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