Memoirs of George Whitehead, a minister of the gospel in the Society of Friends : being the substance of the account of his life

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Cornell University Library BX7795.W59 A3 1832

Preface

The historical account which George Whitehead has left of his own " Christian Progress," is so much interwoven with the early history of the Religious Society of Friends^ that, independently of the instructive exhihition which it aflfords of individual character, it has a strong claim on the attention of those who now profess the principles which he advocated so boldly, and for which he suffered with so much constancy.

These Memoirs, indeed, contain more information relative to the early proceedings of the Society, than those of any other individual, except it be the life of George Fox. Convinced when underage of the doctrines preached by that reformer, he became very soon an active and zealous minister of the truths whi<ih he had embraced, and continued for nearly seventy years to labour by word and example in the support of them.

It has been the lot of few persons to occupy an active sphere for so long a period of time as was the case with George Whitehead. He was born in the reign of Charles I. Under the Commonwealth, and in the reign of Charles II., he suffered many severe persecutions. He visited several times the court of Charles, to plead with him on behalf of the cause of religious liberty. These efforts were continued during the short reign of James 11. ; and during the reign of William and Mary, when a brighter day dawned on the civil and religious

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liberties of England, he exerted himself, by personal and written representations, to obtain for the Sodiety the free exercise of religious worship, the liberation of the members who, chiefly for ecclesiastical demands, were still sufiering cruel imprisonments, and the admission of the affirmation of Friends instead of an oath in all civil cases.

He had several interviews with George I., in which he earnestly pleaded the great cause of religious liberty; and having been introduced to the young prince, afterwards George 11., he endeavoured to impress his mind with the same important subject. He was thus during the five reigns succeeding the Commonwealth, one of the most strenuous advocates of our principles, and of religious liberty in general ; and very freguently the organ of the Society of Friends, at the court of the English monarchs.

To us who are enjoying those civil and religious privileges, which he was in so considerable a degree instrumental in obtaining, the account which he has given of his proceedings, though it may at times be charged with prolixity, can hardly fail to be interesting.

In this republication of George Whitehead's valuable work, it has however been deemed best to present many of the details in a curtailed or condensed form. The curtailments are chiefly in the accounts of polemical discussions and law proceedings ; but several other parts which appeared to be redundant, have been omitted in this edition ; and where more than one account is given of the same transaction, that which appeared the most complete has been selected, or the substance of the whole has been re-written without adhering to the author's words.

PREFACE. V»

The editor has also ventured in several cases to add a few historical particulars, to make the work more completely illustrative of the character of the Society, and the state of the public nfind at the period to wrhich it refers. The whole, notwithstanding the curtailments, will give the reader a petty clear insight into the rise, progress, and principles of the Society of Friends ; nor will its details, the editor trusts, be found uninteresting to the inquirer into the history of the civil and religious liberties of England, as connected with that most important and interesting period of our annals which these Memoirs embrace.

The present work was originally designed to have been comprised in one volume, and it would no doubt have been more agreeable to some readers in a more condensed form ; but as an historical record, and with a view of preserving the clear view which the original memoirs frequently give of the varied engagements of our early Friends, much greater curtailment than has been made, did not, to the editor, seem desirable. He is nevertheless far from imagining, that he has always drawn the line exactly where it ought to have been, and he cannot be much disappointed if he should have failed to please hisv friends, since,; on many occasions, he has failed to please himself.* Leaving however his own imperfections, he can safely recommend the perusal of the work, to all those of the Society of Friends, who feel an interest in the history of the Church to which they belong.

* The editor wishes to acknowledge the advantage he has frequently derived from the use of a copy of the " Christian Progress,"

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George Whitehead was a voluminous writer. Besides his " Christian Progress " the editor has before him no less than ninety tracts, some of them of a very considerable length. They are chiefly controversial. The earlier ones appear to have been written in much haste ; and much cannot be said in favour either of their general talent or temper. In both these respects, the later productions are decidedly superior; and several of them contain clear and able refutations of the charges with which Friends were then assailed. As he grew in years, he evidently grew both in graces and in gifts. There are among his tracts several " Epistles to Friends," which mark deep Christian experience and a truly pastoral care over the Society. One ofthese, printed in the year 1689, is inserted at the close of the work, and will be found well worthy of perusal in the present day. The Appendix also contains the last controversial work in which the author appears to have been engaged, written in the year 1712 ; and an important document issued by the Society in the year 1693, illustrative of its Christian principles at that early period. There is considerable reason to believe, that this declaration of Christian faith was compiled by George Whitehead ; and its insertion accords with the editor's design in the publication of this work, which is, the illustration of the

HISTORY AND PRINCIPLES OF THE SoCIETY OF FrIENDS.

Contents

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VOLUME THE FIRST.

PAGE

Section I

George Whitehead's reasons for preparing his own memoirs. — His account of his early life — and of his convincement of the doctrines of Friends. • 31

Section II

General prejudice against the principles of the new Society. — His parents' views. — His own progress and experience, and a statement of his principles and sentiments in regard to Christ as our Sacrifice — as the Light of the world.T^Necessity of repentance. — Value of the Holy Scriptures.-— 'The New Covenant. — Gospel ministry. 39

Section III

His travels in Yorkshire. — Visits Lincoln, Cambridge, Norwich, and Wymondham. — Ranters. — Visits other places in Norfolk and Suffolk. — Returns to Norwich. — Imprisoned there. — Proclamation asserting liberty of conscience. — Further visits in Norfolk and Suffolk. 49

Section IV

George Whitehead and others imprisoned in Edmunds'-Bury gaol — released by order from the Protector, — Visits London, and returns into Essex and Suffolk — Cruelly whipped at Nayland, when not twenty-one years of age. — Travels afterwards in Essex, Suffolk, , Huntingdonshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Gloucestershire, and Herefordshire' till the middle of the year 1657. 83

Section V

G. Whitehead travels in the counties of Nottingha.m, Derby, Leicester, Warwick, and Stafford — and in the winter of 1657, in Westmoreland, Durham, and Northumberland. — Returns by York into the eastern counties. — An illness at Diss, 1658. — Imprisoned at Ipswich. — Released on the death of Oliver Cromwell. — Meetings at and about Ipswich. ' 101

Section VI

Has many disputations in the years 1658 and 1655. — Account of one at Emneth on seventeen points — At Cambridge with the keep-

10 CONTENTS.

er of the university library — at Lynn, with the Mooreans or Universalists, o^ Christian perfection, Christ's body, &c. — A second with the same people, succeeded by a written controversy. ' 113

Section VII. *

Disputations with a Presbyterian minister at Lynn, on the Scriptures, the resurrection of the body, the Trinity, .&c>^with an Independent minister at Pulham, on the Light of Christ. — Meets a minister in the steeple-house at Haddenham.-^A meeting at Peterborough's — Goes to Oakham — Coggeshall — Bristol. 133

Section VIII

Restoration of the monarchy. — King Charles's declaration for liberty of conscience. — Remarks, on his sincerity. — Fifth-monarchy

men Proclamation against conventicles, and consequent renewal

ofpersBcution.-^George Whitehead's imprisonment with others in Norwich castle ; released by the king's proclamation. — Henry Kettle formerly mayor of Thetford. — Act of parliament respecting Friends' refusal to take any oath. — The endeavours of Friends to prevent the bill passing the House of Commons. 144

Section IX

George Whitehead's own account of persecutions in London, in 1663 to 1664.— An act to prevent and suppress seditious conventicles. — Persecution in London, 1665. — He vists the northern counties, &e. and returns to London. — ^Remains there during the plague. 170

Section X

The Oxford five mile act. — George Whitehead addresses two epistles , to Friends during their trials.~-The great fire in London, 1666. — Friends continue their meetings. — George Whitehead continues principally in Londoii-^and marries in the year 1669. — In 1686 he lost his wife — and in 1688 married again. — The narrative reverts to the fire in London. — A further act to prevent seditious convenlicles in 1670. 197

SECTION XL Occurrences 1666 to 1670.— George Whitehead, in 1670, taken from a meeting in Grace-church street — The mayor orders a priest to read prayers and preach in Friends' meeting-house.^ — Other meetings disturbed. — An order of court to prevent Friends meeting at Horelydown. — Proceedings thereupon. 210

SECTION XIL Persecution continued with little abatement till the king's declaration in 1673. — George Whitehead successfully applies to the king for the liberation of about four hundred of his Friends. — He travels with the king's Letters Patent under the Great ^eal, to obtain the discbarge of his Friends in Essex, Sufiblk, Huntingdonshire, Cambridgshire, Norfolk, and Hertfordshire. He consults Judge Hale on the release of Friends in the distant counties — Procures their release by means of the sheriffs' coming to London. 230

Introduction

It may not perhaps be wholly useless, especially to my young readers, to make a few introductory observations, which have been suggested in the compilation of the present work, on the character and conduct of the early Friends, and on the important subject of liberty of conscience, the history of which, in this country, will be found considerably illustrated in this Memoir.

The religious Society of Friends was originally an association of persons earnestly seeking to obtain that true knowledge of God and of Christ, which is life eternal. Many of them were men esteemed in the several religious professions to which they belonged, for their practical experience and piety; yet notwithstanding what they already knew, their consciences were not satisfied, and they were led to believe, that a further acquaintance with Divine teachings than they yet possessed was to be obtained. They felt that they needed to know more of the work of regeneration, and of the power of Christ to renew them into his own Image, than they experienced under the various teachings and ordinances on which they had been led, in part at least, to depend.

They were men whose minds were richly imbued with Scripture truth, and not a few of them were very conversant with the theological controversies of their own and former days. Some of them, prior to the preaching of George Fox, had separated themselves from other communities and met together in a very simple way, earnestly looking and praying for the

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SECTION X.

The Oxford five mile act. — George Whitehead addresses two epistles to Friends during their trials.' — The great fire in London, 1666. — Friends continue their nieetings.-^Ge6rge Whitehead continues principally in London — and marries in the year 1669. — In 1686 he lost his wife — and in 1688 married again. — ^The narrative reverts to the fire in London. — A further act to prevent seditious conventicles in 1670. 197

Section XI

Occurrences 1666 to 1670.— ^George Whitehead, in 1670, taken from a meeting in Grace-church street. — The mayor orders a priest to read prayers and preach in Friends' meeting-bouse.^— Other meetings disturbed. — An order of court to prevent Friends meeting at Horslydown. — Proceedings thereupon. 210

Section XII

Persecution continued with little abatement till the king's declaration in 1673. — George Whitehead successfully applies to the king for the liberation of about four hundred of his Friends, — He travels with the king's Letters Patent under the Great Seal, to obtain . the discharge of his Friends in Essex, Sufiblk, Huntingdonshire, Cambridgshire, Norfolk, and Hertfordshire. He consults Judge Hale on the release of Friends in the distant counties — Procures their release by means of the sheriffs' coming to London. 230

1^ fM ('ss/M^ sessed was to be obtained. They felt that they needed to know more of the work of regeneration, and of the power of Christ to renew them into his own Image, than they experienced under the various teachings and ordinances on which they had been led, in part at least, to depend.

They were men whose minds were richly imbued with Scripture truth, and not a few of them were very conversant with the theological controversies of their own and former days. Some of them, prior to the preaching of George Fox, had separated themselves from other communities and met together in a very simple way, earnestly looking and praying for the

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INTRODUCTION.

fuller knowledge of redemption from sin, and of that peace of mind which passethall understanding. Whilst thus seeking for Truth, already exposed to the reproaches of their self-satisfied friends, they were led to believe that whilst they had dwelt much on the atonement of Christ, they had not sufficiently dwelt on the operations of that Holy Spirit and Comforter, who was to consummate the Gospel, to guide into all truth, and by whom, the apostle says, through Christ we have access to the Father. Of this Divine Communion they believed they were made sensible partakers, and in it they found that consolation which they had long sought after and prayed for.

As it was by sin that man lost the Divine Image and excellence in which he was created, so they believed the restoration by Christ to be equal to the loss by Adam, and that he who fully embraced the Gospel would be so guided into all truth, that sin might be efiectually resisted and Christ followed.

These views of the operations of the Holy Spirit and of the possibility of freedom from sin, 1 believe to have been the foundation of what is called Quakerism ; and they led to or were immediately connected with, a clearer view of the nature and spirituality of the Gospel Dispensation — the extent of the apostacy from its simplicity and purity — and the inconsistency therewith of many practices which prevailed extensively in the reformed Churches. When George Fox travelled into various parts of England, calling men from all traditional knowledge, by which in the days of the apostacy Gospel truth had been overlaid, to the teachings of the Holy Spirit, and showed the conformity of his views with the Divine testimony of Scripture, he found many prepared to receive the Truth which he proclaimed, as the answer to their prayers and the direction of their search. Though the embracing of these truths was the occasion of obloquy and suffering, they were welcome to them as the dawning of the morning to the mariner, after a long and stormy night.

The office of the Holy Spirit or Divine Light as the Guide unto all Truth, became the great theme of their contemplation and their preaching, as that doctrine which being most fatal to satan's kingdom in men's hearts, he had been most busy in perverting ; and which, as it was most opposed to man's unholy nature, so it was that which by nature he was most willing to have concealed from his view. They did not, as was imputed to them, set up this doctrine in opposition to that of the atonement and mediation of Christ ; but they warned men against any dependence on Christ, without knowing Him to be formed in them and their hearts to be brought into subjection to his Spirit. They did not, as they were aspersed, set aside the Holy Scriptures, to make way for any fancies of their own ; but they warned men against resting satisfied with a Scripture knowledge, without knowing the true faith in Christ through which alone they lead to salvation. They valued the Holy Scriptures as inspired records of the Divine will — they read and quoted them freely, and recommended to others the perusal of them ; but they believed that as the brazen serpent which had been the instrument of the Divine mercy to the Israelites, afterwards became the object of their idolatry, so were there many people who were ready to worship the hook, whilst they neglected or opposed the Spirit by which it was written.

They had a deep sense of man's corruption and of the Divine purity. They taught that every motion of good in the heart of man, from the first conviction of sin to the full assurance of faith, was through the immediate influence of the Holy Spirit. That in man, as man, there was no good thing ; and that, as it was through the free Grace of God in Christ that any sinner was awakened to the error of his way, and not essentially through any outward means of instruction, however the Divine Influence might be usually connected with such means ; so it was to that Divine Grace, as the means of still further enhghtening the conscience and of carrying on the work of sanctificatlon, that men were to be mainly directed to seek.

This Divine Light in the conscience would, they believed, lead to the perception that many things were contrary to the Divine will, which were not especially pointed out in Holy Scripture ; whilst the testimony of the Inspired Writings would in all respects be confirmed, and the reader enabled to understand them to spiritual edification. The Holy Spirit would open the mystery of Christ truly, glorifying Him and receiving of his and shewing it unto us. Thus they believed the Christian was enabled to become truly wise — to die unto sin and to be made alive unto righteousness.

To bring men to the knowledge of this great Teacher, was the labour of those faithful men who, like the subject of this memoir, were singularly called and endued with power to preach with boldness, and to rejoice in being counted worthy to suffer for the Name of Christ.

It appears that what these Christian worthies were engaged to do, was not to add another to the many names which divide Christendom ; — it was not merely to testify against priestly usurpation, the practice of war, oaths, and the indulgence in some particular evidences of the worldly spirit ; — these were the accompaniments of their great and paramount engagement ; which was to declare God's controversy with sin, and the means by which it might be subdued ; not omitting to proclaim the alone ground of a sinner's pardon, through the propitiatory sacrifice of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

So impressed were they with the terrors of the Lord for evil, and the unfathomable depth of his mercies, that they spoke of them with an awful reverence, the feeling of which induced m some a trembling of the body, from which they derived, from a persecuting magistrate, the name of Quaker ; and though it be one of scorn and reproach, he who knows and has felt any thing of its meaning will not be ashamed to own it. For however conformable any may be in what are termed the " peculiarities" of our Society, if they have not been brought to see their lost estate by nature, and to tremble under the sense of the Divine displeasure as the prelude to the hope of God's mercy, they have yet to learn the very rudiments of their Quakerism.

The experience of the true Quaker, though it may begin and be carried on in judgment, will be accompanied by and will end in mercy. Nowhere do I find in Christian records more striking instances of hope in Christ — efjoy in believing — and of the assurance of faith, than in the experience of those who were instrumental in the planting of our Church. They had a strong abiding sense of the almighliness of God. The creatures, however powerful they might seem, sunk into insignificance in their view, whenever they attempted to lift their puny arms in contravention of what they believed to be the Divine will.*

I would by no means represent them as free from imperfection, which I believe attaches to all the exhibitions of Christian excellence in mere human form. I cannot myself approve of every act which I read of in their history ; I confess also that in the exaltations of the great doctrine of the Light of Christ in the heart, they do appear to me not always' to have given quite the due proportion of importance to the outward revelation of Christ, in the Holy Scriptures; but whilst making this concession to their opponents, which truth constrains me to make, 1 can see they were sincere and devout seekers of Divine truth, and that they drank largely at the Fountain of Divine knowledge ; and when I look at the important testimonies which they maintained — at their unwearied labours — their unfeigned love — their steadfast faith — their constancy and meekness in suffering, I cannot but venerate their charac-

*Dr. Owen iti his v/ork on spiritual mindedness has well observed : "To believe the almighty^ power of God with referenee to ourselves and all our concerns, temporal and eternal, is one of the highest and most noble acts of faith, which includes all others in it."

B 2 ter for their works' sake ; I believe that they were eminently raised up, to recall the Church of Christ from its wanderings, and to set before it the simplicity and purity of its primitive faith and worship : — that faith which worketh by love, to the pvirifying of the heart ; and that worship which, through the Holy Spirit, is to be performed in the temple of the soul.

Had the opinions we have described been the mere result of a course of reasoning, even from the Holy Scripture ; and had they not been accompanied by a lively faith, which brought them so into action as to oppose the interests and prejudices of many of their fellow professors, they might have been permitted to share the fate of the party to which they happened to belong : but when their views not only led them to refrain from, as superstitious, many things which were highly esteemed in the religious world ; but also to go forth zealously to proclaim to others what they believed to be truth, and many were thereby convinced and led to desert their former professions; the various sects and parties of that day were stirred up as with one accord, against this people, and succeeded in persuading many even devout persons, that the Quakers were the enemies of religion and of Christ. No imputations were too foul to charge upon this people — no indignity too great to offer — no sufferings too severe to inflict. They became at once the laughing stock and the whipping stock of all parties.

Many however were led by this very treatment, to look more inquisitively into their doctrines and manners ; — they remembered that the way of Truth had been heretofore every where spoken against, and when they found that these objects of general reproach were industrious in their callings and exemplary in all the duties of social life, and that nevertheless they were ready to forsake houses and lands, parents and children, rather than disobey what they believed to be 'the law of Christ — the inquirers were often led to conclude, that these much despised people, were indeed true followers of Him who and whose disciples were not of the world, and therefore the world hated them.

And it is worthy of remark, how much this kind of conviction, not founded on a minute, inductive process, but resting chiefly on what may be termed internal evidence, has been the course through which the Head of the Church has, in all periods, thought fit to gather his people out of the world. In the opening of the Gospel day, though accompanied by extraordinary miracles, there was much of this process to be observed ; and in the subsequent revivals of Divine truth, whether in Germany, Switzerland, or England, it will, [ believe, be found, that a large majority of converts were led by a sense of Truth in the main — by finding a conformity of the doctrines preached, with the Witness for God in themselves, rather than by a course of minute investigation. Indeed,' if the knowledge of the Gospel required this, it could no more be said to be preached to the poor, nor plain to the wayfaring man.

Many among the early converts to Quakerism, who had been wise and great in this world, were made to rejoice in the laying down of their outward wisdom, and in sitting down in deep humility to learn of Jesus by the teaching of the Holy Spirit in the heart, who as He is waited for, will so bring into remembrance what Christ has said, as to make his words Spirit and Life unto them. They could say with the apostle : "I glory in nothing save in the cross of Christ, whereby 1 am crucified unto the world and the world unto me."

It was by the zealous preaching of this foolishness — and by the illustration of it in lives of singular piety and self-denial, that our fathers were gathered to be a people ; and it is only by a similar course, that we can become or be preserved such a people as they were.

The conduct of the Society of Friends, as detailed in the following pages, derives an increased interest from its intimate connexion with the history of our present religious liberty.

Some persons doubt the propriety of reviving the records of ancient persecutions ; I can truly say, they are not brought forward in the present work to excite unpleasant feeling towards any sect or party whose name may have been in those times unhappily connected with persecuting proceedings. But the fidelity of history, and the important lessons which are. to be derived from experience, require that such events should not be concealed or even allowed to be forgotten. On no subject are the lessons of past experience of more importance, than in what regards liberty of conscience. We enjoy this privilege in an eminent degree in England ; it behoves us that we watch over it with a vigilant care, and cherish the recollection of the means by which it has been obtained, as intimately connected with the knowledge of those by which this invaluable blessing is to be preserved and extended.'

I cannot agree with those who think that religious privileges can neveragain be invaded, and that the diflusion of general knowledge in England is an ample security against the recurrence of persecution. The spirit of persecution is one of the featuresof man's depravity, intimately connected with his pride, his selfishness, and his lust of power ; and unless these roots are extirpated from the human soil, I see no security for their not bearing similar fruit, though varied by the circumstances of climate and culture.

Superstition has generally been intimately connected with persecution, but they are by no means inseperable. Irreligion is no less opposed to the' claims of tender conscience, than superstition. It unites at present with Christian charity, in the opposition to Christians persecuting one another for their various opinions; bnt this is quite a dilferent thing from therecognition of those inalienable rights of conscience, for which our early Friends so earnestly contended and so patiently suffered. The mere worldly philosopher,

INTRODUCTION.

though looking with deserved contempt on the violent animosities of con tending religionists, and thus acting as a sulutary check upon their violence, has an equal contempt for what appear to him to be the needless scruples and the annoying zeal of the man who religiously exercises himself to keep a conscience void of offence towards God and men ; and when the avoidance or performance of those things which the Christian engaged in this service finds to be required of him, is opposed to the views of the philosopher, no one is more ready to use his authority to enforce his will and pleasure. Amongst the bitterest persecutors and revilers of primitive Christianity, history records the names of some of the wisest and mildest of the Cesars, and the most liberal and enlightened of Roman and Grecian philosophers. The history of the French revolution has shown that persecution may exist under a government which has renounced the signs and substance of all religion except the homage of an unknown Deity in the pretended temple of reason. Recent events have also shown, that in protestant states professing liberal opinions, direct persecution can rear its head ; and in our own parliament, the claims offender conscience have lately been treated with very little respect.