PREFACE
And now the glorious Gospel is again preached in and to them that dwell upon the earth so that all may fear God and give glory to his name and worship him who made heaven and earth, the seas and fountains of water. And the Lord hath endued many with power from on high and sent them forth, as he did his messengers formerly, to direct and turn people's minds from darkness to light and from Satan's power to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith in Christ Jesus. Many have received the glad tidings of peace and salvation freely preached to them by the Lord's ministers in the authority of the Spirit and power of God in this mighty day of the Lord which is again revealed. He is come nigh to judgment, that the prince of this world may be cast out of the temple in which he had exalted himself and been worshipped as God. The kingdom of God is come, and coming more and more, and the power of his Christ is exalted in the hearts of many, whose right it is to reign. And though the devil and his angels war against him, and for a season be suffered to prevail in dark places of the earth so as to destroy the bodies of some of the followers of Christ, yet the Lamb and his followers shall have the victory, and the devil and his angels must be cast into the lake that burns for ever.
The Lamb's warfare is not for the destruction of men's lives, but of sin, the works of the devil in men. And the weapons of his followers are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds, casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. Howbeit the Lamb, who is also the Lion of the tribe of Judah, hath power to rule the nations with a rod of iron. Therefore blessed are they that abide with and follow the Lamb through tribulations, in faith and patience, until they overcome and have their garments washed and made white in his blood, for they shall reign with him for ever. Of this number, we have cause to believe that this worthy servant of the Lord, William Edmundson, author of the ensuing journal, was one.
He was early visited with the inshining of the glorious light of this Gospel day in his own heart, whereby his state was often opened to him, though for a time he did not understand what it was that so enlightened him. He was left an orphan when young and thereby exposed to hardship. And after he grew up, he went into the army and continued a soldier some time under the parliament in the late civil wars in England and Scotland. Being religiously inclined he grew weary of that manner of life and delivered up his charge, returning towards his native place in England. Having been before contracted to a young woman in Derbyshire, he married her, and soon after came into the nation of Ireland with an intention to settle and trade. But he was under inward affliction upon his soul's account.
In a little time he went again to England to buy more goods, and being in the northern part among his relations, having an inclination in his mind, he went with two of them to a meeting of the people called Quakers, where, by the ministry of some of the said people, both he and his two relatives were convinced of the way of life. His understanding being opened by the truth, he then perceived that it was the Lord by his Holy Spirit who had been at work in his heart from his youth up. Wherefore he gave up to its manifestations and loved the Lord's judgments, because of sin, until he was purified and prepared thereby to be a partaker of mercy and a chosen vessel for the Lord's service.
Returning again to Ireland and being made willing to bear the cross of Christ, he soon met with various trials for the truth's sake and had the greater exercise, because there was not then any of the people called Quakers in that nation to have conversation with. His behaviour and deportment so reached both his wife and brother that they were soon convinced of the truth and willing to meet with him in his own house to worship God in spirit, though in outward silence, having refreshing seasons together in the presence of the Lord. And in a little time four more joined with him. About this time John Tiffin, a servant of the Lord, came over from England, who was a strength and comfort to Friends. Several were convinced and added to their number.
The Lord was pleased to open the mouth of our said Friend, William Edmundson, in the testimony of Jesus; and being faithful, his gift for the ministry was enlarged so that he became an able minister of Christ Jesus, skillful in dividing the word of righteousness, plain and powerful in preaching, sound in doctrine, and profound in the mysteries of God, which were largely communicated to him. As a faithful steward and good scribe instructed into the kingdom, he, by direction of his Lord and Master, brought out of his treasury things new and old, suitable to the service required of him, for the glory of God and good of souls. Being willing to spend and be spent in doing the will of him that called him and not counting his life dear to himself so that he might finish the service and charge committed to his trust with joy, but being sensible of the Lord's call thereunto, he gave up cheerfully to follow the Lamb through many tribulations which attended for his testimony's sake.
He preached the Gospel of Christ freely in this nation in which he lived and suffered persecution, being often imprisoned in divers places. Once he spent about fourteen weeks in a close nasty dungeon among felons and malefactors, where he was almost stifled. He was frequently stocked, reviled, abused, and his goods made havoc of by covetous men. He also went many times into England, laboring in the work of the Gospel in divers parts, and three times into the Islands and English plantations in America, going the warfare at his own cost, that the Gospel might not be chargeable. He endured hardship as a good soldier of the Lamb, approving himself a faithful minister of Christ in much patience in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses for the Gospel's sake, in watchings, in fastings, in weariness and painfulness, by pureness, by knowledge, and by the power of God in his ministry, of which he had many seals in this nation and England and in the Islands of America, whom he had been instrumental in converting to God.
He was in journeys often, in perils by sea and land, and in the wilderness, both by wild beasts and bloody men in the time of the Indian wars in America, and by robbers in this nation in the time of the late calamity, who burnt his house and carried him away with his two sons, almost naked in the winter season, to kill them. But after much hard usage for several days, they were all three, by the good providence of God, delivered out of their hands.
This our ancient Friend had also exercise and grief by false brethren that opposed the testimony given him of the Lord to bear for his name, and he was not without affliction from some of his own offspring. Yet out of all the Lord delivered and preserved him faithful to a good old age, through good report and evil report so that near the conclusion of his time he could say that the Lord was his song and his strength. He was strong and courageous in the Lord's work and service, even after a decay came upon the outward man by reason of age and infirmities, being sound and clear in his understanding to the last.
As he had an excellent gift for the ministry, he was also endued with a large understanding and gift for government and religious discipline in the church of Christ. And having a discerning spirit, he stood firm in his zeal against those things that opposed the good order into which the Lord had gathered his people, and such men as under fair pretense would open a gap for false liberty. The care of the churches was upon him, especially in this nation where he lived and labored many years both in doctrine and discipline. And as an elder that ruled well, he was esteemed highly by the faithful for his work's sake. Temperate he was in eating and drinking, decent and plain in apparel, in discourse weighty, being mostly concerning the things of God tending to instruction and edification. His countenance and deportment were manly and grave, expressing a noble and religious disposition of mind.
He was a loving husband, a careful and tender father, a firm friend and kind neighbor, given to hospitality, and though it was often his lot to be separated from his wife and children for the Gospel's sake, yet he ordered his affairs with discretion so that there might be no want in his family, either of commendable employment or necessaries. But his greater concern and labor was for the public good of the churches and promoting the government of Christ Jesus therein, for which he was zealous to the end, as appears by divers expressions from him a little before his departure, some of which follow as a supplement to the ensuing journal. And when upon due consideration with reflection on past time he was persuaded that his day's work was done, he humbly desired, in submission to the will of God, to be dissolved and be with Christ, to rest from his labor and affliction of body that attended, which in the Lord's time was granted him.
To conclude concerning this our well-beloved friend and elder, who by faith hath obtained a good report and whose memorial is and shall be blessed among the righteous, I refer the reader to a serious perusal of his following journal and those testimonies given forth by faithful Friends and brethren concerning him, with sincere desire, that the blessing of God may so attend thy reading as to excite thee to a faithful improvement of thy time and the gift of grace bestowed on thee through Christ Jesus so that thy latter end may be peace, and thy future state eternal happiness. So in Christian love I remain thy well-wishing friend,
John Stoddart.
Dublin, the 26th of the Eighth month, 1714.
TESTIMONIES OF FRANCIS HOWGILL
"Shall days, or months, or years wear out thy name, as though thou hadst had no being? Oh nay! Shall not thy noble and valiant acts and mighty works which thou hast wrought through the power of Him that separated thee from the womb live in generations to come? Yes! The children that are yet unborn shall have thee in their mouths and thy works shall testify of thee in generations who yet have not a being and they shall count thee blessed. Did thy life go out as the snuff of a candle? Nay, thou hast penetrated the hearts of many, and the memorial of the just shall live for ever and be had in renown among the children of wisdom. Thou hast turned many to righteousness and shall shine as a star of God in the firmament of His power for ever and ever.
"They that are in that shall see thee there and enjoy thee there, though thou be gone away hence and can no more be seen in mutability. I cannot but mourn for thee, yet not as one without hope or faith, knowing and having a perfect testimony of thy well-being in my heart by the Spirit of the Lord. Yet thy absence is great, and years to come shall know the want of thee. Shall I not lament as David did for Abner when in wrath he perished by the hand of Joab without any just cause. Died Abner as a fool dieth? Nay! He was betrayed of his life. Even so hast thou been bereaved of thy life by the hand of the oppressor whose habitations are full of cruelty. When I think upon thee, I am melted into tears of true sorrow because of the want that the inheritance of the Lord hath of thee.
"It was my lot, which I cannot but say fell in a good ground, to be his companion and fellow labourer in the work of the gospel whereunto we were called for many years together. And when I consider, my heart is broken, how sweetly we walked together for many months and years in which we had perfect knowledge of one another's hearts and perfect unity of spirit. Not so much as one cross word or one hard thought of discontent ever rose, I believe, in either of our hearts, for ten years together. Our souls were bound up in unity and peace, having the frame of our hearts bent after one and the self same thing, to wit, the propagation of that truth by which liberty was obtained and salvation received through Jesus Christ, the true light of the world. Seeing through his light the whole world to lie in wickedness, a necessity lay upon this person of whom I am speaking, being constrained by the Spirit of the Lord, by which he was made an able minister of the everlasting gospel, to preach repentance, conversion, salvation, and remission of sins.
"Accordingly he went forth in the name and power of the Lord Jesus, the Saviour of mankind, and was an able minister of the glad tidings of salvation in many or most parts of this land. And also he traveled again and again through the whole nation of Ireland, in some part of Scotland, and part of Flanders and his ministry was made effectual through the Almighty power of God in turning many from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God. There are many thousands living in the body and alive in the truth, who can in the Spirit of the Lord bear testimony to the power and verity of his ministry in many countries where he traveled, for he laboured much in divers places, even in the heat of the day, though he began early in the morning.
"In the beginning of his travels and labours it was his share to break up rough places and unfilled ground and to walk amongst many briars and thorns which scratched and pricked. He often trod the paths and ways which had not been occupied in the truth, and where darkness had the dominion and was as a covering, he broke through as an armed man, not minding the opposition, but the victory and the good of all souls, though to my knowledge his sufferings and trials have not been small nor his exercise a little.
"He was in travels often, oftentimes buffeted, sometimes knocked down by unreasonable men who had not faith, loaded with lies, slanders, calumnies and reproaches, besides the exceeding weight of service from week to week, insomuch that he had seldom many hours of repose. And he often suffered by those spirits who lost their first love and rose in opposition. He was very diligent and faithful, true hearted and valiant, and the yoke at last came to be easy unto him, though no ease at all in the body as to the outward man. For he made the work of the Lord his whole business, without taking so much liberty unto himself or about any outward occasion in this world as to spend one week to himself, to my knowledge, these ten years. He had ventured himself often for the body's sake, and a great care I know was in his heart that those to whom he had ministered, and others that had believed in the same truth, might prosper and walk as becometh the gospel of Jesus Christ.
"He was of a manly spirit in the things of God. He engaged himself often upon the Lord's account singly in great disputes when there were many opposers. He hath stood in the door and in the gap against all his enemies for the worthy name of God, and he took the whole weight of things upon his own shoulders so that others might be eased, though often to the weakening, and almost destroying of the outward man, yet doing all in love to the Lord and for his people's sake. He did it with cheerfulness, and it was a grief to him if any opportunity was missed of doing good. He was a man of no great learning in natural tongues, which men so much applaud, yet his heart was full of matter and his tongue was as the hand of a ready scribe.
"He had the tongue of the learned, having had experience of the work of the Lord. And being acquainted with many conditions which God had carried him through, he could speak a word in season unto all who declared their conditions to him or otherwise. In his public ministry he was elegant in speech and had the tongue of a learned orator to declare himself to the understandings and consciences of all men with whom he conversed, by which many received great profit and their understandings came to be opened. For his words ministered grace to the hearers and were forcible and very pleasant, as apples of gold in pictures of silver.
"This young man of whom I am speaking was one of the first, with some others, who came to the city of London where he met with no small opposition, both from professors of divers forms, and also profane who heeded no religion at all. The way of truth seemed contemptible and without form or comeliness to them all. This made the opposition so great and the labour hard, notwithstanding it pleased the Lord to reach to the consciences of many, and many were pricked to the heart so that they cried out, 'What shall we do to be saved?'
"God made his ministry very effectual to the conversion of many in the city of London, whereby a great change was wrought in the hearts of many and many hundreds brought to know the Lord to be their teacher, which are as seals unto the word of life through him unto this day. He continued in this city very much at times, between eight and nine years together, preaching the word of God and speaking of the things of his kingdom to all that look after it with great watching travail and exercise in the work of the Lord, and his earnest desire was that all might have come to know God's salvation and the redemption of their souls. His great diligence was known unto many, that his only rejoicing was in the prosperity of the work of the Lord and the increase of faith amongst them that did believe.
"His heart was much drawn towards this city, and oftentimes hath he said to me when sufferings did come for the gospel's sake, which he knew would come, "I can freely go to that city and lay down my life for a testimony of that truth which I have declared through the power and Spirit of God," which in the end indeed came to be his share and will for ever be his crown, who loved not his life unto death for the testimony of our Lord Jesus Christ.
"In the same year, 1662, being pressed in his spirit to go visit them who were begotten unto the faith of God's elect at the city of Bristol and in divers other counties, he took his leave of them, saying to very many that he did not know he should see their faces any more, exhorting them all to faithfulness and steadfastness in that wherein they had found rest for their souls. To some he said, 'I am going up to the city of London again to lay down my life for the gospel and suffer amongst Friends in that place.'
"A little after his return to the city, at a public meeting which the people of the Lord have kept these many years to hear and speak of the things of God to edification, at the Bull and Mouth near Aldersgate—by certain soldiers under the command of Richard Brown, then General of the City of London, he was violently plucked down and haled away in a barbarous manner and carried to the guard and so committed to Newgate, not for evil-doing, but for testifying unto the name of the Lord Jesus and for the worship of God, as though this were become a great crime, worthy of bonds, and at last, death. He was had to the sessions in the Old Baily and his accusers were witnesses against him, and they that had abused him violently, their testimony was received as good proof against him.
"After two or three sessions he was fined by the court one hundred marks, which at last was reduced to twenty marks, and to lay in prison until payment, where he continued a pretty long season, about eight months, with six or seven score prisoners besides upon the same account, many being shut up among the felons in nasty places, and for want of prison room, the natures of many were suffocated and corrupted till at last they grew weak, sickened, and died.
(After relating the circumstances of his sickness and death, which have already been given in the memoir, he thus concludes:)
"And after a little season he gave up the ghost and died a prisoner and shall be recorded and is in the Lamb's book of life as a martyr for the Word of God and testimony of Jesus, for which only he suffered and gave up his life, whose death was precious in the eyes of the Lord. But now he ever liveth with God and his works follow him, and his labours shall testify of him in generations to come, and thousands beside myself can bear witness that his life and death were to the praise, honour, and glory of the grace of God, unto whom be the glory of all his works for ever, Amen."
THE TESTIMONY OF GEORGE WHITEHEAD
"As for Edward Burrough, our dear brother and companion in travel, suffering, and consolation for the everlasting gospel's sake in his day his testimony lives with us. He was a preacher of righteousness and one who travailed for the redemption of the creature from under the bondage of corruption and proclaimed liberty to the captives in the power and authority of God. Therein he was a true witness against oppression and all the antichristian yokes imposed in the night of apostasy upon the persons and consciences of people. Truly and valiantly he held forth the liberty of conscience and vindicated it to the great men of the earth in things appertaining to God in matters of religion and worship, against persecution and compulsion which had their origin and rise from the power of the beast which hath made war against the righteous seed, that men might be left free to the guidance of the infallible Spirit of God which is not to be limited in these matters, and not be compelled or brought under the corrupt wills of men, nor their fallible judgments nor invented forms in these cases.
"The name of this minister of righteousness is written in the Lamb's book of life and all the enemies of his life can never be able to blot it out nor extinguish his memorial. The remembrance of his integrity, uprightness, and sincerity hath deep impression upon my heart. And that tender love and affection in God's truth which he was filled with towards all the upright, who are lovers of peace and unity in the Lord, is never to be forgotten by us who are yet remaining in the work of the Lord and the everlasting gospel, for which he hath left a glorious testimony, the glory of which shall never be extinguished, but thousands shall praise the Lord our God because thereof.
"To live was, to him, Christ, and to die was gain. And though in his time many were the sufferings and afflictions which he underwent and his upright spirit suffered by, both from his open enemies and persecutors in the world because of his valor and courage for the truth of God, and from deceitful and transforming exalted spirits which burden the holy seed, yet now his life is caught up above them all and is out of their reach in the transcendent and unspeakable glory, in the everlasting habitation of God's power, where he hath shined and doth shine among the stars that have kept their habitations, as one that hath turned many to righteousness and that hath overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of his testimony. And though he be ceased from his labours, his works do follow him, which will be had in living remembrance and precious esteem among the upright.
"And they who in a prejudiced spirit of enmity are lifted up because of his decease are not worthy of him nor of his testimony. They have cause to mourn and lament amongst those that have pierced the just, and slighted and despised the messengers of truth and righteousness, whom God hath therein honored, and God will debase such and their vain glory into the dust and exalt the testimony and life of his faithful witnesses over all their heads.
"But we who have been well acquainted with the deep suffering of the righteous seed and with the worth of true unity in the weighty body and Spirit of Christ, and therein do behold the glory and completeness of the city of our God which is at peace within itself, cannot but prize the ministers of righteousness and every member of the same body. How blessed and precious is the memorial of the righteous in our eyes! And how deeply is my soul affected with that comfortable communion and those many and living refreshments that we have enjoyed one with another, even with him and others who have finished their course.
"In this I am satisfied, that though we be left in travail and our days have been days of affliction and suffering for Christ and the gospel's sake, as in the world, yet in him whom the prince of this world hath nothing in, we have peace, being come into communion with the spirits of just men, who are the family of God, written in heaven, and called by one name both in heaven and earth.
George Whitehead
"London, the 12th day of the first month, 1663."
THE TESTIMONY OF GEORGE ROOKE CONCERNINGWILLIAM EDMUNDSON
A testimony lives in my heart to give to the memory of my true and worthy friend, William Edmundson. He was a man with whom I have had some acquaintance above thirty years, but we were more intimately and nearly acquainted about the last fifteen years, it having been my lot to be often with him in the service of the Gospel, both in England and Ireland, sometimes among Friends and sometimes in places where none were who bore the name of Quakers. In all places where we traveled, his service for God was great, to the stopping of the mouths of gainsayers, and convincing many of the way of truth, directing and turning people's minds from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, so that many became the seals of his ministry which he delivered in great plainness, not in words which man's wisdom teacheth, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.
In his travels he was very careful not to make the Gospel chargeable and had a great zeal against the hireling teachers who sought for their gain from their quarter and looked after the fleece more than the flock. And for his testimony against such, he often went through great sufferings both in body and goods, as the book of Sufferings and his following journal show.
Of his travels in America I shall not say much, leaving it to them that were more acquainted with his service there, and his own account thereof in the ensuing pages, though I have heard him say that he went through great exercises among them, both in body and spirit, there arising many vain and unruly talkers among them who gave great trouble to the churches, and it fell to his lot often to deal with such. He was a man fitted for such service beyond any other that ever I was acquainted with. And great was his care to have such made manifest and a stop put to them so that they might proceed no further, wherever he met with them. But especially that such might be kept out of men's meetings, for he was careful that the authority of truth in men's and women's meetings might be kept up, where the Lord's business was managed, that the members thereof might be faithful men and faithful women, fearing God and hating covetousness, that so true judgment and justice might be maintained in all these meetings without respect of persons, and judgment placed on all unruly and disorderly persons, that God's house might be kept clean, which holiness becomes for ever.
He was not one who sought after popularity but was rather shy, not intimate with any of whom he had not a trial and true knowledge, nor willing to lay hands suddenly on any. But of those he had found faithful, he was a great encourager in the Lord's service. I have often heard him say that it was great satisfaction to him to see Friends come up in the service the Lord had fitted them for. And great was his concern to stir up those the Lord had gifted to answer their respective services by doing their day's work in their day, while ability of body and understanding was continued. He was an excellent pattern to us all, in that he spared not himself while his abilities were continued to him, but even to old age did perform service and travels beyond the ordinary course of nature, in which he would often say, the Lord was his song and his strength, who had carried him through many and various exercises and perils of divers sorts. The greatest trials he met with were from false brethren who opposed the good order of truth which the Lord has established among us, whose oppositions, both private and more public, he like a rock, immovably withstood, and as a fixed star in the firmament of God's power did remain, holding his integrity to the last.
He was one that truly sympathized with his suffering brothers and sisters, not sparing himself to obtain their relief and enlargement when closely confined in prison for their testimony against the hireling teachers and the great oppression of tithes, by applying himself to the persons concerned, and sometimes to the chief governors. He was a man of an undaunted spirit, grave, meek, free from affectation in speech and carriage, and therefore fit to stand before princes. And in such services he was often very successful, the Lord opening a way and prospering his endeavors. The gain of all he was ready to consecrate to the Lord and not to any abilities of his own, whether natural or acquired, having a large share of the former, though he had not much of the latter; being a man of no great learning as to the outward. Yet he had the tongue of the learned, so as to speak a word in season to the conditions and capacities of most, for he was sound and profound in the mysteries of life and salvation.
This eminent elder and overseer in the house of God was one of the first instruments in the hand of God in this generation to publish his everlasting truth through this benighted island and direct the inhabitants thereof to the inshining light of Jesus Christ, the glorious Sun of righteousness. In the discharge of his service in the ministry, he persevered with such constancy, faith, and fidelity that it pleased his great Lord to bestow on him, as an additional favor, a large understanding in the right ground of government and discipline in the church, in which he earnestly labored for universal love, unity and good order, through all the churches of Christ, preferring the honor of God before all things else. Many times things would open in him to admiration, showing to rich men and the eager getters of this world the danger they were in of hurting themselves by hindering their growth in the truth.
Nay, I cannot set forth the service he had among us. But this I am sure of, the churches of this nation will have a great loss of him. For indeed the care of the churches was daily upon him, and too few there are to stand in the gap against iniquity or who will expose themselves as he did in dealing plainly with every one, not letting sin pass unreproved nor faults untold, sharply reproving obstinate offenders, but mildly admonishing the sensible and penitent. A man of truth indeed who sometimes did tell us that he was glad when he looked back and considered how he had spent his time since the day it pleased the Lord to lay his hand upon him and call him into the ministry and by a careful search, could not find that he was behind with his day's work.
When he was taken sick he sent for me before my return from the Yearly Meeting at London. And the next day after I came home, I went to see him and found him very weak but very sensible, and he freely imparted his mind to me in several things, and particularly about the regulation of men's and women's meetings, "of which regulation," said he, "there is absolute need." And he believed some would come to see the necessity thereof more than they yet had.
I stayed with him about four or five days, in which time I observed nothing proceed out of his mouth, save what showed his concern for truth and the good order of it. And when I went to take leave of him, he said, "We have had many good meetings together. I believe that we shall meet in heaven," and this he spoke very tenderly. In a few days after this he departed this life in a good old age and full of days, being aged near eighty-five years and a minister fifty-seven years. And I doubt not but he hath obtained a reward of durable riches, a crown of righteousness, and his memorial is blessed, for he was a father in Israel in his day.
Though he was a man oppressed, afflicted, and troubled in his life time, yet now he is where the voice of the oppressor is no more heard, but the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest from their labors, and their works do follow, receiving the reward of peace and sentence of "well done, faithful and good servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." That we may all so labor as to be counted worthy thereof, with this our aged Friend at last, is the sincere desire and travail of thy friend, who wisheth the welfare of all men, both here and hereafter.
George Rooke