His beloved friend John Audland, (who often bemoaned the loss of so dear a companion,) died also of a kind of consumption: for his ardent zeal made him strain his voice beyond what his body was well able to hear. In a meeting, which he once had with J. Camm, in a field without Bristol, where Charles Marshall was one of his auditors, after J. Camm had left off speaking, he stood up, with an awful and shining countenance: and lifting up his voice as a trumpet, he said, ‘I proclaim a spiritual war with the inhabitants of the earth, who are in the fall and separation from God, and I prophesy to the four winds of heaven.’ Thus he went on with mighty power, exhorting to repentance; and spoke with such a piercing authority, that some of the auditory fell on the ground, and cried out under the sense of their transgression. And when at Bristol he many times preached in an orchard to a great multitude, he would lift up his voice exceedingly, in order to be heard by all. Thus he spent his natural strength, though he was but a young man. About the twentieth year of his age, he married with one Anne Newby, of Kendal, a virtuous maid, not only of good family, but also excelling in piety, and therefore she freely gave him up to travel in the service of the gospel, notwithstanding his company was very dear to her; which made her say, that she believed few ever enjoyed a greater blessing in a husband so kind and affectionate. And how heartily and tenderly she loved him, may be seen by the following letter she wrote to him.

‘Dear Husband,

‘Thou art dearer to me than ever; my love flows out to thee, even the same love that I am loved withal of my Father. In that love salute me to all my friends, for dear you are all unto me; my life is much refreshed in hearing from you. I received thy letters, and all my soul desireth is to hear from thee in the life; dear heart, in life dwell, there I am with thee out of all time, out of all words, in the pure power of the Lord, there is my joy and strength; O! how am I refreshed to hear from thee, to hear of thy faithfulness and boldness in the work of the Lord. O! dear heart, I cannot utter the joy I have concerning thee; thy presence I have continually in spirit, therewith am I filled with joy; all glory and honour be to our God for ever. O! blessed be the day in which thou wast born, that thou art found worthy to labour in the work of the Lord. Surely the Lord hath found thee faithful in a little, therefore he hath committed much unto thee; go on in the name and power of the Lord Jesus Christ, from whence all strength cometh, to whom be all glory, and honour for ever. O! dear heart, go on, conquering and to conquer, knowing this, that thy crown is sure. So, dear heart, now is the time of the Lord’s work, and few are willing to go forth into it. All the world lieth in wickedness, doing their own work; but blessed be the Lord for ever, who hath called us from doing our own work, into his great work. O! marvellous are his works, and his ways past finding out. O! dear heart, thou knowest my heart, thou mayest read daily how that I rejoice in nothing more than in thy prosperity in the work of the Lord: Oh! it is past my utterance to express the joy I have for thee. I am full, I am full of love towards thee, never such love as this; the mighty power of the Lord go along with thee, and keep thee faithful and valiant, and bold in his pure counsel, to stand single out of all the world. O! dear heart, all my love to thee is purer than gold seven times purified in the fire: O! pure is he that hath loved us, therefore let purity and holiness cover us for ever. A joyful word it was to me, to hear that thou wast moved to go for Bristol: O my own heart, my own life! in that which now stands, act and obey, that thou mayest stand upon thy alone guard; so, dear heart, let thy prayers be for me, that I may be kept pure out of all temptations, singly to dwell in the life: so farewell.

ANNE AUDLAND.’

By this letter it appears, that there was an endeared mutual love between this virtuous couple. He was a man of great knowledge, but when his understanding came to be opened by the preaching of G. Fox, he would say, sometimes, ‘Ah, what have we been doing! Or what availeth our great profession? All our building tumbles down; our profession is high as the wind; the day of the Lord is upon it, and his word, as a fire, consumes it as dry stubble; and puts an end to all empty professions and high notions, without life or substance; to all the wisdom of fallen man. We must forsake the world, and all its glory; it is all but vanity and vexation of spirit: it is a Saviour that I long for; it is him that my soul pants after. O that I may be gathered into his life, and overshadowed with his glory, sanctified throughout by his word, and raised up by his eternal power!’ He continuing in this state of daily supplication and inward travail of soul, it pleased the Lord at length to furnish him with an extraordinary qualification to proclaim his word, which he did some years faithfully, and with great zeal. And though his wife loved him dearly, and preferred his company above what the world could give; yet in regard of his gospel service, she gave him up freely to be much from home; whereby during a great part of the time of their marriage, she had not his desirable company.

In the meanwhile he laboured diligently in the Lord’s harvest, till his bodily strength failing, and meeting with hard imprisonments, he was seized with a most violent cough, which was followed by a fever, so that his sleep was taken from him, which made him grow very weak; but he bore his sickness with great patience, and said once, that in those great meetings in the orchard at Bristol, he often forgot himself, not considering the inability of his body, from a desire to be heard by all: but that his reward was with him, and he content to be with the Lord, which his soul valued above all things. Not long before his departure, being visited by some of his friends, he spoke so comfortably, and with such power, as one that was beyond the feeling of his weakness. To his wife, who was big with child, and nigh her delivery, well knowing how tenderly she loved him, he said, ‘My will is in true subjection, submitting to the will of the Lord, whether life or death; and therefore give me up freely to his disposing.’ And she, how dear soever he was to her, did so; which gave him some ease, seeing her sincere resignedness; and being sometimes overcome with joy, he praised God in his sickness; nay so ardent was his zeal, that once, though very weak, he desired to be helped up in bed upon his knees; and thus he fervently supplicated the Lord in the behalf of his churches, that they might be preserved in the truth, out of the evil of the world, and that his gospel might spread, and be published to the gathering of all that pertain to Israel. His strength now diminishing daily, he sweetly departed at the age of thirty-four years, about three weeks after the fever first seized him. And his widow, who ten days after his decease was delivered of a son, behaved herself discreetly, and said afterwards in a paper concerning him: ‘The eternal God, who by his providence, joined us together in marriage, in our young days, in his blessed counsel also caused his day to spring from on high upon us: in the marvellous light, and bright shining whereof, he revealed his Son Christ in us, and gave us faith to believe in him, the eternal word of life, by which our souls came to be quickened, and made alive in him: and also in and by the quickening of his holy power, were made one in a spiritual and heavenly relation, our hearts being knit together in the unspeakable love of truth, which was our life, joy, and delight, and made our days together exceeding comfortable: as being that whereby all our temporal enjoyments were sanctified, and made a blessing to us. How hard it was, and how great a loss, to part with so dear and tender an husband as he was to me, is far beyond what I can express: the dolour of my heart, my tongue or pen is not able to declare. Yet in this I contented myself, that it was the will of the Lord that he was taken from the evil; and that my loss, though great, was not to be compared to his eternal gain.’ This widow, in process of time, was married to Thomas Camm, son of John Camm, her former husband’s bosom friend. She was indeed a woman of great virtue, but now I part with her, with intention to say more of her when I shall come to the time of her decease.

I return to Francis Howgill, whom we left in prison, and who now appeared again at the assizes, which were holden at Appleby, in the month called August. And he having got liberty to speak with the clerk of the assizes, who told him, that he must prepare himself to come to a trial, answered, he was prepared, but thought that all he could say, would little avail, believing they purposed to prosecute him with all severity: which proved so, as will appear by what follows; for the county justices had incensed the judges against him beforehand. Yet Howgill endeavoured all he could to convince them of his innocency; and to that end drew up the substance of the oath into several heads which he could subscribe to; to this he joined another paper to judge Turner, showing the cause of his first commitment and the former proceedings against him: and how unequal it was to prosecute him upon a statute made against popish recusants. He also signified in that paper, that he was a man of a tender spirit, and feared the Lord from a child, and he had never taken any oath but once in his life, which was twenty years ago; and that his refusing to take the oath of allegiance, was not in any evil intent to the king’s person or government, but merely upon a conscientious account, and that he could not swear, being otherwise persuaded of the Lord, seeing it was against the command of Christ, and the apostle James’s doctrine. Besides, that he was able to make it evident to be against the example of the primitive Christians for divers hundred years, and so no new opinion. That he did neither in wilfulness nor obstinacy refuse it, being sensible of the damage that would come thereby, if they did prosecute him upon that statute, he having a wife and children, and some small estate, which he knew lay at stake in the matter; but that though it were his life also, he could not revolt from, or deny that which he had most certainly believed in; but if any could convince him either by scripture or reason, he had an ear to hear. And therefore all those things considered, he desired he might he dismissed from his bonds, and from their persecution of him upon that account. These papers were delivered to the judges and justices before he appeared in court, and were read by them. He then being called to the bar at the assizes holden at Appleby, judge Turner said to him, ‘Here is an indictment against you for refusing to take the oath of allegiance; so you must plead to it, either guilty or not guilty.’

F. H. with a heart girded up with strength and courage, said, ‘Judge Turner, may I have liberty to speak, and make my defence, for I have none to plead my cause but the Lord?’

Judge. You may.

F. H. I will lay the true state of my case before thee, and of the proceedings against me from the first, seeing judge Twisden is not here, who had knowledge of all the proceedings hitherto. I am a countryman, born and brought up in this country; my carriage and conversation is known, how I have walked peaceably towards all men, as I hope my countrymen can testify. About a year ago being at my neighbouring market-town about my reasonable and lawful occasions, I was sent for by an high constable out of the market to the justices of peace, before whom I went; and when I came there, they had nothing to lay to my charge, but fell to ask me questions to ensnare me about our meetings; and when they could find no occasion, they seemed to tender the oath of allegiance to me, though they never read it to me, neither did I positively deny it, yet they committed me to prison; and so I was brought hither to this assize, and then the mittimus by which I was committed, was called for, and the judge read it, and said to the justices it was insufficient: nevertheless judge Twisden tendered the oath of allegiance to me; many things I did allege then, and many more I have to say now, if time will permit: from that time I was under an engagement to appear at the next assizes, and so was called, and did appear at the last jail-delivery, and a further obligation was required of me for good behaviour, which I could not give, lest I should be brought into a further snare; and since that time I have been committed prisoner these five months, of which time I have been kept under great restraint, my friends not permitted to speak to me: and thus briefly I have given thee an account hitherto. As to the oath, the substance thereof, with the representation of my case, is presented to the court already, unto which I have set my hand, and also shall in those words testify the same in open court, if required; and seeing it is the very substance the law doth require I desire it may be accepted, and I cleared from my imprisonment.