1. At present (1891), there are eleven Yearly Meetings on the American continent also, in association with each other, and with that of London.

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.

3. Called the Meeting for Sufferings, and now held monthly, except exigencies require more frequent sittings.

4. Old Style.

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.

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.

7. By a royal proclamation of James I., issued in 1618 (for Lancashire), these pastimes were made lawful recreations for the First-day of the week, provided they did not interfere with the times appointed for worship. Many of the clergy at first refused to promulgate the proclamation, though by so doing they acted contrary to their canonical obedience, and laid themselves open to penalties. In the seventh year of Charles I., this proclamation, at the instigation of Archbishop Laud, was revived, and extended to the whole nation, and was enjoined to be published and advocated from the pulpit by all ministers, to their disgrace. By the revival of this offensive proclamation, these disorderly revels had arrived to such a height of licentious depravity, that some well-disposed justices, in the county of Somerset, petitioned the judges on the western circuit, Sir Thomas Richardson, Lord Chief Justice, and Baron Denham, to suppress them. For so doing, they were summoned before the King and Council, by Archbishop Laud, for illegally interfering with the ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and the council rescinded the prohibitions, and cashiered the judges.—(See Fuller’s Church Hist., Book x., p. 74: and Book xi., p. 147).

8. The designation “Quakers,” which was at first applied in scorn, has ever since been used by the world to distinguish Friends from other professors of religion. The first use of the term in the records of Parliament, occurs in the journals of the House of Commons in 1654.

9. The English nation at this period was much engrossed with the great subjects of religion and politics, and both were mingled together in strange conjunction. The chief rulers of the Commonwealth, more especially Oliver Cromwell, had contrived to interweave their own views on spiritual matters into the minds of the soldiers; who, in those days, commonly united, with the profession of arms, the profession also of Christianity. The unsettled state of the country caused them to be stationed in considerable numbers in most of the principal towns of the north, and several of them had made acquaintance with George Fox during his imprisonment, and were so much impressed in his favour, that it appears they were desirous, as the time of his release drew near, to engage him in the capacity of their captain.

10. Richard Farnsworth became an eminent minister, and many were turned to God by him. He was mighty in discourses with priests and professors, and laboured much in the gospel. He was twelve months imprisoned at Banbury in 1655, and after great sufferings and persecutions, he finished his testimony in London, in 1666. A short time before his death, sitting up in bed, he spoke in as much power and strength of spirit as he had done at any time in his health, testifying that he was filled with the love of God more than he was able to express. He published many small works in defence of truth.

11. William Dewsbury, often mentioned in this Journal, became a valiant minister of the gospel, travelling extensively in its advocacy. Whiting says, “he was an extraordinary man many ways, and I thought as exact a pattern of a perfect man as ever I knew.” His health became impaired through the sharp persecutions he passed through, consisting of many long imprisonments, beatings, and bruisings. In 1688, going up to London to visit the brethren, he was taken ill of a distemper contracted in prison. Returning home, he died shortly after, leaving a heavenly testimony behind him, expressed about a week before he died. This, with other information, is recorded in Piety Promoted, vol. i., pp. 163-168, and further particulars in Whiting’s Memoirs, p. 25, and at pp. 376-387. His works were published in 1 vol. quarto, in 1689.

12. The leathern garments worn by George Fox were chosen by him for their simplicity and durability; and though they often subjected their wearer to ridicule and abuse, he had no motive beyond the above-mentioned for choosing such a garb. Many persons have been amused, if not offended at him for having worn such a dress when he was a young man. In those days leathern garments were not so singular as some suppose. It was a well authenticated fact, that an eminent merchant of the city of London, about 150 years ago, travelled on foot from Newcastle, in search of a livelihood, clad in a coat of leather. He opened a warehouse in London for the sale of heavy articles of iron, which were manufactured in the neighbourhood of Newcastle. In a few years he became prosperous, accumulated a large fortune, and ranked with the magnates of the city, sharing in all the civic honours of the corporation. The firm which he established still continues to conduct a flourishing business, at a warehouse in Thames Street, which is familiarly known in the trade by “The Leathern Doublet;” a representation of the founder’s original dress being fixed as a sign in front of the building.

13. The circumstance of Friends entering the public places of worship in the times of the Commonwealth, is one which has been much misunderstood, and greatly misrepresented. For these acts of dedication they have been calumniated as disturbers of religious congregations, and as outraging the peace and order of the churches. This estimate, doubtless, has been formed with reference to usages of more modern date; but to decide upon the conduct of Friends in this particular, from a consideration of present circumstances, would be exceedingly erroneous. In preaching in the national places of worship, they did but avail themselves of a common liberty, in a period of extraordinary excitement on religious things. There were numerous other religious meetings held in those times, but into none of these did Friends obtrude themselves. Some probably will argue, that the fact of their being so severely punished for persisting in this practice, may be adduced in support of its irregularity; but it may be answered, that the preaching of Friends almost everywhere, at that time, whether in steeple-houses or private houses, in-doors or out of doors, equally called down the rigour of ecclesiastical vengeance. It was not, in fact, because Friends preached in these places so much as for what they preached that they suffered. When George Fox was committed to Derby prison in 1650, after preaching in the steeple-house at “a great lecture,” the mittimus states his offence was, for “uttering and broaching of divers blasphemous opinions.” In 1659, Gilbert Latey went to Dunstan’s steeple-house in the west, where the noted Dr. Manton preached. At the conclusion of the sermon, Gilbert Latey addressed the assembly relative to some errors in Manton’s sermon, for which he was seized by a constable and taken before a magistrate; who, however, gave G. Latey leave to speak for himself. The statement he made satisfied the justice, and he replied, that he had heard the people called Quakers, were a sort of mad, whimsical folks; “but,” said he, “for this man, he talks very rationally, and I think, for my part, you should not have brought him before me.” To which the constable replied, “Sir, I think so too.” This occurred eleven years after G. Fox first visited a steeple-house, and, during that time, Friends had suffered very much for speaking in them, yet now a magistrate declares, that speaking rationally after the preacher had finished in a steeple-house, is not an offence for which a man ought to be brought before him. But the ministry of Friends struck at the very foundation of all hierarchical systems, and the discovery of this circumstance prompted the priests to call in the aid of the civil power, to suppress the promulgation of views so opposed to ecclesiastical domination.

14. Thomas Goodyear became a faithful minister, and suffered much persecution and imprisonment. When in Oxford jail (for refusing to swear), the jailer put irons on his legs, which being too small hurt him, and besides other abuse, would not let him and other Friends have straw to lie on. The jailer also told the other prisoners if they wanted coats, they might take those of the Friends off their backs; but one of the prisoners answered he would go naked first.

Thomas Goodyear was the author of “A Plain Testimony to the Ancient Truth and Work of God.” He died at Selby, in 1693.

15. The spring here alluded to is called George Fox’s Well to this day.

16. Francis Howgill and John Audland were both religiously inclined, and were convinced during the present year. They became eminent ministers, travelling in the gospel, and suffering fines and imprisonments for its sake, turning many to God. Howgill, for refusing to swear, was sent to Appleby jail, the following sentence being passed against him:—“You are put out of the king’s protection and the benefit of the law: your lands are confiscated to the king during your life, and your goods and chattels for ever; and you to be a prisoner during your life.” He praised God for the many sweet enjoyments and refreshments he received on his prison bed, whereon he lay, freely forgiving all. His end was in great peace, in 1668. See Piety Promoted, i. 64-67.

John Audland also laboured much in the gospel, for which he suffered persecution and imprisonments. In his last sickness he was exceedingly filled with high praises to God, being overcome with a sense of His love and joy. When he grew weaker he was helped on his knees, and upon his bed fervently supplicated the Lord on behalf of all His people that “they might be preserved in the truth, out of the evil of the world.” See Piety Promoted, i., 41-44; and Memoirs of F. Howgill, by James Backhouse.

17. Edward Burrough was a religious and promising young man, had left the Episcopal church, for which he had been educated as a minister, and joined the Presbyterians, with whom he was a preacher of great account. After several discussions with George Fox, he became fully convinced, and joined Friends, to the great displeasure of his parents and relatives. He became a most active and zealous gospel labourer, being both a great writer and a powerful and awakening preacher. In 1662, he was taken from a meeting in London, and for “testifying to the name of the Lord Jesus,” was committed to prison, where he lay with above 100 of his friends imprisoned on the same account, being shut up among felons in nasty places, so that, for want of room, many of them sickened and died. Amongst these was Edward Burrough, whose sickness increased daily. He was heard often in prayer, day and night, not forgetting to intercede for his persecutors. The morning before he died, he said, “Now my soul and spirit is entered into its own being with God, and this form of person must return from whence it was taken.” His works were collected and printed in 1672, and parts of them have recently been re-published.

18. John Blakelin, mentioned elsewhere in this Journal, became a faithful minister of the gospel, travelling much on truth’s account, for which he also suffered imprisonments, and great loss of goods. He died without sigh or groan, in 1705, aged about 80. He expressed, in his old age, “the comfort he had in the Lord’s peace and presence with him, that his day’s work was nigh done, and his reward and rest with God sure.” See Piety Promoted, ii., 42-46.

19. Thomas Taylor, born in 1616, was educated at Oxford University, and became a preacher among the Puritans, at or near Skipton, and also at Richmond. He discontinued preaching for hire, and joined Friends, becoming a valiant minister of Christ. He also wrote much in support of the truth. He suffered many imprisonments, but the Lord was with him, and upheld him by his mighty power, in the hardships and opposition he met with for truth’s sake. He died in peace at Stafford, in 1681.

20. John Camm, after joining Friends, became an eminent minister, travelling in the service of truth. He was a man of weak constitution, but richly furnished with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, clear in judgment, and a sharp reprover of wickedness. His ministry was deep and weighty. Having an estate of his own, he suffered the spoiling of his goods joyfully. He often called his children together, and exhorted them to fear the Lord, and would wonderfully praise God for his goodness, counting his bodily weakness a happiness, saying, “How great a benefit do I enjoy beyond many, I have such a large time of preparation for death, being daily dying, that I may live for ever with my God, in that kingdom that is unspeakably full of glory. My outward man daily wastes and moulders down, and draws towards its place and centre; but my inward man revives and mounts upwards, towards its place and habitation in the heavens.” See Piety Promoted, i., 3-6.

21. Richard Hubberthorn, who is frequently mentioned in this Journal, and whose name often occurs in the early part of the history of Friends, became an able gospel minister, and patient sufferer for the truth. He was a native of Lancashire, the only son of a yeoman of good repute. In his youth he obtained a post in the Parliamentary army, which, on his embracing the truth, he quitted, and testified publicly against it; becoming a valiant soldier under the banner of the Prince of peace. After passing through many inward probations, he became qualified to direct others in their way to the kingdom of heaven, and was one of the first of our Society who travelled in the work of the ministry.

Richard Hubberthorn was a man of much meekness, humility, patience, and brotherly kindness, clear in judgment, and quick of understanding; and, although he was of low stature, and had an infirm constitution and weak voice, he was a powerful and successful minister, and great numbers were convinced by him, and brought over to the faith and practice which he preached. He travelled in the exercise of his gift nine years, and shared at different times in the sufferings to which the early Friends were exposed. In 1662, he was violently haled from a meeting in London, and taken before that implacable persecutor, Alderman Brown, who, after abusing him with his own hands, committed him to Newgate. Here the throng was so great, and the air so impure, that he soon fell sick. His disorder increased upon him, and, within two months from the time of his commitment, with an unclouded prospect of a resting place “where the wicked cease from troubling,” he was released by death. He wrote many treatises, which were collected and published in 1 vol. quarto, in 1663.

22. This is the only mention of Miles Halhead in this Journal. His name occurs frequently in Sewell’s History, from which it appears he travelled largely and suffered much on Truth’s account, being the first of the Quakers imprisoned at Kendal.

23. Christopher Taylor, after writing and preaching much on Truth’s account, removed to America about the year 1683, and died at Philadelphia in 1686. See account of him in Whiting’s Memoirs, pp. 352-55.

24. The priests reckoned wrong in this, for, as Sewell justly observed, it fared with the early Friends as with trees, which grow best when most lopped. “Duris ut ilex tonsa bipennibus, per damna, per cædes, ab ipso, ducit opes animumque ferre.”

25. Gervase Benson, once a colonel in the army, and, at this date, a Justice of the peace, appears, from the burial register of Friends, to have been resident at Kendal. He died in 1679. In Barclay’s Letters, &c., of Early Friends, is a letter from him to George Fox and James Naylor. It is dated at London, 11th Month, 29th, 1653. He appears to have gone up to that city under a sense of duty. “Pray to the Lord for me,” he writes, “that I may be kept in all faithfulness, with boldness to bear witness to the truth, against all deceits as they are made manifest in me, to the praise of his free grace and love to me, which I find daily flowing into my soul, to the refreshing thereof.”

26. Thomas Briggs, from being a persecutor and an opposer, became an eminent minister amongst Friends, and his name occurs frequently in Sewell’s History, and in Whiting’s Memoirs, to which the reader is referred for some account of his labours. He was very instrumental in turning men from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God. Not only did he suffer personally, by imprisonment and violence, but was fined five times, for having meetings in his house, to the extent of £50. He travelled much in Wales, and other places, often accompanying George Fox. He went with him to the West Indies in 1671. A short time before his death, he wrote to George Fox, in which he signified his perseverance in godliness. He bore “a large testimony the First-day before his decease,” being aged about seventy-five; a minister thirty-two years.

27. Justice Pearson, who “was convinced as he sat on the bench,” became the author of an approved work, The Great Case of Tithes. A striking letter from him, dated in 1653, respecting his religious state, is inserted in Letters of Early Friends, pages 10-12.

28. Joseph Nicholson was one of those who, with his wife, suffered in the New England persecution, being imprisoned there and laid in irons. He was also immured within the walls of Dover Castle in 1661. See Bowden’s History of Friends in America, vol. i., pp. 203-206, and 268, &c.

29. Moss-troopers were the remnant of a kind of freebooters, who infested the borders of England and Scotland in feudal times, making incursions on each other, less for the purpose of contention in arms, than for committing depredations on cattle and property.

30. James Parnell, according to the historian Sewell, was trained up in the schools of literature. Though young, he became a valiant soldier of the Lamb;

and died a true martyr in a dungeon’s gloom. Particulars of his barbarous treatment, and consequent death in jail, may be found in Sewell’s History, vol. i., under date 1655; and fuller information in his Life by Callaway. In Barclay’s Letters of early Friends is one from James Parnell written from Colchester Castle, wherein he says, “They have laboured to make my bonds grievous, but my strength the Philistines know not: I am kept and nourished in the midst of mine enemies; glory be to God the Highest, who hath counted me worthy to bear the bonds of the gospel.”

31. Robert Widders is often mentioned in this Journal, having travelled with George Fox in Scotland, as also in many parts of America. They went through great perils by sea and land, in the wilderness and in woods, in danger of wild beasts; yet through all the Lord supported him, and kept him faithful to the end. He was valiant for God’s truth, establishing many in the faith. He was a great sufferer from persecutors; once, at Caldbeck, he was thrown down on the ground, and kicked and beaten so cruelly, that blood gushed out of his mouth, and he was supposed to be dead. At Lamplugh, his clothes were torn on his back, and the hair from off his head; and at Bishop-Auckland, he was stoned and sorely bruised. His cattle, corn, and household goods were also swept away by wholesale, yet he was not at all dejected or concerned, knowing well for what he suffered. He was much resigned during his last sickness, often saying on his death-bed, “his heart was filled with the love of God;” and he departed this life in great peacepeace in 1686, aged sixty-eight years.

32. Near Handsworth Woodhouse, Yorkshire.

33. George Whitehead, who was convinced when about seventeen years old, became a valiant minister for about sixty-eight years, till the time of his decease, which took place, in great peace, after an illness of some weeks. He waited, patiently resigned to the will of God, desiring to be dissolved and be with Christ; saying, “he felt the sting of death to be taken away.” He was a preacher of the gospel in life and power, and turned many from darkness to light, being a chief instrument in gathering a people to the Lord in and about Norwich. At one meeting he had in those parts, it is recorded that “nearly the whole congregation was convinced by the mighty power of God, through his lively and piercing testimony and prayer.” He suffered great hardships, long and sore imprisonments, and severe whipping for his testimony to the truth, much of which is recorded in his published Journal, with his travels and other services, to which the reader is referred.

34. Thomas Holmes was serviceable in his day and generation, suffering imprisonment on Truth’s account. In 1656, he was in jail, at Chester, with seven or eight other Friends. Some of his services in Wales are related, in a letter from him (probably to George Fox,) in Barclay’s Letters of Early Friends, p. 222.

35. “Alexander Parker,” says Whiting, “was an eminent servant of God, and minister of Jesus Christ; born near Bolton, in Lancashire, well-educated, and had a gentleman-like carriage and deportment, for I knew him well.” He travelled extensively in the service of the gospel, often in company with George Fox, being frequently mentioned in this Journal. He suffered fines, imprisonments, and persecution, being once pulled down as he was preaching in London, and fined for it £20. He died in great peace in 1689, having written many books and epistles, in which, though being dead, he yet speaketh.

36. John Crook was a Justice of the Peace, and a man of note in the county of Bedford. He became an eminent preacher of the gospel, in which he laboured extensively, and many were the seals of his ministry. He suffered many imprisonments, which he bore with patience, as also his bodily infirmities, often expressing the inward joy and peace he had with the Lord. He died in 1699, in the eighty-second year of his age, having been a minister about forty-four years, and his writings were published in 1701, entitled, The Design of Christianity testified in the Books, Epistles, and MSS. of John Crook.

37. Sewell states that Samuel Fisher and John Stubbs, when at Rome, conversed with some of the cardinals, and testified against Popish superstitions. They also spread books among the friars, some of whom expressed their contents to be true; but, said they, if we should acknowledge this publicly, we might expect to be burned for it.

Whiting records the death of Samuel Fisher in 1665. “Other Friends,” he says, “were transported; and many died in Newgate, and on shipboard, in order to transportation, to the number of 122, in London, Westminster, and Southwark; particularly Samuel Fisher, &c., faithful ministers and labourers in the work of the Lord, taken at meetings died in the White Lion prison, Southwark, 1665, in the time of the pestilence [plague], which began in the time of the persecution of Friends under the Conventicle Act, as a signal token of the Lord’s displeasure. It broke out first in a house next to that of the first man that was banished, who lived to return to London, and died at a great age.”

38. For some account of Luke Howard, see Piety Promoted, Part ix. He was several times imprisoned; once in Dover Castle, for sixteen months, for going to meetings. At this time, he employed six men in his trade, but was obliged to shut up his shop for six months. He obtained the use of an entry to the prison grate, where meat was drawn up with a cord, and he worked a little there. He suffered another long confinement in 1684. Speaking of his imprisonments, he says, “I had perfect peace, joy, and content in it all; the Lord made it good unto me, both within and without.”

39. Nicholas Beard was an early seeker of the Lord in his youth, and would often travel many miles to hear the best reputed teachers of the times. He became a faithful minister of Christ, and a large sufferer for his sake. For one year’s tithes he had taken from him twelve oxen, six cows, and one bull, which were sold for £111 5s., but worth more. For worshipping God, and refusing to swear or bear arms, he was prosecuted on the statute for £20 a month, and underwent imprisonment several years, and loss of goods to more than £1,000. Yet it pleased the Lord to support and bless him and a large family, so that on his deathbed he was heard to say, “O Lord, my soul blesseth thee, and all that is within me magnifieth thy holy name!” He often desired to depart and be with Christ, and died in great peace, in 1702, aged eighty, a minister about thirty years.

40. This Captain Bishop, who is mentioned as wearing his sword, soon discontinued it, being convinced, and joining Friends. He was the author of An Account of the Persecution in New England, and he issued a prophetic warning to the King and Parliament, in 1664, for banishing Friends, which was fulfilled. See Sewell’s History; Index.

41. Joseph Fuce was one of those faithful ministers who died in White Lion prison, Southwark, in 1665, during the time of the plague.

42. Humphrey Smith became an able gospel minister, turning many to righteousness. He had a vision of the destruction of London by fire, six years before it happened, which vision he made known as a warning to the people to repent. (See Piety Promoted, vol. i. p. 39 and his published works). He had also a clear foresight of his own sufferings and death thereby. He died a prisoner for the testimony of Jesus in Winchester jail, in 1663, where he fell ill after a year’s imprisonment. Whilst he was very ill in prison, he said, “My heart is filled with the power of God;” and then added, “It is good for a man at such a time as this, to have the Lord to be his friend.” Near his departure, he prayed earnestly, saying, “Hear me, O Lord, uphold and preserve me. I know that my Redeemer liveth: Thou art strong and mighty, O Lord;” and prayed “that the Lord would deliver His people from their cruel oppressors”; and for those who had been convinced by him, “that the Lord would be their teacher.”

43. Gerrard Roberts, a merchant of London, was one of the most active members of the Society in making the needful arrangements for the visits of its ministers to foreign parts.

44. William Edmundson was the first person who publicly espoused the principles of Friends in Ireland. He was some time a soldier in Cromwell’s army, but the strivings of the Holy Spirit drew him out of the corruptions of the world, to a nearer acquaintance with God. He left the army, and joined the people called Quakers, though they were much spoken against. His life and property were given up to the service of the gospel, and many were his trials and sufferings on its account, which he bore with exemplary patience. During the civil wars, he had on one occasion twenty of his cows driven away from him. His house was also beset by some hundreds of banditti, and the shots they fired into the house were heard at two miles’ distance. After it was plundered and burned, himself and two sons were led away prisoners, bareheaded, and barefooted, and nearly naked, except they gave William Edmundson an old blanket of his own to wrap about him.

After a toilsome night, journeying through bushes, rough stones, mire, and water knee-deep, they were taken to a wood, and after a mock show of justice, condemned to death; the young men to be hanged, and their father, in compliment to his courage, to be shot. Though death was no terror to this pious man, he expostulated with his persecutors; reminding them of his services in behalf of their countryfolk. Several of them confessed they knew him to be an honest man; yet justice and mercy were disregarded, and they prepared to execute their purpose. The youths were hoodwinked, in order to hang them; and two firelocks made ready to shoot their father, whom they were about to hoodwink also; but he told them they need not, for he could look them in the face, and was not afraid to die.

At this juncture arrived a lieutenant, a brother of one whose life William Edmundson had saved, when the English soldiers were about to hang him. Thus the Lord interposed and would not suffer them to take their lives. The officer released the prisoners from death, but did not restore them to liberty, taking them to Athlone, not from a grateful sense of remembered services, but from a hope of preferment thereby. On entering the town, the high sheriff, soldiers, and rabble, gave them abusive language; and their lives were endangered, had not a lieutenant of the Irish army who recognised William Edmundson, declared aloud his knowledge of him, and of his worth, and thus quieted the tumult. They were then brought to the Irish colonel, before whom he appeared, wrapped in his blanket. Though the colonel was personally acquainted with him, he did not, in these circumstances, know him; but when he said, I am old William Edmundson, the colonel rose, and with tears in his eyes, expressed his sorrow to see him in that condition. After reprimanding the lieutenant, he committed them to the care of one of his captains, sent them food and money, and they met with better treatment.

Great sufferings was it the lot of this faithful man to endure; who was unwearied in his Master’s service for upwards of fifty years of his life, counting nothing too near or dear to part with, or too great to suffer, if he could but win Christ and the souls of his fellow-men. Yet in these and many other great exercises and straits, the Lord’s arm and generous providence, says he, have preserved and supported me. He spared not himself, even to old age, in performing travels and services as a gospel minister, beyond the ordinary course of nature, often saying the Lord was his song and his strength, and had carried him through many and various exercises and perils. As a fixed star in the firmament of God’s power did he continue to hold his integrity to the last, being enabled to say, “O death! where is thy sting? O grave! where is thy victory?”

45. The circumstance above related is reminding of a somewhat similar one recorded of Edward Burrough.

“At London,” says Sewell the historian, “there is a custom in summer-time, when the evening approaches, and tradesmen leave off working, that many lusty fellows meet in the fields, to try their skill and strength in wrestling, where generally a multitude of people stand gazing in a ring.

“Now it so fell out, that Edward Burrough passed by the place where they were wrestling, and standing still among the spectators, saw how a strong and dexterous fellow had already thrown three others, and was waiting for a fourth champion, if any durst venture to enter the lists. At length, none being bold enough to try, Edward Burrough stepped into the ring, which was commonly made up of all sorts of people; and having looked upon the wrestler with a serious countenance, the man was not a little surprised, instead of an airy antagonist, to meet with a grave and awful young man; and all stood amazed as it were at this sight, eagerly expecting what would be the issue of this combat. But it was quite another fight Edward Burrough aimed at. For having already fought against spiritual wickedness, that had once prevailed over him, and having overcome in measure, by the grace of God, he now endeavoured also to fight against it in others, and to turn them from the evil of their ways. With this intention, he began very seriously to speak to the bystanders, and that with such a heart-piercing power, that he was heard by the mixed multitude, with no less attention than admiration; for his speech tended to turn them from darkness to the light, and from the power of Satan unto God. To effect this, he laboured with convincing words, showing how God had not left himself without a witness, but had given to man a measure of his grace, and enlightened every one with the light of Christ.

“Thus zealously he preached; and though many might look upon this as a novelty, yet it was of such effect, that some were convinced of the truth; for Burrough was a breaker of stony hearts, and therefore by a certain author not unjustly called ‘a son of thunder;’ though he omitted not in due season to speak a word of consolation to those that were of a broken heart, and of a contrite spirit.”

46. William Bailey (or Bayley), whose writings were published in one volume, 4to, in 1676, and of whom there is a brief account in Piety Promoted, vol. i., p. 83, is stated to have been “mighty in the Scriptures,” and not only a believer and preacher of the word of faith, but a sufferer for the same. OnOn one occasion, he was thrown down and dragged upon the ground by the hair of his head, his persecutors endeavouring to rend and break asunder his jaws, so that the ground whereon he lay was besmeared with his blood. As if this butchering had not been enough to make him a sacrifice, a heavy man stamped on his breast with his feet, endeavouring to beat the breath out of his body. When this persecutor had done his pleasure, he told the jailer to take him away and put him in some nasty hole, for his entertainment and cure.

William Bailey, being master of a ship, often crossed the mighty waters for the maintenance of his family, and many beyond the seas were comforted by his ministry. He was taken ill at sea on his return from visiting Friends in Barbadoes, and died on board the Samuel of London, in latitude 46° 36´ N. He died in great peace, as if he had fallen asleep, exhorting those around him to fear God.

47. Humphrey Lower, who resided near Bodmin, in Cornwall, was an influential magistrate, his name appearing as such in the history of the county, under Charles I. He could, however, say with Paul, “What things were gain unto me, those I counted loss for Christ.” In 1658, for not attending the national worship, and refusing to enter into bond to appear at the assizes, on a presentment made against him by the constable of the parish, H. Lower was, on his non-appearance, committed, notwithstanding his age and high character, to Launceston jail, where he continued till the assizes; and then was put forth without examination or trial, or any satisfaction for such rough treatment. In 1660, he was sent for by a warrant, to appear before two justices at Wadebridge, when one of them, Roscarrock, tendered him the oath of supremacy; and for his refusing to take it, a mittimus was made out and subscribed by him and two other magistrates, who acted very unwillingly. Thereupon he was again sent to Launceston jail, where he remained about two weeks, and then was freed by Sir J. Coryton and E. Hearle. It is stated that H. Lower, when himself in the commission of the peace, had more obliged the said Roscarrock than any other man, by doing him many singular offices of justice and courtesy. The return was a very ungrateful one.

G. Fox mentions large and satisfactory meetings held at his house in 1663 and 1668, and says that he continued serviceable till his death, the date of which event is not recorded.

48. We who live in the 19th century, when the impartial administration of justice extends to all ranks of society, and when the accommodations of our prisons are so vigilantly looked into, can scarcely credit that respectable Englishmen should be subjected to such gross abuse in pestilential dungeons. But the early annals of Friends abound with similar cases, many of them still more aggravated. Take the following example:—

During the close imprisonment of Friends at Aberdeen, Patrick Livingstone often preached to the people through the prison windows, exhorting the people to fear God. This practice was highly displeasing to the magistrates. They, therefore, sought to prevent it, by causing some of them to be separated from the rest of their companions, and violently thrust into a close-vaulted cell, on the top of the jail, called the “iron-house,” where the worst of felons and murderers were usually confined. They had neither light nor air, except through a long hole in a thick wall, which had a double grating of iron on the outside and another within. Here they were kept night and day, in the heat of the summer of 1678, when the filthiness of the place, and the corruptioncorruption of the air so closely pent-up, produced a multitude of worms, called white maggots and other vermin, which swarmed about even upon their beds and victuals, and manifestly tended to the extreme danger of their health and lives.