A Book of Quaker SaintsHodgkin, L. V. (Lucy Violet)
Religion
A Book of Quaker Saints
Hodgkin, L. V. (Lucy Violet)
Society of Friends
Fox journeyed on, right into the Highlands, but he got no welcome
there. 'We went among the clans,' he says, 'and they were devilish,
and like to have spoiled us and our horses, and run with pitchforks at
us, but through the Lord's power we escaped them.' At Perth, the
Baptists were very bitter, and persuaded the Governor to drive the
party from the town, whereupon 'James Lancaster was moved to sound and
sing in the power of God, and I was moved to sound the Day of the
Lord, the glorious everlasting Gospel; and all the streets were up and
filled with people: and the soldiers were so ashamed that they cried,
and said they had rather have gone to Jamaica[16] than to guard us so,
and then they set us in a boat and set us over the water.'
At Leith many officers of the army and their wives came to see Fox.
Among these latter was a certain Mrs. Billing, who lived alone, having
quarrelled with her husband. She brought a handful of coral ornaments
with her, and threw them on the table ostentatiously, in order to see
if Fox would preach a sermon against such gewgaws, since the Quakers
were well known to disapprove of jewellery and other vanities.
'I took no notice of it,' says Fox, 'but declared Truth to her, and
she was reached.' What a picture it makes! The fine lady, with her
chains and brooches and rings of smooth, rose-coloured coral heaped up
on the table before her, her eyes cast down as she pretended to let
the pretty trifles slip idly through her fingers, yet glancing up now
and then, under her eyelashes, to see if she had managed to attract
the great preacher's attention; and Fox, noticing the baubles well
enough, but paying no attention to them. Fixing his piercing eyes not
on the coral but on its owner, he spoke to Mrs. Billing with such
power that her whole life was changed. Once more Fox had found 'that
of God' within this seemingly frivolous woman.
Before he left Scotland he had the happiness of persuading Mrs.
Billing to send for her husband, and of helping to make up the quarrel
between them. They agreed eventually to live in unity together once
more as man and wife.
Fox journeyed on, in this way, year after year, always sowing the seed
wherever he went, and sometimes having the joy of seeing it spring up
above the clods and bring forth fruit an hundredfold. Even during the
long weary intervals of captivity this service still continued.
'Indeed, Fox and his fellow-sufferers never looked upon prison as an
interruption in their life service, but used the new surroundings in a
fresh campaign.'[17] Thus, the historian tells us: 'Though George Fox
found good entertainment, yet he did not settle there but kept in a
continual motion, going from one place to another, to beget souls unto
God.'[18]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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