A Book of Quaker SaintsHodgkin, L. V. (Lucy Violet)
Religion
A Book of Quaker Saints
Hodgkin, L. V. (Lucy Violet)
Society of Friends
He still lay in prison for two years more, but he was allowed ink and
paper, and he wrote many beautiful letters acknowledging that he had
done wrong, confessing his sin, and praising God even for the
sufferings which had shown him his error. He says in one place, 'the
provocation of that time of temptation was exceeding great against the
pure love of God; yet He left me not; for after I had given myself
under that power, and darkness was above, my adversary so prevailed,
that all things were turned and so perverted against my right seeing,
hearing, or understanding; only a secret hope and faith I had in my
God whom I had served, that He would bring me through it, and to the
end of it, and that I should again see the day of my redemption from
under it all; and this quieted my soul in my greatest tribulation.'
And again, 'Dear brethren--My heart is broken this day for the offence
that I have occasioned to God's truth and people....
'And concerning you, the tender plants of my Father, who have suffered
through me, or with me, in what the Lord hath suffered to be done with
me, in this time of great trial and temptation; the Almighty God of
love, Who hath numbered every sigh, and put every tear in His bottle,
reward it a thousandfold into your bosoms, in the day of your need,
when you shall come to be tried and tempted; and in the meantime
fulfil your joy with His love, which you seek after. The Lord knows,
it was never in my heart to cause you to mourn, whose suffering is my
greatest sorrow that ever yet came upon me, for you are innocent
herein.' After this, at last he was set free. The first thing he did
was to try to return home to his wife and children. It is said that
'he was a man of great self-denial, and very jealous of himself ever
after his fall and recovery. At last, departing from the city of
London, about the latter end of October 1660, towards the north,
intending to go home to his wife and children at Wakefield in
Yorkshire, he was seen by a Friend of Hertford (sitting by the wayside
in a very awful, weighty frame of mind), who invited him to his house,
but he refused, signifying his mind to pass forward, and so went on
foot as far as Huntingdon, and was observed by a Friend as he passed
through the town, in such an awful frame, as if he had been redeemed
from the earth, and a stranger on it, seeking a better country and
inheritance. But going some miles beyond Huntingdon, he was taken ill
(being as 'tis said) robbed by the way, and left bound: whether he
received any personal injury is not certainly known, but being found
in a field by a countryman toward evening, was had, or went to a
Friend's house at Holm, not far from King's Ripton, where Thomas
Parnell, a doctor of physic, dwelt, who came to visit him; and being
asked, if any Friends at London should be sent for to come and see
him; he said, "Nay," expressing his care and love to them. Being
shifted, he said, "You have refreshed my body, the Lord refresh your
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