Shepherd. During the solitude afforded by his close confinement, his mind was more and more softened; and as the mists of error faded away under the reviving power of the Sun of Righteousness, he felt the healing virtue of his Saviour's wing, and was enabled to pour forth, in many touching effusions, the penitence of his soul.

On his liberation, which occurred very soon after the death of Oliver Cromwell, about the Seventh month, 1658, he went to Bristol, the chief scene of his offence; in which city, in a public meeting, he made a confession of his fault in so affecting a manner, as to draw tears from most of those who were present, and to occasion his reconciliation with many who had been estranged from him. The following expressions, forming part of a paper addressed by him to Friends, feelingly set forth his sincere repentance.

"Dear brethren," says he, "my heart is broken this day for the offence that I have occasioned to God's truth and people, and especially to you, who in dear love followed me, seeking me in faithfulness to God; which I rejected, being bound wherein I could not come forth, till God's hand brought me, to whose love I now confess. Unless the Lord himself keep you from me, I beseech you let nothing else hinder your coming to me, that I might have your help in the Lord. In the mercies of Christ Jesus, this I beg of you, as if it was your own case: let me not be forgotten by you. And I entreat you to speak to whoever I have most offended; and by the power of God, and in the Spirit of Christ Jesus, I am willing to confess the offence; that God's love may arise in all hearts as before, if it be his will, who only can remove what stands in the way; and nothing thereof do I intend to cover; God is witness."

And in another paper, after giving praise to the Lord Jesus Christ, his Saviour, and the rock of his salvation, who had lifted him out of the pit, delivered him from darkness, and given quietness and patience to his soul, he adds: “But

condemned for ever be all those false worships, with which any have idolized my person in the night of my temptation, when the power of darkness was above. All their casting of their clothes in the way, their bowings and singings, and all the rest of those wild actions which did any ways tend to dishonor the Lord, or draw the minds of any from the measure of Christ Jesus in themselves, to look at flesh, or ascribe that to the visible, which belongs to Christ Jesus, all that I condemn. And all those ranting, wild spirits, which gathered about me in that time of darkness, and all their wild actions, and wicked words against the honor of God and his pure Spirit and people, I deny that bad spirit, the power and the works thereof. And as far as I gave advantage, through want of judgment, for that evil spirit in any to arise, I take shame to myself justly."

In another paper, relating how he was betrayed into this snare, he instructively attributes it in great measure to his "not minding to stand single and low;" and there can be no doubt that if he had kept humbly on the watch, with his eye single to the divine Light and Leader, he would have been preserved blameless by the same power that so livingly sent him forth at first to preach His gospel. But "there is joy in Heaven over one sinner that repenteth;" and there is joy also in the church over the healing virtue of that divine love in Christ Jesus, the holy unction of which is often effectual for the restoration of the diseased and crippled members to life, and health, and unity once more with the body. George Whitehead, who knew James Nayler well, testifies of his latter days, that "he was revived by the Lord's power, and in measure restored to his ancient testimony, and to bear the same publicly, as the Lord enabled him, both in ministry and writings; and he walked in much brotherly love and simplicity among us, until his end came."

He lived rather more than two years after his liberation

from prison, and spent his time in great self-denial and watchfulness. Departing from London, towards the latter part of the summer of 1660, for the purpose of visiting his family in Yorkshire, he was seen by a Friend at Hertford, sitting by the roadside, in a very solemn and retired frame. of spirit. This Friend invited him to his house; but he expressed a wish to proceed. In passing on foot through Huntingdon, he was observed by another Friend to be in a particularly solid frame of mind, like one who felt himself to be a stranger in the earth, and seeking a better and an enduring inheritance. Soon after this, he was found towards evening by a countryman, very ill, on a field, near King's Rippon, having (as it was supposed) been robbed and personally abused. He was taken to a Friend's house, and attended by a physician, but gradually sunk away. He expressed his love for Friends, and to those around him he said, "You have refreshed my body—the Lord refresh your souls!" About two hours before his decease, he uttered, among others, the following heavenly expressions, evincing in a consolatory manner, his restoration to the divine favor: "There is a spirit which I feel, that delights to do no evil, nor to revenge any wrong; but delights to endure all things, in hope to enjoy its own in the end. Its hope is to outlive all wrath and contention, and to weary out all exaltation and cruelty, or whatever is of a nature contrary to itself. Its crown is meekness; its life is everlasting love unfeigned. It takes its kingdom with entreaty, and keeps it by lowliness of mind. In God alone it can rejoice. I have fellowship therein, with those who lived in dens and desolate places in the earth; who through death obtained this resurrection, and eternal holy life!" He quietly departed, about the 44th year of his age.

Such was the career of James Nayler, and such his peaceful close. Awfully instructive was his fall, as a warning to all to beware of that spirit which would lift us

up above the pure teachings of the "still small voice" in the secret recesses of the heart. And sweetly edifying is it also to dwell on the depth and riches of that redeeming love which raised the poor soul from the horrible pit, and set his feet upon a rock, and put a new song into his mouth, even praises to his great and gracious Lord.

CHAPTER XI.

FIRST VISITS OF FRIENDS TO AMERICA

THIS

CRUEL PERSECU

TIONS IN NEW ENGLAND, ETC.

THIS eventful year to the Society of Friends (1656) was also remarkable as being the era of the first arrival of any of the ministers of the Society on the continent of America.

Mary Fisher, a young woman of about thirty years of age, and Anne Austin, who had a husband and five children residing in London, were, in 1655, travelling together in the ministry of the Gospel in the island of Barbadoes; and in the spring of 1656, they sailed for Boston, under a concern of mind to spread the doctrines of the true spiritual religion among the high professing, but priest-ridden and intolerant inhabitants of Massachusetts Bay. Nearly twenty years before this, Rhode Island had been purchased from the Narragansett Indians for fifty fathoms of beads, and settled by a colony from Boston, who had left the latter town in disgust at the attempts made to introduce by force, a system of religious uniformity. Many of these original colonists of Rhode Island afterwards became Friends, and afforded a quiet resting-place for the poor persecuted members of the Society, when whipped or banished out of the adjoining patent.

Anne Austin and her companion arrived at Boston in the Fifth month, and their arrival was quickly announced to the deputy-governor; who in his zeal to prevent any inroads on the settled religious opinions of the colony, commanded that they should be closely confined on board the ship that brought them, and that their books should be burned by the common executioner, under the vague and false charge of heresy and blasphemy. The council also ordered that the women should be closely imprisoned, and that the captain of the ship should give security, on pain of imprisonment, to convey them back speedily to Barbadoes, at his own cost. So fearful were those bigoted people of the light of truth to discover their false opinions and evil deeds.

pens,

Being brought on shore, these harmless and innocent women were closely confined, and a penalty of five pounds threatened against any one who should even speak to them through the window of their prison. The window indeed was afterwards boarded ink and paper and their up, were taken from them, to prevent any communication with the citizens. Their persecutors now raised the cry of witchcraft, doubtless with the hope of putting them to the same death as had already been meted out to two women a short time previous. Finding no overt act as evidence of this unfounded charge, they scrupled not to examine the persons of their prisoners, in a cruel and indecent manner, to see if there were no mark of witchcraft upon them, under the popular superstitious notion that some unusual sign was set upon the bodies of those who had thus sold themselves to satan. Their enemies now refused to supply them with food, or allow it to be brought to them by the citizens; but an aged inhabitant, touched with compassion for their sufferings, bribed the jailer to allow him privately to furnish them with provisions.

After an imprisonment of nearly five weeks, they were