Cambridge Journal 1

1* After this I was moved to go into Derbyshire, where the mighty Power of God was among ffriends. And I went to Chesterfield where one Britland2 was Priest. He was one, that saw beyond the common sort of Priests; for he had * 3beene convinced whoe was above ye Preistes4 & had spoaken much in behaulfe of Truth & soe ye Preist of ye Towne being dead Hee had gott ye parsonage & choaked himselfe with itt, & soe I was mooved to speake to him & ye people, In ye great love of God, & hee was not able to oppose, & soe they had mee before ye Maior & sent mee {with some others} to ye House of Correction, but ye Iudgments5 of ye Lord came on yt preist soone after & hee was cutt off & dyed. And in ye Night they putt Us out of Towne with Watch men, but there were severall convinced of ye Lords Truth & ye Lords Power began to spread mightyly & his Truth up and downe in those partes [& then yt Preist Stevens6 of Drayton my Native Place, hee Preached & tould my Relations yt I was carryed up with a whyrlewind Into Heaven, & after I was found full of gould & sillver, & soe my Relations wrote a letter to mee to come & shew myself, & soe I Answered ye letter, & they shewed itt To ye Preist, & ye Preist said Aney one might write a Letter—but where was ye Man? & soe my Relations did conclude itt was soe, for said They when Hee went from Us hee had a greate deale of gould & sillver about him, neveryelesse they sent to mee againe, & after I went homewardes, & one or two went along with mee till wee came to a Towne where wee mett many Professors, & many were convinced {at Kidsley Parke7}].


  1. *…* From the first Ellwood Edition 1694, page 30. G.F.

  2. Thomas Bretland ( —1656) was Lecturer at Chesterfield in the early part of 1650. Later in the year he became Vicar, although his name does not appear in the list of Vicars of the parish supplied by the present holder of the living. He is described as “ an able, honest man” (Cor, Churches of Derbyshire, 1875, i. 173). Bretland was probably “ the priest of the town ” referred to by William Edmondson (Journal, 1715, p. 4).

  3. The first 3½ pages of the ms. (pp. 1—4, 9, 10) are not in the handwriting of Thomas Lower, although he has added to the text and corrected it in various places.

  4. The term priest was applied by early Friends to all persons who were in receipt of money for preaching, irrespective of the particular sect to which they belonged.

  5. Fox and his fellow-workers had imbibed much of the spirit of the Hebrew prophets, who pronounced and recorded retribution upon evil-doers. Fox was quick to note what he considered to be judgments upon his persecutors, which came to his knowledge, but in some cases the events recorded as judgments can hardly be so estimated. One of the questions to be annually answered by the Church Meetings of early Quakers was :—" What signal Judgements have come upon Persecutors ?“ but in 1701, this question was suspended (Minutes of London Yearly Meeting (ms. in D.), ii. 308, 340). F. P. T.; and many early Journals. For an adverse view, see Bugg, Finishing Stroke, 1712, pt iv, p. 346.

  6. Nathaniel Stephens (c. 1606—1678) was M.A. of Oxford, and became connected with Fenny Drayton about 1638 as Curate, and in 1659 as Hector. He was ejected for nonconformity in 1662, and after having been seven times driven from Drayton, he settled at Stoke Golding in the same county and held meetings at his house after the Presbyterian manner. He is described as “a good scholar and a useful preacher, in his younger days a very hard student, in his old age pleasant and cheerful” (Noncon. Mem.). Fox gave him a very different character. Stephens’s wife was also much opposed to Fox, for it is said that on one occasion she “very unseemly plucked and haled him up and downe, and scoffed and laughed'‘ (Farnsworth, Spirituall Man, 1655, p. 31). D. N. B.; Jnl. F. H. S. i. iv. vL ; Bate, Declaration of Indulgence, 1908, p. xxxvi.

  7. This insertion was made by Thomas Lower. Kidsley Park forms the N.E. portion of the parish of Smalley. It probably consisted then as it does now of a small number of farmhouses. The “Olde Parke Farm” appears to have been in the hands of Friends from about 1650 to 1863. The Smeeton family was in occupation in 1691. In 1654, John Story and John Wilkinson had a great meeting here at which the Ranters “ began to singe & whisell & swear” (Swarth. MSS. iv. 63). Kerry, History of Smalley, 1905 ; manuscripts in the possession of Edward Watkins, Fritchley.

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