CHAPTER 12
Great Events in London
1658-1659
We came into Bedfordshire, where we had large
gatherings in the name of Jesus. After some time we came to
John Crook's, where a general yearly meeting for the whole nation
was appointed to be held. This meeting lasted three
days, and many Friends from most parts of the nation came to it; so
that the inns and towns round thereabouts were filled, for many
thousands of people were at it. And although there was some
disturbance by some rude people that had run out from Truth, yet
the Lord's power came over all, and a glorious meeting it was. The
everlasting gospel was preached, and many received it, which gospel
brought life and immortality to light in them, and shined over
all.
Now these things were upon me to open unto all,
that they might mind and see what it is they sit down in.
"First, They that sit down in Adam in the fall, sit
down in misery, in death, in darkness and corruption.
"Secondly, They that sit down in the types,
figures, and shadows, and under the first priesthood, law, and
covenant, sit down in that which must have an end, and which made
nothing perfect.
"Thirdly, They that sit down in the apostasy that
hath got up since the Apostles' days, sit down in spiritual Sodom
and Egypt; and are drinking of the whore's cup, under the beast's
and dragon's power.
"Fourthly, They that sit down in the state in which
Adam was before he fell, sit down in that which may be fallen from;
for he fell from that state, though it was perfect.
"Fifthly, They that sit down in the prophets, sit
down in that which must be fulfilled; and they that sit down in the
fellowship of water, bread, and wine, these being temporal things,
they sit down in that which is short of Christ, and of His
baptism.
"Sixthly, To sit down in a profession of all the
Scriptures, from Genesis to the Revelations, and not be in the
power and Spirit which those were in that gave them forth; -- that
was to be turned away from by them that came into the power and
Spirit which those were in that gave forth the Scriptures.
"Seventhly, They that sit down in the heavenly
places in Christ Jesus, sit down in Him that never fell, nor ever
changed."
After this meeting was over, and most of the
Friends gone away, as I was walking in John Crook's garden, there
came a party of horse, with a constable, to seize me. I heard them
ask, "Who is in the house?" Somebody made answer that I was there.
They said that I was the man they looked for; and went forthwith
into the house, where they had many words with John Crook and some
few Friends that were with him. But the Lord's power so confounded
them that they came not into the garden to look for me; but went
their way in a rage.
When I came into the house, Friends were very glad
to see that I had escaped them. Next day I passed thence; and,
after I had visited Friends in several places, came to London, the
Lord's power accompanying me, and bearing me up in His service.
During the time I was at London I had many services
laid upon me, for it was a time of much suffering. I was moved to
write to Oliver Cromwell, and lay before him the sufferings of
Friends both in this nation and in Ireland. There was also a talk
about this time of making Cromwell king; whereupon I was moved to
go to him and warn him against accepting it; and of diverse dangers
which, if he did not avoid them, would, I told him, bring shame and
ruin upon himself and his posterity. He seemed to take well what I
said to him, and thanked me; yet afterwards I was moved to write to
him more fully concerning that matter.
About this time the Lady Claypole (so called) was
sick, and much troubled in mind, and could receive no comfort from
any that came to her. When I heard of this I was moved to write to
her.
About this time came forth a declaration from
Oliver Cromwell, the Protector, for a collection towards the relief
of diverse Protestant churches, driven out of Poland; and of twenty
Protestant families, driven out of the confines of Bohemia. And
there having been a like declaration published some time before, to
invite the nation to a day of solemn fasting and humiliation, in
order to a contribution being made for the suffering Protestants of
the valleys of Lucerne, Angrona, etc., who were persecuted by the
Duke of Savoy, I was moved
to write to the Protector and chief magistrates on this occasion,
both to show them the nature of a true fast (such as God requires
and accepts), and to make them sensible of their injustice and
self-condemnation in blaming the Papists for persecuting the
Protestants abroad, while they themselves, calling themselves
Protestants, were at the same time persecuting their Protestant
neighbours and friends at home.
Diverse times, both in the time of the Long
Parliament and of the Protector (so called) and of the Committee of
Safety, when they proclaimed fasts, I was moved to write to them,
and tell them their fasts were like unto Jezebel's; for commonly,
when they proclaimed fasts, there was some mischief contrived
against us. I knew their fasts were for strife and debate, to smite
with the fist of wickedness; as the New England professors soon
after did; who, before they put our Friends to death, proclaimed a
fast also.
Now it was a time of great suffering; and many
Friends being in prisons, many other Friends were moved to go to
the Parliament, to offer themselves up to lie in the same prisons
where their friends lay, that those in prison might go forth, and
not perish in the stinking jails. This we did in love to God and
our brethren, that they might not die in prison; and in love to
those that cast them in, that they might not bring innocent blood
upon their own heads, which we knew would cry to the Lord, and
bring His wrath, vengeance, and plagues upon them.
But little favour could we find from those
professing Parliaments; instead thereof, they would rage, and
sometimes threaten Friends that attended them, to whip and send
them home. Then commonly soon after the Lord would turn them out,
and send them home; who had not an heart to do good in the day of
their power. But they went not off without being forewarned; for I
was moved to write to them, in their several turns, as I did to the
Long Parliament, unto whom I declared, before they were broken up,
"that thick darkness was coming over them all, even a day of
darkness that should be felt."
And because the Parliament that now sat was made up
mostly of high professors, who, pretending to be more religious
than others, were indeed greater persecutors of those that were
truly religious, I was moved to send them the following lines, as a
reproof of their hypocrisy:
"O friends, do not cloak and cover yourselves;
there is a God that knoweth your hearts, and that will uncover you.
He seeth your way. 'Wo be unto him that covereth, but not with my
Spirit, saith the Lord.' Do ye act contrary to the law, and then
put it from you! Mercy and true judgment ye neglect. Look, what was
spoken against such. My Saviour spoke against such; 'I was sick,
and ye visited me not; I was hungry, and ye fed me not; I was a
stranger, and ye took me not in; I was in prison, and ye visited me
not.' But they said, 'When saw we thee in prison, and did not come
to thee?' 'Inasmuch as ye did it not unto one of these little ones,
ye did it not unto me.' Friends, ye imprison them that are in the
life and power of Truth, and yet profess to be the ministers of
Christ; but if Christ had sent you, ye would bring out of prison,
out of bondage, and receive strangers. Ye have lived in pleasure on
the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a
day of slaughter; ye have condemned and killed the just, and he
doth not resist you.
G. F."
After this, as I was going out of town, having two
Friends with me, when we were little more than a mile out of the
city, there met us two troopers belonging to Colonel Hacker's
regiment, who took me, and the Friends that were with me, and
brought us back to the Mews, and there kept us prisoners. But the
Lord's power was so over them that they did not take us before any
officer; but shortly after set us at liberty again.
The same day, taking boat, I went to Kingston, and
thence to Hampton Court, to speak with the Protector about the
sufferings of Friends. I met him riding in Hampton Court Park, and
before I came to him, as he rode at the head of his life-guard, I
saw and felt a waft [or apparition] of death go forth against him;
and when I came to him he looked like a dead man.
After I had laid the sufferings of Friends before
him, and had warned him, according as I was moved to speak to him,
he bade me come to his house. So I returned to Kingston, and next
day went to Hampton Court, to speak further with him. But when I
came he was sick, and Harvey,who was one that waited on
him, told me the doctors were not willing I should speak with him.
So I passed away, and never saw him more.
From Kingston I went to Isaac Penington's, in
Buckinghamshire, where I had appointed a meeting, and the Lord's
Truth and power were preciously manifested amongst us. After I had
visited Friends in those parts, I returned to London, and soon
after went into Essex, where I had not been long before I heard
that the Protector was dead, and his son Richard made Protector in
his room. Thereupon I came up to London again.
Before this time the church faith (so called) was
given forth, which was said to have been made at the Savoy in
eleven days' time. I got a copy before it was
published, and wrote an answer to it; and when their book of church
faith was sold in the streets, my answer to it was sold also. This
angered some of the Parliament men, so that one of them told me,
"We must have you to Smithfield." I told him, "I am above your
fires, and fear them not." And, reasoning with him, I wished him to
consider, had all people been without a faith these sixteen hundred
years, that now the priests must make them one? Did not the apostle
say that Jesus was the author and finisher of their faith? And
since Christ Jesus was the author of the Apostles' faith, of the
Church's faith in primitive times, and of the martyrs' faith,
should not all people look unto Him to be the author and finisher
of their faith, and not to the priests? Much work we had about the
priest-made faith.
There was great persecution in many places, both by
imprisoning, and by breaking up of meetings. At a meeting about
seven miles from London, the rude people usually came out of
several parishes round about, to abuse Friends, and often beat and
bruised them exceedingly. One day they abused about eighty Friends
that went to that meeting out of London, tearing their coats and
cloaks from off their backs, and throwing them into ditches and
ponds; and when they had besmeared them with dirt, they said they
looked like witches.
The next First-day I was moved of the Lord to go to
that meeting, though I was then very weak. When I came there I bade
Friends bring a table, and set it in the close, where they used to
meet, to stand upon. According to their wonted course, the rude
people came; and I, having a Bible in my hand, showed them theirs
and their teachers' fruits; and the people became ashamed, and were
quiet.
But it was a time of great sufferings; for, besides
imprisonments, through which many died, our meetings were greatly
disturbed. They have thrown rotten eggs and wild-fire into our
meetings, and brought in drums beating, and kettles to make noises
with, that the Truth might not be heard; and, among these, the
priests were as rude as any, as may be seen in the book of the
fighting priests, wherein a list is given of some priests that had
actually beaten and abused Friends.
Many Friends were brought prisoners to London, to
be tried before the Committee; where Henry Vane, being chairman,
would not suffer Friends to come in, except they would put off
their hats. But at last
the Lord's power came over him, so that, through the mediation of
others, they were admitted. Many of us having been imprisoned upon
contempts (as they called them) for not putting off our hats, it
was not a likely thing that Friends, who had suffered so long for
it from others, should put off their hats to him. But the Lord's
power came over all, and wrought so that several were set at
liberty by them.
I wrote to Oliver several times, and let him know
that while he was persecuting God's people, they whom he accounted
his enemies were preparing to come upon him. When some forward
spirits that came amongst us would have bought Somerset-House, that
we might have meetings in it, I forbade them to do so: for I then
foresaw the King's coming in again. Besides, there came a woman to
me in the Strand, who had a prophecy concerning King Charles's
coming in, three years before he came: and she told me she must go
to him to declare it. I advised her to wait upon the Lord, and keep
it to herself; for if it should be known that she went on such a
message, they would look upon it to be treason -- but she said she
must go, and tell him that he should be brought into England
again.
I saw her prophecy was true, and that a great
stroke must come upon them in power; for they that had then got
possession were so exceeding high, and such great persecution was
acted by them, who called themselves saints, that they would take
from Friends their copyhold lands, because they could not swear in
their courts.
Sometimes when we laid these sufferings before
Oliver Cromwell, he would not believe it. Therefore Thomas Aldam
and Anthony Pearson were moved to go through all the jails in
England, and to get copies of Friends' commitments under the
jailer's hands, that they might lay the weight of their sufferings
upon Oliver Cromwell. And when he would not give order for the
releasing of them, Thomas Aldam was moved to take his cap from off
his head, and to rend it in pieces before him, and to say unto him,
"So shall thy government be rent from thee and thy house."
Another Friend also, a woman, was moved to go to
the Parliament (that was envious against Friends) with a pitcher in
her hand, which she broke into pieces before them, and told them
that so should they be broken to pieces: which came to pass shortly
after.
In my great suffering and travail of spirit for the
nation, being grievously burdened with their hypocrisy, treachery,
and falsehood, I saw God would bring that over them which they had
been above; and that all must be brought down to that which
convinced them, before they could get over that bad spirit within
and without: for it is the pure, invisible Spirit, that doth and
only can work down all deceit in people.
Now was there a great pother made about the image
or effigy of Oliver Cromwell lying in state; men standing and
sounding with trumpets over his image, after he was dead. At this
my spirit was greatly grieved, and the Lord, I found, was highly
offended.
About this time great stirs were in the nation, the
minds of people being unsettled. Much plotting and contriving there
was by the several factions, to carry on their several interests.
And a great care being upon me, lest any young or ignorant people,
that might sometimes come amongst us, should be drawn into that
snare, I was moved to give forth an epistle as a warning unto all
such.
