THE LIBRARIES 
 
LEAVES 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 HISTOKY OF 
 
 WELSH NONCONFOEMITY 
 
 IN THE 
 
 SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 Being chiefly the Autobiography of Richard Davies 
 OF Welshpool — Quaker. (1636-1708.) 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 JOHN E. SOUTHALL. 
 
 J. E. kic5?uiTa'ALV, feiNTa"?!!? 'aiStd' Publisher. 
 
 • " -189.9. : "l '. ." 
 
4 5"^1^E 
 
 NOTE. 
 
 The spelling Welch-pool, follows the English edition of 1825. 
 
 ,' * u ' « B 
 
 : •• » • • • 
 
 .,«.•• t 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The accompanying Autobiography has been in the 
 main a reprint of the sixth English edition of 1825 ; the 
 notes are ahnost wholly fresh matter, and some explana- 
 tory paragraphs are interspersed in the text. These may 
 be recognised by the distance between the lines being 
 slightly wider. In 1840, a Welsh edition was issued with 
 the following title : " Hanes arghoeddiad, traiferthion 
 gwasanaeth a theithiau yr hen was hwnw o eiddo yr 
 Arglwydd, Richard Davies, yn cynnwys peth hanes am 
 daeniad y gw irionedd yn Ngogledd Cymru wedi ei gyfieithu 
 o'r chweched argraffiad yn Saesoneg.'" The few remaining 
 copies of the edition w ere given away by the Recording 
 Clerk of the modern Society of Eriends about 1893, so 
 that it is not now. in print. 
 
 I may say, that, in issuing an eighth edition (the 
 seventh English edition appeared in 1840) I have not 
 sought to simply present an interesting piece of literature 
 for the antiquarian. The importance of the subject 
 matter lies in a different direction, yet I cannot expect 
 the work to be fully valued by the general public on those 
 grounds. It is only those who share Richard Davies' 
 religious convictions, and who would have to act to-day 
 as he acted were they in similar circumstances, who will 
 appreciate to the full the beauty and consistency of the 
 worship, life and conversation he was concerned to 
 j)romote both by example and word of mouth. 
 
 This journal appears to have been written in English, 
 and it may be doubted whether R. D. possessed the 
 capacity to imnte freely in the language of the country, 
 
which must have been the usual medium of communication 
 at rehgious meetings in Montgomery and Merioneth at 
 that time, and one frequently used by himself in preaching. 
 It is probable that the successive English editions found 
 their way into Wales only to a very small extent ; so far 
 as I am aware, none of the prominent AVelsh Methodists 
 of the last century had ever heard of the work. It is now 
 however more widely known, especially in Powysland, and 
 some notice of it appeared not very long ago, in the 
 " London Kelt." ' 
 
 There is now no meeting held in Wales or its borders, 
 corresponding to those of the Primitive Quakers ; there 
 are, however, several in South Wales and Herefordshire, 
 under the care of the Society which is usually credited 
 with the Quaker name and with carrying on their work. 
 In the matter of religion, names go for very little ; when 
 a Church calls itself Catholic and Apostolic, we look for 
 proof of Catholicity, and for a manifestation of the 
 same essential fruits of Christianity as characterized 
 Apostolic times, just so, when any name with command- 
 ing greatness is introduced to characterize a set of 
 doctrines or a profession of Christianity, it is the duty of 
 all honest seekers after Truth to take nothing upon trust. 
 In fact it was never the intention of its Divine founder 
 that Christianity should be propagated on those con- 
 ditions. " He that is of God heareth us, said the Apostle, 
 and he that is not of God heareth us not." 
 
 The best work of the last half of the 17th century was 
 entitled by one who participated in it to be, " Primitive 
 Christianity revived," and its claims to-day rest on the 
 assent of the enlightened spiritual understanding. He 
 that is of God — i.e., he whose spiritual ears are Divinely 
 opened, hears those early testimonies and honours them, 
 so to-day, he that is not of God, or is ruled by the 
 wisdom that is from beneath not from above, may seem 
 
to assent ; but those that are actuated by it have no 
 true knowledge, no true faith, — they do not hear aright. 
 
 So there may be those now drawn by the inward 
 Witness for Truth to Hvingly receive somewhat of true 
 faith as to Gospel worship, and desirous of finding such 
 as hold meetings in the same faith as Eichard Davies and 
 his friends. If such come in contact with Societies or 
 meetings where a profession of it is made, but find that 
 the ground or foundation is in reality that of the In- 
 dependents from whom H. D. came out, and which is 
 substantially the same in all the prominent sects to-day, 
 let not these conclude that spiritual worship is either an 
 empty phrase or as much at the command of the creature 
 as singing a hymn in a so-called Evangelistic meeting. 
 
 In other words, if any reading these pages attend the 
 meetings attached to the modern Society of Friends, &c., 
 in the hope of finding them held in the same power and 
 authority as the gatherings of faithful friends of the 17th 
 century, and if such are disappointed, let them not conclude 
 that the same faith, the same power, and the same 
 heavenly results will be withheld even in these days 
 where sought aright in the " silence of all flesh,'' Hab. 
 ii. 20., Zech. ii. 13., nor let them suppose that the mere 
 profession of worship in the Spirit brings the reality 
 along with it. 
 
 Wales needs many things, but nothing more than a 
 thorough reformation in religion, a reformation which will 
 strike a fatal blow at the pretensions of all those, whether 
 prelatical or dissenting, who attempt to walk oft* with the 
 keys of the kingdom of heaven in their pocket, a reforma- 
 tion which makes the right shoulders feel the responsi- 
 bdities of life for time and for eternity, and which will 
 cleanse the inward temple from the idols of silver and 
 gold, a reformation which replaces the double-minded 
 hypocrisy of trying to extract the greatest amount pf 
 
pleasure out of both worlds, by a willing compliance with 
 the requirements of the straight gate and the narrow way 
 as inwardly manifested, even when the intoxication of 
 sweet sounds and voices has to be denied and turned from, 
 that the ear may be attuned to better harmonies r' a re- 
 formation in fact that will bring people to sit under the 
 teachings and heavenly operations of the everlasting 
 Gospel, which was the only means of salvation before 
 Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John Avere wi-itten, is now, 
 unchangeably the same, and is xot words, but the power, 
 and the only sure foundation of religion. 
 
 It is for the benefit of those who sigh for such a reform- 
 ation that this account of Eichard Davies' exercises and 
 stedfastness is offered to view. It is the editor's faith 
 that there will be such a reformation in Wales, though 
 at present, the signs are rather the other way, even 
 among most of the professed representatives of the prin- 
 ciples of the Early Friends. Its nature is prophetically 
 foreshadowed in the following extract from a sermon by 
 Sarah G-rubb, delivered in London in 1821. 
 
 "I see a day with my spiritual eye wherein, whether we 
 are faithful or not, there shall be a people preserved who 
 shall then exalt the Lord's power alone, they shall assemble 
 and sit down in silence, in awful and reverent stillness ; 
 they shall wait for the arising of life and the power of 
 Christ among them to a greater extent than has yet 
 prevailed, and they shall be each others' crown, and 
 rejoicing in Christ. They sball maintain this testimony 
 until the coming of that glorious gospel day " when the 
 earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the 
 waters cover the sea." 
 
 6 mo. 1899. J. E. S. 
 
 *It may not be generally known that from the dispensation of 
 Light and Grace into which Richard Davies and the early 
 Friends were called, instrumental music and hymn singing in the 
 will of man, was excluded both in meetings and the family circle. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. PAGE 
 
 Nonconformity in Wales during the first half of the 
 Seventeenth Century, of indigenous origin, yet nur- 
 tured from England 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Birth, early life, and convincement 8 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Piercing power in a Silent Meeting at Shrewsbury — Visit 
 to a gay company of dancers — Koger Prichard — 
 Vavasor Powell — Meetings in the open-air decided 
 on — Goes to London — Inward pointings toward mar- 
 riage — Meets George Fox — Imprisoned at Mont- 
 gomery and Shrewsbury, Bridgenorth 31 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 A Meeting at Dolobran — Lord Herbert of Chirbury — 
 Charles Lloyd Imprisoned — Letter to the Quarter 
 Sessions — Truth spreading in Merioneth — Vavasor 
 Powell's Lament — James Parkes Addresses Professors 
 at Wrexham — Kichard Davies's Testimony at the 
 Steeple House — The Hireling Flies 56 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The schism of John Perrot — Richard Davies burdened 
 with unanointed Preaching — Testimony against 
 Cadwalader Edwards — Meeting at Aberystwith and 
 Imprisonment of Richard Davies— Journey with John 
 ap John — Roger Prichard restored — French Bretons — 
 Cardiff— The vile Informer 87 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Persecution in Merionethshire — Price of Rhiwlas and 
 Salisbury of Rug — D. Maurice an Informer — His 
 miserable end — George Fox a Prisoner — Counsellor 
 Corbet gets him clear at Westminster Hall— Threat 
 of Counsellor Walcott— Lord l*owis — Oppression of 
 Ludlow Court of Marches — Priest outwitted — Yearly- 
 Meeting for Wales settled 110 
 
 CHAPTEE VJI. 
 
 Bishop of Asaph tries to get Dissenters into his fold — 
 Reasons why Quakers Dissent — R. D. denies the term 
 Lord Bishop and interviews the Bishop — Sir Lionel 
 Jenkin, Secretary of State — False Brethren — Outlines 
 of Sermon — Insulted by Queen's Lifeguards in 1683. 127 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 R. D., by means of inward grace and discernment, detects 
 a Jesuit preaching as a Quaker— Renewed persecu- 
 tion for absence from the corrupt national worship — 
 The declaration of indulgence — Coming in of the 
 Prince of Orange — Kindness of the then Bishop of 
 Asaph — Scholars at Oxford attend Meeting in 1706 . . . 143 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Appointed to meet Queen Anne at Windsor— The Scholars 
 at Oxford manifest some improvement — Attends 
 Yearly Meeting at London— Last illness and Death — 
 Testimony of George Whitehead and of the Quarterly 
 Meeting ... 159 
 
J 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 NoTfCOlS^EORMITY IN WaLES DURING THE FIRST HALF OF 
 
 THE Seventeenth Century of indigenous origin, 
 
 YET NURTURED FROM ENGLAND. 
 
 ■V[ONCONEORMITY in Wales during the first half of 
 -^^ the seventeenth century was chiefly confined to the 
 Eastern portion of the country. Greater proximity to 
 England does not wholly explain this, for a careful exam- 
 ination of history, reveals the fact that this early noncon- 
 formity was indigenous, and not simply the result of an 
 English movement permeating Wales. 
 
 The interchange of ideas in West Wales was slow, the 
 natural tendency of the people was conservative, and the 
 Welsh language had not acquired the momentum which 
 characterized it in the corresponding period of the nine- 
 teenth century, and which even such meagre opportunities 
 of literary cultivation as existed from 1800 to 1850, 
 imparted to it. 
 
 The art of printing, which was slowly but surely 
 effecting such mighty changes in England, had, as yet, 
 made but little impression upon Welsh Wales. 
 
 Hence it was, that the pioneers of Welsh noncon- 
 formity were largely dependent on the English press for 
 information on the controversies of the day, and for such 
 religious literature, as w^as then current. They appear 
 to have been, almost all of them, bilingual speakers; 
 they lived among people, very few of whom could read 
 B 
 
the native language, and nearly everything original, they 
 published was in English — Morgan Llwyd, of AVrexham, 
 being a notable exception. 
 
 Welsh nonconformity of the seventeenth century did 
 not lay the foundation of a national literature ; never 
 very strong in comparison with the total population, its 
 influence rather declined than increased, until well on 
 into the eighteenth century, when something like a 
 system of popular education, hand in hand with the 
 religious movement associated with the names of Howell 
 Harris, Rowlands of Llangeitho, and Williams of Pant- 
 ycelyn, gave to the mass of the people a leverage for 
 social, moral, and literary improvement which the Es- 
 tablished Church was unable or unwilling to supply. 
 
 As a matter of fact, there is more parallelism existing 
 between the history of popular literature in England and 
 Wales than appears at first sight, — in each case the 
 famiharity with the Bible preceded the spread of any 
 literature which was current in any considerable section of 
 the people at large. Popular literature was at first 
 almost exclusively religious, and afterwards largely par- 
 took of the periodical character as is the case at the 
 present day both in England and Wales. 
 
 In the fifteenth century there is ground for believing 
 that Welsh literature was more abundant, head for head 
 of the population than was the case with English liter- 
 ature, but neither preserved a truly popular character. 
 
 I am not classing the writings of Shakespeare, Spenser, 
 Milton, and Dryden as popular literature ; their writings 
 h:id comparatively little influence on the average men and 
 women of the seventeenth century : the era of popular 
 
literature in England, beyond that of a directly religious 
 character, hardly began before the appearance of the 
 " Spectator" and the " Tatler." 
 
 On the other hand, in Wales, though Gweirydd ap 
 Ehys enumerates over 220 Welsh authors who were 
 born in the 16th century, or who died between 1529 
 and 1600, and 51 men who were born in the seventeenth 
 century before 1635,- no considerable body of popular 
 literature was created by them ; a large proportion of the 
 bardic productions remained in manuscript, and some 
 are in manuscript to this day. 
 
 The power of the press could not make headway 
 against the governmental neglect of the national language, 
 the poverty of the country, and the difficulties of inter- 
 communication. Such works as the Martin Mar Prelate 
 tracts could hardly obtain a circulation in Welsh, for the 
 conditions were not favourable to the spread of new 
 ideas, except where a knowledge of the Enghsh language 
 was to be found. 
 
 The Bible itself was not so generally accessible as in 
 England, but there were popular works, however, such 
 as Llyfr y Eicer ; in some instances there was probably a 
 local, rather than a national popular literature, and the 
 writings of Huw Morris, with other more obscure 
 writers, may have occupied such a position; but a body of 
 Welsh literature that may be justly styled popular, is the 
 work of the present century, and \vas largely the fruit of 
 the spread of denominational periodicals, and, indirectly, 
 of the revival of the Eisteddfod. 
 
 " Hanes Llenyddiaeth Gymreig,' published by Foulkes, Liverpool. 
 
In the period which is to come under our notice, 
 popular education had not, it is true, found a home in 
 England, but the civil and religious movements o£ the 
 times made such a call on the printing press, that the 
 leaders of Nonconformity in Wales, and the sympathizers 
 with the Parliamentary party generally, had strong in- 
 centives to apply to English sources for information, and 
 come under the influence of English ideas, but they did 
 not and could not Anglicize the country. Another 
 century intervened, and then it seemed as if Wales had a 
 new lease of national life, and it developed afresh, literary 
 characteristics of its own, side by side with an advancing 
 civilization. The development was imperfect, and the 
 culture uneven, we grant ; could it be otherwise under 
 the domination of an alien race, an alien tongue, and an 
 alien system of education ? Yet for all that, it had, side 
 by side with its weaknesses, remarkable, if not unique 
 excellencies, scarcely yet understood by the English 
 public. 
 
 I mention these things not because they directly 
 bear upon my subject, but they help to shew what 
 "Welsh nonconformity in the seventeenth century was, 
 and what it was not, in its relation to the intel- 
 lectual activities of the nation ; they are, however, side 
 issues only, yet interwoven with the history of the days 
 we are living in ; in the following pages, we are mostly 
 concerned with those facts which sprang directly from 
 spiritual, not secular, causes. 
 
 The Reformation in Europe was only a gradual work ; 
 breaking with the Church of Eome was one thing, coming 
 fully under the teaching of the Spirit and discarding 
 
merely human authority in reHgion was quite another. 
 The first has a negative character only, the latter or true 
 Reformation has a positive base from which all its 
 negative positions proceed. 
 
 In Wales we see this principle illustrated fully, a 
 breaking with Rome almost of necessity, rather than from 
 conviction, and the adoption of a form of religion approved 
 by the secular power; then we see signs of a real religious 
 awakening, and of the consciousness of the spiritual need 
 for a further reformation and of greater freedom for the 
 teaching of the Spirit — I refer to the days of the 
 Puritans — then we see here and there, the need reahzed in 
 small congregations up and down the country, who not 
 merely refused to be trammelled by the national religion, 
 but who felt that every act of worship performed without 
 Divine leading, rather hindered than helped their real- 
 ization of the power and presence of God, which, above 
 all, they sought unto. 
 
 Now, it very often happened that those who embraced 
 this dispensation of the Spirit, and who were known by 
 the name of Quakers, had been associated with that 
 degree of Reformation which advanced beyond the Epis- 
 copal forms, though but partially, and was connected 
 with the name of Puritan, and this happened far too 
 often, for us to suppose that it was the effect of chance. 
 
 Just in those districts where we know that the most 
 eminent and enlightened Puritans laboured previous to 
 1650, we find, with little exception, that congregations of 
 the people called Quakers took root. 
 
 In Monmouthshire, the pious William Wroth, who, 
 next to John Penry, may be called the morning star of 
 
G 
 
 the Puritan Reformation, laboured at Llanvaches, and 
 was deprived of his hving during the primacy of Arch- 
 bishop Laud. There was never a Quaker congregation 
 at Llanvaches, but we may fairly assign to a probable 
 connection with his work, the establishment of a 
 meeting in the neighbouring village of Shirenewton, and 
 it may be that even Pontymoyle meeting owed its rise to 
 his influence. 
 
 William Erbery, priest of Mary's, Cardiff, refused to 
 read the Book of Sports, that is to say, he may be classed 
 as a Puritan; he was ejected, and his wife became a 
 Quaker," one of the very first of that profession in the 
 town. As for Erbery himself, Eees, the author of the 
 " History of Protestant Nonconformity in Wales," says 
 that his views of the ministr}^ and ordinances were 
 similar to those of the Quakers. 
 
 Another Puritan preacher, Walter Cradock, who, like- 
 wise, had been ejected at Cardiff for refusal to read the 
 Book of Sports, was protected and encouraged by Sir 
 Robert Harley, at Brampton Bryan, on the borders of 
 Eadnorshire, and made preaching excursions into that 
 county, where afterwards George Eox had a meeting, 
 "like a leaguer [a camp] for multitudes," in 1657. He 
 stood on a chair about three hours, and " all were bowed 
 under the power of God." 
 
 Coming northwards, we can easily glean from Richard 
 Davies' autobiography, that his position as hearer of 
 Vavasor Powell at Welshpool was a stepping stone to his 
 taking a stand in religious matters independently of 
 
 * This is on the authority of Rees. 
 
the existing congregations, which was equivalent to his 
 entering on a further degree of reformation. 
 
 Further north still, the same principle is illustrated at 
 Wrexham, where it would appear that the labours of 
 Walter Cradock and Morgan Llwyd paved the way for a 
 gathering of worshippers, who, in the words of holy writ, 
 were made ' wiser than their teachers.' 
 
 We know that John ap John one of Morgan Llwyd's 
 hearers became an eminent Quaker preacher in the Welsh 
 language, and we may justly infer that those he assoc- 
 iated with in the Quaker profession near Wrexham, had 
 been moulded in their earlier days after Puritan ideas. 
 
 The period at which the early Eriends made their 
 appearance Avas a stormy and unsettled one, both in a 
 political, social, and religious sense. Welshpool, not 
 far from the English border, was more than some other 
 towns in Wales exposed to those influences, and they 
 made their mark upon Eichard Davies' life while he was 
 yet a youth, but like most other Quaker autobiographers, 
 he rarely goes out of his way to write history. The 
 Yavasor Powell mentioned above was a noted man in his 
 time ; he was a native of Knucklas, in Eadnorshire, and 
 afterwards kept school at Clun, in Shropshire. His 
 position as a Puritan caused him to leave AVales about 
 the time of the outbreak of the Civil Wars, and he 
 eventually became one of Commissioners to carry out 
 the " A.ct for the Propagation of the Gospel in Wales," 
 and was seldom two days a week without preaching. 
 
 He died in prison in 1670 after being confined, with 
 only a short intermission, about 10 years, and was buried 
 in Bunhill fields, London. 
 
CHAPTER II. . 
 
 RiCHAED DaYIES, HIS BiRTH, EaRLY LiFE, AND 
 CONYINCEMENT. 
 
 I WAS born in the year 1635, in the town of Welch- 
 Pool, in Montgomeryshire, in North Wales, o£ 
 honest parents, that had a small estate there: I was 
 brought up in a little learning, and in the religion and 
 discipline of the church of England. When I came to 
 be about twelYe or thirteen years of age, the Lord put 
 his fear in my heart, that I came to a consideration, if I 
 should die what would become of my soul, if I lived after 
 the way that some of my companions did : and it came 
 into my heart to leave them ; and I was inclined to go 
 and hear sermons, and followed the best of those sort of 
 people, that 1 did believe feared the Lord, which I then 
 thought were the Independent people ; especially one 
 Vavasor Powell, who was a very zealous man in his day 
 and time; he took much pains and labour to gather 
 a people into that persuasion, and many were gathered 
 in these parts to that way ; and I followed them from 
 one parish to another, writing their sermons, and in time 
 I came to repeat them to the people ; and there, being 
 exercised in the historical part of the scriptures, I could 
 speak and talk of them, so that those people came to 
 speak well of me, and this did not a little puff me up ; 
 so that I was not so serious, as I should have been, to 
 get eternal life by Christ Jesus, who is the Life himself, 
 who said to the Jews, John v. 39, 40. " Search, or ye 
 search the Scriptures, for in them ye think to have 
 
eternal life, and they are they which testify of me: and 
 ye \\ill not come to me, that ye might have life." 
 
 We were diligent in searching the scriptures, which 
 was good in its •place ; but the main matter and substance 
 of pure religion, is the enjoyment of eternal life to the 
 soul from Christ. 
 
 About the fourteenth year of my age, my father 
 intended to put me apprentice to a shop-keeper, where I 
 was for a trial : but I saw that the conversation of my 
 intended master was not right, and that the fear of 
 the Lord was not there. I was afraid, if I should con- 
 tinue there, that the little love and zeal I had to God 
 and goodness, would be choked and quenched in me, and 
 the love and pleasure of the world would get up again, so 
 I should be in danger of growing worse than ever ; and 
 being under these serious considerations, I heartily prayed 
 to Grod with tenderness and tears, what he put in my 
 heart to pray for, viz., that I might be delivered fr m 
 that place where I was intended to be bound an appren- 
 tice, and that I might spend my time with and amongst 
 them that feared the Lord, and thought upon his name ; 
 and the Lord heard my prayers, and in a little time I was 
 sent for, away from that place. 
 
 After this I staid at home some time, and continued in 
 that little well-doing I had known, keeping company with 
 sober and honest people ; I delighted to read the scrip- 
 tures, and to go to the Independent meetings. And 
 after some time, I heard of a man that professed the 
 same religion, who was very zealous for a time in going to 
 meeting, and performing that which we call family duties, 
 and there, with the consent of my parents, I bound 
 myself an apprentice to him, whose name was Evan 
 Jones, a felt-maker, in the parish of Llanfair, in Mont- 
 gomeryshire ; and we went together to meetings, I writing 
 
10 
 
 and repeating sermons, and performing that custom that 
 was among us, in praying in our o\An will and time, till 
 we were become so dead and formal, carnal and airy, 
 many loose words and actions growing* up amongst us, 
 that I was gone out of conceit with myself, and our 
 formal religion ; there being something in me that 
 reproved me for my vanity ; and when I rose from my 
 prayers, being some time in a weighty, ponderous condi- 
 tion, I saw that there was something that gave me no 
 true peace nor comfort inwardly to ni}^ soul, because 
 there remained a secret pride and self-exaltation in most, 
 if not all, our formal performances. 
 
 In this state and condition I knew not what to do ; 
 when neither writing, repeating sermons, reading of the 
 scriptures, and other good books, and sometimes ex- 
 pounding of them to the best of my understanding, 
 afforded me any comfort, I was at a loss, and knew not 
 what way to take, that I might have peace and comfort 
 in my performances. Hitherto I knew not the Holy 
 Spirit of the Lord, as I ought to have done, to be my 
 leader and guide into all things that were necessary to 
 my eternal salvation. 
 
 Upon a certain time we had a meeting at Hugh David's, 
 a tenant of Charles Lloyd's, of Dolobran, where one of 
 our Independent teachers, who was a great scripturian, 
 was preaching, and I wrote after him ; and in his sermon 
 he said, " The time would come that there would be no 
 need of the scriptures, any more than another book ; " 
 at which I very much stumbled ; and after the meeting I 
 asked him, When would that time be ? He said, when 
 the Lord would make a new covenant with his people, as 
 is said in Jeremiah xxxi. 33, 34. " I will make a new 
 covenant with the house of Israel ; after those days, 
 saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, 
 
11 
 
 and write it in their hearts, and will be their God, and they 
 shall be my people. And they shall tell no more every 
 man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying. 
 Know the Lord; •for they shall all know me, from the 
 least of them to the greatest of them, saith the Lord; 
 for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their 
 sin no more.'' It seems that he knew not that day had 
 come then, though he was a great preacher. I thought it 
 would then be a happy day, when Grod w^ould be the 
 teacher of his people himself ; that we need not teach 
 every man his neighbour, or his brother, saying, " Know 
 ye the Lord; " but that we should all Know him, from the 
 least to the greatest. This day we knew not then, for 
 all our preaching and long prayers ; though the Lord did 
 then beget tiue hungerings and thirstings in our souls 
 after hun. We had great love and zeal, and desired the 
 knowledge of the truth as is was in Jesus. Sometimes I 
 haye said, this was but like Jacob's dream, when he awoke 
 and said, " Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it 
 not." And indeed we knew not the Lord, as we ought 
 to have done; namely, by his light, grace, and spirit 
 shining in our hearts, to give us the light of the know- 
 ledge of the Son of God, which knowledge keeps a man 
 meek and humble ; and such are not puffed up in a vain 
 mind, to seek after those things that are too high for 
 them, as too many are climbing up that way, which is 
 not the way to God the Father ; the way to the Father 
 is the way of holiness and purity, and humility, without 
 which no man shall see the Lord, nor enjoy his presence 
 to their comfort. 
 
 About this time, being in the year 1656, our ministers 
 told us, that there was a sort of people come up in the 
 north,'" called Quakers, that were a people of a strange 
 
 , * Tnith arose powerfully in the northern parts of England in the year 1652. 
 
12 
 
 posture and principles : saying, that it was the last days 
 and times that Christ spoke of in the xxivth of Matthew, 
 " Many shall come in my name, and deceive many, ver. 
 5. for there shall arise false christs, and' false prophets, and 
 shall shew great signs and wonders, insomuch that, if it 
 were possible, they shall deceive the very elect." This 
 sort of people called Quakers, were much preached against; 
 they told us they were the false prophets, &c., that they 
 denied the scriptures, and all ordinances, and also denied 
 the very Christ that bought them. They were repres- 
 ented to us to be such a dangerous sort of people, that 
 we were afraid of any who had the name of a Quaker, 
 lest we should be deceived by them. Hitherto they had 
 not been in these parts of the country, neither did we 
 know what were the principles held out by themselves ; 
 but only such as were reported, though falsely, unto us 
 by our preachers and others ; which kept us in blindness, 
 and from making further inquiry, and " trying all things, 
 and holding fast that which is good," according to the 
 apostle's advice, 1 Thes. v. 21. 
 
 Now about the year 1657, there came a poor man in a 
 mean habit to my master's house, named Morgan Evan, 
 of South- Wales : he had met with the people called 
 Quakers in his travels, and was convinced of the truth. 
 This poor man discoursed with my master about ttte 
 principles of truth, and I being in the shop about my 
 calling, my mistress came and said, why do you not go 
 out to help your master? for there is a Quaker at the 
 door that hath put him to silence. I hearing this, made 
 haste, and took my bible under my arm, and put on what 
 courage I could, to dispute Avith that poor man, but he 
 proved too hard for us all ; when I went to them, they 
 were upon the words Thee and Thou ; but I very peremp- 
 torily asked him, What command had he to speak Thee 
 
13 
 
 and Tliou ; for I did acknowledge to him, that it '.vas the 
 language of God to Adam, and the language of the 
 scripture; but, said I, that is not enough for us now in 
 this day, we must have a command for it. To which he 
 answered, " Hold fast the form of sound words, which 
 thou hast heard of me." 1 asked him, whether that was 
 scripture ; he asked me, whether I would deny it ; I told 
 him, he was to prove it. Then he took the bible out of 
 my hand, and he turned to 2 Tim. i. 13, which he read, 
 and told me, that Hold fast there, was a command ; which 
 I knew very well, both the scripture and the command : 
 but to prove him further, I desired him to read a little 
 more of that chapter, both backward and forward, which 
 he freely did, and asked me, why I did require that of 
 him ? I told him, that we heard the Quakers denied the 
 scripture, and that they would not read them. He said, 
 there were many false reports of them. And truly when 
 he read the scripture so readily, I concluded in myself, 
 that what was reported of them was not true; and he 
 saw that he had reached to the witness of God in me. 
 Then he exhorted me to take heed to that light that 
 shined in my heart, and did shew me my vain thoughts, 
 and reprove me in secret for every idle w^ord and action ; 
 saying, that "that was the true hght, that lighteth 
 every man that cometh into the world ; " and in that 
 light, I should see more light, and that would open the 
 scriptures to me, and that I should receive a measure of 
 the same spirit that gave them forth ; and further, he 
 told me, it was '* the more sure word of prophecy, unto 
 which I did well, if I took heed as unto a light that 
 shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day- 
 star arise in your hearts, 2 Peter i. 19. And he spoke 
 much of the inward work, and the operation of God's 
 Holy Spirit upon the soul; recommending me to the 
 " Grace of God, that bringeth salvation, teaching us, that 
 
14 
 
 denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live 
 soberly, righteously and godly in the present world," 
 Tit. ii. 11, 12. And so he departed from our house, and 
 I set him a little along on his way. 
 
 Now when I came back from him, the consideration of 
 his words took fast hold on me, that I could not go from 
 under them ; and the more I waited in that light that he 
 recommended me to, the more my former peace, and that 
 in which I formerly took comfort in, was broken ; and 
 herein I came to see, that our former building could not 
 stand, for we built upon that which the apostle called 
 " wood, hay, and stubble.*' Here I came to a loss of all 
 my former knowledge ; and my former performances 
 proved but a sandy foundation. Then I did, with much 
 humility and poverty of spirit, beg of Almighty Grod, that 
 I might build upon that rock, that the true church of 
 Christ was built upon, that the gates of hell might not 
 prevail against me. 
 
 But for all this, I was yet afraid of being deceived by 
 the Quakers ; yet where to go outwardly for advice and 
 counsel I knew not. For I saw that my former teachers 
 were upon a sandy foundation. So I desired that the 
 God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, would be my Teacher 
 and Instructor ; for I believed that the prophecy of the 
 prophets would be fulfilled, and that the Lord would 
 make a new covenant with his people now, as he did 
 promise by the mouth of the prophet Jeremiah xxxi. 
 31 — 34. " Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I 
 will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and 
 with the house of Judah ; not according to the covenant 
 that I made with their fathers, in the day that I took 
 them by the hand to bring them out of the land of 
 Egypt, which my covenant they brake, although I was an 
 husband unto them, saith the Lord : but this shall be the 
 
15 
 
 covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. 
 After those days, saith the Lord, 1 will put my law in 
 their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, and will 
 be their God, and they shall be my people. And they 
 shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every 
 man his brother, sayinp^, Know ye the Lord : for they 
 shall all know me, from the least of them unto the 
 greatest of them, saith the Lord : for I will forgive their 
 iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." 
 
 These and the like precious promises I was made 
 willing to take hold on, and waited for the fulfilling of 
 them in myself, and of that which Christ said to tha 
 Jews, John vi. 45. " It is written in the prophets, And 
 they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore 
 that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh 
 unto me." He that cometh unto Christ Jesus the Light, 
 that lighteth every man that cometh into the world, 
 though their sins and their iniquities be great, they shall 
 in no wise be cast out. And it is said, " And all thy 
 children shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall be 
 the peace of thy children,"' Lsaiah liv. 13. 
 
 Richard Davies had now come to the parting of the 
 ways. He was convinced of the reality and necessity of 
 religion, but he was also con\inced that he knew nothing 
 yet as he ought to kno^^■, and that there was a knowledge 
 of a more certain and satisfactory kind than that he had 
 hitherto built his religion upon. 
 
 It had evidently come to be part of Richard Davies' 
 belief under the influence of the teachers of the letter, 
 that an outward baptism with water, and the outward 
 eating and drinking of bread and wine were commanded 
 in the scripture as acts or ceremonies to be observed b}^ 
 
16 
 
 Christians in perpetuity. He came to see, however, that 
 they are no parts of the dispensation of which Christ 
 Jesus is the immediate Minister ; that the outward supper 
 and the outward baptism were but figures (permitted for 
 a time), of that which is to be inwardly known and 
 experienced, by the washing of regeneration and the 
 renewals of the Holy Ghost which comes with baptizing 
 force, either accompanying the spiritual labours of those 
 who are called, gifted, and commissioned from above, or 
 immediately as a part of the operations of the Spirit upon 
 the willing soul ; he also saw that the supper is only 
 truly enjoyed as the soul feeds on the living bread which 
 comes down from heaven, and opens the door to Him 
 who has graciously promised, " I will come in to him, and 
 will sup with him, and he with me.'* 
 
 When I came to know a little of the teachings of the 
 Lord, I took my leave of all my former formal teachers, 
 and many times went to the woods and other by-places, 
 where none might see me, to wait upon the Lord, where 
 I was much broken, and tendered by the power of God. 
 And though 1 did begin to see a little of myself, and 
 something of the goodness of God, yet still I was afraid 
 of being deceived, for I had read and heard that Satan 
 himself is " transformed into an angel of light," 2 Cor. xi. 
 14. And lest this man should be as the same apostle 
 said, in ver. 13. " Eor such are false apostles, deceitful 
 workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of 
 Christ." 
 
 I desired of the Lord that I might see this poor man once 
 again, for I knew not where to see the face of any called 
 a Friend; and it pleased God that he came again that 
 way, and I desired of my master and mistress to give him 
 
17 
 
 -lodging, and that he might be with me, to which they 
 consented. Then I queried of him their way of worship, 
 and concerning those two great ordinances, so called, 
 that we so much relied upon, viz. the Bread, and Wine, 
 and Baptism, and the scripture, to know^ what was their 
 judgment of them; to which he gave me some satis- 
 faction. In the morning I parted with him, and to the 
 best of my knowledge, I saw him no more for several 
 years after. 
 
 In all this time I still kept my retirement in the wood, 
 or some other private place ; and there in my waiting, I 
 •desired of the Lord, that I might be farther satisfied by 
 himself, as to those things ; first, whether the scriptures 
 were the Word of God, as was said and preached unto us 
 they were, and the way to life and salvation ? Then the 
 first chapter of John came under my serious consider- 
 ation in my meditation, which said, '' In the beginning 
 was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word 
 was God, the same was in the beginning with God. All 
 things were made by him, and without him was not any 
 thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life 
 was the light of men ; and the light shineth in darkness, 
 and the darkness comprehended it not.'' I considered 
 that the Word was in the beginning with God the Father, 
 and that no part of the scriptures were written until 
 Moses, who we understand, was the first writer of those 
 scriptures we have ; the apostle tells us here, that " the 
 law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by 
 Jesus Christ : " in this word there was life ; Paul tells us, 
 that " the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life ; '' now 
 this life is the light of men, and the Word was before the 
 scriptures were written. By this we may see the word 
 of God is Christ Jesus, that was with the Father before 
 the world began, "without him there was not any thing 
 made that was made.'"' , The history that Moses gives us, 
 C 
 
M8 
 
 is said to be written about 3000 years after'" the creation 
 of the world, therefore ; the scriptuTes cannot ptoperlj be 
 the Word of Grod. 
 
 ■We may see by the following remarks, that Hichiatd 
 Davies did not mkke it his business to depreciate' the 
 scriptures, but rather to come to the right use of them, 
 and to give forth a testimony to guide others to such use. 
 B>. D. was led to see as others who witnessed a '* good 
 confession" in his age, that the scriptures are not the 
 primary fount of religious truth, and are not entitled to 
 a name which only belongs to the Divine Word or Light 
 which lighteth every man that cometh into the world, 
 and not exclusively those who are privileged with the 
 possession of the scriptures. We see, too, that depend- 
 ence on this Word was intimately connected in E. D.'s 
 experience as to living spiritual worship, and his coming 
 out of the will- worship which prevailed around him. 
 
 I, with many more, was under that mistake that the 
 Jews were in, who thought they might have eternal life 
 in the scriptures ; Christ saith, John v. 39. " Search (or 
 ye search) the scriptures, for in them ye think ye have 
 eternal life, and they are they which testify of me ; and 
 ye will not come to me that ye might have life." As he 
 is the life, so he is the way to the Father ; " I am the 
 way, and the truth, and the life : no man cometh unto 
 the Father but by me," John xiv. 6. As for the scriptures, 
 I was a great lover, and a great reader of them, and took 
 great pleasure in searching of them, thinking that would 
 make me wise unto salvation, as Paul said to Timothy, 
 "And that from a child thou hast known the holy scrip- 
 tures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvati)(94i, 
 
19 
 
 through faith, which is in Christ Jesus," 2 Tim. iii. 15. This 
 main thing was wanting ; the true and saying faith ; which 
 is, the gift of God. " It is by grace we are saved through 
 faith, not of ourselves, it is the gift of God,'' Eph. ii. 8. 
 So it is the grace of God that biings salvation, and not the 
 bare historical knowledge of the scriptures. Too many 
 take a great deal of pride in a literal knowledge of them ; 
 some for their gain and profit ; others take pleasure in 
 them, by wresting them to vindicate their false and 
 erroneous opinions, that gender to strife and contention, 
 and take little or no notice of that meek, holy, and lovely 
 spirit of life that gave them forth, for they are of no 
 private interpretation; " but holy men of God spake them 
 as they were moved by the Holy Ghost," 2 Pet. i. 20, 21. 
 
 Men may have a great literal knowledge of the scrip- 
 tures, and yet remain in error, because they know them 
 not, as they ought to do, nor the power that was in the 
 holy men that gave them forth ; so I may say, as Christ 
 said to the Jews, '* You err, not knowing the scriptures, 
 nor the power of God," Mat, xxii. 29. So that which 
 gives the true knowledge of God, and a right under- 
 standing of the scriptures, is the power of God; and I 
 may say with the apostle, " Tor God, who commanded the 
 light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, 
 to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, 
 in the face of Jesus Christ," 2 Cor. iv. 6. And as men 
 and w^omen come to mind this light, that is, the Spirit of 
 God, and to obey it, they shall come to the comfort of 
 the scriptures, as the same apostle says, " For whatsoever 
 things were written aforetime, were \vritten for our 
 learning ; that we through patience and comfort of the 
 scriptures, might have hope," Eom. xv. 4. 
 
 And being under a serious consideration of \Ahat I 
 read in the scripture, believing the Spirit of the Lord to 
 be the interpreter thereof; those gi-eat mysteries that 
 
20 
 
 were hid from -ages and generations, and are hid now in 
 this our age from many, are come to be revealed by the 
 Spirit of God, and if they would have comfort in reading: 
 the scriptures, they must wait in that measure of the 
 spirit, which God hath given them, which is the only 
 key that opens them to the understanding of those that 
 are truly conscientious in the reading of them ; and 
 though I read them formerly, as many do now, without a 
 true sense and a due consideration, yet now I can bless 
 God for them, and have a great comfort in the reading of 
 them ; they being no more as a sealed book unto me, and 
 many more, who wait for the assistance of God's holy 
 Spirit, in their duties and performances that the Lord 
 requires of them, for without him we know tkat we can 
 do nothing that is pleasing unto him : though formerly 
 we ran, in our own time and wills, to preach and pray, 
 not having such a due regard to the leading and moving 
 of the Spirit of the Lord ; yet, I bless God, it is not so 
 now. Many times, when I did arise from my knees in a 
 formal way of prayer, a reproof was very near me, " Who 
 required this at thy hands? Tt is sparks of thy own 
 kindling." I was afraid that I should "lie down in 
 sorrow," as was said to some by the Lord, in Isaiah 1. 11. 
 
 But as to this head, I shall briefly conclude, though 
 much more might be said to the honour of the holy scrip- 
 tures ; but this is my desire, that they that read them, 
 may come to that which will give them a right under- 
 standing thereof : " For there is a spirit in man, and the 
 inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding," 
 Job xxxii. 8. 
 
 Then, as concerning water baptism, which I had under 
 consideration, though I was no admirer of it, being not 
 of the persuasion of re-baptizing. Those that were 
 Independents, were not so much at first for re-baptizing j 
 but afterward it prevailed more among them in these 
 
21 
 
 parts, when one Henry Jessy came here-aways. And 
 about that time it was, that I came from among them. 
 
 We gather from the following that the customary 
 language on the borders of Wales, even in the 17th 
 century, involved the use of yov to a single person; 
 whether it was looked on as a mark of respect or other- 
 wise, we are not clearly informed, in any case, the origin 
 of such a confusion of speech, which now is nearly 
 universal, was pride and corruption, and E. D. found that 
 the cross he was called to take up forbade compliance 
 with this custom. Ever since his time there have been 
 those who have had to pass through a similar experience, 
 and depart from forms of speech which tend to nourish 
 the heathen spirit. 
 
 I had much reasoning, and various consultations in my 
 mind concerning this, and the bread and wine. And 
 when I was satisfied as to those weighty concerns, 1 
 thought I might rest there, and keep my old customs and 
 fashions, and language ; but that would not do, I had no 
 peace therein; God shewed me the customs of the nation 
 were vain, and our language not according to the language 
 of God's people, recorded in the scriptures of truth. So 
 I made a conscientious search into this also : — where I 
 found the great Creator of heaven and earth, who by the 
 word of his power made all things therein, created man 
 in his own image, " In the image of God created he him : 
 male and female created he them. And God blessed them, 
 and gave them dominion over all things that he had 
 created on the earth; and Adam gave names to them. 
 And God took him, and put him in the garden of Eden, 
 to dress it and to keep it. And the Lord commanded the 
 
22 
 
 man, saying, 0£ every tree of the garden thou mayest 
 freely eat," Gen. ii. 15, 16. This is the first Tliou to 
 man, that I read of in the scripture; and the great 
 Creator said, " Every thing that he had made was very 
 good," Gren. i. 31. and his language to man was very good 
 and pure. Then a^ain, when Adam transgressed the law 
 and commandment of God, " the Lord God called unto 
 Adam, and said unto him. Where art tliou? And he said, 
 I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because 
 I was naked,'"' Gen. iii. 9. 10. Here was the language of 
 God to man, and the language of man to God. And in 
 the searching of the scriptures, I found that all the holy 
 men of God used that language, and Christ taught his 
 disciples to pray in that language ; " Our Father, which 
 art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, 
 thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,'^ Mat. vi. 
 And withal, 1 knew a little grammar, and how that it was 
 improper to say vos [you] to one single person, instead of 
 tu [thou]. And though the learntjd in our nation spoke 
 it, yet I thought Christians should not use it, but should 
 take the Spirit of God, according to the scripture, to be 
 their rule, and not to follow the confused language of the 
 heathens ; for the Lord, by the m.outh of his prophet, 
 commanded his people, " Learn not the way of the 
 heathen, — for the customs of the people are vain," 
 Jer. X. 2, 3. I also believed, that the Lord would return 
 to his people a pure language in these days, as was 
 promised in the days of old concerning Israel: then, 
 when they returned to the Lord, he would bring them 
 out of their captivity: "For then, saith the Lord, will 1 
 turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call 
 upon the name of the Lord to serve him with one 
 consent," Zeph. iii. 9. 
 
 Thus I was conscientiously concerned to speak the pure 
 language of tliee and thou to every one, without respect 
 
23 
 
 o£ persons, which was a great thi^g to me, though it 
 seem to some but a weak and foolish thing, yet when the 
 Lord lays the necessity o£ speaking the truth to all, in 
 that language that God and all his servants used, it comes 
 to be of a greater weight than many light, airy people think 
 it is. The sayings of Christ came to my mind, when he 
 said, " Whosoever will be my disciple, let him deny him- 
 self, and take up his cross daily and follow me," Luke ix. 
 23. He doth not say he should do it, but let him do it, 
 imperatively ; which was a command, viz. " That we 
 should deny ourselves, and follow him:" see also Mat. 
 xvi. 24. And moreover it is said, " He that taketh not 
 his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me," 
 Mat. X. 38. 
 
 This necessity being laid upon me, I spoke to my master 
 in that dialect ; he was not offended at it, because he was 
 convinced of the truth of it, and that it ought to be 
 spoken to every one ; but when I gave it to my mistress, 
 she took a stick and gave me such a blow upon my bare 
 head, that made it swell and sore for a considerable time ; 
 she was so disturbed at it, that she swore she would kill 
 me, though she should be hanged for me ; the enemy had 
 so possessed her, that she was quite out of order ; though 
 beforetime she very seldom, if ever, gave me an angry 
 word. But I considered, that the enmity was between 
 the two seeds, and that " that which was born after the 
 flesh, did persecute him that is born after the spirit." I 
 being well satisfied of the truth in myself remembered 
 Christ's words, " He that loveth father or mother more 
 than me, is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or 
 daughter more than me, is not worthy of me ; and he that 
 findeth his life, shall lose it ; and he that loseth his life 
 for my sake, shall find it," Mat. x. 37, 39. 
 
 The Almighty God put it in my heart to consider the 
 qpst, and that through tribulation I was to enter the 
 
24 
 
 kingdom of heaven ; and 1 was faithful in this testimony 
 that I had to bear. I was much encouraged to go on in 
 that strait and narrow way, that God shewed me I was 
 to walk in. I also considered the saying of Christ. 
 " AVhosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, 
 cannot be my disciple." Again, " Which of you, intending 
 to build a tower, sitteth not down first and counteth the 
 cost, whether he hath sufficient to finish it ? Lest haply 
 after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish 
 it, all that behold it, begin to mock him saying, This man 
 began to build, but was not able to finish," Luke xiv. 
 27—30. 
 
 This consideration was weighty with me, lest I should 
 begin to take up the cross, and to walk in this way, and 
 should not be able to hold out to the end; first, because 
 of the temptation of Satan, the lust of the flesh, and the 
 sinful customs and fashions of this world, which were 
 very prevalent; and the weight and burthen that was 
 upon me was great, having none in the country to be an 
 help to me in the time of my exercise, but the Lord alone, 
 that hath promised to be with his people in all their 
 troubles and exercises, and that he would not leave them 
 nor forsake them. I was very ready and Avilling to take 
 hold of his promises ; and my prayers unto him were, 
 TJiat he ivoidcl enable me to go tlirovgli all tilings that he 
 required. I was sensible, that without the assistance of 
 his holy Spirit, I could not perform that service which he 
 required of me. 
 
 At this time the Quakers were the only people or 
 denomination, whose religious principles led them to 
 adhere strictly to thee and thou to everyone, and to refuse 
 the compliment of doffing the hat ; there were also other 
 matters, which caused them to become singular. It is 
 
25 
 
 seldom that professing Quakers follow in the steps of their 
 predecessors, but the small Society of Primitive Fnends 
 still observes a good degree of plainness of speech and 
 dress ; K.D. continues, — 
 
 I was now first called a Quaker, because I said to a 
 single person thee and thou, and kept on my hat. and did 
 not go after the customs and fashions of the world, that 
 other professors lived and walked in. Though some of 
 them would complain of their formalities, and were weary 
 of the fashions of the world ; yet they did not take up 
 their cross, and leave them. 
 
 The rage of my mistress was not yet abated, though she 
 had nothing against me, but not conforming to the cor- 
 rupt language and vain customs of the world; for I 
 laboured to keep a conscience void of offence, both 
 towards God and men ; 1 did my work and service 
 honestly and justly, " not with eye service, as men- 
 pleasers, but in singleness of heart, as the servant of 
 Christ, doing the will of God from the heart,'* Ephes. vi. 
 5, 6, and ver. 8. " Knowing that whatsoever good thing 
 any man doth, the same shall he receive of the Lord,. 
 whether he be bond or free." 
 
 In thus doing, I had great comfort from the Lord, and 
 did receive from him living satisfaction and encourage- 
 ment to go on in my way ; remembering that scripture 
 that saith, " The righteous shall hold on his way, and he 
 that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger," 
 Job xvii. 9. I might also say uith Job, " But he knoweth 
 the way that I take, when he hath tried me, I shall come 
 forth as gold ; my foot hath tried his steps ; his way have 
 I kept, and not declined ; neither have I gone back from 
 the commandment of his lips : I have esteemed the words 
 of his mouth more than my necessary food," Job xxxiii. 
 10 — 12. The Lord kept me, and his people, very meek 
 
26 
 
 and low in our minds,. in a self-denying spirit; we waited 
 for the living Word, that came with a living voice, from 
 him that speaks from heaven to us by his Spirit; so that 
 he gave us to discern between the voice of wisdom, and 
 the voice of the strange woman, which is the voice of the 
 flesh, and the lust thereof; and the living voice is the 
 voice of Christ in us the hope of glory ; which voice we 
 esteemed more than our necessary food. For obeying 
 this voice, we came to be mocked and derided ; " and they 
 spoke all manner of evil against us, and hated us for his 
 name's sake," Mat. x. 22. I remembered what Christ 
 hath told us in Luke xxi. 12. "They shall lay their 
 hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the 
 synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings 
 and rulers for my name's sake : and it shall return to you 
 for a testimony. Settle it therefore in your hearts, not 
 to meditate before what ye shall answer ; for I will give 
 you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall 
 not be able to gainsay or resist," Luke xxi. 13 — 15. 
 
 These and the like afflictions I was to meet with, if I 
 truly and faithfully followed the Lord Jesus Christ ; 
 therefore I laboured to put on the whole armour of light, 
 that I might be able to withstand the fiery darts of the 
 wicked one, who sought to weaken my faith, and to 
 persuade me of the hardness, straightness, and narrowness 
 of the way, that I should not be able to hold out to the 
 end, seeing there was not any in this country to help and 
 assist me ; but the fiery darts of the enemy that I felt, 
 came more by his servants than otherwise. Very prevalent 
 he was in this poor misled woman, my mistress, who was 
 persuaded by him to kill me, and shed innocent blood ; 
 and one time, when she thought it a fit opportunity to 
 execute her will and cruelty, she fell into a great rage, 
 and I was freely given up to die that hour by her ; but 
 the Lord was pleased to accept of my freewill offering, 
 
and I may say with the apostle, " that I accounted aot 
 my Ufe dear to myself, that I might finish my course 
 with joy." And the Lord alone appeared to my deliver- 
 ance, and made her more moderate the rest o£ my servi- 
 tude, it being somewhat less than two years ; and after I 
 went away, the Lord visited her with a sharp fit of sick- 
 ness, in which time she spoke to her husband and them 
 that were with her, that she thought she should not die 
 till she had asked me forgiveness, and desired them to 
 send for me if it were London ; and so they did : 1 could 
 freely forgive her, for that I had done long since, and I 
 prayed to my heavenly Father that he might forgive her 
 also. I sent to her, and it pleased God to touch her 
 with a sense of his love, and lengthened her days, she 
 confessing oftentimes the wrong she had done to an 
 honest, careful young man, as she said I had been, who 
 minded her husband's inward and outward good, more 
 than they did themselves. It pleased God to order it so, 
 that she had a visit from me, before she went out of this 
 world, and very comfortable and acceptable it was to her; 
 and in a little time she ended her days in peace, and 
 was buried in friends' burying-place near Dolgelly in 
 Merionethshire. 
 
 About this time, 1657, it was the great talk of the 
 country that I was become a Quaker. My parents were 
 much concerned about me. I w^as informed that the 
 priest of Welch-pool, W. Longford, went to them and 
 told them, that I was gone distracted, and that they 
 should see for some learned men to come to me and 
 restore me to my senses. I had not been yet with my 
 father nor mother, but waited for freeness and clearness 
 in myself, and then I went to see them, and in my way I 
 visited an old friend of mine, a professor, and had a little 
 opportunity to speak to him of the things of God, and 
 liis goodness to me, and a young man, called David Davies, 
 
28 
 
 was then convinced of the truth : this was on a seventh- 
 day, in the afternoon : and when I was clear there, I 
 went to Welch-pool to mj parents. It was a trouhle to 
 them, to see that I did not, as formerly, go down upon 
 my knees to ask their blessing, and bow to them, and 
 take off my hat. My father soon turned his back upon 
 me. I had heard of his displeasure, and that he had said, 
 he would leave me nothing ; saying to my relations, that 
 they thought to have had comfort of me, but now they 
 expected none, but that I would go up and down the 
 country, crying Eepent ! Repent ! Now if my father 
 should have cast me off upon such an account, I was well 
 persuaded it was for Christ's and the gospel's sake. I 
 remembered David's condition, when he said, "Hide not 
 thy face far from me, put not thy servant away in anger : 
 thou hast been my help, leave me not, neither forsake me, 
 O God of my salvation ; when my father and my mother 
 forsake me, then the Lord will take me up : teach me thy 
 way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path because of mine 
 enemies," Psalm xxvii. 9 — 11. 
 
 At length my mother came tenderly to me, and took a 
 view of me, looking on my face, and she saw that I was 
 her child, and that I was not, as they said, bewitched, or 
 transformed into some other likeness; wliich was reported 
 of Quakers then, and that they bewitched people to their 
 religion, &c. Thus they deceived them and many others, 
 with strange stories, and we were accounted with the 
 apostles, deceivers, yet true. And when I discoursed 
 with her out of the scriptures, her heart was much 
 tendered and affected with the goodness of God towards 
 me ; she went to see for my father, and when she found 
 him, said unto him, "Be of good comfort, our son is not as 
 was reported of him, we hope to have comfort of him yet.'^ 
 
 The next paragraph records an incident of a character 
 
29 
 
 not very uncommon in those days. The term _.chnrch 
 was denied by E. D. and his brethren to a building o£ 
 mortar and stone, — it expressed more than the truth, and 
 tended to foster a spirit of superstitious reverence amongst 
 the people for places supposed to be hoUer than others. 
 
 These buildings the Friends called *' steeple-houses," 
 being at that time, as now, national property, and the 
 national will no longer expressing itself by the use of Epis- 
 copal forms, the Book of Common Prayer was banished from 
 them, and persons of Presbyterian, Independent, or 
 Baptist tenets usually officiated there ; it then some- 
 times happened that those who had been brought to the 
 dispensation of the Spirit — ^^the despised Quakers, felt 
 themselves commissioned to be present and offer a 
 Divine message or testimony to the congregation, which 
 tended to spread a knowledge of the Truth. 
 
 But when my father came to his house, he spoke not 
 much to me that night. The next day, being the first 
 day of the week, when I heard the bells ring, it came 
 upon me to go to the steeple-house, to visit that priest 
 that had told my father, I was gone distracted, &c., and 
 when he was at his worship, I went to our own seat to 
 my father ; (there was no common-prayer read then to 
 the people, as part of their worship in those days) there 
 I sat still till he had done, and when he had done what 
 he had then to say, I stood up and told him, That he 
 might do well to stay, and make good the false doctrine, 
 that day, if he could ; and if I was distracted, as he 
 reported, that he might labour to restore me to my right 
 senses again. But I spoke but a little while, ere I was 
 taken away to prison, with the young man before men- 
 tioned, that came to see for me, and found me in the 
 
30 
 
 steeple-house, so both of us were taken ; there we were 
 prisoners that night, in which time many far and near 
 came to see us, expecting that we were some deformed 
 creatures. Grod gave me a seasonable exhortation to 
 them to fear the Lord, and indeed to cry, " E-epent, 
 repent, for the kingdom of heaven was at hand ; " letting 
 them know, " that we were Grod's workmanship, created 
 anew in Christ Jesus;" with much more to that effect. 
 I spoke to them from the scripture, which was much to 
 their satisfaction, and we praised Grod, that kept us in 
 his fear and counsel. 
 
 We were committed to prison on that law, made in 
 Olivers days, that none were to speak to the priest or 
 preachers, neither at their worship, nor coming and 
 going. The next morning we were had before the chief 
 magistrate of the town of Welch-pool, and after some 
 discourse with him, it seemed good to him to discharge 
 us, for he could find nothing justly to accuse us of, except 
 concerning the law of our God. 
 
 So we went to our homes, the young man to his 
 father's, and 1 to my master's ; he suffered much violence 
 by his father, in regard that he could not conform him- 
 self to that dry, dead, and formal praying that his father 
 used ; his father rose from off his knees when he was at 
 prayer, and took a staff, and did violently beat his son, 
 and against natural affection, he took a lock and chain, 
 and chained him out of doors in a cold frosty night. 
 Thus our sufferings began to increase, for the testimony 
 of our consciences towards Grod ; but blessed be the name 
 of the Lord, who preserved his people that trusted in 
 him, saith my soul. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 P1EIICIN& PowEH TN A Silent Meeting at Shrews- 
 BURY — Visit to a Gr ay Company of Dancers — Eoger 
 Prichard — Vayasor Powell — Meetings in the 
 open-air decided on — Goes to London — Inward 
 Pointings TOWARD Marriage — Meets George Fox — 
 Imprisoned at Montgomery and at Shrewsbury^ 
 Bridgenorth. 
 
 A little after this I came to hear, that some of the 
 people that were called Quakers, were at Shrewsbury in 
 the county of Salop, being distant from the place of my 
 abode about eighteen miles ; I waited for an opportunity 
 to go to see them, and the way of their worship, for as 
 yet I had not seen any of them, but that one poor man 
 before mentioned. When the time called Christmas 
 came, my master's work being somewhat oyer fcr a while, 
 I got leave to go so far. I went first to the house of 
 John Millington, where many friends resorted, and they 
 of the town came to see me in great love and tenderness, 
 and much brokenness of heart was among us, though but 
 few words. "We waited to feel the Lord among us, in all 
 our comings together. When the First day of the week 
 came, we went to a meeting at W. Pane's, at the Whyte 
 Cop, where we had a silent meeting, and though it was 
 •siknt from words, yet the word of the Lord was among 
 us, it was 'a hammer and a fire, it was sharper than any 
 fwo-edged sword, it pierced through our inward parts, it 
 
32 
 
 melted and brought us into tears, that there was scarcely 
 a dry eye among us ; the Lord's blessed power over- 
 shadowed our meeting, and I could have said, that God 
 alone was master of that assembly. The next day as I 
 was preparing homewards, having had a considerable time 
 with friends there, and being much comforted with the 
 goodness of God, and unfeigned love of the brethren, we 
 heard that John ap John was come to town, and was to 
 have a meeting there ; I staid that meeting, where 1 
 heard the first friend that was. called a Quaker, preach in 
 a meeting, and when I heard him, I thought, he ^spoke as 
 orje having authority, and not as the Scribes, Ms words 
 were so sound and piercing. ■ ' 
 
 After this meeting at Shrewsbury, 1 6ame home to my 
 master's house, where I was under many considerations, 
 and especially that of Christ's words, " Ye are the light 
 of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. 
 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, 
 but on a candlestick, and it giveth light unto all tl^iat-are 
 in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that 
 they may see your works, and glorify your Father whicti 
 is in heaven," Mat. V. 14 — 16. 
 
 I was sensible that God had opened my understanding, 
 and lighted my candle, and given me a sense and feeling 
 of my own state and condition, how that I had been in 
 darkness, and under the region and shadow of death ; and 
 God having shewed mercy and kindness unto me, in 
 calling of me from this great darkness to the marvellous 
 light of his dear Son Christ Jesus, that; is, " the light of 
 the world, that enlighteneth every man that cometh into 
 the world ; " I was made Avilling not to hide my candle, as 
 it were under a bushel, or to hide my talent inthe earth; 
 but in the love of God, I was made willing to let.-that 
 light, which he pleased by his grace to enlightefi ifte 
 withal, shine before men, that they , might come -.'■'. to 
 
33 
 
 glorify their heavenly father, which is in heaven," Mat. 
 V. 16. 
 
 The next public service that the Lord required of me, 
 was to go and give my testimony for him, and to warn a 
 company of people to think of their latter end, who were 
 met to dance and to play, at what they called a merry 
 night, t not far from my master's house. When I came 
 within the room where they were dancing, the fiddler 
 ceased playing, and they dancing; I declared the word at' 
 the Lord among them. That which was chiefly before 
 me was that of Job ; " They send forth their little ones 
 like a flock, and their children dance. They take the 
 timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ. 
 They spend their days in mirth, and in a moment go 
 down to the grave,'*' Job xxi. 11 — 13. When I had 
 discharged myself of what lay upon me, I parted in love 
 and peace from them, and they thanked me for my good 
 exhortation, and some of them came to set me home. 
 
 About this time, 1658, I heard of one that was called 
 a Quaker, who was come from Ireland to Llanfyilin,* a 
 town in the county of Montgomery, and in the love of 
 God I went upon the first day of the week to visit him ; 
 where we had a comfortable refreshing meeting together, 
 and the Lord's presence was with us, though we were 
 strangers one to another, as to the outward, yet we had 
 fellowship and unity one with another in the inward life 
 of righteousness ; his name was Roger Prichard.t He 
 tarried not long there, but went back again to Ireland ; 
 
 * Spelt Llanvilling in the English edition. 
 % Noswaith la wen 
 
 f It is not improbable that R. P., an ancestor of the Editor's, 
 was a Welsh-speaking man who had either served in the Army in 
 Ireland, or had gone there for trading purposes not long before. 
 His convincement, too, must have been recent, as Truth was not 
 promulgated in that country before 1653. A stranger to Wales 
 would hardly have had a concern to live at Llanfyilin. 
 B 
 
34 
 
 though it was said, he came to these parts with an inten- 
 tion to stay here, and to bear his testimony for God in 
 this dark corner of North Wales; but he not being 
 faithful to God, who sent him here, as he was going back 
 he suffered great losses by sea, and lost his good condition 
 also, and turned back to the vanities of the world, which 
 was a great sorrow and exercise to me: but the Lord 
 visited him again, as may be seen hereafter. Thus I 
 was left alone again. 
 
 I continued, as the Lord made way for me, to visit 
 those in whom I found any inclination to the things that 
 were good, and there was one William Davies convinced 
 of the truth with me. I was also made willing to visit 
 the Independent meeting, and those people that I 
 formerly belonged to, that were a separate people, * 
 gathered together chiefly by Vavasor Powell, before 
 mentioned, a zealous man in his day. But when truth 
 broke forth in this country, I being the first to receive it 
 in these parts, did separate myself from them, in love to 
 that blessed truth that I received, and it became my true 
 teacher. So Vavasor Powell proved angry [like many more 
 of the teachers of that day who saw their flocks diminish- 
 ing], and preached much against the Quakers, their way 
 and principles; I hearing this, came to a place called 
 Cloddiaucochion, near Welch-pool, to the meeting, ex- 
 pecting to find him there ; but he was not there. John 
 Griflithes, a justice of the peace in those days, was 
 preaching there. When I came in among them, they 
 seemed uneasy ; and when I had an opportunity, I 
 bore a testimony for God, and his son Christ Jesus, 
 his way, truth, and people, which they preached 
 against. When I had done M'hat I had to say, he 
 went on again ; and when I found something more 
 
 ♦ " A separate people " means " Independents." 
 
3^ 
 
 upon my spirit to declare among them, this John 
 Griffithes commanded to take me away ; and a near 
 relation of mine, that owned the house, took me in his 
 arms, and led me out o£ the house through the fold, and 
 through a gate that opened to the common, and shut the 
 gate after me. There I sat under an ash tree, weeping 
 and mourning to see the blindness, darkness, and hardness 
 of heart, pride, and haughtiness, that were come over a 
 people who once were loving, kind, and humble in spirit. 
 As I sat weightily under a serious consideration, what 
 and when would be the end of these formalities and 
 hardness of heart, I prayed to the Lord for them. And 
 the word of the Lord came to me, that though they put 
 me out of their house, yet in time they would own truth, 
 and that house should be a meeting-place for friends. Of 
 this a further account may be seen hereafter. So I went 
 away, well satisfied of the love and goodness of God to 
 me that day, in giving me comfort and consolation, for 
 my tears of sorrow and affliction, that I met ^^ith a little 
 before; and I remembered the saying of the apostle, 
 Heb. xii. 11. "Now no chastening for the present 
 seemeth to be joyous, but grievous ; nevertheless, after- 
 ward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness, 
 unto them that are exercised thereby." 
 
 After this, I still waited to know the will and counsel 
 of God, and that he might direct me in my way and order 
 my steps in this spiritual travail ; for I had none to look 
 unto, but to him alone, who was all-sufficient to carry on 
 the work which he had begun, though often by weak, 
 poor, mean, and contemptible instruments in the eyes of 
 the world. Well might I say with the apostle, " But God 
 hath chosen the foolish things of the world, to confound 
 the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the 
 world to confound the things which are mighty ; and 
 base things of the world, and things which are despised. 
 
36 
 
 hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring 
 to nought things that are," 1 Cor. i. 27, 28. 
 
 About this time I went to visit some young men, my 
 former companions in profession of religion ; two or three 
 of them were convinced, and received the truth. When 
 we were come to the number of four, it was with me, 
 that we ought to meet together in the name of the Lord; 
 for I remembered the promise of Christ, who said, " Where 
 two or three are gathered together in my name, there am 
 I in the midst of them," Mat. xviii. 20. 
 
 So we all agreed to meet together, but none of us had 
 a house of his own to meet in. We determined there- 
 fore to meet upon a hill in a common as near as we could, 
 for the convenience of each other, we living some miles 
 distant one from another. There we met in silence, to 
 the wonder of the country. When the rain and weather 
 beat upon one side of the hill, we went to the other 
 side. We were not free to go into any neighbour's 
 enclosures, for they were so bhnd, dark, and ignorant, 
 that they looked upon us as witches, and would go away 
 from us, some crossingt themselves with their hands about 
 their foreheads and faces. 
 
 Eichard Davies tells us here that some of his rehgious 
 acquaintances were "convinced" and "received the Truth." 
 Now the reader may be at a loss to understand the mean- 
 ing of such expressions ; they are not indeed fully clear 
 without actual personal experience of such convincement. 
 We may, however, refer back to E. D.'s previous life and 
 way of worship, and comparing that with his account of 
 
 * The reader should remember that only 100 years before 
 Roman Catholicism was the religion of the Country ; and in 
 remote parts of Wales, some of the old superstitious practices 
 survived long after Richard Davies's time. 
 
37 
 
 the meetings spoken of below, notice a great change in 
 his manner of worship which was a consequence of his 
 " convincement." 
 
 When E.D. frequented the Independent Meetings he 
 and his friends were used to pray in their own will and 
 time, and there is every reason to believe that preaching, 
 praying, and singing took up the whole time professedly 
 devoted to Divine worship, yet, a worship in reality o£ 
 which the spirit of man rather than the Spirit of God was 
 the leader ; R.D. himself states that he was at a loss, and 
 knew not which way to take, in order to have peace and 
 comfort in his performances. 'Now compare such meetings, 
 \\'ith that held at Shrewsbury, where not a word was 
 spoken, but in which those present came under the 
 ministry of the living Word which is as a hammer and a 
 fire, and in consequence there was scarce a dry eye among 
 them. 
 
 So these young men whose minds had been so far 
 enlightened, as to see that all good was of God, came to- 
 gether to w^orship in public and in the open air. What 
 an opportunity it would appear for enlightened minds to 
 preach the Truth to their neighbours, to inform them 
 of what was faulty in their worship, and of what doctrines 
 they were called on to support. But no, they had, it is 
 true, to preach a powerful sermon to the whole country 
 side, but it was a sermon without words. The Episco- 
 palians who were then ousted from the old parish mass- 
 houses,(commonly called churches), could not perform their 
 public worship without a book, nor without the presence 
 
88 
 
 of a man supposed to be qualified in some mysterious way 
 by the laying on of hands, to minister spiritual things. 
 The dominant sects of that time represented at Welshpool 
 by Vavasor Powell, gathered people by continued vocal 
 exercises, and without these, their meetings could not be 
 held ; but here were these few young men neither preach- 
 ing nor praying vocally, but meeting for public worship 
 to the " wonder of the Country." 
 
 If it be asked why not preach, we might well query 
 in return, why preach without an immediate command, 
 why not wait in silence ? 
 
 For this, there are several reasons, all centreing in the 
 relations which the creature bears toward the Creator. 
 1. — Grod is a Spirit. 
 2. — The spirit of man needs to be ministered to by 
 
 the Spirit of Grod. 
 3. — Mere words at best only give notions of Truth, 
 and cannot effect this ministry, i.e., they 
 cnnnot feed the soul with heavenly bread, 
 but only keep the mind in activity. 
 4. — Everything in worship not inspired by the 
 Spirit of God, is a hindrance rather than a 
 help. Therefore words without a call and 
 Divine leading are to be abstained from. 
 
 A meeting in the najne of Christ, that is in his power, 
 may then be a wholly silent meeting outwardly, yet one 
 in which the work of the nevv creation goes forward, and 
 the soul receives sustenance and strength, or if any words 
 be spoken they will be in " demonstration of the Spirit, 
 and with power." R.D. goes on to say : — 
 
39 
 
 Thus we continued for some time, till two of them left 
 me; one of them was put apprentice by friends to 
 William Shewen,t of London. The other young man was 
 a soldier in Oliver Cromwell's days, and he got, as soon 
 as he could, to be disbanded, so he went to Grloucester- 
 shire, and lived among friends. The third was one 
 WilHam Davies, that lived hard by me, and we met 
 together for some time; but one time he staid longer 
 than usual, and a foul dark spirit possessed him, so that 
 the little time we were together, was not comfortable to 
 me, and when we had broke up the meeting, by way of 
 discourse, he asked me, how I did think we should stand 
 in the face of the whole country. I answered him with 
 great zeal, the Serpent, the Serpent, the same that 
 beguiled the woman in Paradise, hath beguiled thee, thou 
 wilt not be able to stand. And while we were yet dis- 
 coursing, I saw ray master coming, who was also con- 
 vinced, but was not faithful to that good Spirit that 
 convinced him of the truth, and shewed him what he 
 ought to do, but did it not, yet he continued loving to 
 friends, and frequented their meetings to his latter end. 
 As I looked back, I saw him coming towards us, with two 
 women following him, the one was his wife, my cruel 
 mistress, the other was his sister ; they both had staves 
 in their hands, and when they came unto us, the sister 
 began to beat her brother my master, and my mistress 
 set a beating of W. Davies. So his trial came very 
 quickly, and W. Davies came no more to meet with me, 
 
 t William Shewen, was a draper of the City of London, . . 
 who is best known to posterity by his Meditations and Experiences, 
 which has been successively re-printed, the last edition at 
 Newport in 1893, and it is nearly out of print. This valued work 
 has little to say on the historical parts of Christianity which are 
 acknowledged by most professors, nor in what might be called 
 Christian theory and abstract doctrine. It contains & clear 
 testimony to the nature and effects of spiritual religion as 
 realized inwardly in actual experience. 
 
40 
 
 nor any other friends, for many years ; yet he afterwards 
 came among friends, and continued with them to the end 
 of his days, and was buried among them. It so happened 
 that I had never a blow among them, and if I had 
 received any, I had learned of Christ Jesus, my Lord and 
 master, to suffer patiently for his name's sake, and not to 
 depart from him, though my trials, temptations, and 
 afflictions were not a few ; so that I may say with the 
 apostle, " But none of these things move me, neither 
 count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish 
 my course wdth joy." Acts xx. 24. 2 Cor. iv. 1 7. Mat. 
 X. 37, 38, 39. 
 
 These young men going away thus, I was left alone 
 again, but still I kept waiting upon the Lord, to know 
 his will and good pleasure concerning me ; and when the 
 time of my apprenticeship was over, I found freedom to 
 go to London, to visit friends there, which was in the 
 year 1658-9 ; and finding many good and living ''' friends 
 there, I settled to my trade, being a felt maker, and very 
 well satisfied I was, that I could go to meetings, and 
 follow my business. When any thing would come to my 
 mind of this my native country, barren and uninhabited 
 with friends and truth, I endeavoured to shut it out, and 
 to keep where I was, and I did what I could ; but all my 
 fair pretences and reasonings would not do, disobedient 
 to the Lord I was, and trouble and sorrow, and judgment 
 from the Lord came upon me, for not obeying his com- 
 mand, to go to my own country to stand a witness for 
 him there. In this my disobedience, I continued till I 
 lost his presence, and he smote me with trouble within, 
 and pain in my bones, that I could not work nor labour. 
 In this time, friends of London were very kind and careful 
 of me, and would freely have administered unto me, but 
 
 * Living in the Divine Life, with spiritual senses exercised therein 
 
41 
 
 1 was not willmg to accept o£ any thing from them, so 
 long as I had of my own. My pain of body and spirit 
 increased upon me, till at last I was forced to bow to the 
 will of the great Grod, who was too strong for me ; and 
 reasoning with him one night, upon the bed of my sorrows, 
 he shewed me clearly, that I was to go to my own 
 country ; and I was made willing to give up to go, if he 
 would be pleased to let me know his will and pleasure by 
 this sign and token, that he would remove my pain. I 
 also reasoned with him thus ; that I was alone, like a 
 pelican in the wilderness, or a sparrow on a house top. 
 The Lord still commanded me to go, shewing that he 
 would provide a help-meet for me. And when I had 
 made a covenant with the Lord to go, immediately my 
 pain was removed, and I had peace and quietness of mind 
 and spirit. I arose next morning, and went to my work; 
 and when those tender friends, that had a regard for me 
 in my sickness, came to see me that morning, I was gone 
 to work ; which was to their admiration. 
 
 So the Lord gave me a little time, and he alone pro- 
 vided an help-meet f^.r me; for I prayed unto him, that 
 she might be of his own providing, for it was not yet 
 manifest to me where she was, or who she was. But one 
 time as I was at Horselydown meeting in Southwark, I 
 heard a woman friend open her mouth, by way of testi- 
 mony against an evil ranting spirit that did oppose 
 friends much in those days. It came to me from the 
 Lord that that woman was to be my wife, and to go with 
 me to the country, and to be an help-meet for me. 
 After meeting, I drew somewhat near to her, but spoke 
 nothing, nor took any acquaintance with her, nor did I 
 know when, or where I should see her again. I was very 
 willing to let the Lord order it as it seemed best to him- 
 self, and therein I was easy; and in time the Lord 
 brought us acquainted one with another, and she con- 
 
42 
 
 fessed that she had some sight of the same thing that I 
 had seen concerning her. So after some time we parted, 
 and I was freely resigned to the will of Grod ; and when 
 we came together again, I told her, if the Lord did 
 order her to be my wife, she must come with me to a 
 strange country, where there were no friends but what 
 God in time might call and gather to himself. Upon a 
 little consideration, she said, if the Lord should order it 
 so, she must go with her husband, though it were to the 
 wilderness ; and being somewhat sensible of the workings 
 of God upon her spirit in this matter, she was willing to 
 condescend in her mind to what H e wrought in her : but 
 by hearkening to one who had not well weighed the 
 matter, she became disobedient to what God had revealed 
 to her; which brought great sorrow and trouble upon 
 her. I went to see her in this poor condition, and I 
 rested satisfied with the will of God in this concern, 
 being freely resigned, if the Lord had wrought the same 
 thing in her, as was in me, to receive her as his gift to 
 me; and after some time, we waiting upon the Lord 
 together, she arose, and declared before me, and the 
 other friend who had begot doubts and reasonings in her 
 mind, that in the name and power of God she consented 
 to be my wife, and to go along with me, whither the 
 Lord should order us ; and 1 said, in the fear of the Lord 
 I receive thee as the gift of God to me. So I rested 
 satisfied in the will of God, for a further accomplishment 
 of it. 
 
 The cross pressed upon faithful friends in many ways, 
 and they were not exempt in the important matter of 
 marriage; no way had been made for the effective legaliza- 
 tion of Friends' marriages at their own meetings, and 
 marriage by a priest amounted to an endorsement of 
 
43 
 
 priestly authority which would have directly contradicted 
 the testimony given them by their Lord and Master. 
 
 Under a weighty consideration, which way to take 
 each other in marriage, we concluded to lay our pro- 
 ceedings before our elders, and especially our ancient 
 friend George Fox ; (people in those days were married 
 by a priest, or before a justice) and I told Gr. Fox, we 
 thought to take each other in a public meeting ; so he 
 desired the Lord to be with us. And when we saw our 
 clearness in the Lord, we went to the Snail meeting in 
 Tower Street, London, in the morning; and in the after- 
 noon to Horselydown, Southwark ; and in that meeting, 
 being the 26th of the fourth month, 1659, in the 
 presence of God, and that assembly, we took each other 
 to be man and wife. 
 
 God alone knew our innocency and integrity in going 
 together. It was not for gold nor silver, nor for any 
 outward thing ; but to be serviceable to him in our age 
 and gent^ration, and to stand witnesses for him and his 
 blessed truth, where he should send us. I might say 
 with Tobias, " Thou madest Adam, and gavest him Eve 
 his wife, for a helper and a stay ; of them came mankind. 
 Thou hast said, it is not good that man should be alone, 
 let us make him an aid like himself." Tobit viii. 6. 
 
 Soon after, in the liOrd's time, we made what haste we 
 could to come to the country, where we believed the Lord 
 would have us to be, and we said, O Lord, if thou wilt go 
 with us in our way, and give us bread to eat, and raiment 
 to put on, then, O Lord, thou shalt be our God ; and the 
 Lord was with us in all our journey, and gave unto us 
 his sweet and comfortable presence. 
 
 Eichard Davies' history now brings us to the downfall 
 
44 
 
 of the old Puritan paHy and the rise of the Eoyalists, 
 who were made tools of, as their successors are now, by 
 ecclesiastics professedly acting in the interests of religion, 
 to aid them in the vain attempt to crush out or repress 
 dissent. 
 
 E. D. we see, boldly kept his hat in the presence of 
 these Royalist justices. He and his friends had been 
 instructed that this taking off the hat to mortal man was 
 an honour which God would lay in the dust, and they 
 were required to abstain from the general practice. 
 
 Soon after we came to Welch-Pool, those professors, 
 who had been and were in great power, began to be 
 faint-hearted, because of the report of bringing in king 
 Charles the Second ; which in a little time was accom- 
 plished, and those that were in great pomp, were brought 
 to prison themselves. And I was had before the first 
 justices that were made in these parts by the authority 
 of king Charles the Second, in the year 1660, notwith- 
 standing I was a prisoner to the magistrate of the town. 
 When I went up before them, many of the people of the 
 town followed me, to see what would become of me, and 
 to what prison they would send me, or what punishment 
 they would inflict upon me. But the Lord was with me, 
 and I feared not man, whose breath is in his nostrils, but 
 the living Grod whom I desired to obey in all things. 
 When I was come into the room, it being in the night, 
 colonel Mostyn, and the justices stood as people in 
 a maze, to see me come with my hat on my head amongst 
 them, and spoke not one word to me for some time. Iti 
 a little while, I asked them, whether they sent for me 
 there; they said, they did. One of the justices asked 
 me, where I had that new way, and strange religion ; I 
 answered him. It was the good old way that the prophets 
 
45 
 
 and servants of Grod lived and walked in ; and that way 
 I had found, and desired to walk in it all my days. That 
 justice was peevish, and said, 1 think the man is mad : 
 I think w^e must have him whipped ; though I answered 
 them according to scripture, yet they were ignorant of it. 
 They demanded of me to take the oath of allegiance and 
 supremacy ; I told them, that my Lord and Master 
 Christ Jesus and his apostle James commanded me not to 
 swear at all. They had a priest with them, who took 
 upon him to question me. The first thing he asked me 
 was, which was first, reason or scripture ; I told him, 
 reason was before scripture ; Grod made man a reasonable 
 creature in his own image : and the first part of the 
 scriptures now extant, was written by Moses : the apostle 
 tells us, " that the law came by Moses, but grace and 
 truth came by Jesus Christ." I farther told them, "that 
 holy men of God gave them forth as they were moved by 
 the Holy Ghost." As to this, they seemed to be satis- 
 fied. But the priest put some ensnaring questions to 
 me ; and when 1 perceived it, I asked the justices what 
 that man was ; whether he was a justice of the peace 
 or not ; and, whether he was not a priest ; they said, 
 They looked upon him to be a fitter man than themselves 
 to discourse with me about religion. I told them, I 
 thought he was as the high-priest among the Jews, who 
 pub ensnaring questions to Christ, when he was brought 
 before them, to seek to make him an offender; and 
 turned myself to the justices, and desired them to take 
 notice of that man, who laid those ensnaring questions, 
 to seek to make me an offender. Then the priest left me, 
 and the justices asked me, seeing 1 would not take the 
 oaths, whether I would give bail ; and said they would 
 take my father's bail for my good behaviour. I told them, 
 my cause was just, and I was innocent, and would give 
 them no bail, for truth binds me to my good behaviour. 
 
46 
 
 Then the high-sheriff, a very fair man, told me, I was a 
 strange man, and of a strange persuasion, to come with 
 my hat upon my head among them, and would not take the 
 oaths nor give bail. Tou know said he, that Paul said to 
 Testus, Noble Festus. I told him, that Paul had tried 
 Festus, but I had not as yet tried him ; and it might be, 
 that I might speak of him, Noble Sheriff. Upon this 
 they were most of them very pleasant. He asked me, 
 whom I did know there ; there were several justices my 
 relations present, who very well knew me, but I made 
 mention of none of them ; but told them I knew the 
 chief magistrate of the town, Charles Jones, whose 
 prisoner I was. Then they called for him, and asked him, 
 whether he knew me ; he said, he did very well, for I was 
 born and bred in the town among them, and was a very 
 honest young man all along ; but, said he, what devil he 
 hath now, I know not. They asked him, whether I was 
 his prisoner; he said, I was. Then said the justices take 
 him again to your custody. As I was going out of the 
 room, I told them, that I brought a good hat on my 
 head there, but was going away without it, for some of 
 the baser sort had conveyed it away, but the justices 
 made diligent search about it; so it was brought me 
 again, and put upon my head, and they parted with me 
 very friendly, and the town magistrate took me a little 
 from them, and bid me go home to my wife and family. 
 Many of the inhabitants of the town accompanied me 
 home, praising Grod in their way for my deliverance, for 
 several things were threatened against me ; but, blessed 
 be God, truth was over all and had dominion ; and the 
 witness of God was reached in many of them, and the 
 high-sheriff continued loving and kind to friends, and 
 ready to serve them in what he could all his life-time, as 
 also was his deputy-sheriff, and several other of the 
 justices. 
 
47 
 
 About the third month, 1660, many of those professors, 
 captains, Heutenants, and soldiers, that were in arms in 
 OUver's and Eichard Crom\^eirs days, were put in prison 
 in the town of Montgomery. My wife and I did foresee, 
 that I should be sent there to them, though I never was 
 a soldier, nor bore any arms for either side. And in a 
 little time there came a troop of horse for me, to bring 
 me to prison. My relations offered to give bail for me, 
 but it was not accepted. So I went to acquaint my wife 
 of it, and to make myself ready to go with them. One 
 of the soldiers came up stairs after me with a pistol and 
 naked sword, and my wife raising herself up, and sitting 
 in bed, being delivered but three days before of her first 
 child, she said, dear husband be faithful to God, whatever 
 becomes of me. The soldier seeing her, retreated back. 
 So I went down to the troop of horse standing in the 
 street before my house. There was among them one bad 
 man, that run away in my father's debt, threatened to 
 compel me to follow his horse's heels on foot many miles. 
 But by this time several of the aldermen, and others 
 of the town, were gathered together in the street, who 
 desired this man, and others of the troop, to let me alone 
 for that time, and they would engage body for body, that 
 I should be in prison next morning ; but they could not 
 prevail. At length some of the aldermen fell into a rage, 
 and bid them meddle with me if they durst ; and bid me 
 go to my house, which I was not willing to do, for great 
 fear came upon me, lest there should be a quarrel among 
 them concerning my going or staying. But one or two 
 of the aldermen, being more considerate than the rest, 
 desired their patience till the captain might be spoken 
 with, who was then in town. He soon granted that I 
 should stay at home that night, and be in Montgomery 
 prison next morning, and was angry at that bad man for 
 his incivility towards the aldermen who interceded for 
 
48 
 
 me ; for the captain knew I was a peaceable man, and 
 never concerned myself in lighting for one side or 
 other. When the troop had their orders, they went on 
 their way ; and I praised Grod, in the multitude of his 
 mercies, that there was no blood shed that day ; for many 
 of the young men of the town, with the aldermen, were 
 gathered together with clubs and staves, saying, what, 
 should a town's born child be so abused by such a bad 
 fellow as that was, before-mentioned; my heart often 
 trembled within me, lest anything should fall amiss in 
 this tumult ; and I desired them often, before they went 
 to the captain, that I might go along with them towards 
 my prison. 
 
 So that night I staid at home, and next morning took 
 my journey towards my prison at Montgomery. I avoided 
 the house of my uncle, a justice of the peace in this 
 county, near my way, and brother-in-law to this captain, 
 lest he should stop me from going to prison. So 1 went 
 there myself alone, and told the marshall, John Mason, 
 that I was come a prisoner ; and he took me up to an 
 upper garret for my lodging, but I had the liberty of the 
 house, as well as other prisoners, there being many Pres- 
 byterians, Independents, and Baptists, who were formerly 
 my great acquaintance ; but now they appeared very 
 strange, and would not discourse with me. I considered 
 the reason, and was informed, that these old formal 
 church-members or professors had agreed among them- 
 selves that they would not discourse with me, nor receive 
 any books from me, lest the most serious inward Christians 
 amongst them should turn Quakers. But in a little time 
 their orders and covenants were broken, and I was moved 
 to go to their meeting, sometimes having little to say 
 among them, but a sigh or a groan, and a travail in my 
 spirit for them, which did often put them out of order in 
 their preaching and praying ; and as the Lord would 
 
49 
 
 order it, I spoke a few words among them. A Baptist 
 was convinced there, and came to meet with me in my 
 room. Cadwallader Edwards was also convinced, and 
 came up with us to meet in the prison ; and then dis- 
 coursings and disputes began between them and me. I 
 wrote a few Hnes to send home to my wife, but knew not 
 by whom to send it, for it was very hard to send any 
 papers out of prison; the marshal, or jailor, would 
 examine and search such as came in, or went out for 
 letters. An old friend, an acquaintance of mine, came to 
 visit her friends and brethren the professors in prison, 
 whom I desired to carry that letter to my wife, as she 
 went through our town of AVelch-pool, to her home ; 
 she was afraid to meddle with it, partly for fear of 
 the jailer, and also lest she should offend her brethren 
 there. I desired her not to be afraid, for I would read it 
 to h3r first, and the jailer might see it if he pleased ; and 
 after I had read it to her, she was tenderly affected, 
 turned to her brethren again, and said, surely these 
 people will never come to us, but we must go to them. 
 Some time after, through much trouble and affliction, she 
 came to receive the truth, to live in it, and obey it ; her 
 name was Margaret Bowen, wife of John Bowen, of 
 Collfryn, and mother to Peter Bowen, in Martin*s-le- 
 Grand, London. 
 
 In a little time my service was over among those pro- 
 fessors in that prison, and the Lord made way for my 
 enlargement. In about two weeks I came away, and left 
 the rest of the prisoners there, where they continued a 
 considerable time. I was well satisfied with the goodness 
 of Grod, that I found his presence, life, and power with 
 me ; a present help in the time of need, which kept me 
 low and humble, that I durst not rejoice that spirits were 
 made subject ; but rather rejoice that T found my name 
 
50 
 
 written in heaven. I came home in great love and peace 
 to my wife and family, and many of my loving neighbours 
 rejoiced to see me. 
 
 I continued about my calHng and business, and waited 
 upon Grod to know his mind and will concerning me. 
 In this time I heard of an honest old woman, who had 
 received the truth some time before at Montgomery, her 
 name was Ann Hamon, wife of Thomas Hamon ; my 
 wife and I went to visit her. 
 
 In the following paragraph we have a glimpse of prison 
 discipline in the 17th century. Jailors appears to have 
 been responsible for little beyond the due appearance of 
 their prisoners, and often had the opportunity of making 
 money out of them in various ways. It not unfrequently 
 happened that Friends were very cruelly used out of mere 
 malice, in addition to the unsuitable quarters which were 
 the rule rather than the exception, in the case of such as 
 did not, or could not pay for better accommodation. 
 Indeed it was sometimes the case that even payment did 
 not suffice to procure surroundings consistent with the 
 ordinary conditions of health. 
 
 In the present case, E.D. and his friends insisted on their 
 right to free lodgings and had to suffer in consequence. 
 
 About the year 1661, 1 went to a meeting at Edgemont 
 near Wem, in Shropshire. Here our friend William 
 Gibson and I were taken prisoners, with about 25 or 26 
 more, and sent to Shrewsbury. We found the temper of 
 of the jailer very cruel. He threatened us with a great 
 deal of hardship, if we did not eat of his meat, drink of 
 his drink, and lie on his beds, and give him what he 
 demanded. We told him, we were the king's prisoners, 
 
51 
 
 and demanded a free prison, and straw to lie upon ; but 
 he in a rage denied us that, and put us in a little room 
 where there was scarce place for us to lie down. When 
 night came, sleep came upon us, we being weary by 
 travelling so many miles on foot, but we were made 
 willing and able to suffer all things ; so that night, we 
 lay upon the boards, and it was pleasant unto us, being 
 warm weather, and about the time of hay-harvest 
 The next morning we were very fresh and well, praising 
 God for his mercies and goodness to us, w^hen the jailer 
 came to us, and asked. How we liked our lodging, and 
 how we slept ; we told him, we slept in peace of con- 
 science and quietness of mind, for we suffered for con- 
 science-sake towards God, and durst not break the 
 command of Christ and the apostle, who commanded us 
 not to swear at all. For our supposed transgression was 
 not only for meeting together, but for refusing the oaths 
 of allegiance and supremacy.* The jailer being a very 
 passionate, inconsiderate man, would go out in the morn- 
 inor from his own house, and not come back till nis^ht 
 and then return so drunken, that he could hardly speak 
 or stand. The next night when we went to lie down 
 the room was so little we could not all lie down at once. 
 The next morning we complained to the jailer, that there 
 was not enough room for us all to lie down, and desired 
 him to let us have a little straw, but it would not be 
 granted us. By this time the friends of the town had 
 
 * The law for administering the oath of Supremacy was made 
 soon after the accession of Queen Elizabeth, and was intended 
 to guard against the recognition of Papal authority. After the 
 discovery of the Gunpowder Plot, in the reign of James I., 
 another act was made enjoining the taking of an oath of 
 allegiance, which contained a promise to defend the throne 
 against all conspiracies. Besse in his " Sufferings of the Quakers " 
 says : — The edge of these old laws was now turned upon the 
 Quakers, while the Papists, against whom they were originally 
 made, were little molested. (Vol. I.) 
 
52 
 
 liberty to come to visit us, and to bring us in some 
 provisions ; and when the door was opened for us to go 
 into another room, there being a bedstead with cords in 
 that room, WiUiam Gibson and 1 lay upon the cords, and 
 next morning we found, that the print of the cords Mas 
 not only in our clothos, but in our skin also, so that it 
 had been easiei for us to have lain upon the boards, as 
 we did before. By this time having well observed the 
 jailer's humour and temper, 1 began to be uneasy in my- 
 self to let him alone ; so I watched him in the morning 
 upon his first rising, when he came to the court before 
 our prison door, and began to discourse with him about 
 the prisoners that lay in such hardship. I told him, they 
 were honest men and most of them masters of families, 
 and had good beds to lie upon at home, but now they 
 were content for Christ's and the Gospel's sake, to suffer 
 that hardship, 1 desired him to let them have liberty to 
 go to their friends in town at night, and to come there 
 in the morning ; and if he would not be pleased to grant 
 them a little straw, then to let them go lie in their own 
 beds ; which he surlily denied, calling them a company of 
 rogues and knaves, and such like terms. He asked me. 
 What made me plead for them ; I told him they were my 
 friends. He answered, why your friends ? Tou are no 
 Quaker, are you ? I said, I am called a Quaker. He 
 answered, you do not look like a Quaker ; and he looked 
 me in my face and on my hands and body. I desired him 
 not to disgrace me so, as to tell me I was no Quaker. 
 Then he asked me, where I lived ; I told him, when 1 
 was at home, I lived at Welch-pool, and my family was 
 there. But said he, where are you now ? I asked him, 
 whether he did not know I was a prisoner there with my 
 friends; and he asked me, whether I did lie upon the 
 boards with them ; I told him I did. He said, he was 
 sorry for it ; but went away in anger, being much dis- 
 
53 
 
 contented in himself. I did not see him till next morn- 
 ing, at which time I went to him again, and friendly 
 discoursed with him ; he said, he inquired about me in 
 town, and I might take the liberty of the town. I ac- 
 knowledged his kindness ; but told him, it would be no 
 comfort to me, to have the liberty of the town, and leave 
 my friends and brethren there. He said, then I might 
 stay there with them. So I did not see him till the next 
 morning, then I went to him again. He was so cross 
 and ill-conditioned, he would not suffer any other friend 
 to speak to him. William Gibson did so judge him for 
 his wickedness, that he kept him close in a room by him- 
 self. After five or six nights lying on the boards, I 
 prevailed with him, that friends might have the liberty of 
 the town in the night, and be there in the morning. So 
 the next da}^ he began to be more friendly to us. After 
 some days, I desired our friend John Millington to come 
 with me to the jailer's house, to see whether we could 
 have leave to go home till the next assizes ; but then it 
 was not granted ; but he told me, if I pleased I might go 
 till then. I told him, he might as freely let them go as 
 me, for most of them lived in the county, and I lived out 
 of the county ; but no more could we have that time of 
 him. I was uneasy in myself (seeing I had got a place 
 in him) to let him alone, and pressed for my friends^ 
 farther liberty. A little time afterwards, by serious 
 arguments, as it was harvest time, and hard for their 
 wives, or some of their families, to come with weekly 
 necessaries for them, I, with my friend John Millington, 
 prevailed with him to let them go, and he took our words 
 for our appearance at the next assizes. 
 
 Through the goodness of God, we all returned together 
 to Shrewsbury, to our prison, before the assizes, and 
 found a great alteration in the jailor; he was very low 
 and mournful. He had lost a prisoner, a malefactor, and 
 
54 
 
 was to be tried for his life for his escape. He was very- 
 loving and kind to us, and let friends go themselves to 
 Bridgenorth, about fourteen miles, where the assizes were 
 then held ; and he desired me to stay with him in his 
 affliction, and not be much from him. He said his life 
 was at stake, and if God and the judge would shew him 
 any mercy, he said, it was upon our friends' account, and 
 not for any deserts that were in himself, for he confessed 
 he had been too severe to us ; but notwithstanding, said 
 he, you are merciful men, and can forgive wrongs aud 
 injuries. 
 
 When we came to Bridgenorth, we were put in a large 
 spacious room in the house of correction, to be there in 
 the day-time, that we might be all together, and ready 
 when called for ; but we had liberty of going in and out 
 for lodging, and what necessaries we wanted ; no keeper 
 being over us, but what we set ourselves to look to the 
 door, and that too many friends might not be out at 
 once, and those were not to stay out too long. We saw 
 it was convenient, that friends should go out by two and 
 two, to walk the streets ; for it was a strange thing to 
 people to hear of Quakers. Once it fell to my lot to be 
 at the door, (though the door was always open, that such 
 who would, might come and see us ; with several of 
 whom we had reasonings and disputes about the way of 
 truth and righteousness) there came one, who appeared 
 something like a gentleman, and asked me, whether he 
 might see the Quakers ; I desired him to walk up along with 
 me, and he should see them. When I had brought him 
 up to the room where friends were walking, I told him, 
 those were they. He answered, these be Christians like 
 ourselves, but where are the Quakers ? I told him, these 
 were they that were called Quakers. He asked me, 
 whether I was one of them; I told him, I was one so 
 called. I had an opportunity to declare to him the way 
 
55 
 
 of truth, and that the name of Quaker was given to us in 
 scorn and derision ; and he departed very friendly. 
 Some people were so blind and dark in those days, that 
 they looked upon us to be some strange creatures, and 
 not like other men and women. They would gather much 
 about us in the town, and we had good opportunities 
 to speak of the things of God to them. But I was pretty 
 much with the jailor, waiting when his trial would be ; 
 and when it came, I went with him, and stood somewhat 
 near him, which he was very glad of. The jury cleared 
 him, being not found guilty of a wilful escape; which 
 was gladness to him, and satisfaction to us. And when 
 the assizes was near at an end, the judge returned us to 
 one justice Holland, except William Gibson, to whom the 
 judge put it, whether he would go home, if he were dis- 
 charged ; but he could not make the judge such a promise 
 as he required, so he was committed again to the same 
 prison ; but we were freely and friendly discharged, having 
 had good service in that town, and the Lord was with us, 
 and broui^ht us safe home, to the comfort of our families 
 and ourselves ; and we have cause to bless and praise the 
 name of the Lord, for ever, for all his mercies and good- 
 ness to us all along, in the time of our afflictions and 
 persecutions. We could say, surely God is good to Israel 
 and unto all them that draw nigh unto him with an 
 upright heart. 
 
OHAPTEK IV. 
 
 A Meeting at Dolobran — Lord Heebert of Chir- 
 BURY— Charles Lloyd Imprisoned — Letter to the 
 Quarter Sessions — Truth Spreading in Merio- 
 neth — Yavasor Powell's Lament — James Parkbs 
 
 Addresses Professors at Wrexham E-ichard 
 
 Dayies's Testimony at the Steeple House — The 
 Hireling Flees. 
 
 In the year 16G2, a farther concern came upon me 
 about meetings, in this country. One that was convinced 
 in the prison of Montgomery, when I Mas there, viz. 
 Cadwalader Edwards, who hved near Doh)bran, promised 
 me that we should have his house to ii'eep a meeting in. 
 I went to know whether he would perform his promise, 
 which he readily granted ; and I appointed the day and 
 time with him, which he gave notice of to his neighbours 
 thereabouts. I being destitute of a friend to accompany 
 me to the meeting, depended upon the Lord, that he 
 would provide a suitable companion to go with me. And 
 my wife going to Shrewsbury, I told her of the meeting, 
 and desired her to speak to friends there of it, that if 
 there was any public friend there, he might come home 
 along with ber. There happened to be Eichard Moor, of 
 Salop, a worthy and faithful labourer in the gospel, who 
 came along with her to our house in Welch-Pool. This 
 was in the ninth month, 1662. A day or two after, we 
 went to the meeting, where came in Charles Lloyd, of 
 
Uolobran, who was formerly in commission of the peace, 
 and had been in election to be high-sheriff of that county, 
 and also several of his well meaning neighbours, some of 
 them were |)rofessor<, belonging: to the same people that 
 I formerly belonged to. The Lord was not wanting, but 
 afforded unto us his good presence ; life and power came 
 from him, that reached to the hearts and understandings 
 of most of the people then present, who gave testimony 
 to the truth, life and power of God, that appeared with 
 us that time ; and in the lore, fear, and life of truth we 
 parted. 
 
 The next morning we went to visit Charles Lloyd,* 
 of Dolobran, who tenderly received us, and several that 
 were at the meeting, came there that day ; where we had 
 a sweet, comfortable, refreshing time, in the presence of 
 the Lord ; as it is said, " Li his presence is fulness of 
 joy, and at his right hand, there are pleasures for ever- 
 more.'' Psal. xvi. 11. 
 
 The report of this meeting went through the country, 
 some saying, that most of that side of the country w^ere 
 turned Quakers. Whereupon divers were sent for, before 
 El ward Lord Herbert, Baron of Chirbury, to a place 
 where he then lived, called Llyssin, about three miles 
 from Dolobian. After some discourse ^vith them, he 
 sent them to Welch-Pool to prison, for refusing to 
 take the oath of allegiance and supremacy, which 
 they refused, because they could not swear at all; 
 they being about six sent together, viz. Charles Lloyd, 
 Hugh David, Richard David, Cadwalader Edwards, Annie 
 Lawrence, Sarah Wilson, &c. w^here they were continued 
 very close prisoners. 
 
 In a little time were added prisoners to them, William 
 Lewis, and Margaret his wife, who were owners of the 
 
 * An ancestor of the Lloyds of Birmingham. 
 
58 
 
 house at Cloddiaucochion, before-mentioned, where I was 
 moved to go, about the year 1657, to a meeting of the 
 professors, afterwards the place of my abode. This 
 WiUiam Lewis, my near relation, was he that led me out 
 of the house to the common, and shut the gate against 
 me, as before related, page 35. And thus the word of 
 the Lord was fulfilled, that came to me then, that those 
 people should own and receive truth, and that house 
 should be a meeting-house for us, which it now is, and 
 hath been these forty years. 
 
 The oath of allegiance and supremacy being tendered 
 to them, they could not take it for conscience sake ; 
 swearing at all being forbidden by Christ and his apostle 
 James; so they were sent to prison, and continued 
 prisoners there. Edward Evans also, an honest and 
 substantial man, was committed to prison for the same 
 supposed offence, who was convinced some time before ; 
 I having had some weighty discourse with him about the 
 things of Grod. He told me, when he was in prison with 
 Vavasor Powell, with many more of their brethren in 
 Pool jail, that Vavasor leaning upon a window of their 
 jn-ison opening to the street, saw me and my dear wife 
 pass by, and said, behold Zacharias and Ehzabeth ; it was 
 said of them, that they walked in all the commandments 
 of God blameless. This Ed\^'ard Evans, and some others 
 of the prisoners, looking out through the window, saw us 
 two called Quakers, that he and others a little before had 
 preached severely against. They looked upon it, that the 
 Lord had forced him to give that testimony of us, and 
 several of them, as Edward Evans said, were convinced by 
 that testimony of his concerning us ; and in some time 
 after came to live in obedience to the truth, and suffered 
 for it. 
 
 These prisoners were kept very close, some of them were 
 substantial freeholders, who were put in a dirty, nasty 
 
59 
 
 place near the stable and house of office, being a low 
 room ; the felons and other malefactors in a chamber 
 over head, the chamber-pots and excrements, &c. often 
 falling upon them. Charles Lloyd, who was a little before 
 in commission of the peace, was put in a little smoky 
 room, and did lie upon a little straw himself for a con- 
 siderable time ; and at length his tender wife Elizabeth, 
 that was of a considerable family, (daughter of Sampson 
 Lort, near PembroJ^e in South Wales) was made willing 
 to lie upon straw with her dear and tender husband. 
 And thus they both, with the rest of friends, did rather 
 " choose to suffer affliction with the people of Gi-od, than 
 to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season." 
 
 I staid at home with them for some time, keeping 
 our meetings in prison ; but at length the jailor had 
 strict charge to keep me from among them, alleging, 
 that I strengthened them in their way and principles ; 
 and when the jailor kept me out, I went to a neighbour's 
 back yard, having leave of him to see them, and speak 
 with them. 
 
 The sufferings of friends being now very great, and 
 still increasing, they sent the following paper to the 
 quarter-sessions held at Montgomery. 
 
 To the Justices and Magistr^ates of this County of 
 Mo7itgomery. 
 
 " Forasmuch as it is not unknown to you, that we, 
 who by the scorners of this world (that know not God) 
 are called (Quakers, are detained and kept close prisoners, 
 only for the testimony of a good conscience towards Grod 
 and man, our friends not being suffered to visit us, 
 though drunkards, liars, thieves and robbers, are not 
 debarred of their friends'* admittance to them. This 
 unheard of cruelty, were enough itself to establish us in 
 
60 
 
 our ways, if they were never so erroneous, as you say. 
 This we are persuaded in our hearts, that never did 
 Clirist, nor any of his apostles, use this, or any other way 
 of cruelty, or persecution, to convince any of their errors, 
 but contrariwise, by sound doctrine, and good conver- 
 sation, and ' doing unto others, as they would they should 
 do unto them,' for that was the rule that Christ left to 
 true Christians. 
 
 " Now consider, in the soberness of your hearts and 
 spirits, that if you were in our condition, would not you 
 desire your enlargement ? And seeing it is the king's 
 clemency, in a declaration bearing date the 26th day of 
 December, 1662, wherein he says, he is glad to lay hold 
 on this occasion, to re-establish and renew unto all his 
 subjects concerned in those promises, indulged by a true 
 tenderness of conscience. This assurance and con- 
 firmation of his j)romise made at Breda, upon the word of 
 a king, viz. 
 
 " We do declare all liberty to tender consciences, and 
 that no man shall be disquieted, or called in question for 
 differences of opinions in matteis of religion." And 
 moreover he saith, in the same declaration, as for what 
 concerns the penalties upon those, who living peaceably, 
 do not conform thereunto through scruple and tenderness 
 of misguided consciences, but modestly, without scandal, 
 perform their devotions in their own way. We under- 
 stand by these words, viz. that it is his fatiierly care, to 
 publish this his declaration, to stop and ] revent all other 
 acting, according to former acts made against liberty of 
 tender consciences. And we hope that you will be as 
 favourable to us, your neighbours, (seeing power is com- 
 mitted to your hands) as the king, being chief magistrate, 
 is unto his subjects,. These things have we seen fit and 
 convenient to lay before you, that you may understand 
 we are not ignorant of the king's clemency towards us. 
 
61 
 
 And we (whose names are underwritten) do \\ait the 
 fulfiUing and performing this one other word more of a 
 king, by you who profess yourselves to be his obedient 
 and loyal subjects ; notwithstanding all which former 
 words and promises of the king, the supreme magistrate, 
 we have been persecuted more by you, his inferior magis- 
 trates in this county, than in many other counties. And 
 farther, that you may be left without excuse for that, if 
 you do persecute us, it is without any cause from us. or 
 any order from the supreme magistrate, the king of 
 England.t If you do justice herein, the Lord will bless 
 you ; if not, sin will lie at your door. 
 
 " These from your friends, that desire the good and 
 welfare of your souls and bodies, that have received the 
 spirit of meekness ; that can pray for them that persecute 
 us, and despitefully use us, who in patience and long- 
 suffering are content to submit to the will of God, who 
 renders to every man according to the deeds done in the 
 flesh." 
 
 Humphrey AVilson, Sarah Wilson, 
 
 Kichard Lewis, Margaret Lewis, 
 
 Edward Evans, Catherine Evans, 
 
 Charles Lloyd, Annie Lawrence, 
 Hugh David, 
 William Lewis, 
 
 The foregoing paper was sent to tlie magistrates at 
 their quarter-sessions, held at Montgomery, the 8th day 
 of the eleventh month, 1662. 
 
 f However much the King may have been inclined to clemency, 
 the Church of England Party — the Church defenders of that day 
 made him do their pleasure by assenting to cruel and wicked 
 laws, intended to coerce dissenters into the form and profession 
 of the dominant sect. 
 
62 
 
 A copy o£ it also was sent to the chief justices at 
 Ludlow by the jailer, together with another paper directed 
 to them. 
 
 A little time after this I went to Penllyn,* near Bala, 
 in Merionethshire, to visit some friends and tender 
 professors there, who received me kindly, and there I 
 settled a meeting among them, in the power of God ; 
 and from thence I came home, where I staid but a little 
 while, to visit these prisoners. Soon after I went to the 
 house of Owen Lewis, at Tyddyn y Garreg, near Dolgelly, 
 in Merionethshire, a man that had been in commission of 
 the peace in Oliver's days, and was newly come from 
 prison from Bala, who received me kindly, (he was first 
 convinced by Thomas Briggs.)t From thence I went to 
 Eobert Owen's, of Dolserau, near Dolgelly, who had 
 also been a justice of the peace, and a commander in 
 Oliver's time. He received me and my testimony ; as did 
 also Owen Humphrey of Llwyngwril, near the seaside in 
 the said county, (who was a justice of the peace in 
 Oliver's days) and his father, his brothers Samuel and 
 John Humphrey. These, with many more there, received 
 the truth in the love of it, and continued faithful, 
 serviceable men in their country, kept meetings in their 
 houses, and many were gathered to the Lord among the 
 rocks and mountains in those parts ; this was in the year 
 1662. After this journey, the Lord brought me safe 
 home to my wife and family, to the comfort of friends, 
 and one another in the Lord. 
 
 Not long after this, Thomas Lloyd, brother to Charles 
 
 * I conclude that this Penllyn is another name for Llanuwchllyn. 
 f Thomas Briggs, who was convinced by Geo. Fox, at Lan- 
 caster in 1652, from being an opposer, became a diligent minister 
 of the Word, and was fined five times for holding meetings in his 
 house ; he was very instrumental in turning men from darkness 
 to Light ; travelled much in Wales and accompanied Geo. Fox to 
 the West Indies in 1671. 
 
 See Geo. Fox's Journal, Ttli ed., p. 189 
 
63 
 
 Lloyd, of Dolobran, hearing his brother was in prison, 
 came from Oxford to visit him, having been a student 
 there several years (as also his brother Charles had been 
 before him) they told me that the great sufferings of 
 friends, in that city of Oxford, by the magjistrates, and 
 by the wild and ungodly scholars," did work much upon 
 them ; and they had some secret love for friends then. 
 So when Thomas Lloyd came home, being some time with 
 friends in prison, and elsewhere, the Lord opened his 
 understanding by his hght, life and power, and he received 
 the truth and was obedient to it, took up his daily cross, 
 and followed Jesus, came to be his disciple, was taught by 
 him, and went no more to Oxford for learning ; and I 
 may say with David, " The Lord made him wiser than 
 all his teachers." He staid pretty much at home, and 
 with his eldest brother Charles Lloyd, and in these 
 parts. 
 
 The jailer of A\^elch-Pool was very cruel to friends, and 
 continued them in that nasty hole before-mentioned, till 
 Edward Evans fell sick, by reason of the dampness and 
 unhealthiness of the room, and died; and the jailer would 
 not suffer us to have his body to be buried, except we 
 would pay the coroner, and so clear him, as if he had no 
 hand in his death ; but at last his relations prevailed 
 without a coroners inquest, and they took and buried 
 him on a hill, and the back-side of the steeple-house in 
 Welch-Pool ; and it happened, as they were digging the 
 grave, they found some bones of a man, and upon enquiry 
 in some old records, it was said, there was an old judge 
 buried there ; and the name of that place is called ever 
 
 * Oxford was then, as now, a breeding place of nettles, 
 spiritually, and it will be so, as long as it is a training ground 
 for men to preach for hire, or trust to any other qualification than 
 the immediate call and baptism of the Spirit of Truth. 
 
64 
 
 since, Judges Hill. We had got no burying-place of our 
 own then, but were about having one. 
 
 Thomas Lloyd and I not being prisoners now, (though 
 except us two) most that were then convinced were 
 prisoners ; the report of such who were turned Quakers 
 being spread abroad, they were soon sent for before a 
 magistrate, and the oath of allegiance and supremacy was 
 tendered both to men and women ; and they for con- 
 science-sake refusing it, w^ere sent to prison in order to 
 be premunired.'" 
 
 My friend Thomas Lloyd and I were moved to go and 
 visit most of the justices that had a hand in committing 
 friends to prison ; we began at the farthest justice 
 towards Machynlleth, and came down to Edward, J^ord 
 Herbert, Baron of Chirbury, at Llyssin aforesaid, who 
 had committed Charles Lloyd, and several other friends ; 
 we understood on the way, that he was at a bowling- 
 green, and several with him, near a place called the Cann 
 Office, near the highway side, and not far from Llyssin, 
 where we beheld them bowling. We considered with 
 each other, which way to take, there being a peevish 
 priest, the said lord's chaplain with them; so I asked 
 Thomas Lloyd, whether he w^ould engage the priest in 
 discourse, or go to the said lord ; which he chose, and got 
 into the green leisurely towards him, where most of them 
 knew Thomas ; but he went not in their complimenting 
 posture. He staid there but a little while, and they broke 
 up their game, and while he discoursed with the Lord 
 
 * Those who refused to take the oaths of allegiance and 
 supremacy, stood in danger of a sentence of peemtjxiee, such as 
 Vi/as pronounced against Francis Howgill, a faithful Christian 
 minister, in 1674. "You are put out of the King's protection, and 
 the benefit of the law, your lands are confiscated to the King 
 during your life, and your goods and chattels for ever, and you 
 to be a "prisoner during your life." 
 
 The last clause was^illegal as will be seen later on. 
 
65 
 
 Herbert,'" I discoursed a little with the priest. Lord 
 Herbert coining towards the priest and me, he said to 
 the priest, Mr. Jones, what have you got there ? He 
 answered, a Quaker^ and haberdasher of hats, that hves 
 in "Welch -Pool. Oh ! said Lord Herbert, I thought he 
 was such an one, he keeps his hat upon the block. Then 
 he intending and preparing to come do\A n a great steep 
 ditch, I stepped down to lend him my hand to help him ; 
 another prjest would have stepped between me and him, 
 but Lord Herbert refused the priest's help ; and stopping 
 a little, said to the priest, here is a brother that stands 
 by will say, the blind leads the blind, and both will fall 
 into the ditch. The priest was so drunk, that he could 
 not stand by himself. This lord being a very big fat 
 man, took my help to come down, so we went along with 
 him towards his own house at Llyssin, laying the 
 sufferings of our friends before him, and that their 
 sufferings were for conscience-sakes towards Grod. He 
 gave us no grant then for their enlargement, but we 
 heard that he sent private instructions, and they had 
 more liberty. The jailer had an empty house at the end 
 of the town, and there he let friends go, w^hich was a 
 sweet convenient place near the fields, without any 
 keeper over them, and they had the libert}' of the town, 
 and to go where they pleased, except to their own houses. 
 So Charles Lloyd took a house in town for him and his 
 family to live in; and we kept our meetings in that 
 house of the jailer's aforesaid, for several years. Most of 
 friends by this time being under a premunire, many 
 friends came from several places to visit them, and those 
 that were convinced towards Machynlleth, William Evans, 
 and several others of that end of the county (who \veve 
 formerly Independents) were sent here to prison upon 
 
 * Edward Lord Herbert of Chirbury, grandson of the first lord 
 who is known chiefly by his Autobiography. 
 
66 
 
 the same account, refusing to take the oaths of allegiance 
 and supremacy. Peter Price also, a worthy man of Ead- 
 norshire, was sent to this prison ; he had been in com- 
 mission of the peace in Oliver's days ; he, with several 
 others with him, were committed by the justices of this 
 county, to the house of correction in Welch-Pool, for 
 three months, as vagrants, because they came out of their 
 own county Eadnorshire, adjoining to this county of 
 Montgomeryshire, where they remained the three months; 
 but they had the liberty of the town, and to go to 
 meetings a^ ith the rest of the prisoners. Other friends, 
 that lived in and about the town, met with them in 
 prison, and considerable meetings we had in that house. 
 
 A little after this, Thomas Ellis, called a deacon in the 
 Independent congregation, was convinced ; a man of 
 great esteem among them, and so he was also amongst 
 us. He came to my house to visit the prisoners, his 
 former fellow church members, and showed me a letter 
 that came to him from their minister. Vavasor Powell, 
 lamenting the deplorable condition and danger they were 
 in at that time; saying,''' that the Christians were in 
 great danger to be split between two rocks, that was the 
 AVorld and Q. (meaning the Quakers) but the worst, said 
 he, is Q. But the Lord had opened Thomas Ellis's under- 
 standing, and given him a sight of their decay and 
 formalities. 
 
 Some years before the Lord did break in among 
 them, to the convincing of many of them ; for Thomas 
 told me, that there came two women friends among 
 them, in the time of their breaking of their bread, (I 
 
 * What Vavasor Powell really did say, we gather more nearly 
 from the Welsh edition of Kichard Davies' life, pub. 1840 — 
 Dywedai yn ei lythyr fod y Cristionogion mewn mawr berygl o 
 hollti rhwng dwy graig ; sef y Byd a'r C (gan f eddwl y Crynwyr), 
 onci y waethaf ebai efe oedd y C. 
 
67 
 
 suppose it was before I came from London) and when 
 they had the motion of truth upon them, they opened 
 their mouths in the name of the Lord, in much fear and 
 humiUty ; so that the Independent elders stood still and 
 gave the women leave to speak what they had to say to 
 the people ; then the professers went on again with their 
 business, and after some time the friends spoke again ; 
 and then they commanded them to be taken away, but 
 none was very ready to do it. Then their minister,. 
 Yavasor Powell, called, — Brother Ellis, take them away. 
 Thomas Ellis told me, that he remembered Christ was 
 not hasty in passing sentence upon the woman, that the 
 Jews brought before him in the case of adultery ; but he 
 stooped down, and wrote with his finger upon the ground, 
 as though he heard them not. So T. Ellis told me he 
 was not willing to take them away, till they had fully 
 cleared themselves of what was upon them to deliver 
 among them ; but at last they called to him again, and 
 bid him take them away. Then he rose from among the 
 company and went to them, and desired them to go with 
 him to the next room, for he had something to say to 
 them, and the friends went readily with him ; then he 
 told them in this wise : Friends, you see how we are met 
 together here ; we are like the Prodigal, who was spending 
 his portion, and we have a little yet unspent ; and when 
 we have spent all, we must return to our heavenly 
 Father, and come to you and your way. The friends 
 went away well satisfied. I have made much enquiry 
 who these friends were, and from whence they came, but 
 could not certainly learn who they were. As for our 
 friend Thomas Ellis, the Lord blessed him, and poured 
 his spirit upon him, and gave him part of the ministry, 
 and he became a faithful labourer and serviceable man 
 among us ; and at length he was made a prisoner here at 
 AVelch-PooI. 
 
About the year 1663, our friend James Parkes came 
 jrom the north, hearing that some of his acquaintance 
 and fellow church members owned truth ; * he came to 
 give them a visit in the love of God, and also to visit 
 those Independents he formerly walked among that were 
 not convinced ; and he left a ])aper wdth me to deliver to 
 to them, which was thus : 
 
 * By the expression " owned Truth," we understand that these 
 persons had separated themselves from a form of worship per- 
 formed in man's wall and time, and in some degree at least, were 
 identified with the despised Quakers. It is not unreasonable 
 to supiDose that most of such around Wrexham, had been 
 members of the congregation of Morgan Llwyd (spelt Floydd 
 mentioned in Geo. Fox's Journal). 
 
 The history of the Friend's Congregation, if there was one at 
 this period, is somewhat obscure, but it would appear probable 
 from the way in which Hugh Morus of Llansilin alludes to 
 Quakers, that old soldiers of the Commonwealth occasionally 
 embraced spiritual religion in Wales as was the case in England. 
 
 Y foru f e ae 'n Drivper,-\ i beidio a'i bader, 
 A thrennydd yn Gwacp.r, oer egr ei rudd ; 
 Fel mwrdrior pen-isel, heb gyfarch na ffarwel, 
 Un ddull ag anifail anufudd. 
 
 Eos Ceiriog Cyf I., t. 211. 
 
 It would also appear that women's preaching was not un- 
 known in Denbighshire in Oliver's days, (see Carol Gwyliau a wnaed 
 yn amser rhwysg Olifer) and we can hardly doubt that it pro- 
 ceeded from those who had themselves received the ministration 
 of the Day Spring from on high which qualifies male or female 
 to speak or prophesy in the Divine name, just when and how it will 
 
 Huw Morus's contemptuous reference to the Quakers and 
 women's preach ng proceeded from darkness, and ignorance of 
 rhe further light on Divine things, which was then spreading in 
 this country, bringing back religion to its original pure founda- 
 tion, in a way contrary to human wisdom. In consequence he 
 grossly belied and travested the retired and serious demeanour 
 of the Children of the Light, 
 
 t A Trooper. 
 
69 
 
 A Lamentation and Warning from the Lord God, in the 
 lov'e of Christ Jesus, unto all the Professors in North 
 Wales, especially those about Wrexham in Denbigh- 
 shire, and Welch-Pool in Montgomeryshire, whom 
 formerly I have known, and walked with, in a fellow- 
 ship and worship, till the Lord awakened me out of 
 sleef), and opened in me a ear to hear his A'^oice, which 
 cried. Come out from amongst them, and be thou 
 separate; touch no unclean thing, and I will receive 
 thee. 
 
 " Friends, 
 
 " Hear and lend an ear, ye professors of Wrex- 
 ham and Welch-Pool, and all the places and towns 
 adjacent thereunto, who have been called churches of 
 Christ, and members of his body, and followers of the 
 Lamb. 1 am come in my Father's name to visit you, and 
 in bowels of his love, in this the day of your calamity and 
 adversity have I visited many of you, in obedience to his 
 command, who sent me in his name and fear into these 
 parts, chiefly for your sakes at this time, that you might 
 hear, and come to fear him, whose voice hath shaken the 
 earth, and removed it out of its place ; and he is making 
 the keepers of the house to tremble, and he hath bound 
 the strong man in many, that was armed, and formerly 
 kept the house, then all was at peace ; but a stronger 
 than he is risen, and manifest in the hearts of thousands, 
 even Christ Jesus, the Light of the world, who enlight- 
 eneth every one that cometh into the world, that all in 
 him, and through him, might believe. He is dividing the 
 spoil, and spoiling principalities and powers ; and they 
 whose eyes come to see him the Lord of Hosts, come to 
 be undone. When Moses saw the appearance of the 
 Lord, he did exceedingly fear and quake. It was he that 
 made Habbakuk tremble, and his lips to quiver. And 
 
70 
 
 whosoever comes to know Christ, must know him through 
 death, be baptised into his death, and suffer with him, 
 before they come to live and reign with him. They 
 must repent of all their wickedness, and turn from it, 
 before they can come to be assured of rest and peace. 
 Let none think God will wink at their wickedness, as he 
 did in the times of ignorance; for now he is leaving all 
 without excuse, and calling every man to repent. The 
 light is risen, that manifests sin and hypocrisy in them 
 that hold truth in unrighteousness, it is not the name of 
 being called church-members, will serve any of your turns. 
 " O ye professors of all sorts, from the highest to the 
 lowest, from the richest to the poorest ; I am moved of 
 the Lord God to warn you, that while you have time and 
 space, you may be redeemed out of all evil ; and that you 
 might come out from amongst evil-doers, and so be saved 
 from the wrath and destruction that will overtake the 
 workers of iniquity, who repent not of their evil deeds, 
 to give God the glory ; and with the whirlwind of his 
 wrath, he will vex you in his sore displeasure. O ye 
 professors of Christ, and the apostle's words ! who are not 
 come to his life, nor to be of the same mind that he was 
 of, who endured the contradiction of sinners, and was 
 made perfect through sufferings ; ^^■hom the apostles 
 bore testimony to, and suffered for ; being of the same 
 mind, they did not shrink nor bow, nor let go their 
 testimony, when persecution arose because of the w^ord ; 
 but they overcame by the blood of the Lamb, and by the 
 word of his testimony, which they held ; and they loved 
 not their lives unto death. — Are you all so blind, that 
 you cannot see yourselves to be out of the light and image 
 of Christ, and out of their practice, who follow^ed him, 
 and confessed him, and did not deny him before men ; 
 neither did they change their religion, as the powers of 
 the earth changed. For whatsoever the powers of the 
 
71 
 
 earth countenanced, or discountenanced, they mattered 
 not, who were o£ the true church that were of Grod, the 
 Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the pillar and ground of 
 truth ; but that which Grod made manifest to be his will, 
 that they did ; and though they were charged, by the 
 powers that were then, to speak no more in his name, 
 yet they spoke in his name, and did not deny his name. 
 
 " Dare you say, that you are saints, and of this church 
 of Christ, and yet live in the breach of his command- 
 ments, who said, ' Swear not at all ; ' as some more 
 eminent in esteem amongst you have done, and have 
 taught others to do ? Doth not the land mourn because 
 of swearing ? Are not such like the Scribes and Pharisees, 
 who would not enter into the kingdom of heaven them- 
 selves, nor suffer them tliat would to enter in ? Are not 
 such now shutting the kingdom of heaven against men ? 
 And must not the woes from the Lord be pronounced 
 against them? Tea, assuredly, and will overtake them ; pain 
 shall suddenly come upon them, as on a travailing woman, 
 and they shall not escape it. The Lord is come to deliver 
 his people out of the teeth of these devourers, who with 
 good words and fair speeches hav^e deceived the hearts of 
 some more simple and honest amongst you, and made 
 merchandise of them, by promising you peace, while you 
 are in your wicked ways and works ; which the true 
 prophets and apostles of old, whom the Lord sent, could 
 not do ; neither can they, who are of the same descent, 
 royal seed, and oli-spring now ; they know, there is no 
 peace to be spoken to any, while they are in their wicked 
 ways, drinking up iniquity as the ox drinketh water. 
 Oh ! my heart is broken within me, and I cannot but 
 take up a lamentation for you, who have been esteemed 
 beautiful, and the glory of many that have been called 
 churches, to see you carried away captive, by the prince 
 of the power of the air, that ruleth in the children of 
 
-disbbedierice; and that you should be yet lying under 
 the bondage of corruption and in sin, the wages whereof 
 is death ; out of the glorious liberty of the sons of God; 
 and that death should reign over you, subjecting you to 
 the power of the enein}^ ; and you are taken captive by 
 :him at his will, laden with sins, and led away with 
 divers lusts, like the silly women spoken of in the scrip- 
 tures of truth, that were ever learning, and never able to 
 come to the knowledge of the truth, but resist it ; and so 
 err in your minds, not knowing the scriptures, nor the 
 power of God, though you talk of them. If you knew 
 the scriptures, and the power of God, which brings into 
 the life of them, you would witness the ability the saints 
 in former times had, and now the saints of the Most 
 High have, to stand over the powers of darkness, hell and 
 death ; then you would come to that w^hich cannot be 
 shaken, nor the gates of hell prevail against you. — -But 
 have not the powers of darkness prevailed against you, 
 overcome you, and made you bow to their will, and to 
 their ]aws, that will bind the conscience, and hinder its 
 full liberty ? 
 
 " Oh ! consider seriously, and weigh in the CQolness of 
 your spirits, and in the fear of the l.ord, what you have 
 done ; whether 3^ou have not received the beast's mark, 
 either in your foreheads or in your hands : have you not 
 fainted in the day of adversity? ITave you not let go the 
 profession of your faith, and wavered in your minds? 
 Have you not licked up your old vomits again ; xire you 
 not wallowing in the filth of iniquity, and in your fleshy 
 minds, walking in the sensuality and in the carnal mind, 
 which is enmity against God ? Is it not death to be 
 carnally minded ? Are the}^ not in death that are in the 
 carnal mind ? It is not strange to me, if I find such an 
 enmity ; because I expect no other from natural men, 
 w^ho perceive not the things of the spirit. You have 
 
73 
 
 rejected the chief corner-stone, which is laid in Sion for 
 a foundation, and have not believed in the Light of the 
 world, who is become the Head-stone in God's building 
 and husbandry, and of the church that is pure, without 
 spot or wrinkle, which is in God, the Father of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, the pillar and ground of truth. This is the 
 city sought out, not forsaken. This is the habitation of 
 God through the spirit, the stones whereof are laid with 
 fair colours, the foundation of sapphire, and all the 
 borders of pleasant stones. Such being redeemed out of 
 sin, and from under the bondage of corruption cannot 
 plead for it, as some, looked upon amongst you more 
 than others, do ; and would endeavour to make you 
 believe, that the prophet Isaiah was always a man of 
 unclean lips ; but that was before he was undone, and 
 while the woe was upon him. Ah, brutish is that spirit 
 that would imagine, that our God should make use of a 
 man to do so much for his name and honour, as Istiiah 
 did, and yet continue a man of unclean lips. 'J'his I 
 testify, that Isaiah's iniquity was taken away, ami his 
 sins purged out. Such manifest themselves to be ignorant 
 of Christ's death and manifestations, which is to take 
 away sin, and in him is no sin. All that come to him in 
 his light, and to walk in it, have fellowship one with 
 another, and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth them 
 from all sin. Such come by him to be made free from 
 sin, and servants to righteousness ; not of sin ; for sin 
 and iniquity comes to be done away ; and then God 
 beholds no iniquity in Jacob, nor transgression in Israel ; 
 and to such is given the tongue of the learned, to speak 
 a word in due season to the weary. Such come to know 
 the pure language, which the Lord promised to turn to 
 his people. Such set a watch before their mouths, and 
 have a bridle for their tongue. K'ow some plead for 
 uncleanness, because the prophet said, he was a man of 
 
74 
 
 unclean lips, before he was touched with the lively coal, 
 and before his iniquity was done away, and his sins 
 purged out ; and assuredly one day you shall all know 
 that this is a false cover, too narrow to cover yourselves 
 with, who break the commandments of Christ, and teach 
 others so to do ; and that put your hands to the plough, 
 and look back ; so that your are not fit for the kingdom 
 of heaven. Tou are filled with your own ways, wicked 
 devices, and false covers you get to cover yourselves 
 withal ; but all your false coverings will prove too narrow, 
 and your beds of ease, and false rests, which you think 
 to stretch yourselves upon, too short ; and no rest or peace 
 there shall you have, but you shall all yet be farther tried, 
 and your folly be made more manifest ; and all the false 
 covers, all professors out of the life and power of Grod 
 have been covered with, shall be plucked off; yea, all 
 that are covered, and not with the Spirit of the Lord. 
 The woe is to them who are adding sin to sin, and are not 
 come to cleanness of heart, or cleanness of lips ; and as 
 long as you are in the uncleanness, and the best of you, 
 as a brier pleading for it, blush for shame ! Relinquish 
 the title of church-membership, till you come to tread in 
 the steps of Christ, and obey him ; for his servants ye 
 are to whom ye obey. Deceive yourselves no longer 
 with the name of Christians only, but come to the 
 nature, to witness the first old nature and birth slain, 
 and brought under ; which you all must do, before ever 
 you come to know the new nature, or birth that is of the 
 spirit ; for that which is born of the flesh, that is flesh ; 
 and that which is born of the spirit, that is spirit. If 
 any man be in Christ, he is a new creature ; old things 
 are passed away, and all things are become new. The 
 church of Christ is made up of living stones, squared and 
 hewed into order, complete together, made a spiritual 
 household, purged, washed, and made white, and the 
 
75 
 
 filth o£ the flesh done away. Such come to be vessels 
 of honour, fit for the Masters use, receive of the 
 heavenly treasure into the earthen vessel, and out of 
 the abundance of the treasury of the heart, bring forth 
 good things. With the heart man believeth unto right- 
 eousness ; and with the mouth confession is made unto 
 salvation. 
 
 " So every one come to Him that searcheth the heart, 
 trieth the reins, and will reward every one according to 
 their works, or deeds done in the body, whether they be 
 good or evil ; for the Lord God will be no longer mocked, 
 such as you sow you must reap ; he will no longer bear 
 your halt and blind service, and dead worships, out of the 
 life and power of Grod. Tour hypocrisy and dissimula- 
 tion is seen by the Spirit of truth, that leads and guides 
 into all truth, which you shall one day know is now 
 striving with you, as it did with them before the flood ; 
 yet shall not always strive with men. It saith, who 
 requireth these things at your hands? And do you 
 think Grod is pleased, or will now be served with the 
 dry, dead and airy service and worships ? T tell you nay ; 
 the light of the glorious gospel is manifest, and the pearl 
 of great price is found, and many have sold, and parted 
 with all A\ hich was most dear to them, and which they 
 most delighted in, to buy it ; and they who come to 
 believe in Christ Jesus, the Light, the AVay, the Truth, 
 the Life, and to walk in the light, they stumble not nor 
 stagger at the promises ; but come to have life in them- 
 selves, and their minds, words, and actions are seasoned. 
 They are the salt of the earth, a city set on a hill, that 
 cannot be hid, and their lights shine so before men, that 
 they who are not wilfully blind, may see their good works, 
 and godly conversation coupled with fear ; and they that 
 walk in the light, as he is in the light, have fellowship 
 one with another, and the blood of Christ they witness, 
 
76 
 
 cleansing them from all sin. So if ever you come to 
 know Grod aright, you must turn to the light that 
 reproves you for evil, for the reproof of instruction is the 
 way to life ; and they that hate that which reproves 
 them for their evil deeds, and sets their sins in order 
 before men, abide in the chambers of death, and know 
 not rest, life, and peace for their souls. 'Now as you 
 Come to the light, and wait in the light Avhich comes 
 from Christ, all your sins will be set in order before you, 
 and it will shew you all that ever you did ; as you shall 
 one day know, to your woe and misery, if you continue 
 rejecting him. This is He in whom we believe, and of 
 whom the prophets and apostles bore witness, whose 
 name is better than every name, unto which every knee 
 must bow, and every tongue confess ; and every tongue 
 that would rise up in judgment against him, shall be 
 condemned, and shall fall before him. 
 
 " Therefore beware, and take heed what you do ; repent 
 of all your evil deeds, of all your hard speeches which 
 you have uttered against him, and his glorious appearance 
 in his sons and daughters, in this the day of his power, 
 wherein He hath made many willing to follow him where- 
 soever he goeth, even through many tribulations, who 
 have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb : when 
 you deny him, and will follow him no farther than it will 
 make with your peace in the world, and enjoyment of 
 your pleasures, and keep the friendship and favour of 
 the world, which none ever did, but who were adulterated 
 from the life of God, and turned against the pure spirit 
 in themselves ; and this shall you know. 
 
 " So whether you will hear or forbear, in this I shall 
 have peace. My reward is with God, in that I hav.e 
 discharged my duty, and warned you before your day be 
 quite over, before the Lord leave off stretching forth his 
 hand, who knows and searches the hearts of all men ,; 
 
7/ 
 
 who knows my love towards yon all, and to that which is 
 pure o£ him, which never consented to sin, in all your 
 consciences ; even to that, and nothing else, can I, or 
 desire I, to be made manifest. I believe there is a seed 
 to be brought forth from amongst you, which must be 
 gathered into the true fold of everlasting rest and peace ; 
 for which seed's sake I travail night and day, waiting for 
 its redemption and restoration, who am your friend, who 
 seeks not yours but you ; that you might come to know 
 in this your day, the things that concern your everlasting 
 peace, comfort, and true settlement, (upon that rock 
 that cannot be shaken, nor the gates of hell ever prevail 
 against) before they be hidden from your eyes. Know- 
 ing the terrors of the Lord, and the wrath that is to be 
 revealed from heaven against all that hold truth in un- 
 righteousness ; and having obtained mercy from the Lord, 
 and in his name, the strong tower, hid myself, I cannot 
 but persuade all to come into the same ; and being in a 
 deep sense in the loving-kindness of the Lord, and what 
 he hath done for my soul, since I walked with you, and 
 was esteemed one of you, too large here to relate; 
 neither indeed am I able to demonstrate the loving-kind- 
 ness of the Lord, in the visitation of his pure love, in 
 turning me from darkness (which I must confess all the 
 time I was with you, I walked in) into his marvellous 
 light, and from the power of Satan, unto God. He hath 
 made me to feel and witness his power, wherein, through 
 his good will towards me, I have found the ability to 
 perform and to do the good, that when I was amongst 
 you I desired to do ; and likewise to resist the evil that I 
 would not do. This is the Lord's own doing, and it is 
 marvellous in my eyes ; and I desire never to forget the 
 Lord's great love to me, and powerful effectual working 
 in me, to will and to do of his own good pleasure. I 
 desire not to eat my morsel alone ; but that all .may 
 
78 
 
 come to taste and see how good the Lord is. Great and 
 marvellous are his works, just and true are all his ways, 
 he waits to be gracious, and there is no want to them 
 that fear the Lord. He never forsakes nor doth with- 
 hold any good thing from them that walk uprightly. 
 
 " So, friends, while you have time, prize it, and put 
 not the day of the Lord far from you, for the Lord is 
 not slack concerning his promise, as some men count 
 slackness ; but his long-suffering is not for any to perish, 
 but that all shall come to repentance. Now is the day 
 that every man's works must be tried, and every man's 
 faith and love to Grod will be tried. Now is the day that 
 many great professors make shipwreck of their faith, and 
 of a good conscience, and some that formerly seemed 
 somewhat tender and honest amongst you, are grown 
 sottish and brutish, and their understandings darkened, 
 through the ignorance that is in them. The god of this 
 world hath blinded the eyes of many great professors, by 
 keeping them from the light, by which they might see 
 their ways, and the works which they are doing out of 
 the light, in the blindness which hath happened to them ; 
 but if you would come to the light, which is pure, of 
 Grod in you, then would he receive power to perform the 
 acceptable will and requirings of the Lord ; which that 
 you may come to know and do, is the desire of your 
 friend, that seeks not yours but you ; and desires your 
 everlasting peace and hap])iness, who formerly was known, 
 and esteemed of, as a brother amongst you, by the name 
 of James Parkes." 
 
 Wrexham, the 9th of the 
 
 first month, 1662. 
 
 Several friends, both from the North and South of 
 England, were drawn to visit these friends in prison, and 
 many sweet and comfortable epistles were written to 
 them. 
 
79 
 
 There was a great convincement in the year 1662, in 
 these two counties, viz. Montgomeryshire, and Merioneth- 
 shire; and as meetings increased, several friends came 
 into Welch-Pool, where our meeting was kept in that 
 house that was their prison. The magistrates and priest 
 were discontented, some saying, that there came as many 
 to the meeting, as went to their worship at the church, 
 as they called it. 
 
 So the magistrates were resolved to come and break up 
 our meeting, and one first day they came, viz., Thomas 
 Corbet, a counsellor and a justice of peace in this county, 
 together with two bailiffs of the town, the Serjeants at 
 mace and under officers. When they came into the 
 meeting 1 was at prayer, and they were indifferently 
 civil till I had concluded, and then began to take our 
 names. When they had done, my wife called to justice 
 Corbet, and told him, they had not taken the names of 
 all that were at the meeting ; he asked her, who was 
 untaken ; and she put her child towards him, about a 
 quarter old. He said. That was under age. She answeied, 
 We are all as innocent from plotting, contriving, or 
 thinking any harm to any man, as this child; which 
 smote much this Thomas Corbet, and several others 
 present. They committed me to one Serjeant's house ; 
 and Thomas Lloyd, brother to Charles Lloyd, and Samuel 
 Lloyd, (son to Samuel Lloyd of Dudson, in the county of 
 Salop, eldest brother to John and David Lloyd, of 
 London, and Edward Lloyd of Bristol) to the other 
 Serjeant's house. When the serjeant, whose house I 
 was committed to, was come from the steeplehouse, he 
 turned me out, and bid me go home, I should not stay 
 there. So I went first to see my friends the old prisoners, 
 who were kept, for a little time, more close, and we 
 were not suffered to go to them ; they were very glad to 
 see me, and I was refreshed also to see them, though we 
 
80 
 
 could not go to one another. In a little time, I went to 
 see the other two prisoners, that were at the other 
 Serjeant's house, and the serjeant let them come home 
 with me. 
 
 On second-day following, it came into my mind, that 
 the magistrates would try us with an offer, to pass 
 by that which they called a transgression, upon condition 
 that we would go to the steeple-house to their \\or,ship 
 the next first-day following ; which I told to friends. 
 
 On third-day following, justice Corbet, and the two 
 bailiffs that had committed us to prison, sent for us 
 before them. So we went, Thomas Lloyd, Samuel Lloyd, 
 and myself. After some discourse with them, they pro- 
 posed to us, that if we would go to church and hear 
 divine service, as they called it, we should be discharged. 
 I told them, when I was last there, they turned me out 
 of their church, and if I should make any promise to go 
 there, it may be they would do the like by me again. 
 Justice Corbet said, He would engage I should not be 
 turned out. Then I told them I knew nothing to 
 the contrary, but that I would come there. Justice 
 Corbet seemed to be satisfied ; but one of the bailiff's 
 said, Mr. Corbet, do you think that the old Quaker will 
 come to church, except it be to disturb our minister? 
 Corbet asked me again, AVhether I would disturb the 
 minister ? I told him, if God should put something in 
 my heart to speak to the people, '''■ I hope they would not 
 impose upon me to hold my peace. He said, God forbid 
 they should do so ! Then I told him, I hoped I should 
 perform what I had promised to do ; and so they dis- 
 charged us. JN"ow none was under an engagement to go 
 to the steeple-house but myself, and the report went 
 about that the old Quaker would go to church. 
 
 * This would simply be making use of Apostolic liberty which 
 priestcraft has taken away. 
 
81 
 
 The reader will observe in the following paragraph 
 that Eichard Davies and his friends speak of the steeple- 
 house rather than of the church, Why ? For this reason ; 
 Christianity leads into simplicity and truth, and not into 
 confusion. A church is not bricks and mortar, but a 
 gathering or congregation of people ; a Christian Church 
 is a gathering of faithful men and women, i.e., those who 
 are in good measure faithful to the light and grace they 
 have received from God — the church of God is the whole 
 company of redeemed and purified spirits, and those yet 
 in the shackles of mortality, whose faith and dependanoe 
 is in the same living Spirit which is the light and life of 
 men, and whereby alone they can worship aright. But 
 note the artfulness of priestcraft ! It is not enough for 
 hireling priests that human souls should be taught to 
 pray to God in the Spirit, and learn to take their part in 
 the one true church universal — Babylon the great with all 
 her wares and merchandise would fall, fall, fall in that 
 day and be counted as nothing ; so the idea is inculcated 
 that the presence of God is peculiarly to be found in 
 certain buildings supposed to be consecrated or made 
 holier than other buildings by a magical ceremony, 
 and henceforth entitled to be honoured by the name 
 church. Thus, the poor laity are tempted to offer an 
 exterior homage, while the temple of the heart which 
 should be a place of prayer remains a '* den of thieves." 
 
 When first-day came, and the bells began to ring, the 
 other two friends, viz. Thomas Lloyd, and Samuel Lloyd, 
 came to me and said, we think we must go with thee to 
 the steeple-house. When the people went to the steeple- 
 house, I took my bible under my arm, and went to 
 G 
 
82 
 
 justice Corbet's house, (that was but a few doors from 
 my house) to let him see that I was going, and I asked 
 him, whether he was coming ? He said, He was not 
 disposed to come that day, but he would send his man to 
 see we were not affronted. So the two friends and I 
 went to my own pew, that was opposite to the pulpit. 
 There was but the curate to read the common-prayer, 
 and their service to them that morning ; there was a 
 great multitude of people : some said, there were some 
 that had not been at their church several years before. 
 So nothing was laid upon us'^' to speak to the people, till 
 he had done. Then I stood up, and said to the people, 
 I suppose you are not ignorant of the cause of our coming 
 here this day, which was thus : the magistrates of the 
 town came to our meeting, and they found us upon our 
 knees praying to Almighty God. They were civil while 
 we were at prayer, and when we had done, they took 
 our names and committed us three to prison ; most of 
 the rest that were at the meeting were prisoners before. 
 And the magistrates told us, If we would come to church, 
 we should be discharged ; and now you see we are come, 
 according to their desire. But I find your priest is not 
 here, and now I would have you inform him, that I say, 
 
 1. If he proves this to be the true Church of Christ; 
 
 2. And that he is a true minister of Christ ; 
 
 3. And that his maintenance is a gospel-maintenance ; 
 
 4. And this worship of yours to be the true worship 
 
 of God ; 
 Then we will be of your religion, and come again to 
 
 you. t 
 But if he proves not this, then we must conclude, 
 1. Your church to be a false church ; 
 
 * Note this — They did not go to disturb the curate in their own 
 time, but waited till the Lord laid it in their spirit. 
 f A thoroughly fair offer. 
 
83 
 
 2. And he to be no true minister of Christ ; 
 
 3. That his maintenance is no gospel-maintenance ; 
 
 4. That your worsliip is not the true worship of God. 
 All the people were very civil and orderly, and heard 
 
 me a considerable while in the steeple-house. When I 
 had done, Thomas Lloyd spoke a few very seasonable 
 words to the people. And the people said, if Mr. 
 Langford (which was the priest's name) will not prove us 
 to be the true church of Christ, and our worship to be 
 the true worship, then we will pay him no more tithes, 
 for what Richard Davies said he proved out of the bible; 
 for you see, he had the bible in his hand all the while. 
 So for that time we parted. 
 
 When the bells rang again for them to go to their 
 evening service, it lay upon me to go there again, and 
 the aforesaid friends went along with me ; where the old 
 high-priest was, who made a long sermon, till w^e were all 
 uneasy ; but 1 desired the friends to bear all things 
 patiently. When the priest had done, he was going 
 away ; but I stepped up in my seat, and desired him to 
 stay, for I had something to say to him ; which was the 
 same as aforesaid : when he heard my queries, and what 
 I had to say, he turned his back and went away, and 
 gave us no answer. Then I said, behold the hireling 
 fleeth, because he is an hireling. Some of the people 
 staid, and some went with him, but all dissatisfied, that, 
 he would not prove them to be the true church of 
 Christ, &c." I had a good opportunity to speak to the 
 people more at large in the graveyard ; the Lord's 
 presence, life, and power was with us, blessed be the 
 
 * It is to be desired that there were so much simplicity 
 in people's minds, as even to wish to see it proved that the 
 worship of the Church of England is the true worship of God. 
 After a sincere search, the eyes of many would be opened to see 
 that it is impossible, that any worship where man's will takes the 
 lead should be so. 
 
84 
 
 name of the Lord for ever, who doth not forsake his 
 people that trust in him. 
 
 When we came home, justice Corbet sent for us again 
 to him. He met us in his court, and said, he was sorry 
 Mr. Langford was so uncivil, that he did not answer our 
 queries, Mhich, he tliought, uere very reasonable. In a 
 little time, many of the neighbours were gathered together 
 in the street, and in his court, we had a good opportunity 
 to reason with him, and to open to the people, and 
 declare to them the Avay and means to obtain the kingdom 
 of heaven ; and he was so moderate, that one of the 
 neicrhbours said to him, Mr. Corbet, we think you will be 
 a Quaker too. His answer was, I wish I were a 
 Quaker in my life and convei'sation. Towards the end of 
 our discourse, he dtsired me to give him my queries in 
 writing, that Mr. I.angford might answer them ; for, 
 said he, it may be he was not prepared to answer you 
 then, but he may answer them in writing. I told him 
 that was but a private way of arisweiing ; but if he was 
 not ])iepared i hen, I told him w-e would give him the 
 meeting next first-day at the steeple-house, or in the 
 town-hall upon a market-day. He said, it was very fair. 
 
 Counsellor Corbet was very friendly and loving to us, 
 and did no more persecute us to his dying day ; but did 
 us all the good he could, in all the courts of judicature 
 where he was concerned. 
 
 As for this priest, William Langford, many friends 
 were moved to go to him to the steeple-house in the time 
 of his service, to declare to him and the people, what 
 they had to say from the Lord ; and when the magistrates 
 have committed some of them to prion son that account, 
 -when their service was over, this priest* hath got them to 
 be released. 
 
 ♦Although a hireling, he was evidently not without some 
 respect for the nobility of Truth. 
 
85 
 
 Some time after this, he sent the clerk of the parish to 
 me for Easter-reckonings. I asked the clerk, whether 
 his master did expect any thing of me, that had nothing 
 from him ; and bid him tell his master, I would come to 
 reckon with him by and by. So the clerk went his way, 
 And in a little time 1 made myself ready. When I went 
 to him, there were a pretty many people with him. 1 
 told him, his clerk had been with me from him, for that 
 which he called Easter-reckoniiigs, and I was come to 
 reckon with him, if he could make it appear that I owed 
 him any thing, I would pay him, and I expected the same 
 from him. lie said, I owed him for seveial years for the 
 sacrament. I asked him, what he meant by the word 
 sacrament, for I found no such word in the scripture ; he 
 said, it meant the bread and wine which was used in 
 the church. I told him, I received none of him, and was 
 therefore not liable to pay. He answered again, why 
 then you might come to church and receive it. I told 
 him, I did not believe that church was the true church 
 of Christ : and I did not believe he was a true minister of 
 Christ, commissioned by him to break the bread, and give 
 it to the people ; much less to sell it, or take money for it 
 of the people ; for I did not read in all the scripture, 
 that the true ministers of Christ did take money of the 
 people for that bread they delivered unto them. He said 
 then, that the labourer was worthy of his hire ; and 
 under the law it was said, " Thou shalt not muzzle the 
 mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn." I told him, 
 he trod out no corn for me; and though he was an 
 hireling, yet 1 never hired him. 
 
 The people coming thick to pay him for the bread and 
 wine, I asked him, how in conscience he could take so 
 much money for so little bread and wine ; it being, I 
 suppose, about ten pence for man and wife. I asked him, 
 what scripture he had for it ; and desired him to prove 
 
86 
 
 his practice by scripture. He asked me, what scripture 
 I had to eat flummery. 1 told him, 1 had scripture to 
 €at it. Paul said to Timothy, " For every creature of 
 God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received 
 with thanksgiving- : for it is sanctified by the word of 
 God and prayer," 1 Tim. iv. 4, 5. His communicants 
 who were present, were much dissatisfied that he had no 
 better answer and proof for his practice. So I desired 
 the people to take notice, that he could not make it 
 appear b}^ scripture, that I owed him anything; but I 
 told them, that he owed me some money, and I desired 
 him to pay it me, which he did. So we parted fairly. 
 We have a saying, that even, or often reckonings make 
 long friends. He was very friendly afterwards, and 
 never sent to me more for Easter-reckonings. And as 
 for the tithe,* in time of harvest, he charged his servants 
 to take from me no more than their due, nor so much. 
 I was informed he should say, he knew not why he 
 should take any thing from me, seeing I had nothing 
 from him. He lived here among us many years, a good 
 neighbour ; and though in the time of great persecution, 
 yet he had no hand in persecuting any of us. 
 
 We have cause to bless the Lord, who carried us 
 through all our services and exercises, in the time of our 
 weakness ; and though we were little and low in our own 
 eyes, the Lord did not leave us ; blessed be his holy 
 name for ever. 
 
 * Alt >gether, the character of Priest Langford in spite of his 
 faih gs, contrasts well with that of some of the ecclesiastics 
 and tithe owners of our day. 
 
87 
 
 CHAPTEE, V. 
 
 The Schism of John Perrot — Eichard Davies 
 burdened with un anointed preaching — testimony 
 
 AGAINST CaDWALADER EdWARDS — MEETING AT AbER- 
 YSTWITH AND IMPRISONMENT OF ElCHARD DaVIES 
 
 Journey with John ap John — Eoger Prichard 
 bestored — Erench Bretons — Cardiff — The Vile 
 Informer. 
 
 About the year 1663 or 166-1:, I went to London, and 
 found some there separated frorn that love and unity, 
 which I formerly saw them in ; joining in that spirit 
 with John Perrot,"^ who was newly come from prison at 
 
 * John Perrot was a man who became a sad Apostate from the 
 Truth. 
 
 He went to Italy on a religious concern about the year 1660 
 with John Love, and was admitted to the palace of the Doge of 
 Venice to whom he gave some books. At Rome they bore testi- 
 mony against the Idolatry committed there and were taken into 
 custody, John Love fell into the hands of the Inquisition, and 
 it is reported was murdered. Perrot was put into the madhouse, 
 whence he wrote sundry papers. The following is from the 
 title of one of them published in 1660 : — 
 
 " Battering Rams against Rome or the Battel of John the 
 follower of the Lamb," fought with the Pope and his Priests 
 whilst he was a prisoner in the Inquisition prison of Rome. 
 
 Also a certain " Remonstrance of Righteous Reason " 
 written in Rome Prison of Madmen unto all Rome's rulers. 
 
 Sewell the historian observes that he " not continuing in true 
 humility, ran out into exorbitant imaginations." He afterwards 
 went to America, wore gaudy apparel, and became a severe 
 exactor of oaths, thus turning like a dog to his vomit. 
 
88 
 
 Koine to London, as it was said, with much seeming 
 humihty and lowliness of mind. A considerable company 
 joined together with him, where they had me among 
 them for a little time. The tendency of that spirit was 
 to speak evil of friends that bore the burden and heat of 
 the day, and so to cry out against friends as dead and 
 formal. They expected a more glorious dispensation, 
 than had been yet known among friends ; and they kept 
 on their hats in time of prayer. I was but a little while 
 among them, till a vail of darkness came over me, and 
 under that vail, I came to have a light esteem for my 
 dear and ancient friend George Eox, and some others, 
 who had been near and dear to me. But it pleased the 
 Lord to rend that vail of darkness, and cause the light of 
 his countenance to shine again upon me ; whereby I 
 came to see the doleful place I was led into, by a spirit 
 that tended to nothing else but self-exaltation, and 
 (under a pretence of humility and self-denial) breach of 
 that unity, love, and fellowship, that formerly we had 
 together, and the good esteem we had one of another in 
 the Lord. Children we were of one Eather, esteeming 
 one another above ourselves in the Lord. There was no 
 jar or contention among us then, but all dwelt together 
 in love and unity, and in the fellowship of that blessed 
 gospel of peace, life and salvation. 
 
 At my return home from London, I was soon taken to 
 the same prison with my friends in AVelch-Pool; and a little 
 before I came among them to prison, the under-jailer 
 dreamed, that he had in his fold a flock of sheep, and 
 that he was wrestling to get in one ram among the sheep, 
 but could not get him in ; but when I came to prison, 
 he said to my friend Charles Lloyd, now I have got the 
 old ram in among the sheep. But the jailer turned me 
 out that night to my wife and family ; and though I had 
 the name of a prisoner, and was premunired, as the rest 
 
89 
 
 of my friends and brethren were for several years, yet I 
 was not kept close prisoner. 
 
 This was a time when most travelling friends were 
 taken up prisoners, and though I was a prisoner, yet it 
 lay upon me to get liberty to go and visit friends, in 
 several counties of England and Wales. So I followed 
 my good G-uide,'''' that showed me what to do. I went to 
 the jailer, and told him, I had an occasion to go out a 
 little while, and I could not go out without acquainting 
 him of it, because I was his prisoner. He said, I warrant 
 you will go to preach some where or other, and then you 
 will be taken to prison ; and what shall I do then, said 
 he; I told him, that if I was taken prisoner, I would 
 send to him where I was, and he might send for me if he 
 pleased ; so he bid me have a care of myself. 
 
 In a little time, in the love of God, I took my leave 
 here of my friends and family, and committed myself to 
 the protection of the Almighty. I went to Shrewsbury, 
 and so to Worcestershire, where I had good service for 
 the Lord ; so to Tewkesbury, where I was never before. 
 An ancient woman friend followed my horse, and 
 before I had put up at the inn, she was with me, and 
 very cordially said, she had a sense upon her, that I was 
 one of her heavenly Father's children. I went in and 
 refreshed me a little, and asked her, whether she thought 
 I might have a meeting with friends that evening. She 
 readily said, she would acquaint friends of it. And after 
 she had gone a little way out of the inn, she returned 
 again, and desired to know my name, that she might 
 acquaint friends of it. I was straightened in myself to 
 give her my name, though I knew not the cause then ; 
 but I desired her to go in the name of the Lord, and if I 
 came in the name of the Lord, they would receive me. 
 
 * The Spirit of Truth. 
 
90 
 
 So she went, and came again, and told me, 1 might have 
 a meeting, which was appointed to be at Susan Smithin's ; 
 and a blessed heavenly meeting we had, and the Lord 
 gave to us our expected end. There were several 
 professors at the meeting. Some came to me next 
 morning, and discoursed friendly with me about the 
 things of God. 
 
 From thence 1 went through Gloucestershire, where I 
 had good meetings, and so to Bristol. When I was clear 
 of Bristol, the Lord having blessed me, and preserved me 
 so far in my journey, I set forward towards Pembroke- 
 shire. I travelled without any companion but the Lord 
 a'one, who was with me all along in my journey ; he was 
 my helper and preserver. So I came to the house of our 
 friend Lewis Davies, who gladly received me in the Lord. 
 Staying there some time, they lent me a horse to go to a 
 meeting at Kedstone, and I lel't my own horse behind me, 
 thinking he might rest for some days after my hard 
 riding. When I came to the place, the meeting \\as out 
 of doors, there being no house, that I knew of, that 
 could contain the multitude of people. When we came 
 to the meeting, Meredith Edwards, whom friends judged 
 unlit to preach the gospel, had the confidence to speak 
 to the peoj)le till they were weary of him, and those that 
 were sensible were burthened by him ; after some time 
 there stood up a friend and silenced him. I sat as a 
 stranger among them. The Lord was with us, his good 
 presence was our comfort and satisfaction ; and after 
 some time I had an opportunity to open to the people 
 those things that belong to their eternal salvation ; and 
 having concluded the meeting in prayer, this man, M. 
 Edwards, aforesaid, stood up again and preached to the 
 people, and I turned my back and came away,* and the 
 
 * Better to turn away, than encourage lifeless preaching. 
 
91 
 
 friends, with most part of the people, followed me. As I 
 was coming out, a friend came and told me, there were 
 two soldiers, (I understood afterwards they were the two 
 sons of a priest) that had brought my horse there some 
 miles." When I saw my horse, 1 drew nigh to them, and 
 asked them who brought my horse there ; they asked me 
 whether I was the man that came from Bristol ; 1 said I 
 was ; then, said they, you are the man we look for. I 
 asked them, by what authority they came, or what 
 warrant they had ; and they showed me their swords and 
 pistols, I told them, such warrants highwaymen had. 
 Then I asked them, how they durst venture so, among 
 such a company ; they said, they knew we were peaceable 
 men, and would not resist : otherwise they would have 
 brought greater force. I told friends, we were not bound 
 to obey thenj, and desired friends to part, and leave only 
 two or three with me; but friends' love was so great 
 to me, that they kept mostly in a body about me. 
 So I desired the friend to take my saddle and bridle, 
 that was upon the friend's horse that I rid to the meeting 
 on, and put them upon my own horse ; so I got upon my 
 horse, and bid them lay their hands off my horse, for I 
 feared not their swords nor pistols ; but if they bad a 
 warrant froui any justice of peace, or lawful magistrate 
 within the county, I would obey it. Then they let my 
 horse go, and I turned a little aside, and saw them lay 
 hold of the other man, M. Edwards ; I could not call 
 him a friend, because he was not guided by a right spirit ; 
 and I turned myself to them again, and told them, that 
 if any justice of peace, or lawful magistrate within the 
 county, had any thing to say to me that came from 
 Bristol, he should hear of me at the house of William 
 Bateman, in Haverfordwest. 1 told them my business 
 would require some stay in this country ; so they let us 
 go pretty friendly ; and I had several brave meetings in 
 
92 
 
 Haverfordwest, and other places in the county. The 
 last I had was at P(jntysaison * among the Welsh ; they 
 having notice of a Welshman coming to keep a meeting 
 in those parts, many came to that meeting, and good 
 service I had for the Lord, his truth being declared in 
 their own language to them. We had the meeting out 
 of doors, and I stood with my back towards Thomas 
 Simmon's wall of his house. I was young and strong, 
 and my voice was heard to the steeple-house, and most 
 of them came out to hear me ; and very few came out 
 with the priest when he had done. When the i)riest saw 
 such a multitude, he was moved to passion, and would 
 have had the constable take me down. It was reported 
 some said to the priest, they would not take me down, for 
 I preached Christ and the gospel to them, and they 
 would ha\^e him come and learn of me himself. 1 was 
 informed, that the priest's wife and two of his daughters 
 were at the meeting, and were very loving and tender, 
 and came to be convinced of the truth. The Lord was 
 not wanting to us ; his life, power, and good presence 
 was with us, and that meeting was the last I had in 
 Pembrokeshire at that time. The friends of that county 
 were very loving and careful of friends, that came from 
 far to visit them. They dwelt in love and unity among 
 themselves. My service was weighty upon me, being 
 myself only without a companion ; the Lord alone, that 
 knew the integrity of my heart, was my comfort, support, 
 and exceeding great reward. As for M. Edwards, the 
 two men before-mentioned, took him before a justice ; 
 the justice would have been moderate to him, and would 
 have shewed him kindness, but he, by his ungoverned 
 temper, provoked the justice to passion, so that he 
 committed him to the house of correction as a vagrant 
 
 * Printed Pontchison in previous editions. 
 
93 
 
 for three months, to the great trouble of friends. 
 
 I was informed that the justices and magistrates of 
 that county, were generally very moderate in the hardest 
 times of persecution. Erom Pontysaison I took my leave 
 of friends in Pembrokeshire, and came pretty directly 
 home, blessed be the name of the Lord, to the comfort 
 of my wife and family, and tbose friends that were 
 prisoners ; and the jailor was well satisfied tbat I came 
 to my prison, without farther trouble to bim ; there 
 were several taken prisoners, at tbose meetings I was at, 
 but the Lord preserved and delivered me, blessed be his 
 holy name for ever. 
 
 I was but a little time at home, ere John Whitehouse, 
 a follower of Jobn Perrot, came and bad a meeting at my 
 house at Welch- Pool. I happened not to be at the 
 beginning of the meeting, but came before it was con- 
 cluded, and found he had sown an evil seed, and that 
 some of our friends had received it ; who soon after 
 joined with that corrupt spirit, which led them to have a 
 light esteem of their brethren, which was a great exercise 
 to many honest friends, and especially to my wife and 
 me ; and we were ready to say, hath the Lord sent us 
 here, to be instrumental for a gathering of a people in 
 this country, and hath he suffered the enemy to scatter 
 them in their imaginations. But some time after, the 
 Lord satisfied me, that those who were sinip'e-hearted 
 among them, should be restored again into a more settled 
 condition than they had formerly known ; and I believed 
 in the word of the Lord. And in time the Lord broke 
 in among them, and opened the understandings of some 
 of them, and they began to reason among themselves, 
 and saw that they were in darkness ; so that n)0.st of 
 them were restored again into their first love, and lived 
 and died faithful to truth, except Cadwalader Edwards, 
 who continued in stubbornness and hardness of heart» 
 
94 
 
 and endeavoured to hurt such who were simple-hearted. 
 I was moved to give forth a paper against him and all 
 his vain imaginations. The following paper was likewise 
 sent to him from friends : 
 
 "We whose names are here underwritten, are 
 those that thou hast been seeking to insinuate thy corrupt 
 principles into ; and also are those that testify against 
 that Sfducing spirit that thou art gone into ; and most 
 of us do know the terror and judgment of the Lord, for 
 receiving that spirit : and we do exhort all, that they 
 touch not, nor taste of it, lest they be separated from the 
 Lord and his people, and so come under the judgment of 
 the Lord, as we have done ; and we have all seen the 
 hurtful elfects of that spirit, and in the fear of the Lord, 
 we do deny the same, and them that be joined to it. 
 
 Charles Lloyd, Watkin David, 
 
 Eichard Evans, AVilliam Lewis, 
 
 Owen Jones, Evan Thomas 
 
 Evan Davies, Richard Davies, 
 
 John Reese, Thomas Hammons, 
 
 Elizabeth Lloyd, Sibil Jones, 
 
 Tace Davies, Katherine Evans, 
 
 Ann Lawrence, Ann Hall, 
 
 Katherine Jones, Sarah Wilson." 
 
 This being read in our monthly-meeting for worship, 
 the Lord Mas pleased to afford us his sweet presence, 
 and his power melted, tendered and mollified our 
 hearts, and caused us to praise the Lord, for his 
 great goodness and mercy to us, in bringing us out of 
 darkness that came over us, by giving heed unto that 
 seducing spirit of John Perrot, John Whitehouse, and 
 
95 
 
 Cadwalader Edwards. And now the Lord having restored 
 us again, we did praise his holy name for the same; and 
 friends were careful afterwards of receiving any spirit 
 that might tend to the breach of love and unity among 
 us. Many other friends brought in their testimonies 
 against that spirit ; amongst the rest, one came from our 
 friend Thomas Ellis, who had been particularly warned 
 by me, in the fear of the Lord, not to touch nor meddle 
 with the spirit, though it came with much seeming 
 humility, lest he should suffer thereby ; which he did, to 
 his great sorrow, and he set out in his paper and said, 
 this have I suffered for my mongrel moderation : but 
 blessed be the Lord, he was sweetly restored again to his 
 former love and integrity, to the great comfort of himself 
 and brethren. 
 
 As to John Perrot, John Whitehouse, and '''Cad- 
 walader Edwards, they turned their backs upon God and 
 his truth, and followed the devices of their own hearts 
 and imaginations. 
 
 About this time there being a meeting of friends 
 gathered at Aberystwith, in Cardiganshire, most of them 
 were sent to prison to Cardigan, and our friend, Thomas 
 Ellis, was taken prisoner with them. Having the suffer- 
 ings of these young convinced friends under consideration, 
 I found much love in my heart towards them, even so as 
 to go to the magistrates of the county, to offer myself a 
 prisoner instead of my friend and brother Thomas Ellis, 
 and some others, that that they might go home to visit 
 their families. I acquainted my wife of my exercise, 
 which came pretty close to her ; but she likewise in love, 
 
 * He became afterwards very bad, and ungfodly in his life and 
 conversation, and died in the Fleet-prison, at London, beinj*- 
 there for debt ; yet near his end, he seemed to repent of his 
 wicked life, and told some, ' That they who were preserved 
 faithful among the people called Quakers, would be happy, and 
 that they were the people of God.' 
 
96 
 
 after a little consideration, gave me up for that service. 
 So in a few clays I took my journey, and went first to 
 Thomas Ellis's house, to visit his wife and family, before 
 I went farther, his house being about twenty-four miles 
 from Welch-Poo', and not far out of my way towards 
 Cardiganshire. There I very unexpectedly met T. Ellis 
 himself at home ; he told me they were all discharged 
 out of prison. Thus I saw it was the good will and 
 pleasure of my heavenly Eather to accept of my free-will 
 oft'ering in>tead of the deed ; and my fi-iend T. Ellis and 
 his wife were sensible of my love and kindness to them 
 therein. 
 
 And now my service being farther for Pembrokeshire, 
 T. Ellis was willing to accompany me in my journey and 
 we went to Aberystwith, to visit those friends there, 
 where we had a pretty large meeting the first day in the 
 morning, and there came one Thomas Price, brother to Sir 
 Eichard Pi ice, of Gogerddan, who took us all prisoners, 
 and committed us to the town prison. That evening we 
 had a meeting in the house where we were prisoners. 
 Many of the town's people, some of them persons of 
 account, were at the meeting that evening. I declared 
 the word of the Lord to them in Welsh, and shewed 
 them the way to the kingdom of htaven. A sweet 
 comfortable meeting we had, and great satisfaction it 
 was to them that were there. 
 
 That night a weighty consideration came upon me, 
 about those young convinced friends that were so lately 
 discharged of their imprisonment, because they were like 
 to go so quickly to prison again. So I asked counsel of 
 the Lord, what we might do for, and in behalf of, these 
 young and tender friends ; and being under great exercise 
 in my spirit, earnestly praying to God, that he might 
 make some way for their enlargement that time, it came 
 in my mind to write to the chief magistrate Sir Eichard 
 
Price, and to give him an account of my journey so far, 
 and that my friend T. Ellis and myself intending for 
 Pembrokeshire, and resting with our friends, and having 
 a meeting with them that day, were taken prisoners by 
 his brother Thomas Price ; and if it was his pleasure to 
 send us to prison to Cardigan, that he would be so kind 
 as to leave his neighbours at home, and accept of my 
 friend Thomas Ellis and me, as prisoners instead of them 
 all. To this effect I wrote to him, and sent it next 
 morning; but he sent me no answer. But the high- 
 constable came to us, and told us, we must all prepare to 
 go to Cardigan town, where the county jail was kept. So 
 friends freely and heartily prepared themselves to go. 
 When the time of our going was come, they tenderly 
 taking their leaves of their wives, children, and neigh- 
 bours, (for some of their neighbours came a little way to 
 see them out of town) the constable stopped, and bid all 
 go home, except Thomas Ellis and me ; for it seems the 
 high-constable had private orders not to go with them, 
 but to do as I desired in my letter. Thus the Lord did 
 try those tender friends, and also delivered them. 
 
 The constable had instructions to bring us to the 
 quarter-sessions, then held at Lampeter,* and not to Car- 
 digan. When we came there, the justices being upon 
 the bench, we were had before them ; some of them 
 were formerly acquainted with Thomas Ellis, he having 
 been in authority, and according to ^his place, somewhat 
 sharp against offenders. The justices were very moderate 
 to him ; but the clerk of the peace was very peevish and 
 fro ward. I asked the justices, whether that man that 
 questioned my friend, was a justice of the peace ; they 
 told me, he was not. Then 1 told them, we were not 
 bound to answer him ; but if they would give me leave, I 
 
 * Llanbedr in previous editions. 
 H 
 
98 
 
 would give them a just account of my business in that 
 county, and upon what account we were sent there before 
 them : and they desired me to speak on. I told them I 
 was at my own house, with my wife and family, at 
 "Welch-Pool, in Montgomeryshire, and hearing that my 
 friend Thomas Ellis, and other of my friends, were in 
 prison in this county of Cardigan, for a considerable time, 
 it was with me to come to the magistrates of this county, 
 to offer myself a prisoner, that my friend Thomas Ellis, 
 and the rest of them, might go for a little while to visit 
 their families ; in order thereunto, I came as far as my 
 friend Thomas Ellis's house, where I found him at home 
 with his wife and family ; and they being discharged of 
 their imprisonment, I had a farther concern upon me to 
 Pembrokeshire ; my friend Thomas Ellis, being not willing 
 I should go alone, accompanied me. We came to Aber- 
 ystwith, to rest there the first day of the week, and had 
 a meeting with our friends, so were taken prisoners, and 
 sent here to you, and now desire to know your pleasure. 
 The justices answered. It was great love indeed, that 
 caused me to come and offer myself a prisoner upon such 
 an account ; and they were sorry Sir Richard Price gave 
 us that trouble to send us there ; and so they discharged 
 us. And the court being silent, I had an opportunity to 
 declare the word of the Lord among them. Very still 
 and attentive they were, as if I had been in a meeting. 
 I commended their great moderation, and in the love of 
 God we parted with then. The deputy-sheriff, and the 
 high-constable that brought us there, came out of the 
 court and treated us very civilly, and would have be- 
 stowed on us the best the town could afford, but we 
 were sparing of taking any thing of them. I was 
 informed, that the deputy-sheriff and the high-constable 
 were convinced, and very loving to friends all along. I 
 know not of any that were imprisoned in that county 
 
afterwards. The Lord was with us, and he had a regard 
 for the integrity of our hearts, and he alone pleaded our 
 cause, and was with us in our services. 
 
 Then we took horse and left the town, and went 
 towards Pembrokeshire, till we came to Cardigan, about 
 twenty-four miles. We met with some hardship on the 
 way, having little or no refreshment till we came here, 
 where we had very good entertainment for ourselves and 
 horses ; and from thence we had a friend for our guide 
 towards Pontysaison in Pembrokeshire, but we were be- 
 nighted, and it rained ; our guide lost his way, and we 
 wandered up and down among the peat or turf-pits, and 
 and other dangerous places, but the Lord preserved us 
 out of them all. At length we came to Pontysaison, but 
 it being dark, we did not know the house where our 
 friend, that we intended to go to, lived ; but I spoke to 
 our guide to see where the steeple-house door was, and 
 he brought us to it ; then I told them, the friend's house 
 was opposite to it; for I remembered when I had a 
 meeting there, my back was against the wall of the 
 house, and my face towards the steeple-house door. So 
 we went forwards and found the house. I desired T. 
 Ellis to call and tell them, that there were some friends 
 that had lost their way, and desired to have lodging 
 there that night. They being in bed, answered, they 
 thought that no good friends were out at that time of 
 the night. T. Ellis reasoned a little with them, but still 
 they were not willing to rise and let us in. At last I 
 called to the friend, whose name was Thomas Simmons, 
 and to his wife, and desired them to rise and let us come 
 in. He asked me, who was there ; I told him in Welsh, 
 Hichard Davies was there. What, said he, Richard Davies 
 of Welch-Pool ? I told them, I was the man. Thereupon 
 the tender, loving friends hastily came down and let us 
 into their house, and we were satisfied in the love of 
 
100 
 
 Ood. This being the first journey that Thomas ElHs 
 made to Pembrokeshire since he was convinced. 
 
 Hence we went to Haverfordwest, and so through all 
 the meetings in that county, till we came to Pontysaison 
 again, and had a meeting there, where there came many 
 friends, both Welsh and English, so that the house could 
 not contain us, and we had the meeting out of doors in 
 the street, and I declared the word of the Lord to them, 
 both in Welsh and English. 
 
 As we came to Pembrokeshire, we went to a Ba])tist's 
 house, and the woman of the house being loving and 
 tender, promised we should have a meeting among the 
 Baptists there. We also appointed a meeting at New- 
 castle in Carmarthenshire ; Peregrine Musgrave, James 
 Lewis, and several other Eriends accompanied us to the 
 meeting at Newcastle. The magistrates of the town were 
 very civil, and several of them came to the meeting. 
 The weight and service of the meeting lay chiefly upon 
 upon me ; for though our friend T. Ellis was reckoned a 
 deacon, and an eminent preacher among the Indepen- 
 dents, yet his mouth was but very little as yet opened by 
 way of testimony among friends. He was an under- 
 standing man in the things of God, and was not hasty to 
 offer his offering, till he found a very weighty concern 
 on him. As I was declaring to the people in the Welsh 
 language, I stood opposite to a great window that opened 
 to the street, and there was an evil-minded man in the 
 street that had a long fowlng- piece, who put the mouth 
 of it through the window and swore, that if I would 
 speak another word, I was a dead man. But blessed be 
 God, I was kept in that which was above the fear of 
 man, and the Lord kept me in dominion over all. There 
 were two women sitting in the window, and the mouth 
 •of the gun came between them both ; one of them seeing 
 the gun, turned her back upon it, and said in Welsh, 
 
101 
 
 when the man threatened as before, 1 will die myself 
 first. And there was one in the meeting went to this 
 man, and took the gun away from him, and that wicked 
 man came into the meeting, and was pretty quiet there ; 
 the Lord's good presence was with us, a good meeting 
 we had, and I may say, they that trust in the Lord, are 
 as Mount Sion, that cannot be moved. And as it was 
 said of old, as the hills were round about Jerusalem, so 
 is the Lord round about his people, to be a present help 
 to them in every needful time. 
 
 Here Pembrokeshire friends and we parted, and it 
 being somewhat late, the meeting having held long, we 
 travelled all night over some doleful hills, intending to be 
 at the Baptist meeting next day, which we had appointed, 
 as before mentioned. It was by computation about 
 twenty-four miles. In this time we had little refresh- 
 ment for ourselves or horses ; but when we came there 
 we had no meeting. The woman of the house said, that 
 the magistrates had heard of it, and charged them, we 
 should have no meeting there. So the slavish fear of 
 man overcame them. The woman seemed to be sorrowful, 
 and would have given us some victuals, but I told her, 
 we did not travel so hard, to come there for her meat 
 and drink, but in the love of God, for the good of their 
 souls. 
 
 So here my friend and companion, Thomas Ellis and I 
 parted ; he went homewards, and I went that night to 
 William ap Pugh's house, a poor friend, who had a con- 
 siderable company of small children. I lay on a little 
 straw, upon a hurdle of rods. When the morning 
 appeared, I took a bit of a cake and a cup of clean water, 
 and William ap Pugh and I took our journey towards 
 Eadnorshire, which was about twenty miles, mostly over 
 great hills ; and when I came there, 1 staid a little while 
 among friends. Afterwards I hastened home to my 
 
102 
 
 family, and when I was come there, Margaret Bowen 
 brought my girl to me, and said, here is a child the Lord 
 hath given thee ; she had been sick near unto death. 
 When I was under my exercise in Pembrokeshire, one 
 told me, my child was dead, and my wife not like to 
 recover; which was matter of sorrow to me; and I 
 turned a httle aside from friends, and the Lord satisfied 
 me, that neither my wife nor child were dead. When I 
 came home they told me, my child had been as it were 
 raised from death to life. Blessed be the Lord that 
 restored her, and preserved my family, and we were com- 
 forted in the Lord. 
 
 After this journey I staid a considerable time at home 
 with my family and friends, our meetings were pretty 
 much supplied with travelling friends, especially from the 
 north of England ; and though we were prisoners, yet we 
 had our liberty to go to meetings abroad. We had a con- 
 siderable large meeting at Cloddiaucochion, (the place of my 
 abode) near Welch-Pool, there were at our meeting John 
 ap John,"^' and James Adamson a north-country friend ; 
 but the magistrates of Pool, it being in the limits of their 
 corporation, came and broke up our meeting and took us 
 prisoners. We old prisoners went to the county prison, 
 and the rest to the corporation prison. I took my friend 
 John ap John by the hand, and told him he must come 
 to prison with me : so several of us went together, and 
 when the hurry was over with them, they let us, who 
 were old prisoners, go to prison alone. Then I dis- 
 charged our friend John ap John, and told him, he 
 should be my prisoner no longer. He staid a little while 
 
 * John ap John was formerly a hearer of Morgan Llwyd, of 
 Wrexham, and on the occasion of George Fox's visit in 1654, 
 was sent out by the former to try G.F's. testimony. John ap 
 John was then convinced of the blessed Truth, and became very 
 -serviceable in the ministry. 
 
103 
 
 with us and then went homewards. The jailer was 
 friendly to us, and after a while I went to the magis- 
 trates, and got them all released that night, except James 
 Adamson. The magistrates of the county gave strict 
 charge, that if any north-country Quakers came that way, 
 they should be secured ; and I had a great care upon me, 
 to get them discharged as soon as might be : for 1 knew 
 there was a great concern upon them to visit the churches 
 of Christ wheresoever God sent them. So when I saw a 
 convenient time, I went to the serjeant of the town, and 
 asked him, by what authority he kept my friend there a 
 prisoner ; and whether he had a commitment upon him ; 
 and he told me, no. Then I desired him to let him come 
 with me, and I would answer for him ; so the friend 
 came to my house, and friends and I concluded together, 
 to let him go to Shrewsbury, which was about twelve 
 miles from Welch-Pool ; and I desired him to stay there 
 till he should hear from me. 
 
 The assizes being there a few days after, the chief 
 magistrate of Pool went, and I went also. And as my 
 friend James Adamson and I were walking under the 
 hall at Shrewsbury we met the magistrate of Welch-Pool, 
 to w^hom James was a prisoner. He seemed a little angry 
 because I sent the prisoner away, and asked me, how I 
 could answer for it ; for, said he, we sent to the Lord 
 Herbert of Chirbury, for a commitment upon him. I 
 told him, they had kept him too long without a commit- 
 ment, which they could not legally answer. Now he 
 knew not that the prisoner was with me, so I asked him 
 after some discourse, what he would give me for a sight 
 of the prisoner ; he considered, and asked me, whether 
 the man who was with me was not his prisoner ? I told 
 him he was, for I knew that he was then out of his 
 liberty. So he said to the friend, your friend hath done 
 you and me a kindness ; and I see, if there had been 
 
104 
 
 occasion, you would have come again ; so he parted very- 
 friendly with us. 
 
 In these times the oath of allegiance and supremacy 
 was tendered to most friends that came into the county^ 
 if they were taken, and such were committed to prison, 
 for not taking it, till the next assizes, and then jpre- 
 munired ; and then little hopes of their being released 
 from their imprisonment ; and it came to be a saying, 
 and when any Quakers were taken prisoners in Mont- 
 gomeryshire, there would be no end of their imprison- 
 ment. 
 
 About the year 1669, my ancient, well-beloved, and 
 dear companion, John ap John, and 1, took our journey 
 for South Wales, to visit our friends and brethren in 
 those parts. We went first into Radnorshire, where we 
 had several good meetings. We gave timely notice 
 before-hand, where we appointed the meetings, and 
 several friends and other people came from Herefordshire 
 to meet us at the lower end of the county of Eadnor,* 
 where we had a sweet living meeting, and the power of 
 the Lord tendered the hearts of many. We declared the 
 word of the Lord both in Welsh and English. My friend 
 John ap John was very sound and intelligible in the 
 Welsh language. He deserved the right hand of fellow- 
 ship, for he was my elder, and the first friend that I 
 heard declare in a meeting in the English tongue ; and 
 though he was not perfect in that language, yet he had 
 the tongue of the learned, to such who were spiritual. 
 When that meeting was ended in Radnorshire, we both 
 withdrew a little aside from friends, being bowled before 
 the Lord, in a sense of his goodness amongst us. After 
 a little while I turned my face towards the friends, and 
 saw a man coming towards me with much brokenness and 
 
 * Probably near Kington or Presteign, which towns cannot 
 have been far from the Welsh speaking boundary. 
 
105 
 
 tears ; and when he came to me he took me in his arms 
 and held me there. I was very tender of him, though I 
 knew him not. He asked me, whether I did not know 
 him; I told him, I did not; though I said, I could 
 remember something of him. He said, he had cause to 
 remember me. When I looked upon him again, I asked 
 him, whether he was not Eoger Prichard; he said, he 
 was the man that had gone astray. And I was glad, yea, 
 very glad, that the lost sheep was found, and that he 
 came to know the true Shepherd and his voice in himself, 
 and he followed Him, and went not astray again, as he 
 did before. He accompanied us to several meetings in 
 that county, and in Mohmouthshire. As we were parting 
 with him, John ap John told him, he had come far out of 
 his way with us. He answered, we had put him in his 
 right way again, and he hoped he should keep in it. 
 
 We went through Monmouthshire, and Glamorgan- 
 shire, visiting friends. We had a good meeting at Scilly, 
 and at Swansea in Glamorganshire : where we met with 
 some French Bretons. We could understand something 
 of their language. We found they were passionate 
 among themselves. 
 
 From thence we passed to Carmarthenshire. We had 
 a meeting at Cardiff, and lodged at John Mayo's ; his wife 
 Elizabeth was a nursing mother to friends in the begin- 
 ning. At Cardiff " John ap John suffered great persecu- 
 tion, and in other parts of that country, before I was 
 convinced ; I suppose he might be prisoner there in 
 1653, or 1654. 
 
 * John ap John was sent to Cardiff gaol in 1655, for asking a 
 question in the steeple-house at Swansea, after the priest had 
 finished his sermon. In the mittimus he is described as of Denbigh- 
 shire. In 1658 he was several times turned out of Swansea. The 
 reader should recollect that at both these times the common prayer 
 book was not allowed in the parish meeting houses. The Swansea 
 priest was therefore non-episcopal, but no doubt enjoyed Tithes. 
 
106 
 
 We went thence towards Pembrokeshire, where we had 
 several good meetings, and the Lord was wdth us. Then 
 we came homewards ; and before we parted with Eoger 
 Prichard, we appointed a meeting at his house, which 
 was at Almeley-Wooton. The Lord helped us on in our 
 journey, and we came there according to the time ap- 
 pointed, and a large, sweet, comfortable meeting we had ; 
 [ know not that any meeting had been there before. I 
 appointed another meeting to be there ; and in a few 
 weeks after my return home, I went accordingly. The 
 concern of that part of the county of Herefordshire was 
 much upon me, and I was often there ; and when the 
 people of that village saw me come, they would say one 
 to another, come, let us go to Mr. Prichard's for w^e 
 shall hav^e prayers there to-night ; and the house hath 
 been soon near full of people. A comfortable time we 
 used to have together, and many were gathered to the 
 Lo]-d in those parts. As for Eoger Prichard, the Lord 
 blessed him in his basket and in his store, and his heart 
 and house were open to friends, and he built a fine 
 meeting-house at his own charge, and also gave a burying- 
 place, and settled both upon friends for that service, and 
 lived and died in love and favour with God, and in unity 
 with his brethren. " Say to the righteous, it shall go 
 well with them." 
 
 About this time I was pretty much at home, and the 
 Enemy and adversary of the growth and prosperity of 
 truth in these parts, stirred up an informer against us, 
 one John David, alias Pugh, a weaver, a tenant to the 
 jailer. We had our meeting in an upper room in the 
 prison, and the said informer dwelt below. Once as he 
 was coming by my barns where my cattle were, he said to 
 some of my neighbours, these cattle are all mine. They 
 asked him, how they were his ; he said, E-ichard Davies 
 iiad preached three times this day, and that by the laws 
 
107 
 
 there is 601. on the preacher for the same. By this it 
 was noised abroad in the town, that I was Hke to be 
 undone. My neighbours seemed to be concerned, and 
 one of the aldermen, a relation of mine, came chidingly 
 to me, and asked me, whether I had a mind to ruin my 
 wife and family ; could I not leave my preaching, when I 
 when I knew the law^s were so severe against us. I told 
 him, I could not, when the Lord required it of me. I 
 desired him to let the informer alone, and let him take 
 his course. He said, he would not ; but, said he, I will 
 tell thee what I will do ; I will take him along with me 
 to Severn-side, and whet my knife very sharp, and I will 
 cut ofl: one of the rogue's ears ; and if ever he informs 
 against thee again, I will cut off the other. I earnestly 
 desired him to let him alone ; but he and his neighbours 
 were so enraged against him, that I was afraid they 
 would have done him some mischief. 
 
 This informer was a weaver by trade, and the neigh- 
 bours took their work away from him, so that his children 
 went soon after a begging, many of the town telling 
 them, their father had got a new, rich trade in hand, and 
 that they need need not give them any thing. So the 
 poor children suffered very much ; but my wife did not 
 withhold her hand of charity from them. 
 
 One time I had my boots on, ready to go out, the 
 jailer, this informer's landlord, seeing him come up the 
 street towards my house, I being in the street, he said to 
 the informer, Mr. Informer^ you see Richard Davies is 
 going out to preach somewhere to-day, I advise you to 
 look diligently after your business and find him out. If 
 you will not inform against him, I will inform against 
 you. Tou have got a good trade in hand, and if you do 
 this great service for the king, you must needs have 
 either Dolobran, or Coedcowrid, for your pains. The 
 one was the mansion-house, and the other the jointure- 
 
108 
 
 house that belonged to mj friend Charles Lloyd, and his 
 ancestors. Thus the jailer jeered him, and the poor 
 informer travelled great part of that day, from one 
 friend's house to another, to see for me, till he came to 
 Dolobran, where we were met upon church affairs. As 
 we were coming from the meeting, I met him at the 
 door, and discoursed a little with him. He told us, that 
 he was going for a warrant against us to Edward Lord 
 Herbert. 
 
 I felt the power of God was over him, and truth reigned 
 among us. He went to the said Lord, and desired a 
 warrant against the Quakers. Lord Herbert asked him, 
 what did the Quakers do ; he said, they preached. He 
 queried of him, where did they preach ? He told him, 
 they preached at his house, which was their prison. 
 Lord Herbert answered him, let them preach there as 
 long as they will, what have I to say to them ? But the 
 informer told him, they met at Cloddiaucochion. He asked 
 whether those there were not prisoners; he answered, 
 they were. Then said Lord Herbert, what do they do at 
 Cloddiaucochion ? Do they preach there ? He said, no ; 
 their way was to sit down, and to look one upon another. 
 He answered, thou art but a fool ; the Quakers are a 
 loving people ; they went to visit their children, and to 
 eat bread and cheese with them. 
 
 So Lord Herbert took his cane, and went from him 
 with his gentleman to walk in his park. The informer 
 followed them, and spoke again to him, and said, will you 
 be pleased to grant me a warrant against the Quakers ? 
 He asked him, who sent him there for a warrant ? He 
 said, D. Davies. (This was the priest of Welch-Pool, a 
 quiet man, and no persecutor.) Lord Herbert asked 
 him again, whether he had a letter from him ; the 
 informer said, no, he thought his word might be sufficient 
 to get a warrant against the Quakers. Upon this. Lord 
 
109 
 
 Herbert, with indignation, it is thought, would have 
 spoiled him, had not his gentleman interposed. He said 
 to him, Is it not sufficient to put my peaceable neigh- 
 bours in prison ? Must I give a warrant to make such a 
 rogue as this is rich, by ruining them and their families ? 
 So the informer returned home ; and as I was going by 
 his house, he desired me to walk in, as he had something 
 to say to me. I went in with him, and he said to me, I 
 am sorry I did you so much wrong, for I intended much 
 evil against you. I was put on to be an informer, which 
 proved to be mine and my children's ruin ; for my neigh- 
 bours took their work from me, and when my children 
 went to their doors, they would scarce give them any 
 thing to relieve them. And now I desire you to pray to 
 Grod to forgive me ; and I pray you to forgire me also ; 
 for I think most of our bishops are Papists, and there is 
 no trust to be put in them. I desired him to have a care 
 what he said, and not lay the fault there ; for it was the 
 enemy, the adversary, the devil, that begot that covetous 
 mind in him, against his peaceable neighbours. I desired 
 the Lord to forgive him ; and as for me and my friends, 
 we would forgive him ; and I desired him to go his way, 
 and to do so no more. So he never informed against us 
 afterwards. 
 
 Thus the Lord helped and preserved us through great 
 hardships and difficulties. There was nothing taken from 
 us this time, upon this informer's account. 
 
CHAPTEE VI. 
 
 Persecution in Meeionethshiee — Price or Ehiwlas 
 AND Salisbury oe Eug — D. Maurice an Informer 
 — His miserable end — GtEorge Fox a Prisoner — 
 Counsellor Corbet gets him clear at Westmin- 
 ster Hall — Threat of Counsellor Walcott — 
 Lord Powis— Oppression of Ludlow Court of 
 Marches — Priest outwitted — Yearly-meeting for 
 Wales settled. 
 
 About the year 1675, we heard there was a severe 
 persecution by informers in Merionethshire, especially in 
 Penllyn, near Bala ; in which time our meetings did 
 increase there, and many people came to them. A 
 concern lay upon my friend Charles Lloyd and me to 
 visit those meetings, where we had a meeting on the 
 first day of the week at Cadwalader Thomas's, called 
 Wern-fawr. There was abundance of people, more than 
 the house could hold. Two informers came in, and staid 
 all the meeting-time ; and after Charles Lloyd and I had 
 cleared ourselves by way of testimony, the people's under- 
 standings were very much opened in the things of God, 
 and the way to his kingdom, in the Welsh language, in 
 which I concluded the meeting, the Lord owning of us 
 with his great power and presence, to our great comfort, 
 and the satisfaction of the auditory. The two informers 
 kneeled upon their knees with us, while I was at prayer, 
 and one of them, called Eobert Evans, did exceedingly 
 tremble ; and when I had concluded the meeting, the 
 
Ill 
 
 said Eobert Evans took a paper out of his pocket, and 
 stood before us with much trembling and shaking, and 
 could say nothing to us, but a ivarrant, a warrant, a 
 warrant. Friends stood quiet in the possession of that 
 life and power that God had blessed them withal that 
 day, and we said nothing to him, nor he to us, which 
 was almost an amazement to the spectators ; for he was 
 a spiteful, envious man, that had done much spoil upon 
 friends in those parts. At last I asked him, what he had 
 there ; he told me, he had a warrant. I desired him to 
 let us see it. He was not willing we should see it ; but 
 said, if we would come a little farther on our way, we 
 should see it. We told friends, we were not bound to 
 follow him, and desired friends to depart to their own 
 habitations. But our loving tender-hearted friends would 
 not part with us. Charles Lloyd and I had a great mind 
 to see what the tenor of his warrant was, and who the 
 justices were, that did sign it. So we went along with 
 him to the house where he said we should see it ; but 
 the man of the house not being within, he was still loth 
 we should see it. We told him, he should have it safe 
 again, and at last he let us see it ; and we saw that 
 Colonel Price of Ehiwlas, and Colonel Salisbury of Rug, 
 had granted it. We went that night to John Thomas's 
 of Llaethgwn, and w^ere concerned to go and visit these 
 justices. In the first place we went to see whether we 
 could speak with Price of Ehiwlas, to lay the sufferings 
 of friends, that were his neighbours and tenants, before 
 him, for many of them were his tenants ; but we could 
 not see him, though we heard he was at home. Thence 
 we went to Eug, where this Colonel Salisbury lived ; and 
 we enquired, before we came to the house, whether he 
 was at home ; some told us, he was : but when we came 
 there, they perceived we were those people called Quakers, 
 by our habit and language, and he being conscious to 
 
112 
 
 himself what he had done, and what spoil was made upon 
 friend's goods, would not admit us to speak with him. 
 We desired one of his servants to acquaint him, that we 
 had come a great way to visit our suii'ering friends in 
 that county ; and my friend Charles Lloyd bid him tell 
 him who he was; for it seems he was his relation, and an 
 old school-fellow. From thence we went to John ap 
 John's, at Wrexham, in Denbighshire, and visited friends 
 there ; and then came home to our families, where we 
 found all things well ; and the Lord was with us in our 
 journey. 
 
 Some time after this it lay upon me to go and visit 
 friends in London. I went to see the lord Powis 
 and his lady who dwelt then at London, they were my 
 particular friends ; and acquainted them with the suffer- 
 ings of our friends in Merionethshire, by informers upon 
 the late act. They asked me, which way they might be 
 helpful to friends ; I told them, if they would be pleased 
 to get a few lines from their brother the duke of Beau- 
 fort, then lord-president of Wales, to Colonel Price of 
 Ehiwlas, I did not question but that would moderate 
 them very much : for the said Colonel was not in the 
 main a persecutor, but was put on by some peevish 
 clergyman, so called. In a little time they got his letter 
 for me, with his own seal thereon, but not sealed up; 
 the tenor of it was thus : Sir, I have stopped the com- 
 plaint of his Majesty's subjects, called Quakers, from 
 coming before the council-board, concerning the severe 
 persecution of the penal laws against them. So when 1 
 had this letter, I made what haste I could down into the 
 country, and gave it to a friend and relation of colonel 
 Price's, who delivered it into his own hand. It had good 
 effect ; the Lord was pleased thereby to stop the rage 
 and ruin that was intended against friends in that 
 count ■^. The justices of the peace called the informer to 
 
113 
 
 an account for what he had done to, and taken from 
 friends, but he could not make up his account. The 
 moderate justices followed him so close, in behalf of the 
 king, that he was near ruined and undone thereby. So 
 it pleased God that himself fell into the snare and evil 
 that he intended against his neighbours.* 
 
 Some time afterwards, one Price, priest of Llanvawr, 
 in Merionethshire, was severe against friends for tithes, 
 and some friends came down to me to Welch-Pool with 
 an account thereof. I considered his proceeding upon a 
 quo minus from the exchequer, and caused an attorney to 
 appear for the friends, and he, in a few terms, brought 
 me a writ of charges against the priest. When 1 had it, 
 I was in a great strait what to do with it ; for I knew if 
 the priest was taken upon it, it would exasperate him 
 against friends. 1 sent for some of these friends to be 
 at our quarterly-meeting at Dolobran, which they be- 
 longed to. I told them what my judgment was in the 
 matter ; and that though there was a writ of costs 
 obtained against the priest, yet it was not expedient tO: 
 have it executed. 1 told them, 1 thought it would be 
 more convenient for them to take the writ, shew it to the 
 deputy-sheriff, and tell him the whole case ; but to take 
 care that the writ should not be left with him ; which 
 was well approved of, and the friends did accordingly, and 
 kept the writ. The deputy-sheriff knew that would be 
 for the advantage of friends, and was ready to do what 
 he could for them. So he blazed it abroad that the 
 Quakers had got a writ against the priest, and the poor 
 priest was afraid of coming to the steeple-house for 
 several days to perform his service, till he employed 
 somebody to come to friends to make an end of the 
 
 ♦ The instances were many in which Divine judgment followed 
 informers or savage persecutors, and some of them were very 
 remarkable. 
 
114 
 
 matter : and I never heard that he troubled friends again 
 for tithes while he Mas there. 
 
 About that time that I was at London to visit friends, 
 there sprang up a new informer, whose name was David 
 Maurice, he lived at a place called Pen-y-boiit, in Denbigh- 
 shire, and was newly made a justice of the peace of the 
 county of Montgomery. He that recommended him w-as 
 informed that he uas a sober man, and not given to 
 persecution ; but soon after he had his conunission, he 
 appeared to be a great persecutor, not only of our friends, 
 but of other Dissenters also. 
 
 The said David Maurice, upon the 7th day of the first 
 month, called March, 1674-75, came into a meeting at 
 Oloddiaucochion, with about 14 or 15 persons, most of 
 them armed, where a small number of our friends were 
 waiting in silence upon the Lord. He requesting us to 
 depart, our fiiend Thomas Lloyd requested of him a 
 quarter of an hour's time before our beirjg dispersed, 
 which he readily granted, and he with his followers sat 
 amongst us, Thomas Lloyd uttered a few words, by way 
 of delining the true religion, and what the true worship 
 was; all which David Maurice approved of as sound, and 
 according to the doctrine, of the church of England;, 
 yet notwithstanding, he fined T. Lloyd £20 for preaching, 
 though he was no magisti-ate of the corporation, and he 
 fined the house £20 and 5/- a-piece for the hearers. 
 And on th^. 16th of the fourth month, 1675, he caused 
 to be driven from Thomas Tiloyd four cows and a mare, 
 all worth about <£16 by two of his servants, one of them 
 being his clerk, and the other his tenant, and no officer 
 of the corporation, nor of the parish, nor of that allot- 
 ment of the hundred, in place with them. These were 
 lurking near the ground about two hours before day, and 
 drove away the cattle before sun-rise, and they were 
 brought out of the county into his own domains. 
 
115 
 
 The same day, about the dawning thereof, the said 
 drivers, by a warrant from the said David Maurice, 
 rudely broke throuc:h a neighbour's fields, to the grounds 
 of Thomas Lewis, of Cloddiaucochion, and drove from him 
 six cows, two oxen, and two heifers ; alleging for his 
 offence that the said T. Lewis suffered a meeting to be 
 at his house, though the said David Maurice was at the 
 meeting himself, and not only allowed of at the time, 
 but approved what was spoken there. 
 
 About the same time Charles Lloyd, of Dolobran, had 
 ten young beasts taken from him by John Jones of 
 Golynog, an attorney at law, who was that year overseer 
 of the poor of the parish of Meivod, together with the 
 petty constable, &c. upon a warrant from the said David 
 Maurice, the only informer and busy justice upon this 
 mercenary act in our borders, for preaching at Cloddiau- 
 cochion, within the liberties of Welch-Pool, the 14th 
 of the first month, 1674-5, though the said Charles 
 Lloyd was not at that place that day, nor many days 
 before or after, at any meeting. David Jones of Bran- 
 yarth, for being a hearer at the said meeting at Cloddiau- 
 cochion, had a brass pan, for his own proper fines, taken 
 from him, and one cow for the pretended inability of 
 others convicted, upon a warrant from the said David 
 Maurice, of Pen-y-bont. But nothing was taken from 
 me, though my family was at the meeting, and I lived 
 within the limits of the corporation. 
 
 I being at this time in London, and my service there 
 pretty much in the time of the said hard persecution, 
 my dear friend Charles Lloyd sent me up a full and large 
 account of the sufferings of friends there, by this wicked 
 informer David Maurice ; and when I had read and con- 
 sidered them, I was under a great consideration, what 
 way to take to prevent the farther intended mischief of 
 this man ; and I laid their innocent and faithful sufferings 
 
116 
 
 in secret before the great God of heaven, who hath the 
 hearts of all men in his hand, and may order them as 
 seemeth good to him. 
 
 After this, when the time of the quarter sessions was 
 come, the clerk of the peace told the court, he had 
 received the new commissions ; which being r^ad, and 
 this D. Maurice being then present, and finding himself 
 left out, he fell into a great rage and passion. 
 
 In a little time the said D. Maurice went to London, 
 and was put into commission again ; but being made high- 
 sheriff of the county this year, he could not act as a 
 justice of the peace ; so he fell into a great rage, for that 
 the said office was like to be chargeable to him. So that 
 year we had peace and quietness ; and when his sheriff- 
 ship was over, he was coming through a brook called 
 Lynlleth, near his own house at Pen-y-bont, and it was 
 supposed his horse threw him, and he was carried down 
 into the river Tannat a considerable way, and there miser- 
 ably perished. Thus the Lord helped us through all our 
 afflictions and troubles ; and we see that they that trust 
 in the Lord, shall not be confounded, but are as Mount 
 Sion, and cannot be removed ; and as the hills be round 
 about Jerusalem, so is the Lord round about his people ; 
 blessed and praised be his holy name for ever and ever- 
 more, saith my soul. 
 
 In the latter end of the year 1674, I went to visit my 
 ancient* dear friend George Fox, who was a prisoner in 
 Worcester; I passed through Herefordshire, and had 
 some meetings there. I staid with my friend George Fox 
 for some time. He told me how he was taken prisoner, 
 and that he was indicted for refusing the oath of allegi- 
 ance ; that he had been twice removed by habeas corpus^ 
 to London ; that he had his trial there, and no error 
 
 ♦The word ancient was frequently used for old in the 17th 
 century. 
 
117 
 
 being found in his indictment, he was returned back again 
 to his prison at Worcester. As he was opening his case to 
 me, I thought there might be sufficient errors found in 
 his indictment to get him discharged. I told him of a 
 counsellor, Thomas Corbet, a friend of mine, then in 
 London, who was very excellent in finding out errors ; 
 so after some consideration, he sent next post for an 
 habeas corpus^ which came down in a little time, and the 
 sheriff was served with it ; so we set forward, G. Fox 
 went in the coach with the sheriff and the clerk of the 
 peace of Worcester, and I rode on my horse along with 
 the coach, and no other friend with us. 
 
 We came to London the 8th of the twelfth month, and 
 when we came there, several friends much admired that 
 he should be removed up again ; for he was something 
 private in the matter. He desired the friends, who had 
 the management of the business before, to let me have a 
 copy of the record, which was pretty difficult to be had ; 
 for several thought it was to little or no purpose ; but 
 Gr. Fox was not satisfied till I had it. I had acquainted 
 counsellor Corbet of the whole case, as far as I could 
 understand it, before I could see a copy of the record ; 
 and about the tenth hour in the night, William Mead 
 came with me to counsellor Corbet with it. When he 
 had read it, he said, there were several material errors in 
 it ; which put W. Mead to a consideration how that could 
 be ; and he desired the counsellor to shew him one error. 
 The counsellor shewed him several errors. W. Mead 
 seemed to wonder that such great errors could not have 
 been found out by other counsel. 
 
 The next morning being the 11th of the twelfth 
 month, we went to court, where some other counsellors 
 moved first on Gr. Fox's behalf, and they were pretty 
 close upon some things, but they knew not of any errors 
 in the indictment. All this while counsellor Corbet was 
 
118 
 
 silent. Counsellor Walcott was against Gr. Eox, and 
 fearing lest they should find some errors in the indict- 
 ment, he moved, that the oath should be tendered again 
 to Gr. Eox. Upon which counsellor Corbet stood up and 
 moved, that there was no imprisonment in case of pre- 
 munire. Whereupon the chief justice Hales said, Mr. 
 Corbet, you should have come sooner at the beginning of 
 the term with that plea. He answered, we could not get 
 a copy of the return, and of the indictment. The judge 
 replied, you should have told us, and we would have 
 forced them to have made a return sooner. Then said 
 judge Wild, Mr. Corbet, you go upon general terms ; and 
 if it be so as you say, we have committed many errors at 
 the Old-Bailey, and in other courts. Corbet was positive, 
 that by law they could not imprison upon a premunire. 
 The judge said, there is summons in the statute. Yes, 
 said Corbet, but summons is not imprisonment ; for 
 summons is in order to a trial. Well, said the judge, 
 we must have time to look in our books, and consult 
 the statutes : so the hearing was put off till the next 
 day. As we were going out of Westminster hall, some 
 friends were much troubled, that the Welsh counsellor 
 should start such a plea, contrary to the opinion of the 
 judges, and all the counsellors ; and some of them said, 
 they thought G. Eox would have been discharged, if the 
 counsellor had not put in that plea. But honest plain 
 G. Eox said, he had a fine trial, and was cheerful in his 
 spirit. I desired friends to have a little patience, for I 
 thought the Welsh counsellor would stand upon his own 
 legs. So 1 went to the hall again, and staid for counsellor 
 Corbet till the court was up ; and when I found him, I 
 told him, he had started that which many thougbt he 
 could not make good ; and if so, it would be a reflection 
 upon me and the Welsh counsellor, as they called him. 
 He desired me to bring him that evening, another copj 
 
119 
 
 of the record, besides what he had. So I got one, and 
 went with it to him ; and he writ in the margin some- 
 thing in French, and gave it me again, and desired me to 
 go with it to Thomas Kudyard, who was an attorney in 
 London, for G. Fox, and desired him to dehver it that 
 night to judge Hales, and he would take the other him- 
 self to judge Wild ; and then he thought there would be 
 little discourse of that matter more : and so it happened. 
 
 For the next day they chose rather to let that plea fall, 
 and begin with the errors of the indictment ; and when 
 they came to be opened, they were so many and so gross,, 
 that the judges were all of opinion the indictment was 
 quashed and void, and that Gr. Fox ought to have his 
 liberty. Upon which proclamation was made, that if any 
 had any thing to say against George Fox, let them come 
 forth and they shall be heard, otherwise he is discharged. 
 And so he was set at liberty. 
 
 Counsellor Corbet, who pleaded this cause, got great 
 fame by it ; for many of the lawyers told him he had 
 brought that to light, which had not been known before, 
 as to the not imprisoning upon a premunire. And after 
 the trial, a judge said to him, you have attained a great 
 deal of honour by pleading George Fox's cause so in court. 
 
 As we were coming out of the court, I had an oppor- 
 tunity to speak to some of London, and to blame them 
 for their unbelief ; because they could not believe that 
 any good could come from that plea. I was then of a 
 mind, and still am, that the hand of the Lord was in it, 
 more than the wit and cunning of man ; for that trial 
 put an end to sd\ premunires in the nation. Our friends, 
 in this county of Montgomery, were most of us under a 
 sentence of premunire for many years. Our friend 
 Charles Lloyd was not suffered to see his own house for 
 several years, although it was but five miles from Welch- 
 Pool, where he was kept a prisoner. And as for myself. 
 
120 
 
 1 had the name of being a prisoner on the same accouat 
 for about seven years, but was not kept close prisoner in 
 all that time, but had my freedom and liberty to be at 
 JiOndon, and in other places of the nation, as my service 
 was, and as the Lord made way for me. In this time T 
 visited friends pretty much in their sufferings. 
 
 So, "good is the Lord, and good is his word, and 
 worthy is he to be praised by all that know him, from 
 henceforth and for ever." 
 
 1677. Some years after this trial of Gr. Eox at London, 
 counsellor M^alcott, who was a counsellor against him, 
 was made judge of three counties in North-Wales, viz. 
 Merionethshire, Carnarvonshire, and Anglesey. He 
 began his circuit in Bala, in Merionethshire. He caused 
 several friends to be brought before him, and tendered 
 them the oath of allegiance and supremacy. He did not 
 intend to proceed against them by jiremunire, but said, 
 the refusal oF those oaths was high-treason, and he would 
 ])roceed against them upon that statute for their lives 
 the next assizes ; threatening that the men should be 
 hanged, and the women burned. He was a wicked hard- 
 hearted man, and intended much mischief to friends, if 
 the Lord had not prevented him. So friends of that 
 county acquainted us here of the whole proceedings in 
 that affair. It being the time that the parliament was 
 sitting, friends concluded, that our friend Thomas Lloyd 
 should go up to London immediately, and we desired him 
 to advise with counsellor Corbet, what to do in the 
 matter, who was then in London. When counsellor 
 Corbet heard of the business, he was much concerned, 
 for he was very well acquainted wdth this Walcott, and 
 said, by that way they might try us all, if Popery came 
 up again ; for they have, said he, the writ De Hcere- 
 iico Comhurendo in force, which was executed in Queen 
 Mary's days, for the burning of Heretics, which was not 
 
121 
 
 repealed to this day. So counsellor Corbet and Thomas 
 Lloyd went to the parliament-house, and acquainted 
 several parliament-men o£ it, and that sessions it was 
 repealed ; and judge Walcott was spoken to in London, 
 and our friends were no farther prosecuted, but had their 
 Kberty ; and, blessed be the Lord, friends had great peace 
 and quietness in that county for a considerable time 
 afterwards. In a few years judge Walcott died, so there 
 was an end of that persecutor. 
 
 Li the year 1677, our friend John Burnyeat came 
 to give us a visit in Wales, and had a meeting at 
 Machynlleth, in Montgomeryshire, where appeared an 
 informer, Ohver Maurice, of Drain Llwydion, in Meri- 
 onethshire, and caused a disturbance, and went after- 
 wards to William Pugh, of Mathafern, near Machynlleth, 
 a justice of the peace for this county, (he was one of 
 them that had his commission when D. Maurice was 
 turned out, as before related page 116) who granted him 
 a warrant ; and himself, together with his bailiff and a 
 constable, meeting John Burnyeat and Thomas Ellis 
 upon the road, stopped them, and seized their horses 
 with their saddles and bridles, so that they were con- 
 strained to travel on foot. J. Burnyeat's mare died 
 within an hour and a half after seizure, and Thomas 
 Ellis's horse died in the informer's hands in half a year's 
 time ; in which time also a distemper infected most of 
 his cattle, whereby he suffered very great loss ; the said 
 justice likewise fined several other friends at the same 
 time, though they lived in another county. Thomas 
 Ellis dispatched a messenger to me at Welch-Pool, being 
 about twenty-two miles. The next day the Lord Powis 
 being at home at his castle of Powis, I went to him, and 
 acquainted him thereof, and he was very sorry. I desired 
 of him, that he would grant me the favour to make use 
 of his name, that he had heard such and such things 
 
122 
 
 concerning the beforesaid justice. Not only so, said he, 
 but let Mr. Edmund Lloyd (this was a neighbouring 
 justice, and no persecutor) write to him, and tell him 
 that I am angry with him for such proceedings. So I 
 went to my friend, that other justice, and got him to 
 write a few lines to the said W. Pugh. So he wrote 
 effectually to him, and I sent it away by night ; by which 
 means the rest of the fines were stopped. But John 
 Burny cat's mare was dead, as before related. 
 
 Some time after, there was in this county of Mont- 
 gomery, one Hughes, a priest, in the parish of Hirnant, 
 where liyed a friend, an honest man, whose name was 
 John E-hydderch, who could not pay tithe for conscience- 
 sake. This priest brought several actions against him 
 out of the county-court for tithe; the sheriff's bailiffs 
 drove away several of his cattle, for judgment had out of 
 the county-court. Our friend being well acquainted with 
 the deputy-sheriff', acquainted him of the errors of the 
 proceedings in the county-court ; and the sheriff ordered 
 the bailiffs to return the friend his cattle again ; so the 
 priest was in a great fret that he lost all that charge. 
 After that, he ordered the friend to be sued at Ludlow 
 court, which was for the marches of Wales. This court 
 was a great yoke and bondage to friends in this dominion; 
 for all answers were to be given upon oath in that court, 
 which friends could not do for conscience-sake. This 
 priest followed the friend with one contempt after 
 another, till it came to a writ of rebellion. We let him 
 go on as far as he could go, till the friend was ready to 
 be taken ; our attorney gave us an account of it, and I 
 desired the friend to go to a friend's house in Shropshire, 
 which was out of the jurisdiction of that court, and stay 
 there till he should hear from me. I sent to London to 
 John Lloyd, brother to Charles Lloyd of Dolobran, who 
 belonged to the chancery-office, and he sent me down a 
 
123 
 
 prohibition, and I sent to serve the priest and his attorney 
 with it. The priest fell into a very great rage, and his 
 attorney came to him for seven pounds charge that he 
 laid out for him, but the priest would not pay him ; so 
 the attorney sued him, and got judgment against him, 
 so that the poor priest could not go to perform his 
 wonted service for some time. Soon after which the 
 priest died, and I know not whether the attorney had 
 one penny of his money; and that friend was never 
 troubled after on account of that suit. 
 
 Our friend Charles Lloyd, of Dolobran, was sued for 
 tithe at the great assizes held for this county of Mont- 
 gomery, by the earl of Castlemain, impropriator, and 
 Eandal Davies, vicar of Meiv^od, the parish that our friend 
 Charles Lloyd lived in ; we were satisfied it was a court 
 of record, and they might sue for treble damage for not 
 paying tithe ; so we concluded to go with a copy of their 
 declaration to counsellor Corbet, who lived then at Welch- 
 Pool, and when he read it he said he would demur to it. 
 I asked him whether he could demur in case of tithes ? 
 He said, he would maintain a demurrer to that declara- 
 tion. So when the court sate, he acquainted the judge, 
 that he would demur to that declaration. The judge 
 said, demur in the case of tithe ? Yes, in this case, said 
 he. The judge asked him, whether he would demur 
 special or general ? Corbet said, when we join in demurrer 
 you may know. So they joined in demurrer ; and when 
 it came to be urged, he shewed his cause of demurrer. 
 So the judge and the court were convinced of the error, 
 and they paid cost, and mended the declaration, and next 
 assizes they obtained judgment upon Mhil dicit. So 
 Charles Lloyd's cattle were driven for treble damage; 
 but the priest was so perplexed, and put to charge and 
 trouble, that I do not know he ever sued any friend for 
 tithe again. 
 
124 
 
 After this I went to London to the yearly-meeting, 
 and continued there some time, in and about the city, and 
 so came leisurely down through several meetings, visiting 
 friends. A while after J came home, Thomas ElHs and 
 James Halliday came to our town ; I told James, it was 
 well done of him to give us a visit in these parts of 
 Wales. They said, they came to visit us against their 
 wills. 1 asked them, whether they were prisoners ; 
 they said, they were ; and soon after came other friends 
 with them. I took them along with me to my house to 
 refresh themselves. They told me, James Halliday came 
 from London to South- Wales, intending to take shipping 
 there for Ireland, to be at the half-year's meeting ; but 
 the wind proving contrary, he was necessitated to come 
 for North- Wales to Holyhead, and having a meeting in 
 this county near Llanidloes, they were taken prisoners and 
 fined by Evan Grlyn, a justice of the peace, and sent here. 
 I was very much concerned for James Halliday, that he 
 should be stopped in these parts, and hindei-ed of his 
 service. So next morning about two of the clock, I took 
 horse and went to this justice's father-in-law, justice 
 Devereux, and found him at a village thi-ee miles from 
 Welch-Pool. He asked me, what was the matter; I 
 told him, that his son-in-law Glyn had committed some 
 of our friends to prison to Welch-Pool, and fined them 
 also ; and 1 told him, 1 thought by the law, that no man 
 was to suifer twice for the same supposed transgression. 
 He gave his son-in-law hard language, and desired me to 
 see some way to get them off. 1 went to a neighbouring 
 justice, and got James Halliday a discharge, and brought 
 it with me that morning ; so we hastened him away with 
 a guide towards Holyhead, and I was informed he had a 
 good and quick passage, and got in time to the half-year's 
 meeting in Ireland, as he intended. 
 
 For Thomas Ellis and the rest of the friends, the 
 
125 
 
 jailer took our words, that they should be forthcoming 
 at the next quarter-sessions, at which time Charles Lloyd 
 and myself attended the court, and went to the clerk o£ 
 the peace, and desired him to call our friends first, which 
 he did. The friends being all at the bar, no prosecutor 
 appearing against them, (justice Glyn being not then 
 come to town), they were soon discharged, without 
 demanding any fees ; and after friends had refreshed 
 themselves in town, they went homewards, some of them 
 towards Hadnorshire, and those that went towards Llan- 
 idloes, met justice Glyn, who had committed them, going 
 towards the quarter-sessions. He spoke to them, and 
 they told him they were discharged. He seemed not 
 to be sorry for it, for he was not a persecutor in the 
 bottom, but was put on by a peevish, proud, informing 
 priest, and I know not that ever he did the like again. 
 
 I went to London to the yearly meeting in 168L 
 Persecution was very severe upon friends in the city, and 
 elsewhere in those parts ; at which meeting it lay upon 
 my mind to move for a yearly-meeting in Wales, and 
 after some consideration about it, it was left to friends 
 in Wales to appoint their first yearly-meeting, as in the 
 wisdom of God they should see meet, at their half-year's 
 meeting, held at Swansea the 28th of the seventh month. 
 An account of which my friend Thomas Ellis sent me to 
 London, as folio wet h : 
 
 "Dear Friend, E-. Da vies, 
 " In the love of God is my remembrance of thee at this 
 time, with many others of the like-minded, in and about 
 the city, and especially those who from the beginning 
 have been and still are most exercised under the glorious 
 weight of the care and concerns of the church of Christ ; 
 the remembrance of whom hath divers times, and especially 
 of late, as at this present, wrought both eyes to tears, and 
 
126 
 
 hearts to tenderness. Although I was disappointed in 
 my expectations of seeing thee here, at this half-year's 
 meeting, yet thy letter to John ap John, coming so 
 seasonably, did so answer for thee, that it was both joy 
 and refreshment to many of us. We had a full meeting 
 of friends from most parts of Wales ; many having come 
 upon the account of the yearly-meeting, which was con- 
 cluded to be at Haverfordwest, the second day of the 
 week, called Easter-week, for the following year. Here 
 were E. Edwards, John ap John, W. Players, Erancis 
 Lea, Philip Leonard, and E-ichard Walter, who had testi- 
 monies, and many other friends besides from other 
 remote parts, all zealous for the yearly-meeting. We had 
 meetings here the three last days — . 
 
 Thy Eriend and Brother, 
 
 Swansea, the 28th ThOMAS ElLIS." 
 
 of the seventh 
 Mouth, 1G81. 
 
 Thomas Ellis speaks of various Eriends having a testi- 
 mony. A " testimony " in such a case means a spoken 
 utterance required by the great Head of the Church 
 and not limited by man or by the will of man. As it 
 proceeds from a Divine source, so it gathers thereto, and 
 baptizes into the name of the Eather, the Son, and the 
 Holy Ghost. 
 
 Such baptizing teaching is rare ; and may be professed, 
 where it is not realized ; it is nevertheless a characteristic 
 of the true Church, subject to the exercise of the gift 
 and to being at all times in the will of the Giver. 
 
CHAPTEE VII. 
 
 Bishop of Asaph tries to get Dissenters into his 
 
 FOLD — KeASONS why QuAKERS DISSENT — R.D. DENIES 
 
 the term Lord Bishop and interviews the 
 Bishop — Lionel Jenkin, Secretary of State — 
 False Brethren — Outlines of Sermon — Insulted 
 BY Queen's Lifeguards in 1683. 
 
 About the year 1680, or 1681, came Dr. William 
 Lloyd, late of Martin's, in London, to be bishop of this 
 diocese, called St. Asaph. "'^ Persecution was very sharp 
 and severe in several places about this time, upon account 
 of excommunication, and the statute of o£20 a month. 
 But this new bishop thought to take a more mild way to 
 work, by summoning all sorts of Dissenters to discourse 
 with him, and seek to persuade them to turn to the 
 church of England. Among the rest, when he came to 
 Welch-Pool, in his visitation, he sent for us. Charles 
 Lloyd, Thomas Lloyd, and myself, sought to speak with 
 him, but I was that day bound for London, so could not, 
 but my friends staid till they liad an opportunity with 
 him, and my friend Charles Lloyd gave me an account 
 afterwards of what passed between them, which was to: 
 this effect : 
 
 That the bishop was much displeased that I was 
 absent ; and when he was told of my urgent occasion to 
 go, and my stay on purpose some time to see him,, he 
 said, his business was greater, whatever my business yv3L8^> 
 
 * For some account of the origin of the diocese called St. 
 Asaph, and of Bishop Lloyd, see Appendix. 
 
128 
 
 That day they discoursed with him, his chaplains, and 
 other clergy, so called, from about two in the afternoon 
 till two in the morning. Afterwards they discoursed 
 with him two days at Llanfyllin.* The first day from 
 about two in the afternoon till night; and the next 
 day, from about ten in the morning till an hour in the 
 night, publicly in the town-hall. The first day at Pool, 
 our friends Charles Lloyd and Thomas Lloyd gave their 
 reasons of separation. In none of" the three days would 
 the bishop and his clergy defend their own principles, or 
 refute ours ; but only held the three days on the general 
 principles of Christendom, and the apostles' examples of 
 water-baptism, and once a small touch at the bread and 
 wine. Thomas Lloyd held, the last day, our reasons why 
 we separated from the church of England ; which were, 
 
 1. Because their worship was not a gospel worship. 
 
 2. Because their ministry was no gospel ministry. 
 
 3. Because their ordinances were no gospel ordinances. 
 But they would not join with him to prove any of 
 
 them, though often solicited thereunto : friends being 
 sufferers must submit to all disadvantages : for they had 
 not any notice before-hand of what matters they 
 should argue till they came to the place of dispute, 
 and the last day they forced Thomas Lloyd to about 
 twenty-eight syllogisms, all written down as they dis- 
 puted, to be answered extempore ; and the bishop said, 
 he did not expect so much could be said by any on that sub- 
 ject, on so little warning. And he said, that he expected 
 not to find so much civility from the Quakers ; he highly 
 commended Thomas Lloyd, and our friends came off with 
 them very well. They had also much discourse with the 
 chancellor, and one Henry Dodwell, and with the dean 
 of Bangor, afterwards bishop of Hereford, very learned 
 
 ♦ Spelt Llanvilling in the English edition 
 
129 
 
 men, who were also at the said dispute, with many of 
 the clergy of the diocese, with some justices of the peace, 
 deputy-lieutenants of the county, and a great concourse 
 of people in the town-hall aforesaid, in Llanfyllin. 
 Several of the clergy, with whom I afterwards discoursed, 
 seemed not well satisfied with that dispute ; for they 
 said, they thought the validity of water-baptism was 
 much weakened thereby ; and several noted men that 
 were present said, they thought there could not have 
 been so much said against water-baptism as had been 
 said there. It was agreed by consent of all parties con- 
 cerned, that the dispute should not be printed. 
 
 I staid a pretty while in London ; and when the Lord 
 made way for me, I took my leave of the city friends, 
 letting them understand that I was preparing homewards, 
 intending for my prison, upon the writ De Excommunicato 
 Capiendo, that was out against me and our friends, and 
 other dissenters in this diocese called St. Asaph. A 
 little time before I came out of the city, there came two 
 or three grave citizens, I suppose of the independent 
 congregation, and told me, they were come to let me 
 know that there was a writ De Excommunicato Capiendo^ 
 out against me, and there was one of their friends 
 already in prison on the same writ in our county, and 
 if I would contribute with them, they said, they knew 
 how to make it void. I told them, I knew that there 
 was a writ out against me ; and I did also know there 
 was a friend of theirs, one Richard Trollus, in prison 
 in Welch-Pool on that writ. I told them, 1 thought 
 they might make the writ void, but I would contribute 
 nothing towards it ; for I told them, I would hasten 
 home as soon as I could, and go to prison if required. 
 They said, they were satisfied I had other reasons why I 
 would not make the writ void, and desired me to be free 
 with them, and tell them my reasons. I told them, I 
 
 K 
 
130 
 
 thought they might make that writ void with a great 
 deal of charges ; but, said I, how will you prevent the 
 bishop coming on again with another writ which you 
 cannot make void ? If there be any error in their pro- 
 ceedings in this, no doubt but the bishop and the chan- 
 cellor will mend it in the next. And whether do you think 
 it is better for me to go to prison on a false writ, or on 
 a writ you can find no error in ? I said, if I go to prison 
 on this erroneous writ, and the sheriff or jailer gives me 
 my liberty, the bishop or the chancellor cannot justly sue 
 them. These men went away well satisfied with the 
 reasons I gave them, and I know of no money they spent 
 to make the writ void. 
 
 I acquainted my friend William Penn, and some 
 friends, that I intended to give bishop Lloyd a visit 
 before I went to prison, if the Lord pleased to make way 
 way for me. So my friend W. Penn, the morning before 
 I came out of the city, sent me a letter from the Lord 
 Hide to the bishop, with his coat of arms on it, un- 
 sealed. I took my journey and the Lord brought me 
 safe home, to the comfort of my family and friends, 
 who were afraid I had been detained from coming 
 home. 
 
 The next morning I set out to see the bishop without 
 interruption ; though the sheriff, G-eorge Mercer, was 
 very envious to friends, yet I escaped his hands at this 
 time. I went to my friend Tho. Wynne's, who lived in 
 Caerwys in Flintshire, not far from the bishop's palace,, 
 and he went with me. When we came there, the 
 bishop's secretary came to the gate. I asked him whether 
 the bishop was within ; he said, he was ; and asked me, 
 who would speak with him ? T told him, that Richard 
 Davies would speak with him. What, said he, of Welch- 
 Pool? Yes, said I. What, said the secretary, my lord 
 bishop ! Bishop, as it signifies an overseer, said I, I 
 
131 
 
 own ; but lord bishop '^ I deny. So the bishop sent for us 
 in, and there were several clergymen with him, among 
 the rest the dean of Bangor, before-mentioned. The 
 bishop seemed to be dissatisfied that I was not with them 
 at the dispute at Llanfyllin ; we went soon to dispute 
 about water-baptism ; I told them, there was one Lord, 
 one faith, and one baptism ; and that baptism was- 
 necessary to salvation ; and that water-baptism, which 
 was John's baptism, was to continue and remain but for 
 a season. So this, and such Hke discourse, held us till it 
 was late that night ; and then I went to my friend's, 
 house with an order to be there again in the morning. 
 I came in the morning, and we disputed upon the same 
 subject. I said, if one should grant what they desired, 
 viz. that water-baptism was necessary to salvation, which 
 I would not, where should they have an administrator, 
 seeing St. Fault says expressly, " he was not sent to 
 baptize, but to preach the gospel ; " and thanked God 
 that he baptised none, except such and such ? 1 Cor. i. 
 14—17. And Peter, who baptised many, came to see 
 the invalidity of water-baptism that he said, " by baptism 
 we are saved, not the putting away of the filth of the 
 flesh, (outward water could do no farther) but the 
 answer of a good conscience towards God, by the resur- 
 rection of Jesus Christ," 1 Pet. iii. 21. They went from 
 this to their Ordination. I put them to prove who sent 
 them to baptize. The dean told me, such an one ordained 
 him ; and so named from one to another. I told him, I 
 
 * A term arising out of anti-christian usurpation. 
 
 f It must not be understood that the testimony of Truth com- 
 mitted to the early friends and others since their day, permitted 
 the use of the word Saint, other than as there was a conviction 
 of real attainments in holiness in the individual referred to, and 
 to which all are more or less called. Friends usually spoke of 
 " Ives " and " Austell," instead of St. Ives and St. Austell. 
 
132 
 
 thought I should send him to Rome for their succession 
 and ordination. They said, yes, the ordination might be 
 good, though it came from Eame. He brought a com- 
 parison ; as suppose a malefactor was condemned to die, 
 and a reprieve was obtained, and it came down by the 
 hangman's hand ; and though it came so, yet, said he, 
 the pardon was good. Then said I, your ordination 
 comes not by the spirit and power of God.* This return 
 made them somewhat uneasy; and the time being far 
 spent, I was willing to be discharged, having being there 
 part of three days. 
 
 I told the bishop of good old David, who said, Psal. 
 xxvi. 6. " I will wash my hands in innocency, so will I 
 compass thy altar, O (iJod; that I may publish with the 
 voice of thanksgiving and tell of all thy wondrous works." 
 Then I said to the bishop, thou canst not say thou wilt 
 wash thine hands in innocency, nor compass the altar of 
 God, while thy writs remain against so many innocent 
 people, willing to suffer till death, for the testimony of 
 their consciences towards God. And I said, bishop Lloyd 
 if I go to prison upon this account, I shall have more 
 peace there than thou shalt have in thy palace. I also 
 said, suppose another prince should arise that would 
 impose something upon thee that thou couldst not do for 
 conscience-sake, what wouldst thou do '? He said, then 
 I will go to Pennsylvania also : for at that time many 
 friends were about going there. Then it came clearly 
 to me, and I said to the bishop, though thy head be grey 
 yet thou mayst live to see liberty of conscience in 
 England t ; though, as to outward appearance, it seemed 
 to be very far from it at that time. 
 
 * The thoughtful reader will readily apply this to all whose 
 authority as spiritual teachers comes by the will of man, or as a 
 supposed endowment of grace by the putting on of hands. 
 
 i This was fulfilled by the passing of the Toleration Act in 1690. 
 
133 
 
 The bishop called for pen and ink, and said, he would 
 write to the chancellor for my liberty ; but I told him, 
 I was not satisfied for myself to be at liberty, and my 
 friends in prison. !So he wrote to the chancellor to 
 suspend the execution of the writ. When he had done, 
 he read the letter to me, and I owned his kindness to us 
 all therein. Then I took Lord Hide's letter out of my 
 pocket, and gave it him. When he saw the subscription, 
 and knew from whence it was, he asked me, how I came 
 by it ; I told him, as I was coming out of London, 
 intending for prison, a friend of mine brought me that 
 letter the same morning that I left the city. When he 
 had read it, he said, he hoped I was satisfied that he had 
 granted me the contents of that letter. I told him it 
 was so, and I hoped he would have his reward for his 
 well-doing. 
 
 Then I was dismissed, had leave to come home, and 
 brought a letter to John Edwards, chancellor, a peevish 
 man against friends, who lived at Llanymynech, about 
 eight miles from Welch-Pool. When he received the 
 letter, he did according to the bishop's order, and those 
 friends in the diocese, that were concerned therein, were 
 not troubled on that account any more ; and the friends 
 that were in prison before, were discharged. We have 
 great cause to bless and praise the Lord for all his mercies, 
 kindnesses, and deHverances to us ; for hitherto he hath 
 been our Eben-ezer ; that is, " the Lord hath helped us," 
 1 Sam. vii. 12. 
 
 In the beginning of the year 1682, my dear friend 
 Charles Lloyd and I went to visit friends in Herefordshire, 
 Worcestershire, &c., and came through their meetings to 
 London, before the yearly-meeting. I acquainted my 
 friends George Whitebread, and W. Penn, that I intended 
 to go to Lord Hide, to acknowledge his kindness for his 
 letter, on my behalf, to bishop Lloyd. George White- 
 
I'M 
 
 head said, there was some service to be done for our 
 suffering friends in Bristol, and it was thought con- 
 venient that three of the citj, and three of the country, 
 should go with the said sufferings and desire the kindness 
 of Lord Hide to present them to the king. The three 
 friends for the country were Charles Lloyd, Thomas 
 Wynne, and myself ; for the city, George Whitehead, 
 Alexander Parker, and one more. Our friend George 
 Whitehead told me, that our countryman Sir Lionel 
 Jenkin,* (sic) secretary of state, was so cross and ill- 
 humoured, that when the king was inclined to moderation 
 and tenderness to suffering friends, he often stopped and 
 hindered the relief intended them. When we went to 
 Whitehall, we waited a long time before we could speak 
 with them, they being upon a committee a considerable 
 time ; but we had sent in by the door-keeper, to acquaint 
 Lord Hide that we were there ; and in time they sent 
 for us in. The secretary looked grim upon us. I went 
 to Lord Hide, and acknowledged his kindness for his 
 letter on my behalf to the bishop. He told me that I 
 should tell the bishop, there would be liberty of con- 
 science in England. I told him, I did so ; and did 
 believe it would be so in God's time. Secretary Jenkin 
 spoke in a scornful manner, and asked me, what was 
 Welsh for a Quaker ; 1 answered him, Crynwr, Crynwyr ; 
 it being the singular and plural number. But the 
 secretary said, we had no Welsh for it, for there were no 
 •Quakers in the Koman days. My friend Charles Lloyd 
 
 * Sii' Leoline Jenkins, 1623 — 1685, was born at Llantrisant, 
 and served in the Royalist army. He acted as tutor in a Welsh 
 family, and in 1662 became Deputy Professor of Civil law at 
 Oxford. Afterwards he entered the Privy Council, and became 
 Secretary of State in 1680 ; in this capacity he opposed a motion 
 for printing the rotes of the House of Commons, and it would 
 iippear from R. D's narrative, that he shared the prejudice and 
 persecuting spirit of the ruling powers of that period. 
 
135 
 
 answered, if thou didst ask my friend the question aright, 
 he hath answered thee aright ; for there is EngUsh, 
 Welsh, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, for a Quaker. So 
 the secretary said, sir, I understand Welsh pretty well, 
 and English, and Latin, and Greek , but if you go to 
 your Hebrew, I know not what to say to you. I left my 
 friend C. Lloyd to engage with this peevish countryman, 
 and presented Lord Hide with a long list of the names 
 of men, women, and children, in their several prisons at 
 Bristol. I desired him to be so kind as to present their 
 sufferings to the king, which he said he would ; and our 
 friend George Whitehead spoke farther to him. Then 
 I turned to the secretary, who directed his words to me, 
 and spoke to him thus in Welsh : 
 
 " Mae yn ddrwg gennyf, fod un o Hiliogaeth yr hen 
 Frittaniaid ; yr rhai a dderbyniodd y grefydd Gristionogol 
 yn gyntaf yn Lloegr, yn erbyn yr rhai sydd gwedi derbyn 
 y wir gristionogol Grefydd yr awr hon." 
 The Enghsh is thus : 
 
 "I am sorry that one of the stock of the ancient 
 Britons, who first received the Christian faith in England, 
 should be against those who have received the true 
 Christian faith in this day." 
 
 He replied, he was not against our friends ; but, he 
 said, our friends gave their votes for the election of 
 parliament men that were against the king's interest. I 
 told him, it was our birth-right, as we were freeholders 
 and burgesses, to elect men qualified to serve both the 
 king and country ; but how they were corrupted, when 
 they came within these walls, I knew not. The secretary- 
 would have engaged farther with me in a dispute about 
 religion. I told him, he was an ancient man, and that 
 they had been a long time there upon their business, and 
 if he would be pleased to dismiss us then, and appoint 
 what time we should some morning wait upon him, we 
 
136 
 
 would, if he pleased, spend an hour or two with him in 
 discourse about religion, Uupon which he took off his 
 hat, and thanked me kindly for my civility ; but we 
 heard no more of him about the dispute. Upon the 
 whole, our friend Gr. Whitehead told me he was more 
 moderate to friends afterwards than he had been before. 
 The number of prisoners in the list delivered to Lord 
 Hide, to be presented to the king, amounted to, in both 
 prisons, one hundred and thirty-nine ; of which there 
 were eighteen aged women, from sixty and upwards, and 
 eight children. In the latter end of the list it was said, 
 " Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." 
 
 Friends of Truth allowed any individual, male or 
 female, to minister in their meetings from the gift of 
 prophecy, as might be Divinely required at the time. 
 This precious Gospel liberty was, of course, liable to be 
 abused by forward and unsanctified spirits who were not 
 subject to the openings and shuttings of Him who has 
 the key of David. We find this illustrated in the 
 following account, and later on in the narrative, we find 
 a wrong spirit exposed and confounded though making 
 use of sound words, for those who judge righteous judg- 
 ment by the unerring Spirit, are not deceived by sounds 
 spoken out of the inward Life. 
 
 I had my several exercises this year, 1682, in London, 
 both from false brethren and otherwise. Once I was at 
 the Bull-and-Mouth meeting, and there were in the 
 gallery several troublesome people, and none of our min- 
 istering brethren in true unity with us, but George 
 Whitehead and William Gibson. The gallery being pretty 
 full, one of them seemed to strive to keep me out, and 
 our friends G. Whitehead and W. Gibson perceiving it. 
 
137 
 
 made way for me to come up to them ; another of them 
 had been speaking long in the meeting, and had made 
 many weary of him. I was under great concern in my 
 spirit for the honour and exaltation of the name of the 
 Lord and his truth, and the ease of many that were 
 under weights and burthens ; yet, for quietness sake, I 
 silently bore the weight and exercise that was upon me 
 till he had done. Then my mouth was opened in the 
 name and power of God, who had compassion on his 
 afflicted seed, and caused the light and life of his coun- 
 tenance to Overshadow the meeting, to the comfort and 
 great satisfaction of the faithful. 
 
 I was made to detect the false doctrine, which one of 
 them had dehvered to the people, viz. That the children 
 of God are destroyed for want of knowledge. I told the 
 people, that the children of God in these days, were the 
 children of the new covenant ; and the covenant that he 
 makes with them is, that "They shall all know him, 
 from the least to the greatest ; and the true knowledge of 
 God to his people in these days, is life eternal," John 
 xvii. 3. Though Israel of old w^ere destroyed for want 
 of knowledge, because they forgot the God of their 
 fathers, that brought them out of the land of Egypt, and 
 out of the house of bondage, insomuch that the Lord 
 complained of them, and said, " The ox knoweth his 
 owner, and the ass his master's crib, but my people 
 know not me," Isa. i. 3. And elsewhere it is said, "They 
 have forgotten me days without number." These were 
 those apostates that the Lord complained, Jer. ii. 13,, 
 had committed two evils ; they had " forsaken him, the 
 fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, 
 broken cisterns, that could hold no water." These ^were 
 such as the apostle said, " When they knew God they 
 glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but 
 became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart 
 
138 
 
 was darkened. For this cause God gave them up unto 
 vile aifections and a reprobate mind," Eom. i. 26. And 
 the apostates in our days, said I, have forgot the Grod 
 that first made them acquainted in measure with him ; 
 so having lost the sense of his goodness, have separated 
 themselves from the love and unity of the brethren ; but 
 the children of God, who are faithful to the measure of 
 the grace of God in themselves, know it to be their 
 teacher and leader into all truth. These are not destroyed 
 for want of knowledge, though the world know him not. 
 There are apostates in our age, who have lost the true 
 knowledge of him ; but the saints in light have, and 
 remain in the true knowledge of him, being guided by 
 the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, 
 because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him ; " but ye 
 know him, for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in 
 you," John xiv. 17. 
 
 When I had thus eased my spirit, a concern came upon 
 our friend and brother, George Whitehead, and he 
 sweetly concluded the meeting in prayer. 
 
 There was a division in that day among those professing 
 Truth. Sound and faithful friends believed that the same 
 Spirit which had gathered them out of the world's ways 
 and worships also required them to meet together for 
 purposes of church discipline and orderly walking, that 
 their conversation might befit their profession. Others 
 complained that these rules attacked their liberty, and 
 did not see the necessity for all that their more ex- 
 perienced brethren advised, so that some would not 
 be subject to these rules and set up separate meetings. 
 These were less strict against payment of tithes, and in 
 attendance of meetings in times of persecution, but a 
 spiritual blast attended them and they came to nothing. 
 
139 
 
 After this I was pretty weU cleared of the city, and 
 was willing to draw homewards. Next first-day I came 
 to Jordans in Buckinghamshire, where we had a blessed 
 meeting; then 1 had one at Chesham ; from thence 1 
 went to Eobert Jones's near Tring. Thence I went to 
 the quarterly-meeting at Weston-Turfield, not far from 
 Aylesbury, where it opened in me, to advise friends to 
 keep to those rules and methods agreed on among us in 
 our men's and women's meetings. As I was declaring 
 came in an opposite party ; however 1 went on and 
 shewed them, how it was agreed among the apostles to 
 send chosen men, endued with the Holy Ghost, to set up 
 ^ood order and method among them. I delivered unto 
 them, that it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us 
 also to set up our men's and women's meetings that the 
 care' and concern of the church of Christ might be upon 
 holy, self-denying men and women, who might take care 
 of the fatherless and widows in their afflictions, and keep 
 themselves unspotted from the world ; which the apostle 
 Jan.es says, " is pure rehgion, and undefiled before God," 
 Jam. i. 27. And that the care of all, both poor, 
 strangers, and prisoners in affliction, might be carefully 
 and tenderly looked after, and supplied according to their 
 necessities ; and that the ministers of Christ in his day, 
 might take the counsel of the apostle, who said. Acts xx. 
 28. " Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the 
 flock, over which the Holy Ghost hath made you over- 
 seers', to feed the church of God, which he hath pur- 
 chased with his own blood." 
 
 When I had ended what 1 had to say from the Lord 
 among friends, one of the party stood up, and spoke 
 something by way of reflection, upon what I then 
 delivered. When he had done, our friend Thomas 
 EUwood proposed to the meeting, that all should sit 
 down, and wait to feel the power of (^od among us, and 
 
140 
 
 let that decide whether I did speak in th<3 name and 
 power of God among them this day ; to which the 
 meeting agreed, and all were silent. After which several 
 friends, as they were moved by the Lord, gave tenderly 
 their testimony, that what was delivered that day, was in 
 the name and power of God, and that his presence was 
 with us ; as honest Eobert Jones, and Eichard Baker, 
 who loved the Lord and his blessed truths with all their 
 hearts, and several others present in that meeting. 
 There stood up a young man that I knew not, whose 
 heart was affected, and much broken in spirit, and said 
 on this wise: there is a man come this day amongst us, 
 I know not from whence he came, nor whence he goes; 
 but this I am satisfied, the Lord sent him here, and his 
 power and presence is with him, and his testimony for 
 the God of truth. I enquired afterwards who that young 
 man was ; they said he was one John Thornton. Upon 
 this one of the party broke in violently and disorderly 
 against what had been agreed upon among us before the 
 meeting had fully cleared themselves, and finished their 
 testimonies ; but it proved greatly to his dishonour and 
 disgrace, so that he was made manifest to those that 
 adhered to him. The meeting held from about ten in 
 the morning, till (as they thought) ten or eleven at 
 night. But blessed be the Lord, that doth not leave his 
 people without a witness to himself ; and he is the 
 preserver and defender of all his people that wait upon 
 him. They that trust in him are as Mount Zion, that 
 cannot be moved. ' .....;ir ■; j 
 
 ; After this I made what haste I could home, taking 
 meetings in my way ; at Banbury and the country about,' 
 and part of Worcestershire. tSo, blessed be the Lord, I 
 came safe home to my wife and friends, where I found 
 all things well ; blessed be his name for ever. 
 J . ,ln the year 1683, 1 went again to London, to the 
 
141 
 
 yearly-meeting, and staid there some time, after most of 
 the country friends were gone out of the city. I was 
 engaged one first-day for Westminster meeting, and 
 there was no ministering friends present but myself. 
 Several weighty matters opened in me at that meeting, 
 as, concerning the church of Christ, what it was, and on 
 what it was built. I said, some be of the judgment that 
 the church of Christ is built upon Peter ; and I opened 
 to the understanding of the people something of what is 
 written in the 16th chapter of Matthew. I shewed 
 them, that which revealed unto Peter, " that Christ was 
 the Son of God," was a manifestation of the Spirit of 
 Grod in Peter, for it is said, Mat. xi. 27. *' No man 
 knoweth the Son but the Father ; neither knoweth any 
 man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever 
 the Son will reveal him." God revealed unto Peter, that 
 Qhrist was the son of God ; and he is the only rock that 
 his church is built upon, the rock of ages, the foundation 
 of many generations, that the gates of hell never pre- 
 vailed against. But the gates of hell prevailed against 
 Peter, when he denied his Lord and Master in the time 
 of his sufferings ; and therefore he was not like to be the 
 rock which Christ built his Church on. It is said, 1 Cor. 
 X. 4. " For they drank of that spiritual Eock that 
 followed them, and that Eock was Christ." So Christ is 
 the sure foundation that his church is built upon. Peter 
 saith, 1 Pet. ii. 5, &c. " Ye also, as lively stones, are 
 built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up 
 spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God, by Jesus Christ." 
 And in verse 8, he acknowledged Christ to be the Eock. 
 Paul saith, 1 Tim. iii. 15, that " The house of God, the 
 church of the living God, is the pillar and ground of the 
 truth." This, said I, may inform the blind and ignorant 
 of this age, that lime and stone, and temples that are 
 built with hands, are not, as they say, the church of 
 
142 
 
 Christ, and the house of God ; " for Grod dwelleth not in 
 tenij)les made with hands," as saith the prophet Isaiah, 
 Ixvi. 1, and the martyr Stephen, Acts vii. 48. Thus I 
 was concerned to declare the truth in that meeting, with 
 much more to the same effect. After meeting I went 
 with some friends towards the city ; and as we were 
 coming along the Strand, the Queen was going from her 
 chapel, and some of her life-guard were very rude, and 
 with the staves they had in their hands, they did knock 
 and beat friends that had their hats on,* all along as they 
 came. I received a blow upon my head, so that it 
 swelled, and was sore for a considerable time. But 
 blessed be the Lord, in all our exercises and afflictions, 
 his life, power, and presence bore us up in the midst of 
 them all ; praises be to his pure and holy name for ever. 
 
 * This violent, and unseemly behaviour, arose from friends' 
 faithfulness to their testimony against hat-honour. Why should 
 the head be uncovered as a sign of reverence or honour to any 
 mortal, be it King or Queen ? The Queen being a Catholic, 
 probably her body-guard were of that faith. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 R. D. BY MEAIfS OF INWARD GrACE AND DISCERNMENT 
 DETECTS A JeSUIT PrE ACHING AS A QuAKER 
 
 Renewed Persecution for absence from the 
 
 CORRUPT NATIONAL WORSHIP ThE DECLARATION OF 
 
 INDULGENCE CoMING IN OF THE PrINCE OF OrANGB — 
 
 Kindness of the then Bishop of Asaph — Scholars 
 AT Oxford attend meeting in 1706. 
 
 Before I came out of London, we met with more 
 exercises and troubles. One first-day in the morning, I 
 was not well, and could not go to the meeting, nor 
 scarcely get out of my bed ; but when the time of our 
 afternoon meeting came, it lay upon me to go to the 
 Bull-and-Mouth ; and I told Job Bolton, with whom I 
 lodged, that I must go to the said meeting. He reasoned 
 with me ; but I told him I would go so far as I could ; 
 and he said he would go with me. As we went through 
 the passage to go in, I heard a voice that I was satisfied 
 was not the voice of a true shepherd, the meeting being 
 already gathered, and many people there. When I went 
 up to the gallery, one was preaching of perfection, who 
 said, " Be ye perfect, as your heavenly Eather is perfect,'^ 
 &c. I staid to hear him but a very little while, till I 
 stood up and judged him, and told the people, that the 
 kingdom of Grod stood not in words, but in power, 
 righteousness and holiness. Then this man went in a 
 rage out of the meeting, and a considerable company 
 followed him ; and a friend or two went after them as 
 far as Fleet Street, to see where they were oing ; and 
 
144 
 
 one of the company saw the friend, and desired him not 
 to follow them too close, lest they should do him a dis- 
 kindness. We heard afterwards, there was a wager laid 
 that this man, who some said was a Jesuit, would preach 
 in the Quaker's meeting, and he should not be discovered; 
 and had he gone without reproof, they would say, that 
 a Jesuit preached in a Quaker's meeting, and they could 
 not discern him. But it was reported at many places in 
 the city, that he was detected in the Quaker's meeting, 
 and he could not abide there. We have cause to bless 
 the Lord for his goodness to his people, that gives them 
 a discerning spirit to judge between good and evil, and 
 between those that serve God in truth and righteousness, 
 and all deceitful hypocrites, who are to be judged and 
 condemned by the word of his power. 
 
 In the beginning of the year 1685, king Charles died, 
 and king James came to the throne, and the statute of 
 £20 per month for absenting from the public worship, 
 which I suppose was made against the Papists in queen 
 Elizabeth's days, had been and was very much put in 
 force against our friends, whereby many of them were 
 almost ruined ; the sheriffs and their bailiffs prosecuted 
 them so severely, and did make such a prey of them, that 
 some worth many hundreds, were made so destitute, they 
 had scarcely a bed to lie upon, but were robbed of all. 
 When king James came to be settled upon the throne, 
 our dear friend G. Whitehead, who always was much con- 
 cerned for the sufferings of friends up and down in the 
 nation, and who did not spare himself to visit kings and 
 parliaments, and all others, where he thought he could 
 get relief for his suffering brethren, went to king James, 
 and laid the present condition of suffering friends before 
 him. After some consideration, the king told him, that 
 what concerned him, or came to him of those fines, he 
 very freely and readily would remit. Upon which an 
 
145 
 
 order uas granted, to suspend the rigour of their prose- 
 cutions. But it seems, when it came out, the lioman 
 OathoUcs took the advantage of it to themselves ; which 
 was some surprise to friends who had laboured in that 
 service. George Whitehead hearing I was in the city, 
 came to me, and told me the whole business, and under- 
 standing that I liad interest with the Earl of Powis, who 
 was great with the king, he thought it might be of 
 service, if I would go along with him to the Earl. 
 
 Next morning my friend Gr. Whitehead and I went to 
 the Earl of Powis' in LincoIn\s-inn-fields. When he 
 understood 1 was come in, he very soon came to me ; and 
 when I had ended my country business with him, L told 
 him I wanted a little of his advice in a case wherein t>Li^' 
 friends were great sufferers by a law that was made 
 against them, and that we were severely whipped upon 
 our backs by the statute of • ^20 per month,* for not 
 coming to hear that which is called divine service. I 
 told him that a friend of ours had waited upon the king, 
 and had told him the whole state of things, and that the 
 king was very ready to relieve us in what he could, and 
 that an order was granted to that purpose ; but it 
 .seemed his friends had taken the benefit of it, and ex- 
 
 *By this Statute (23 Eliz.,) Friends in various parts of the 
 country suffered severely. It provided "that every person not 
 repairing to Church according to the Statute of the I Eliz. 2, 
 shall forfeit twenty pounds per month, for every month tliey so 
 make default," and Eliz. 29 provided that "the Queen may seize 
 all the goods and two-third parts of the lands and leases of 
 every offender not repairing to church as aforesaid * * * so 
 long as they shall forbear to come to church." 
 
 These infamous statutes had probably more of a political 
 than a religious origin, and were intended by means of an 
 external uniformity in religion to induce greater subservience to 
 the government. 
 
 Happy it was for England that Divine goodness raised up a 
 people who steadfastly opposed such cruel and oppressive 
 mandates, and suffered cheerfully the spoiling of their goods and 
 frequent loss of personal liberty until honourable relief oame. 
 L 
 
146 
 
 eluded us,'^- &c. I desired bis advice, whether we should 
 proceed farther in it or no ; he answered, by all means ; 
 for, said he, I will tell you, that there w as taken from 
 our friends in Lancashire, X8000 upon this statute, and 
 the king and myself went to see how much of this money 
 came into the exchequer. When we saw it, it appeared 
 that the king was in debt to that account about X28, and 
 all the rest gone. I desired him, seeing it was his advice 
 that we should go on, and not be discouraged, that he 
 would be pleased to grant that a friend of mine might 
 come in and speak with him, who was more able to give 
 him an account of this business than myself, and who 
 had been to the king to get relief in this matter ; for G. 
 Whitehead stayed all this while in an adjacent room ; so 
 he bid me bring him up to him. When George came, he 
 opened the matter fully to him. When he thoroughly 
 understood the matter, he soon got himself ready, called 
 for his coach, and bid me come to him at an appointed 
 time ; and he brought an absolute order from the king, 
 to stop all proceedings by sheriffs and bailiffs upon that 
 account in the nation. In a short time the rage, envy, 
 and cruelty of such devouring men were stopped, and I 
 know not that any have been troubled or suffered since 
 upon that statute. Blessed be God, that hears the cries 
 of the poor, fatherless, and widows, and sends relief to 
 the afflicted in his own due time. I must say, that the 
 Earl of Powis and his countess were very ready and 
 willing at all times to do our friends any kindness that 
 lay in their way, and to help them out of their troubles 
 and afflictions ; and I am apt to believe they did it 
 conscientiously, for there were many of our friends in 
 
 * There is little doubt that Kino; James was much more tolerant 
 at heart than others of his religion who would have influenced 
 state affairs prejudicially, had not the Kevolution of 1688 pre- 
 vented them. 
 
147 
 
 several of their lordships' hereaways, and the Earl never 
 suffered any of us to be fined for not appearing in 
 any of his courts u])on juries, or any other way or 
 manner. 
 
 In the year 1688, it seemed good to king James 
 to publish a declaration for liberty of conscience, and 
 ordered the bishops to send it to their several dioceses,, 
 that it might be read. Seven of them would not read it. 
 Bishop Lloyd aforesaid was one of them, therefore they 
 were committed to the tower. Then I remembered that 
 which I spoke to the bishop at his palace in the year 
 1681, when I queried of him, what if another princa 
 should arise, that would impose something upon him that 
 he could not do for conscience-sake ? And that year 
 when at London, I went to visit him in his troubles ; 
 and he said to me, I have often thought of your words,, 
 and I could wish I were in Pennsylvania now myself. He 
 told me the reason why they could not read the declara- 
 tion, saying it was arbitrary, and not according to law, 
 and that it was a matter of conscience to them ; and 
 others were to have their liberty by it, besides Pro- 
 testant Dissenters. He told me also, that thev were 
 put on to do those things which they had done against 
 Dissenters ; but when I told him of it before, he could 
 not beheve it, till it came thus upon them. I had 
 acquainted him formerly, that I had read a sermon that 
 was preached to prove the church of Eome to be a false 
 church, because she was a persecuting church; and now, 
 said I, the members of the church of Home put you on, 
 not only to persecute upon the penal laws that were 
 made against Dissenters, but by those laws also that were 
 made against Popish recusants : and by the same aro-u- 
 ment may we and they say, the church of England is a 
 false church, because it is a persecuting church. The 
 bishop said, they did not consider nor know it then as. 
 
148 
 
 they did now/'' I took my leave of him, and he kindly 
 acknowledged my visit ; and after some time they were 
 released. 
 
 Afterwards the bishop came to Welch-Pool, in the 
 .assize week, and in the evening sent for me to the high- 
 sheriff's house ; there being with them most of the 
 justices and deputy lieutenants of the county, with many 
 of the clergy, who were very civil to me. The bishop 
 told them that he had sent for me, and that he was 
 more beholden to me than all the men in the diocese, for 
 I came to visit him in his troubles ; and he desired of 
 them to do me all the kindness, they could, and he would 
 take it as done to himself. AVhen supper was over, the 
 bishop and the high-sheriff, Edward A^aughan, of Llan- 
 gedwin, took me into a private room with them, and we 
 •discoursed a little about the times. There was some 
 report of the coming in of the Prince of Orange, and in a 
 little time I had an account that the prince was landed, 
 which w^as great satisfaction to the bishop ; for he said 
 some prosecuted him very close for his life. And when 
 the Prince of Orange was made king of England, &c., and 
 liberty of conscience was established by law, he and 
 ■others were well satisfied with it. 
 
 And now 1 think it worthy to take notice of the 
 several kindnesses, upon account of our suffering friends, 
 I received from this bishop Lloyd, in his several dio- 
 ceses : for as we record the hard-hearted ness and cruelty 
 we have found from unmerciful persecuting bishops and 
 clergy, and how many they have made widows and 
 fatherless, I think it is justice and equity in us to record 
 all the mercy, tenderness, and compassion, we lind 
 
 * A teachable Bishop — would that all those who have since 
 occupied the seat of Kentigern were as willing to learn, and 
 come as near confessing that the church of England is a false 
 church. 
 
149 
 
 from those that are conscientious and charitable anioncr 
 them. 
 
 Bishop Lloyd being at a visitation in Llant'yllin, in 
 this county of Montgomery, four peevish men, church- 
 wardens of Welch-Pool, did intend to prosecute my son- 
 in-law, Jacob Endon, for not paying towards the repairs 
 of their worship-house;"- I went with my son-in-law, and 
 waited on the bishop, and told him the case ; he very 
 quickly called the church-wardens, and told them there 
 was an act of parliament ordering a more easy way, and 
 with less charge, to recover by distress, than to drive to 
 excommunications. He inquii-ed for the act, which I 
 gave him ; and he turned to that clause, read it to the 
 wardens, saying that he himself drew that clause in the 
 act, and told them how they ought to go to the justices 
 for a warrant ; but, said he, why will you go to the 
 charge of a warrant ? Cannot you go and take a pewter 
 dish, or some other thing near the value? I \\'arrant 
 they will never sue you for it ; for, said he, we must do 
 unto them, as we would be done unto, if we were in their 
 condition; so he quickly dispatched them. Then I told 
 him, I was come moreover in the behalf of a prisoner on 
 the same account, whose name was llichard Davies, near 
 Euabon, in Denbighshire ; and he advised me to go to 
 the chancellor. Dr. Wynne, whom I should find, he said,, 
 a very fair man ; so he called him to us, and left us 
 together ; and I took my leave of the bishop, acknowledg- 
 ing his kindness. When I had fully discoursed the 
 chancellor about the prisoner, I found him very fair; 
 and in a little time after, I heard my friend R. Davies 
 was discharged ; and several kindnesses I had of the 
 chancellor since. When the said wardens came home, 
 
 * Worship-house or meetmrj -house is a more correct and Christian 
 name for what is commonly called a church. In the New Testa- 
 ment bricks or stones ai'e never called by the latter name. 
 
150 
 
 they reported wliiit favour 1 had \\ ith the bishop, and 
 were troubled thereat ; but neither myself nor son-in-law 
 were ever after troubled about those repairs of their 
 worship-house. 
 
 Another time when I was going to London, and visit- 
 ing friends in my way, I called at Timothy Burberough's, 
 at Aino-on-the-Hill, in ]N"orthamptonshire, where I 
 understood he was gone to prison. I inquired the cause 
 of his imprisonment, and his wife told me the priest of 
 the parish had left their small tithes, and other tithes, 
 till he thought they amounted to a considerable value ; 
 and then he cauie and took away nearly all they had, and 
 sent him to Northampton jail, where he had been for 
 some time. I took a memorandum of it, and when I 
 w^ent to London, I thought of the affliction and exercise 
 of my poor brother. My old friend bishop Lloyd being 
 then at London, I went to his lodgings at A¥hitehall, and 
 I must say, he was very ready to come to me. After 
 some discourse, I laid the distressed case of my friend 
 T. Burberough before him. He answered, he did not 
 know what to do in it, the priest of Aino was a stranger 
 to him, and out of his diocese. I told him, if he would 
 be pleased to write a few lines to the bishop of Peter- 
 borough, for it was in that diocese, I said, he might 
 peradventure write a few lines to the priest of Aino, to 
 be more moderate and conscientious, in not taking more 
 than the value of that which he called his due, and 
 casting the poor man from his family into prison also. 
 The case I left with the bishop, and he took care to send 
 it to the bishop of Peterborough, who sent it to the 
 priest of Aino ; and bishop Lloyd sent the priest^s 
 answer, with a letter from the bishop of Peterborough to 
 himself, in a letter of his to me near Welch-Pool ; which 
 I took as a great kindness and favour from him. 
 
 Not lonjr after this I went to London ao;ain, and 
 
151 
 
 called at my friend T. Burberough's, where I found him 
 at home, being released ; he told me the priest had sent 
 an order for him to come home ; and that he came to 
 reason and discourse with him. It seems he was not so 
 unkind as he had been formerly. 
 
 In the year 1700 there was a considerable suii'ering on 
 friends in Worcestershire, an account of which was 
 given me by my friend Edward Bourne, of AVorcester, 
 who desired me to use my interest with bishop Lloyd" for 
 the relief of John Eowler, and his mother-in-law, the 
 widow Banbury, who was a prisoner for tithe in the out 
 county prison in Worcester, and he sent me their whole 
 case. When I understood it, I found a concern upon me 
 to make what haste I could to the bishop, who was then 
 at his palace at Hartlebury, a few miles from Bewdley. 
 I considered also what a great sufferer our friend William 
 Sankey had been by one Vernon, a cruel ungodly priest 
 of the parish he lived in, who had cast him into prison, 
 when he had five or six small children, and his wife lately 
 dead. He several times took from him more than treble 
 the value of his pretended due for tithe. Prom Bewdley 
 I went to William Sankey 's, and told him I was to go to 
 the bishop, and desired him to go with me. In the 
 morning we went together. I inquired for the bishop's 
 secretary, JFrancis Evans, who very lovingly came to us, 
 brought us in, and said he would acquaint his lord that I 
 was there ; and in a little time the bishop came to us. 
 
 And after some discourse I told the bishop, I was 
 not only come to give him a visit, but I was come 
 purposely from home, in behalf of some friends of mine, 
 who suffered for tithes in that country ; and that I was 
 informed there had been three committed to Worcester 
 jail by one Kerry, the priest of Tredington, and that two 
 of them were released, and the third remains a prisoner. 
 * Then Bishop of Worcester, 
 
152 
 
 Heleased, said be, how are they released ? I told him, 
 by the hand of their great Creator. It seems then, said 
 he, they are dead ; and the same man, said I, doth prose- 
 cute the widow of one of them, viz. William Banbury's, 
 and hath already put her into your court, for that which 
 her husband suffered and died for ; and we reckon that 
 in common law, when the prisoner dies in prison, the 
 prosecution ceases. I do not know, said he, but the debt 
 may be paid, but the charges are not ; and I know not 
 what to do with that man, for I hear he is a very 
 covetous man, and I have no power over him but once in 
 three years. I was lately in my visitation there, and 
 had I known this then, I might have done your friends 
 some kindness. I said, if thou wilt be so kind as to 
 write a few lines to him, and let him know what com- 
 plaint is made to thee of him, and how thou art informed 
 that two of the three which he sent to prison are dead, 
 I do not question but it might stop his rage and severe 
 prosecution against the poor widow, if not be a means to 
 release the other prisoner. So he bid his secretary take 
 notice of it, and put him in mind to write to him. 
 
 Then T told him of the sufferings of William Sankey, 
 who was there present, and desired him to give my friend 
 leave to open the case himself to him, which he did ; and 
 when he said how cruel the said Yernon had been to him 
 in casting him into jail, his wife being dead, and left five 
 or six small children ; and he told him, he had taken from 
 him goods worth about i>12 for about <£3 or £4 demand 
 for tithe ; and about £12 or £14 worth of sheep, for the 
 like demand at another time ; and several other cruelties 
 he had done him by this unconscionable Vernon. The 
 bishop taking it into consideration, caused his secretary 
 to draw an order for him to come there with his accounts, 
 that was due to him from W. Sankey, and what he had 
 taken from W. Sankey towards that account ; and he 
 
153 
 
 gave the order to William 8ankey, to deliver to the 
 priest, and desired William to be there the day ap- 
 pointed, with the priest. I was informed the priest went 
 the day before to the bishop, and AV. Sankey went the 
 day appointed ; and 1 was informed that the bishop 
 should say, there was no help for what was past, but he 
 would take care he should do so no more to William 
 Sankey. I heard since that time he hath taken it in 
 kind from him, with more moderation than before, and 
 that the bishop was kind to W. Sankey ever since. 
 
 John Fowler, one of the three before mentioned, 
 (Kobert Grrimes and W. Banbury being dead) was dis- 
 charged ; and as for the widow Banbury's case, who was 
 severely prosecuted by the priest, intending to get it to 
 an excommunication, that was stopped, and she was 
 troubled no more. 
 
 Before I parted with the bishop, I told him, there was 
 a friend of ours, William Cattrill, that kept school at 
 Worcester, who was prosecuted very close by some, for 
 keeping school without a licence, '•' and they did intend to 
 bring him under an Excommunicato capiendo, and if he 
 was not pleased to be kind to him, they would put him 
 to all the charge and trouble they could. The bishop bid 
 his secretary take care about it. So all that I requested 
 of the bishop at that time was friendly and kindly 
 granted me, and care was taken that they were not 
 troubled nor molested on these accounts. Then the 
 bishop ordered us to dine there that day, and we parted 
 friendly and lovingly with him ; and he desired me when 
 I came that way, not to be strange to him. From thence 
 
 * This is another illustration of the extraordinary arrogance of 
 the National preachers of that day. Education of the young 
 they considered a perquisite of their own, or to be under their 
 control. Hence, a qualified teacher keeping- school without a 
 licence, was liable to prosecution. 
 
154 
 
 I went to Worcester, and gave friends an account of my 
 success with the bishop. I staid with them a httie while, 
 and then went to Bromyard, and had a meeting there. 
 So I went through part of Herefordshire to Leominster, 
 and I can bless and praise the name of the Lord, who 
 was with me all along on my journey, and brought me 
 safe home to my wife and family ; and when I gave them 
 an account of my journey, they praised the Lord with 
 me, who had been my preserver and defender. 
 
 In a little time after, I went to London, and being at 
 the meeting about friends'* sufferings, there was men- 
 tioned the sufferings of friends in Lancaster castle by 
 the dean and chapter of Worcester, and they had been 
 there for several years, though friends had made interest 
 to get them off, and friends at Worcester used their 
 interest with the chancellor, who seemed to be very kind 
 to them ; yet for all that they could not have them 
 discharged. AVhen I came from London I went to the 
 bishop at AVorcester. He was very free with me, and in 
 a little while the chancellor came to us, and the bishop 
 gave me to understand who he was. I told them I was 
 glad to see them both together, and said, when I was 
 lately in London we had the sufferings of our friends in 
 Lancashire before us, for a small matter of tithe, alleged* 
 to belong to the dean and chapter of Worcester ; and I 
 told the bishop I thought the chancellor was not a 
 stranger to it, for I had heard he had been often solicited 
 on their behalf. The chancellor told him, he did under- 
 
 * Keader, mark the word alleged. R. D. does not acknowledge 
 that the dean and chapter had any true claim for tithe. What 
 the law allows is one thing- — what truth, justice, and the fear of 
 God allow is often something different. 
 
 It is wrong for a man to support a form of religion which 
 conflicts with the testimony given him by the Father of Spirits to 
 bear, and any law which gives others access to his property on 
 that account is an unrighteous law. 
 
155 
 
 stand it, and that these men were there for a small 
 inconsiderable matter ; and said, he was sorry those men 
 died in Worcester, because in conscience they could not 
 pay that little tithe- to the priest of Tredington, and he 
 was afraid these men would die there also, ■ unless some 
 way was found out for their release. The bishop asked 
 how long they had been there ; I think the chancellor 
 said four or five years. The bishop said, discharge them, 
 discharge them ; and ordered them to be discharged 
 without paying any fees. After a little time I parted 
 with the bishop and chancellor, and acknowledged their 
 kindness. I went to friends in the city of Worcester, 
 and told William Pardoe what success I had with the 
 bishop, desired them to wait on the chancellor to get the 
 order, that it might be sent speedily ; and in a little 
 time 1 heard they were discharged. 
 
 * To pay three pence in tithe, would be as burdensome to an 
 enlightened conscience, where the nature and effects of pure 
 Chrfstianity were manifest, as would a payment of thirty pounds. 
 In fact long and tedious imprisonments were sometimes endured 
 for refusal to pay very small sums. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Appointed to jsieet Queen Anne at Windsor — The 
 Scholars at Oxford manifest some improvement — 
 Attends Yearly Meeting at London — Last illness 
 
 AND DEATH — TESTIMONY OF GeORGE WHITEHEAD AND 
 
 OP THE Quarterly Meeting. 
 
 The autobiography of E. D. ends with the preceding 
 chapter, but the narrative is continued by another hand 
 thus : — 
 
 Hitherto, reader, thou hast had a short relation of 
 some of. the labours and services of our ancient and 
 honourable friend Richard Davies, from his own account, 
 which he finished a little before his decease ; it remains 
 therefore, to give some account of his last year's travels^ 
 together with the time and manner of his departure &c. 
 
 In the year 1702, he went to London, his daughter 
 Tace Endon accompanying him, and stayed in and about 
 the city several weeJss, visiting friends in their meetings, 
 and had many good and comfortable opportunities among 
 them. He, together with eleven friends more, were 
 appointed by the yearly-meeting to go to the queen at 
 Windsor, with an acknowledgment from friends for the 
 continuation of their liberty and protection under her 
 government ; at which time he in particular spoke to the 
 queen. AVhen he was clear of those parts, he returned 
 homewards, and came through Worcester, where he went 
 to visit his old friend bishop Lloyd, who was glad to see 
 him. That was the last time they saw each other. 
 
 After his return home he often visited some neigh- 
 
ir,7 
 
 bouring meetings, and was at the yearly-meeting of 
 Wales the spring following. 
 
 About the latter end of the third month, 1704, he went 
 up to London again to the yearly-meeting, his grandson 
 David Endon attending him. He visited friends as he 
 passed through Stourbridge, Banbury, Aylesbury, &c., and 
 stayed in and about the city for nearly two months, being 
 somewhat weak and sickty. When he was clear of the city, 
 he returned pretty directly home and came well to his 
 family. 
 
 In the beginning of the year 1705, he met with some 
 exercise ; for on the 1st of the third month, his dear and 
 honest wife died, who had been very tender and careful 
 ov^er him, and a woman very serviceable to friends and 
 truth in many respects. She was a plain, upright, and 
 honest-hearted woman; one that loved truth in simplicity. 
 She left a good report behind her, after they had lived 
 together about forty-six years. 
 
 In the first month, 1706, he was at the yearly-meeting 
 of Wales, Llanidloes, in Montgomeryshire, being the last 
 3^early-meeting he was at in Wales. On the 15th of the 
 second month following, he took his journey with his 
 grandson D. E. towards Bristol. He had a meeting at 
 Leominster, and at Eoss in Herefordshire, and thence 
 went to Bristol, and lodged at Charles Harford's, junr., 
 where he visited friends at their 3^early-meeting, and 
 stayed about a week; and on the 30th of the second 
 month, set forward towards London, and came to French- 
 hay, and had a meeting there. The 1st of the third 
 month he had a meeting at Sodbury in Gloucestershire ; 
 the 5th at Cirencester ; the 8th at Oxford, being the 
 first day of the week, where many of the scholars came 
 in, and were rude for some time ; but after our friend. 
 Richard Davies had spoke a while in the meeting, they 
 became more sober; some of them sat down, and stayed 
 
158 
 
 till the conclusion of the meeting ; and friends took 
 notice that the meeting was much more quiet than 
 usual. 
 
 I may here remark that the opposition of the "scholars" 
 of Oxford and Cambridge to the spread of Truth was very- 
 marked, on several occasions, between 1654 and this date. 
 In 1654, one woman friend lost her life in consequence 
 of severe ill treatment from these educated ruffians, which 
 resulted in a contusion in the side (see Besse's sufferings). 
 
 It is to be feared that at the present moment, although 
 outwardly more civil and restrained by better laws, that 
 a knowledge of religion as a life in the soul is lamentably 
 rare at the older universities, perhaps even more so among 
 those of them who are professedly training to become the 
 spiritual guides of others. 
 
 So long as religion is looked upon as a means of liveli- 
 hood, and of attaining social position, whether among 
 Episcopalians of the national stamp, or dissenters, this 
 must be so, and the kingdom of Christ cannot come with 
 power to the nations. 
 
 When people's minds are turned inward to the Pearl 
 hid there, and to the Anointing within, "which is no lie," 
 the beauty of Christianity will shine forth as never before, 
 and they will look with abhorrence upon those systems 
 of the night of Apostacy, which kept them in a ministra- 
 tion of the letter at the hands of a carnal, man-made 
 ministry, instead of directing them to attendance on the 
 great Minister of the Sanctuary before whom all flesh 
 must be silent. 
 
 The narrative continues : — 
 
159 
 
 Eroin thence he went to Henley, and had a meeting 
 there; and so to Windsor, where he had a meeting; 
 thence he went to London, and lodged at his friend and 
 kinsman's Thomas Lloyd's. He attended the yearly- 
 meeting, and staid in and ahout the city, visiting friends 
 at their meetings, until the 19th of the fourth month ; 
 at which time he returned homewards, and had a 
 meeting the 21st at Chesham where AVilliam Bingley 
 was ; the 22nd they had a meeting at Aylesbury ; and 
 thence went to their yearly-meeting at Banbury, where 
 were "many friends from divers parts. The 28th he 
 came to Worcester, William Bingley still accompanying 
 him, where they had a meeting. The 30th he went 
 to Droitwich, and had a meeting there. The 1st of 
 the fifth month he had a meeting at Bromsgrove ; 
 the 2nd at Birmingham, and lodged at John Pem- 
 berton's : the 4th he went to the quarterly-meeting 
 at Wolverhampton, and passed thence to Stourbridge, 
 and lodged at Ambrose Crowley's ; and so upon the 
 9th of the fifth month, 1706, he returned safe hom.e 
 to his family at Cloddiaucochion, near Welch-Pool, 
 having been away nearly three months. 
 
 After this journey he continued mostly at home, in his 
 usual health, and visited several neighbouring meetings. 
 In the latter end of the eighth month, he was at the 
 burial of an ancient* woman friend, Anne Thomas, in 
 Salop, and at several other burials near home ; at which 
 times he often had very good service, and people would 
 hear him gladly, for he had a solid and grave delivery, 
 and was wise and sound in his matter, which was very 
 taking with most people. 
 
 His last sickness was very short ; for on the sixth day 
 of the week he was at Welch-Pool, and finding himself 
 
 * Ancient is here equivalent to " elderly." 
 
160 
 
 not well, went home, and the next day kept the house. 
 On first-day following several friends went to see him 
 from Dolobran meeting, and had a little opportunity to 
 wait together upon the Lord with him. He spoke very 
 little to any ; and his pain continuing upon him, the 
 next day, being the 22nd of the first month, 1707-8, 
 about the ninth hour in the morning, he quietly departed 
 this life, being in the seventy-third year of his age. 
 
 The 25th being the day appointed for his burial, many 
 friends from divers parts, and other people, met at his 
 house at Cloddiaucochion, and his body was borne by them 
 to the grave-yard, near his own house, and there decently 
 interred near his wife's grave. In the grave-yard there 
 was held a solemn meeting, and several testimonies were 
 borne, in the power and life of truth, to the general 
 satisfaction of the people. 
 
 It was a frequent practice when the memorials of a 
 deceased friend were presented to the world, for some of 
 those who had best known the departed to give forth 
 written testimonies to the work and character of the 
 one who had passed away. I have not here reprinted 
 the whole of these, but believe that the following will be 
 instructive. 
 
 George Whitehead was one of the most prominent 
 early friends, and his active service covered the long 
 period from 1652 — 1722; if I am not mistaken he had 
 interviews with Charles II., James II., William III., 
 Anne and George I. 
 
 Being turned when quite a youth to the inward grace 
 and light, by the powerful preaching of George Eox, and 
 some of his early coadjutors, he stood like a rock during 
 the whole of that long period, and fervently laboured in 
 
161 
 
 word and doctrine, in imprisonments and trials, not a 
 few, until he became a pillar in the spiritual temple 
 which should go no more out. 
 
 As we look back on Eichard Davies' narrative, we 
 may note one characteristic in its unadorned, unaffected 
 simplicity ; ev^en in the testimony the eulogy is measured 
 and moderate, yet we don't discount it in our minds, we 
 accept it as a just and enhghtened estimate o£ a good man. 
 
 The Testimony akd Account of George Whitehead, 
 
 CONCERNING ElCHARD DaYIES AND HIS MINISTRY. 
 
 In a true and living remembrance of this our dear 
 brother, ancient and faithful servant and minister of 
 Jesus Christ, Eichard Davies, and of that dear and 
 brotherly love that remained between us, and which he 
 had to all faithful friends and brethren in Christ, I am 
 concerned to give this brief testimony in commemoration 
 of him, his life, and faithful gospel ministry. 
 
 He was not only a professor of the name, power, and 
 spirit of our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, but 
 also made a partaker of Christ, in spirit, life, and con- 
 versation ; a plain, meek, and humble man of integrity ; 
 a man fearing God, and hating iniquity ; a man sanctified 
 by the Holy Spirit, unto unfeigned and constant love of 
 his brethren in Christ ; a man sound in faith, in patience, 
 and charity ; of a sound mind and judgment, being 
 endued with the spirit of love. He was a preacher of 
 Christ and his righteousness, in his conversation as well 
 as in doctrine and ministry, wherein he was exemplary to 
 the believers, &c. He was given up to serve the Truth 
 and friends ; and being of a tender spirit, did truly sym- 
 pathize with the sufferers for the same, and used his 
 industrious endeavours for their relief, w^here he could 
 have an interest or place with such as had power. 
 M 
 
162 
 
 His testimony and ministry was evangelical, plain, and 
 sound ; not in words of man's wisdom, but in the demon- 
 stration and plain evidence of the holy spirit and power 
 of Christ, being a minister of the spirit, and of the New 
 Testament; the new covenant dispensation, which stands 
 not in legal shadows, types, outward signs or figures, but 
 in the gospel life and substance, even in Christ Jesus ; 
 in whom all the shadows, and dispensations thereof, are 
 ended. 
 
 And this our dear brother having travelled through and 
 beyond those outward dispensations, shadows, and vails ; 
 and understanding their cessation removal and end in 
 and about Jesus Christ, his sufferings and death; and 
 more especially by his inward and spiritual appearance, 
 dispensation, and work in his heart and soul ; whereby 
 he was made sensible of the power of Christ's resurrec- 
 tion, as being one risen with him ; by the brightness and 
 glory of whose day, the shadows naturally vanish and 
 flee away; as this faithful minister of Christ was witness, 
 with many more of his brethren, who were and are 
 partakers of the inward and spiritual revelation of the 
 mystery of Christ, and of the glory of his day. 
 
 And as this gospel minister did see and partake of the 
 enduring substance, and end of all vanishing shadows and 
 carnal ordinances, he well knew, that neither John's 
 baptism with water, nor any outward washings there- 
 with, though once commanded, could ever sanctify, or 
 wash the inside from sin and pollution, or sprinkle and 
 purify the conscience, or make a true Christian ; much 
 less can sprinkling infants, which God never commanded; 
 but Christ's spiritual baptism, and washing of regenera- 
 tion by the water of life, which is the one baptism, i. e, 
 the baptism of the spirit ; this is the only saving baptism, 
 as our said deceased friend hath testified, according to, 
 holy scripture. 
 
163 
 
 He also likewise testified, that outward bread and wine, 
 cannot feed nor nourish the immortal soul, or inward 
 man, any more than the legal passover ; but only the 
 body or outward man ; but Christ, the living bread, the 
 bread of life, which comes down from heaven ; and the 
 cup of blessing, which he gives to his spiritual communi- 
 cants ; he being that spiritual meat and drink, which all 
 his spiritual Israel partake of, in this his gospel day, to 
 their great refreshment and comfort, in the spiritual 
 communion, and comfortable fellowship of his Holy 
 Spirit. And to this our dear friend's ministry tended to 
 bring people, that they might not rest in lifeless shadows, 
 but come to know and inherit eternal life and substance 
 in Christ Jesus, which all that truly love him shall 
 partake of and possess. 
 
 And I am fully persuaded, that as this our dear and 
 w^ell beloved friend and brother lived and died in the 
 faith, in our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and 
 in true union and communion with his church and people 
 here on earth ; so I believe he is eternally blessed, and at 
 rest in his heavenly kingdom ; where all the faithful in 
 Christ shall meet in the great and generally assembly of 
 Christ's triumphant church, and enjoy glorious and ever- 
 lasting communion in the heavenly kingdom of glory and 
 peace ; which shall be the blessed estate and inheritance 
 of all who continue faithful in true love and unity, in the 
 grace of Grod, while here on earth, unto the end of their 
 days. 
 
 London, the lOtli of the Q. \^T 
 
 Twelfth Month, 1709 
 
164 
 
 A Testimony feom Friends and Brethren of the 
 Quarterly Meeting from Montgomeryshire, Shrop- 
 shire, AND Merionethshire, held at Dolobran in 
 Montgomeryshire, the 25th of the Eleyenth 
 Month, 1708, concerning our ancient, honourable 
 Friend and Elder, Eichard Dayies. 
 
 He was one of the first of friends in these parts, who 
 received the blessed truth in the love of it; and he 
 laboured much in the morning and heat of the day. 
 
 He and his wife were very hearty, loving, and ready to 
 entertain friends, their hearts and house being very open 
 in that respect ; and they were very helpful and service- 
 able to friends in this country, M'ho were prisoners on 
 truth's account in AA^elch-pool, the place where they then 
 lived, where there were but few other friends of ability 
 to assist them ; until the Lord raised up several eminent 
 instruments in these parts, who were very serviceable 
 Avith them. 
 
 Our said friend was wise and prudent. He had a good 
 understanding and capacity ; a man of great experience ; 
 and was very willing to advise and counsel any in things 
 relating to the gospel, and also to outward affairs. 
 
 And as he was discreet in his conduct among men, the 
 Eord gave him great place and favour with several persons 
 of note, with whom he had often good service for truth 
 and friends. 
 
 The Lord blessed him with a good gift in the ministry, 
 and he was made an able minister of the gospel; sound in 
 judgment, and well received by most people who heard him. 
 
 He travelled pretty much in divers parts on truth's 
 service, especially in his younger years ; and had good 
 service in many places where his lot was cast, both at 
 home and abroad. He was often at London, where he 
 was well esteemed by many of our elders and brethren. 
 
165 
 
 He lived to a good old age, and was favoured with a 
 short sickness at last. Some of us were with him the 
 day before his departure ; he seemed sensible that his end 
 was near approaching, and appeared as one that was 
 waiting for the same. He departed this life the 22nd of 
 the ilrst month, 1707-8, in the 73rd year of his age ; and 
 we believ^e he is at rest with the Lord, together with 
 many more of the faithful followers of the Lamb. 
 
 We shall not enlarge much farther, but refer to the 
 ensuing* account of his labours, travels, and services for 
 truth and friends on several occasions, which contains a 
 general relation of the most remarkable occurrences and 
 passages of his life, wdiich was written by hniiself not 
 long before his decease. 
 
 And we earnestly desire that all, who make profession 
 of the glorious truth with us, may really know " a 
 working out of their salvation wdth fear and trembling ; '^ 
 and that they may faithfully improve their talents in 
 their age and time, and truly follow the examples of the 
 faithful elders and servants of the Lord in all things 
 wherein they followed Christ, that we may give our 
 account at last w4th joy, and receive an eternal rew^ard 
 with the faithful children of the Lord, when time in 
 this world, to us will be no more. 
 
 So, " Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, from 
 henceforth; yea, saith the spirit, that they may rest from 
 their labours, and their works do follow them." Eev. xiv. 13. 
 
 Signed on behalf of the said meeting, by us. 
 
 Charles Lloyd, 
 Owen Roberts, 
 Rowland Owen, 
 William Reynolds, 
 Robert Vaughan, 
 Humphry Owen, 
 Robert Grifpithes, 
 Jacob Endon, 
 John Simpson, 
 
 Owen Lewis, 
 Tho. Cadwalader, 
 Richard Lewis, 
 John Richards, 
 Ellis Lewis, 
 William Osborn, 
 Thomas Oliver, 
 Joseph Davies, 
 Richard Evans, 
 
 Edward Ellis, 
 William Soley, 
 Richard Benbow, 
 Griffith Owen, 
 Richard Ruff, 
 John Roberts, 
 Julias Palmer, 
 John Kelsall, 
 Amos Davies. 
 
 Originally prefixed to Richard Davies' Memoirs. 
 
166 
 
 APPENDIX A. 
 
 John ap John and Francis Gawler. 
 
 The following Extracts from " Besse's sufferings " may 
 prove of interest — they illustrate the history of the times 
 as well as the Christian character of those concerned to 
 withstand the ruling powers. 
 
 A.D. 1655, John ap John being in the steeple-house 
 at Swansea, in Glamorganshire, after the minister had 
 ended his sermon, asked him whether he was a minister 
 of Christ. This question gave great offence not only to 
 the priest of whom it was asked, but also to another of 
 the same function then present, who discovered his wrath 
 by instantly seizing John by the collar, and without 
 suffering him to speak another word, dragging him out 
 and delivering him to a constable who confined him that 
 night in a close dark prison. 
 
 Next day he was brought before the magistrates, whom 
 the priests laboured to incense against him, requiring in 
 their fierce zeal to have him whipped, that the devil 
 might come out of him, and as often as he attempted to 
 speak, one or other of the priests would strike him and 
 stop his mouth with their hands. At length he was sent 
 to prison by the following mittimus, viz : 
 
 To the heeper of the common gaol for the County of 
 Glamorgan, or his deputy at Cardiff. 
 
 Where as it hath been proved by oath before me, that 
 John ap John, of Denbighshire, hath misbehaved himself 
 contrary to the laws, and security being therefore by me 
 required for his personal appearance at the next great 
 sessions, to be held for the said county, hath obstinately 
 refused to the same. These are therefore, in the name 
 
167 
 
 o£ his Highness the Lord Protector, to charge and require 
 you forthwith to receive into your custody the body of 
 the said John ap John, and him safely in your goal to 
 keep and retain, until he shall give good security for his 
 appearance at the first great sessions, and in the mean- 
 time to be of good behaviour toward his Highness, and 
 all good people of this nation ; and hereof fail not, 
 as you will answer the contrary at your peril. Dated 
 at Swansea under my hand and seal the 8th day o 
 October, 1655. 
 
 Egbert Dawkixs. 
 
 Francis Gawler of Cardiff, was several times imprisoned 
 for his testimony against the corruption of the priests. 
 At Cardiff he was hauled out of the steeple-house, shame- 
 fully abused by the people, and violently struck by the 
 priest himself with his cane. At another time, for asking 
 the priest a question, after his sermon before the judges, 
 he was committed to prison, and detained there many 
 months. He was also again imprisoned for a long time 
 for speaking to the same priest in the street. In the 
 steeple-house yard at Landaff, he and Alice Burkett were 
 greviously abused, where the said Alice was stoned, and 
 had her clothes torn off her back, and the priest's wife 
 struck the said Francis so violently with a key, that he 
 felt the blow a long time after. At Swansea, as he was 
 standing stiU in the steeple-house, hearing the priest, he 
 was suddenly assaulted, dragged out, and imprisoned in 
 the Town-hall, though his behaviour was peaceable and 
 quiet, nor did he say anything. But his religious concern 
 to testify against the priests of those times being well 
 known, so exposed him to their resentment, that they 
 stirred up the people by abusing him, to prevent his 
 uttering such reproof as their own consciences told them 
 
168 
 
 they deserved. Hence it also happened, that he was 
 frequently carried before the magistrates, and by them 
 dismissed for want of any colom^able pretence to proceed 
 against him. 
 
 The said Francis Gawler, Edward Edwards, and Eliza- 
 beth Holmes, being taken in a meeting in Shire-Newton, 
 were brought before John Nicholas, William Bleat hin, 
 and Robert Jones, justices of the peace, whose examin- 
 ation of them before many people present at justice 
 Bleathin's house, was as follows, viz 
 
 Justices. Tou have broken the law in meeting together 
 under the tree so near the Church, and we have several 
 times warned you of it before this, therefore we must 
 deal with you according to the law. 
 
 Answer. We have broken no law of the nation in 
 meeting together, for the law of the nation giveth liberty 
 to all to meet together in the faith of Christ, in which we 
 met together ; therefore we have broken no law. 
 
 Justice Nicholas. The law^ saith, the minister should 
 not be disturbed, going to or coming from his exercise. 
 
 Answer. That law we have not broken now, for we 
 did not see the minister, nor speak to him. 
 
 Justice Nicholas. Though you did not see the minister, 
 nor speak with him, yet you know he was disturbed by 
 your meeting, being in the way so near the Church, 
 where the people did go forth ; so by this there was a 
 disturbance. 
 
 Answer. We believe the minister and you were 
 troubled, because the people came forth of the steeple- 
 house to our meeting, yet we have not broken the law, 
 for the law saith, it must be proved that such came 
 wilfully, maliciously, and of set purpose to make dis- 
 turbance ; and if such an oath were taken before thee, 
 we think thou wouldst hardly believe it. 
 
 Justice Nicholas. We shall do nothing but what we 
 
169 
 
 have proof for. Some did hear the voice of one of you 
 in the church, and so it must be a disturbance. 
 
 Answer. It must be proved, that such an one did 
 mahciously and wilfully make a disturbance, therefore let 
 it be proved. 
 
 Justice Nicholas. Walter Jenkins' voice was heard in 
 the church, and therefore it must be a disturbance. 
 
 Answer. "Walter Jenkins was not here this day; 
 therefore believe them not who inform thee against us. 
 
 Justice Nicholas. Walter Jenkins was here the last 
 time, and his voice was heard theji. 
 
 Answer. That which thou dost question us for, is 
 meeting together now, and that we have made a dis- 
 turbance, which cannot be proved. What Walter Jenkins 
 did is past, and he is ready to give an account for what 
 he has done. 
 
 Justice Nicholas. Do you own the Scriptures to be 
 the true Word of Grod, yea or nay ? 
 
 Answer. If thou sayest the Scripture is the Word of 
 God, prove it, and produce one Scripture that saith, the 
 Scripture is the Word of God. 
 
 Justice Nicholas. I will do so. 
 
 Justice Jones. We will not prove it till }'OU first 
 deny it. 
 
 Answer. It lies upon the Governor to do it, whether 
 we deny it or no, because he said he would prove it, 
 therefore let him. 
 
 Justice Jones. We shall not prove it, till you first 
 deny it. 
 
 Answer. The Governor said, he would prove it, so we 
 may refuse the answer till he proves it ; yet notwith- 
 standing, for the sake of the simple-hearted people here, 
 if you will take an answer according to the Scriptures oi 
 Truth, we shall answer you, which we know may satisfy 
 you. 
 
170 
 
 Justice Jones. We are willing to receive an answer 
 according to the Scriptures of Truth. 
 
 Answer. The Scriptures we own to be the words of 
 God, which are a declaration of the Word of Grod, which 
 was from the beginning, before the Scriptures were 
 written, and is as an hammer and a sword, dividing 
 asunder between the marrow and the bones, and to this 
 the Scripture stands a witness for us. John i. 1, 23. 
 Heb. iv. 12. 
 
 Justice Nicholas. Fou have given us more satisfac- 
 tion than some of your friends have done, and you speak 
 very well, to own the Scriptures to be the words of God, 
 which indeed is Truth, and we are glad to hear you. 
 
 Justice Jones. But how is it you call our ministers 
 deceivers, and some of you never saw their faces before, 
 which is a strange thing to us, I pray you tell us. 
 
 Answer. It is an easy thing to know a deceiver and a 
 false prophet, for they are marked with the mark of the 
 beast in their foreheads, and you may read in the Scrip- 
 ture, so many hundreds were marked with the mark of 
 the beast in their foreheads, and they were those that 
 upheld the worship of the beast in their idols' temples, 
 w^here the beast is now worshipped in this generation, by 
 which mark the false prophets are known to be the 
 deceivers, though their faces w^e never see; and take heed 
 how you uphold them, lest you be partakers of their 
 plagues. 
 
 Justice Jones. Indeed, we read in Scripture, as you 
 say, that so many hundreds were marked with the mark 
 of the beast in their foreheads, but it is a strange thing 
 to us, that you know our ministers by that mark. 
 
 Answer. We believe thee, friend, where thou art, 
 that it is a strange thing to thee ; but if thou wilt come 
 down to God's witness, the light which shines in thy 
 heart, thou wilt come to see it, as plain as we speak it. 
 
171 
 
 Justice Nicholas. Tea, but do you not know, that you 
 have profited by our ministers, and that the presence of 
 God went with them ? I pray you honestly confess. 
 
 Answer, We shall honestly declare unto thee. There 
 was a time that the presence of God went with some of 
 them, and in that time they did bear witness against 
 tithes, types, figures, and shadows, saying, Christ was 
 come, and has set an end to tithes ; and. some of them 
 durst not receive them for conscience sake, the which 
 now they receive and plead for, and receive hundreds by 
 the year by it ; therefore the presence of God is with- 
 drawn from them, whom we deny, and by their fruits 
 they are known. 
 
 Justice Nicholas. We will let them alone to plead for 
 themselves. 
 
 Answer. Do so, and let them fight for their God ; and 
 our weapons shall not be carnal, but spiritual. 
 
 Justice Jones. You say, the light shines in the heart, 
 which gives the knowledge of God in the face of Jesus 
 Christ, and in so doing you add to the Scriptures. 
 
 Answer. We say, the hght shines in the heart, which 
 gives the knowledge of God in the face of Jesus Christ, 
 and if thou deniest it, it lies upon us to prove it. 
 
 Justice Jones. Yes. 
 
 Then F. Gawler turned to 2 Cor. iv. where the text 
 being plain against the Governor's assertion, he honestly 
 confessed his error before the people, saying : 
 
 Justice Jones. You are in the right, and we are 
 mistaken. 
 
 Answer. We shall not make thee an oifender for a 
 word, but if thou hadst such advantage against us, thou 
 wouldst hardly have past it by, but we are taught to do 
 so. Thou and the Governor have asked us many 
 questions, and you cannot say you are dissatisfied in any 
 one particular. Now we would ask you one question, 
 
172 
 
 did Peter and Paul speak one thing, and mean another 
 when they spake ? 
 
 Justice Jones. Nay, the}^ did not speak one thing, and 
 mean another. 
 
 Answer. Then do not thou make meanings to their 
 words. 
 
 Justice Jones. I shall not do it. 
 
 After their examination, they were detained some time 
 in a neighbouring alehouse, and then by the justice* 
 order set at liberty, having had an opportunity in the 
 alehouse to declare the truth to the people who followed 
 them from the justices, and heard them with much 
 attention, being much satisfied with what they had heard 
 at the time of their examination at the justice's house^ 
 where the room was full of people. 
 
173 
 APPENDIX B. 
 
 The Diocese or Asaph (Llanelwy). 
 
 The opening events of Chapter vii. are of an unusual 
 and interesting character. 
 
 We find the supposed spiritual head of the diocese 
 " called St. Asaph," as Richard Davies rightly expresses 
 it, actually having a conference with dissenters to win 
 them back to the fold of the Church of England. 
 
 I may be permitted now to make a digression, and 
 allude to the origin of the said diocese. Early in the 
 fifth century, in the troublous times immediately pre- 
 ceding or accompanying the withdrawal of the Eoman 
 power from Britain, a strong contingent of Britons from 
 the district between the Solway and the Firth of Clyde, 
 left their homes to seek, through force of arms a more 
 peaceful asylum in Wales. They succeeded in occupying 
 that part of North Wales .which stretches from Chester to 
 Barmouth. More than a century later, when heathenism 
 had to some extent succeeded in re-establishing itself in 
 Strathclyde, a Christian preacher named Kentigern had 
 to escape from his country and passing southward came 
 to the British territory spoken of above; he was well 
 received and given land in Flintshire, by the banks of 
 the river Elwy where he established a religious com- 
 munity, which was reputed to contain 965 souls. That 
 it was a monastery in the modern sense of the term I 
 much doubt, the time of those in the community was 
 taken up with agricultural education, religious exercises, 
 or going on missionary tours, and the settlement was 
 called Llanelwy, a name which it bears to this day. 
 
 Nominal Christianity was restored in Strathclyde, and 
 
174 
 
 Kentigern, was invited back to Scotland by Ehydderch 
 Hael ; he left as his successor at Llanelwy, a certain 
 Asaph about whom little is known. From him comes 
 the English name of the place. The diocese called St. 
 Asaph nearly corresponds with the British settlement of 
 Cunedda, the leader of the North country Britons. 
 
 Kentigern, after returning to the North was very 
 active in propagating a form of Christianity, and some 
 parish meeting-houses even in Aberdeenshire are associ- 
 ated with his name. 
 
 His other name Mungo, is simply a compound of the 
 Welsh mivyn and cu, which might be translated gentle 
 and beloved ; we may take it that this was his real 
 character. 
 
 The crypt of Glasgow cathedral is supposed to hold 
 his ashes. 
 
 Dr. Wm. Lloyd, 1627-1717, was of an Anglesea family 
 and born in England was regarded as of puritanical 
 tendencies, and strongly anti-papal. He favoured the 
 advent of "William Prince of Orange, and afterwards 
 obtained the See of Worcester. His consideration to 
 dissenters, contrasts very favourably with the stand-off 
 haughty spirit which some would-be spiritual pastors 
 display. 
 
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