Early Stages of the Quaker Movement in Lancashire Boor S by the Same Author

EARLY STAGES OF THE QUAKER MOVEMENT IN LANCASHIRE BOOR S BY THE SAME AUTHOR LANCASHIRE NONCONFORMITY THE EJECTED OF 1662 IN CUMBERLAND AND WESTMORLAND HISTORY OF INDEPENDENCY IN TOCKHOLES THE STORY OF THE LANCASHIRE CONGRE GATIONAL UNION THK SERMON ON THE MOUNT IN RELATION TO THE PRESENT WAR CONSCIENCE AND THE WAR FROM THE GREAT AWAKENING TO THE EVANGELICAL REVIVAL FIDELITY TO AN IDEAL CONGREGATIONALISM RE-EXAMINED ISAAC AMBROSE, THE RELIGIOUS MYSTIC THOMAS JOLLIE OF ALTHAM AND WYMONDHOUSES THE HEROIC AGE OF CONGREGATIONALISM ETC. ETC. EARLY STAGES OF THE QUAKER MOVEMENT IN LANCASHIRE BY THE REV. B. NIGHTINGALE, M.A., LlTT.D. LONDON : CONGREGATIONAL UNION OF ENGLAND AND WALES, INC. MEMORIAL HALL, E.C.4 767$ L3/VS Printed in Grtat Britain h Turnbullfr Sftart, Edinburgh PREFACE A FEW years ago while engaged in some historical research work in Cumberland and /Westmorland, relating mainly to the I7th century, I came much into contact with the Quaker movement of that period. Not that that was the first time that my interest in it had been aroused. George Fox has long had for me special fascination, as one of those great religious mystics, who appear occasionally in religious history, and who are rarely understood at the time, but whose service to the cause of religion is incalculable. I say this the more readily because in the pages which follow, I have ventured to be somewhat his followers critical of the doings of him and immediate ; and it seems to jne that it is better to say frankly that the movement suffered considerably because of the extra vagances of some of its early leaders. Of course, those days were quite different from these. Things were then done that we should never dream of doing to-day, and language was plain and blunt almost to coarseness. In this respect Quakerism was simply like every other in its first it time to movement stages ; required sober, chasten, and purify it. How largely the movement captured Cumberland and is but it has been Westmorland common knowledge ; somewhat of a revelation to myself to find that it was so in Lancashire and it is to make this clear widespread ; that the following pages have been written. My indebtedness to those whose works I have used, is in the of the book but acknowledged body ; special mention should be made of much kindly help from Dr Farrer of Whitbarrow Lodge, Mr W. C. Braithwaite of Banbury, Mr Dilworth Abbatt of Preston, Mr Norman 5 6 QUAKER MOVEMENT IN LANCASHIRE Penney of the Friends Library, London, and the Custodians of the Sessions Records in Preston. What has specially impressed me in the study of I7th century religious history is the wealth of Quaker literature relating thereto and its value to the student, not merely because of the light which it throws upon the Quaker movement, but not less so upon Nonconformist religious history in general. No student of that history can neglect it without the most serious loss. He will often find there the information of which he is in quest when it cannot be found elsewhere. One word is necessary in reference to the Index. My first intention was that it should contain the names of all the places and persons that appear in the book; indeed, I had prepared one such for it, when it was found that the book had already far exceeded the number of pages originally designed. The Index had, therefore, to be considerably curtailed. Principal names of persons and places have been retained, and, under different dis tricts, will be found lists of Quakers, etc. The reader will, therefore, experience no serious difficulty in finding the name of any person in whom he may be interested. It is stated repeatedly in the body of the work that names frequently assume different forms, but in the Index one only is given, and it is not certain that the references under the name are always to the same person. I cannot hope to carry all with me to the conclusions to which I have been led but if the ; book helps us to realize afresh the steady and unwavering fidelity to religious principle, in spite of the fiercest and most persistent persecution, of the people whose story it tells, it will serve a very useful purpose in these days. B. NIGHTINGALE MlLTONA, RlLEY AVENUE, ST ANNES-ON-SEA, August 1921 CONTENTS CHAPTER I PAGE GEORGE Fox IN LANCASHIRE 9 CHAPTER II 2 THE WITNESSING FACTS : 7 1. SUFFERINGS OF THE QUAKERS .... 27 2. THE FIRST PUBLISHERS OF THE TRUTH . 58 . 61 3. THE CONVENTICLE RETURNS OF 1669 4. CHURCH PAPERS . 63 SESSIONS . 5. RECORDS OF THE QUARTER 103 CHAPTER III STEADFAST IN SUFFERING . 198 INDEX 2I1 Early Stages of the Quaker Movement in Lancashire CHAPTER I GEORGE FOX IN LANCASHIRE IN the early part of 1652, George Fox, the Founder of the Quaker movement, made his first real acquaintance with Lancashire. A native of Fenny Drayton in Leicester shire, his earliest efforts as Missionary of the new Evangel of which he had come into possession, were devoted to his own County and the neighbouring Counties of Derby and Nottingham. It was in the year 1647, after much " " wandering in solitary places as "a man of Sorrows," that he definitely gave himself to his Mission and began that career of itinerant preaching, which bore such re fruit five after its markable ; and, years commencement, a journey into the West Riding of Yorkshire brought him to the Lancashire border. Passing through Wakefield and Bradford, and proceeding still westward, he says : " We came near a very great high hill, called Pendle- hill, and I was moved of the Lord to go up to the top of it I did with it was so and ; which much ado, very steep high. When I was come to the top, I saw the sea bordering upon Lancashire. From the top of this hill the Lord let me see in what places he had a great people to be gathered. As I went down I found a spring of water in the side of the hill, with which I refreshed myself, having eaten or 1 drank but little several days before." " Subsequently he informs us that the great people in white raiment by a river side, coming to the Lord," of 1 Journal, p. 66. Ed. 1765. 9 io QUAKER MOVEMENT IN LANCASHIRE whom he had had the vision from the top of Pendle, were 1 about Wensleydale and Sedbergh, the river being the beautiful Lune, which flows not far from the latter place. It was from Sedbergh that he went to Firbank, the gate of entrance for him and his movement into Westmor land, amidst whose majestic solitudes a thousand people had assembled to hear the strange preacher. There he won the first of those sweeping victories, which this and the neighbouring County of Cumberland supplied so richly during the next few years. From Firbank he went by easy stages to Preston Patrick, Kendal and Underbarrow, in the same County, entering Lancashire at Newton and Staveley, whence he proceeded to Ulverston, in whose immediate neighbourhood is Swarthmoor, 2 which became the Mecca of the Quaker movement. This, however, was not the first visit which Fox had paid to Lancashire. In 1647, the very year in which he began his Mission, he says : " I heard of a woman in Lancashire, who had fasted and I travelled to see two-and-twenty days, her ; but when I came to her, I saw she was under a temptation. When I had spoken to her what I had from the Lord, I left her, her father being high in profession. Passing on, I went among the professors at Duckenfield and Manchester, where I staid a while, and declared truth among them. There were some convinced, who received the Lord s teaching, by which they were confirmed, and stood in the truth. The professors were in a rage, all pleading for sin and imperfection ; and could not endure to hear talk of perfection, or of a holy and sinless life. But the Lord s was over all power ; though they were chained under darkness and sin, which they pleaded for, and quenched 3 the tender thing in them." This Manchester visit was too brief to fruit yield much ; 1 Journal, p. 67. Ed. 1765. 1 This spelling is retained throughout except in quotations from other writers some of whom prefer Swarthmorc. Journal, pp. n, 12. Ed. 1765. GEORGE FOX IN LANCASHIRE n and, as previously intimated, it was near the beginning of 1652 that Lancashire was first entered for serious work, West the northern part, the part which borders upon morland and Cumberland, which, in its physical character istics it so closely resembles, and to which formerly it ecclesiastically belonged, opening the door and extending a welcome to him. Traces of Quakerism are usually sought in the early Lollardism of a district, and especially in a people who " came to be known as Seekers," because of their attitude " " " " of waiting upon God and seeking after the truth, in particular, the truth about the Church which they believed to have been lost. Nor can there be any objection to that : for a great movement like the Quaker movement cannot possibly originate with a single man. " " Generally there is a voice crying in the wilderness for years before the new day comes. John the Baptist heralded the approach of the Messiah and Wycliffe was " " the morning star of the Reformation." George " Fox did not so much originate," writes one, as emphasize certain ideas which were floating in the religious atmo of his l That statement contains an sphere day." element of truth, though it scarcely does justice to the part which George Fox played in the matter.

Load more