We then travelled to Exeter; and at the sign of the Seven Stars,
an inn at the bridge foot, had a general meeting of Friends out of
Cornwall and Devonshire; to which came Humphrey Lower, Thomas Lower,
and John Ellis from the Land's End; Henry Pollexfen, and Friends from
Plymouth; Elizabeth Trelawny, and divers other Friends. A blessed
heavenly meeting we had, and the Lord's everlasting power came over
all, in which I saw and said that the Lord's power had surrounded
this nation round about as with a wall and bulwark, and His seed
reached from sea to sea. Friends were established in the everlasting
Seed of life, Christ Jesus, their Life, Rock, Teacher, and Shepherd.
Next morning Major Blackmore sent soldiers to apprehend me; but I
was gone before they came. As I was riding up the street I saw the
officers going down; so the Lord crossed them in their design, and
Friends passed away peaceably and quietly. The soldiers examined some
Friends after I was gone, asking them what they did there; but when
they told them that they were in their inn, and had business in the
city, they went away without meddling any further with them.
We passed through the countries,[AF] having meetings, and gathering
people in the name of Christ, their heavenly teacher, till we came to
Brecknock, where we put up our horses at an inn. There went with me
Thomas Holmes and John ap-John, who was moved of the Lord to speak in
the streets. I walked out but a little into the fields; and when I
returned the town was in an uproar. When I came into the chamber in
the inn, it was full of people, and they were speaking in Welsh. I
desired them to speak in English, which they did; and much discourse
we had. After a while they went away.
[AF] In Wales.
Towards night the magistrates gathered in the streets with a
multitude of people, and they bade them shout, and gathered up the
town; so that, for about two hours together, there was a noise the
like of which we had not heard; and the magistrates set them on to
shout again when they had given over. We thought it looked like the
uproar amongst Diana's craftsmen. This tumult continued till night,
and if the Lord's power had not limited them, they would likely have
pulled down the house, and torn us to pieces.
At night the woman of the house would have had us go to supper in
another room; but we, discerning her plot, refused. Then she would
have had half a dozen men come into the room to us, under the
pretence of discoursing with us. We told her, "No person shall come
into our room this night, neither will we go to them." Then she said
we should sup in another room; but we told her we would have no
supper if we had it not in our own room. At length, when she saw she
could not get us out, she brought up our supper.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account