TheChapterBookSeries: One Thousand Years: (Genesage) "Song of Limmud" (Chp 1:1)

Genesage

“Song of Limmud”

(Chap 1:1)

Eben was humming. It wasn’t his normal habit to hum, but this morning he was. He was happy. Though He wasn’t happy every day, he liked to think he was happy most of the time. Days like today he was happy. Humming showed it.

Some days were just real hummers.

The tune he was humming was familiar; familiar like trying to name that tune. The melody of a song you thought you knew. Recalled but just couldn’t remember the words. A silly song.  Like a song that once you did remember the tune the words you couldn’t get out of your head. 

It stuck with you.

Lyrics that would keep repeating themselves, over and over again, replaying in your mind.  It just so happened, Eben liked this song. But the words were more for him. It was a song of joy.

“All I have seen, all I have heard…,”

Eben hummed the words to himself. If you hadn’t heard the song, it might have been strange. An odd kind of melody with unique words attached.  But nearly everyone had heard the Song of Limmud; At least nearly everyone alive and well and living in the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth that is.

It was one of the Songs of the 144,000.

While in this part of the land, they had sung this song more than once. Other songs not so often.  It didn’t mean everyone remembered it, but at least to most it was familiar. 

While once was not enough to remember,

twice was a better chance to retain;

Eben chanted a familiar refrain,

but three times sung it will remain.

Catchy line and a fact in the Kingdom. Songs of the 144,000 were always sung three times. There was a reason why, and like most things in the Kingdom, there was a reason and purpose for everything being done the way they were.

Some said the reason why would be revealed at the end of the thousand years. They had said the same thing about getting to heaven and when you did you would know why. That hadn’t worked the way people said. Getting to heaven seemed to open up doors for more learning to discover.

The same was true in the Kingdom.

You learned as you went.

You didn’t suddenly wake up and know it all.

Three times was like a lucky charm. Only luck had nothing to do with it. Once was sung as unto the Father; Twice was sung as unto the Son; Thrice was sung as unto the Spirit. No song undone till all three were sung.

Never was song sung blue, but song sung in the Kingdom was worth repeating. Repeating to the Father; the Son; and the Spirit that is; always good to cover your bases.

This particular song was one of Eben’s favorites. He could recall lots of songs the 144,000 had sung so far, but he liked this one the best.  Ever since the first time he heard it he thought it had great meaning for his life.

Somehow it just fit.

Seemingly attaching itself to him; the song was a part of him. He recalled sixty nine years ago when he came to Jerusalem. It was quite a day back then. That was the first time he heard the song sung; today though he was just humming it.

Getting ready for his meeting with the other members of his community Eben was happy his recall was as though it were just yesterday. But Sixty-nine years after the fact, he was still singing that song, the Song of Limmud.

Who would have thought that heaven was all about singing and so little about speaking?

Eben mused as he walked from his house to the lake to freshen up. 

          

Thinking about his visit to heaven sixty-nine years ago reminded him that no matter where you went, there you were, in heaven.  There you were in the midst of song and there you are music going on.

Where ever you were, it was heaven.

Non-stop it was the language of the heavenlies; singing that is.  At that Eben smiled for a moment recalling the Old World Ideas about a “heavenly language”. Everything from groaning and moaning to telepathy and empathy.

What were ears for if not for hearing?

So many wanted it to be a tongue, others wanted it to be a language, some ancients had said it was a power, few realized it was song. From incontrollable utterances, to babblings or ramblings in many vernaculars; there certainly had been way too many divisions and strife for modern man to have the final answer on what was going on in heaven.

Hell maybe but heaven?

No, modern man had no idea.

It was a lot more peaceful than that.  If mankind couldn’t come up with one translation of the bible everyone agreed on, he certainly had no idea what was happening in heaven. The tower of Babel would have been surprised had it gotten close enough or high enough to hear singing.

Maybe they would have joined in, maybe not.

Eben chuckled. 

        

The Truth was far simpler than anyone had imagined.

           “Rather than argue… if they had just sung about it they would have gotten the “Big Picture”.

Eben laughed thinking about old ways, old days, and wrong ideas. He had done much the same thing with his own ideas of how it would be like till he got there.

Once he got there, it wasn’t a surprise he was wrong.

At first he was too busy taking it all in to really care.

Looking back now, he was about as accurate as everyone else had been; not at all.

Heaven was certainly an experience he would not soon forget. Mind blowing to say the least and in the old expression, it was the ultimate trip.  Certainly there was no way to really describe a different dimension.

The greatest paradigm of a paradox was expressed in a common expression used to describe location, time and space in proximity about heaven:

No matter where you went in heaven, there you were…,

In heaven.

He might have said it was….heavenly… but the lake was close by and he arrived at it interrupting his thoughts.

TheChapterBookSeries: One Thousand Years: "Genesage" (Chapter One Cover)

TheChapterBookSeries: One Thousand Years: "Genesage" (Chapter One)

TheChapterBookSeries: One Thousand Years: "Genesage" (Summary)

TheChapterBookSeries: One Thousand Years: "Genesage" (An OverView)

TheChapterBookSeries: One Thousand Years: "Genesage" (DayOne)

MereChristianity: Book III. Christian Behaviour 1. The Three Parts Of Morality -C.S.Lewis

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* Book III. Christian Behaviour

 1. The Three Parts Of Morality

     There is a story about a  schoolboy  who was asked what he  thought God

was like. He replied that, as far as he could make out, God was "The sort of

person who is always snooping round to see if anyone is enjoying himself and

then trying to stop it." And I am  afraid that is the sort of idea  that the

word  Morality  raises  in  a  good  many  people's  minds:  something  that

interferes, something that stops you having a good time.  In  reality, moral

rules  are  directions for running the human machine.  Every  moral  rule is

there to prevent a breakdown, or a strain, or a  friction, in the running of

that  machine. That  is why  these  rules at  first  seem to  be  constantly

interfering with our natural inclinations. When you are  being taught how to

use any  machine,  the  instructor keeps on saying,  "No, don't do  it  like

that," because, of course, there are all sorts of things that look all right

and seem to you the natural way  of treating the machine, but do not  really

work.

     Some people prefer to talk about moral "ideals" rather than moral rules

and  about  moral  "idealism" rather  than  moral  obedience. Now it  is, of

course, quite true that  moral perfection is an "ideal" in the sense that we

cannot achieve it. In that sense every kind of perfection is, for us humans,

an ideal; we cannot succeed in  being perfect car  drivers or perfect tennis

players or in drawing perfectly  straight  lines. But there is another sense

in which it is very misleading to call moral perfection an ideal. When a man

says that a certain  woman, or  house, or ship, or garden  is "his ideal" he

does not mean (unless he  is rather a fool) that everyone else ought to have

the same  ideal. In such  matters we are entitled  to have different  tastes

and, therefore, different ideals. But it is dangerous to describe a  man who

tries  very hard to  keep the moral law as a  "man of  high ideals," because

this might lead you to think  that  moral perfection was  a private taste of

his own  and that the rest of us were not called on to  share it. This would

be a disastrous mistake. Perfect behaviour may be as unattainable as perfect

gear-changing when we  drive; but it is a necessary ideal prescribed for all

men by the very nature of the human machine just as perfect gear-changing is

an ideal prescribed for all drivers by the very nature of cars. And it would

be  even  more  dangerous  to think of oneself as a person "of high  ideals"

because one is trying to tell no lies at all (instead of only a few lies) or

never to commit adultery (instead of committing it only seldom) or not to be

a  bully (instead  of  being  only a moderate bully). It  might lead  you to

become a prig and to  think you were rather a special person who deserved to

be congratulated on his "idealism." In reality you might just as well expect

to  be congratulated because, whenever you do a sum, you try to get it quite

right. To be sure, perfect arithmetic is "an ideal"; you will certainly make

some mistakes in  some calculations.  But there  is nothing very fine  about

trying  to be quite accurate  at each step in each sum. It would be  idiotic

not to try; for every mistake is going to cause you trouble later on. In the

same  way every moral failure is going  to cause trouble, probably to others

and certainly to yourself. By talking about rules  and obedience instead  of

"ideals" and "idealism" we help to remind ourselves of these facts.

     Now  let us go  a step further. There  are two ways in which the  human

machine  goes  wrong. One  is  when human individuals  drift  apart from one

another,  or else collide with  one another  and do  one  another damage, by

cheating  or  bullying. The  other  is  when  things  go  wrong  inside  the

individual-when the different  parts  of  him (his different  faculties  and

desires and so on) either drift apart or interfere with one another. You can

get  the  idea  plain  if  you  think of us as a fleet of  ships sailing  in

formation.  The  voyage  will  be a success only, in the first place, if the

ships  do not  collide and  get in one another's way; and, secondly, if each

ship is seaworthy  and has her  engines in good order. As a  matter of fact,

you cannot have either of  these two things without the other. If the  ships

keep on  having collisions  they will not remain seaworthy very long. On the

other hand, if their  steering gears are out of order they will not be  able

to avoid collisions.  Or, if you like, think of humanity as a band playing a

tune. To get a good result,  you need two things.  Each player's  individual

instrument must be in tune and also each must come in at the right moment so

as to combine with all the others.

     But there is one thing  we have not yet taken into account. We have not

asked where the fleet is  trying to get to,  or what piece of music the band

is trying to play. The  instruments might  be all in tune and might all come

in  at the right moment, but even so the performance  would not be a success

if they had been engaged  to provide dance music and actually played nothing

but Dead Marches.  And however  well the fleet sailed, its voyage would be a

failure if it were meant to reach New York and actually arrived at Calcutta.

     Morality, then, seems to  be concerned with three things. Firstly, with

fair play  and  harmony between  individuals.  Secondly, with what  might be

called tidying up or harmonising the things inside each individual. Thirdly,

with the  general purpose of human life as a whole: what man  was  made for:

what course the whole  fleet ought to  be on: what tune the conductor of the

band wants it to play.

     You  may have  noticed  that  modern people are nearly always  thinking

about  the first thing  and forgetting the other two. When people say in the

newspapers that we  are striving for Christian moral standards, they usually

mean that we are striving  for kindness and fair play  between  nations, and

classes,  and individuals; that  is, they are thinking  only  of  the  first

thing. When a man says  about  something he wants to do, "It can't  be wrong

because  it doesn't do anyone else any  harm,"  he is thinking only  of  the

first thing. He is thinking it does not matter what his  ship is like inside

provided that he does not run  into the  next ship. And it is quite natural,

when we start thinking about morality, to begin  with the first  thing, with

social relations. For one thing, the results of  bad morality in that sphere

are so obvious and press on us every day: war and poverty and graft and lies

and shoddy work. And also, as long as you stick to the first thing, there is

very little disagreement about morality. Almost all people at all times have

agreed (in theory) that human beings ought to be honest and kind and helpful

to  one another. But  though it  is natural to begin with all  that, if  our

thinking about morality stops there, we might just as well not  have thought

at all. Unless we go on to the second thing-the tidying up inside each human

being-we are only deceiving ourselves.

     What  is the good of telling  the ships how to  steer  so as  to  avoid

collisions if, in fact, they  are such  crazy old tubs  that  they cannot be

steered at  all? What is the good of drawing  up, on paper, rules for social

behaviour, if  we know that, in fact,  our greed, cowardice, ill temper, and

self-conceit are going to prevent us from keeping them?  I do not mean for a

moment that we ought not to think, and think hard, about improvements in our

social and economic system. What I do mean is that all that thinking will be

mere  moonshine  unless  we  realise  that   nothing  but  the  courage  and

unselfishness of individuals is ever going to make any system work properly.

It is easy enough  to remove the particular  kinds of graft or bullying that

go on under  the present system: but as  long as men are twisters or bullies

they will  find  some new way  of carrying  on the old  game  under the  new

system. You cannot make men good  by  law: and  without  good men you cannot

have a good society. That is why we must go on to think of the second thing:

of morality inside the individual.

     But I do not think we can stop there either. We are now  getting to the

point  at which  different beliefs  about  the universe  lead  to  different

behaviour.  And it would seem, at first sight,  very sensible to stop before

we got  there, and  just  carry  on  with those parts of morality  that  all

sensible people agree about. But can  we? Remember  that religion involves a

series  of statements  about  facts,  which must be either true or false. If

they are true, one set of conclusions will follow about the right sailing of

the human fleet: if  they are false, quite a different set. For example, let

us go back to the man who says that a thing cannot be wrong unless it  hurts

some other  human being.  He quite understands  that he must not damage  the

other ships in the  convoy, but he honestly thinks that  what he does to his

own ship is simply his own business. But does it not make a great difference

whether his ship is his  own  property or not?  Does it  not  make  a  great

difference whether I am, so to speak, the landlord of  my own mind and body,

or only a tenant, responsible  to the real  landlord? If  somebody else made

me, for his own purposes, then I  shall have a lot of duties which I  should

not have if I simply belonged to myself.

     Again, Christianity asserts that every individual human  being is going

to live  for ever, and this must  be either true or false.  Now there are  a

good many things which would not be worth bothering about if I were going to

live only seventy years, but which I  had better bother about very seriously

if  I am going to live  for ever. Perhaps my  bad temper or my  jealousy are

gradually  getting  worse -so gradually  that the increase  in seventy years

will  not  be very noticeable. But it might be  absolute  hell  in a million

years:  in  fact, if  Christianity  is true, Hell is the  precisely  correct

technical  term  for what it  would  be.  And  immortality makes this  other

difference, which, by the by, has  a connection with the difference  between

totalitarianism and democracy. If individuals live  only seventy years, then

a  state, or a nation, or  a  civilisation,  which  may last for a  thousand

years,  is more important than an  individual. But if Christianity is  true,

then  the individual  is  not  only  more  important  but incomparably  more

important, for he is everlasting and the life of a state or a  civilisation,

compared with his, is only a moment.

     It seems, then, that if we are to think  about  morality, we must think

of all three departments: relations  between man and man: things inside each

man: and relations between man and  the power that  made  him.  We  can  all

cooperate in  the first  one. Disagreements begin with the second and become

serious with the third.  It  is  in dealing  with  the third that  the  main

differences between Christian  and non-Christian morality come  out. For the

rest of this book I am going to assume the Christian point of view, and look

at the whole picture as it will be if Christianity is true.

Posted via email from Classic Christian Digest

MereChristianity: 5. The Practical Conclusion -C.S.Lewis

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5. The Practical Conclusion

 

 

 

     The perfect surrender and humiliation were undergone by Christ: perfect

because He was God,  surrender and humiliation  because He  was man. Now the

Christian belief is  that if  we somehow share the humility and suffering of

Christ we shall also  share  in His conquest for death and find  a new  life

after we have died and in it become perfect, and perfectly happy, creatures.

This  means something much  more  than our trying  to  follow  His teaching.

People often  ask  when  the  next step  in evolution-the  step to something

beyond  man-will happen. But on the Christian view, it has happened already.

In Christ a  new kind of man appeared: and the new  kind of life which began

in  Him is to be put into us. How is  this to be  done? Now, please remember

how we acquired  the old,  ordinary kind of life. We derived it from others,

from our father and mother and all our ancestors, without our consent-and by

a very curious process, involving pleasure, pain, and danger. A  process you

would  never have guessed. Most of us  spend a good many  years in childhood

trying  to guess it: and  some children,  when they  are  first told, do not

believe it-and  I am not sure that I blame them, for it is very odd. Now the

God who arranged that process is the same God who arranges  how the new kind

of life-the Christ life-is  to be spread. We must be  prepared  for it being

odd too. He did not consult us when He invented sex: He has not consulted us

either when He invented this.

 

     There  are three  things  that spread the  Christ life to us:  baptism,

belief,  and that  mysterious  action  which different  Christians  call  by

different names-Holy Communion, the Mass, the Lord's Supper. At least, those

are  the  three ordinary methods. I  am  not saying there may not be special

cases where it is spread without one or more of these. I have not time to go

into special  cases, and I do not  know enough.  If you are trying  in a few

minutes to tell a man how to get  to Edinburgh you will tell him the trains:

he can,  it  is true, get  there by boat or by a plane, but you  will hardly

bring  that  in. And I  am not saying  anything  about which  of these three

things is the most essential. My Methodist friend would like  me to say more

about belief  and less (in proportion) about  the other  two.  But I am  not

going into  that. Anyone who professes to teach you Christian doctrine will,

in fact, tell you  to  use all  three,  and that  is enough for  our present

purpose.

     I cannot myself  see why these things should be the conductors  of  the

new kind of life. But then, if  one did not happen to  know,  I should never

have  seen any  connection between a particular  physical  pleasure  and the

appearance of  a new human being in the world. We have to take reality as it

comes to us: there is  no good  jabbering about what it ought  to be like or

what we should have expected it  to be like. But  though I cannot see why it

should be so, I can tell you why I believe it is  so. I have explained why I

have to  believe that Jesus was (and is) God. And it seems plain as a matter

of history that He  taught His followers that the new  life was communicated

in this way. In other words, I believe it on His authority. Do not be scared

by the  word authority. Believing  things on authority  only means believing

them  because  you have been told  them by  someone you  think  trustworthy.

Ninety-nine per cent of the things you believe  are believed on authority. I

believe  there is  such  a place as New  York. I have not seen it  myself. I

could not prove by abstract  reasoning that there must  be such a  place.  I

believe it  because  reliable  people  have  told me  so.  The ordinary  man

believes  in the Solar System, atoms, evolution, and  the circulation of the

blood on authority-because the scientists say so. Every historical statement

in the  world  is  believed  on  authority.  None of  us has seen the Norman

Conquest  or the defeat of the Armada. None of us could prove  them by  pure

logic  as  you prove a thing in mathematics. We  believe them simply because

people who did see them have left writings that tell us about them: in fact,

on authority. A man who jibbed at authority in  other things as  some people

do in religion would have to be content to know nothing all his life.

   

 Do not think I am setting up baptism and belief  and the Holy Communion

as things that will do instead of your  own attempts  to  copy  Christ. Your

natural  life  is derived from your parents; that does not mean it will stay

there if you do nothing  about it. You can  lose it by neglect,  or you  can

drive it  away by committing suicide. You have to feed it and look after it:

but always remember  you are not  making it,  you are only keeping up a life

you  got from  someone  else.  In  the same  way  a  Christian can lose  the

Christ-life which has been  put into him, and he has to make efforts to keep

it.  But  even the best Christian that ever lived is not acting  on  his own

steam-he  is only nourishing  or  protecting  a  life  he could  never  have

acquired by his own efforts. And that has practical consequences. As long as

the  natural  life is in your  body, it will do a lot towards repairing that

body. Cut it, and up to a  point  it will heal, as a dead body would  not. A

live body is not one that never gets hurt, but  one that  can to some extent

repair  itself. In  the same  way a Christian is  not a  man who never  goes

wrong, but a man who is enabled to repent and pick himself up and begin over

again  after each  stumble-because the Christ-life  is inside him, repairing

him  all the  time, enabling  him  to repeat  (in  some degree) the  kind of

voluntary death which Christ Himself carried out.

    

That is why  the Christian is in a different position from other people

who are trying  to be good. They hope, by being good, to please God if there

is one; or-if they think there is not-at least they hope to deserve approval

from  good men.  But the Christian  thinks any good he does  comes from  the

Christ-life inside  him.  He does not think God will love  us because we are

good, but that God  will make us good  because He loves us; just as the roof

of a greenhouse does not attract the sun because  it is bright, but  becomes

bright because the sun shines on it.

    

And let me make it quite clear that when Christians say the Christ-life

is  in  them,  they do not mean  simply something mental or moral. When they

speak of  being "in Christ" or of Christ being "in them," this is not simply

a  way of saying  that  they are  thinking about Christ or copying Him. They

mean that Christ is actually operating  through them; that the whole mass of

Christians are the physical organism  through which Christ acts-that we are.

His fingers and muscles, the  cells of His  body. And  perhaps that explains

one  or two things. It explains why  this  new  life is spread  not only  by

purely  mental acts  like  belief, but by bodily acts like baptism and  Holy

Communion.  It  is  not merely the  spreading of an idea;  it  is  more like

evolution-a biological or super-biological fact. There is no good trying  to

be more  spiritual than God.  God never meant man  to  be a purely spiritual

creature. That is why He uses material things like bread and wine to put the

new life into us. We may think this rather  crude and unspiritual.  God does

not: He invented eating. He likes matter. He invented it.

    

Here is  another  thing that used to  puzzle me. Is it not  frightfully

unfair that this new life should be  confined  to  people who  have heard of

Christ and been able to believe in Him? But the truth is God has not told us

what His arrangements about the other people are. We do know that no man can

be saved except through Christ; we do not know that only those who  know Him

can be saved through Him,  But in the meantime, if you are worried about the

people outside, the most unreasonable thing you can  do is to remain outside

yourself. Christians are Christ's body, the organism through which He works.

Every addition  to that  body enables  Him  to do more. If you want to  help

those outside you  must add your own  little cell to  the body of Christ who

alone can  help them. Cutting  off  a man's fingers would  be an  odd way of

getting him to do more work.

   

 Another  possible  objection  is  this. Why  is  God  landing  in  this

enemy-occupied  world in disguise  and starting a  sort of secret society to

undermine the devil? Why is He not landing in force, invading it? Is it dial

He  is not strong enough?  Well,  Christians think  He is going to  land  in

force; we do not know when. But we can guess why He is delaying. He wants to

give us the chance of joining His side  freely. I do  not  suppose you and I

would  have  thought  much of a Frenchman who  waited  till the Allies  were

marching  into Germany  and then announced  he was on  our  side.  God  will

invade.  But  I wonder whether  people  who ask  God to interfere openly and

directly in our world  quite realise what it will be like when He does. When

that happens,  it is  the end  of the world. When the author walks on to the

stage  the play is over.  God is going to invade, all right: but what is the

good  of saying  you are on  His side  then, when  you see the whole natural

universe melting away  like a dream and  something  else-something  it never

entered your head  to conceive-comes crashing in;  something so beautiful to

some of us  and so terrible to others that  none  of us will have any choice

left?  For  this  time  it  will  be  God  without  disguise;  something  so

overwhelming that  it will  strike either irresistible love  or irresistible

horror into every creature. It  will be too  late then to choose your  side.

There is no use saying you choose to lie down when it  has become impossible

to  stand  up. That will  not be the time for choosing: it will  be the time

when we  discover  which side we really have  chosen, whether we realised it

before or  not. Now, today, this moment,  is our chance to choose the  right

side. God is holding back to give us that chance. It will not last for ever.

We must take it or leave it.

Posted via email from Classic Christian Digest

Foxe's Book Of Martyrs: (CHAPTER XVIII) "The Rise, Progress, Persecutions, and Sufferings of the Quakers"

CHAPTER XVIII

The Rise, Progress, Persecutions, and Sufferings of the Quakers

In treating of these people in a historical manner, we are obliged to have recourse to much tenderness. That they differ from the generality of Protestants in some of the capital points of religion cannot be denied, and yet, as Protestant dissenters they are included under the description of the toleration act. It is not our business to inquire whether people of similar sentiments had any existence in the primitive ages of Christianity: perhaps, in some respects, they had not, but we are to write of them not as what they were, but what they now are. That they have been treated by several writers in a very contemptuous manner is certain; that they did not deserve such treatment, is equally certain.

The appellation Quakers, was bestowed upon them as a term of reproach, in consequence of their apparent convulsions which they labored under when they delivered their discourses, because they imagined they were the effect of divine inspiration.

It is not our business, at present, to inquire whether the sentiments of these people are agreeable to the Gospel, but this much is certain, that the first leader of them, as a separate body, was a man of obscure birth, who had his first existence in Leicestershire, about the year 1624. In speaking of this man we shall deliver our own sentiments in a historical manner, and joining these to what have been said by the Friends themselves, we shall endeavor to furnish out a complete narrative.

George Fox was descended of honest and respected parents, who brought him up in the national religion: but from a child he appeared religious, still, solid, and observing, beyond his years, and uncommonly knowing in divine things. He was brought up to husbandry, and other country business, and was particularly inclined to the solitary occupation of a shepherd; an employment, that very well suited his mind in several respects, both for its innocency and solitude; and was a just emblem of his after ministry and service. In the year 1646, he entirely forsook the national Church, in whose tenets he had been brought up, as before observed; and in 1647, he travelled into Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, without any set purpose of visiting particular places, but in a solitary manner he walked through several towns and villages, which way soever his mind turned. "He fasted much," said Swell, "and walked often in retired placed, with no other companion than his Bible." "He visited the most retired and religious people in those parts," says Penn, "and some there were, short of few, if any, in this natiojn, who waited for the consolation of Israel night and day; as Zacharias, Anna, and Simeon, did of old time. To these he was sent, and these he sought out in the neighboring counties, and among them he sojourned until his more ample ministry came upon him. At this time he taught, and was an example of silence, endeavoring to bring them from self-performances; testifying of, and turning them to the light of Christ within them, and encouraging them to wait in patience, and to feel the power of it to stir in their hearts, that their knowledge and worship of God might stand in the power of an endless life, which was to be found in the light as it was obeyed in the manifestation of it in man: for in the Word was life, and that life is the light of men. Life in the Word, light in men; and life in men too, as the light is obeyed; the children of the light living by the life of the Word, by which the Word begets them again to God, which is the generation and new birth, without which there is no coming into the Kingdom of God, and to which whoever comes is greater than John: that is, than John's dispensation, which was not that of the Kingdom, but the consummation of the legal, and forerunning of the Gospel times, the time of the Kingdom. Accordingly several meetings were gathering in those parts; and thus his time was employed for some years."

In the year 1652, "he had a visitation of the great work of God in the earth, and of the way that he was to go forth, in a public ministry, to begin it." He directed his course northward, "and in every place where he came, if not before he came to it, he had his particular exercise and service shown to him, so that the Lord was his leader indeed." He made great numbers of converts to his opinions, and many pious and good men joined him in his ministry. These were drawn forth especially to visit the public assemblies to reprove, reform, and exhort them; sometimes in markets, fairs, streets, and by the highway-side, "calling people to repentance, and to return to the Lord, with their hearts as well as their mouths; directing them to the light of Christ within them, to see, examine, and to consider their ways by, and to eschew the evil, and to do the good and acceptable will of God."

They were not without opposition in the work they imagined themselves called to, being often set in the stocks, stoned, beaten, whipped and imprisoned, though honest men of good report, that had left wives, children, houses, and lands, to visit them with a living call to repentance. But these coercive methods rather forwarded than abated their zeal, and in those parts they brought over many proselytes, and amongst them several magistrates, and others of the better sort. They apprehended the Lord had forbidden them to pull off their hats to anyone, high or low, and required them to speak to the people, without distinction, the the language of thou and thee. They scrupled bidding people good-morrow, or good-night, nor might they bend the knee to anyone, even in supreme authority. Both men and women went in a plain and simple dress, different from the fashion of the times. They neither gave nor accepted any titles of respect or honor, nor would they call any man master on earth. Several texts of Scripture they quoted in defence of these singularities; such as, "Swear not at all." "How can ye believe, which receive honor one of another, and seek not the honor that cometh from God only?" etc., etc. They placed the basis of religion in an inward light, and an extraordinary impulse of the Holy Spirit.

In 1654, their first separate meeting in London was held in the house of Robert Dring, in Watling-street, for by that time they spread themselves into all parts of the kingdom, and had in many places set up meetings or assemblies, particularly in Lancashire, and the adjacent parts, but they were still exposed to great persecutions and trials of every kind. One of them in a letter to the protector, Oliver Cromwell, represents, though there are no penal laws in force obliging men to comply with the established religion, yet the Quakers are exposed upon other accounts; they are fined and imprisoned for refusing to take an oath; for not paying their tithes; for disturbing the public assemblies, and meeting in the streets, and places of public resort; some of them have been whipped for vagabonds, and for their plain speeches to the magistrate.

Under favor of the then toleration, they opened their meetings at the Bull and Mouth, in Aldersgate-street, where women, as well as men, were moved to speak. Their zeal transported them to some extravagancies, which laid them still more open to the lash of their enemies, who exercised various severities opn them throughout the next reign. Upon the suppression of Venner's mad insurrection, the government, having published a proclamation, forbidding the Anabaptists, Quakers, and Fifth Monarchy Men, to assemble or meet together under pretence of worshipping God, except it be in some parochial church, chapel, or in private houses, by consent of the persons there inhabiting, all meetings in other places being declared to be unlawful and riotous, etc., etc., the Quakers thought it expedient to address the king thereon, which they did in the following words:

"O King Charles!

"Our desire is, that thou mayest live forever in the fear of God, and thy council. We beseech thee and thy council to read these following lines in tender bowels, and compassion for our souls, and for your good.

"And this consider, we are about four hundred imprisoned, in and about this city, of men and women from their families, besides, in the county jails, about ten hundred; we desire that our meetings may not be broken up, but that all may come to a fair trial, that our innocency may be cleared up.

"London, 16th day, eleventh month, 1660."

On the twenty-eighth of the same month, they published the declaration referred to in their address, entitled, "A declaration from the harmless and innocent people of God, called Quakers, against all sedition, plotters, and fighters in the world, for removing the ground of jealousy and suspicion, from both magistrates and people in the kingdom, concerning wars and fightings." It was presented to the king the twenty-first day of the eleventh month, 1660, and he promised them upon his royal word, that they should not suffer for their opinions as long as they lived peaceably; but his promises were very little regarded afterward.

In 1661 they assumed courage to petition the House of Lords for a toleration of their religion, and for a dispensation from taking the oaths, which they held unlawful, not from any disaffection to the government, or a belief that they were less obliged by an affirmation, but from a persuasion that all oaths were unlawful; and that swearing upon the most solemn occasions was forbidden in the New Testament. Their petition was rejected, and instead of granting them relief, an act was passed against them, the preamble to which set forth, "That whereas several persons have taken up an opinion that an oath, even before a magistrate, is unlawful, and contrary to the Word of God; and whereas, under pretence of religious worship, the said persons do assemble in great numbers in several parts of the kingdom, separating themselves from the rest of his majesty's subjects, and the public congregations and usual places of divine worship; be it therefore enacted, that if any such persons, after the twenty-fourth of March, 1661-2, shall refuse to take an oath when lawfully tendered, or persuade others to do it, or maintain in writing or otherwise, the unlawfulness of taking an oath; or if they shall assemble for religious worship, to the number of five or more, of the age of fifteen, they shall for the first offence forfeit five pounds; for the second, ten pounds; and for the third shall abjure the realm, or be transported to the plantations: and the justices of peace at their open sessions may hear and finally determine in the affair."

This act had a most dreadful effect upon the Quakers, though it was well known and notorious that these conscientious persons were far from sedition or disaffection to the government. George Fox, in his address to the king, acquaints him that three thousand and sixty-eight of their friends had been imprisoned since his majesty's restoration; that their meetings were daily broken up by men with clubs and arms, and their friends thrown into the water, and trampled under foot until the blood gushed out, which gave rise to their meeting in the open streets. A relation was printed, signed by twelve witnesses, which says that more than four thousand two hundred Quakers were imprisoned; and of them five hundred were in and about London, and, the suburbs; several of whom were dead in the jails.

Six hundred of them, says an account published at that time, wer ein prison, merely for religion's sake, of whom several were banished to the plantations. In short, the Quakers gave such full employment to the informers, that they had less leisure to attend the meetings of other dissenters.

Yet, under all these calamities, they behaved with patience and modesty towards the government, and upon occasion of the Ryehouse plot in 1682, thought proper to declare their innocence of that sham plot, in an address to the king, wherein "appealing to the Searcher of all hearts," they say, "their principles do not allow them to take up defensive arms, much less to avenge themselves for the injuries they received from others: that they continually pray for the king's safety and preservation; and therefore take this occasion humbly to beseech his majesty to compassionate their suffering friends, with whom the jails are so filled, that they want air, to the apparent hazard of their lives, and to the endangering an infection in divers places. Besides, many houses, shops, barns, and fields are ransacked, and the goods, corn, and cattle swept away, to the discouraging trade and husbandry, and impoverishing great numbers of quiet and industrious people; and this, for no other cause, but for the exercise of a tender conscience in the worship of Almighty God, who is sovereign Lord and King of men's consciences."

On the accession of James II they addressed that monarch honestly and plainly, telling him: "We are come to testify our sorrow for the death of our good friend Charles, and our joy for thy being made our governor. We are told thou art not of the persuasion of the Church of England, no more than we; therefore we hope thou wilt grant us the same liberty which thou allowest thyself, which doing, we wish thee all manner of happiness."

When James, by his dispensing power, granted liberty to the dissenters, they began to enjoy some rest from their troubles; and indeed it was high time, for they were swelled to an enormous amount. They, the year before this, to them one of glad release, in a petition to James for a cessation of their sufferings, set forth, "that of late above one thousand five hundred of their friends, both men and women, and that now there remain one thousand three hundred and eighty-three; of which two hundred are women, many under sentence of praemunire; and more than three hundred near it, for refusing the oath of allegiance, because they could not swear. Three hundred and fifty have died in prison since the year 1680; in London, the jail of Newgate has been crowded, within these two years sometimes with near twenty in a room, whereby several have been suffocated, and others, who have been taken out sick, have died of malignant fevers within a few days. Great violences, outrageous distresses, and woful havoc and spoil, have been made upon people's goods and estates, by a company of idle, extravagant, and merciless informers, by persecutions on the conventicle-act, and others, also on qui tam writs, and on other processes, for twenty pounds a month, and two thirds of their estates seized for the king. Some had not a bed to rest on, others had no cattle to till the ground, nor corn for feed or bread, nor tools to work with; the said informers and bailiffs in some places breaking into houses, and making great waste and spoil, under pretence of serving the king and the Church. Our religious assemblies have been charged at common law with being rioters and disturbers of the public peace, whereby great numbers have been confined in prison without regard to age, and many confined to holes and dungeons. The seizing for 20 pounds a month has amounted to many thousands, and several who have employed some hundreds of poor people in manufactures, are disabled to do so any more, by reason of long imprisonment. They spare neither widow nor fatherless, nor have they so much as a bed to lie on. The informers are both witnesses and prosecutors, to the ruin of great numbers of sober families; and justices of the peace have been threatened with the forfeiture of one hundred pounds, if they do not issue out warrants upon their informations." With this petition they presented a list of their friends in prison, in the several counties, amounting to four hundred and sixty.

During the reign of King James II these people were, through the intercession of their friend Mr. Penn, treated with greater indulgence than ever they had been before. They were now become extremely numerous in many parts of the country, and the settlement of Pennsylvania taking place soon after, many of them went over to America. There they enjoyed the blessings of a peaceful government, and cultivated the arts of honest industry.

As the whole colony was the property of Mr. Penn, so he invited people of all denominations to come and settle with him. A universal liberty of conscience took place; and in this new colony the natural rights of mankind were, for the first time, established.

These Friends are, in the present age, a very harmless, inoffensive body of people; but of that we shall take more notice hereafter. By their wise regulations, they not only do honor to themselves, but they are of vast service to the community.

It may be necessary here to observe, that as the Friends, commonly called Quakers, will not take an oath in a court of justice, so their affirmation is permitted in all civil affairs; but they cannot prosecute a criminal, because, in the English courts of justice, all evidence must be upon oath.

An Account of the Persecutions of Friends, Commonly Called

Quakers, in the United States

About the middle of the seventeenth century, much persecution and suffering were inflicted on a sect of Protestant dissenters, commonly called Quakers: a people which arose at that time in England some of whom sealed their testimony with their blood.

For an account of the above people, see Sewell's, or Gough's history of them.

The principal points upon which their conscientious

nonconformity rendered them obnoxious to the penalties of the

law, were,

1. The Christian resolution of assembling publicly for the worship of God, in a manner most agreeable to their consciences.

2. Their refusal to pay tithes, which they esteemed a Jewish ceremony, abrogated by the coming of Christ.

3. Their testimony against wars and fighting, the practice of which they judged inconsistent with the command of Christ:

"Love your enemies," Matt. 5:44.

4. Their constant obedience to the command of Christ: "Swear not at all," Matt. 5:34.

5. Their refusal to pay rates or assessments for building and repairing houses for a worship which they did not approve.

6. Their use of the proper and Scriptural language, "thou," and "thee," to a single person: and their disuse of the custom of uncovering their heads, or pulling off their hats, by way of homage to man.

7. The necessity many found themselves under, of publishing what they believed to be the doctrine of truth; and sometimes even in the places appointed for the public national worship.

 

Their conscientious noncompliance in the preceding particulars, exposed them to much persecution and suffering, which consisted in prosecutions, fines, cruel beatings, whippings, and other corporal punishments; imprisonment, banishment, and even death.

To relate a particular account of their persecutions and sufferings, would extend beyond the limits of this work: we shall therefore refer, for that information, to the histories already mentioned, and more particularly to Besse's Collection of their sufferings; and shall confine our account here mostly to those who sacrificed their lives, and evinced, by their disposition of mind, constancy, patience, and faithful perseverance, that they were influenced by a sense of religious duty.

Numerous and repeated were the persecutions against them; and sometimes for transgressions or offences which the law did not contemplate or embrace.

Many of the fines and penalties exacted of them, were not only unreasonable and exorbitant, but as they could not consistently pay them, were sometimes distrained to several times the value of the demand; whereby many poor families were greatly distressed, and obliged to depend on the assistance of their friends.

Numbers were not only cruelly beaten and whipped in a public manner, like criminals, but some were branded and others had their ears cut off.

Great numbers were long confined in loathsome prisons; in which some ended their days in consequence thereof.

Many were sentenced to banishment; and a considerable number were transported. Some were banished on pain of death; and four were actually executed by the hands of the hangman, as we shall here relate, after inserting copies of some of the laws of the country where they suffered.

"At a General Court Held at Boston, the Fourteenth of October,

1656"

"Whereas, there is a cursed sect of heretics, lately risen up in the world, which are commonly called Quakers, who take upon them to be immediately sent from God, and infallibly assisted by the Spirit, to speak and write blasphemous opinions, despising government, and the order of God, in the Church and commonwealth, speaking evil of dignities, reproaching and reviling magistrates and ministers, seeking to turn the people from the faith, and gain proselytes to their pernicious ways: this court taking into consideration the premises, and to prevent the like mischief, as by their means is wrought in our land, doth hereby order, and by authority of this court, be it ordered and enacted, that what master or commander of any ship, bark, pink, or ketch, shall henceforth bring into any harbor, creek, or cove, within this jurisdiction, any Quaker or Quakers, or other blasphemous heretics, shall pay, or cause to be paid, the fine of one hundred pounds to the treasurer of the country, except it appear he want true knowledge or information of their being such; and, in that case, he hath liberty to clear himself by his oath, when sufficient proof to the contrary is wanting: and, for default of good payment, or good security for it, shall be cast into prison, and there to continue until the said sum be satisfied to the treasurer as foresaid.

"And the commander of any ketch, ship, or vessel, being legally convicted, shall give in sufficient security to the governor, or any one or more of the magistrates, who have power to determine the same, to carry them back to the place whence he brought them; and, on his refusal so to do, the governor, or one or more of the magistrates, are hereby empowered to issue out his or their warrants to commit such master or commander to prison, there to continue, until he give in sufficient security to the content of the governor, or any of the magistrates, as aforesaid.

"And it is hereby further ordered and enacted, that what Quaker soever shall arrive in this country from foreign parts, or shall come into this jurisdiction from any parts adjacent, shall be forthwith committed to the House of Correction; and, at their entrance, to be severely whipped, and by the master thereof be kept constantly to work, and none suffered to converse or speak with them, during the time of their imprisonment, which shall be no longer than necessity requires.

"And it is ordered, if any person shall knowingly import into any harbor of this jurisdiction, any Quakers' books or writings, concerning their devilish opinions, shall pay for such book or writing, being legally proved against him or them the sum of five pounds; and whosoever shall disperse or conceal any such book or writing, and it be found with him or her, or in his or her house and shall not immediately deliver the same to the next magistrate, shall forfeit or pay five pounds, for the dispersing or concealing of any such book or writing.

"And it is hereby further enacted, that if any persons within this colony shall take upon them to defend the heretical opinions of the Quakers, or any of their books or papers, shall be fined for the first time forty shillings; if they shall persist in the same, and shall again defend it the second time, four pounds; if notwithstanding they again defend and maintain the said Quakers' heretical opinions, they shall be committed to the House of Correction until there be convenient passage to send them out of the land, being sentenced by the court of Assistants to banishment.

"Lastly, it is hereby ordered, that what person or persons soever, shall revile the persons of the magistrates or ministers, as is usual with the Quakers, such person or persons shall be severely whipped or pay the sum of five pounds.

"This is a true copy of the court's order, as attests "EDWARD RAWSON, SEC."

"At a General Court Held at Boston, the Fourteenth of October,

1657"

"As an addition to the late order, in reference to the coming or bringing of any of the cursed sect of the Quakers into this jurisdiction, it is ordered that whosoever shall from henceforth bring, or cause to be brought, directly, or indirectly, any known Quaker or Quakers, or other blasphemous heretics, into this jurisdiction, every such person shall forfeit the sum of one hundred pounds to the country, and shall by warrant from any magistrate be committed to prison, there to remain until the penalty be satisfied and paid; and if any person or persons within this jurisdiction, shall henceforth entertain and conceal any such Quaker or Quakers, or other blasphemous heretics, knowing them so to be, every such person shall forfeit to the country forty shillings for every hour's entertainment and concealment of any Quaker or Quaker, etc., as aforesaid, and shall be committed to prison as aforesaid, until the forfeiture be fully satisfied and paid.

"And it is further ordered, that if any Quaker or Quakers shall presume, after they have once suffered what the law requires, to come into this jurisdiction, every such male Quaker shall, for the first offence, have one of his ears cut off, and be kept at work in the House of Correction, until he can be sent away at his own charge; and for the second offence, shall have his other ear cut off; and every woman Quaker, that has suffered the law here, that shall presume to come into this jurisdiction, shall be severely whipped, and kept at the House of Correction at work, until she be sent away at her own charge, and so also for her coming again, she shall be alike used as aforesaid.

"And for every Quaker, he or she, that shall a third time herein again offend, they shall have their tongues bored through with a hot iron, and be kept at the House of Correction close to work, until they be sent away at their own charge.

"And it is further ordered, that all and every Quaker arising from among ourselves, shall be dealt with, and suffer the like punishment as the law provides against foreign Quakers.

"EDWARD RAWSON, Sec."

"An Act Made at a General Court, Held at Boston, the Twentieth of

October, 1658"

Whereas, there is a pernicious sect, commonly called Quakers, lately risen, who by word and writing have published and maintained many dangerous and horrid tenets, and do take upon them to change and alter the received laudable customs of our nation, in giving civil respects to equals, or reverence to superiors; whose actions tend to undermine the civil government, and also to destroy the order of the churches, by denying all established forms of worship, and by withdrawing from orderly Church fellowship, allowed and approved by all orthodox professors of truth, and instead thereof, and in opposition thereunto, frequently meeting by themselves, insinuating themselves into the minds of the simple, or such as are at least affected to the order and government of church and commonwealth, whereby divers of our inhabitants have been infected, notwithstanding all former laws, made upon the experience of their arrogant and bold obtrusions, to disseminate their principles amongst us, prohibiting their coming into this jurisdiction, they have not been deferred from their impious attempts to undermine our peace, and hazard our ruin.

"For prevention thereof, this court doth order and enact, that any person or persons, of the cursed sect of the Quakers, who is not an inhabitant of, but is found within this jurisdiction, shall be apprehended without warrant, where no magistrate is at hand, by any constable, commissioner, or selectman, and conveyed from constable to constable, to the next magistrate, who shall commit the said person to close prison, there to remain (without bail) until the next court of Assistants, where they shall have legal trial.

"And being convicted to be of the sect of the Quakers, shall be sentenced to banishment, on pain of death. And that every inhabitant of this jurisdiction, being convicted to be of the aforesaid sect, either by taking up, publishing, or defending the horrid opinions of the Quakers, or the stirring up mutiny, sedition, or rebellion against the government, or by taking up their abusive and destructive practices, viz. denying civil respect to equals and superiors, and withdrawing from the Church assemblies; and instead thereof, frequenting meetings of their own, in opposition to our Church order; adhereing to, or approving of any known Quaker, and the tenets and practices of Quakers, that are opposite to the orthodox received opinions of the godly; and endeavoring to disaffect others to civil government and Church order, or condemning the practice and proceedings of this court against the Quakers, manifesting thereby their complying with those, whose design is to overthrow the order established in Church and state: every such person, upon conviction before the said court of Assistants, in manner aforesaid, shall be committed to close prison for one month, and then, unless they choose voluntarily to depart this jurisdiction, shall give bond for their good behavior and appear at the next court, continuing obstinate, and refusing to retract and reform the aforesaid opinions, they shall be sentenced to banishment, upon pain of death. And any one magistrate, upon information given him of any such person, shall cause him to be apprehended, and shall commit any such person to prison, according to his discretion, until he come to trial as aforesaid."

It appears there were also laws passed in both of the then colonies of New Plymouth and New Haven, and in the Dutch settlement at New Amsterdam, now New York, prohibiting the people called Quakers, from coming into those places, under severe penalties; in consequence of which, some underwent considerable suffering.

The two first who were executed were William Robinson, merchant, of London, and Marmaduke Stevenson, a countryman, of Yorkshire. These coming to Boston, in the beginning of September, were sent for by the court of Assistants, and there sentenced to banishment, on pain of death. This sentence was passed also on Mary Dyar, mentioned hereafter, and Nicholas Davis, who were both at Boston. But William Robinson, being looked upon as a teacher, was also condemned to be whipped severely; and the constable was commanded to get an able man to do it. Then Robinson was brought into the street, and there stripped; and having his hands put through the holes of the carriage of a great gun, where the jailer held him, the executioner gave him twenty stripes, with a threefold cord whip. Then he and the other prisoners were shortly after released, and banished, as appears from the following warrant:

"You are required by these, presently to set at liberty William Robinson, Marmaduke Stevenson, Mary Dyar, and Nicholas Davis, who, by an order of the court and council, had been imprisoned, because it appeared by their own confession, words, and actions, that they are Quakers: wherefore, a sentence was pronounced against them, to depart this jurisdiction, on pain of death; and that they must answer it at their peril, if they or any of them, after the fourteenth of this present month, September, are found within this jurisdiction, or any part thereof.

"EDWARD RAWSON"

"Boston, September 12, 1659."

Though Mary Dyar and Nicholas Davis left that jurisdiction for that time, yet Robinson and Stevenson, though they departed the town of Boston, could not yet resolve (not being free in mind) to depart that jurisdiction, though their lives were at stake. And so they went to Salem, and some places thereabouts, to visit and build up their friends in the faith. But it was not long before they were taken and put again into prison at Boston, and chains locked to their legs. In the next month, Mary Dyar returned also. And as she stood before the prison, speaking with one Christopher Holden, who was come thither to inquire for a ship bound for England, whither he intended to go, she was also taken into custody.

Thus, they had now three persons, who, according to their law, had forfeited their lives. And, on the twentieth of October, these three were brought into court, where John Endicot and others were assembled. And being called to the bar, Endicot commanded the keeper to pull off their hats; and then said, that they had made several laws to keep the Quakers from amongst them, and neither whipping, nor imprisoning, nor cutting off ears, nor banishment upon pain of death, would keep them from amongst them. And further, he said, that he or they desired not the death of any of them. Yet, notwithstanding, his following words, without more ado were, "Give ear, and hearken to your sentence of death." Sentence of death was also passed upon Marmaduke Stevenson, Mary Dyar, and William Edrid. Several others were imprisoned, whipped, and fined.

We have no disposition to justify the Pilgrims for these proceedings, but we think, considering the circumstances of the age in which they lived, their conduct admits of much palliation.

The fathers of New England, endured incredible hardships in providing for themselves a home in the wilderness; and to protect themselves in the undisturbed enjoyment of rights, which they had purchased at so dear a rate, they sometimes adopted measures, which, if tried by the more enlightened and liberal views of the present day, must at once be pronounced altogether unjustifiable. But shall they be condemned without mercy for not acting up to principles which were unacknowledged and unknown throughout the whole of Christendom? Shall they alone be held responsible for opinions and conduct which had become sacred by antiquity, and which were common to Christians of all other denominations? Every government then in existence assumed to itself the right to legislate in matters of religion; and to restrain heresy by penal statutes. This right was claimed by rulers, admitted by subjects, and is sanctioned by the names of Lord Bacon and Montesquieu, and many others equally famed for their talents and learning. It is unjust, then, to 'press upon one poor persecuted sect, the sins of all Christendom.' The fault of our fathers was the fault of the age; and though this cannot justify, it certainly furnishes an extenuation of their conduct. As well might you condemn them for not understanding and acting up to the principles of religious toleration. At the same time, it is but just to say, that imperfect as were their views of the rights of conscience, they were nevertheless far in advance of the age to which they belonged; and it is to them more than to any other class of men on earth, the world is indebted for the more rational views that now prevail on the subject of civil and religious liberty.

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