CHAPTER VII

Robert Mayo, the priest of Kingston on the Thames, about the beginning of the year 1657 sent a message to Edward Burrough requesting a visit from him. Edward accepted the invitation and was told by Mayo to speak freely whatever he had against him. The priest also offered to meet him to dispute either in public or private and challenged him to come to his steeple house and call him a deceiver if he dare. Edward was not easily frightened, and soon afterwards went to the place of worship where Mayo officiated. The priest, probably because Edward was present, made some assertions which he perhaps deemed as antidotes to Quakerism. One was that, "Paul, as a minister of Christ, exhorted the saints to follow and obey a light, which was not Christ nor the Light of the Gospel." Another that, "People ought to follow and obey a light which is not Christ nor the Light of the Gospel." The third that, "A man may be a righteous man, and not a godly man." The fourth that, "The Light of Christ, which every man is lighted withal, John 1:9, is carnal and darkness." The fifth that, "Christ was not the Word that David walked by."

After Mayo had finished his discourse, Edward declared these doctrines to be erroneous and damnable, and he who promulgated them was a deceiver. It does not appear that any attempt was made by the priest to defend the assertions he had made, but he commenced a suit against Edward for slander. Edward was arrested and cast into prison, but does not appear to have been detained there very long. The case was not tried until the fifth month in the following year, when we shall again advert to it.

On the 15th day of the sixth month, 1657, Edward Burrough either wrote or finished a testimony concerning London. It contains a close reproof against treachery, flattery, hypocrisy, pride, wantonness, and wickedness, as well as a warning to flee from them and a tender invitation to come unto Christ Jesus so that salvation may be experienced. This tract may be found in Appendix C.

Sometime about the ninth month of this year Christopher Fowler, a priest at Reading in Berkshire, challenged Edward Burrough to a public dispute. This challenge was accepted, but appears to have been conducted on the part of Christopher with little decency or decorum. Edward says, "Many in that town may well remember how he hooted and clapped his hands in the pulpit as if he had been hunting on a mountain, and also his ungodly speeches and revilings toward me, calling me dog, villain, and such like names. When some of his own people reproved him for such words, he said that the worst words he had in his mouth were too good for me."

The principal part of the dispute appears to have been an attempt on the part of Fowler to prove the scriptures to be the Word of God, whilst Edward endeavoured to show that the scriptures are a declaration and witness of the Word of God, which Word, Christ Jesus, was in the beginning and endures for ever. He said that the worlds were made by the Word of God, and the scriptures did not make the world, neither were they from the beginning, having been commenced by Moses.

To the false charges and unsound doctrines of his opponent Edward Burrough returned sound and cogent replies, so far as he could procure opportunity. But he complains that liberty of speech was not fairly allowed him, Fowler endeavouring to persuade the mayor that he might insinuate his doctrine into the people. As Edward pressed him about tithes, he became very uneasy; three times went out of the pulpit, and finally went away.

After the dispute Edward returned to London where in the tenth month he finished a work entitled "The true Christian religion again discovered, after the long and dark night of apostasy." This interesting tract proposes that there can be only one religion because God is one and His truth is one. In addition, Edward challenges all ministers to meet with him to try their religion by the scriptures. See Appendix D.

On the 18th of the eleventh month 1657, Edward Burrough had a dispute with Richard Goodgroom at Drayton in Middlesex. The principal points in the controversy appear to have been whether the Scriptures were properly the Word and whether Christ justified sinners as sinners or, in other words, whilst remaining in sin. In the first month following, another dispute was held at the same place between the same parties which appears to have been more public than the first. One point disputed on this last occasion was the truth of a proposition which Edward had laid down in the first, viz, "Temptations or motions unto evil are not sin to any man who doth not consent and obey to serve temptations or evil motions, and they are not sin to the man except they be consented to by the man." In defending this proposition, Edward appealed to the experience of all sober people who heard him, "Whether many times there had not been evil motions in their hearts, presenting themselves, to which they had not consented, but the Lord had given them power over them, and they were not overcome of them? And whether they were ever accused or condemned for such motions which the Lord gave them power against? Or whether rather they had not peace and joy in the Lord, who had discovered to them and given them power over the evil which had presented itself?" Edward says, "I also gave them that which I had witnessed concerning the thing as a testimony, agreeing with the Scriptures to that particular. From ten years old, till many years after, many times I had evil motions arising in my own heart, which sometimes overcame me and sometimes the Lord gave me to overcome them so that I consented not to them, nor obeyed, nor followed them. When they overcame me and led me aside, then I was troubled and condemned of the Lord, for they were reckoned to be my sins when I consented. And many times the Lord gave me power over them and I consented not, but resisted them and denied them, and then I had great peace and joy in the Lord and no condemnation."

On the subject of Sanctification and Justification, Edward said, "Sanctification is a witness of justification, and no man can further know himself to be justified than he is sanctified, nor justified than he is restored."

We find little trace of Edward Burrough after this dispute for several months, but it is probable he spent the time principally in London and Kingston. He doubtless attended the general meeting of Friends held towards the close of the third month, 1658, at the house of John Crook in Bedfordshire. He probably accompanied William Caton there, who says he went with Friends from Kingston. In the fourth month he delivered or caused to be delivered into the hands of the Protector, at Hampton Court, a letter in which he proposes that Friends might have a public opportunity of answering such objections as he felt to their doctrines or practices.

It was probably in the same month that in company with George Fox and Nicholas Bond he had a dispute with a Jesuit at the house of the Earl of Newport in London. The Jesuit had recently arrived from Spain in the suite of the ambassador from the court at Madrid and in the pride of head knowledge challenged all the Quakers to dispute with him. George Fox hearing of this let him know that Friends would meet him. The Jesuit then restricted his challenge to twelve of the most learned Quakers. Soon he reduced it to six, and finally sent them word that not more than three must come. A discussion of much piquancy took place, but the letter-learned Jesuit with all his subtlety was altogether unable to stand against the honest straight forward simplicity of George Fox, and he most signally failed in the controversy. The following account of this interview is from the Journal of George Fox, viz:

"When we were come to the house, I bid Nicholas Bond and Edward Burrough go up and enter the discourse with him and I would walk awhile in the yard and then come up after them. I advised them to state this question to him, 'Whether or no the church of Rome, as it now stood, was not degenerated from the true church which was in the primitive times, from the life and doctrine, and from the power and spirit that they were in?' They stated the question accordingly and the Jesuit affirmed that the church of Rome now was in the virginity and purity of the primitive church. By this time I was come to them.

"Then we asked him whether they had the Holy Ghost poured out upon them as the apostles had? He said, 'No,' 'Then,' said I, 'if ye have not the same Holy Ghost poured forth upon you and the same power and Spirit that the apostles had, ye are degenerated from the power and Spirit which the primitive church was in.' There needed little more to be said to that.

"Then I asked him what scripture they had for setting up cloisters for nuns, abbeys and monasteries for men, for all their several orders, for their praying by beads and to images, for making crosses, for forbidding of meats and marriages, and for putting people to death for religion? 'If,' said I, 'ye are in the practice of the primitive church in its purity and virginity, then let us see by scriptures wherever they practiced any such thing?' (For it was agreed on both hands that we should make good by scriptures what we said.) Then he told us of a written word and an unwritten word? I asked him what he called his unwritten word? He said, 'The written word is the scriptures and the unwritten word is that which the apostles spoke by word of mouth, which,' said he, 'are all those traditions that we practice.'

"I bid him prove that by scripture. Then he brought that scripture where the apostle says, 2 Thess. 2: 5, 'When I was with you, I told you these things.' 'That is,' said he, 'I told you of nunneries and monasteries, and of putting to death for religion, and of praying by beads and to images, and all the rest of the practices of the church of Rome which,' he said, 'was the unwritten word of the apostles, which they told then and have since been continued down by tradition unto these times.'

"Then I desired him to read that scripture again, that he might see how he had perverted the apostle's words, for that which the apostle there tells the Thessalonians, 'He had told them before,' is not an unwritten word, but is there written down, namely, that the man of sin, the son of perdition, shall be revealed before the great and terrible day of Christ, which he was writing of, should come. So this was not telling them any of those things that the church of Rome practice. In like manner the apostle in the third chapter of that epistle tells the church of some disorderly persons that he heard were amongst them, busybodies, who did not work at all, concerning whom he had commanded them by his unwritten word when he was among them, that if any would not work, neither should he eat, which now he commands them again in his written word in this epistle, 2 Thess 3. So this scripture afforded no proof for their invented traditions, and he had no other scripture proof to offer. Therefore I told him, 'This was another degeneration of their church into such inventions and traditions as the apostles and primitive saints never practiced.'

"After this he came to his sacrament of the altar, beginning at the paschal lamb and the show-bread, and came to the words of Christ, 'This is my body,' and to what the apostle wrote of it to the Corinthians, concluding, 'That after the priest had consecrated the bread and wine, it was immortal and divine, and he that received it, received the whole Christ.'

"I followed him through the scriptures that he brought till I came to Christ's words and the apostle's. I showed him that the same apostle told the Corinthians, after they had taken bread and wine in remembrance of Christ's death that they were reprobates if Christ was not in them; but if the bread they eat was Christ, he must of necessity be in them after they had eaten it. Besides, if this bread and this wine which the Corinthians ate and drank was Christ's body, then how hath Christ a body in heaven? I observed to him also that both the disciples at the supper and the Corinthians afterwards were to eat the bread and drink the wine in 'remembrance of Christ,' and to 'show forth his death till he come,' which plainly proves the bread and wine which they took was not his body. For if it had been his real body that they ate, then he had been come and was then there present, and it had been improper to have done such a thing in remembrance of him if he had been then present with them, as he must have been if that bread and wine which they ate and drank had been his real body.

"As to those words of Christ, 'This is my body,' I told him, 'Christ calls himself a vine and a door and is called in scripture a rock. Is Christ therefore an outward rock, door, or vine?' 'O,' said the Jesuit, 'those words are to be interpreted.' 'So,' said I, 'are those words of Christ, 'This is my body.'

"Having stopped his mouth as to argument, I made the Jesuit a proposal thus. That seeing that he said that the bread and wine was immortal and divine and the very Christ, and that whosoever received it, received the whole Christ, let a meeting be appointed between some whom the pope and his cardinals should appoint and some of us. Let a bottle of wine and loaf of bread be brought and divided each into two parts, and let them consecrate which of those parts they would. Then set the consecrated and the unconsecrated bread and wine in a safe place, with a sure watch upon it, and let trial be thus made, whether the consecrated bread and wine would not lose its goodness, and the bread grow dry and moldy and the wine turn dead and sour, as well and as soon as that which was unconsecrated. 'By this means,' said I, 'the truth of this matter may be made manifest. And if the consecrated bread and wine change not, but retain their savor and goodness, this may be a means to draw many to your church. If they change, decay, and lose their goodness, then ought you to confess and forsake your error and shed no more blood about it, for much blood hath been shed about these things, as in queen Mary's days.'

"To this the Jesuit made this reply; 'Take,' said he, 'a piece of new cloth and cut it into two pieces and make two garments of it, and put one of them upon king David's back and the other upon a beggar's, and the one garment shall wear away as well as the other.' 'Is this thy answer,' said I? 'Yes,' said he. 'Then,' said I, 'by this the company may all be satisfied that your consecrated bread and wine is not Christ. Have ye told people so long that the consecrated bread and wine was immortal and divine and that it was the very and real body and blood of Christ, and dost thou now say it will wear away and decay as well as the other? I must tell thee that Christ remains the same today as yesterday and never decays, but is the saints' heavenly food in all generations, through which they have life.' He replied no more to this, being willing to let it fall, for the people that were present saw his error and that he could not defend it.

"Then I asked him why their church did persecute and put people to death for religion? He replied, 'It was not the church that did it, but the magistrates.' I asked him whether those magistrates were not counted and called believers and Christians? He said, 'Yes.' 'Why then,' said I, 'are they not members of your church?' 'Yes,' said he. Then I left it to the people to judge from his own concessions whether the church of Rome doth not persecute and put people to death for religion. Thus we parted and his subtlety was confuted by simplicity."

On the 31st of the fifth month came on the suit of Parson Mayo against Edward Burrough for defamation. Edward demurred to the jurisdiction of the court to try causes of a spiritual dependency and showed as he thought conclusively from the laws of England that those before whom he was brought had no power to try the case. In reply, one of the judges told him that they would overrule that and would try the matter.

On the day of the court when the jury were to be chosen, Edward told the judges that as it was doctrine which was to be tried, the jurymen should be such as had the gift of the Holy Spirit. The judges however took the ground that the jurymen had nothing to do but to try whether the words charged had been spoken by Edward. When the trial came on, Edward Burrough easily proved that the priest had laid down the before mentioned propositions, and then offered to show from Scripture that the doctrines therein contained to be unsound. The court directed the jury to give the priest damages, and they brought in a verdict in his favour for £100. At the next court, held seventh month, 25th following, Mayo by his council moved for a judgment on the verdict. Edward being present was allowed to speak and so clearly proved the truth of all he had said and Mayo so lamely defended himself that the court did not give the judgment. It remained for some time under advisement, but it is believed that Mayo never obtained any thing.

In the sixth month Edward Burrough once more addressed a letter to Oliver Cromwell. It commences thus,

"Know that there is a God that doeth whatsoever he will. All power is in his hand, and he bringeth to pass the counsel of his own heart, and he ruleth in the kingdoms of men, and bringeth down and setteth up. He killeth and maketh alive, and he changeth times, and seasons, and governments, and bringeth to nought the counsels of men. For all power in earth and in heaven is in him. All his doings are right and his ways are equal, and thou and all mankind are as clay in the hand of the potter. He can honor and exalt as he pleaseth, and he can mar and break to pieces and dishonour whensoever he will. Wherefore be humble and low in heart before him, for he is the highest power that subdueth all things under his feet. If he wounds, who can heal? If he kills, there is none that can make alive. Know thou, it is the Lord God Almighty that doeth this, in whose hands are the issues of life and death. And he it is who can break thee down and build thee up, who can wound thee and restore thee and bring thee to destruction and say unto thee, 'Return,' and to know him that doeth this belongs to thy eternal peace, &c."

Edward then entreats Oliver to hearken to the word of the Lord, that his soul may come out of death and live. He says,

"Fear the Lord God before whom thy heart is naked and bare. He can mold thee and change thee and fulfill his pleasure upon thee, even according to his own will. And who can say, 'What doest thou?' Now come to consideration and let thy heart be more upright before him. Choose his way and counsel so that he may bless thee and seek his face so that thy soul may be satisfied by his word, and the milk of the word may nourish thee unto life immortal. Mind his pure presence, which is life, even God with thee, Christ the Emmanuel, to dwell with and walk in thee, which is the promise of the Father.

"First come to the principle of God and feel the Word of God in thy heart which will beat down the nature into which temptations enter. The word will bring thee to war against and overcome all thine enemies which would defile or betray thee. It will bring thee to know a birth immortal in thee, a crown immortal received from God, that dies not nor fades away. Then he who rules over heaven and earth will be thy shepherd to feed thee, thy teacher to guide thee, and thy counselor to direct thee in all things. Thy immortal soul will be satisfied with the bread that cometh down from heaven, the covenant of God and the sure mercies of David will be revealed, and his promise be fulfilled in thee."

He then tells him what need he has of the wisdom of God, entreating him to remove oppression, and warns him to take heed of the teachers who flatter and yet hatch mischief against him, and also of the magistrates into whom great corruption had entered. He thus concludes,

"Be thou faithful in what the Lord calleth thee to and thou shalt have thy reward. Seek his honour and he will honour thee. Let thy mind be to the Lord in all things and feel his word, power, and presence in thee to quench all that is contrary, then thou wilt be blessed in this life and in the life to come. But if thou continuest in oppression the Lord will suddenly smite thee."

Oliver was too busy with his own schemes of family aggrandizement to care much what persecution fell upon the Quakers so that the hands of the oppressing magistrates and persecuting priests were not staid. Soon after this he sickened and great anxiety reigned throughout England as the tidings spread abroad that it was likely to prove his last illness. Some of the fanatical preachers concluded he should not die and very absurd petitions and remonstrances to the Most High were made by them.

Edward Burrough on the 1st of the seventh month addressed the following letter to the Protector's family.

"Friends,

"Remember that by the Lord you were raised from a low state and when he will he can abase you and bring you down. He gave you the palace of princes and threw out them before you. O, remember this, every one of you, and come to the witness of God in you and be humble and meek and lowly, and let the Lord's fear be in your hearts and be of a tender spirit, having your minds exercised in purity, in holiness, and in righteousness. Exalt not yourselves, nor be lifted up in your hearts in the pride and vain glories and honours of this world, lest the Lord cast you down and make your name and posterity a reproach, as he hath done to many before you.

"If you walk in the same steps and do the same things and become guilty of the same abominations and suffer the children and servants of the Lord to be persecuted, as many are at this day, some unto death, shall the Lord spare you? Nay, he will cause you to feel his hand of judgment and bring you down with sorrow. He will vex you in his wrath and smite you with his rod more and more till you learn his fear and depart from all your iniquities. The Lord will deface your glory and pull down your crown, and he will make you know that he is Lord, that doeth whatsoever he will.

"Wherefore humble yourselves under the hand of God and search your own hearts and cast out the abominations that vex the Spirit of the Lord and suffer not the people of the Lord's precious flock to be devoured and made a prey to the wicked. Because of this the rod of affliction cometh upon you and may suddenly break you to pieces. But mind the seed of God in you, which is oppressed. Wait to know the power of the Lord which will redeem you out of sin and death, and reconcile you to God and bring you into fellowship with himself, to enjoy peace and rest for your souls, that you may be made heirs of the inheritance of an endless life. This will make you truly honorable and will be more satisfaction to you, and joy, and content, and true rejoicing, than all the worldly crowns and worldly glories which will waste and consume away and leave you miserable.

"The Lord hath warned you, by a friend unto you in the Lord.

Edward Burrough."

On the 3rd, Oliver Cromwell died and outward lamentation and inward mourning were that day felt amongst many, whilst secret joy was indulged by not a few. Oliver had named his son Richard to be his successor and he was proclaimed Protector on the 6th of the month. A few days after this Edward Burrough addressed a letter to Richard Cromwell, chosen to be Protector, of which the following was part:

"As for magistracy, it was ordained of God to be a dread and terror and limit to evil-doers, and to be a defense and praise to all that do well, to condemn the guilty and to justify the guiltless. But the exercise thereof at this day in these nations is degenerated and some that are in authority are greatly corrupted and regard not the just and pure law of God to judge only thereby but oppress the poor by injustice and subvert the good laws of God and men to a wrong end and use, abusing authority and turning the sword against the just. Hereby true judgment is turned backward and the innocent made unjustly to suffer for righteousness sake, through the corruption of men in authority.

"And didst thou but know what we know in this particular, it would pierce thy heart. It is frequent among some of the judges and magistrates to commit a man to prison and impose some great fine upon him and to cast him into a dungeon or hole, among thieves and murderers, for a long season for no other offence or breach of any law, but because he cannot put off his hat to them and respect their persons by the hat or bowing the knee. Many others also that fear God and for conscience sake cannot swear upon a book by kissing it and laying hands upon it, because Christ saith, 'Swear not all,' though they deny not to speak and do the truth in all things, as in the presence of God and all men. And many others, because they are moved to cry against sin and declare against the iniquities of the times that highly abound in teachers, rulers, and people, perhaps in a market or steeple-house, or highway, or other places, as they are moved of God. Others, because for conscience sake they cannot pay tithes, nor give money and wages to maintain a priest or false teacher, that they receive no profit by, or to maintain a steeple-house, where the world worships in vain traditions and not in the spirit and power of God.

"Many have been taken out of peaceable meetings where they were waiting upon the Lord, and some out of their inns and friends' houses, and many have been taken on the way, traveling about their lawful occasions, and some from their callings and labours. For these causes, through the envy of wicked men and without any just conviction of the breach of any law, or any lawful trial or examination, have hundreds of just men, being wholly innocent, been sent to prison and lain many months, and some for years, or whipped or put into the stocks and grievously abused by cruel executioners of wicked men's envy or injustice. And upon such grounds only and for such causes mentioned, and without the transgression of any just law, have and do at this day, many hundreds of faithful subjects suffer hard and cruel things, long and sore imprisonment, and cruel and sharp whipping and stocking, and unjust banishment out of towns and cities. Yea, friend, it is hard to be expressed and large to be declared how many of the Lord's servants do and have suffered great injustice in these nations through the abuse of good government and degeneration of magistracy from its perfect state and place whereunto it was ordained of God in the beginning, &c."

In this year he wrote a short statement of the principles of the religious society of which he was a member. This is worthy to be read and is found in Appendix E.

On the 22nd of the ninth month Edward Burrough was at Kingston. On the 23rd, as he was entering London at Charring Cross, he beheld a great multitude of people pressing upon one another exceedingly. Whichever way he looked, the whole streets were filled, every window was crowded, and balconies and house tops were thronged. He could not well pass through such a crowd, and guards of soldiers, both foot and horse, were on duty there who stopped his horse and told him he must not pass that way. Tarrying but a short time he turned about and passed away, wondering what this great stir meant and what it was which occasioned such excitement in the spirits of the people, as plainly appeared. He says, "I felt the spirits of men, women, and children were all on fire." Although living in London and labouring abundantly in his own vocation there, he appears to have had no notice of these pompous preparations for the funeral of Oliver Cromwell, of whom an image was to be carried along in view of the multitude. This was the day of the funeral and this crowd was gathered to see it pass.

As Edward went on, he turned his mind inward, seeking to know of the Lord, "What this thing might be, what might be the end of it, and why was this slathering and running and thronging of multitudes in this manner. Presently I perceived," says he, "that an image, an invented picture would be carried that way and that all this pressing and stir and the gathering of this great multitude was only to see an image without life or breath. Then my spirit was grieved and my soul was vexed within me and it ran through me, vanity, folly and madness. What is all this setting of guards, gathering of people in such thronging multitudes, and gazing of men, women and children, high and low, rich and poor, that are come together? Is all this but to see a dead invented image of wood or wax arrayed and decked with some foolish inventions?"

The idea of a carved or molded representation of Cromwell being carried at his funeral reminded Edward of the time when Oliver and his soldiers found pleasant work in the old parish steeple-houses and the rich cathedrals, whenever and wherever they were to be found, in breaking up and destroying carved images, crosses and other relics of popery. Hereupon Edward began, as he tells us in "A testimony against a great idolatry committed," to talk to himself on this matter. He said, "I knew the man when he was living and had a knowledge of his spirit, and I am persuaded if it had been asked him in his life time if such should be acted about him, such an image made like him, and laid for so long time in a sumptuous place and manner, and then carried by his friends and children, kindred and army, I think he would have said, 'Nay! What! Make an image of me and deck it diversely and visit it, and then carry it up and down from place to place! This will be a shame to my children, a disgrace to my kindred, a reproach to my officers and the whole army. The nation will mock and be offended, and may say, 'These are they that were once enemies to all images and dead idols and pulled them down and brake them. Are these now making an image, and setting it up, wondering after it from place to place? If thus it be done, they at Rome may laugh us to scorn, and the papists may say that we have learned of them, put their persons from among us, banished and killed them, and set up their practices.' Sure he would have said this. I am certain the witness of God in his conscience might truly have said it."

In the tenth month Edward addressed the following to Richard Cromwell and his council:

"To the Protector and his Council,

"The Lord God will shortly make you know that we are his people. Though we be accounted as sheep for the slaughter, yet our King of righteousness will break you to pieces if you harden your hearts and repent not. And though that love will not draw you, neither the gentle leadings of our God have any place in you, yet judgments shall awaken you and his heavy hand of indignation shall lie upon your consciences, and you will be scattered and distracted to pieces.

Edward Burrough"

In this year he also wrote the epistles to Friends everywhere found in Appendix F.