[140] This would be August of our calendar. Again the pen was busy during these weeks in jail, and many epistles and documents were written. A Baptist preacher, named Wiggan, who had been a great opponent of Fox, was brought into straits over the oath which he finally took. The episode furnishes this interesting entry:
"This Wiggan was poor, and while he was prisoner at Lancaster he sent into the country, and got money gathered for relief of the poor people of God in prison; and many people gave freely, thinking it had been for us, when indeed it was for himself. But when we heard of it, we laid it upon him, and wrote into the country, that Friends might let the people know the truth of the matter, that it was not our manner to have collections made for us, and that those collections were only for Wiggan and another, a drunken preacher of his society, who was so drunk, that once he lost his breeches."
[141] "A præmunired person" is one who has incurred the penalty of being put out of the protection of the crown, of having his lands, goods, and chattels forfeited to the crown and of remaining in prison during the sovereign's pleasure.
[142] These "four chief religions which have been got up since the apostles' days" are respectively the Roman Catholic, the Episcopalian, Presbyterian and Independent, i. e., Congregational.
[143] Scarborough Castle is so nearly demolished that it is now impossible to locate the rooms in which Fox was confined. The room in which he was finally quartered was on the extreme seaside of the castle and has been entirely destroyed. This year of fearful imprisonment following the severe confinement at Lancaster nearly broke down his wonderful constitution. He never again had the same physical vigor and power. Note his healthy humor in the little joke with the Papist.
[144] George Fox had a very keen eye for "judgments" which came upon persons who abused him or hindered his work. It accords completely with the ideas of the time, and is one of the things which he had not transcended.
[145] This "sickness" was the London "plague" of 1665.
[146] This was Thomas Ibbett, of Huntingdonshire. He went distracted a little later, and, standing in Cheapside during the great fire, he tried to stop its progress with his outspread arms, so that he nearly perished in the flames. For a remarkable prophecy of the "great plague" see "Writings of George Fox the Younger," 1662, pages 219-221.
[AN] The days of Oliver Cromwell.
[147] In nothing did Fox show his originality and insight more clearly than in his work of organizing the Society which his ministry had drawn together. During his long imprisonment many internal difficulties had arisen, which showed that the Society was too loosely organized for a permanent work in the world. The rest of his life—twenty-four years—was mainly devoted to this work of perfecting the system of meetings and government, though his ministry meantime in no way slackened. The first system of Discipline, printed in 1669 by his opponents, under the title, "Canons and Institutions," was drawn up soon after the release from Scarborough Castle.