CHAPTER 7
In Prison Again
1653
About the beginning of the year 1653 I returned to
Swarthmore, and going to a meeting at Gleaston, a professor
challenged to dispute with me. I went to the house where he was,
and called him to come forth; but the Lord's power was over him, so
that he durst not meddle.
I departed thence, visited the meetings of Friends
in Lancashire, and came back to Swarthmore. Great openings I had
from the Lord, not only of divine and spiritual matters, but also
of outward things relating to the civil government.
Being one day in Swarthmore Hall, when Judge Fell
and Justice Benson were talking of the news, and of the Parliament
then sitting (called the Long Parliament), I was moved to tell them
that before that day two weeks the Parliament should be broken up,
and the Speaker plucked out of his chair. That day two weeks
Justice Benson told Judge Fell that now he saw George was a true
prophet; for Oliver had broken up the Parliament.
About this time I was in a fast for about ten days,
my spirit being greatly exercised on Truth's behalf: for James
Milner and Richard Myer went out into imaginations, and a company
followed them. This James Milner and some of his company had true
openings at the first; but getting up into pride and exaltation of
spirit, they ran out from Truth. I was sent for to them, and was
moved of the Lord to go and show them their outgoings. They were
brought to see their folly, and condemned it; and came into the way
of Truth again.
After some time I went to a meeting at Arnside,
where was Richard Myer, who had been long lame of one of his arms.
I was moved of the Lord to say unto him amongst all the people,
"Stand up upon thy legs," for he was sitting down. And he stood up,
and stretched out his arm that had been lame a long time, and said,
"Be it known unto you, all people, that this day I am healed." Yet his
parents could hardly believe it; but after the meeting was done,
they had him aside, took off his doublet, and then saw it was
true.
He came soon after to Swarthmore meeting, and there
declared how the Lord had healed him. Yet after this the Lord
commanded him to go to York with a message from Him, which he
disobeyed; and the Lord struck him again, so that he died about
three-quarters of a year after.
Now were great threatenings given forth in
Cumberland that if ever I came there they would take away my life.
When I heard it I was drawn to go into Cumberland; and went to
Miles Wennington's, in the same parish from which those
threatenings came: but they had not power to touch me.
On a First-day I went into the steeple-house at
Bootle; and when the
priest had done, I began to speak. But the people were exceeding
rude, and struck and beat me in the yard; one gave me a very great
blow over my wrist, so that the people thought he had broken my
hand to pieces. The constable was very desirous to keep the peace,
and would have set some of them that struck me by the heels, if I
would have given way to it. After my service amongst them was over,
I went to Joseph Nicholson's house, and the constable went a little
way with us, to keep off the rude multitude.
In the afternoon I went again. The priest had got
to help him another priest, that came from London, and was highly
accounted of. Before I went into the steeple-house, I sat a little
upon the cross, and Friends with me; but the Friends were moved to
go into the steeple-house, and I went in after them.
The London priest was preaching. He gathered up all
the Scriptures he could think of that spoke of false prophets, and
antichrists, and deceivers, and threw them upon us; but when he had
done I recollected all those Scriptures, and brought them back upon
himself. Then the people fell upon me in a rude manner; but the
constable charged them to keep the peace, and so made them quiet
again. Then the priest began to rage, and said I must not speak
there. I told him he had his hour-glass, by which he had preached;
and he having done, the time was free for me, as well as for him,
for he was but a stranger there himself.
So I opened the Scriptures to them, and let them
see that those Scriptures that spoke of the false prophets, and
antichrists, and deceivers, described them and their generation;
and belonged to them who were found walking in their steps, and
bringing forth their fruits; and not unto us, who were not guilty
of such things. I manifested to them that they were out of the
steps of the true prophets and apostles; and showed them clearly;
by the fruits and marks, that it was they of whom those Scriptures
spoke, and not we. And I declared the Truth, and the Word of life
to the people; and directed them to Christ their teacher.
When I came down again to Joseph Nicholson's house,
I saw a great hole in my coat, which was cut with a knife; but it
was not cut through my doublet, for the Lord had prevented their
mischief. The next day there was a rude, wicked man who would have
done violence to a Friend, but the Lord's power stopped him.
Now was I moved to send James Lancaster to appoint
a meeting at the steeple-house of John Wilkinson, near Cockermouth,
-- a preacher in great repute, who had three parishes under him. I
stayed at Milholm, in Bootle, till James Lancaster came back again.
In the meantime some of the gentry of the country had formed a plot
against me, and had given a little boy a rapier, with which to do
me mischief. They came with the boy to Joseph Nicholson's to seek
me; but the Lord had so ordered it that I was gone into the fields.
They met with James Lancaster, but did not much abuse him; and not
finding me in the house, they went away again. So I walked up and
down in the fields that night, as very often I used to do, and did
not go to bed.
We came the next day to the steeple-house where
James Lancaster had appointed the meeting. There were at this
meeting twelve soldiers and their wives, from Carlisle; and the
country people came in, as if it were to a fair. I lay at a house
somewhat short of the place, so that many Friends got thither
before me. When I came I found James Lancaster speaking under a yew
tree which was so full of people that I feared they would break it
down.
I looked about for a place to stand upon, to speak
unto the people, for they lay all up and down, like people at a
leaguer. After I was
discovered, a professor asked if I would not go into the church? I,
seeing no place abroad convenient to speak to the people from, told
him, Yes; whereupon the people rushed in, so that when I came the
house and pulpit were so full I had much ado to get in. Those that
could not get in stood abroad about the walls.
When the people were settled I stood up on a seat,
and the Lord opened my mouth to declare His everlasting Truth and
His everlasting day. When I had largely declared the Word of life
unto them for about the space of three hours, I walked forth
amongst the people, who passed away well satisfied. Among the rest
a professor followed me, praising and commending me; but his words
were like a thistle to me. Many hundreds were convinced that day,
and received the Lord Jesus Christ and His free teaching, with
gladness; of whom some have died in the Truth, and many stand
faithful witnesses thereof. The soldiers also were convinced, and
their wives.
After this I went to a village, and many people
accompanied me. As I was sitting in a house full of people,
declaring the Word of life unto them, I cast mine eye upon a woman,
and discerned an unclean spirit in her. And I was moved of the Lord
to speak sharply to her, and told her she was under the influence
of an unclean spirit; whereupon she went out of the room.
Now, I being a stranger there, and knowing nothing of the woman
outwardly, the people wondered at it, and told me afterwards that I
had discovered a great thing; for all the country looked upon her
to be a wicked person.
The Lord had given me a spirit of discerning, by
which I many times saw the states and conditions of people, and
could try their spirits. For not long before, as I was going to a
meeting, I saw some women in a field, and I discerned an evil
spirit in them; and I was moved to go out of my way into the field
to them, and declare unto them their conditions. At another time
there came one into Swarthmore Hall in the meeting time, and I was
moved to speak sharply to her, and told her she was under the power
of an evil spirit; and the people said afterwards she was generally
accounted so. There came also at another time another woman, and
stood at a distance from me, and I cast mine eye upon her, and
said, "Thou hast been an harlot"; for I perfectly saw the condition
and life of the woman. The woman answered and said that many could
tell her of her outward sins, but none could tell her of her
inward. Then I told her her heart was not right before the Lord,
and that from the inward came the outward. This woman came
afterwards to be convinced of God's truth, and became a Friend.
Thence we travelled to Carlisle. The pastor of the
Baptists, with most of his hearers, came to the abbey, where I had
a meeting; and I declared the Word of life amongst them. Many of
the Baptists and of the soldiers were convinced. After the meeting
the pastor of the Baptists, an high notionist and a flashy man,
asked me what must be damned. I was moved immediately to tell him
that that which spoke in him was to be damned. This stopped his
mouth; and the witness of God was raised up in him. I opened to him
the states of election and reprobation; so that he said he never
heard the like in his life. He came afterwards to be convinced.
Then I went to the castle among the soldiers, who
beat a drum and called the garrison together. I preached the Truth
amongst them, directing them to the Lord Jesus Christ to be their
teacher, and to the measure of His Spirit in themselves, by which
they might be turned from darkness to light, and from the power of
Satan unto God. I warned them all that they should do no violence
to any man, but should show forth a Christian life: telling them
that He who was to be their Teacher would be their condemner if
they were disobedient to Him. So I left them, having no opposition
from any of them, except the sergeants, who afterwards came to be
convinced.
On the market-day I went up into the market, to the
market-cross. The magistrates had both threatened, and sent their
sergeants; and the magistrates' wives had said that if I came there
they would pluck the hair off my head; and the sergeants should
take me up. Nevertheless I obeyed the Lord God, went up on the
cross, and declared unto them that the day of the Lord was coming
upon all their deceitful ways and doings, and deceitful
merchandise; that they should put away all cozening and cheating,
and keep to Yea and Nay, and speak the truth one to another. So the
Truth and the power of God was set over them.
After I had declared the Word of life to the
people, the throng being so great that the sergeants could not
reach me, nor the magistrates' wives come at me, I passed away
quietly. Many people and soldiers came to me, and some Baptists,
that were bitter contenders; amongst whom one of their deacons, an
envious man, finding that the Lord's power was over them, cried out
for very anger. Whereupon I set my eyes upon him, and spoke sharply
to him in the power of the Lord: and he cried, "Do not pierce me so
with thy eyes; keep thy eyes off me."
The First-day following I went into the
steeple-house: and after the priest had done, I preached the Truth
to the people, and declared the Word of life amongst them. The
priest got away; and the magistrates desired me to go out of the
steeple-house. But I still declared the way of the Lord unto them,
and told them I came to speak the Word of life and salvation from
the Lord amongst them. The power of the Lord was dreadful amongst
them, so that the people trembled and shook, and they thought the
steeple-house shook; some of them feared it would have fallen down
on their heads. The magistrates' wives were in a rage, and strove
mightily to get at me: but the soldiers and friendly people stood
thick about me.
At length the rude people of the city rose, and
came with staves and stones into the steeple-house, crying, "Down
with these round-headed rogues"; and they threw stones. Whereupon
the governor sent a file or two of musketeers into the
steeple-house to appease the tumult, and commanded all the other
soldiers out. So those soldiers took me by the hand in a friendly
manner, and said they would have me along with them.
When we came into the street the city was in an
uproar. The governor came down; and some of the soldiers were put
in prison for standing by me against the townspeople.
A lieutenant, who had been convinced, came and
brought me to his house, where there was a Baptist meeting, and
thither came Friends also. We had a very quiet meeting; they heard
the Word of life gladly, and many received it.
The next day, the justices and magistrates of the
town being gathered together in the town-hall, they granted a
warrant against me, and sent for me before them. I was then gone to
a Baptist's; but hearing of it, I went up to the hall, where many
rude people were, some of whom had sworn false things against me. I
had a great deal of discourse with the magistrates, wherein I laid
open the fruits of their priests' preaching, showed them how they
were void of Christianity, and that, though they were such great
professors (for they were Independents and Presbyterians) they were
without the possession of that which they professed. After a large
examination they committed me to prison as a blasphemer, a heretic,
and a seducer, though
they could not justly charge any such thing against me.
The jail at Carlisle had two jailers, an upper and
an under, who looked like two great bear-wards. When I was brought
in the upper jailer took me up into a great chamber, and told me I
should have what I would in that room. But I told him he should not
expect any money from me, for I would neither lie in any of his
beds, nor eat any of his victuals. Then he put me into another
room, where after awhile I got something to lie upon.
There I lay till the assizes came, and then all the
talk was that I was to be hanged. The high sheriff, Wilfred Lawson,
stirred them much up to take away my life, and said he would guard
me to my execution himself. They were in a rage, and set three
musketeers for guard upon me, one at my chamber-door, another at
the stairs-foot, and a third at the street door; and they would let
none come at me, except one sometimes, to bring me some necessary
things.
At night, sometimes as late as the tenth hour, they
would bring up priests to me, who were exceeding rude and devilish.
There were a company of bitter Scotch priests, Presbyterians, made
up of envy and malice, who were not fit to speak of the things of
God, they were so foul-mouthed. But the Lord, by His power, gave me
dominion over them all, and I let them see both their fruits and
their spirits. Great ladies also (as they were called) came to see
the man that they said was to die. While the judge, justices, and
sheriff were contriving together how they might put me to death,
the Lord disappointed their design by an unexpected way.
The next day, after the judges were gone out of
town, an order was sent to the jailer to put me down into the
prison amongst the moss-troopers, thieves, and murderers; which
accordingly he did. A filthy, nasty place it was, where men and
women were put together in a very uncivil manner, and never a house
of office to it; and the prisoners were so lousy that one woman was
almost eaten to death with lice. Yet bad as the place was, the
prisoners were all made very loving and subject to me, and some of
them were convinced of the Truth, as the publicans and harlots were
of old; so that they were able to confound any priest that might
come to the grates to dispute.
But the jailer was cruel, and the under-jailer very
abusive both to me and to Friends that came to see me; for he would
beat with a great cudgel Friends who did but come to the window to
look in upon me. I could get up to the grate, where sometimes I
took in my meat; at which the jailer was often offended. Once he
came in a great rage and beat me with his cudgel, though I was not
at the grate at that time; and as he beat me, he cried, "Come out
of the window," though I was then far from it. While he struck me,
I was moved in the Lord's power to sing, which made him rage the
more. Then he fetched a fiddler, and set him to play, thinking to
vex me. But while he played, I was moved in the everlasting power
of the Lord God to sing; and my voice drowned the noise of the
fiddle, struck and confounded them, and made them give over
fiddling and go their way.
Whilst I was in prison at Carlisle, James Parnell,
a little lad about sixteen years of age, came to see me, and was
convinced. The Lord quickly made him a powerful minister of the
Word of life, and many were turned to Christ by him, though he
lived not long. For, travelling into Essex in the work of the
ministry, in the year 1655, he was committed to Colchester castle,
where he endured very great hardships and sufferings. He was put by
the cruel jailer into a hole in the castle wall, called the oven,
so high from the ground that he went up to it by a ladder, which
being six feet too short, he was obliged to climb from the ladder
to the hole by a rope that was fastened above. When Friends would
have given him a cord and a basket in which to draw up his
victuals, the inhuman jailer would not suffer them, but forced him
to go down and up by that short ladder and rope to fetch his
victuals, which for a long time he did, or else he might have
famished in the hole.
At length his limbs became much benumbed with lying
in that place; yet being still obliged to go down to take up some
victuals, as he came up the ladder again with his victuals in one
hand, and caught at the rope with the other, he missed the rope,
and fell down from a very great height upon the stones; by which
fall he was so wounded in the head, arms, and body, that he died a
short time after.
While I thus lay in the dungeon at Carlisle, the
report raised at the time of the assize that I should be put to
death was gone far and near; insomuch that the Parliament then
sitting, which, I think, was called the Little Parliament, hearing
that a young man at Carlisle was to die for religion, caused a
letter to be sent the sheriff and magistrates concerning me.
Not long after this the Lord's power came over the
justices, and they were made to set me at liberty. But some time
previous the governor and Anthony Pearson came down into the
dungeon, to see the place where I was kept and understand what
usage I had had. They found the place so bad and the savour so ill,
that they cried shame on the magistrates for suffering the jailer
to do such things. They called for the jailers into the dungeon,
and required them to find sureties for their good behaviour; and
the under-jailer, who had been such a cruel fellow, they put into
the dungeon with me, amongst the moss-troopers.
Now I went into the country, and had mighty great
meetings. The everlasting gospel and Word of life flourished, and
thousands were turned to the Lord Jesus Christ, and to His
teaching.
The priests and magistrates were in a great rage
against me in Westmoreland, and had a warrant to apprehend me,
which they renewed from time to time, for a long time; yet the Lord
did not suffer them to serve it upon me. I travelled on amongst
Friends, visiting the meetings till I came to Swarthmore, where I
heard that the Baptists and professors in Scotland had sent to have
a dispute with me. I sent them word that I would meet them in
Cumberland, at Thomas Bewley's house, whither accordingly I went,
but none of them came.
Some dangers at this time I underwent in my
travels; for at one time, as we were passing from a meeting, and
going through Wigton on a market-day, the people of the town had
set a guard with pitchforks; and although some of their own
neighbours were with us, they kept us out of the town, and would
not let us pass through it, under the pretence of preventing the
sickness; though there was no occasion for any such thing. However,
they fell upon us, and had like to have spoiled us and our horses;
but the Lord restrained them, that they did not much hurt; and we
passed away.
Another time, as I was passing between two Friends'
houses, some rude fellows lay in wait in a lane, and exceedingly
stoned and abused us; but at last, through the Lord's assistance,
we got through them, and had not much hurt. But this showed the
fruits of the priest's teaching, which shamed their profession of
Christianity.
After I had visited Friends in that county, I went
through the county into Durham, having large meetings by the way. A
very large one I had at Anthony Pearson's, where many were
convinced. From thence I passed through Northumberland to
Derwentwater, where there were great meetings; and the priests
threatened that they would come, but none came. The everlasting
Word of life was freely preached, and freely received; and many
hundreds were turned to Christ, their teacher.
In Northumberland many came to dispute, of whom
some pleaded against perfection. Unto these I declared that Adam
and Eve were perfect before they fell; that all that God made was
perfect; that the imperfection came by the devils and the fall; but
that Christ, who came to destroy the devil, said, "Be ye
perfect."
One of the professors alleged that Job said, "Shall
mortal man be more pure than his Maker? The heavens are not clean
in His sight. God charged His angels with folly." But I showed him
his mistake, and let him see that it was not Job that said so, but
one of those that contended against Job; for Job stood for
perfection, and held his integrity; and they were called miserable
comforters.
Then these professors said that the outward body
was the body of death and sin. I showed them their mistake in that
also; for Adam and Eve had each of them an outward body, before the
body of death and sin got into them; and that man and woman will
have bodies when the body of sin and death is put off again; when
they are renewed again into the image of God by Christ Jesus, in
which they were before they fell. So they ceased at that time from
opposing further; and glorious meetings we had in the Lord's
power.
Then passed we to Hexam, where we had a great
meeting on top of a hill. The priest threatened that he would come
and oppose us, but he came not; so all was quiet. And the
everlasting day and renowned Truth of the ever-living God was
sounded over those dark countries, and His Son exalted over all. It
was proclaimed amongst the people that the day was now come wherein
all that made a profession of the Son of God might receive Him; and
that to as many as would receive Him He would give power to become
the sons of God, as He had done to me.
It was further declared that he who had the Son of
God, had life eternal; but he that had not the Son of God, though
he professed all the Scriptures from the first of Genesis to the
last of the Revelation, had no life.
So after all were directed to the light of Christ,
by which they might see Him, receive Him, and know where their true
teacher was, and the everlasting Truth had been largely declared
amongst them, we passed through Hexam peaceably, and came into
Gilsland, a country noted for thieving.
The next day we came into Cumberland again, where
we had a general meeting of thousands of people on top of an hill
near Langlands. A glorious and heavenly meeting it was; for the
glory of the Lord did shine over all; and there were as many as one
could well speak over, the multitude was so great.
Their eyes were turned to Christ, their teacher; and they came to
sit under their own vine; insomuch that Francis Howgill, coming
afterwards to visit them, found they had no need of words; for they
were sitting under their teacher Christ Jesus; in the sense whereof
He sat down amongst them, without speaking anything.
A great convincement there was in Cumberland,
Bishoprick, Northumberland, Westmoreland, Lancashire, and
Yorkshire; and the plants of God grew and flourished, the heavenly
rain descending, and God's glory shining upon them. Many mouths
were opened by the Lord to His praise; yea, to babes and sucklings
he ordained strength.
