English Counties and Towns visited by George Fox
George Fox: An Autobiography
Edited by Rufus M. Jones
Chapter XIV
“Labors, Dangers and Sufferings”
1661-1662
“Many ways were these professors* warned, by word, by writing, and by signs; but they would believe none till it was too late. William Sympson was moved of the Lord to go at several times for three years naked and barefooted before them, as a sign to them, in markets, courts, towns, cities, to priests’ houses, and to great men’s houses, telling them, ‘So shall ye be stripped naked as I am stripped naked!’ And sometimes he was moved to put on hair-sackcloth, and to besmear his face, and to tell them, ‘So will the Lord God besmear all your religion as I am besmeared.’
“Great sufferings did that poor man undergo, sore whippings with horse-whips and coach-whips on his bare body, grievous stoning and imprisonments, in three years’ time, before the King came in, that they might have taken warning; but they would not, and rewarded his love with cruel usage. Only the mayor of Cambridge did nobly to him, for he put his gown about him and took him into his house.
“Another Friend, Robert Huntingdon, was moved of the Lord to go into Carlisle steeple-house with a white sheet about him, amongst the great Presbyterians and Independents there, to show them that the surplice was coming up again; and he put an halter about his neck to show them that an halter was coming upon them; which was fulfilled upon some of our persecutors not long after.”
“About this time we had an account that John Love, a Friend that was moved to go and bear testimony against the idolatry of the Papists, was dead in prison at Rome; it was suspected he was privately put to death. Also before this time we received account from New England that the government there had made a law to banish the Quakers out of their colonies, upon pain of death in case they returned; that several of our Friends, having been so banished and returning, were thereupon taken and actually hanged, and that diverse more were in prison, in danger of the like sentence being executed upon them. When those were put to death I was in prison at Lancaster, and had a perfect sense of their sufferings as though it had been myself, and as though the halter had been put about my own neck, though we had not at that time heard of it.”
“But I told them that the whore was alive in them, and was not burned with God’s fire, nor judged in them with the same power and Spirit the Apostles were in; and that their looking for Christ’s coming outwardly to set up His kingdom was like the Pharisees’ ‘Lo here,’ and ‘Lo there.’ But Christ was come, and had set up His kingdom above sixteen hundred years ago, according to Nebuchadnezzar’s dream and Daniel’s prophecy, and He had dashed to pieces the four monarchies, the great image, with its head of gold, breast and arms of silver, belly and thighs of brass, legs of iron, and its feet part of iron part of clay; and they were all blown away with God’s wind, as the chaff in the summer threshing-floor.”
* people who professed faith in Jesus Christ
The Journal of George Fox
Naked and Barefoot
Gleanings from George Fox
The Second Coming
Glorified in His Saints
The Road 
“Of whom the world was not worthy…”
What a heritage we have. The pride of the church today who know little of these blazing examples of the real faith. I have read Fox’s Book of Martyrs and I wept over the lives of those who stood true in their day. It is most humbling…
Bless you brother,
Brian
I like what Leonard Ravenhill once said:
“The early church was married to poverty, prisons and persecutions. Today, the church is married to prosperity, personality, and popularity.”
About John Foxe’s Book of Martyrs: I read someplace that the early Puritans would have at least two books in their home (because books back then were very expensive to own): the Bible and Foxe’s Book of Martyrs. They wanted their children to know that, if they surrendered their lives to Christ, that they might be killed for their faith someday.
Hebrews 11: 36-37: “And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented . . .”
My prayer is God would work in me a true heart to endure to the end for the honor of knowing His undeserved grace which he shines on me (still undeserved…)
Your brother
BT
Who in these days stands prepared to endure what our ancestors in the faith have endured? Not most of the population of the mainstream churches, it would seem. But the true Body of Messiah will rise as One and speak Truth. Who will hear and obey the eternal Word of Yahweh?
Amen. Many of the churches in the United States are conformed to the world. If you are conformed to the world, you are not able to hear the voice of the Lord.
Yes. They will not hear Him. Apparently, they are not listening, anyway. What’s more, in their condition (many of them) He will not hear their prayers. They do not know this. They think somehow He is obligated to hear them. But His Word says otherwise. Isaiah 1:15.
Amen…
Your comment must be perfect timing (you must be hearing from the Lord) because I was just listening to Isaiah Chapter 44 on BibleGateway when you mentioned Isaiah 1:15: “And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.” Too many of these church organizations are run by the devil; according to Mark Taylor, a prophet in Florida, these organizations are into Baal worship, human trafficking and taking money from George Soros.
They have their reward. Meanwhile, “He has shown you, O man, what is good!” HalleluYAH!!!
So stands the record of God throughout the ages and in every generation…
“But my servant Caleb,
because he had another spirit with him,
and hath followed me fully…”
Numbers 14:24
The Journal of George Fox
Introduction
“Oh! the unspeakable glory and the inexpressible excellence of the everlasting glorious truth, gospel, and word of life, that the infinite, invisible, and wise God (who is over all) has revealed and shown!
“And how the professed christian believers, priests, and powers have risen up in opposition against his children who have been born of the immortal seed by the word of God! And Oh! how great have been the persecutions, and scorns, and seizures of personal property, all executed upon his children! But for those who have touched them, which are as dear to God as the apple of his eye, how the Lord has manifested himself to be standing with them in the overthrow of powers, priests, and states! What changes have there been since 1644 and 1650 and 1652! Since then in this nation how have the jails been filled with the heirs of life, God’s chosen ones, who had no helper in the earth but the Lord and his Christ! So that truth’s faithful witnesses were scarcely to be found except in jails and prisons, where the righteous were numbered among the transgressors; who had neither staff nor bag from man, but the staff, the bread of life, and the bag that holds the treasure that does not grow old. But the Lord Jesus Christ, who sent them out, was their exceeding great supporter and upholder, by his eternal power and spirit, both then and now.”
–George Fox