Chap. I. 'lbe HIS T 0 R Y of the PuiUTANs: 399 " ignorance of the rule by which their interefis and duty were di- Common- " a d " wealth. re e . 1 6so The arguments in this fpeech were fo forcible, that the houfe agreed ~; unanimoul1y to a bill, wherein they ordain " that all books of law be ScobeJ, p. " tranl1ated into englifh; and all proceedings in any court of jufiice, ex- 1 55· " ' cept the court of Admiralty, after Ea.fter term 165I. fl1all be in eng- " lifh only; and all wr:ts, &c. !hall be in a legible hand, and not in " court-hand, on forfeiture of twenty pounds for the firfi offence, half " to the commonwealth, and the other half to them that will fue for " the fame." And though this regulation c~afed at the refioration, as all other ordinances did that were made in thefe times, a late parliament has thought fit to revive it. From this time we may date the rife of th~ people . called ~u A~ERs, Rife of the in whom moO: of the enthufiafis of thefe times centered: Thetr firil: quakers. leader was GEORGE Fox, born at Drayton in Lancajhire 1624- his DJ George f: h b · h' · 11 k Fox, at er ewg a poor weaver, put tm apprentice to a country uwema er, but having a peculiar turn of mind for religion, he went away from his mafier,and wandered up and down the countries like an hermit, in a leathern doublet; at length his friends hearing he was at London, perfuaded him to return home, and fettle in fome regular courfe of employment, but after he had been fome months in the country, he went from his friends a fecond time, in the year 1646. and threw off all further attendance on the public fervice in the churches: The reafons he gave for his conduCt were, becaufe it was revealed to him, that a learned education at the univedity was no qualification for a minifter, but that all depended on the anointing of the fpirit, and that G od who made the world did not dwell in temples made with hands. In the year 1647. he travelled into Derby– jhire and . Nottingbamjhire, walking through divers towns- and villages, which way foever his mind turned, in a folitary manner. He fafted Sewel's Hilt.' much (fays my author) and walked often abroad in retired places, with no other companion but his bible. He would fometime let in an hollow tree all day, and frequently walked about the fields in the night, like a man pofTefTed with deep melancholy; which the writer of his life calls the time of the fl1:fl working of the Lord upon him. Towards the latter. end of this year, he began firil: to fet up for a teacher of others, ,about Duckilifie!d and M ancbefler ; the principal argument of his difcourfe being, that peopleJbould receive the inward divine teachings of the Lord, and take that f or their rule• . In the year 1 ~4~t there being a difTolution of all government both ci– VIl and ecclefiafl:Ical, George Fox waxed bold, and travelled through the counties of Leicejlerjhire, Northamptonjhire, and Derbyjhire, fpeaking to the people in. market-places, &c. about the inward light of Chrift witkm
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