Volume 1 — THE TENTH BOOK. 1677-1688. (continued 3)

I am come now almost to a conclusion of my relation concerning persecution; of which I could have written much more, but that I was unwilling to extend my work beyond what I should have been well able to complete. Yet before I altogether part with this matter, I will mention something concerning Theophilus Green, of whom mention hath been made before. He lived at Battersea, not far from London, and was a man beloved of his neighbours, because of his honest conversation; yet he was much persecuted, both for attending meetings, and for preaching. Once it happened that some officers came to his house to see whether there was a meeting, and they behaved themselves moderately: for what they did seemed against their mind, it being only in obedience to the order of justice Duke, who, on account of a former offence, had issued out warrants to make distress. The officers not satisfied in the case, and seeing no meeting, went their way, and returned the warrant; and T. Green went afterwards to the said justice, and speaking to him, said amongst the rest, ‘Consider what that mouth and tongue of thine hath said formerly, viz. that I had been ever kind to thee; and is this the way of requiting it? Know for certain, that that God whom I have served, and for whose cause I now suffer, will avenge me; for vengeance is the Lord’s, and he will repay it one way or other, except thou speedily repentest.’ At this saying the justice began to tremble, and crying out, said, ‘I will do you no more hurt than I will do my own soul. Pray go to the officers and tell them, I will never trouble them any more upon the account of you.’ Green did so; and they were glad of it. And Duke being upon some complaint dismissed, one Sir John Broadrick succeeded in his room; and he was so moderate, that he prevented the informers, by keeping Theophilus and his friends out of their meeting-house, which was for about two years and a half.

Afterwards they were suffered again to go into their meeting-house, but then justice Forster came once, and taking their names, fined Theophilus 10l. as a preacher. And afterwards he with others coming with a constable to seize for the fine, the constable being come to the door of the house, said, ‘Neighbour Green, where are you? We are come to seize your goods, if you will let us in.’ But this so displeased the justice, that going down the yard, and seeing some oars and poles, he required the constable to take them away. To which he answered, ‘I am no porter.’ ‘Then,’ said the justice, ‘command some others to do it.’ To which the constable returned, ‘I command you to do it.’ This so enraged the justice, that he fined him. Some time after the said justice coming again with an high constable, and another petty constable, seized a barge, and had it carried away, and several times offered it to sale, but none would buy it. And after it had been carried about from place to place for sale, at length it was found adrift by one who knew not of its being seized; and hearing that it was Theophilus’s barge, he brought it to him. But Theophilus went to the constables, and told them how it came to him, and where he had it, saying, since it was come to him again he was willing to keep it; but if they took it away again he would not hinder them. This account being given to the justice, he sent a warrant, and committed Theophilus to the Marshalsea prison. After three weeks the sessions was held at the Marshalsea; and the last day the said justice came to him in the prison, saying, he came out of love to see him, and to advise him for his good; which was, that he would have him pay his fine; ‘for,’ said he, ‘I am sure the grand jury hath found the bill against you; and if you should come off, I have such an influence with the judge, as to cause the oath to be tendered to you; and I know you will not take it; and then you will be run to a premunire, and are not like to come out as long as you live.’ To which Theophilus answered, ‘Thou saidst thy coming was in love, to advise me for my good; but by what thou hast said, it appears the contrary; for now I perceive thou hast devised as much mischief as thou canst against me. As to the fine, if it were but ten pence, nay ten farthings, I would not pay it. And if the Lord should permit thee to do as thou hast said, and so be the cause of bringing my grey hairs the sooner to the grave, my blood will be at justice Forster’s door, and it will cry vengeance against thee.’

The next day the two constables being called before the grand jury, were asked what they had against Theophilus Green, that stood there indicted; and the high constable answered, ‘As to Theophilus Green, he is as honest a man, though a Quaker, as lives about us; and he was lately in office for the poor, and behaved himself as well in it as any hath done these twenty years. And touching the barge he is indicted for, when it came to him he came to us, and told how it came, and where he had laid it, saying, if we would take it away again he would not hinder us. This is all we have to say.’ Some of the grand jury knowing Theophilus very well, and the cause too, did aggravate the matter very high against the justice: and as to the indictment they brought it in ignoramus. So Theophilus was cleared by proclamation: and sir Richard How, being one of the jury, advised him to arrest the justice, there being two good actions, as defamation and false imprisonment. But Theophilus said he owned their love, but would leave the thing to the Lord, for whose cause he suffered; for vengeance was the Lord’s, and he would repay it. And it was but some little time after that the said justice Forster died, as was reported, in great horror and misery. The time when this happened I do not know exactly, yet I take it to have been some years before the time I now describe. We see by this instance a very singular deliverance, such as did not befal every one, but which could not but encourage Theophilus the more.

Before I conclude this year I must mention something concerning W. Penn, who when the government of king James was sinking, not only bore the blame of many miscarriages; but by some was styled a Papist, though this was altogether false. But he had a great many enemies; and it was no new thing to brand the Quakers with the odious name of jesuits: for thirty years before this time at Bristol great endeavours were used to persuade people they were Franciscans. William Penn patiently bore the slander of being decried as a Papist, saying but little in justification of himself, till at length he made a return to a letter sent by one who seriously begged of him to give an answer to those accusations that had been forged in prejudice of his reputation. In this paper he ascribed his free access to the king, partly to the relation his father, as admiral, and to the service of the said king, and who was then duke of York, and high admiral of England; and his special favour also in releasing him out of the tower of London in the year 1669. To this he added, ‘My father’s humble request to him, upon his death-bed, was, to protect me from the inconveniences and troubles my persuasion might expose me unto; and his friendly promise to do it, and exact performance of it, from the moment I addressed myself to him: I say, when all this is considered, any body that hath the least pretence to good-nature, gratitude, or generosity, must needs know how to interpret my access to the king.—Is any thing more foolish as well as false, than that because I am often at Whitehall, therefore I must be author of all that is done there, that doth not please abroad. But supposing some such things to have been done; pray tell me if I am bound to oppose any thing I am not called to do: I never was a member of council, cabinet, or committee, where the affairs of the kingdom are transacted. I have had no office or trust, and consequently nothing can be said to be done by me; nor for that reason could I lie under any test or any obligation to discover my opinion of public acts of state: and therefore, neither can any such acts, nor any silence about them, in justice be made my crime. Volunteers are blanks and cyphers in all governments. And unless calling at Whitehall once a day, upon many occasions, or my not being turned out of nothing, (for that no office is,) be the evidence of my compliance in disagreeable things, I know not what else can with any truth be alleged against me. I am not without apprehensions of the cause of this behaviour towards me; I mean my constant zeal for an impartial liberty of conscience. But if that be it, the cause is too good to be in pain about it. I ever understood that to be the natural right of all men; and that he that had a religion without it, his religion was none of his own. For what is not the religion of man’s choice, is the religion of him that imposes it: so that liberty of conscience is the first step to have a religion. This is no new opinion with me, I have wrote many apologies within the last twenty years to defend it, and that impartially. Yet I have as constantly declared, that bounds ought to be set to this freedom, and that morality was the best; and that as often as that was violated under a pretence of conscience, it was fit the civil power should take place. Nor did I ever once think of promoting any sort of liberty of conscience for any body, which did not preserve the common protestancy of the kingdom, and the ancient rights of the government: for to say truth, the one cannot be maintained without the other.—And till I saw my own friends, with the kingdom delivered from the legal bondage which penal laws for religion had subjected them to, I could with no satisfaction think of leaving England, though much to my prejudice beyond sea, and at my great expense here, having in all this time never had either office, or pension, and always refusing the rewards or gratuities of those I have been able to oblige.’ From this little abstract of William Penn’s Apology, it appears sufficiently what kind of liberty he defended; and such a liberty afterwards took place in the reign of the next king.

Of George Fox I have been long silent, and I do not meet with any very remarkable transactions that concerned him, except that he wrote much, both for edification of his friends, and for the instruction and admonition of others; for he was continually occupied with the care of the church, and that things might be kept in good order, which to perform the better, he now staid a long while in and about London.

In this year died William Dewsbury, one of the first preachers among those called Quakers; having been a very zealous teacher, and an eminent instrument to the conversion of many. He was born in Yorkshire, and in his youth was a shepherd, and afterwards put apprentice to a clothier; but when the civil wars broke out, he became a soldier and joined with those who said they fought for the gospel. Now though he was religious according to his knowledge; yet growing more and more serious, and turning his mind inwardly, he saw there were inward and spiritual enemies to encounter with, according to the saying of the apostle, ‘We wrestle not against flesh and blood; but against spiritual wickedness,’ &c. And this state was inwardly manifested to him in the words of our Saviour: ‘Put up thy sword into the sheath. If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight.’ This wrought so powerfully upon his mind, that he could no longer meddle with martial affairs, but left the army; and returned to his former calling, endeavouring to improve in true godliness, in which he so advanced gradually, that when George Fox in the year 1651, came to Balby in Yorkshire, and preached the gospel there, he could not but consent to the doctrine declared by him, as being the same of which he himself was already convinced in his mind, viz. that heed ought to be given to the inward Divine reprovings for that which is evil; which doctrine was preached by George Fox under the denomination of the true light, which enlighteneth every man coming into the world; and that heed must be given thereunto, as being the grace which brings salvation, of which the apostle speaks in his epistle to Titus, ii. 11, saying, “That it hath appeared to all men.” W. Dewsbury having heard such a sermon as this, agreed not only with G. Fox in this point of doctrine, but in process of time became himself also a very zealous preacher of it, for which he fell under great sufferings; insomuch that he was prisoner at Warwick nineteen years for religion’s sake, besides the imprisonments he suffered on that account in other places. But being now released, he came in the month called May to London, and preached a sermon there concerning regeneration, which was taken from his mouth in short hand, and afterwards printed as underneath.[52] His intention was to have been at the yearly meeting of his friends; but by illness he was prevented; and therefore before he grew worse, he returned to Warwick, where he lived. Being come thither, his disease increased, and lying very sick in bed, and being visited by some of his friends, he said to them in great weakness of body, as followeth:

‘My God hath yet put it in my heart to bear a testimony to his name and blessed truth, and I can never forget the day of his great power and blessed appearance, when he first sent me to preach the everlasting gospel, and proclaim the day of the Lord to all people. Therefore, friends, be faithful, and trust to the Lord your God; for this I can say, I never since played the coward, but as joyfully entered prisons as palaces, and in the prison-house I sang praises to my God, and esteemed the bolts and locks upon me as jewels. And, friends, this I must once again testify to you, in the name of the Lord God, that what I saw above thirty years ago, still rests as a testimony to leave behind me, that a dreadful terrible day is at hand, and will certainly come to pass; but the time when, I cannot say; but all put on strength in the name of the Lord, and wait to feel his eternal power, to preserve you through the tribulations of those days that approach very near. This I have further to signify, that my departure draws nigh. Blessed be my God, I am prepared, and I have nothing to do but die, and put off this corruptible and mortal tabernacle, this flesh that hath so many infirmities; but the life that dwells in it, ascends out of the reach of death, hell, and the grave; and immortality and eternal life is my crown for ever. Therefore you that are left behind, fear not, nor be discouraged, but go on in the name and power of the Lord, and bear a faithful and living testimony for him in your day. And the Lord will prosper his work in your hand, and cause his truth to flourish and spread abroad. For it shall have the victory, and no weapon formed against it shall prosper.’

Thus fervent in spirit was W. Dewsbury in his latter end, and he prayed to God very earnestly for all his friends, especially those that were met at the annual assembly at London. And so he very piously departed this life at his house, in a good old age, in the month called June, in this current year. He was indeed a man of a remarkable zeal and perception. He spoke sometimes to young lads as to men, telling them that the blessing of the Lord would rest upon them if they lived a godly life: some of which being since come to man’s estate, have experienced the truth of his saying.

Two days before the decease of William Dewsbury, Rebecca Travers departed this life at about the age of seventy-nine years. She was a woman exceedingly well gifted; and spoke not only sometimes in public for edification of the church, but wrote also several books for the advancement of piety; in one of which she signified, that though she had been a reader of the Scriptures from a child of six years old; yet when by the power of the eternal gospel she was turned from darkness to light, the Scriptures then became much more plain to her, as not wanting interpretation. She was an excellent open-hearted woman, and took great care of the poor: she had several times been imprisoned for religion, but persevered constantly in the faith, and so piously entered into eternal rest.

As to state affairs, there now appeared a wonderful agitation in England, since it was reported that the queen was big with child. And the endeavours for introducing popery, besides the encroaching upon some rights and privileges, caused such a stir, that William the third, prince of Orange, and stadtholder, (or lord deputy,) of Holland, &c. was intreated and invited by the English Protestants, to come to their assistance. This at length he did, and came over with a fleet, and a considerable number of forces. What was the issue of this expedition, is very amply described by other pens, and not properly my province to relate; wherefore I think it sufficient to my purpose to say, that the prince after some difficulty at sea, came into England; where having many adherents, the king, many of whose forces deserted him, resolved to go to France, whither the queen with the young child was gone sometime before. Accordingly he went over, where he was well received by the French king, who provided him a court at St. Germain’s. In the meanwhile the prince of Orange came to London, and was saluted there by the great ones as the deliverer of England. The lord mayor of the said city, with the aldermen and the sheriffs, having congratulated him, the prince sent for some of the members of former parliaments to come to him, and signified to them that he had desired them to meet to advise him in the best manner how to pursue the ends of his declaration in calling a free parliament, for the preservation of the Protestant religion, the restoring of the rights and liberties of the kingdom, and settling the same, that they might not be in danger of being again subverted.

In answer to this, thanks were given to the prince for his care and pains in defence of the people, their religion, and laws. And all things took a favourable turn for him.

In Holland a good while before a paper was published in print, called, ‘A Copy of a Letter written by a Quaker at London to his Friend at Rotterdam.’ In which forged letter were mentioned several things that were not altogether untrue, and the prince’s going over to England, was also in a manner predicted. Who was the author of the said letter, I could never learn, but of this I am fully satisfied, that he was no Quaker; for it never was their way to ridicule princes, and to characterize them with ridiculous denominations, as in the said letter we find mentioned, of James of Great Britain, Mary of Modena, William of Orange, and Mary of England, his wife. This was no more the language of Quakers, than the following expressions that are found in this letter. ‘The Spirit hath inspired me to tell thee, I should not be able to declare my opinion, before the Spirit shall have revealed it to me. If the Spirit doth dictate it to thee, go and speak with him. Dentsch hath had a revelation, and the Spirit hath assured him,’ &c. This foolish language betrays itself, and serves for a palpable evidence, that it never proceeded from the pen of any of the people called Quakers. But perhaps the author of that letter knew a secret of state, whereof, (to remain unknown,) he would acquaint the world in a ridiculous way; that under the cloak of being a Quaker, he should best continue undiscovered, and that by this device the letter would spread the more, as indeed it did; for it had a very quick vent.