief and troubles, which were
so great upon me that I could have wished I had never been born, or that
I had been born blind, that I might never have seen wickedness or
vanity; and deaf, that I might never have heard vain and wicked words,
or the Lord’s name blasphemed. When the time called Christmas came,
while others were feasting and sporting themselves, I looked out poor
widows from house to house, and gave them some money. When I was invited
to marriages (as I sometimes was,) I went to none at all, but the next
day, or soon after, I would go and visit them; and if they were poor, I
gave them some money; for I had wherewith both to keep myself from being
chargeable to others, and to administer something to the necessities of
those who were in need.
About the beginning of the year 1646, as I was going to COVENTRY, and
approaching towards the gate, a consideration arose in me, how it was
said that “all Christians are believers, both Protestants and Papists;”
and the Lord opened to me that, if all were believers, then they were
all born of God, and passed from death to life, and that none were true
believers but such; and though others said they were believers, yet they
were not. At another time, as I was walking in a field on a first-day
morning, the Lord opened to me, “that being bred at Oxford or Cambridge
was not enough to fit and qualify men to be ministers of Christ;” and I
wondered at it, because it was the common belief of people. But I saw it
clearly as the Lord opened it to me, and was satisfied, and admired the
goodness of the Lord who had opened this thing unto me that morning.
This struck at priest Stevens’ ministry, namely, “that to be bred at
Oxford or Cambridge was not enough to make a man fit to be a minister of
Christ.” So that which opened in me, I saw struck at the priest’s
ministry. But my relations were much troubled that I would not go with
them to hear the priest; for I would get into the orchards, or the
fields, with my Bible by myself. I asked them, Did not the apostle say
to believers, that “they needed no man to teach them, but as the
anointing teacheth them?” And though they knew this was Scripture, and
that it was true, yet they were grieved because I could not be subject
in this matter, to go to hear the priest with them. I saw that to be a
true believer was another thing than they looked upon it to be; and I
saw that being bred at Oxford or Cambridge did not qualify or fit a man
to be a minister of Christ: what then should I follow such for? So
neither these, nor any of the Dissenting people, could I join with, but
was as a stranger to all, relying wholly upon the Lord Jesus Christ.
At another time it was opened in me, “That God, who made the world, did
not dwell in temples made with hands.” This at first seemed a strange
word, because both priests and people used to call their temples or
churches, dreadful places, holy ground, and the temples of God. But the
Lord showed me clearly, that he did not dwell in these temples which men
had commanded and set up, but in people’s hearts: for both Stephen and
the apostle Paul bore testimony, that he did not dwell in temples made
with hands, not even in that which he had once commanded to be built,
since he put an end to it; but that his people were his temple, and he
dwelt in them. This opened in me as I walked in the fields to my
relations’ house. When I came there, they told me that Nathaniel
Stevens, the priest, had been there, and told them “he was afraid of me,
for going after new lights.” I smiled in myself, knowing what the Lord
had opened in me concerning him and his brethren; but I told not my
relations, who though they saw beyond the priests, yet they went to hear
them, and were grieved because I would not go also. But I brought them
Scriptures, and told them, there was an anointing within man to teach
him, and that the Lord would teach his people himself. I had also great
openings concerning the things written in the Revelations; and when I
spoke of them, the priests and professors would say that was a sealed
book, and would have kept me out of it: but I told them, Christ could
open the seals, and that they were the nearest things to us; for the
Epistles were written to the saints that lived in former ages, but the
Revelations were written of things to come.
After this, I met with a sort of people that held women have no souls,
(adding in a light manner,) no more than a goose. But I reproved them,
and told them that was not right; for Mary said, “My soul doth magnify
the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.”
Removing to another place, I came among a people that relied much on
dreams. I told them, except they could distinguish between dream and
dream, they would confound all together; for there were three sorts of
dreams; multitude of business sometimes caused dreams; and there were
whisperings of Satan in man in the night-season; and there were
speakings of God to man in dreams. But these people came out of these
things, and at last became Friends.
Now though I had great openings, yet great trouble and temptation came
many times upon me; so that when it was day, I wished for night, and
when it was night, I wished for day: and by reason of the openings I had
in my troubles, I could say as David said, “Day unto day uttereth
speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge.” When I had openings,
they answered one another, and answered the Scriptures; for I had great
openings of the Scriptures: and when I was in troubles, one trouble also
answered to another.
About the beginning of the year 1647, I was moved of the Lord to go into
DERBYSHIRE, where I met with some friendly people, and had many
discourses with them. Then passing further into the PEAK-COUNTRY, I met
with more friendly people, and with some in empty, high notions.
Travelling on through some parts of LEICESTERSHIRE and into
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE, I met with a tender people, and a very tender woman,
whose name was Elizabeth Hooton;[5] and with these I had some meetings
and discourses. But my troubles continued, and I was often under great
temptations; I fasted much, and walked abroad in solitary places many
days, and often took my Bible, and went and sat in hollow trees and
lonesome places till night came on; and frequently, in the night, walked
mournfully about by myself: for I was a man of sorrows in the times of
the first workings of the Lord in me.
Footnote 5:
Elizabeth Hooton was born at Nottingham about the year 1600; was the
wife of a person who occupied a respectable position in society. In
1647, when George Fox first met with her, she formed one of a company
of serious persons, who occasionally met together. Little is known of
her, but “the meetings and discourses” she had with George Fox appear
to have been the means of convincing her of the spiritual views of
Friends. Sewell says in 1650—“From a true experience of the Lord’s
work in man, she felt herself moved publicly to preach the way of
salvation to others.” She was therefore not only the first of her sex,
but the second individual who appeared in the character of a minister
amongst the newly-gathered society. The preaching of women was not at
this period considered singular, several being thus engaged among the
various religious sects then in England. Elizabeth Hooton had not long
publicly testified as a minister, before her sincerity and
faithfulness were tested by persecution. Besides suffering in other
ways, she endured several imprisonments, sometimes for months
together. As a gospel minister, she stood high in the estimation of
her friends, and in advanced life performed two religious visits to
America and the West Indies, the latter of which occupied her several
years. She was one who travelled with George Fox amongst the West
India Islands, as related elsewhere in these volumes, being suddenly
taken ill in Jamaica, where she died the day following, aged about 71
years, a minister 21 years.
During all this time I was never joined in profession of religion with
any, but gave myself up to the Lord, having forsaken all evil company,
and taken leave of father and mother, and all other relations, and
travelled up and down as a stranger in the earth, which way the Lord
inclined my heart; taking a chamber to myself in the town where I came,
and tarrying sometimes a month, more or less, in a place; for I durst
not stay long in any place, being afraid both of professor and profane,
lest, being a tender young man, I should be hurt by conversing much with
either. For which reason I kept myself much as a stranger, seeking
heavenly wisdom and getting knowledge from the Lord; and was brought off
from outward things, to rely wholly on the Lord alone. Though my
exercises and troubles were very great, yet were they not so continual
but that I had some intermissions, and was sometimes brought into such a
heavenly joy, that I thought I had been in Abraham’s bosom. As I cannot
declare the misery I was in, it was so great and heavy upon me; so
neither can I set forth the mercies of God unto me in all my misery. O,
the everlasting love of God to my soul, when I was in great distress!
when my troubles and torments were great, then was his love exceedingly
great. “Thou, Lord, makest a fruitful field a barren wilderness, and a
barren wilderness a fruitful field; thou bringest down and settest up;
thou killest and makest alive; all honour and glory be to thee, O Lord
of glory; the knowledge of thee in the Spirit, is life; but that
knowledge which is fleshly, works death.” While there is this knowledge
in the flesh, deceit and self-will conform to anything, and will say
yes, yes, to that it doth not know. The knowledge which the world hath
of what the prophets and apostles spoke, is a fleshly knowledge; and the
apostates from the life, in which the prophets and apostles were, have
gotten their words, the Holy Scriptures, in a form, but not in their
life nor Spirit that gave them forth. So they all lie in confusion, and
are making provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof; but not
to fulfil the law and command of Christ in his power and Spirit: this,
they say, they cannot do; but to fulfil the lusts of the flesh, that
they can do with delight.
Now after I had received that opening from the Lord, that “to be bred at
Oxford or Cambridge was not sufficient to fit a man to be a minister of
Christ,” I regarded the priests less, and looked more after the
Dissenting people. Among them I saw there was some tenderness; and many
of them came afterwards to be convinced, for they had some openings. But
as I had forsaken the priests, so I left the separate preachers also,
and those esteemed the most experienced people; for I saw there was none
among them all that could speak to my condition. When all my hopes in
them and in all men were gone, so that I had nothing outwardly to help
me, nor could I tell what to do; then, O! then I heard a voice which
said, “There is one, even Christ Jesus, that can speak to thy
condition;” and when I heard it, my heart did leap for joy. Then the
Lord let me see why there was none upon the earth that could speak to my
condition, namely, that I might give him all the glory; for all are
concluded under sin, and shut up in unbelief, as I had been, that Jesus
Christ might have the pre-eminence, who enlightens, and gives grace, and
faith, and power. Thus when God doth work, who shall hinder it? and this
I knew experimentally. My desires after the Lord grew stronger, and zeal
in the pure knowledge of God, and of Christ alone, without the help of
any man, book, or writing. For though I read the Scriptures that spoke
of Christ and of God; yet I knew him not, but by revelation, as he who
hath the key did open, and as the Father of Life drew me to his Son by
his Spirit. Then the Lord gently led me along, and let me see his love,
which was endless and eternal, surpassing all the knowledge that men
have in the natural state, or can obtain from history or books; and that
love let me see myself, as I was without him. I was afraid of all
company, for I saw them perfectly where they were, through the love of
God, which let me see myself. I had not fellowship with any people,
priests, or professors, or any sort of separated people, but with
Christ, who hath the key, and opened the door of Light and Life unto me.
I was afraid of all carnal talk and talkers, for I could see nothing but
corruptions, and the life lay under the burthen of corruptions. When I
myself was in the deep, shut up under all, I could not believe that I
should ever overcome; my troubles, my sorrows, and my temptations were
so great, that I thought many times I should have despaired, I was so
tempted. But when Christ opened to me, how he was tempted by the same
devil, and overcame him and bruised his head, and that through him and
his power, light, grace, and Spirit, I should overcome also, I had
confidence in him; so he it was that opened to me, when I was shut up,
and had no hope nor faith. Christ, who had enlightened me, gave me his
light to believe in; he gave me hope, which he himself revealed in me,
and he gave me his Spirit and grace, which I found sufficient in the
deeps and in weakness. Thus, in the deepest miseries, and in the
greatest sorrows and temptations, that many times beset me, the Lord in
his mercy did keep me. I found that there were two thirsts in me; the
one after the creatures, to get help and strength there; and the other
after the Lord, the Creator, and his Son Jesus Christ. I saw all the
world could do me no good; if I had had a king’s diet, palace, and
attendance, all would have been as nothing; for nothing gave me comfort,
but the Lord by his power. I saw professors, priests, and people, were
whole and at ease in that condition which was my misery; and they loved
that which I would have been rid of. But the Lord stayed my desires upon
himself, from whom came my help, and my care was cast upon him alone.
Therefore, all wait patiently upon the Lord, whatsoever condition you be
in; wait in the grace and truth that comes by Jesus: for if ye so do,
there is a promise to you, and the Lord God will fulfil it in you.
Blessed are all they that do indeed hunger and thirst after
righteousness, they shall be satisfied with it. I have found it so,
praised be the Lord who filleth with it, and satisfieth the desires of
the hungry soul. O let the house of the spiritual Israel say, “His mercy
endureth for ever!” It is the great love of God to make a wilderness of
that which is pleasant to the outward eye and fleshly mind; and to make
a fruitful field of a barren wilderness. This is the great work of God.
But while people’s minds run in the earthly, after the creatures and
changeable things, changeable ways and religions, and changeable,
uncertain teachers, their minds are in bondage, they are brittle and
changeable, tossed up and down with windy doctrines and thoughts, and
notions and things; their minds being out of the unchangeable truth in
the inward parts, the Light of Jesus Christ, which would keep them to
the unchangeable. He is the way to the Father; and in all my troubles he
preserved me by his Spirit and power; praised be his holy name for ever!
Again I heard a voice which said, “Thou serpent! thou dost seek to
destroy the life, but canst not; for the sword which keepeth the tree of
life shall destroy thee.” So Christ, the Word of God, that bruised the
head of the serpent, the destroyer, preserved me; my inward mind being
joined to his good Seed, that bruised the head of this serpent, the
destroyer. This inward life sprung up in me, to answer all the opposing
professors and priests, and brought Scriptures to my memory to refute
them with.
At another time I saw the great love of God, and I was filled with
admiration at the infinitude of it; I saw what was cast out from God,
and what entered into God’s kingdom; and how by Jesus, the opener of the
door, with his heavenly key, the entrance was given; and I saw death,
how it had passed upon all men, and oppressed the seed of God, in man,
and in me; and how I in the seed came forth, and what the promise was
to. Yet it was so with me, that there seemed to be two pleading in me;
questionings arose in my mind about gifts and prophecies; and I was
tempted again to despair, as if I had sinned against the Holy Ghost. I
was in great perplexity and trouble for many days; yet I gave up myself
to the Lord still.
One day when I had been walking solitarily abroad, and was come home, I
was wrapped up in the love of God, so that I could not but admire the
greatness of his love. While I was in that condition it was opened unto
me by the eternal Light and Power, and I saw clearly therein, “that all
was done, and to be done, in and by Christ; and how he conquers and
destroys this tempter, the Devil, and all his works, and is above him;
and that all these troubles were good for me, and temptations for the
trial of my faith, which Christ had given me.” The Lord opened me, that
I saw through all these troubles and temptations; my living faith was
raised, that I saw all was done by Christ, the Life, and my belief was
in Him. When at any time my condition was veiled, my secret belief was
stayed firm, and hope underneath held me, as an anchor in the bottom of
the sea, and anchored my immortal soul to its Bishop, causing it to swim
above the sea, the world, where all the raging waves, foul weather,
tempests, and temptations are. But, O! then did I see my troubles,
trials, and temptations more clearly than ever I had done. As the light
appeared, all appeared that is out of the light; darkness, death,
temptations, the unrighteous, the ungodly; all was manifest and seen in
the light. After this, a pure fire appeared in me: then I saw how he sat
as a refiner’s fire and as fullers’ soap;—then the spiritual discerning
came into me, by which I did discern my own thoughts, groans, and sighs;
and what it was that veiled me, and what it was that opened me. That
which could not abide in the patience, nor endure the fire, in the light
I found it to be the groans of the flesh, that could not give up to the
will of God, which had veiled me; and that could not be patient in all
trials, troubles, and perplexities;—could not give up self to die by the
cross, the power of God, that the living and quickened might follow him;
and that that which would cloud and veil from the presence of
Christ—that which the sword of the Spirit cuts down, and which must die,
might not be kept alive. I discerned also the groans of the Spirit,
which opened me, and made intercession to God; in which Spirit is the
true waiting upon God, for the redemption of the body and of the whole
creation. By this Spirit, in which the true sighing is, I saw over the
false sighings and groanings. By this invisible Spirit I discerned all
the false hearing, the false seeing, and the false smelling which was
above the Spirit, quenching and grieving it; and that all they that were
there, were in confusion and deceit, where the false asking and praying
is, in deceit, in that nature and tongue that takes God’s holy name in
vain, wallows in the Egyptian sea, and asketh, but hath not; for they
hate his light and resist the Holy Ghost; turn grace into wantonness,
and rebel against the Spirit; and are erred from the faith they should
ask in, and from the Spirit they should pray by. He that knoweth these
things in the true Spirit, can witness them. The divine light of Christ
manifesteth all things; the spiritual fire trieth all things, and
severeth all things. Several things did I then see as the Lord opened
them to me; for he showed me that which can live in his holy refining
fire, and that can live to God under his law. He made me sensible how
the law and the prophets were until John; and how the least in the
everlasting kingdom of God is greater than John.
The pure and perfect law of God is over the flesh, to keep it and its
works, which are not perfect, under, by the perfect law; and the law of
God that is perfect, answers the perfect principle of God in every one.
This law the Jews, and the prophets, and John were to perform and do.
None know the giver of this law but by the Spirit of God; neither can
any truly read it, or hear its voice, but by the Spirit of God; he that
can receive it, let him. John, who was the greatest prophet that was
born of a woman, did bear witness to the light, which Christ, the great
heavenly prophet, hath enlightened every man that cometh into the world
withal; that they might believe in it, and become the children of light,
and so have the light of life, and not come into condemnation. For the
true belief stands in the light that condemns all evil, and the Devil,
who is the prince of darkness, and would draw out of the light into
condemnation. They that walk in this light, come to the mountain of the
house of God, established above all mountains, and to God’s teaching,
who will teach them his ways. These things were opened to me in the
light.
I saw also the mountains burning up, and the rubbish; the rough and
crooked ways and places, made smooth and plain, that the Lord might come
into his tabernacle. These things are to be found in man’s heart. But to
speak of these things being within, seemed strange to the rough, and
crooked, and mountainous ones. Yet the Lord saith, “O Earth, hear the
word of the Lord!” The law of the Spirit crosseth the fleshly mind,
spirit, and will, which lives in disobedience, and doth not keep within
the law of the Spirit. I saw this law was the pure love of God, which
was upon me, and which I must go through though I was troubled while I
was under it; for I could not be dead to the law, but through the law
which did judge and condemn that which is to be condemned. I saw many
talked of the law, who had never known the law to be their schoolmaster;
and many talked of the gospel of Christ, who had never known life and
immortality brought to light in them by it. You that have been under
that schoolmaster, and the condemnation of it, know these things; for
though the Lord in that day opened these things unto me in secret, they
have since been published by his eternal Spirit, as on the house top.
And as you are brought into the law, and through the law to be dead to
it, and witness the righteousness of the law fulfilled in you, you will
afterwards come to know what it is to be brought into the faith, and
through faith from under the law; and abiding in the faith, which Christ
is the author of, you will have peace and access to God. But if ye look
out from the faith, and from that which would keep you in the victory,
and look after fleshly things or words, you will be brought into bondage
to flesh again, and to the law, which takes hold upon the flesh and sin,
and worketh wrath, and the works of the flesh will appear again. The law
of God takes hold upon the law of sin and death; but the law of faith,
or the law of the Spirit of life, which is the love of God, and which
comes by Jesus (who is the end of the law for righteousness’ sake,)
makes free from the law of sin and death. This law of life
fleshly-minded men do not know; yet they will tempt you, to draw you
from the Spirit into the flesh, and so into bondage.
Therefore ye, who know the love of God, and the law of his Spirit, and
the freedom that is in Jesus Christ, stand fast in him, in that divine
faith which he is the author of in you; and be not entangled with the
yoke of bondage. For the ministry of Christ Jesus, and his teaching,
bring into liberty and freedom; but the ministry that is of man, and by
man, and which stands in the will of man, bringeth into bondage, and
under the shadow of death and darkness. Therefore none can be ministers
of Christ Jesus but in the eternal Spirit, which was before the
Scriptures were given forth; for if they have not his Spirit, they are
none of his. Though they may have his light to condemn them that hate
it, yet they can never bring any into unity and fellowship in the
Spirit, except they be in it; for the Seed of God is a burdensome stone
to the selfish, fleshly, earthly will, which reigns in its own knowledge
and understanding that must perish, and in its wisdom that is devilish.
And the Spirit of God is grieved, and vexed, and quenched with that
which brings into the fleshly bondage; and that which wars against the
Spirit of God, must be mortified by it; for the flesh lusteth against
the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the
one to the other. The flesh would have its liberty, and the Spirit would
have its liberty; but the Spirit is to have its liberty and not the
flesh. If therefore ye quench the Spirit, and join to the flesh, and be
servants of it, then ye are judged and tormented by the Spirit; but if
ye join to the Spirit and serve God in it, ye have liberty and victory
over the flesh and its works. Therefore keep in the daily cross, the
power of God, by which you may witness all that to be crucified which is
contrary to the will of God, and which shall not come into his kingdom.
These things are here mentioned and opened for information, exhortation,
and comfort to others, as the Lord opened them unto me in that day. In
that day I wondered that the children of Israel should murmur for water
and victuals, for I could have fasted long without murmuring or minding
victuals. But I was judged at other times, that I was not contented to
be sometimes without the water and bread of life, that I might learn to
know how to want, and how to abound.
I heard of a woman in LANCASHIRE, that had fasted two and twenty days,
and I travelled to see her; but when I came to her I saw that she was
under a temptation. When I had spoken to her what I had from the Lord, I
left her, her father being one high in profession. Passing on, I went
among the professors at DUKINFIELD and MANCHESTER, where I stayed a
while, and declared truth among them. There were some convinced, who
received the Lord’s teaching, by which they were confirmed and stood in
the truth. But the professors were in a rage, all pleading for sin and
imperfection, and could not endure to hear talk of perfection, and of a
holy and sinless life. But the Lord’s power was over all; though they
were chained under darkness and sin, which they pleaded for, and
quenched the tender thing in them.
About this time there was a great meeting of the Baptists, at BROUGHTON,
in Leicestershire, with some that had separated from them; and people of
other notions went thither, and I went also. Not many of the Baptists
came, but many others were there. The Lord opened my mouth, and the
everlasting truth was declared amongst them, and the power of the Lord
was over them all. For in that day the Lord’s power began to spring, and
I had great openings in the Scriptures. Several were convinced in those
parts, and were turned from darkness to light, from the power of Satan
unto God; and many were raised up to praise God. When I reasoned with
professors and other people, some became convinced.
I was still under great temptations sometimes, and my inward sufferings
were heavy; but I could find none to open my condition to but the Lord
alone, unto whom I cried night and day. I went back into
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE, and there the Lord showed me that the natures of those
things, which were hurtful without, were within, in the hearts and minds
of wicked men. The natures of dogs, swine, vipers, of Sodom and Egypt,
Pharaoh, Cain, Ishmael, Esau, &c.; the natures of these I saw within,
though people had been looking without. I cried to the Lord, saying,
“Why should I be thus, seeing I was never addicted to commit those
evils?” and the Lord answered, “That it was needful I should have a
sense of all conditions, how else should I speak to all conditions?” and
in this I saw the infinite love of God. I saw also, that there was an
ocean of darkness and death; but an infinite ocean of light and love,
which flowed over the ocean of darkness. In that also I saw the infinite
love of God, and I had great openings.
And as I was walking by the steeple-house,[6] in MANSFIELD, the Lord
said unto me, “That which people trample upon, must be thy food.” And as
the Lord spoke he opened it to me, that people and professors trampled
upon the life, even the life of Christ; they fed upon words, and fed one
another with words; but they trampled upon the life; trampled underfoot
the blood of the Son of God, which blood was my life, and lived in their
airy notions, talking of him. It seemed strange to me at first, that I
should feed on that which the high professors trampled upon; but the
Lord opened it clearly to me by his eternal Spirit and Power.
Footnote 6:
The term “steeplehouse” occurs not unfrequently in this _Journal_, and
in the early writings and records of Friends. Though it may sound
harsh, and appear to savour of the scurrility and intolerance of that
zealous age, yet this, or any other mode of speech adopted by Friends,
was by no means taken up for the purpose of opprobrium, but rather
significantly to discover the little veneration or distinction they
could show for these buildings more than others; believing that the
Almighty is equally present everywhere, to bless and to sanctify every
place and everything to those that walk uprightly on the earth, his
footstool.
One of the chief points of George Fox’s ministry was to overturn that
insidious reverence for names and things which is too frequently
substituted for the worship that is “in spirit and in truth.” Few
instances more distinctly exhibit this sort of covert idolatry, than
the general notion of _sanctity_ which is attached to the building
called a “_church_.” The word “church” is, in the Holy Scriptures,
never applied to an outward temple or building, but to a company of
believers, whether generally or particularly. The use of this term
appears to have crept in among Christians, and with it a superstitious
consecration of those places, as possessing some latent quality not
affecting other works of art or nature. To this Stephen the martyr
evidently alluded when he said, “Howbeit the Most High dwelleth not in
temples made with hands,” &c., Acts vii. 48. Clemens of Alexandria
says, “Not the place, but the congregation of the elect, I call a
church,” Stromat. vii., 715 B.
Then came people from far and near to see me; but I was fearful of being
drawn out by them; yet I was made to speak, and open things to them.
There was one Brown, who had great prophecies and sights of me upon his
death-bed. He spoke openly of what I should be made instrumental by the
Lord to bring forth. And of others he spoke, that they should come to
nothing, which was fulfilled on some, who then were something in show.
When this man was buried, a great work of the Lord fell upon me, to the
admiration of many, who thought I had been dead; and many came to see me
for about fourteen days. I was very much altered in countenance and
person, as if my body had been new moulded or changed. While I was in
that condition, I had a sense and discerning given me by the Lord,
through which I saw plainly, that when many people talked of God and of
Christ, &c., the serpent spoke in them; but this was hard to be borne.
Yet the work of the Lord went on in some, and my sorrows and troubles
began to wear off, and tears of joy dropped from me, so that I could
have wept night and day with tears of joy to the Lord, in humility and
brokenness of heart. I saw into that which was without end, and things
which cannot be uttered, and of the greatness and infinitude of the love
of God, which cannot be expressed by words. For I had been brought
through the very ocean of darkness and death, and through and over the
power of Satan, by the eternal, glorious power of Christ; even through
that darkness was I brought, which covered over all the world, and which
chained down all, and shut up all in death. The same eternal power of
God, which brought me through these things, was that which afterwards
shook the nations, priests, professors, and people. Then could I say I
had been in spiritual Babylon, Sodom, Egypt, and the grave; but by the
eternal power of God I was come out of it, and was brought over it, and
the power of it, into the power of Christ. I saw the harvest white, and
the seed of God lying thick in the ground, as ever did wheat that was
sown outwardly, and none to gather it; for this I mourned with tears. A
report went abroad of me that I was a young man that had a discerning
spirit; whereupon many came to me, from far and near, professors,
priests, and people. The Lord’s power broke forth; and I had great
openings and prophecies; and spoke unto them of the things of God, which
they heard with attention and silence, and went away, and spread the
fame thereof. Then came the tempter, and set upon me again, charging me,
that I had sinned against the Holy Ghost; but I could not tell in what.
Then Paul’s condition came before me, how, after he had been taken up
into the third heavens, and seen things not lawful to be uttered, a
messenger of Satan was sent to buffet him. Thus, by the power of Christ,
I got over that temptation also.