49. Thomas Lower was son-in-law to Judge Fell, having married his daughter Mary.

50. Thomas Curtis became a faithful minister, and sufferer for Christ’s sake. In 1666, he is mentioned in a letter from Alexander Parker to Margaret Fell as being a prisoner with thirty-two or thirty-three others. His wife, Ann Curtis, was a daughter of a sheriff of Bristol. See a letter of T. Curtis to George Fox, in Letters of Early Friends, p. 240.

51. James Naylor was a monument of human frailty. His gift in the ministry was eminent; his experience in divine things truly great. He fell through unwatchfulness, but was restored through deep sufferings and unfeigned repentance. His own writings are the most clear and lively description of the various dispensations he underwent; some of them deserve to be transmitted to the latest posterity. His address to his brethren bespeaks the real repentance of his heart; in that he says, “My heart is broken this day for the offence I have occasioned to God’s truth and people,—I beseech you, forgive wherein I evilly requited your love in that day. God knows my sorrow for it!” &c. A few hours before his death, he spoke in the presence of several witnesses the following remarkable words:—

“There is a spirit which I feel, that delights to do no evil, nor to revenge any wrong; but delights to endure all things, in hope to enjoy its own in the end. Its hope is to outlive all wrath and contention, and to weary out all exaltation and cruelty, or whatever is of a nature contrary to itself. It sees to the end of all temptations; as it bears no evil in itself, so it conceives none in thought to any other. If it be betrayed, it bears it; for its ground and spring is the mercy and forgiveness of God. Its crown is meekness; its life is everlasting love unfeigned. It takes its kingdom with entreaty, and not with contention, and keeps it by lowliness of mind. In God alone it can rejoice, though none else regard it, or can own its life. It is conceived in sorrow, and brought forth without any to pity it; nor doth it murmur at grief and oppression. It never rejoiceth, but through sufferings; for with the world’s joy it is murdered. I found it alone; being forsaken. I have fellowship therein with those who lived in dens and desolate places in the earth; who through death obtained this resurrection, and eternal, holy life!”

Such was the end of James Naylor; who, in his forty-fourth year, “chastened, but not killed—cast down, but not destroyed”—through much tribulation, entered, we may humbly hope, “into the kingdom of God.”—(For full particulars, see his Life by Joseph Gurney Bevan.)

52. John Ellis, who is only twice mentioned in this journal, was an able gospel minister, preaching in the authority of divine life, to the reaching of God’s witness in many hearts. His doctrine was sound, flowing from the living fountain and divine spring of life and heavenly wisdom. His preaching was full of reproof and caution, but in that meekness which made it edifying. Whilst tender of the good in all, he was terrible against the workers of iniquity. He was a man of great kindness, a visitor of the widows and fatherless in their distress, feeding the hungry and clothing the naked, according to his ability. He laboured greatly in the gospel in several counties, often saying, “His Father’s business must not be neglected, or done negligently.” As he was travelling in the service of Truth, he was taken ill, and died in great peace in 1707 saying, “I am ready, for I have a sure foundation.”

53. Morgan Watkins, who is only mentioned in this place, became a sufferer for the truth. About eight years from the above date, we find him in the Gatehouse prison, near Westminster abbey, with nineteen others on the same account, being committed by warrant from the Duke of Albemarle, “for being at a meeting in St. John’s.” This was during the time the plague visited London. In Barclay’s Letters of Early Friends, are two from Morgan Watkins, one of them dated from the Gatehouse prison, in which he says, “Blessed be His name who hath kept me, and nineteen more in this close place, all in health, above these five weeks; notwithstanding three have been buried out of this prison of the sickness.—Good is the hand of the Lord to his own, whose death is gain.”

In a letter written about three months after the above, he mentions the release of himself and Friends, and adds, “I have been weak since I came out into the air, but through the great love of my God, I am wonderfully preserved, to the praise of his name. But the two imprisonments in Newgate, and the one at the Gatehouse, have much weakened my body, in which I have had several battles with death; but the power of my God arising, gave me dominion over the distemper and weakness of the flesh. The day was dreadful to all flesh, and few were able to abide it, and stand in the judgment; but the Lord was very merciful to the remnant of his people, and his blessed seed is arising in many.”many.”

54. This was not the same John Wilkinson who joined with Storey in creating a schism in the Society.

55. It is justly observed by a writer, not of the Society of Friends, that these “place the Presbyterian Christianity of that day in a most unfavourable light, and show how deeply it was imbued with a sour persecuting spirit of Popery.”

56. Edward Billing was a faithful sufferer for the truth. Henry Fell, in a letter to Margaret Fell, in 1660, mentions Friends being beat very sore, and exceedingly abused in the streets. “They pulled me out of meeting,” he says, “beat me much, knocked me down in the street, and tore all my coat. Edward Billing and his wife were much abused, he especially.”

Edward Billing was one of the three Friends, who, in 1659, appeared before the bar of the House of Commons, to present an address describing the sufferings of Friends, and signed by 164 of the Society, wherein they make an offer of their own bodies, person for person, to lie in prison instead of such of their brethren as were then under confinement, and might be in danger of their lives through extreme durance. (See Letters of Early Friends, pp. 62–68.62–68.) Although little or no apparent effect appeared to be produced at the time in the House from the above-mentioned appeal, it appears, from the journals of the Commons in the month following, a committee was appointed, “to consider of the imprisonment of such persons who continue committed for conscience sake, and how, and in what manner they are, and continue committed, together with the whole cause thereof, and how they may be discharged; and to report the same to the Parliament.”

57. The first Yearly Meeting of the Society appears to have been held in 1658, at Scalehouse, about three miles from Skipton. At that meeting the subject of the visit of Friends “beyond the sea,” claimed much attention, and it was agreed to recommend a general collection in aid of these gospel missions. An epistle was issued to that effect, and the appeal was liberally responded to, and considering the value of money at that period, a large amount was raised. The epistle, with particulars of the collection and its disbursement, may be seen in Bowden’s History of Friends in America, vol. i., p. 58-60.

Yearly Meetings were held in different parts of England to the number of twenty-six, at which were reported the number of prisoners; the various sufferings on account of the Truth; those who died for it; and the number of ministers deceased. The affairs of truth were also considered, and the members of the church had blessed opportunities of heavenly correspondence and fellowship, one with another. For full particulars of the setting up of General and Yearly Meetings, and of the institution and objects of the Discipline in the Society, see Letters, &c., of Early Friends, part ii., pp. 275-353.

58. The Earl of Newport, it would appear, was very favourably inclined towards Friends. In a letter from E. Burrough to F. Howgill, 4th of 7th Month [9th Month] 1658, he observes, “This night, at Woodcock’s, at the meeting, was the Earl of Newport; he is truly loving to us.” In the same letter, E. Burrough says, “Truth spreads and grows. The Earl of Pembroke has been with us; there is a principle of God stirring in him.”

59. Lady Claypole was the favourite daughter of Oliver Cromwell, who deeply felt her loss, for she died shortly after the period of receiving the letter George Fox addressed to her. Nor was it long before Oliver himself followed her; both he and his daughter dying in the same year.

60. Vane was a conspicuous character at this period. He was strongly attached to a republican government, and opposed Cromwell in his progress towards assuming the reins of government as protector. He was said to be one of the leaders of the Independents. Bishop Burnet, the historian, says of him:—“Though he set up a form of religion in a way of his own, yet it consisted rather in a withdrawing from all other forms, than in any new or particular forms and opinions; from which he and his party were called Seekers, and seemed to wait for some new and clearer manifestations.” James Naylor, in a letter to Margaret Fell, speaks of Vane as “very loving to Friends, but drunk with imaginations.”

61. Thomas Aldam died in 1660, and as this is the last mention of him in this journal, the following particulars may be added:—He resided at Warmsworth, in Yorkshire, and was convinced by George Fox, in 1651, having been previously a great follower of the priests and teachers of the times. But his hungering and thirsting soul not being satisfied amongst them, he left them, and having received the Truth, became valiant for the same, giving up his strength and substance to serve the Lord. Many beatings, reproaches, imprisonments, much spoiling of goods and other sufferings he endured, for Christ’s sake. He was one of the first called a Quaker imprisoned in York castle, in 1652, where he was kept two years and six months, not being suffered once to go home, nor permitted to see his wife, children, or relatives, when they went to visit him. He was also fined during that imprisonment £40, at the assize, for appearing before the judge with his hat on, and saying thee and thou to him. During the same imprisonment for tithes, he was sued at law for treble damages, his property being taken to the value of £42, not leaving one cow to give milk for his young children and family. Many other sufferings did he undergo, which made him have a tender sympathy for others who were sufferers for the Truth, whose cause he often pleaded. He wrote several small works in defence of Truth, and his son, Thomas Aldam, who was also a faithful minister, published a testimony concerning him, in 1690. See Piety Promoted, vol. i., pp. 25-28; vol. iii., p 58.

62. Many were the judgments which overtook the persecutors of the Early Friends, as related in their journals, and the histories of the Society. The following occurred in Scotland, as related in Jaffray’s diary:—“James Skene, who was generally known by the name of ‘White James,’ to distinguish him from a very abusive and wicked man of the same name, called ‘Black James,’ took great delight in inventing malicious slanders against Friends. On one occasion, whilst he was repeating some wicked verses, which he had composed on purpose to defame a worthy and innocent person, he was in that instant suddenly struck down as one dead, and was for some time deprived of his senses. When he recovered, he acknowledged the just judgment of God upon him, confessed the offence he had committed against this innocent people, and gave proof of repentance by ever after abstaining from such practices.”

63. The honest fisherman mentioned here was Nicholas Jose, who was a great sufferer for Christ’s sake, both in loss of goods and imprisonments in Launceston Jail, Pendennis Castle, and other places; indeed scarcely a year passed over without his being called on to suffer severely in some way or other for the testimony of a good conscience. He was imprisoned with twenty-four other Friends, about the year 1682, and continued in confinement till 1685. For an interesting account of this worthy man, see Select Miscellanies vol. iv., 250-255.

64. General Meetings and Yearly Meetings appear to have been somewhat similar in their character. They were held in various parts. The first of which we have any account took place at Swannington, in Leicestershire, in 1654.

65. Some interesting particulars of what passed during Richard Hubberthorn’s interview with the king are related in Sewell’s History, for which see the index of that work.

66. Henry Fell was an eminent minister in the Society. In 1656 and 1658 he visited the West India isles. During the first visit, he was absent from home about a year. From 1659 to 1662, he was mostly engaged in gospel labours in England, and from this period we lose all trace of him. He is mentioned in Whiting’s Catalogue as having died in America. His home was in Lancashire, and there is reason to believe he was a near relative of Judge Fell. He appears to have received an education considerably above most of his day. Some of his letters are given in Bowden’s History of Friends in America, and in Barclay’s Letters of Early Friends.

67. Among the Swarthmore collection of MSS. has been found a narrative of an interview Thomas Moore had with the king, which has been printed in Letters of Early Friends, p. 92, to which the reader is referred. It is endorsed by George Fox thus:—“What the king said to T. Moor, 1600, 14th of 10th month.” It will be remembered Thomas Moor was formerly a justice of the peace, and was convinced by George Fox, as related at page 260 in this volume.

68. This is probably the Friend of whom there is some account in Piety Promoted, vol. ii., p. 71. He was born in Lancashire, and receiving the Truth, became a faithful minister of it, for which he was often imprisoned, and underwent cruel and hard sufferings. In 1670, he went to Barbadoes with John Burnyeat, to preach the gospel in that island, but after having some service there, he was taken ill of a fever, during which he felt great peace and consolation of spirit, and signified “he should die.” He was often praising and glorifying God after this manner: “O! all that is within me praise and magnify the Lord God, who is worthy for ever of all glory; everlasting praises to the God of my life, who only is worthy, and lives over all, and is above all, God blessed for ever. Amen.” He died in much peace and quietness.

69. Richard Sale, the constable who became convinced, was an undaunted reprover of vice. The place in which he lost his life, called “Little Ease,” is described to have been “a hole hewed out in a rock; the breadth across, seventeen inches; from the back to the inside of the great door, at the top, seven inches; at the shoulders, eight inches; at the breast, nine inches and a half; from the top to the bottom, one yard and a half, with a device to lessen the height, as they are minded to torment the persons put in, by drawboards which shoot over the two sides to a yard height, or thereabout.”

Into this place was Richard Sale put several times, in 1656-1657, for three, four, five and eight hours together. Being corpulent, it required the strength of four men to thrust him in. In doing which they crushed him till the blood gushed out of his mouth and nose. He survived the last torture but two months, and died imputing his death to the cruelty of his persecutors.

In this place they tormented many of those who were induced, with, Christian courage, to reprove the vices, either of ministers, magistrates, or people. Richard Costrop, for preaching repentance in the streets, was put in Little Ease till next day, and then, by the Mayor, sent to Bridewell. Thomas Yarwood, who, as the Mayor and Aldermen were going to a customary feast, with music playing before them, dared to remind them wherein real Christianity stood, viz., in true holiness and the fear of the Lord, was sent to Little Ease, and kept there five hours; by which he, being but a weak sickly man was much bruised and hurt. William Sympson, attempting, in Christian love, to exhort the people, after their public preacher had ended his sermon, was first put in the stocks, and afterwards kept in Little Ease nine hours. When, next morning, he complained to the Mayor of his cruel usage, he was sent again to the same place, after the Sheriff, in the Mayor’s presence, had struck him in the face, so that he bled very much. Edward Morgan, complaining to the Mayor against a drunken fellow who had grossly abused him, was sent to Little Ease for not putting off his hat when he made that complaint, and the drunkard went unpunished; as did also a servant who had robbed his master, a Friend, the master being, by this same magistrate, imprisoned eleven weeks, because he would not swear to the fact of the robbery.

70. The persecution of the Quakers in New England, by the Puritans and Independents, who had themselves fled from home to enjoy religious liberty, forms a dreadful story, the very recital of which is revolting to humanity. Some they caused to have their ears cut off; and, amongst many other cruelties, which would fill a volume, they ordered three Quaker women to be stripped to the waist, and flogged through eleven towns, a distance of eighty miles, in all the severity of frost and snow. But, as if this was not enough, they actually hanged three men and one woman for Christ’s sake, who all acquitted themselves, at their awful exit, with that firmness and submission which a Christian martyr is enabled to sustain at such an hour of nature’s extremity, giving full proof of their sincerity and trust in the goodness and support of Him, who had called them to make a public profession of his name before a wicked and perverse generation. Their names were—William Robinson, Marmaduke Stevenson, William Leddra, and Mary Dyer.

On the day appointed for the execution of these innocent victims, they were led to the gallows by military officers, accompanied by a band of about 200 armed men, besides many horsemen—a measure which plainly indicated that some fear of popular indignation was apprehended; and, that no appeal might be made to the feelings of the multitude, a drummer was appointed to march before the condemned persons, to beat the drum, especially when any of them attempted to speak.

Glorious signs of heavenly joy and gladness were visible in the countenances of these holy martyrs, who walked hand in hand to the place where they were to suffer. “This is to me an hour of the greatest joy,” exclaimed Mary Dyer; adding, that no eye could see, no ear could hear, no tongue could utter, no heart could understand, the sweet refreshings of the Spirit of the Lord which she then felt.

Being come to the ladder, and having taken leave of each other with tender affection, they yielded up their lives into the hands of their enemies, Robinson’s last words being, “I suffer for Christ, in whom I live, and for whom I die;” and those of Stevenson, “This day shall we be at rest with the Lord.” William Leddra, patiently submitting himself whilst the executioner put the halter round his neck, said, “I commit my righteous cause unto thee, O God;” and, as he was turned off, died with these words, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” When Mary Dyer ascended the ladder, she was told by some of the standers-by that even now, if she would obey them, she might come down and save her life. But this magnanimous sufferer shrank not from her doom, well knowing in whom, and for whom she was about to die; she contentedly laid down her life, saying, “In obedience to the will of the Lord, I abide faithful unto death.”

For further particulars of the New England persecution, the reader is referred to Sewell’s History; Bowden’s History of Friends in America; Kelty’s Early Days in the Society of Friends; Hodgson’s Historical Memoirs, &c.

71. This Richard Costrop (or Scostrop) was born in 1628. He was originally a sore persecutor of Friends, but becoming convinced of the soundness of their principles, he at length joined the Society, and preached the faith which once he destroyed, travelling for this object into various parts of Europe. he seems to have been chiefly instrumental in establishing the meeting at Scalehouse. He appears to have been a man of some estate, but left all, and spent his days in the service of the gospel. In a document issued by Friends of Settle Monthly Meeting in 1704, it is said of him, “his memory is sweet this day among the brethren.” See Life, &c., of William and Alice Ellis, by James Backhouse, pp. 278, 279, &c.

72. John Perrot was one who at this time caused great distress and trouble to the faithful members of the Society, from giving way to self-importance and extravagant notions. For particulars, the reader is referred to Sewell’s History; and to Hodgson’s Historical Memoirs.

Whilst the Society kept steadily pursuing its path, and increasing in numbers, notwithstanding the persecutions to which its members were everywhere subjected, it was not to be expected that every individual who was found within its precincts should have been rightly prepared for the station which he might have assumed. It would have been indeed remarkable, if, in the multitude of those who went forth in that day of zeal, in the service of the ministry, there had not been instances of men who had taken upon them (perhaps mistakenly) the office of a gospel minister, without waiting for the preparation and the call. And it would have been still more surprising if such forward spirits had proved firm in the day of outward trial, or of inward fascinations and snares of the enemy.

73. About this time persecution was very hot, and from estimates deduced from documents of the period, it is probable that, in 1661 or 1662, there were no less than 4,500 Friends in prison, in England and Wales, at one time, for meeting to worship God, refusing to swear, &c. And in such prisons too! They who would know what the miseries of prisoners have been in England, let them read Sewell’s History, which exhibits such a scene of savage persecution on the one hand, and firmness and patience in suffering on the other, as is not easily paralleled. Little known as these things are, it will hardly be credited now, that to such a length was hatred carried against the Quakers, that few of them, except those below the cognizance of the magistrates, were not in prison, at one time or other, for their religious faith.

The interruption of family ties, the breaking up of households, the loss to many of all means of support, were hard and cruel sufferings for conscience’ sake, but they were grievously aggravated at this period by the damp and filthy condition of the prisons, holes, and dungeons in which the sufferers were confined, as well as by their very crowded condition. And to all these circumstances of trial, must be added those of personal abuse, fines, distraints, and, it may strictly be said, of wholesale robberies they endured. Some died of the beatings which they received in the breaking up of their meetings, and many from the filthy and close state of the prisons, in some of which they were so closely packed that they had to take it by turns to stand up, whilst others sat or lay down. They were also often overrun with lice and other vermin.

74. Katherine Evans and Sarah Chevers suffered a dreadful confinement for about four years in the Inquisition at Malta, of which a full account has been published. A more condensed one may be seen in Select Miscellanies, v. p. 50-68.

Some idea of the sufferings of these poor creatures may be formed from the fact of their often lying down before the crevice of their prison-door, to inhale what air could be obtained from it. In this state their skin was parched, the hair fell off their heads, and, they frequently fainted; and, in moments when the strength and glory of the Divine presence was not so feelingly experienced as at others, it cannot occasion surprise that, through human weakness, they wished for death; their distress sometimes being such, that when it was day they longed for night, and yet when night came it was only to prompt the constant sigh for returning light. Yet the heavenly content which, on the whole, was the portion of these sufferers for Christ’s sake, in this dark and cloudy day, was remarkable. One of them, in writing to her relatives in England, says, “We are witnesses that the Lord can provide a table in the wilderness, both spiritual and temporal. In all our afflictions and miseries, the Lord remembered mercy, and did not leave nor forsake us, nor suffer his faithfulness to fail; but caused the sweet drops of his mercy to distil upon us, and the brightness of his glorious countenance to shine into our hearts.”

The other of these suffering captives writes that she could not, by pen and paper, set forth the extent of the love of God to her soul, in fulfilling his gracious promises to her in the wilderness. They were indeed enabled to “sing the Lord’s song in a strange land;” and in the midst of heaviness, “their mouths were often filled with laughter, and their tongues with joy,” being strong in the faith, giving praises and glory to God.

The following, composed by them in the Inquisition, affords a view of the motives and abilities of these devoted women:—

It was not in the Inquisition only that these women suffered, but much also in England. In 1657, Katherine Evans was stripped, and tied to a whipping-post in the market-place at Salisbury, and there whipped, for exhorting the people to repentance. Her husband, a man of property, also suffered several imprisonments, and at last died in prison for obeying our Saviour’s command, “Swear not at all.”

75. Cases similar to the above are not rare in the early history of the Society; even thieves being allowed to escape, whilst the party robbed, being unwilling to swear to the known fact, have been made to suffer. In 1660, the following occurrence took place at Reading assizes:—Henry Hodges, a poor smith, lost three cows, which were found in the possession of the thief who stole them, he was brought to trial, and Hodges appeared to claim his cows. The judge told him they must be proved on oath before he could have them again. He replied that he could not swear for conscience sake. The judge said if any of his neighbours would swear they were his, they should be returned to him; upon which one of his neighbours took his oath, and the judge promised that they should be returned. Thus far, the proceedings appeared just and equal, but many thought the judge too rigorous, when, having observed the sincerity and tenderness of the poor man’s conscience, who could not swear in a case of his own property, he caused the oath of allegiance to be tendered him in court; and, for his refusing to take it, sent him to jail.—(Besse.)

76. This Captain Lawrence, who has been mentioned before, was a man of some note in the days of the Commonwealth. After he joined Friends, he became a faithful sufferer for Christ. In 1660, with his brother, Joseph Lawrence, and George Whitehead, he was imprisoned in Norwich castle, in a small narrow cell called the Vice, where they endured much hardship. In speaking of this imprisonment, George Whitehead says, “I remember one morning, Joseph Lawrence, after his pleasant manner, said to his brother John, ‘O, Captain Lawrence, I have seen the day thou wouldst not have lain there!’”