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The Life of William Dewsbury
Continued
CHAPTER XVII
1680. William Dewsbury loses his little granddaughter
and attendant in prison, Mary Samm—
Particulars of her illness and death—Address, suggested
by the event—Reflections on his character in
reference thereto—William Dewsbury finally discharged from
prison—Epistle.
IT was during the time of his imprisonment, early
in the year 1680, that this meek and patient servant
of the Lord was visited with domestic affliction
in the decease of his grand-daughter, Mary
Samm, a child of twelve years and four months
old, who had come from Bedfordshire, where her
parents lived, to reside with her grandfather, while
prisoner in Warwick jail. William Dewsbury
had two daughters married in that county, one to
John Samm, the other to a John Hush. This we
learn from George Fox's having in the year 1677,
as mentioned in his Journal, met with William
Dewsbury, then on a visit to his son-in-law, Rush;
on which occasion, they attended several meetings in that neighborhood together.
The following is the account which William
Dewsbury himself gives of the last hours of his
grand-daughter, Mary Samm, "who dwelled with her
grandfather, William Dewsbury, at the Sargeant's
Ward, in Warwick jail, where he was and is prisoner
for the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ."
On the first day of the second month, 1680, it
pleased the Lord to afflict her with a violent fever,
that brought her very low in a little time. Great
had been her exercise of Spirit, as to her condition
and state with God; weeping many times when
she was alone. When she had been well Her aunt, Joan Dewsbury, asked
her why she walked so often alone in the garden and was so sorrowful?
She answered, "Dear aunt, I am troubled in my conscience
for want of a full assurance of my eternal
salvation. For, not any one knows my exercise,
but the Lord alone, that I have gone through since
I came to Warwick. It was begun a little before
I came, but it was but a little; but since I came
to Warwick, this was my exercise:—I thought I
should not live long, and that if I died, I did not
know where my soul would go. But, I hope the
Lord will give me satisfaction before I die. It is
but hope; and though but hope, yet, for this hope
my soul shall praise the name of the Lord forever."
And she continued, at that time, praising the name
of the Lord, and making melody with joyful
sounds, many times in her great affliction.
The next day, some Friends being in the room
with her, she was much opened, in declaring how
she had observed the dealings of the Lord with her
in time past. "I have been twice in my days,"
said she, "near to death, but the Lord in his
tender mercy prolonged my days that I might
seek his face in the light of Christ and come to be
acquainted with him before I depart from here" Adding, "If this distemper does not abate, I must die; but my soul shall go to eternal joy,—eternal, eternal,
and everlasting life and peace with my God forever! Oh! praises, praises to your majesty, O my God! who helps me to go through with patience
what I am to endure."
Then, after some
time, she said, "Friends, we must all depart from here,
one after another, and they that live the longest
know and endure the greatest sorrow. Therefore,
Oh Lord, if it is your will, take me to yourself, that
my soul may rest in peace with you."—" Oh!
praises, praises, be to your holy name forever, in
your will being done with me, to take me to yourself,
where I shall be in heavenly joy, yes, in heavenly
joy forever and forevermore."
The day following she desired all to leave
the room so she could be alone. After
a considerable time, when we heard her groan
upon her sick-bed, her mother and grandfather
went to her, where she said to them, "I have now
received full satisfaction of my eternal salvation;
it is now done, it is now done! And, dear mother,
when you or any of my sisters die, I desire the
Lord may go along with you. For I am very willing
to die, that the Lord may glorify his name this day,
in his will being done with me."—Many times
would she be praying to the Lord, day and
night; "O Lord, lay no more upon me than you
gives me strength to bear and go through with patience;
that your will may be done, that your will
may be done;" (many times repeated.) "Oh! help
me, help me, O my God! that I may praise your
holy name forever." Thus she continued, very often praising the
name of the Lord with joyful sounds, and singing
high praises to his holy name forever and forevermore.
Being much spent with lifting up her
voice in high praises to God, through fervency of
spirit, and her body being very weak, her grandfather went into the room, and desired her to be as
still as she possibly could, and keep her mind inward
and stayed upon the Lord, and see if she
could have a little rest and sleep.
She answered, "Dear grandfather, I shall die, and I cannot but
praise the name of the Lord while I have a being.
I do not know what to do but to praise his name
enough while I live. But while there is life, there
is hope; but I do believe it is better for me to die
than live."
Thus she continued speaking of the
goodness of the Lord from day to day, which
caused many tears to flow from the eyes of those
that heard her.
Her grandfather coming to her,
asked her how she did; she replied to him and to
her mother,—"I have had no rest this night nor
today. I did not know but I should have died
this night, and very hardly I tugged through it.
But I shall die today, and a grave shall be made,
and my body put into a hole; and my soul shall
go to heavenly joy, yes, to heavenly joy and everlasting
peace forevermore!" Then she said, "Dear grandfather, I do believe you will not
stay long behind me, when I am gone."
He answered, "Dear granddaughter, I shall come as fast
as the Lord orders my way."
Then she praised the name of the Lord with high praises and joyful
sounds for a season; and then desired her mother
to let her be taken up for a little time, saying, "it may be it will give me some ease."
They then sent for her grandfather, who said to her, "If this
is your last day, and in which you are to die, it is
not safe for you to be taken out of your bed. Dear
Mary, you shall have all attendance that is convenient;
as, to set you up in your bed and to lay you
down again; but to take you up, we are not willing to do it."
She replied, "Well, grandfather,
what you see best for me I am willing to have
so." When her mother and aunt set her up in her
bed, she said it did refresh her and gave her some
ease, and as they were ordering what was to be
done about her bed, she said, "Oh! what a deal of
ado is here in ordering a bed, for one who is upon
her deathbed."
Her aunt said, "Mary, do you think you are upon your deathbed?"
She answered, "Yea, yes, I am upon my deathbed; I shall die today, and I am very willing to die, because I know it is better for me to die than live."
Her aunt replied, "I do believe it is better for you to die than live."
She said, "Yes, it is well for me to die."
Her mother then said to her, "Mary, are you well
satisfied in your leaving me and your sisters, and in
your coming to Warwick to your grandfather?"
She answered, "Yea, mother, I am very well satisfied:
for I saw my way was made so clear for my coming
to Warwick. My grandfather and I have
lived so comfortably together, that I am fully satisfied
as to my coming to him. I have been
very well, as to any matter of sickness, until this
sickness came upon me. Dear mother, I
would have you remember my love to my dear
sisters, relations, and friends; and now I have
nothing to do, I have nothing to do."
A Friend answered, "Nothing, Mary, but to die."
She then desired her mother to give her a little
clear posset* drink,
*a sweet spiced hot milk curdled with ale or beer
"Then," said she, "I will see if I can have a little rest and sleep before I die."
When the drink came, she took a little, and desired
her mother to give her a little to wash her
mouth. After which she asked what time of day it
was. It being the latter part of the day, her
grandfather said, "The chimes are going four."
She said, "I thought it had been more; I will see
if I can have a little rest and sleep before I die."
And so she lay still, and had sweet rest and sleep.
Then she awoke without any complaint; and in a
quiet peaceable frame of spirit laid down her head
in peace, when the clock struck the fifth hour of
the ninth day of the second month, 1680.
We whose names are underwritten, were eye
and ear witnesses of what is before expressed, as
near as could be taken, and it does not vary
much from what she declared, as to the substance,
though much more sweet and comfortable expressions
passed from her, but for brevity sake, we
who stood by her when she drew her last breath,
are willing to publish this only.
WILLIAM DEWSBURY, her grandfather.
MARY SAMM, her mother.
JOAN DEWSBURY, her aunt.
HANNAH WHITEHEAD, a Friend.
The preceding account had prefixed to it by
William Dewsbury, "An exhortation to all people,
to prize their time, in making their calling and
election sure, before they go from here and be no
more." From which it will not be unprofitable to
subjoin an extract.
From the deep sense of your own nothingness,
and the need of the help of Christ Jesus, the true
Light and blessed Savior, to whom you cry and
pray continually, that he would perfect his great
work of regeneration, in leading you in the footsteps
of the companions, who have undergone tribulation, who go weeping and
seeking the Lord their God, asking the way to Zion,
with their faces aimed there;—let your eyes slumber no more in peace, nor your eyelids have rest, until you are assured that the Lord is your God.
That he has blotted out your sins, and done away
your iniquities for his name's sake, and has accepted
of you in his new and everlasting covenant
of mercy in Christ Jesus. So, you that were afar
off in your rebellious nature, of which you are now
ashamed, through true repentance and obedience to the light, are made near by the blood of Christ;
which gives you full assurance of your eternal salvation,
and purges your consciences from dead
works to serve the living God. Whoever you
are, that come to witness this blessed work of regeneration
wrought in your hearts, as before written,
in your being created to a lively hope in Christ
Jesus, (mark), you are to watch and pray, that
in the exercise and improvement of this hope, you
may receive strength to purify yourselves as he is
pure. Thus, all that are worshippers of the Father,
come to worship him in spirit and in truth, for the
Father seeks such to worship him. These
are those, whom he perfects forever through the
sanctification of his Spirit. So is this Scripture
fulfilled in you, 'He that does truth comes to
the light, that his deeds may be made manifest
that they are wrought in God.' John 3:21. These are his children who walk in the light, and
have their fellowship with the Father of light in
Christ Jesus, their blessed Savior, and one with
another in his humble, meek, pure, and blessed
nature: and so become his chosen jewels and citizens
of Zion, who walk in the light of the New Jerusalem, as it is written in the Scriptures of Truth, 'The nations of them that are saved shall walk in
the light thereof.'
It might not be difficult to draw an affecting
picture of the forlorn condition of William Dewsbury at this time, now rendered more so by the decease
of his little granddaughter, his prison companion
and attendant. Nor is it natural or probable,
that she should have been thus removed while
filling an office at once so cheering and useful,
without a sensible mind like his feeling some pangs
of suffering. At the same time, such had long been the habitual piety and resignation of spirit in this real Christian, that we are of necessity bound
to contemplate him in his true character. We
must view him, then, yielding to this as to other
more or less painful dispensations and privations,
which in the ordering of unerring wisdom had
through life been meted out to him, with that holy
submission which breathes the language of "Not
my will but yours be done;" and rejoicing in the
manifest foretaste of that glorious state, which one
so young was thus called to inherit. We may
conclude that our Friend by that time reached the
age of beyond sixty years old, and that
his infirmities were such as to render his own further
tarriance here extremely uncertain. He would
therefore himself be looking towards a future state,
and with feelings in unison with those of the apostle,
when he said, he had a desire to
depart and to be with Christ, which he assured
them was far better than to remain. William
Dewsbury with such feelings would regard the
early flight of his grandchild as an event of transcendent happiness.
We are informed by himself, that during the nineteen years of his confinement at Warwick, in four of
them only was he a close prisoner; and I think we
have reason for concluding, that the latter period
of his imprisonment there, was rendered less irksome
by that extension of liberty, which such information
implies. Still it is painful to contemplate
the circumstance, (excepting as regards his
patient endurance of the wrongs thus heaped upon
him), that his bonds were continued to so late a
period of his life, and that the king's proclamation,
by which he was finally discharged, came when the
full enjoyment of his liberty was no longer in his
power; being then not only advanced in years, but
greatly disabled through the long series of imprisonments
and sufferings he had endured for so
many years.
In the year 1686, about eighteen
months before he died, towards the conclusion of
one of his epistles to Friends, we find the following
affecting paragraph.
My dear Friends, through
the sharp persecutions that were passed through in
the heat of the day, and many long imprisonments;
being nineteen years a prisoner in this
town of Warwick, and four of them being kept a
close prisoner, it has pleased God to suffer my
health to be impaired, so that many times I am forced
to rest two or three times, in going to the meeting
in the town, not being of ability to travel as in
years past. I do, in the love of God, visit you with
this epistle, desiring it may be carefully read in
the fear of the Lord, in the assemblies of his
people, that peace and eternal unity may be
among you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.
The following "general epistle to Friends from
that ancient servant of Christ, William Dewsbury," may here be introduced.
My dear Friends and Brethren, who are called
forth of the world, and plucked as brands out of
the fire, by the heavenly power of God, who has
convinced you of his everlasting Truth, in the
light of Jesus Christ:—My dear Friends, as you
have received the Truth in some measure, watch
and pray, and believe in the name of Christ; that
his power you may feel in the heavenly inspiration
of his blessed Spirit, to lay judgment to the line
and righteousness to the plummet, that all that is
not obedient to the light of Christ, may be kept
down, and buried in the heavenly baptism under
the sentence of death; as it was and is with all the
children of God, who have received the sentence
of death in ourselves, that we may have no confidence
in ourselves, but trust alone in the living
God. This will keep you all in the sweet, seasoned,
savory spirit of life, in all your words, commerce, and dealings among the children of men.
Then will you, who retain the savor of the heavenly
life in the blessed Truth in you, be manifest
and known to all people as the salt of the earth;
so that everyone according to your measure may
be felt, upon all occasions, continually streaming
forth, in the savory spirit of life, to the comfort of
your own families, and the city of God, who over
all is blessed forever!
And, my dear Friends, I desire all to be watchful,
that not any come short of what is required of
them, both rulers of families and parents of children.
While you have a day to be with them,
call your families together to wait upon the Lord,
in the fear of his name. Certainly, the Lord will
answer the end of your endeavors, by causing the
savory life to stream through you, to season your
servants and children; that the church of God may
be in every particular family and habitation of
his people.
Great is the concern that is upon my spirit for
the children of all that profess the blessed Truth of
God, that all parents may stand in their places,
and bring up their children in the fear of the Lord
while in their minority and tender years, and
under their tuition, not to be too indulgent to them
in allowing the spirit of the world to rule in them,
to have their own wills, and to do those things
which are not according to the truth of God; and
assent to it, instead of reproving their children,
and crossing the spirit of the world in them, and
causing them to be content with such things as are
according to the Truth of our God. For want of
this carefulness in parents, the spirit of this world
is strengthened in children, when it should be kept
down by the heavenly authority and power that
the Lord has given to parents, to rule over them.
All walk in the wisdom of God, with such
moderation in all things, as well as clothed in
modest apparel, laying by all superfluity, so that
your good examples may raise up the witness of
God in your children. But for lack of this care
in some parents, and being too indulgent and full
of lenience to their children, they grow rude, stubborn,
self-willed and disobedient to parents, to the
wounding of their hearts who have thus neglected
their duty.
Therefore I desire and beseech you, that you
slight not the opportunity God gives you in this
weighty concern, to be in all things good examples
to all that live with you, both children and servants,
that by your godly conduct and heavenly
exhortations, you raise up the witness for
God in them; exercising the power God has
given you, to cross and keep down the evil nature,
while they live with you.
When your children grow up, take them to
meetings; and keep your eyes over them, that they
behave themselves soberly according to your exhortations.
Then encourage them in well-doing;
so will the Lord bless your sweet and heavenly behavior
in your families; that servants will bless
God that ever it was their lot to come into your
families, in that their spirits were sweetly seasoned
with the Truth, by your heavenly care over
them. Your children, also, will magnify the name
of the Lord for your blessed care, heavenly instructions,
and godly endeavors, every way for their
good in this world, and their eternal happiness in
the world to come. This will crown the hoary heads
of parents with joy, to see their endeavors sanctified
to their children, and their offspring made
the offspring and children of God. Blessed be his
name forever, who hears the prayers of his
people, who are exercised daily in the heavenly inspiration
of his Holy Spirit, to call upon his holy
name, not only for enemies but for a blessing upon
their families, and for all that love the Truth of
our God. These are the families that are a sweet
savor unto the Lord, whom he guards with the
angel of his presence, and will make them manifest
and known to all people, that they are his chosen
jewels, whom he will preserve in the day when he
will pour forth his vengeance upon the heathen
that know him not, and upon the families that
call not upon his name.
If any of these children of the heavenly
minded parents, when removed from under their
tuition, for want of watchfulness, grow careless,
and turn their backs on the blessed Truth of God,
and trample all the care and good counsel of their
parents under their feet, to satisfy their own wills
in the pride and vanity of this evil world, to the
wounding of the hearts of their careful and loving
parents, they will be clear of their blood; when
they [such children] shall reap the fruits of their
doings except they repent.
All you, young and tender people, with
others that come among Friends, through the education
of your careful parents, masters or mistresses,
I have a concern upon my spirit to write
to you, that you do not rest in an outward profession
of the Truth, received by education, but
watch unto the heart-searching light of Christ in
you, which will let you see you must be regenerated
and born again, and so be made real and faithful
Friends, by the heavenly inspiration of the powerful
Spirit of God in you. If you are careful
on your watch, you will see judgment on all
in you that is not obedient to the light of Christ, in whose light you will see more light, even your
great necessity for the enjoyment of the life that
is hidden with Christ in God. This will cause you to
pray without ceasing, that the Lord would enable
you to loathe and abhor the pride, pomp, and pleasure
of this evil world, and give you assurance of
God's love to your souls. Until you enjoy it,
in all places of your retirement you will pour forth
your supplications with tears to the Lord, as the
blessed and heavenly travelers and companions
did and do, who could not find the kingdom of
God in outward observations, though none more
careful in observing what is made known to them
to be the will of God. But the kingdom of God
not consisting in outward observations, you, in the
light, press forward, according to your spiritual
hunger and thirst, in true poverty of spirit, weeping
and seeking the Lord your God, asking- the
way to Zion, facing that way, so that you
may enjoy salvation for walls and bulwarks.
Oh, you blessed children of the Lord! lift up
your heads, and stay your minds upon the Lord,
waiting patiently upon him. He will turn your
sorrows into everlasting rejoicing, and seal you up
with his holy Spirit of promise, and in the marriage
union with himself; and will give you assurance
of your eternal salvation. Then will you
certainly know the kingdom of God to be within
you, and the anointing to teach you, which will
enable you to delight in taking up the cross daily,
in true obedience to the Light of Christ, all the
days you have a being among the children of men.
Then will you in the name of the Lord trample
upon all pride, pomp, pleasures, and vanity of
this evil world; to the great comfort of your dear
and careful parents, masters and mistresses, whose
tuition you were under in your minority and tender
years, and of all that walk in the precious
Truth of our God over all blessed forever. Amen.
All dear Friends and Brethren, seeing
the Lord, who turns the hearts of men as the
rivers of waters, and in his loving kindness so
orders those in authority, that the prison doors
were opened once more in our day, and we enjoy
peace and quietness according to his blessed will,
praises be to his holy name forever. I have a
concern upon my spirit that all Friends and brethren
have their hearts affected as mine is, to live
in the sense of the mercies of the Lord. And,
for the time to come, every one endeavor to prevent
the enemy making disunion among Friends
and brethren, as of late years he has been doing,
by public opposition in some, and others, not patiently
keeping in their places, have also separated.
The difference being so public, has caused many
a sorrowful heart, and given cause to the enemies
of God to rejoice. This has been a greater exercise
and trouble to me, than all the sharp persecutions
and imprisonments I have endured, for
the word of God and testimony of our Lord Jesus
Christ.
Therefore in the love of God, I beseech and
entreat you all, who have been or are concerned
in what is before written, to let the love of God so
abound, that in it all labor for peace and unity
in Christ the Prince of peace, who in love laid
down his life for us, when we were enemies; and
in our age he has called many of his children to
give up their lives in the heat of the day, weeks,
months, and years, to gather enemies to the knowledge
of God and union with him. Therefore wait for the heavenly wisdom, to bear one with another;
that if any, who are conscientious to God, and blameless in their conversations, having a concern
upon their spirits to edify the people, do declare
the Truth in public assemblies, I beseech you in
the love of God, that not any through disaffection
show at least any public opposition. But
rather, if there is reason for the party to be spoken to, speak to him in private. So the
enemy will be prevented from casting stumbling blocks
in the way of tender-spirited people, who come in
love to be comforted in the meeting. In so
doing it will cause love and unity to abound
among Friends, and in the love of God all be restored
and brought into unity again who have been
scattered; and to meet all together in the everlasting
Truth, to feel the healer of breaches, who
is the restorer of the desolate, exalted to reign in
his kingdom in all your hearts; and to offer up a
peace-offering, in passing by all offences, that have
caused disunion; and to bind you all up in the
unity of the Spirit and bond of everlasting peace.
Meet all together, you who profess God's
blessed Truth, to praise his holy name, all as one
and one as all, while we are in these mortal bodies,
and forever when time here shall be no more.
Even so be it with you all, said my soul, in the
name of the Lord, to whom are my prayers, that
all may be accomplished as above written. Until it is so with you, I shall remain your exercised
brother in the kingdom of patience and tribulation
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
William Dewsbury
Given forth in the movings of the peaceable
spirit and word of reconciliation, in the Lord
Jesus Christ; to whom are my prayers, that all
convinced may wait to be made of the number of
the slain of the Lord, and conformable to Christ
in his death. That they may witness his quickening
power to raise them up in the resurrection
of life, to enter into the gates of Zion, to dwell in
the city of new Jerusalem, where peace is within
her gates and quietness among all that have their
habitation therein, having salvation for walls and
bulwarks; and [such] are blessed of the Lord, preserved
by him, to the honor of his name forever, Amen.
William Dewsbury
Warwick Jail,
4th of 10th month, 1686
CHAPTER XVIII
1688. William Dewsbury visits London—Attends
Gracechurch-street Meeting—Born Again Sermon and Prayer.
NOTWITHSTANDING William Dewsbury's age, declining
state of health, and great infirmities, feeling
himself a little strengthened, and having an
ardent desire once more to visit the great city and
to labor among Friends there, he had faith to
venture from home, arriving in London in the 3rd
month of the year 1688. He also entertained the
hope of attending the Yearly Meeting of Friends,
which was to be held there on the 4th of the following
month. Soon after his arrival in the metropolis,
namely, on the 6th of the 3rd month, he
attended a meeting for worship at Gracechurch
Street, where he preached the following powerful
and impressive Sermon, the only one of his which
has been preserved. It is taken from Sewel's The History of the Rise, Increase and Progress of the Christian People Called Quakers, a two-volume writing, which is available in PDF format on this site for your reading, (see the PDF Library Guide).
My Friends,
'Except you are regenerated and
born again, you cannot inherit the kingdom of God.'
This is the word of the Lord God to all people
this day;
this lies not in lofty words, and in vain imagination, and whatever else it is that
you deck yourselves with;
you must every particular
man and woman be born again,
else you
cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven.
This
was the doctrine of Christ, in that prepared body
in which he appeared in the world,
and preached
to Nicodemus that standing doctrine to this moment
of time,
and will be so while any man
breathes upon the earth;
there is no other way,
no other gate to enter into life,
but by this great
work of regeneration.
Now, to enforce people to
come to this great work,
and to set forward from
earth to heaven,
all having been driven out of paradise
by the cherubim set with a flaming sword,
there
is no returning to that blessed life,
but by the loss
of that life that grieved the Spirit of God, and
what caused man to be driven out;
there is
no other way of return again, but by this new
birth.
Just as you are all driven and forced out of
paradise,
and the flaming sword and the cherubims
are set to guard the way of the tree of life,
so you
must return into the favor of God again, by the
light of Christ;
and you have line upon line, precept
upon precept, here a little, and there a little,
to direct your minds to the light of Christ Jesus.
As the first Adam was made a living soul, so the
second Adam is a quickening spirit.
Know this for certain, no man or woman can be quickened,
and raised up into the life of the second Adam,
until the life of the first Adam is taken away* from
them.
* From the Word of the Lord within:
This loss of life, (death), occurs at the Baptism of Fire and Death while fully alive on the earth.
For detail on this baptism of fire and death, see the footnote to Matthew 3:11-12 on this site.
So now, let every one of you deal plainly
with your own hearts,
how you came to be a slain
people to the life of the first Adam,
in which life
there was a working of the mystery of iniquity in
every part of man.
One cries "Lo, here is Christ;"
another, "Lo, there is Christ;"
and every one is following his own imagination about the letter of
the Scripture;
this is still but the vain spirit of
man, running and striving to recover himself;
and
this is the cause there is so much profession of
God,
and so little of his nature appearing among
the sons and daughters of men. (profession without possession)
Now, all of you
that come to be regenerated,
you must come to
the light of Christ; there is no other way to it.
He will search your hearts, and try your reins,
and set your sins in order before you,
and trace
out the iniquities that compass you about.
Therefore you must see yourselves a lost people, a sinful
people,
and so come to feel the weight of your sins
upon your consciences;
there is no other way to
come to life.
You will never complain of sin until
you are burdened with it,
until you have a trumpet
sounding in your ears, to awaken you,
that you
may arise from the dead, that Christ may give you
light.
There is no other way, dear people.
You
must bring your deeds to the light of Christ, and
abide in the sentence of condemnation;
if you
save your lives, you lose them;
if you will lose
your lives for Christ's sake, there is no danger of
your eternal life.
John the Baptist, Christ's forerunner
declared, 'I indeed baptize you with water
unto repentance,
but he that comes after me is
mightier than I,
the latchet of whose shoes I am
not worthy to unloose,
he shall baptize you with
the Holy Spirit and with fire;
whose fan is in his
hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor,
and
will gather his wheat into his garner, but the chaff
he will burn with unquenchable fire.'
What is the good of you reading Scriptures, if you don’t know this fiery baptism,
which all must know
that are regenerated.
Do not deceive not yourselves.
Christ will appear in flaming fire,
and take vengeance
on all those that do not know God,
and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I stand here as a witness of the Lord of life
this day.
There is no way for people to come to
salvation,
but they must know Christ revealed in
all their hearts.
What is he doing, but rendering
vengeance upon the carnal mind,
self-pleasing, and
all inordinate affections;—
he comes with vengeance
to take away your life;
he will baptize you
with the Holy Spirit, and with fire.
If you
have not experienced this, you are not a true Christian,
you will never look death in the face with joy,
nor go down to the grave with triumph.
If you
live at home in the body, and flee for your life,
and are not willing to lose your life for Christ, if
you are called to it;
and if you will not have
Christ to wash you,
(some for shyness, and some for
self-love will refuse this),
if Christ does not wash
you, you have no part in him.
You must come to
Christ, to purify you in the fiery furnace.
The
day of the Lord shall burn as an oven, as the prophet
speaks;
this is a dreadful day, a day of vengeance,
the day of the Lord Jesus Christ, who
redeems his people from their sins.
Zion is redeemed
with judgment, and established with righteousness.
Do not make the way to heaven easier
in your minds and imaginations than indeed it is;
and think it sufficient to live in
an outward observance of the ways of God.
If your own
wills are alive, and your corruptions remain un-mortified,
the judgment of God will be your portion.
Therefore, in the Lord's name, come along with
me,
I have come to declare what I have heard and
seen of the Father.
Come and examine your conscience.
Have you brought your deeds to the
light?
Then you have received condemnation
upon yourself, and your haughtiness is bowed down,
and laid low, and you see yourself a poor miserable
wretch, before the eternal God.
Whatever
you know of the mind of God, have you reformed
your ways?
Come along with me, and tell
me what is the ground of your faith, and your confidence.
Is it your obedience and qualifications?
Because if
your obedience is right, and your qualifications
right, what use do you make of them?
Read the
book of conscience; have you no ground for your
faith?
You have put on the reformed faith, and
live an unreformed life.
Search and try yourself, man or woman.
Do you watch over yourself,
and keep in a sense of your separation from God,
despite
all your qualifications and partial reformation?
Do you strive to enter in at the strait
gate, and the narrow way?
Here is the lost sheep
you seek, the life of your will, the life of the
first Adam.
The justice of God will not allow you
to make a savior of your duties and qualifications;
and to take God's jewels, and to deck yourself with
them.
You cannot be saved without the righteousness
of God in Christ Jesus.
What did your conscience say, have you been brought to this change of
your mind, and of your conversation?
Are you all
willing to part with your sins, with your pride
and haughtiness?
Are you willing to part with your vile affections?
This is the work of God's
grace upon you.
Do you place your confidence
in your duties and qualifications,
and take God's
jewels and ornaments, and deck yourself with
them?
You took my jewels, said the Lord, and
did play the harlot;
if you return to the Lord,
and humble yourself, and get through this difficulty,
you will be happy forever.
This judgment of
God, this flaming sword that turns every way,
will
keep you from returning to sin, and bring you to
Christ,
and cut you off from all hope of salvation
but by him,
and make you to see the absolute
need of a Savior,
and that your life is hidden with
Christ in God.
It is God's infinite goodness to men, that he
will take their pride from them, and humble them under
his mighty hand.
This is the condition of poor
persons that are slain by the hands of the Most
High.
How can I know, when I have been slain and
baptized,
and possess this death and baptism with sincerity?
They that
have this baptism, enter into the heavenly life;
if
you love the light of Christ Jesus, it will be the same
with you.
God will make short work in the earth.
He will set your sins in order before you, and make
you watchful unto prayer,
and lead you to holiness
of life and conversation, and make you abhor
yourself,
and despise all the pomp and pleasures
and vanities of this world.
When he has adorned
you with his graces, then watch for the light,
and in the light of Christ you shall see light,
and
that all you have done to please God, and can do to please God, is only your
duty.
All this you ought to do; you are
God's creature,
and all this will not justify you
in order to your eternal salvation, for these services
you owe unto God.
If you diligently wait,
you shall see more light;
then the sword that
proceeds out of the mouth of Christ, who is called "the Word of God,"
will cut you off from all your
hopes of salvation from anything you have done,
from any of your qualifications, from anything
that you can do;
so that you will be a hopeless
soul, nothing in your own sense and apprehension;
the power of the first Adam must die before him,
and you will cry out, "I am a dead, lost, and undone
creature;"
but there is a life hidden with Christ
in God for me,
but I can never have it, until I am
slain into the will of God,
and have become as a little
child, and be stripped of all my own excellence
that I have attained;
and I must come to a sense of
my own misery, and fall down at the foot of God;
when I have become as a little child, humbled and
slain as to my own will, and confidence in my own
righteousness,
I will not then question but I shall
live a holy life,
but I will give all that life I had,
for that life which is hidden with Christ in God:
Oh!—there is none that come so far, that ever miss of
eternal life.
All shuffling people, that would have
salvation by Christ,
and will not let him exercise
his heavenly power, his princely, glorious power
to baptize them into his death,
it is they that come
short of salvation;
but all those that yield themselves
up to Christ to be redeemed through judgment,
and are become as little children, these are
in a happy state.
You know that our Lord Jesus
Christ took a little child in his arms,
and said, "Whoever does not come as a little child, cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven:"
you must all
of you become as little children, and depend upon
the mercy and free grace of God;
you must all
come to a holy resignation of your wills to God's
disposal;
if you come to Christ as little children,
and depend upon him, you cannot miss of salvation;
it is bestowed upon such souls that hear the
voice of Christ,
"they that hear the voice of the
Son of God shall live."
I stand here as a witness for the God of heaven,
I never heard the voice of Christ* (in the intensity as only a perfected follower can hear)
until I was slain and baptized, and lay as a
little child under his heavenly chastisements;
as
soon as ever my soul was brought to this, in my
humiliation,
Oh! then, the dreadful judgment was
taken away, and the book of life was opened unto
me,
and the Lord spoke comfortably to me, 'I
have loved you with an everlasting love;"
and I was
made a Christian through a day of vengeance, and
of burning as an oven;
and the haughtiness and
pride of man in me was brought low.
[* This the heavenly voice of the Lord like thunder over the waters described in many Old Testament passages. Up to this time, he had been hearing the small, still voice of the Word of the Lord within and the Holy Spirit, sent by the Father in the name of Jesus. See footnote to Gal 3:24. While laying slain after the baptism of fire and death, Dewsbury heard the voice of Christ, and he passed from death to life, .]
Now in
this conformity to Christ's death, people may die
into life,
and blessed are the dead that die in the
Lord, for they rest from their labors, and their
works do follow them.
Away with all your own
wills, and your pride, and haughtiness;
and your
hypocrisy and deceit, and all dependence upon
any qualifications of your own;
you must come
to have your life separated from you, else you will
all perish.
Those that will die with Christ, and
be willing to die for him, he is revealed as a Savior
to them.
He was before us in the days of
his flesh, and complied with his Father's will; he
was nailed to the cross.
The Son of God, when
he had come to the depth of his sufferings, what
was his cry, 'My God, my God, why have you
forsaken me!'
This was for your sake, and my
sake, and every man's and woman's sake that
believe in him;
he drank the cup which his Father gave him to drink.
If it was done thus to the
green tree, what shall be done unto the dry?
He
went before us, and when he comes again, he
will take us to himself,
and take us from the filth
of sin, that we may be made new creatures."
Now except we are born again, we cannot
enter into the kingdom of God,
and there is no
becoming new creatures, until we are slain to the old
man.
You must be slain to your pride, and
haughtiness, and the corruption of your own will,
and all selfishness, you must have God to burn
it up in you.
The Holy Spirit will destroy, and
burn up nothing in you,
but that which will bring
an eternal fire upon your soul.
Show me, you
whom my soul loves,
where is the path of life,
the footsteps of the flock of your companions?
Why should I be as one that goes aside?'
Now
every one that lives at home in the bosom of self,
take this with you,
though you profess the Truth,
and live in an outward conformity to it,
yet
if you secretly indulge your corrupt wills, and
live a flesh-pleasing life,
and consult with flesh
and blood, and are not torn away from your lusts,
you
cannot enjoy the Lord of Life;
'while I am at
home in the body, I am absent from the Lord.'
The body of sin is a loadstone to draw you
from the life of God, and from glorying in the
cross of Christ:
this is flesh and blood, and flesh
and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.
For the Lord's sake, for your soul's sake, and for
the sake of your eternal happiness,
do not put off
this work, but pursue it, and it will be perfected.
See how Christ is revealed in you by the Holy
Ghost, and with fire.
God will redeem you by
the Spirit of judgment and burning: it is not
ranging abroad in your minds,
but you must "know
Christ is in you except you be reprobates:"
if he
has set your eyes and hearts upon himself, and
made you to water your couch with your tears;
if
he has broken your sleep, so as you have cried
out,
"I shall be damned, and never come to salvation;" (this will be your cry, it was once my cry;)
O let not your eyes slumber, nor your eyelids take
any rest, until you are sure the Lord is your God.
if you find these qualifications, your are on your
way,
otherwise you will be like a deceitful bow,
and never abide in judgment;
if you reject the
counsel of God against yourselves, and refuse to
be crucified with Christ,
and to be baptized with his baptism, you will never have life;
but only by his
baptism, and through the heavenly operation of
his Spirit,
if you have faith in Christ's name, you
shall be married to him in everlasting righteousness;
salvation shall be brought to us, and eternal
life be bestowed upon us;
even that life which is
hidden with Christ in God,
he will give to every poor
mournful soul that submits to his blessed will,
and believes in the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is not
a faith of our own making, nor a garment of our
own embroidery, but that which the Lord has
given to us.
Oh happy man or woman, that obtains this gift of God!
Oh, who will not lose
their lives for this everlasting life?
Who will not
die for this eternal life?
Now, the matter lies in
the death of your own wills;
when you have done
the will of God, then — watch that your own wills
are slain,
and that your cursed self takes not the
jewels of God, and his bracelets and ornaments,
and bestows them upon self, to paint and deck the cursed self;
and take not the members of Christ,
and make them the members of an harlot.
If you
are dead to your own wills, you are risen with
Christ, and shall receive a resurrection to eternal
life.
Crucify self, and set the world at nothing, and
trample upon it,
and all the things of it, and count
them as dross and dung in comparison of Christ,
whom the Father has revealed to be our life, in
the days of our sorrow and mourning,
in the day
of our calamity, in the day when we cried, 'Our
hope is lost!'
Thus it has been with the holiest people on
earth;
it is not by works of righteousness of your
own that you can be saved;
Christ comes to
cut all these down, that you may be engrafted
into him, and justified by his grace.
Do not make
this a matter of talk, and say, I have heard this and
that;
but look into your own hearts, and see what
heavenly workings are there.
What is there that is of the
power of the Lord Jesus,
that has made you to
loathe this world, and the inordinate love of the
man,
that you may enjoy all these things as
if you enjoyed them not.
We cannot, when we
are slain and crucified to this world, but say,
'My
life is in Christ,’ when we come to ascribe nothing
to ourselves, and all to Christ.
Here is a blessed
harmony, broken hearts, melted spirits, and yet
joyful souls;
poor creatures, that were mourning,
and sighing, and crying before the Lord in retired
places,
and yet rejoicing in Christ Jesus, 'I am
risen with Christ;'
I said, 'My hope is cut off, I
will lie down in your will, O God;
do what you
will with me,
it is in your sovereign pleasure and
free gift, whether you give me life or deny it to
me.'
There must be a resignation of ourselves to
the will of God.
It was so with the Lord Jesus
and it is so with every true saint of God.
You
must be humbled as little children, before the
judgment is taken away,
and the loving kindness
of God sealed upon your souls.
If you seek this
work of God, you will find it;
if you seek it upon
your beds, in all your labors and concerns,
in all your stations and relations;
if you press
after the new birth, you must use this world as if
you used it not,
and live a married life as if you
were unmarried,
for the fashion of this world
passes away.This is not high notions, (lofty imaginings).
But, let me tell you, a new world comes by
regeneration.
A man is not lifted up in his own
mind, but laid low in his own eyes,
he waits for
the wisdom of God to govern him,
and he is as a
steward of the grace of God, to give to them that
stand in need.
When a man is regenerated and
born again,
he is as contented with bread and
water, as with all the enjoyments of this world:—
what is the difference?
His own will is gone, and
put down under his feet,
and whatever it is that
gives life to all his vain desires and affections;
there is a harmony of all within, a man praising
of God, and blessing his holy name.
There are no
entanglements to draw away the heart from
serving of God, and seeking his glory;
and if
God shall call the husband from the wife, or the
wife from the husband, for the glory of his name,
there is no whining and complaining, and crying
out, but giving them up,
and a praising and
blessing God, when they are called to such an exercise;
and if they are not called to that, then
they set their hearts to glorify God in their several
places and stations;
then they have a full content
in a blessed resignation.
Here their wills are
slain, but they praise God they have no desire,
but, 'Lord, your will be done!' always praising
God, always having the fear and the glory of God
before their eyes.
All the mischief is hatched in
pleasing men's own wills;
that is, the counsel of
every heart that Christ does not govern.
Will you
live as the Quakers? Then you must live contemptibly,
the mistress and the maid are 'hail fellows
well met.'
Every one must walk in humility,
and live in acquaintance with the God of
heaven;
she that is wrought upon by the same
Spirit, must with all diligence behave herself as
becomes a servant of the Lord.
Here is now a
new world, and the fashions of the old world are
gone;
pride, haughtiness, crossness, and trampling
upon one another are all gone,
all slain
through the operation of Christ.
What remains now,—Christ is in me, and we
are all one in him;
Christ laid down his life for
you and me; now he reigns in me,
and he has
prepared my body to die for the Truth,
as his prepared
body was laid down for my sin.
It is a
kind of foolish profession, to make profession of
Christ,
and live in covetousness, profaneness,
sensuality, and the like;
they that have come to this
heavenly birth, seek the things that are above, you can do nothing else.
Make the tree good, and
the fruit will be good.
You must be engrafted
into the vine of God's righteousness:
Oh slight not
the day of your visitation.
What was it to me to
read of any being born again, until I was slain,
and
knew the heavenly baptism of Christ Jesus?
Till
I saw the flaming sword ready to slay me in every
way, in every turning.
The light of Christ convinced
me of sin, and his righteousness justified me,
and those works were abominable to me, that
hindered my soul's passage to Christ;
Christ Jesus
in marrying my soul to himself seized upon me,
and did work effectually in me.
There is the testimony
of Christ in me, he has sealed up my soul
to the day of my redemption.
Here is a certain
passage, and a certain way which never any miss
of, that lose their lives for Christ.
If you are not
ready and willing to lose your lives for Christ, you
shall never come here;
the gate is strait, and the
way is narrow, none come here but those that die
into a heavenly oneness with Christ.
O Friends,
let us empty ourselves, that Christ may fill us;
let us be nothing in our own eyes, that we may be
all in him, and receive of his fullness.
Now I commend you to God's witness, that
you may remember what has been spoken among
you.
But consider, if you do not listen to it, it
will follow you, and be a plague to you to all eternity.
If you will not yield up yourselves to Christ,
this day that burns like an oven,
this fire you must
dwell with when out of the body, there will be no
quenching of this fire forever;
but if you are so
wise for your souls, as to resign yourselves up to
Christ,
and come to him as little children, this will
not hinder your earthly concerns;
though the
world may account you a fool, yet you have that
part of heavenly wisdom to do what you do as
unto God.
You conduct yourself to your wife, as in
the sight of God, that she may be sanctified to you,
and you to her;
and you conduct yourself becomingly
to your children and servants,
and you
will abound in grace, and in every good work,
which will be for your eternal welfare.
O, I beseech you, people, for the Lord's sake,
wait for the light of Christ to guide you;
learn of
him to be meek and lowly, then you are happy;
for he dwells with the humble, but he beholds
the proud from far away.
This new birth, which is a
true work, a sincere and heavenly work,
which will
make you [happy] forever.
Oh make room for
Christ in your hearts, or else he is never likely to
dwell with you;
he loves to dwell with the poor
and humble and contrite spirit,
he abhors the
proud; he will empty your souls, that he may fill
them.
And so I commend you to God.
I have been
long held in imprisonment under great weakness;
and I
was restless, until I could come up to this great city
of London,
to preach the everlasting gospel among
you, and you see I am among you here.
Pray,
every one of you, turn inward;
let not these words,
passing through a dishonorable vessel, be as a bare empty
discourse of Truth to you,
which you only hear, and
take no further care of your salvation.
Take
heed of despising the light that shines in the
midst of you,
and be pressing forward to the
heavenly work that is laid in the power of Christ
Jesus,
even through judgment into death, and
then he will give eternal life;
the Lord confirm
this, that it may rest upon your hearts, that you
may be dead to the things of the world.
"We
have not to come to Mount Sinai, that genders to
bondage,
but we have come to Mount Zion, the city
of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem,
and to
an innumerable company of angels, to the general
assembly and church of the first born which are
written in heaven,
and to God the judge of all, and
to the spirits of just men made perfect,
and to Jesus
the Mediator of the new covenant,
and to the blood
of sprinkling, that speaks better things than that
of Abel."
This is the inheritance of the redeemed
of the Most High, blessed be the name of the
Lord!
Let us rest in hope, until he bring us to humility
and lowliness of mind,
that he may clothe us
with heavenly glory, according to his promise,
'I
will beautify my house with glory,' said the Lord.
This is the portion of a poor people, that cast down
themselves before the Lord,
that he may lift them
up, and be all in all to them,
in whose blessed
presence they shall have joy, and rivers of pleasures
at his right hand forevermore!
The following is the prayer, which he offered up
after the preceding testimony.
Blessed and glorious God! Your presence and
power is with your people everywhere, and you
are stretching forth your almighty arm, for the salvation
of your chosen ones; and you are influencing
their souls with your grace and Spirit in their solemn
meetings and assemblies; we desire to extol and
magnify your great and excellent name for all your
mercies and blessings. We pray you, bow down
your heavenly ear, and hearken unto the cries and
supplications of your people, who are breathing
forth the desire of their souls unto you. You are
a God hearing prayers; supply their wants and
establish their spirits, and uphold them with your
free Spirit. Crown all your chosen ones with your
loving-kindness and tender mercy, rend the cloud of
darkness that hangs over us and take away the veil,
and bow the heavens among us, and visit us with
your salvation, and reveal the mysteries of your Truth
unto us; and in all our ways let us acknowledge
you, as you lead us in the way everlasting.
Righteous God of love! While we live on earth, let
our conduct be in heaven, where Christ our
Mediator sits at your right hand; let us follow his
example, who was holy, harmless, and undefiled,
that we may sit in heavenly places with him. Be
a sun and shield to us in our earthly pilgrimage.
Whom do we have in heaven, but you? There is nothing on earth that we desire besides you.
Let us walk before you in sincerity and truth, and
conduct us in the way of truth and righteousness by your blessed Spirit. Blessed is your
name for the light of your saving Truth, which has
shined in our minds; and the light of your countenance
that has been lifted up upon us in our
meetings; you have furnished a table for your
people as in the days of old. We cannot but admire
your great love and condescension towards us,
and extol and bless your holy name for your abounding
mercies and the riches of your goodness to us. We
desire to give you honor and renown, and praise
and thanksgiving for your renewed mercies and spiritual
blessings in Christ Jesus, for whom we bless
you, and in whom we desire to be found, not
having our own righteousness. To Him, with yourself,
and your holy eternal Spirit, be glory forever.
Amen!"
CHAPTER XIX
1688. William Dewsbury is taken ill in London—
Addresses a letter to the Yearly Meeting—Returns
home—His last hours—Address previous to the
close—His death and character—Testimony of his
Friends respecting him.
WILLIAM DEWSBURY continued in London until
the 30th of the 3rd month, desirous of attending
the approaching Yearly Meeting; but having been
taken ill soon after the meeting, at which he had
been so largely engaged, and his disorder continuing
to increase, he addressed the following
letter to his Friends; and then proceeded homewards.
Dear Friends and Brethren;
I did not know
until this last night, but that I should have been
with you at the Yearly Meeting. But it pleased
the Lord to visit me with my ancient distemper,
which has accompanied me many years in prison,
and since I was released. The distemper was so
sharp upon me this last night, that I did not know
I should have lived to see another day; but crying
to the Lord, he ordered and cleared my way to go
into the country. So I cannot be with you at the
Yearly Meeting, but I desire the Lord to assist you
with his blessed power and heavenly Life, to bring
in the scattered ones to their everlasting comfort
and his glory forever, Amen!
And that it may be so with you, is the prayer
of your loving brother,
William Dewsbury
London,
30th of 3rd month, 1688
Although he was favored with strength to reach
home, by short and easy journeys, he only lived
seventeen days after the date of the above letter.
About a week before he died, a few Friends being
met in his chamber, rising from his bed in great
weakness of body, he addressed them as follows:
My God has yet put it into my heart to bear
a testimony in his name and blessed Truth; and I
can never forget the day of his great power and
blessed appearance, when he first sent me to
preach his everlasting gospel, and to proclaim the
day of the Lord to all the people. He confirmed
the same by signs and wonders;—and particularly
by a lame woman who went on crutches,
where I with my dear brethren, George Fox and
Richard Farnsworth were cast; and as I cried
mightily unto the Lord in secret, that he would
signally manifest himself at that time among us,
and give witness of his power and presence with
us, Richard Farnsworth in the name of the Lord
took her by the hand, and George Fox after, spoke
to her in the power of God, and told her to stand up,
and she did, and immediately walked straight,
having no need of crutches any more. Therefore,
Friends, be faithful, and trust in the Lord your
God. For this I can say, I never since played the
coward; but joyfully entered prisons as palaces,
telling my enemies to hold me there as long as
they could. In the prison-house I sang
praises to my God, and esteemed the bolts and
locks put upon me as jewels; and in the name of
the eternal God I always got the victory. For
they could keep me no longer than the determined
time of my God.
Friends, this I must once again testify to
you in the name of the Lord God, that what I saw
above thirty years ago still rests as a testimony to
leave behind me. That a dreadful terrible day is at
hand, and will certainly come to pass, but the time
when, I cannot say. But, all put on strength in the
name of the Lord, and wait to feel his eternal power
to preserve you through the tribulations of those
days, that approach very near; in the sense of
which I have often been distressed and bowed
down in spirit, with cries and tears to my God, for
the preservation of his heritage. This I have
further to signify, that my departure draws near.
Blessed be my God! I am prepared; I have
nothing to do but die, and put off this corrupt
mortal tabernacle, this flesh that has so many infirmities.
But the life that dwells in it transcends
above all, out of the reach of death, hell, and the
grave; and immortality and eternal life are my
crown forever and ever! Therefore, you who are
left behind, fear not, nor be discouraged, but go
on in the name and power of the Lord; and bear
a faithful and living testimony for him in your
day. The Lord will prosper his work in your
hand, and cause his Truth to flourish and spread
abroad. For it shall have the victory, and no
weapon formed against it shall prosper. The Lord
has determined, it shall possess the gates of its
enemies; and the glory and the light thereof shall
shine more and more until the perfect day.
He concluded with prayers to the Lord, and
with fervent breathings and supplications for all
his people every where, but more especially, for
his dearly beloved Friends, assembled together at
the Yearly Meeting in London; and departed this
life about a week afterwards, namely, on the 17th
of the 4th month, 1688, at Warwick, and was
buried the following day.
If we turn from this last stage of William Dewsbury's pilgrimage, and from its triumphant close,
to the earlier periods of his life, we cannot fail to
arrive at the conclusion, that he was a man of
no ordinary character. Those clear views of divine
things, which attended his mind from first to
lust, from infancy to old age, and which he undoubtedly received as a heavenly gift, as the revelation
of the grace and truth of Jesus Christ essentially,—
this inward sense, it was his undeviating
concern to obey and follow. He truly received
the gospel neither of man, nor by man, neither
was he taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus
Christ. The ardor and sincerity with which
William Dewsbury pursued and sought after this
divine understanding of divine subjects, these secret
impressions and convictions of divine love visiting
the mind and instructing it, was very great, (it must be acknowledged), even for many years before
his mind received full satisfaction as to his
salvation and peace with God, and before he
could be said to have arrived at an establishment
in religion. His after course was indeed like the
conduct of the man who built his house upon the
Rock; the very gates of hell could not prevail
against him;—his mind was anchored, and every
thing that happened to him only served to confirm
him in the way cast up before him;—he endured, as
seeing Him who is invisible, unchangeable;—he
knew that his Redeemer lived, and felt Him to be
near that justified him.
How truly may it be said of William Dewsbury,
that he walked by faith and not by sight! even
that faith by which "the elders obtained a good
report," and which was to him as to them, "the
substance of things hoped for, the evidence of
things not seen." On what other principle, but
the all-sufficiency of this divine faith,—faith in
the presence and power of Christ inwardly revealed,—can we account for his so deliberately
entering upon that difficult and unbeaten path,
persevering through all obstacles in it, meekly and
patiently enduring all contradiction, triumphing
over all difficulties, and becoming more than conqueror in the end?
Taking this view of William Dewsbury's character,
formed as it was on the model of apostolic
faith, there is no difficulty in accounting for any
portion of his conduct, however irreconcilable it
might appear on other grounds. Raised up by the
divine power for an especial service, in which he had
many a "true yoke-fellow," and having submitted
to those deep baptisms indispensable in the great
work of regeneration, by which his own nature
was changed, his corrupt will subdued, the first
Adam slain and the second Adam raised up in
him, a quickening Spirit, to bear sway and rule in
all things; William Dewsbury appears at no time
to have consulted with flesh and blood, nor does it
appear that he was at any period left in doubt as
to the course that it was right for him to pursue.
Having once put his hand to the spiritual plough,
he never again looked back. If it was his lot to
suffer for the testimony of a good conscience, he
never repined; but, following the example of the
Great Pattern, "committed himself to him who
judges righteously." The afflictions and persecutions
he underwent, neither shook his faith, nor
wearied, nor offended him, because his foundation
was on the Rock; on this he stood. If he triumphed,
it was as a servant who rejoices in his
master's service and work—"good will to men,"—
and thus to increase his master's glory; and self,
through the power of redeeming love, having become of no reputation with him, he invariably
yielded, for his success, the tribute of thanksgiving
and praise to Him unto whom alone he felt that
it did belong.
"This our dear deceased brother," say his those who memorialized him, "was a man religiously concerned for the
honor of God, and had a great care upon his spirit,
that those who had believed and made profession
of the Truth, might answer it in a holy and blameless
life and conduct: which, he would often
say, could never be done by largeness of knowledge
nor strength of comprehension, but by a real dying to
their wills and affections, by the virtue of the daily
cross.
"He was one whom God raised up early in the
morning of his glorious day, and made an eminent
instrument in his hand for the publication of his
mighty day and power; preaching repentance in
order to the remission of sins, and bearing a faithful
and universal testimony to the free grace of
God to mankind. The Lord was with him, and prospered him in his manifold sufferings,
travels, labors and exercises in the gospel of
Christ and word of his ministry. Many were
made sensible of the benefit of his labors, to the
good and welfare of their immortal souls. For the
Lord our God, in whose dread and zeal he labored,
did endue him with faith and courage,
and with great boldness for his name and Truth;
and he published the same in great plainness and
in the simplicity thereof.
To the tender-hearted he was exceedingly
tender; but to the stubborn and lofty he was sharp
and plain; admonishing them, and declaring the
righteous judgment of God against that state;
waiting, and endeavoring with much patience
and long-suffering, the recovery of such, who
through the subtlety of the enemy have fallen from
Truth and from unity with the people of God;
among whom he was sincerely devoted to maintain
love and unity. But when any have made it their
work to cause division and discord, and to sow dissension
among brethren, he would plainly testify
against them and reject them; and, in the dread of
the Lord's power, thunder out God's judgment
against their deceit and wickedness;—as he did
upon his last visit to London, a few days before
his departure out of the body, which he then told
some of us, was near at hand.
He was fervent and frequent in prayer to God
for the good of his church, and for the gathering
of people to their true rest; wherein we have had
true unity with him. Our souls, with many
more, have been often refreshed and comforted
with him. His many deep sufferings for the
Truth, and his faithful travels and labors are
never to be forgotten.
Although the envy of wicked and unreasonable
men was very great and fierce against him,
he neither feared their malice, threats, nor blows;
but boldly went forth publishing the Truth, by testifying
to that of God in all consciences. The
hand of Divine Providence did often deliver him
in a wonderful manner out of the hands of the
wicked, for his name's sake.
Finally, having faithfully served out his
generation, and finished his sufferings, testimony,
and course with joy, he has now obtained the
crown immortal, and is gone into the everlasting
rest, from all his labors, and his works follow
him, with a blessed reward in the kingdom of
glory and peace.
The preceding paragraphs form the greater part of a Testimony
borne to his memory soon after his death, to which is attached
the names of six Friends, namely, George Whitehead,
Francis Camfield, Richard Finder, Stephen Crisp, Richard
Richardson, and James Parkes.
<To Appendix of His Additional Letters>>>
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