Part 3

In the same year 1656, Fox tells us that more than 1000 Friends were in prison for conscience sake. But though he had not been long out of prison, and was in continual danger of arrest, he would not relax his labours. He extended the range of his evangelistic efforts into Wales, and gained a rich harvest there, as he had before amongst the equally fiery-souled Cornish men. The style of his own preaching may be judged from his exhortation to his fellow-ministers, penned whilst in Launceston gaol. "Dwell in the power, life, wisdom and dread of the Lord God of life and heaven and earth, spreading the truth abroad, awakening the witness, confounding the deceit, gathering up out of transgression into the life, the covenant of light and peace with God. Let all the nations hear the sound by word or writing. Spare no place, spare no tongue nor pen. Go through the work, and be valiant for the truth upon earth." How like Wesley's assertion that the world was his parish. Like him, Fox might have boasted that his followers were _all_ at work, and _always_ at it. Like Wesley, too, he wrote as he travelled, by which alone we can account for the wonderful amount that he wrote. He had no gift for literary composition; his spelling was erratic, and his sentences, like Paul's, were long and involved, probably because they both dictated their letters hastily to some secretary. But if his letters bear marks of haste, they are pithy, and pointed, and full of gracious unction. Any spiritually-minded Christian may greatly enjoy his fervent appeals and powerful statements of Gospel truth. His letters and tracts served the practical purpose for which they were intended, and he was satisfied.

The year 1657 saw him enter Scotland, where he had a presentiment that a glorious vintage was to be gathered. He was met by determined opposition from ministers and others, who smelt heresy in his teachings, especially as he was an Arminian. What they hated in him may be seen from the following curses, which, in the fiery style of that age, were pronounced in kirk, the people pronouncing the response. "Cursed is he that saith, Every man hath a light within him sufficient to lead him to salvation: and let all the people say, Amen. Cursed is he that saith, Faith is without sin: and let all the people say, Amen. Cursed is he that denieth the Sabbath-day: and let all the people say, Amen." But for all this terrorism, within ten years there was a body of Friends in Scotland, that, by their earnest piety, and solid consecrated learning, gladdened the heart of the devoted leader.

The troubled times after the death of Cromwell tried Friends in many ways. The Committee of Public Safety sought to induce them to join the army, many of them having been brave and efficient soldiers before their convincement, but they unanimously refused. Attempts were made to identify them with the Fifth Monarchy men, and other disturbers of the public peace, for they were disliked by almost every one; but the prudence and energy of Fox and others avoided these snares, and gained the confidence of the powers that were.

When Charles II. ascended the throne he proved even more friendly than Cromwell had been. Dr. Stoughton says, "Charles had a sort of liking to the Quakers for their harmlessness and their oddity. He was not afraid of their taking up arms against the throne, and to quiz them in their queer dresses and with their quaint speech, was to him a piece of good fun." It suited the merry Monarch to have pretty Quakeresses like Sarah Fell coming with their petitions, enduring his bantering demurely, and going away delighted with the clemency he so often showed. In 1666 he granted the release of George Fox from the sentence of premunire. He had once before set him at liberty, only to fall again into the clutches of the law. In March, 1664, Fox had been brought before Justice Twisden, and after a sham trial that was an outrage on both law and humanity, the extreme sentence of the law in such cases, the sentence of premunire, was passed, and he languished in Lancaster gaol and Scarborough Castle for nearly three years. But at last the royal ear was gained, and Fox, ill with hard treatment in the foul cells at Scarborough, was restored to his liberty, his property, and his civil rights. In prison he had been busy writing in exposition of the views of Friends. After his release, for some time he was principally engaged in modelling the discipline and church government of the Society.

Before passing on to consider the organisation of the Quaker community into a compact and well regulated church, we must notice their conduct in the question of marriage. "Marriage," said Fox, "is God's ordinance," believing literally the common saying that marriages are made in heaven. But the solemn compact ought to be publicly ratified, and what more fitting than that public worship should attend that celebration. If Fox denied that ministers could marry, if he insisted that the ceremony should consist simply of a mutual pledge publicly given, he was very careful that all should be done in good order. The marriage customs which obtain amongst Quakers to-day represent his views. The young people must show that they are clear of other marriage engagements, and have the consent of their parents or guardians to their union. Sufficient public notice must be given of the coming event, so as to prevent all scandal and disorder. Then the marriage is celebrated during a week-day service. In the early days of the Society the publication of the intended marriage was no easy matter. "Many a joke must have passed through the merry crowd, when, from the market-cross of a country town, the expecting bridegroom proclaimed his forthcoming nuptials--but no arrangements of a loose or evasive character, would have saved the marriages of Friends from the double brand of public opinion and of national law." In 1661 the legality of Quaker marriages was tested in Nottingham before Justice Archer, and the point was forever set at rest.

Now let us turn to the work of Fox in the organisation of the Society. That the organisation was principally planned and carried out by him is past all doubt. We will quote two out of numberless authorities. Marsden says--

"To understand Quakerism the reader must comprehend the character of George Fox; for no institution ever carried more thoroughly impressed upon it the features of its chief."--_Marsden's Christian Churches_, p. 424.[5]

[5] For this quotation and other valuable matter the writer is indebted to the writings of Alderman Rowntree, of York, whose "Two Lectures on George Fox" and prize essay on "Quakerism, Past and Present" are standard works on Quakerism.

T. Hancock says, in his prize essay on the causes of the decline of Quakerism--

"The master spirit and chief builder of Quakerism was undoubtedly George Fox.... When we come to the second period, to the modelling of the Quaker constitution and discipline to the Society of Friends, to Quakerism as an _ism_, the hand of George Fox is still more evident."--_The Peculium_, pp. 68, 69.

The views of Fox as to the church polity were exceedingly simple. He had no intention of forming a sect; he only met the needs of his friends, as the exigences of the hour dictated. The less machinery the better; the simpler the arrangements the more they commended themselves to his judgment. His mind was not hampered by theories. His aim was to recognize the gifts of all, and not to have the life bound by man's rules.

But there must be discipline in the church. The disorderly must be dealt with. The weak must be helped. Many were thrown into prison or even banished; they must be relieved or cared for in the best way their circumstances allowed. Many had lost all for conscience sake; they must not be allowed to want. None so full of pity for these sufferers, as he who suffered so readily himself. Almost his last words were, "Remember poor Friends in Ireland."

The New Testament was his only conscious rule, prayerful waiting upon God for light his only expositor of it. He might ask his learned friends for side-lights from church history, might ask them about the practice of the early church, or the history of the corrupting influence of certain false doctrines. But he was emphatically a man of one book, and he read that book with his heart, more than with his penetrating mind.

That competent authority in all matters concerning Quakerism, Mr. J. S. Rowntree, thus describes the origin and progress of the Quaker discipline. "With the rapid growth of the Society, George Fox increasingly perceived the necessity for taking steps to repress the outbursts of fanatical and misguided zeal, and for placing the government of the church on a more systematic basis. This decision was undoubtedly expedited by the occurrence of a heresy fomented by John Perrott.... He had the satisfaction of seeing most of Perrott's adherents make a public acknowledgment of their error, and immediately afterwards, he initiated a national system of disciplinary meetings, to be held monthly. They consisted of the most experienced Friends within a given district; and had the charge of the affairs of the body within such district. The Quarterly Meetings (many of which we have seen were already in existence) were gradually put on a different basis, and consisted henceforth of representatives from a number of associated Monthly Meetings, whose decisions in some cases were liable to revision by the superior meeting. It was not till a somewhat later date that a central body--the 'Yearly Meeting' of London--consisting of representatives from all the Quarterly Meetings in the country, was established as the top stone of this elaborate disciplinary system.... To the settlement of these Monthly Meetings, George Fox most assiduously devoted himself in 1667-68; and ere long, wherever meetings for the worship of God were held after the manner of Friends, little church synods were also held, ministering to the wants of the poor, alleviating the sorrows of the prisoners, seeking to reclaim disorderly walkers, and when failing in this, disuniting them from the body." ("Two Lectures on Macaulay's Portraiture of George Fox," pp. 40-42.) It speaks volumes for the sagacity of Fox that so little has needed to be added to or altered in the Quaker polity since his day.

In 1666 the Barclays joined the society, and in the next year William Penn was added to their number. The learning of Robert Barclay, and social position and administrative ability of William Penn, were soon appreciated by the leader with whom they worked so loyally.

In 1669 Fox visited Ireland, and in the same year he was married to Margaret, widow of Judge Fell, of Swarthmoor Hall. She had been one of his early converts, and was one of his most vigorous helpers. She wrote almost as many letters, and printed almost as many appeals as her husband; she visited the imprisoned, and sent relief to their families. Her house was the home of all Quakers visiting the neighborhood, and her purse was at the service of all who needed money to serve the cause. Her judgment was reliable and her energy untiring; she was the Countess of Huntingdon of the Society. She even endured long imprisonments, and risked, and for a time endured, the loss of all her property by premunire for the truth's sake. She was therefore a fitting help-meet for George Fox. She had four daughters who were ministers in the Society, and the whole family regarded him with reverence, except the scapegrace elder son. He not only opposed the marriage, but with the basest ingratitude, he endeavoured, after it was accomplished, to turn his mother out of her own home; and he rests under at least grave suspicion of being a party to the plot to have her sentenced to premunire.[6]

[6] The penalties of this sentence were, to be put out of the King's protection, to forfeit lands and goods to the King, and to be liable to imprisonment for life or at the King's pleasure.

Fox acted throughout this affair with the greatest prudence and magnanimity. He would not even be suspected of seeking worldly gain, but carefully secured to his wife and her family, the property which was hers before their marriage. No wedding could be more simple than his own. "Afterwards," he says in his journal, "a meeting being appointed on purpose for the accomplishing thereof, in the public meeting-house at Broadmead in Bristol, [the site cannot now be certainly determined,] we took each other in marriage.... Then was a certificate, relating both the proceedings and the marriage, openly read and signed by the relations, and by most of the ancient Friends of that city, besides many other Friends from divers parts of the nation." Evidently the ceremony caused considerable excitement. His wife was ten years his senior.

But of home life they had little enough; in little more than a week they parted, that the husband might continue his labours, and soon after, the wife was cast into prison, where she remained until 1671. Then through the intercession of her daughters with the king she was released, and the premunire, which had rested on her for ten years, was removed. They had a few days together before Fox sailed for the West Indies, and again on his return, and so on.

Men and women who give their most intense and sustained sympathies to Christian enterprises, often have to suffer for it in their home relations. "We were very willing both of us," says Mrs. Fox after her husband's death, "to live apart for some years upon God's account and His truth's service, and to deny ourselves of that comfort which we might have in being together, for the sake of the service of the Lord and His truth; and if any took occasion, or judged hard of us because of that, the Lord will judge them, for we were innocent."

In the summer of 1671, George Fox and some other Friends visited the West Indies and the continent of America, to push the work of evangelisation and of organising the societies there. They landed in Barbadoes, after a voyage enlivened by constant dangers from the leakiness of the vessel, and once by an almost miraculous escape from capture by a Sallee man-of-war. Fox's son-in-law, John Rous, was in the company, and on landing he was at once taken to the house of Mr. Rous, senior, who was a wealthy sugar planter. Fox's health had been so injured by the ill-usage which he had endured at different times, and he suffered so keenly from the climate, that he had to remain at Mr. Rous's, whilst his friends held meetings all around. But though crippled in body his mind was vigorous. The marriage regulations and discipline of the Society, and the duty of giving Christian instruction to the negroes, engrossed his attention. The question of slavery stirred his heart to its depths; and his vigorous language and action not only did good then, but laid a right foundation for the future action of the society. When the time came that Friends had to consider the question of the abolition of slavery, few things exerted so much influence in the right direction, as Fox's clear statement of the issues involved. His words were quoted, his reasonings were expanded and enforced, and it was largely through his influence that abolitionist principles became identified with Quakerism.

Here, as elsewhere, the doctrines of the society had been greatly misrepresented, so the famous letter to the governor of Barbadoes was drawn up to explain them. It is still often quoted as an admirable statement of the views of the society. It is as near an approach to a creed as anything can be, which originated from a society which recognises only the Bible as authoritative, and which objects to all human formularies.

The society in Barbadoes gained greatly in numbers and strength by this visit. Jamaica, Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia were next visited in the same manner and with similar results. Large numbers were won to a christian life. The Indians and negroes were recognised as having a claim to christian sympathy and religious instruction. The societies were weeded of unworthy members, and their organisation successfully accomplished. Then the party returned in safety to England after an absence of a year and a half.

In 1677 Fox carried these operations into Holland, having with him his illustrious friends, Penn and Barclay. "This visit of the three great apostles of Quakerism," says Hepworth Dixon, "seems to have made a great sensation; scholars, merchants, government officers, and the general public crowded to hear them preach, and the houses of the most noble and learned men in the city of Van der Werf and Erasmus were thrown open to them freely.... Their journey through the country was like a prolonged ovation." The interesting episode of the interview with the enlightened and large-hearted Princess Elizabeth, granddaughter of James I., scarcely belongs to this sketch, as Fox did not join in it. But he wrote a lengthy epistle of Christian counsel, and sent it by his daughter-in-law, Mrs. Yeamans, and the Princess returned him this brief but kindly reply:--

"Dear Friend, I cannot but have a tender love to those that love the Lord Jesus Christ, and to whom it is given, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for Him; therefore your letter, and your friend's visit, have been both very welcome to me. I shall follow their and your counsel as far as God will afford me light and unction; remaining still your loving friend, Elizabeth."

He spent some time in Amsterdam "writing in truth's account," and then returned home by Harwich. In 1684 he paid another visit to Holland, the last of his longer missionary journeys.

After this, finding his health shattered by his long imprisonment and arduous labours, he settled down in London, quietly, though not uselessly, awaiting the end. His correspondence was most extensive, and he wrote many tracts and pamphlets as was his habit. One of his last letters was written to the lately-bereaved widow of Barclay, the Apologist, and is a model of Christian consolation. He tells her:--"Thou and thy family may rejoice that thou hadst such an offering to offer up unto the Lord as thy dear husband; who, I know is well in the Lord in whom he died, and is at rest from his labours, and his works do follow him." He signs himself one "who had a great love and respect for thy dear husband, for his work and service in the Lord, who is content in the will of God, and all things that he doeth--and so thou must be." But besides this literary work, he laboured zealously in the pastoral work, visiting the sick and afflicted, and endeavouring to "bring into the way of truth such as had erred."

He watched the passing of the Toleration Act with the deepest interest. It was a most welcome relief to Friends, especially those in Ireland. The losses sustained by the Irish Quakers were enormous. In one year (1689) they were estimated at £100,000, many being stripped of all they had (see Besse's Sufferings). George Fox not only collected such facts as these for publication, but, even in his last days of suffering and prostration, attended at the House of Commons to interest the members in the sufferings of his brethren, and to see that the Toleration Act was "done comprehensively and effectually."

He was equally zealous in his attendance on public worship. When so infirm that he could hardly sit through a service, he would not desist, and often afterwards had to lie down on a bed until recruited. He was determined, if possible, to die in harness, and God gave him his heart's desire.

He was especially anxious lest spiritual religion should decline, now that persecution had ceased, and Friends began to prosper in business. He wrote them an epistle of loving, but earnest expostulation, warning the young against the fashions of the world, and the old against the deceitfulness of riches. To the latter he pointedly says, "Take heed that you are not _making your graves_ while you are alive outwardly." To some ministers who had gone to America he writes similar stirring words of counsel:--"And all grow in the faith and grace of Christ, _that ye may not be like dwarfs_; for a dwarf shall not come near to offer upon God's altar, though he may eat of God's bread that he may grow by it."

On the Sunday preceding his death, he preached with great power at the meeting in Gracechurch Street, but soon afterwards had to take to bed, complaining of cold and weakness. His wife had been to see him some little time before, and finding him enjoying better health than usual, was unprepared for his death, so that no near relative seems to have been with him at the time of his decease. It was indeed a consecrated chamber. Those who stood round him were struck with the triumph of faith over bodily weakness. He exulted in the power of Christ. "All is well--the Seed of God reigns over all, and over death itself." His thoughts were calmly fixed on the arrangement of Society affairs; his mind was clear, his habitual disregard of his bodily sufferings still marked him. Towards the last all pain left him. Feeling death coming, he closed his own eyes and extended his limbs; and in sweet composure, resting on Christ his Saviour, his spirit entered into rest on Tuesday, 13th December, 1690 (o.s.)

Three days after, some 2000 persons (one witness says 4000) gathered to lay him in his grave. For two hours they worshipped in that same meeting-house in Gracechurch Street, in which he had preached only on the previous sabbath. William Penn, George Whitehead, Stephen Crisp, and other leaders amongst them, thanked God for the gifts and services of their departed leader, and exhorted and encouraged each other to faith in that Lord, who raised him up and sustained him in his work. Then the body was conveyed to Bunhill-fields, and interred in the Friends' Burial Ground there.

On the day of his death, William Penn wrote to Swarthmoor to tell the news of his decease. His letter reminds us of the inscription of the Carthaginians on the tomb of Hannibal. "We vehemently desired him in the day of battle." He sadly says to Mrs. Fox, "I am to be the teller to thee of sorrowful tidings, which are these:--that thy dear husband and my beloved friend, George Fox, finished his glorious testimony this night about half-an-hour after 9 o'clock, being sensible to the last breath. Oh! he is gone, and has left us with a storm over our heads. Surely in mercy to Him, but an evidence to us of sorrows coming.... My soul is deeply affected with this sudden great loss. Surely it portends to us evils to come. A prince indeed is fallen in Israel to-day!" and in a postscript he adds, "He died as he lived, minding the things of God and His church to the last, in a universal spirit."

Fox's Journal was published soon after his death, with a lengthy preface by his friend William Penn, containing a warm tribute to his personal worth and Christian labors. The Journal gives us a better and more vivid idea of the man than any biography that has been written. An intelligent and liberal-minded Baptist minister thus describes the impressions it left on his mind:--

Rev. Wm. Rhodes to his wife:

"'My dear heart in the truth and the life which are immortal and change not;'