CHAPTER VI

Early in the year of 1656, Edward Burrough was arrested at Kingston in Surry and taken with nine of his friends before the magistrates of that place. Under what pretense they were arrested the account left of the transaction does not show. But the magistrates tendered them the oath of abjuration and because they refused to take it, committed them to prison. The persecutors knew that Friends conscientiously believed it to be unlawful for a Christian to swear and the plan they frequently adopted of offering them the oath was therefore an easy and sure means of furnishing a legal reason for casting them into prison. Edward was not very long in confinement. He appears this year whilst in prison, and out of prison, to have been diligently employed with his pen in defense of the doctrines and testimonies of truth.

Many of the clergy of the different denominations were engaged in writing and printing against Friends; some of them out of fondness for religious disputation, some because they deemed their craft in danger, and others no doubt prompted by the persuasion that Quakerism was adverse to Christianity. Being in great measure outward in their views and regarding religion as a system of forms and ceremonies rather than the dedication of the heart to the Lord and submission to the cleansing operations of his Holy Spirit, they could not understand the spiritual doctrines so earnestly advocated by our early Friends. They had no desire to find those to be true Christians who denied the lawfulness of compelling any to pay for preaching and who considered the receiving hire for such service as contrary to the commands of the Head of the Church—the giver of all spiritual gifts and the alone paymaster of his ministers.

Friends' steadfastness in refusing to uncover the head in token of honor to men, which mark of worship they believed due only to God, their Creator, was construed into a disregard of authority and a perverse infraction of the proper courtesies of life. Their plea for the immediate counsel and direction of the Holy Spirit, the light of Christ, the light within, was believed by some, and declared by many, to be from a disbelief in the scriptures of truth, notwithstanding their constant denial of such an unjust inference and their offers in all controversies with their adversaries that their faith and practice should be tested by scripture authority and that all which could not be thus sustained should be reckoned and accounted a delusion of the devil.

Some deemed them Socinians because they did not so frequently hold forth in their ministry and writings the benefits derived from the outward offering of our Lord Jesus Christ as their opponents deemed needful. In reply to this charge Friends said that they were no Socinians, that they steadfastly believed in the divinity, offices, birth, labours of love, propitiatory sufferings and death of the blessed Saviour Jesus Christ, and if they did not treat so much on these subjects as some others did, it was because they were almost universally preached and professed in Christendom, while the gift of the Holy Spirit purchased for us by the death of Christ and universally bestowed upon all mankind as their rule and guide was scarcely upheld or preached by any, and therefore there was more need to direct the minds of the people to this divine and saving light in themselves, that through obedience to its discoveries, they might be led out of sin and brought into holiness of life and conversation.

Amongst those who took up the pen against the Quakers was John Bunyan who misunderstanding or misrepresenting his antagonists zealously beat the air in his attack on a fancied unsoundness. Edward Burrough was not slow in replying to him, and having a better opportunity of knowing the truth, he was able to refute Bunyan's unfounded accusations.

Bunyan asserted that "Friends undervalued the Lord Jesus, God-man, and though they spoke much of Christ, they did not savingly and rightly lay him for their foundation." On this charge Edward remarks, "We prize the Lord Jesus Christ, God-man, to be precious unto us and unto all that do believe and have owned Him alone to be the foundation, whom God hath laid for salvation to the ends of the earth. In his light are we saved and therein do walk, and because hereof are we hated by thee."

Bunyan charged Friends with saying, "Salvation was not fully and completely wrought out for sinners by that man, Christ Jesus." To which Edward Burrough replies, "This accusation is clearly false and wickedly cast upon us, for there is not salvation in any other, nor is it wrought by any other, but by Jesus Christ. It is fully and completely brought forth by Him unto every one who believes and receives the testimony of it in themselves."

Bunyan said, "Friends bade persons follow the light that they brought into the world with them, telling them that the light would lead them into the kingdom, &c." Edward Burrough replies, "This is falsely laid down, [to say] the light that they brought into the world with them. But this is the truth of God and no lie, that to follow the light of Christ Jesus wherewith he hath lighted every man that cometh into the world will lead into the kingdom of peace and righteousness. For Christ saith, 'I am the light of the world, he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.'"

"Thou goest on proving," says Edward Burrough, "that He is the Saviour that was born of Mary, which thing we never denied, and therefore I need the less to answer thee."

Bunyan: "How horribly are those deceived who look on Jesus to be but a shadow or type!"

Edward Burrough: "I know not any who do it, and yet thou sayest of something that was afterwards to be revealed, &c. This hath some truth in it, which is this. The same Christ who was born of Mary, who wrought righteousness in his person by doing and suffering, who was and is the substance, was afterwards revealed in the saints. And this is no horrible deceit to witness Christ revealed or to wait for him to be revealed within."

Bunyan: "How are they deceived who think to obtain salvation by following the convictions of the law, which they call Christ, &c."

Edward Burrough: "It is no deceit to mind that which doth convince of sin, to lead to Christ, to take away sin. Thou art in the deceived state who healest up falsely and daubbest with untempered mortar and wouldst teach people to apply the promises unto salvation while they are in a condition condemned in the sight of God by the light in their own consciences, and will not own that which discovers sin. How then can they own Him who takes it away and purges from it by his blood?"

Bunyan: "It is not of works, lest any man should boast, as those fond hypocrites called Quakers would do."

Edward Burrough: "When did thou hear any of the Quakers boast or see them live in hypocrisy? Will that faith which is without works justify? Must not every one receive according to his deeds, he that doeth good, life? He that doeth evil, condemnation? But such is thy feigned fancy of faith, who seeketh to be justified by it whilst thou bringest forth the fruits of unbelief. Thou speakest of living by faith, which thou sayest is to apply the Lord Jesus Christ, his benefits, birth, &c. I say, if to talk of him was faith in him and to live by faith, then few would want him. For many have got the words, who are without the life of righteousness through faith."

Bunyan: "How are they deceived who own Christ no otherwise than as he was before the world began."

Edward Burrough: "Did not the saints own Christ Jesus, the same yesterday, today, and forever for salvation? Is there any other Christ than he who was before Abraham was? And is he not now glorified with the same glory—mind, the same glory, which he had with the Father before the world was? Is this deceit, to own him as he was before the world was for salvation? That was the very Christ, the Son of God, who was equal with the Father, which was in the beginning, and in time was made manifest in Bethlehem, and calls himself the Light of the world, that spiritual Rock, which the fathers did eat and drink of, which followed them, that Rock was Christ the salvation."

"Thou speakest of some who told thee to thy face that thou usest conjurations and witchcraft because what thou preachest was according to scripture. To which I say, let the guilty be reproved, for we deny thy accusation to be true upon any of the Quakers, which some may think thou speakest of. So thy accusation rests between thee and them, and we are clear. For every truth which the scriptures bear witness of, we do own and do not condemn any for preaching according to the scriptures."

Bunyan: "If every man hath a measure of the Spirit of Christ within him, why say the scriptures that some are sensual, having not the Spirit, and Christ saith that the wicked cannot receive it?"

Edward Burrough: "Some men are sensual and have not the Spirit because they receive it not. Some cannot receive it because they believe not in him from whom it comes. Yet is the measure of the Spirit given unto every man to profit withal, as the scriptures saith. It is given within him to reprove him of sin, but few receive it. It is one thing in God to give the Spirit and another thing in the creature to receive it. He gives it to many that receive it not, to follow it and to be guided by it."

Bunyan: "What is the church of God redeemed by from under the law? Is it something that is done within them or something done without them? If it be redeemed by something that worketh in them, then why did the man Christ Jesus hang upon the cross on mount Calvary, without the gates of Jerusalem, for the sin of his people; and why do the scriptures say, that through this man is preached unto us forgiveness of sins?"

Edward Burrough: "The church of God is redeemed by Christ Jesus who is revealed within all that believe. Christ Jesus wrought in them mightily to will and to do; this is plain according to scripture. And the man Christ Jesus was hanged upon the cross on mount Calvary because they wickedly judged him to be a blasphemer, and through their envy they persecuted him to death because he bore witness against them. And as in their account he died upon the cross for an evil doer, this is one ground at least why he hanged upon the cross. And the scriptures say that through this man is preached the forgiveness of sins, because there is no other that can forgive sin, nor the blood of any other thing that can take away sin, but the blood of God, as it is written."

Bunyan: "Is that very man that was crucified on mount Calvary between two thieves, whose name is jesus, the son of Mary, is he the very Christ of God, yea or nay?"

Edward Burrough: "Yea, he is the very Christ of God, who was before the world was, by whom the world was made, who was made manifest from Mary's womb, and was persecuted to death by the Scribes and Pharisees, in whose steps thou treadest in asking subtle questions to ensnare the innocent, as they did."

On the 23rd of seventh month 1656, the Parliament published a proclamation, calling upon the inhabitants of Great Britain and Ireland to observe a day of fasting and humiliation and seeking the face of God through the mediation of Christ. When Edward Burrough read this proclamation, he was led to consider the oppressive acts of the government towards tender consciences and the iniquities which abounded among the people. The recollection of these stirred him up to take his pen in hand and through the medium of the press to spread amongst the people his thoughts on the subject. He enumerates various causes of the divine judgment coming upon them, and then adds,

"Many more abominations cry for vengeance against some of you who have had your hands deeply dipped in such oppression, and therefore this is a warning to you to break off these sins by righteousness and true repentance, lest your fasts prove only for strife and to smite with the fist of wickedness. Clear yourselves and wash your hands from these abominations, lest the fruit of them be given to you to eat for food. Let this, O ye rulers, be acceptable counsel unto you, that the day of happiness may appear and the long expected day of liberty may yet dawn through this dark night of bondage which overshadows your heads so that you cannot behold the glory of the sun. And herein shall you be established and we shall have cause to bless the Lord for you and with you. Otherwise you shall fail and evil shall be upon you and upon the nation for your sakes."

"You that fear God give audience and keep yourselves pure from the iniquities which the rest love to drink in. And though your power be shorter and your voice lower than the uprightness of your hearts desire, be faithful unto God in bearing your testimony for him and against all that which with the light of Jesus you see to be contrary to Him. Be awakened unto righteousness, judgment and mercy. The light is springing over your heads and the day of the Lord is dawning out of darkness. A seed is sown in your dominions which cannot be rooted out till it has overspread the earth with the precious fruit thereof. And though it be striven against to be plucked up, yet shall the branch and root thereof be everlastingly renowned, for it is the true Jew, and he that falls before it shall never rise up again."

Edward Burrough, in the midst of his numerous other engagements, found time to superintend the printing of various writings from the prolific pen of his friend and father in the truth, George Fox. To some of these he prefixed or added a few lines. A preface written by him to one of these publications entitled, "A Testimony of the true Light of the world," bears date the 1st of the eleventh month, 1656. In his preface he says, "This is truth from the Lord God—there is no other name given for salvation but the name of Jesus; there is no other Christ Jesus but he who lighteth every man that cometh into the world. Except this Christ Jesus be revealed by the Spirit of the Father within, salvation is not received by him. Therefore all Friends who have received the testimony of the light of the Son of God within you and have believed the report of the Father and of the Son hold fast the word of that testimony and dwell in it and walk in it. This is the power of God which will keep you from all unrighteousness, and so from condemnation. If any turn from the light, they run into evil and backslide from the Truth. Such shall bear their own shame and condemnation in the sight of God and all his children, for this is the message which was, and is, 'God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.'"

John Bunyan was still unable to understand Quakerism, and being stirred up by the reply of Edward Burrough, he came out in print with a "Vindication" of his former charges against the Society of Friends. Edward was not long in following him through the press with an answer, in a quarto of 64 pages, entitled, "Truth the strongest of all." This reply set forth the doctrines of the Christian religion in words which to one who was prepared to understand the language employed and to give credit to the author for sincerity would have been sufficient to establish the Scriptural soundness of Edward Burrough and his friends. But John Bunyan was not in a condition to perceive it, and it is probable that the closeness of the reproofs administered to him had a tendency to blunt his appreciation of the force of the argument.

Soon after this publication, which was issued from the press in the twelfth month of this year, Edward Burrough left London to visit the brethren in Essex. Francis Howgill being at this time in Kent. Edward soon returned to the city where the difficulties connected with James Nayler and his ranting companions had not subsided. Appreciating the trials to which some of the newly convinced were subjected because of James Nayler's fall, Edward wrote two epistles of encouragement to them. These he sent from London the 2nd of the third month 1657. These are to be found in Appendix B and are well worth reading.

During this same month (3rd), Edward Burrough wrote a paper which he terms, "A measure of the times," in which he takes a view of the glory of the first Christian churches, their subsequent declension, and the final triumph of mystery Babylon, by which the true church was obscured or driven into the wilderness. In this, whilst describing the introduction of the Christian religion and the glory of the primitive church, he says:

"In the days of Christ and his apostles the power of the Lord was felt and he got him a name and glory. He caused his marvelous light to spring forth and his day to dawn, which many prophets and wise men had desired to see, but it was not seen by them. In that day his glory was spread abroad, his truth and way were exalted, his glorious gospel was declared through the earth, and the sound of his marvelous works went forth into all the world.

"Judgment and mercy, righteousness and peace were witnessed among men and life and immortality were brought to light through the gospel. The word of life, by which all things were created and by which they stand, was handled, seen, felt, and tasted, and the Lord God was known to dwell with his people and to walk in them. His covenant was established and his promises were fulfilled. Redemption, deliverance, and salvation were revealed, even Christ Jesus, the Son of God, the Prince of peace!

"Many who saw God's glory were witnesses of his majesty and dominion and were gathered to him in the bond of peace and were his sons and daughters, led by his spirit in the ways of truth and righteousness. God spake unto them from heaven by his Son, they were filled with the Holy Ghost and with power, and many went forth and declared through the nations the things of God's kingdom which was come to them. Their weapons were mighty through God, strongholds were subdued, the powers of death and darkness were subjected, and the hearts of thousands were turned to God and brought out of darkness into light. The mighty and the wise were confounded, the bonds of cruel oppression were broken, and they who set themselves against the Lord and his way were scattered and brought to nought.

"In that day the Lord was with his people while his people were with him. He loved them while they stood in His counsel and gave them dominion over their enemies. They were a terror to the world while the churches stood in the dread and terror of the Lord of hosts. Their feet trod upon the high places of the earth and they were blessed, until they waxed fat and increased in treasures and thought they had need of nothing. Then they forgot God and rebelled against him. They became perverse in their ways, fell into error and idolatry, and left the way of truth and cast the law of God behind them. The form grew and was exalted more than the power of godliness. As love waxed cold, iniquity abounded, and men became lovers of themselves more than of the Lord. The churches were corrupted. They lost the life and power of godliness and became worshippers of idols.

"As Paul predicted that many should depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, and grievous wolves should enter, not sparing the flock, but seeking to devour it, making merchandise of souls through covetousness and filthy lucre, so it came to pass in that generation and soon after his decease. Peter and Jude foresaw the entrance of false prophets, and John both in his epistles and the Revelations describes them more fully.

"The baptism of the Spirit being lost or not known, several sorts of baptism were brought forth, as sprinkling of infants, with which the nations have been deceived by the false prophets. When the gift of the ministry through the Holy Ghost was lost and no more received, men began to make ministers by learning arts and languages and human policy. They began to study from books and writings what to preach, not having the Holy Ghost, without which none are ministers of Christ. When men lost the knowledge of God, that their bodies were his temple, then they began to build temples without and to set up false worships in them. Having lost the sense of God's true worship, which is in spirit and in truth, they began to worship in outward observances, which is not the worship of God, but superstitious and idolatrous.

"When the word of God was not received immediately from his mouth, nor the gospel by the revelation of Jesus Christ, as in the apostles days, they used their tongues, though the Lord had not spoken to them, and they said that the letter is the Word, the letter is the gospel, and it must be received by the scriptures, and by natural learning and arts; and none can be ministers of Christ but those who are learned in the languages. When singing in the spirit and with the understanding ceased, then people began to introduce the form of singing David's experiences in rhyme and meter, and thus in the apostasy the form grew as a substitute for that which the saints had enjoyed in power; shadows were set up instead of the substance, and death instead of life.

"Thus we see John's prophesy fulfilled, that the holy city was given to be trodden under the feet of the Gentiles. And we also know the time is now approaching that the dominion of the beast is near at an end and the saints shall possess the holy city. For he also foretold the restoration of the holy city, wherein new Jerusalem should be made manifest from heaven and should be again adorned as a bride for her husband. The tabernacle of God should be with men upon earth and the Lord would dwell forever with his people. This day is approaching nigh at the door, for the fig tree hath blossomed and we know it is near at hand, the summer, wherein the glory of the Lord shall be revealed to all nations and they shall know that he is the Lord God Almighty, who will take vengeance on mystery Babylon that hath made all nations drunk with the cup of her abominations."

The popular preachers of that day, with an evident desire to stop the spreading of the religious principles of the Society of Friends, stirred up persecution against those who promulgated them. The severity with which justices, judges, and juries treated the members of the new society was very great and was often not only incompatible with the spirit of the Christian religion, but with a just interpretation of the laws of England and the provisions of Magna Charta. Many of those who now suffered at the hands of bigoted Presbyterians and Independents, unconstitutional outrage and legalized oppression, had been actually engaged in overturning the regal government because of its infringements of the rights of the subject. How deeply were they disappointed in finding the great principles of civil and religious liberty no better secured by the government they had laboured to set up than they had been in the days of the Star chamber and Episcopal domination. A revolution had taken place, but it had brought to the Christian citizen a mere change of masters, a substitute of another code of state divinity by which to fashion his worship, principles, and practice, leaving liberty of conscience as little protected as ever.

Many found, and bitter was their disappointment at finding, that the power and the disposition to invade their rights, civil and religious, still continued, although the rulers had been changed. The king had given place to the Parliament, the Parliament to the army, the army to Oliver Cromwell—a succession of power-holders, none of whom seemed disposed to support upon a broad and Christian basis the principles of religious toleration or civil liberty. Cromwell, whilst he was ascending towards the supreme authority, professed great attachment to religious liberty. But when once he had grasped the scepter of rule, in violation of the oath he had taken when inaugurated as Protector and in violation, we must believe, of the convictions of his own conscience, he connived at, if he did not sometimes prompt, the cruel treatment which the members of the Society of Friends were, without justice, receiving at the hands of his officers. He knew the principles of the Society, and having expressed his satisfaction with the declaration of George Fox which showed that they believed it wrong to use the sword in any case, he could have been under no fear of their injuring his person or unsettling his government.

The hireling preachers had greater cause of apprehension. The influence of the doctrines of the new society was felt by them to be great and increasing, and they knew that influence was operating against their pecuniary interest. The scripture testimony against preaching for hire and against paying for preaching, either in money or in tithes of kind, was beginning to be understood by many, and with the powerful ministry of the Quakers was drawing off numbers everywhere from the parish places of worship and the gatherings of other religious societies where hirelings officiated. The loss of their flocks and the bold and truthful denunciations against the immoral conduct which disgraced many of the clergy stirred them up to acts of hostility and hatred against Friends. These priests appear, in many instances, to have been more eager for the loaves and fishes, the recompense pertaining to their office by human law or by congregational agreement apportioned for hire, than to win souls to Christ.

Oliver Cromwell felt that his government was in its foundation unstable and only to be maintained by vigilant watchfulness, supported by the prompt action of the military force. His policy was to cultivate the good will of those who had the greatest influence to incite opposition to him among the people, and he did not choose to irritate the clergy by protecting the persecuted Quakers from their power.

Edward Burrough, who was well acquainted with the history of Oliver Cromwell and who had closely studied his character, had with his pen called the attention of the Protector to the vows he had made before he was exalted to power and how he now permitted grievous oppression and cruelty to be acted in his name, even by those who were his enemies. He told him that he was not ignorant of the merciless proceedings acted against Friends, and as he did not restrain them, the divine judgments would overtake him, unless he repented. The first address presented to Oliver Cromwell by Edward was written whilst he was in Ireland in 1655. And as the cruelty practiced against his fellow members continued to increase, in the year 1657 he again employed his pen in various addresses, laying before the Protector a view of the state of things in England, in a strain of mingled entreaty and warning.

In one written early in the third month, whilst Cromwell was yet debating in his own mind whether he should accept the title of king which the parliament offered him, the following passages occur:

"As one that hath obtained mercy from the Lord and unto whom his word is committed, being moved of him, I do hereby in his presence yet once more warn thee that thou fear before him and diligently hearken to him and seek him with all thy heart, that thou mayest know his will and counsel concerning thee and mayest do it, and find favour in his sight, and live. Now is the day that his hand is stretched forth unto thee to make thee a blessing or to leave thee a curse for ever.

"If thou rejectest the counsel of the Lord and followest the desires of thine own heart and the wills of men and wilt not have the Light of the world, Christ Jesus only, to rule thee and to teach thee, who condemns all evil, then shall evil surely fall upon thee. The judgments of God and the day of his last visitation with vengeance thou mayest not escape. Therefore consider and mark my words, and let this counsel be acceptable unto thee. Let it move thee to meekness, to humbleness, and to fear before the Lord, assuredly knowing that it is He that changeth times and things and that bringeth down and setteth up whomsoever He will. And how that thou wast raised from a low state and set over all thine enemies.

"And it was not once thought concerning thee that the hands of the ungodly would have been strengthened against the righteous under thee, or that such grievous and cruel burdens and oppressions would ever have been laid upon the just and acted against them in thy name and under thy dominion, as unrighteously have come to pass in these three years. This thy suffering of such things is thy transgression, and thou hast not requited the Lord well for his goodness unto thee, nor fulfilled his will in suffering that to be done under thee and in thy name which the Lord raised thee against and to break down, hadst thou been faithful to the end.

"Again, consider, and let it move on thy heart not to exalt thyself nor to be high-minded, but to fear continually, knowing that thou standest not by thyself, but by another, and that he is able to abase thee and give thee into the will of thine enemies whensoever he will. How hath the Lord preserved thee, sometimes wonderfully, and doth unto this day, from the murderous plots and crafty policy of evil men who seek thy evil and would rejoice in thy fall and in the desolation of thy family and countries! How have they, and do they, lay snares for thy feet, that thou mayest be cut off from among men and die unhappily and be accounted accursed! And yet to this day he hath preserved thee and been near to keep thee, though thou hast hardly known it. The Lord's end is love to thee in all these things, and yet a little longer to try thee, that thou mayest give him the glory.

"O that thy heart were opened to see his hand, that thou mightest live unto him and die in him in peace. Beware lest hardness of heart possess thee if thou slight his love, and so thou be shut up in darkness and given to the desires of thine enemies, and left to the counsels of treacherous men who may seek to exalt thee by flattery that they may the better cast thee down and destroy thee and blot out thy name in reproach and make thy posterity a people miserable. But now, consider and let it enter into thy heart, for thou hast not answered the Lord, but been wanting to him for all this, and hast chosen thine own way and glory rather than his, and not fulfilled his counsel in raising thee. For the bonds of cruelty are not loosed by thee and the oppressed are not altogether set free, neither is oppression taken off from the back of the poor, nor the laws regulated, nor the liberty of pure consciences altogether allowed. But these dominions are filled with cruel oppressions and the poor groan everywhere under the heavy hand of injustice.

"The needy are trodden down under foot and the oppressed cry for deliverance and are ready to faint for true justice and judgment. The proud exalt themselves against the poor and the high-minded and rebellious contemn the meek of the earth. The horn of the ungodly is exalted above the Lord's heritage and they that are departed from iniquity are become a prey to oppressors, and the cruel-hearted deal cruelly with the innocent in these nations. Many are unjustly and woefully sufferers because they cannot swear on this or that occasion, though in all cases they speak the truth and do obey Christ's commands. Such are trodden upon by unjust fines charged upon them; and this is by the corruptness of some that bear rule under thee, who rule not for God as they ought, but turn the sword of justice.

"Some suffer long and tedious imprisonments, and others cruel stripes and abuses, and danger of life many times from wicked men for reproving sin and crying against the abominations of the times in streets or other places which the Scriptures also testify against. Some have been sent to prison, taken on the highway, and no evil charged against them and others committed, being taken out of peaceable meetings, and whipt and sent to prison without transgression of any law, just or unjust, wholly through the rage and envy of the devil and such who have perverted judgment and justice. Some in prison have suffered superabundantly from the hands of the cruel jailors and their servants by beatings and threatenings and putting irons on them, and not suffering any of their friends to visit them with necessaries. Some have died in the prisons, whose lives were not dear to them, whose blood will be reckoned in account against thee one day. Some have suffered hard cruelties because they could not respect persons and bow with hat or knee. And from these cruelties canst thou not altogether be excused in the sight of God, being brought forth in thy name and under thy power.

"Consider, friend, and be awakened to true judgment and let the Lord search thy heart. And lay these things to mind, that thou mayest be an instrument to remove every burden and mayest at last fulfill the will of God. O be awakened, be awakened, and seek the Lord's glory and not thine own, lest thou perish before the Lord and men. Nay, if men would give thee honours and high titles and princely thrones, take them not, for that which would exalt and honour thee in the world would betray to the world and cast thee down in the sight of the world. And this is God's word to thee. What! shall the whole nation be perjured men and thou the cause of it? And wilt thou transgress by building again that which thou hast destroyed?

"Give heed unto my words and understand my speech, be not exalted by man lest man betray thee. Deal favorably and relieve the oppressed! Boast not thyself, though the Lord hath used thee in his hand, but know that when he will, he can cast thee as a rod out of his hand into the fire, for in his hand thou art. If thou wilt honour him, he will honour thee; otherwise he can, yea, and will confound thee and make thee weak as water before him. His love through my heart breathes unto thee. He would thy happiness, if thou wilfully contemn it not by exalting thyself and seeking thine own glory and hardening thy heart against the cry of the poor. This I, who am thy friend, was moved in bowels of pity to lay before thee, not in flattery, but in an upright heart, who wishes well unto thee in the Lord.

Edward Burrough"

It is said that Cromwell in a public prayer offered up by him when about to attack the Scottish army at Dunbar declared that if the Lord would give him the victory that day he would relieve the country from the great oppression of tithes. This promise in the day of his power he had not fulfilled and the members of the Society of Friends at this time, 1657, were enduring great persecution because they felt conscientiously restrained from paying for the support of a hireling ministry.

In the fourth month Edward Burrough had an interview with Cromwell in which he laid verbally before him the sufferings of Friends. The protector endeavoured to justify himself by saying that all persecutions and cruelty were contrary to his will and that he was not guilty of the injustice done to the Quakers. On reflecting on this assertion of Cromwell, Edward again wrote to him.

"Consider what the cause is that what thou desirest not to be done is yet done. Is it not that thou mayest please men, making it appear thou art more willing to do the false teachers of this nation and wicked men a pleasure than to own the people of God in relieving them and easing them in their cruel burdens and oppressions, laid upon them by unjust men? For a word of thy mouth or a show of thy countenance in dislike to these cruel and unjust persecutions would bind the hands of many bloodthirsty men. Therefore consider, thou canst not be cleared in the sight of the Lord God from them, being acted under thee and in thy name, for there seems rather to be a favoring of them in thee by forbearance of the actors of cruelty, by which their hands are strengthened, than any dislike showed by thee in bearing thy witness, as thou oughtest to do, against them. For thou knowest of some in the city and elsewhere,whom we know to be just men, who suffer imprisonment and the loss of their liberties because for conscience sake they cannot swear. And many others in this nation, suffering cruel things upon the like or same ground, even for well doing and not for evil, which oppression might be removed and their unjust sufferings taken off by thee by a word from thy mouth or pen. And this makes that thou canst not be clear in the sight of God in these things because not helped by thee who hast the power to help them.

Edward Burrough"

In the sixth month, as no action appeared to be taken by Cromwell for relieving those oppressed for conscience sake, Edward once more visited him by a letter of remonstrance and warning in which he told him that the good name Protector which he bore was abused and subverted through the great oppressions and injustice acted under it. He says that several justices of the peace and others had been cast out of places of trust because they owned the people called Quakers, though they had not refused to serve him and the commonwealth and though no unfaithfulness to their trust had been proved against them.

In the seventh month he again addressed the Protector. In this letter he said, and Cromwell well knew the truth of the assertion, that many persons were plotting his destruction, some of whom, if they could take his life, regarded not the danger they might encounter in effecting that purpose. He adds that as Cromwell was allowing tyranny and oppression the Lord might permit other wicked men to plague the present wicked rulers and suffer other oppressors to overcome the present enacters of oppression.