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I was kept until the assize, and judge Turner and judge Twisden were assigned that circuit. I was brought before judge Twisden, on the 14th of the month called March, the latter end of the year 1663. When I was brought to the bar, I said, ‘peace be among you all.' The judge looked upon me and said, 'what! Do you come into the court with your hat on! Upon which words, the jailer took it off, and I said,' the hat is not the honor that comes from God.' Then said the judge to me, 'will you take the oath of allegiance, George Fox?' I said, ‘I never took any oath in my life, or any covenant or engagement.' ‘Well,' he said, 'will you swear or not? 'I answered, ‘I am a Christian, and Christ commands me “not to swear;" and so does the apostle James; and whether I should obey God or man, you judge.' ‘I ask you again,' he said, ‘whether you will swear, or not?' I answered again, ‘I am neither Turk, Jew, nor Heathen, but a Christian, and I should show forth Christianity. And I asked him, if he did not know that Christians in the primitive times, under the ten persecutions, and some also of the martyrs in queen Mary's days, refused swearing, because Christ and the apostle had forbidden it? I also told him that they had seen how many people had first sworn for the king and then sworn against him. But as for me, I had never taken an oath in my life. My allegiance did not lie in swearing, but in truth and faithfulness; for I honor all men, and I much more honor the king. But Christ, who is the great prophet, the King of kings, the Savior and judge of the whole world, said I must not swear. Now, must I obey Christ or you? For it is tenderness of conscience, and in obedience to the command of Christ, that I do not swear; and we have the word of a king for tender consciences. Then I asked the judge, if he did own the king?' Yes,' he said, 'I do own the king.' Why then, I said, do you not observe his declaration from Breda, and his promises made since he came into England, "that no man should be called in question for matters of religion, so long as they lived peaceably?" If you own the king,' I said, 'why do you call me in question and ask me to take an oath, which is a matter of religion; since neither you or anyone else can charge me with un-peaceable living?' Upon this he was moved, and looking angrily at me, said, ‘Sirrah, will you swear?' I told him, ‘I was none of his sirrah, I was a Christian; and for him, an old man, and a judge, to sit there and give nicknames to prisoners, it did not become either his gray hairs or his office.' ‘Well,' he said, ‘I am a christian too.' 'Then do Christian works,' I said. 'Sirrah!' he said, 'do you think to frighten me with your words.' Then catching himself and looking aside, he said, 'hark! I am using the word (sirrah) again;' so he checked himself. I said, 'I spoke to you in love; for that language did not become you, as a judge. You should instruct a prisoner in the law, if he is ignorant and does not understand.' 'And I speak in love to you too,' he said. ‘But,' I said, ' love gives no nicknames.’ Then he roused himself up, and said, ‘I will not be afraid of you, George Fox. You speak so loud, your voice drowns mine and the court’s; I must call for three or four criers to drown your voice: you have good lungs.' 'I am a prisoner here,' I said, ‘for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake; for his sake do I suffer, and for him do I stand this day, and if my voice were five times louder I should lift it up, and sound it out for Christ's sake, for whose cause I stand this day before your judgment seat, in obedience to him who commands '"not to swear;" before whose judgment seat you must all be brought, and must give an account.' ‘Well,' said the judge, 'George Fox, say whether you will take the oath, yes or no?' I replied, 'I say as I said before, whether ought I to obey God or man, you judge? If I could take any oath at all, I should take this; for I do not deny some oaths only or on some occasions, but all oaths, according to Christ's doctrine, who has commanded his, “not to swear at all." Now if you or any of you or any of your ministers or priests here will prove that Christ or his apostle, after they had forbidden all swearing, ever commanded Christians to swear, then I will swear.' I saw several priests there; but not one of them offered to speak. Then said the judge, 'I am a servant to the king, and the king sent me not to dispute with you, but to put the laws in execution; therefore present him the oath of allegiance.' 'If you love the king,' I said, ‘why do you break his word, and not keep his declarations and speeches, where he promised liberty to tender consciences? I am a man of a tender conscience, and in obedience to Christ's command I cannot swear.' 'Then you will not swear,' said the judge; 'take him away, jailer.' I said, ‘it is for Christ's sake that I cannot swear, and for obedience to his command I suffer; and so the Lord forgive you all.' So the jailer took me away; but I felt the mighty power of the Lord was over them all. On the sixteenth of the same month I was brought before judge Twisden again, who was somewhat offended at my hat; but since it was the last morning of the assize, before he was to go out of town, and not many people were there, he made the less of it. He asked me, 'whether I would deny the charge to be true, stand mute, or submit.' But he spoke so fast, it was hard to know what he said. However I told him, 'I desired I might have liberty to deny the truth of the indictment, and have it tried in court.' Then said he, 'Take him away, I will have nothing to do with him, take him away.' I said, ‘well, live in the fear of God, and do justice.' 'Why, (he said), have I not done you justice?' I replied, 'What you have done has been against the command of Christ.' So I was taken to the jail again and kept prisoner until the next assizes. Some time before this assize, Margaret Fell was sent prisoner to Lancaster jail by justices Fleming, Kirby, and Preston; and at the assize the oath was also tendered to her, and she was again committed to prison to stay until the next assize.
Justice Fleming was one of the fiercest and most violent justices in persecuting Friends and sending his honest neighbors to prison for religion's sake; and since many Friends were at this time in Lancaster jail, committed by him, and some having died in prison, we that were then prisoners had it upon us to write to him as follows:
Beside this, which went in the name of many, I sent him also a line or two, subscribed by myself only, and directed
It was not long after this, that Fleming's wife died, and left him thirteen or fourteen motherless children. When I was prisoner at Lancaster, there was a prisoner there also named major Wiggan, a Baptist preacher. He boasted much before hand what he would say at the assize, if the oath should be put to him; and that he would refuse to swear. But when the assize came, and the oath was presented to him, he desired time to consider it; and that being granted him until the next assize, he got leave to go to London before the assize came again, and stayed at London until the plague broke out, and there both he and his wife died. He was a very wicked man, and the judgments of God came upon him; for he had published a very wicked book against Friends, full of lies and blasphemies; the essence of which was this. While he was in Lancaster castle, he challenged Friends to a dispute, at which time I got permission from the jailer to go up to them. Entering into discourse with him, he affirmed, 'That some men never had the spirit of God, and that the true light, which enlightens everyone who comes into the world, is natural.' For proof of his first assertion, he instanced Balaam, affirming, ‘that Balaam had not the spirit of God,' I declared and proved that Balaam had the spirit of God, and that wicked men have the spirit of God, otherwise how could they quench it, vex it, grieve it, and resist the Holy Ghost, like the stiff necked Jews?' To his second assertion, I answered: 'That the “true light”, which enlightens every man who comes into the world, was the “life” in the world, and that was divine and eternal, and not natural. And he might as well say that the word was natural, as to say that the life in the word was natural. Wicked men were enlightened by this light, otherwise how could they hate it? It is expressly said, they did hate it; and the reason given why, was: because their deeds were evil; and they would not come to it, because it reproved them; and it must be in them if it reproved them. Besides, that light could not be the scriptures of the New Testament; for it was testified of before any part of the New Testament was written; so it must be the divine light, which is the light in Christ, the word, before the scriptures were. And the grace of God, which brought salvation, had appeared to all men, and taught the saints; but they that turned from it into wantonness, and walked despitefully against the spirit of grace, were the wicked. Again, the spirit of truth, the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, which leads the disciples of Christ into all truth, the same should reprove the world of sin, of righteousness, of judgment, and of their unbelief. So the wicked world had it to reprove them. And the true disciples and learners of Christ, that believed in the light as Christ commands had it to lead them. But the world that did not believe in the light, though they were lighted by it, but hated the light which they should have believed in, and loved the darkness rather than it, this world had a righteousness and a judgment, which the Holy Ghost reproved them for, as well as for their unbelief.' Having proved, that the good and the bad were enlightened, that the grace of God had appeared to all, and that all had the spirit of God, else they could not vex and grieve it, I told major Wiggan, the least babe there might perceive him; and presently Richard Cubham stood up and proved him an antichrist and a deceiver by scripture. Then the jailer took me away to my prison again. Afterwards Wiggan wrote a book of this dispute, and put in abundance of abominable lies; but his book was soon answered in print, and he was cut off not long after, as before mentioned. This Wiggan was poor and while he was prisoner at Lancaster, he sent into the country and solicited money to be gathered for relief of the poor people of God in prison; and many people gave freely, thinking it had been for us, when indeed it was for himself. But when we heard of it, we laid it upon him and wrote into the country that Friends might let the people know the truth of the matter; that it was not our manner to have collections made for us, and that those collections were only for Wiggan and another, a drunken preacher of his society, who would get so drunk that once he lost his pants. After this it came upon me to write to the judges and other magistrates concerning their 'giving evil words and nicknames to such as were brought before them.' Which was after this manner:
Before the next assizes there was a quarter-sessions held at Lancaster by the justices. Though we were not to be brought before this court, I asked Friends to draw up an account of their sufferings, and lay them before the justices in their open sessions. For Friends had suffered deeply by fines and distresses; the bailiffs and officers had been making great havoc and seizing their property; but no redress was available. And because some evil-minded magistrates would be telling us sometimes of the late plot in the north, we gave forth the following paper to stop their mouths and to clear truth and Friends, which was as follows:
Being now a prisoner in Lancaster castle, a deep sense came upon me of a day of great trial and exercise that was come and coming upon all who had been high in profession of religion; and I was moved to give forth the following paper as a warning to such:
I wrote also another short epistle to Friends, to warn them to keep out of that spirit that worked in John Perrot and his company against the truth.
In the sixth month the assizes were held again at Lancaster, and the same judges, Twisden and Turner, came to that circuit again; but Judge Turner then sat on the crown bench, so I was brought before him. Before I was called to the bar, I was put among murderers and felons for about two hours. The people, the justices, and the judge also were gazing upon me. After they had tried several others, they called me to the bar and empanelled a jury. Then the judge asked the justices, ‘Whether they had presented the oath to me at the sessions?' they said, 'They had.' Then he said, ‘Give them the book, that they might swear they had presented me the oath according to the indictment.' Some of the justices refused to be sworn; but the judge said, he wanted it done to take away all occasion of exception (denial of the charge). When the jury was sworn, and the justices had sworn 'that they had tendered the oath according to the indictment,' the judge asked me, ‘If I had not refused the oath at the last assizes?' I said, 'I never took an oath in my life, and Christ, the Savior and Judge of the world, said, "Swear not at all" The judge seemed not to take notice of my answer; but asked me, 'Whether or not I had not refused to take the oath at the last assize?' I said, 'The words that I had spoken to them were: that if they could prove, (either judge, justices, priest, or teacher), that after Christ and the apostle James had forbidden swearing, that they later had commanded Christians to swear, I would swear.' The judge said, 'He was not at that time going to dispute whether it was lawful to swear, but to enquire whether I had refused to take the oath or not.' I told him, 'Those things mentioned in the oath, such as plotting against the king, and acknowledging the pope's or any other foreign power, I utterly deny.' ‘Well, (he said), you say well in that; but did you decline to take the oath? What do you say? "What would you have me say? (I said), for I have told you before what I said.' Then he asked me, 'If I wished these men swear that I had taken the oath?' I asked him, 'If he wished those men swear that I had refused the oath?' at which the court burst out into laughter. I was grieved to see so much lightness in a court, where such solemn matters are handled, and therefore asked them, 'If this court were a play-house? Where is gravity and sobriety, (I said); for this behavior does not become you.' Then the clerk read the indictment, and I told the judge, 'I had something to say about it; for I had informed myself of the errors that were in it.' He told me, 'he would hear me afterward concerning any reasons that I could allege why he should not give judgment.' Then I spoke to the jury, and told them, ‘they could not bring me in guilty according to that indictment; for the indictment was wrong, and had many gross errors in it.' The judge said, 'I must not speak to the jury, but he would speak to them;' and he told them, 'I had denied to take the oath at the last assizes, and (he said) I can tender the oath to any man now, and premunire him for not taking it; and, (he said), they must find me guilty because I refused to take the oath.' 'Then, (I said), what do you do with the form of court procedure? You may as well throw away your form of court procedure then.' And I told the jury, 'It lay upon their consciences, as they would answer it to the Lord God before his judgment seat.' Then the judge spoke again to the jury, and I charged him to 'do me justice.' The jury brought me in guilty. Upon which I told them, 'That both the justices and they too, had forsworn themselves, and therefore, they had small cause to laugh as they did a little before.' Oh! The envy, rage, and malice that appeared against me, and the lightness; but the Lord confounded them, and they were wonderfully stopped. So they set me aside, and called up Margaret Fell, who had a great deal of good service among them, and then the court broke up near the second hour. In the afternoon we were brought again to have sentence passed upon us. Margaret Fell, desired sentence might be deferred until the next morning. 'I desired nothing but law and justice at his hands, for the thieves had mercy; only I requested the judge to send some to see my prison, which was so bad they would put no creature they had in it. And I told him, that colonel Kirby, who was then on the bench, had said, "I should be locked up, and no flesh alive should come to me." The judge shook his head, and said, ‘when the sentence was given, he would leave me to the mercy of the jailer.' Most of the gentry of the country were gathered together expecting to hear the sentence; and the opinion among the people was, 'That I should be transported.' But they were all crossed at that time; for the sentence being deferred until the next morning, I was sent to prison again. Upon my complaining of the condition of my prison, some of the justices with colonel Kirby went up to see it; but when they came, they hardly dared go in because the floor was so bad and dangerous, and the place so open to wind and rain. Some that came up said, 'Surely it was an outhouse.' When colonel Kirby saw it and heard what others said of it, he excused the matter as well as he could, saying, 'I should be removed before long to some more convenient place.' Next day towards the eleventh hour, we were called again to hear the sentence. Margaret Fell was called first to the bar, and she had counsel to plead for her; he pointed out many errors in her indictment. After the judge had acknowledged them, she was set free. Then the judge asked, 'What they could say to mine?' I was not willing to let any man plead for me, but to speak for myself; and indeed, though Margaret had counsel that pleaded for her, yet she spoke as much herself as she would. But before I came to the bar, I was moved in my spirit to pray, 'That God would confound their wickedness and envy, set his truth over all, and exalt his seed.' {The thundering voice said, "I have glorified you, and I will glorify you again! And I was so filled with glory, any my head and ears were so filled with glory, so that when the trumpets and judges came up again, they all appeared as dead men under me}. And the Lord heard and answered, and did confound them in their proceedings against me. And though they had most envy against me, yet the grossest errors were found in my indictment. Since I had no others pleading for me, the judge asked me, ‘what I had to say; why he should not pass sentence upon me?' I told him, ‘I was no lawyer; but if he would but have the patience to hear, I had much to say.' At that he laughed, and others laughed also, and the judge said, ‘Come what have you to say? He can say nothing.' ‘Yes, (I said), I have much to say; but have the patience to hear me!' Then I asked him, ‘whether the oath was to be tendered to the king's subjects, or to the subjects of foreign princes?' he said, ‘To the subjects of this realm.' Then said I, ‘look into the indictment, and you may see that you have left out the word subject; so not having named me in the indictment as a subject, you cannot premunire me for not taking the oath.' Then they looked over the statute and the indictment, and saw it was as I said; and the judge confessed it was an error. I told him, 'I had something else to stop his judgment,' and desired him to look at the day that the indictment said the oath was presented to me at the sessions there. They looked, and said, ‘it was the eleventh day of January.' 'What day of the week was the session held on?' said I. 'On a Tuesday,' said they. 'Then,' said I, 'look at your almanacs, and see whether there was any sessions held at Lancaster on the eleventh day of January, so called?' so they looked, and found that the eleventh day was the day called Monday, and that the sessions was on the day called Tuesday, which was the twelfth day of that month. 'Now you look, (I said ), you have indicted me for refusing the oath in the quarter-sessions held at Lancaster on the eleventh day of last January, and the justices have sworn that they tendered me the oath in open sessions here that day and the jury, based upon their oaths, has found me guilty; and yet you see there was no session held in Lancaster that day.' Then the judge, to cover the matter, asked, 'Whether the sessions did not begin on the eleventh day?' But some in the court answered, 'No; the session held but one day, and that was the twelfth.' Then the judge said, 'This was a great mistake and an error.' Some of the justices were in a great rage at this, stamped their feet, and said, 'Who has done this? Somebody has done this on purpose;' and there was great anger among them. 'Then, (I said), are not the justices here, that have sworn to this indictment, perjured men in the face of the country? But this is not all, (I said), I have more yet to offer why sentence should not be given against me.' Then I asked, 'In what year of the king the last assize here was held, which was in the month called March last?' The judge said, ‘It was in the sixteenth year of the king.' 'But, (I said), the indictment says, it was in the fifteenth year.' They looked, and found it so. This also was acknowledged to be another error. Then they were all in a fret again and could not tell what to say; for the judge had sworn the officers of the court that the oath was tendered to me at the assize mentioned in the indictment. 'Now, (I said), is not the court here perjured also, who have sworn that the oath was tendered to me at the assize held here in the fifteenth year of the king, when it was in his sixteenth year, and so they have sworn a year false?' The judge told them look at whether Margaret Fell's indictment was the same with errors or not. They looked and found it was not so. I told the judge, 'I had more yet to offer to stop sentence;' and asked him, 'Whether all the oath ought to be put into the indictment or not?' ‘Yes, (he said), it ought to be all put in.' 'Then (I said), compare the indictment with the oath, and there you may see these words;"or by any authority derived, or pretended to be derived from him or his see," left out of the indictment, which is a principal part of the oath; and in another place the words "heirs and successors," are left out.' The judge acknowledged these also to be great errors. 'But,' I said, 'I have not finished yet, I have something further to allege.' 'No,' said the judge, ‘I have enough, you need say no more.' 'If,' I said, 'you have enough, I desire nothing but law and justice at your hands; for I do not look for mercy.' 'You must have justice,' he said, ‘and you shall have law.' Then I asked, 'am I at liberty, and free from all that ever has been done against me in this matter?' 'Yes,' said the judge, 'you are free from all that has been done against you.' But then, starting up in a rage, he said, 'I can put the oath to any man here, and I will put the oath to you again.' I told him, 'he had examples enough yesterday of swearing and false-swearing, both in the justices and in the jury; for I saw before my eyes that both justices and jury had perjured themselves.' The judge asked me, 'if I would take the oath?' I answered, 'Do me justice for my false imprisonment all this while; for what have I been imprisoned so long for?' I told him, ‘I ought to be set at liberty.' 'You are at liberty,' he said,' but I will put the oath to you again.' Then I turned about, and said, 'all people take notice this is a snare, for I ought to be set free from the jailer and from this court,' But the judge cried, 'give him the book,' and the sheriff and the justices cried, 'give him the book.' Then the power of darkness rose up in them, like a mountain, and a clerk lifted up a book to me. I stood still, and said, 'if it be a bible, give it into my hand.' 'Yes, yes,' said the judge and justices, 'give it into his hand.' So I took it, and looked into it, and said, ‘I see it is a bible, I am glad of it.' He had caused the jury to be called, and they stood by; for after they had brought in their former verdict, he would not dismiss them though they desired it; but told them, 'he could not dismiss them yet, he should have business for them; therefore they must attend, and be ready when they were called.' When he said so, I felt his intent, that if I was freed, he would attack again. So I looked him in the face, and the witness of God started up in him, and made him blush when he looked at me again; for he saw that I discovered him. Nevertheless, hardening himself, he caused the oath to be read to me, the jury standing by. When it was read, he asked me, ‘whether I would take the oath or not?' Then I said, ‘you have given me a book here to kiss, and to swear on; and this book which you have given me to kiss, says, "kiss the Son”; and the Son says in this book, "swear not at all;" and so says the apostle James. I say as the book says, yet you imprison me. How is it you do not imprison the book for saying so? How is it that the book is at liberty among you, which bids me not to swear, and yet you imprison me for doing as the book bids me?' Now, as I was speaking this to them, and held up the bible open in my hand, to show them the place where Christ forbade swearing, they plucked the book out of my hand, and the judge said, 'no, but we will imprison George Fox.' Yet this spread abroad over all the country as a by-word, 'that they gave me a book to swear on that commanded me “not to swear at all;" and that the bible was at liberty, and I was in prison for doing as the bible said.' When the judge still urged me to swear, I told him, ‘I never took oath, covenant, nor engagement in my life; but my yes or no was more binding to me than an oath was to many others; for had they not had experience how little men regarded an oath? And how they had sworn one way and then another? And how the justices and court had perjured themselves now?’ I told him I was a man of a tender conscience, and if they had any sense of a tender conscience, they would consider that it was in obedience to Christ's command that I could not swear. ‘But,' I said, ‘if any of you can convince me, that, after Christ and the apostle James had people commanded not to swear, that they had altered that command and commanded christians to swear, you shall see I will swear.' There being many priests by, I said, 'if you cannot do it, let your priests stand up and do it.' But not one of the priests answered. 'Oh!' said the judge, 'The entire world cannot convince you.' 'No,' I said, ‘Why should I be convinced by the world? The whole world lies in wickedness.' But bring out your spiritual men, as you call them, to convince me.' Then both the sheriff and the judge said, ‘the angels swore in the Revelations.' I replied, ‘when God brought his first-begotten Son into the world, he said, "Let all the angels of God worship him;" and he said, “Swear not at all.” ‘No,' said the judge, 'I will not dispute.' Then I spoke to the jury, telling them, ‘it was for Christ's sake that I could not swear, and therefore I warned them not to act contrary to that of God in their consciences; for they must all come before his judgment seat.' And I told them, 'as for plots, and persecution for religion and popery, I deny them in my heart; for I am a Christian, and shall show forth Christianity among you this day. It is for Christ's doctrine I stand.' I had more words both with the judge and jury before the jailer took me away. |
