I was born in the month called July, 1624, at Drayton-in-the-Clay(1), in Leicestershire. My father's name was Christopher Fox: he was by profession a weaver, an honest man; and there was a seed of God in him. The neighbours called him Righteous Christer. My mother was an upright woman; her maiden name was Mary Lago, of the family of the Lagos, and of the stock of the martyrs.
In my very young years I had a gravity and stayedness of mind and spirit, not usual in children; insomuch, that when I saw old men carry themselves lightly and wantonly towards each other, I had a dislike thereof raised in my heat, and said within myself, "If ever I come to be a man, surely I shall not so, nor be so wanton."
When I came to eleven years of age, I knew pureness and righteousness; for while a child I was taught how to walk to be kept pure. The Lord taught me to be faithful in all things, and to act faithfully two ways, viz., inwardly to God, and outwardly to man; and to keep to Yea arid Nay in all things. For the Lord shewed me, that though the people of the world have mouths full of deceit, and changeable words, yet I was to keep to Yea and Nay in all things; and that my words should be few and savoury, seasoned with grace; and that I might not eat and drink to make myself wanton, but for health, using the creatures in their service, as servants in their places, to the glory of Him that created them; they being in their covenant, and I being brought up into the covenant, as sanctified by the Word which was in the beginning, by which all things are upheld; wherein is unity with the creation.
But people being strangers to the covenant of life with God, they eat and drink to make themselves wanton with the creatures, devouring them upon their own lusts, and living in all filthiness, loving foul ways, and devouring the creation; and all this in the world, in the pollutions thereof, without God: therefore I was to shun all such.
Afterwards, as I grew up, my relations thought to make me a priest(2); but others persuaded to the contrary: whereupon I was put to a man, a shoemaker by trade, and who dealt in wool, and used grazing, and sold cattle(3); and a great deal went through my hands. While I was with him, he was blessed; but after I left him he broke, and came to nothing. I never wronged man or woman in all that time; for the Lord's power was with me, and over me to preserve me. While I was in that service, I used in my dealings the word Verily, and it was a common saying among people that knew me, "If George says Verily, there is no altering him." When boys and rude people would laugh at me, I let them alone, and went my way; but people had generally a love to me for my innocency and honesty.
When I came towards nineteen years of age, being upon business at a fair, one of my cousins, whose name was Bradford, a professor(4), and having another professor with .him, came to me and asked me to drink part of a jug of beer with them, and I, being thirsty, went in with them; for I loved any that had a sense of good, or that sought after the Lord. When we had drunk a glass apiece they began to drink healths, calling for more, and agreeing together that he that would not drink should pay all. I was grieved that any who made profession of religion should do so. They grieved me very much, having never had such a thing put to me before, by any sort of people; wherefore I rose up to be gone, and putting my hand into my pocket, laid a groat on the table before them, and said, "If it be so, I'll leave you." So I went away; and when I had done what business I had to do, I returned home, but did not go to bed that night, nor could not sleep, but sometimes walked up and down, and sometimes prayed and cried to the Lord, who said unto me, "Thou seest how young people go together into vanity, and old people into the earth; thou must forsake all, both young and old, and keep out of all, and be as a stranger unto all."
Then at the command of God, on the ninth day of the Seventh Month, 1643, I left my relations, and brake off all familiarity or fellowship with old or young. I passed to Lutterworth, where I stayed some time; and thence to Northampton, where also I made some stay: then to Newport Pagnell, whence, after I had stayed a while, I went to Barnet, in the Fourth Month, called June(5), in 1644. As I thus travelled through the countries, professors took notice and sought to be acquainted with me; but I was afraid of them, for I was sensible they did not possess what they professed.
Now during the time that I was at Barnet, a strong temptation to despair came upon me. Then I
saw how Christ was tempted, and mighty troubles I was in; sometimes I kept myself retired in my
chamber, and often walked solitary in the chace there, to wait upon the Lord. I wondered why
these things should come to me; and I looked upon myself and said, "Was I ever so before?" Then
I thought, because I had forsaken my relations, I had done amiss against them; so I was brought
to call to mind all the time that I had spent, and to consider whether I had wronged any. But
temptations grew more and more, and I was tempted almost to despair; and when Satan could not
effect his design upon me that way, he laid snares for me and baits to draw me to commit some
sin, whereby he might take advantage to bring me to despair. I was about twenty years of age
when these exercises came upon me; and I continued in that condition some years, in great
troubles, and fain I would have put it from me. I went to many a priest to look for comfort, but
found no comfort from them.
From Barnet I went to London, where I took a lodging, and was under great misery and trouble there; for I looked upon the great professors of the city of London, and I saw all was dark and under the chain of darkness. I had an uncle there, one Pickering, a Baptist (and they were tender then), yet I could not impart my mind to him, nor join with them; for I saw all young and old, where they were. Some tender people would have had me stay, but I was fearful, and returned homewards into Leicestershire again, having a regard upon my mind unto my parents and relations, lest I should grieve them; who, I understood, were troubled at my absence.
When I was come down into Leicestershire, my relations would have had me marry, but I told
them I was but a lad, and I must get wisdom. Others would have had me into the Auxiliary Band
among the soldiery, but I refused; and I was grieved that they proffered such things to me, being a
tender youth. Then I went to Coventry, where I took a chamber for a while at a professor's house,
till people began to be acquainted with me; for there were many tender people in that town.
After some time I went into my own country again, and was there about a year, in great sorrows and troubles, and walked many nights by myself. Then the priest of Drayton, the town of my birth, whose name was Nathaniel Stephens, came often to me, and I went often to him; and another priest sometimes came with him; and they would give place to me to hear me, and I would ask them questions, and reason with them. And this priest Stephens asked me a question, viz., "Why Christ cried out upon the cross, 'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?' and why He said, 'If it be possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not my will, but thine be done'?" I told him that at that time the sins of all mankind were upon Him, and their iniquities and transgressions with which He was wounded, which He was to bear, and to be an offering for them as He was man, but died not as He was God; and so, in that He died for all men, and tasted death for every man, He was an offering for the sins of the whole world, This I spake, being at that time in a measure sensible of Christ's sufferings, and what He went through. And the priest said it was a very good, full answer, and such a one as he had not heard. At this time he would applaud and speak highly of me to others; and what said in discourse to him on the week-days he would preach of on the First-days; for which I did not like him. This pries afterwards became my great persecutor.
After this I went to another ancient pries at Mancetter, in Warwickshire, and reasoned with him about the ground of despair and temptations; but he was ignorant of my condition; he bade me take tobacco and sing psalms. Tobacco was a thing I did not love, and psalms I was not in a state to sing; I could not sing. Then he bid me come again, and he would tell me many things; but when I came again he was angry and pettish, for my former words had displeased him. He told my troubles, and sorrows, and griefs to his servants so that it was got among the milk-lasses, which grieved me that I had opened my mind to such a one. I saw they were all miserable comforters; and this brought my troubles more upon me. Then I heard of a priest living about Tamworth, who was accounted an experienced man, and I went seven miles to him; but I found him but like an empty hollow cask. I heard also of one called Dr. Cradock, of Coventry, and went to him. I asked him the ground of temptations and despair, and how troubles came to be wrought in man. He asked me, "Who was Christ's father and mother?" I told him, "Mary was His mother, and that He was supposed to be the son of Joseph, but He Was the Son of God." Now, as we were walking together in his garden, the alley being narrow, I chanced, in turning, to set my foot on the side of a bed, at which the man was in such a rage as if his house had been on fire. Thus all our discourse was lost, and I went away in sorrow, worse than I was when I came. I thought them miserable comforters, and saw they were all as nothing to me; for they could not reach my condition. After this I went to another, one Macham(6), a priest in high account. He would needs give me some physic, and I was to have been let blood; but they could not get one drop of blood from me, either in arms or head (though they endeavoured it), my body being, as it were, dried up with sorrows, grief and troubles, which were so great upon me that I could have wished I had never been born, or that I had been born blind, that I might never have seen vanity and wickedness, and deaf, that I might never have heard vain and wicked words, or the Lord's name blasphemed. When the time called Christmas came, while others were feasting and sporting themselves, I would have gone and looked out poor widows from house to house, and have given them some money. When I was invited to marriages (as I sometimes was), I would go to none at all, but the next day, or soon after, I would go and visit them; and if they were poor I gave them some money; for I had wherewith both to keep myself from being chargeable to others, and to administer something to the necessities of others. About the beginning of the year 1646, as I was going to Coventry, and entering towards the gate, a consideration arose in me, how it was said that all Christians are believers both Protestants and Papists; and the Lord opened to me that, if all were believers, then they were all born of God, and passed from death to life, and that none were true believers but such; and though others said they were believers, yet they were not. At another time, as I was walking in a field on a First-day morning, the Lord opened to me that being bred at Oxford or Cambridge was not enough to fit and qualify men to be ministers of Christ; and I stranged(7) at it, because it was the common belief of people. But I saw it clearly as the Lord opened it to me, and was satisfied, and admired the goodness of the Lord who had opened this thing unto me that morning. This struck at priest Stephens' ministry, namely, that to be bred at Oxford or Cambridge was not enough to make a man fit to be a minister of Christ. But my relations were much troubled that I would not go with them to hear the priest; for I would get into the orchard, or the fields, with my Bible by myself. I asked them, "Did not the apostle sa to believers, that they needed no man to teach them, but as the anointing teacheth them'?" And though they knew this was Scripture, and that it was true, yet they would be grieved because I could not be subject in this matter, to go to hear the priest with them. I saw that to be a true believer was another thing than they looked upon it to be. So neither them, nor any of the Dissenting people, could I join with, but was as a stranger to all, relying wholly, upon the Lord Jesus Christ.
At another time it was opened in me that God, who made the world, did not dwell in temples made with hands. This, at the first, seemed a strange word, because both priests and people used to call their temples or churches dreadful places, holy ground, and the temples of God. But the Lord shewed me, so that I did see clearly, that He did not dwell in these temples which men had commanded and set up, but in people's hearts: for both Stephen and the apostle Paul bore testimony, that He did not dwell in temples made with hands, not even in that which He had once commanded to be built, since He put an end to it; but that His people were His temple, and He dwelt in them. This opened in me as I walked in the fields to my relation's house. When I came there, they told me that Nathaniel Stephens, the priest, had been there, and told them he was afraid of me, for going after new lights. I smiled in myself, knowing what the Lord had opened in me concerning him and his brethren; but I told not my relations, who, though they saw beyond the priests, yet they went to hear them, and were grieved because I would not go also. But I brought them Scriptures and told them there was an anointing within man to teach him, and that the Lord would teach His people Himself. I had also great openings concerning the things written in the Revelations; and when I spake of them, the priests and professors would say that was a sealed-up book, and would have kept me out of it: but I told them Christ could open the seals, and that they were the nearest things to us; for the Epistles were written to the saints that lived in former ages, but the Revelations were written of things to come.
After this I met with a sort of people that held women have no souls, adding, in a light manner, no more than a goose. But I reproved them, and told them that was not right; for Mary said, "My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my saviour."
Removing to another place, I came among a people that relied much on dreams. I told them, except they could distinguish between dream and dream, they would mash or confound all together; for there were three sorts of dreams: multitude of business sometimes caused dreams; and there were whisperings of Satan in man in the night-season; and there were speakings of God to man in dreams. But these people came out of these things, and at last became Friends.
Now though I had great openings, yet great trouble and temptation came many times upon me, so that when it was day I wished for night, and when it was night I wished for day; and by reason of the openings I had in my troubles, I could say as David said, "Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge." When I had openings, they answered one another and answered the Scriptures; for I had great openings of the Scriptures: and when I was in troubles, one trouble also answered to another.
About the beginning of the year 1647 I was moved of the Lord to go into Derbyshire, where I met with some friendly people, and had many discourses with them. Then passing further into the Peak country, I met with more friendly people, and with some in empty, high notions. Travelling on through some parts of Leicestershire and into Nottinghamshire, I met with a tender people, and a very tender woman, whose name was Elizabeth Hooton; and with these I had some meetings and discourses. But my troubles continued, and I was often under great temptations; I fasted much, and walked abroad in solitary places many days, and often took my Bible, and went and sate in hollow trees and lonesome places till night came on; and frequently, in the night, walked mournfully about by myself: for I was a man of sorrows in the times of the first workings of the Lord in me.
Now during all this time I was never joined in profession of religion with any, but gave up myself to the Lord, having forsaken all evil company, and taken leave of father and mother and all other relations, and travelled up and down as a stranger in the earth, which way the Lord inclined my heart; taking a chamber to myself in the town where I came, and tarrying sometimes a month, more or less, in a place; for I durst not stay long in any place, being afraid both of professor and profane, lest, being a tender young man, I should be hurt by conversing much with either. For which reason I kept myself much as a stranger, seeking heavenly wisdom and getting knowledge from the Lord; and was brought off from outward things, to rely wholly on the Lord alone. Though my exercises and troubles were very great, yet were they not so continual but that I had some intermissions, and was sometimes brought into such a heavenly joy, that I thought I had been in Abraham's bosom. As I cannot declare the misery I was in, it was so great and heavy upon me, so neither can I set forth the mercies of God unto me in all my misery. Oh, the everlasting love of God to my soul, when I was in great distress! when my troubles and torments were great, then was His love exceeding great.
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Now after I had received that opening from the Lord that to be bred at Oxford or Cambridge was not sufficient to fit a man to be a minister of Christ, I regarded the priests less, and looked more after the Dissenting people. Among them I saw there was some tenderness; and many of them came afterwards to be convinced, for they had some openings. But as I had forsaken the priests, so I left the Separate preachers also, and those called the most experienced people; for I saw there was none among them all that could speak to my condition. And when all my hopes in them and in all men were gone, so that I had nothing outwardly to help me, nor could I tell what to do; then, oh! then I heard a voice which said, "There is one, even Christ Jesus, that can speak to thy condition": and when I heard it, my heart did leap for joy. Then the Lord did let me see why there was none upon the earth that could speak to my condition, namely, that I might give him all the glory; for all are concluded under sin, and shut up in unbelief, as I had been, that Jesus Christ might have the pre-eminence, who enlightens, and grace and faith and power. Thus when God doth work, who shall let(8) it? and this I knew experimentally. My desires after the Lord grew stronger, and zeal in the pure knowledge of God, and of Christ alone, without the help of any man, book, or writing. For though I read the Scriptures that spake of Christ and of God, yet I knew Him not, but by revelation, as He who hath the key did open, and as the Father of Life drew me to His Son by His Spirit. Then the Lord gently led me along, and let me see His love, which was endless and eternal, surpassing all the knowledge that men have in the natural state, or can get by history or books; and that love let me see myself, as I was without Him. I was afraid of all company, for I saw them perfectly where they were, through the love of God, which let me see myself.
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At another time I saw the great love of God, and I was filled with admiration(9) at the infiniteness of it; and then I saw what was cast out from God, and what entered into God's kingdom: and how by Jesus, the opener of the door with His heavenly key, the entrance was given; and I saw death, how it had passed upon all men, and oppressed the seed of God in man, and in me; and how I in the seed came forth, and what the promise was to. Yet is was so with me, that there seemed to be two pleading in me; questionings arose in my mind about gifts and prophecies; and I was tempted again to despair, as if I had sinned against the Holy Ghost. I was in great perplexity and trouble for many days; yet I gave up myself to the Lord still.
One day when I had been walking solitarily abroad, and was come home, I was taken up in the love of God, so that I could not but admire the greatness of His love, While I Was in that condition it was opened unto me by the eternal light and power, and I saw clearly therein that all was done, and to be done, in and by Christ; and how He conquers and destroys this tempter, the Devil and all his works, and is atop of him; and that all these troubles were good for me, and temptations for the trial of my faith, which Christ had given me. When at any time my condition was veiled, my secret belief was stayed firm, and hope underneath held me as an anchor in the bottom of the sea, and, and anchored my immortal soul to its Bishop, causing it to swim above the sea, the world, where all the raging waves, weather, tempests, and temptations are. But, oh! then did I see my troubles, trials and temptations more than ever I had done. As the light appeared, all appeared that is out of the light; darkness, death, temptations, the unrighteous, the ungodly; all was manifest and seen in the light. Then after this, there did a pure fire appear in me: then I saw how He sate as a refiner's fire and as fullers' soap;--then the spiritual discerning came into me, by which I did discern my own thoughts, groans and sighs; and what it was that did veil me, and what it was that did open me. That which could not abide in the patience nor endure the fire, in the light I found to be the groans of the flesh that could not give up to the will of God, which had veiled me; and that could not be patient in all trials, troubles and anguishes and perplexities, and could not give up self to die by the cross, the power of God, that the living and quickened might follow Him and that that which would cloud and veil from the presence Christ--that which the sword of the Spirit cuts down, and which must die--might not be kept alive.
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Several things did I then see as the Lord opened them to me, for He shewed me that which can live in His holy refining fire, and that can live to God under His law. He made me sensible how the law and the prophets were until John; and how the least in the everlasting kingdom of God is greater than John.
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I saw also the mountains burning up, and the rubbish; and the rough and crooked ways and places made smooth and plain that the Lord might come into His tabernacle. I saw many talked of the law who had never known the law to be schoolmaster; and many talked of the gospel of Christ who had never known life and immortality brought to light in them by it. Though the Lord in that day opened these me in secret, they have since been published by His Eternal Spirit, as on the house-top.
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I heard of a woman in Lancashire that had fasted two twenty days, and I travelled to see her; but when I came her I saw that she was under a temptation. When I to her what I had from the Lord, I left her, her father being one his in profession. Passing on, I went among the Professors at Dukinfield and Manchester, where I stayed a while, and declared Truth among them. There were some convinced, who received the Lord's teaching, by which they were confirmed and stood in the truth. But the professors were in a rage, all pleading for sin and imperfection, and could not endure to hear talk of perfection, and of a holy and sinless life. But the Lord's power was over all: though they were chained under darkness and sin, which they pleaded for, and quenched the tender thing in them.
About this time there was a great meeting of the Baptists at Broughton in Leicestershire, with some that had separated from them; and people of other notions went thither, and I went also. Not many of the Baptists came, but abundance of other people were there. The Lord opened my mouth, and the everlasting truth was declared amongst them, and the power of the Lord was over them all. For in that day the Lord's power began to spring, and I had great openings in the Scriptures. Several were convinced in those parts, and were turned from darkness to light, from the power of Satan unto God; and many were raised up to praise God. When I reasoned with professors and other people, some were convinced, and did stand.
I was still under great temptations sometimes, and my inward sufferings were heavy; but I could find none to open my condition but the Lord alone, unto Whom I cried night and day. I went back into Nottinghamshire, and there the Lord shewed me that the natures of those things which were hurtful without, were within, in the hearts and minds of wicked men. I cried to the Lord, saying, "Why should I be thus, seeing I was never addicted to commit those evils?" and the Lord answered that it was needful that I should have a sense of all conditions, how else should I speak to all conditions, and in this I saw the infinite love of God. I saw also that there was an ocean of darkness and death, but an infinite ocean of light and love which flowed over the ocean of darkness. In that also I saw the infinite love of God; and I had great openings.
And as I was walking by the steeple-house side in Mansfield, the Lord said unto me, "That which people trample upon must be thy food." And as the Lord spake, He opened it to me that people and professors did trample upon the life, even the life of Christ; they fed upon words, and fed one another with words; but they trampled upon the life; trampled underfoot the blood of the Son of God, which blood was my life, and lived in their airy notions, talking of Him. It seemed strange to me at the first that I should feed on that which the high professors trampled upon; but the Lord opened it clearly to me by His eternal spirit and power.
Then came people from far and near to see me; but I was fearful of being drawn out by them; yet I was made to speak and open things to them. There was one Brown who had great prophecies and sights of me upon his death-bed. He spake openly of what I should be made instrumental by the Lord to bring forth. And of others he spake, that they should come to nothing, which was fulfilled on some, that then were something in shew. When this man was buried, a great work of the Lord fell upon me, to the admiration of many who thought I had been dead; and many came to see me for about fourteen days time. I was very much altered in countenance and person, as if my body had been new-moulded or changed. While I was in that condition, I had a sense and discerning given me by the Lord, through which I saw plainly, that when many people talked of God and of Christ, &c., the serpent spake in them; but this was hard to be borne. Yet the work of the Lord went on in some, and my sorrows and troubles began to wear off, and tears of joy dropped from me, so that I could have wept night and day with tears of joy to the Lord, in humility and brokenness of heart. I saw into that which was without end, and things which cannot be uttered, and of the greatness and infiniteness of the love of God, which cannot be exprest by words. For I had been brought through the very ocean of darkness and death, and through and over the power of Satan, by the eternal, glorious power of Christ; even through that darkness was I brought, which covered-over all the world, and which chained down all; and shut up all in the death. The same eternal power of God, which brought me through these things, was that which afterwards shook the nations, priests, professors, and people.
I saw the harvest white, and the seed of God lying thick in the ground, as ever did wheat that was
sown outwardly, and none to gather it; for this I mourned with tears. A report abroad of me that I
was a young man that had a discerning spirit; whereupon many came to me, from far and near,
professors, priests and people. The Lord's power brake forth; and I had great openings and
prophecies; and spake unto them of the things of God, which they heard with attention and
silence, and went away, and spread the fame thereof. Then came the tempter, and set upon me
again, charging me that I had against the Holy Ghost; but I could not tell in what. Then Paul's
condition came before me, how, after he had been taken up into third heaven, and seen things not
lawful to be uttered, a messenger of Satan was sent to buffet him. Thus, by the :power of Christ, I
got over that temptation also.
In the year 1648, as I was sitting in a Friend's house in Nottinghamshire (for by this time the power of God had opened hearts of some to receive the word of life and reconciliation), I saw there was a great crack to go throughout the earth, and a great smoke to go as the crack went; and that after the crack there should be a great shaking: this was the earth in people's hearts, which was to be shaken before the seed of God was raised the earth. And it was so; for the Lord's power began to shake them, and great meetings we began to have, and a mighty power and work of God there was amongst people, to the astonishment of both people and priests,
And there was a meeting of priests and professors at a justice's house, and I went among them. Here they discoursed how Paul said he had not known sin but by the law which said, "Thou shalt not lust": and they held that to be spoken of the outward law. But I told them Paul spake that after he was convinced; for he had the outward law before, and was bred up in it, when he was in the lust of persecution; but this was the law of God in his mind, which he served, and which the law in his members warred against; for that which he thought had been life to him proved death. So the more sober of the priests and professors yielded, and consented that it was not the outward law, but the inward, which shewed the inward lust which Paul spake of after he was convinced: for the outward law took hold upon the outward action; but the inward law upon the inward lust.
After this I went again to Mansfield, where was a great meeting of professors and people. Here I was moved to pray, and the Lord's power was so great that the house seemed to be shaken. When I had done, some of the professors said it was now as in the days of the apostles, when the house was shaken where they were. After I had prayed, one of the professors would pray, which brought deadness and a veil over them. And others of the professors were grieved at him and told him it was a temptation upon him. Then he came to me, and desired that I would pray again, but I could not pray in man's will.
Soon after there was another great meeting of professors, and a captain, whose name was Amor Stoddard, came in. They were discoursing of the blood of Christ; and as they were discoursing of it, I saw, through the immediate opening of the invisible Spirit, the blood of Christ. And I cried out among them, and said, "Do ye not see the blood of Christ? See it in your hearts to sprinkle your hearts and consciences from dead works to serve the living God": for I saw it, the blood of the New Covenant, how it carne into the heart. This startled the professors, who would have the blood only without them, and not in them. But Captain Stoddard was reached, and said, "Let the youth speak; hear the youth speak," when he saw they endeavoured to bear me down with many words.
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Now, after I had had some service in these parts, I went through Derbyshire into my own country, Leicestershire, again, and several tender people were convinced. Passing thence, I met with a great company of professors in Warwickshire, who were praying and expounding the Scriptures in the fields. They gave the Bible to me, and I opened it on the fifth of Matthew, where Christ expounded the law; and I opened the inward state to them, and the outward state; upon which they fell into a fierce contention, and so parted, but the Lord's power got ground.
In Leicestershire, as I was passing through the fields I was moved to go to Leicester, and when I came there I heard of a great meeting for a dispute, wherein Presbyterians, Independents, Baptists, and Common-prayer-men were said to be all concerned. The meeting was in a steeple-house; and thither I was moved by the Lord God to go, and be amongst them. I heard their discourse and reasonings, some being in pews and the priest in the pulpit; abundance of people being gathered together. At last one woman asked a question out of Peter, what the birth was, viz. as being "born again of incorruptible seed, by the Word of God, that liveth and abideth forever." And a priest said to her, "I permit not a woman to speak in the church"; though he had before given liberty for any to speak. Whereupon I was wrapped up, as ha a rapture, in the Lord's power; and I stepped up in a place and asked the priest, "Dost thou call this place a church? Or dost thou call this mixed multitude a church?" For the woman asking a question, he ought to have answered it, having given liberty for any to speak. But, instead of answering me, he asked me what a church was? I told him the Church was the pillar and ground of Truth, made up of living stones, living members, a spiritual household, which Christ was the head of: but He was not the head of a mixed multitude, or of an old house made up of lime, stones, and wood. This set them all on fire. The priest came down out of his pulpit and others out of their pews, and the dispute there was marred. But I went to a great inn, and there disputed the thing with the priests and professors of all sorts; and they were all on a fire. But I maintained the true Church, and the true head thereof, over the heads of them all, till they all gave out and fled away. And there was one man that seemed loving, and appeared for a while to join with me; but he soon turned against me, and joined with a priest in pleading for infants' baptism, though he himself had been a Baptist before; and so he left me alone. Howbeit, there were several convinced that day; and the woman that asked the question was convinced, and her family; and the Lord's power and glory shined over all.
After this I returned into Nottinghamshire again, and went into the vale of Beavor(10). As I went, I preached repentance to the people; and there were many convinced in the Vale of Beavor, in many towns; for I stayed some weeks amongst them. And one morning, as I was sitting by the fire, a great cloud came over me, and a temptation beset me; but I sate still. And it was said, "All things come by nature"; and the elements and stars came over me, so that I was in a manner clouded with it. But inasmuch as I sate still and silent the people of the house perceived nothing. And as I sate still under it and let it alone, a living hope arose in me, and a true voice, which said, "There is a living God who made all things." And immediately the cloud and temptation vanished away, and life rose over it all; my heart was glad, and I praised the living God. After some time, I met with some people who had such a notion that there was no God, but that all things came by nature. I had a great dispute with them and overturned them and made them confess that there is a living God. Then I saw that it was good that I had gone through that exercise. We had great meetings in those parts, for the power of the Lord brake through in that side of the country. Returning into Nottinghamshire, I found there a company of shattered Baptists, and others; and the Lord's power wrought mightily, and gathered many of them. Afterwards I went to Mansfield and thereaway, where the Lord's power was wonderfully manifested both at Mansfield and other neighbouring towns. In Derbyshire the mighty power of God wrought in a, wonderful manner, At Eaton, a town near Derby there was a meeting of Friends, where there was such a mighty power of God that they were greatly shaken, and many mouths were opened in the power of the Lord God. Many were moved by the Lord to go to steeple-houses, to the priestsand to the people, to declare the everlasting truth unto them.
At a certain time, when I was at Mansfield, there was a sitting of the justices about hiring of servants; and it was upon me from the Lord to go and speak to the justices, that they should not oppress the servants in their wages. So I walked towards the inn where they sate; but finding a company of fiddlers there, I did not go in, but thought to come in the morning when I might have a more serious opportunity to discourse them, not thinking that a seasonable time. But when I came again in the morning, they were gone, and I was struck even blind that I could not see. I inquired of the innkeeper where the justices were to sit that day; and he told me, "At a town eight miles off." My sight began to come to me again; and I went and ran thitherward as fast as I could. When I was come to the house where they were and many servants with them, I exhorted the justices not to oppress the servants in their wages, but to do that which was right and just to them; and I exhorted the servants to do their duties, and serve honestly, &c. They all received my exhortation kindly, for I was moved of the Lord therein.
Moreover, I was moved to go to several Courts and steeple-houses at Mansfield and other places, to warn them to leave off oppression and oaths, and to turn from deceit and to turn to the Lord, and do justly. Particularly at Mansfield, after I had been at a Court there, I was moved to go and speak to one of the wickedest men in the country, one who was a common drunkard, a noted whore-master, and a rhyme-maker; and I reproved him in the dread of the mighty God for his evil courses. When I had done speaking and left him, he came after me, and told me that he was so smitten when I spake to him that he had scarcely any strength left in him. So this man was convinced, and turned from his wickedness, and remained an honest, sober man, to the astonishment of the people who had known him before. Thus the work of the Lord went forward, and many were turned from the darkness to the light within the compass these three years 1646, 1647 and 1648. Divers meetings of Friends, in several places, were then gathered to God's teaching, by His light, spirit, and power; for the Lord's power brake forth more and more wonderfully.
Now was I come up in spirit through the flaming sword, into the paradise of God. All things were
new; and all the creation gave another smell unto me than before, beyond what words can utter. I
knew nothing but pureness, and innocency, and righteousness, being renewed up into the image of
God by Christ Jesus, to the state of Adam, which he was in before he fell. The creation was
opened to me; and it was shewed me how all things had their names given them according to their
nature and virtue. I was at a stand in my mind whether I should practise physic for the good of
mankind, seeing the nature and virtues of the creatures were so opened to me by the Lord. But I
was immediately taken up in spirit, to see into another or more steadfast state than Adam's in
innocency, even into a state in Christ Jesus that should never fall. And the Lord shewed me that
such as were faithful to Him, in the power and light of Christ, should come up into that state in
which Adam was before he fell; in which the admirable works of the creation, and the virtues
thereof, may be known through the openings of that divine Word of wisdom and power by which
they were made. Great things did the Lord lead me into, and wonderful depths were opened unto
me beyond what can by words be declared; but as people come into subjection to the Spirit of
God, and grow up in the image and power of the Almighty, they may receive the word of wisdom,
that opens all things, and come to know the hidden unity in the Eternal Being.
Thus I travelled on in the Lord's service, as the Lord led me. And when I came to Nottingham, the mighty power of God was there among Friends. From thence I went to Clawson, in Leicestershire, in the Vale of Beavor, and the mighty power of God was there also in several towns and villages where Friends were gathered. While I was there, the Lord opened to me three things, relating to those three great professions in the world, physic, divinity (so called) and law. He shewed me that the physicians were out of the wisdom of God, by which the creatures were made; and so knew not their virtues, because they were the word of wisdom, by which they were made. He shewed me that the priests were out of the true faith, which Christ is the author of; the faith which purifies and gives and brings people to have access to God, by which they please God; which mystery of faith is held in a pure conscience. He shewed me also, that the lawyers were out of the equity, and out of the true justice, and out of the law of over the first transgression, and over all sin, the Spirit of God, that was grieved and transgressed in man. And that these three, the physicians, the priests, and the lawyers, ruled the world out of the wisdom, out of the faith, and out of the equity and law of God: the one pretending the cure of the body, the other the cure of the soul, and the third the property of the people. But I saw they were all out, out of the faith, out of the equity and perfect law of God. And as the Lord opened these things unto me, I felt His power went forth over all, by which all might be reformed, if they would receive and bow unto it. The priests might be reformed and brought into the true faith, which was the gift of God. The lawyers might be reformed and brought into the law of God, which answers that of God which is transgressed in every one, and brings to love one's neighbour as himself. This lets man see if he wrongs his neighbour he wrongs himself; and this teaches him to do unto others as he would they should do unto him. The physicians might be reformed and brought into the wisdom of God by which all things were made and created, that they might receive a right knowledge of the creatures and understand their virtues, which the word of wisdom, by which they were made and are upheld, hath given them.
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I saw how people read the Scriptures without a right sense of them, and without duly applying them to their own states. For when they read that death reigned from Adam to Moses; that the law and the prophets were until John; and that the least in the kingdom is greater than John, they read these things and applied them to others, but they did not turn in to find the truth of these things in themselves. But as these things came opened in me, I saw death reigned over them from Adam to Moses; from the entrance into transgression, till they came to the ministration of condemnation, which restrains people from sin that brings death. Then, when the ministration of Moses is passed through, the ministry of the prophets comes to be read and understood, which reaches through the figures, types, land shadows unto John, the greatest prophet born of a woman; whose ministration prepares the way of the Lord, by bringing down the exalted mountains, and making straight paths. And as this ministration is passed through, an entrance comes to be known into the everlasting kingdom. Thus I saw plainly that none could read Moses aright without Moses' spirit, by which Moses saw how man was in the image of God in Paradise, and how he fell, how death came over him, and how all men have been under this death. I saw how Moses received the pure law, that went over all transgressors; and how the clean beasts, which were figures and types, were offered up, when the people were come into the righteous law that went over the first transgression. Both Moses and the prophets saw through the types and figures and beyond them, and saw Christ, the great prophet, that was to come to fulfil them. I saw that none could read John's words aright, and with a true understanding of them, but in and with the same divine Spirit by which John spake them; and by his burning, shining light, which is sent from God. Thus I saw it was an easy matter to say death reigned from Adam to Moses; and that the law and the prophets were until John; and that the least in the kingdom is greater than John; but none could know how death reigned from Adam to Moses, &c., but by the same Holy Spirit that Moses, the prophets, and John were in. They could not know the spiritual meaning of Moses', the prophets', and John's words, nor see their path and travels, much less see through them and to the end of them into the kingdom, unless they had the spirit and light of Jesus; nor could they know the words of Christ, and of His apostles, without His spirit. But as man comes through, by the spirit and power of God; to Christ who fulfils the types, figures, shadows, promises, and prophecies that were of Him, and is led by the Holy Ghost into the truth and substance of the Scriptures, sitting down in Him who is the author and end of them; then are they read, and understood with profit and great delight.
Moreover, when I was brought up into His image in righteousness and holiness, and into the paradise of God, He let me see how Adam was made a living soul: and also the stature of Christ, the mystery that had been hid from ages and generations; which things are hard to be uttered and cannot be borne by many. For, of all the sects in Christendom (so called) that I discoursed withal, I found none that could bear to be told that any should come to Adam's perfection, into that image of God, and righteousness and holiness that Adam was in before he fell; to be clear and pure without sin, as he was. Therefore how should they be able to bear being told that any should grow up to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ, when they cannot bear to hear that any should come, whilst upon earth, into the same power and spirit that the prophets and apostles were in? Though it is ,a certain truth, that none can understand their writings aright without the same Spirit by which they were written.
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On a certain time, as I was walking in the fields, the Lord said unto me, "Thy name is written in the Lamb's book of life which was before the foundation of the world"; and, as the Lord spake it, I believed, and saw it in the new birth. Then, some time after, the Lord commanded me to go abroad into the world, which was like a briery, thorny wilderness; and when I came, in the Lord's mighty power, with the word of life into the world, the world swelled, and made a noise like the great raging waves of the sea. Priests and professors, magistrates and people, were all like a sea when I came to proclaim the day of the Lord amongst them, and to preach repentance to them.
I was sent to turn people from darkness to the light, that they might receive Christ Jesus: for, to as many as should receive Him in His light, I saw that He would give power to become the sons of God; which I had obtained by receiving Christ. I was to direct people to the Spirit that gave forth the Scriptures, by which they might be led into all Truth, and so up to Christ and God, as they had been who gave them forth. I was to turn them to the grace of God, and to the truth in the heart, which came by Jesus; that by this grace they might be taught, which would bring them salvation, that their hearts might be established by it, and their words might be seasoned, and all might come to know their salvation nigh. I saw that Christ died for all men, and was a propitiation for all, and enlightened all men and women with His divine and saving light; and that none could be a true believer but who believed in it. I saw that the grace of God, which bringeth salvation, had appeared to all men, and that the manifestation of the Spirit of God was given to every man to profit withal. These things I did not see by the help of man, nor by the letter, though they are written in the letter, but I saw them in the light of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by His immediate spirit and power, as did the holy men of God by whom the Holy Scriptures were written. Yet I had no slight esteem of the Holy Scriptures, but they were very precious to me, for I was in that Spirit by which they were given forth: and what the Lord opened in me I afterwards found was agreeable to them. I could speak much of these things, and many volumes might be written, but all would prove too short to set forth the infinite love, wisdom, and power of God, in preparing, fitting and furnishing me for the service He had appointed me to; letting me see the depths of Satan on the one hand, mad opening to me, on the other hand, the divine mysteries of His own everlasting kingdom.
Now, when the Lord God and His Son Jesus Christ sent me forth into the world, to preach His everlasting gospel and kingdom, I was glad that I was commanded to turn people to that inward light, spirit, and grace, by which all might know their salvation, and their way to God; even that divine Spirit which would lead them into all Truth, and which I infallibly knew would never deceive any.
But with and by this divine power and Spirit of God, and the light of Jesus, I was to bring people off from all their own ways, to Christ, the new and living way; and from their churches, which men had made and gathered, to the Church in God, the general assembly written in heaven which Christ is the head of: and off from the world's teachers, made by men, to learn of Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life, of whom the Father said, "This is my beloved Son, hear ye Him"; and off from all the world's worships, to know the Spirit of Truth in the parts, and to be led thereby; that in it they might worship the Father of spirits, who seeks such to worship Him; which Spirit they that worshipped not in, knew not what they worshipped. And I was to bring people off from all the world's religions, which are vain; that they might know the pure religion, might visit the fatherless, the widows, and the strangers, and keep themselves from the spots of the world; then there would not be so many beggars, the sight of whom often grieved my heart, to see so much hard-heartedness amongst them that professed the name of Christ. And I was to bring them off from all the world's fellowships, and prayings, and singings, which stood in forms without power, that their fellowship might be in the Holy Ghost, and in the Eternal Spirit of God; that they might pray in the Holy Ghost, and sing in the Spirit, and with the grace that comes by Jesus; making melody in their hearts to the Lord, who hath sent His beloved Son to be their Saviour, and caused His heavenly sun to shine upon all the world, and them all, and His heavenly rain to fall upon the just and the unjust as His outward rain doth fall, and His outward sun all, which is God's unspeakable love to the world. And I was to bring people off from Jewish ceremonies, and fables, and from men's inventions and windy doctrines, by which they blew the people about this way and the other way, from sect to sect; and from all their beggarly rudiments, with their schools and colleges for making ministers of Christ, who are indeed ministers of their own making but not of Christ's; and from all their images and crosses, and sprinkling of infants, with all their holy days (so called) and all their vain traditions, which they had gotten up since the apostles days, which the Lord s power was against; in the dread and authority of which I was moved to declare against them all, and against all that preached and not freely, as being such as had not received freely from Christ.
Moreover, when the Lord sent me forth into the world, He forbade me to put off my hat to any, high or low; and I was required to Thee and Thou all men and women, without any respect to rich or poor, great or small. And as I travelled up and down, I was not to bid people Good morrow or Good evening; neither might I bow or scrape with my leg to any one; and this made the sects and professions to rage. But the Lord's power carried me over all to His glory, and many came to be turned to God in a little time; for the heavenly day of the Lord sprang from on high, and brake forth apace, by the light of which many came to see where they were.
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About this time I was sorely exercised in going to their Courts to cry for justice, and in speaking and writing to judges and justices to do justly; and in warning such as kept public-houses for entertainment that they should not let people have more drink than would do them good; and in testifying against their wakes or feasts, may-games, sports, plays, and shows, which trained up people to vanity and looseness, and led them from the fear of God; and the days they had set forth for holy-days were usually the times wherein they most dishonoured God in these things. In fairs, also, and in markets, I was made to declare against their deceitful merchandise, and cheating, and cozening; warning all to deal justly, to speak the truth, to let their Yea be yea, and their Nay be nay; and to do unto others as they would have others do unto them; and forewarning them of the great and terrible day of the Lord, which would come upon them all. I was moved also to cry against all sorts of music, and against the mountebanks playing tricks on their stages, for they burthened the pure life and stirred up the people's minds to vanity. I was much exercised, too, with school-masters and school-mistresses, warning them to teach their children sobriety in the fear of the Lord, that they might not be nursed and trained up in lightness, vanity, and wantonness. Likewise I was made to warn masters and mistresses, fathers and mothers in private families, to take care that their children and servants might be trained up in the fear of the Lord; and that they themselves should be therein examples and patterns of sobriety and virtue to them.
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Likewise, I was exercised about the star-gazers, who drew people's minds from Christ, the bright and the morning Star; and from the Sun of righteousness, by whom the sun, and moon, and stars, and all things else were made, who is the wisdom of God, and from whom the right knowledge of all things is received.
But the black earthly spirit of the priests wounded my life; and when I heard the bell toll to call
people together to the steeple-house, it struck at my life; for it was just like a market bell, to
gather people together that the priest might set forth his ware to sale. Oh! the vast sums of money
that are gotten by the trade they make of selling the Scriptures, and by their preaching, from the
highest bishop to the lowest priest! What one trade else in the world is comparable to it?
notwithstanding the Scriptures were given forth freely, and Christ commanded His ministers to
preach freely, and the prophets and apostles denounced judgment against all covetous hirelings
and diviners tor money. But in this free spirit of the Lord Jesus was I sent forth to declare the
word of life and reconciliation freely, that come to Christ, who gives freely, and who renews up
image of God, which man and woman were in before they fell, that they might sit down in
heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
NOTES
2.
Here and elsewhere applied to all persons who were in receipt of money for preaching, irrespective of the particular sect to which they belonged. (N.P.)3.
Probably George Gee, of Mancetter. (N.P.)4.
That is, a professor of religion. (N.P.)5.
March was then the "First Month" of the year. (N.P.)6.
John Macham, prebendary of Lichfield. (N.P.)7.
Wondered. (N.P.)8.
Hinder. (-pds)9.
Wonder. (N.P.)10.
Belvoir. (N.P.)