I had a letter from Lord Hastings, who, hearing of my imprisonment,
had written from London to the justices of the sessions to set me at
liberty. I had not delivered this letter to the justices; whether
any knowledge of his mind received through another hand made them
discharge us so suddenly, I know not. This letter I carried to Lord
Beaumont, who had sent us to prison. When he had broken it open and
read it, he seemed much troubled; but at last he came a little lower,
yet threatened us that if we had any more meetings at Swannington, he
would break them up and send us to prison again.
But, notwithstanding his threats, we went to Swannington, and had a
meeting with Friends there, and he neither came nor sent to break it
up.
[After travelling through Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire and
Warwickshire, he came again to London.]
I stayed not long in London, but went into Essex, and so to Norfolk,
having great meetings. At Norwich, when I came to Captain Lawrence's,
there was a great threatening of disturbance; but the meeting was
quiet. Passing thence to Sutton, and into Cambridgeshire, I heard
of Edward Burrough's decease. Being sensible how great a grief
and exercise it would be to Friends to part with him, I wrote the
following lines for the staying and settling of their minds:
"FRIENDS:
"Be still and quiet in your own conditions, and settled in the
Seed of God, that doth not change; that in that ye may feel dear
Edward Burrough among you in the Seed, in which and by which
he begat you to God, with whom he is; and that in the Seed ye
may all see and feel him, in which is the unity with him in the
life; and so enjoy him in the life that doth not change, which
is invisible.
GEORGE FOX."[138]
[138] This letter well illustrates the difficulties of George
Fox's style. The letter manifests a profound and beautiful
spirit, but the phraseology is none too clear. He means: "Dear
Edward is living in God, who is invisible and unchangeable;
settle your own lives down into that same living God whose divine
presence manifested in Edward Burrough has begotten a spiritual
life in you, and you will feel yourselves united in spirit and
life with the dear departed one."
[Hereupon extensive travels follow, throughout the eastern counties,
then through the southern as far as Land's End, and again through
Wales and the English Lake district. He finally reaches Swarthmore
some time in 1663, and finds that an offer of twenty-five pounds has
been made to any man who would take him. Out of the experiences of
this long, though somewhat uneventful trip we give only the following
discussion, which throws good light on Fox's "principle of truth":
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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