The ancient testimony and principle of the people called Quakers renewed, with respect to the king and government, and touching the present association:
‘We, the said people, do solemnly and sincerely declare, that it hath been our judgment and principle from the first day we were called to profess the light of Christ Jesus manifested in our consciences unto this day, that the setting up, and putting down kings, and governments, is God’s peculiar prerogative, for causes best known to himself; and that it is not our work or business to have any hand or contrivance therein, nor to be busy-bodies in matters above our station; much less to plot and contrive the ruin or overturn of any of them; but to pray for the king and for the safety of our nation, and good of all men, that we may live a peaceable and quiet life, in all godliness and honesty, under the government which God is pleased to set over us.
‘And according to this our ancient and innocent principle, we often have given forth our testimony, and now do, against all plotting, conspiracies, and contriving insurrections against the king or the government, and against all treacherous, barbarous, and murderous designs whatsoever, as works of the devil and darkness: and we sincerely bless God, and are heartily thankful to the king and government, for the liberty and privileges we enjoy under them by law: esteeming it our duty to be true and faithful to them.
‘And whereas, we the said people are required to sign the said association, we sincerely declare, that our refusing so to do, is not out of any disaffection to the king or government, nor in opposition to his being declared rightful and lawful king of these realms, but purely because we cannot for conscience-sake, fight, kill, or revenge, either for ourselves or any man else.
‘And we believe that the timely discovery and prevention of the late barbarous design and mischievous plot against the king and government, and the sad effects it might have had, is an eminent mercy from Almighty God; for which we, and the whole nation, have great cause to be humbly thankful to him, and to pray for the continuance of his mercies to them and us.
‘From a meeting of the said people in London, the 23d of the first month, called March, 1695-6.’
In this year Roger Haydock died of a fever, at his house in Penketh, in Lancashire, about the age of fifty-three years. He had been in Holland the year before, in which time I had more than once opportunity to speak with him privately, and thereby discovered such Christian qualities in him, that were indeed excellent; therefore the news of his decease did much affect me; and because of his ministry, in which he was eminent, being more than ordinary full of matter in his preaching, his death was much lamented among those churches in England where he had laboured most in the gospel. His wife Eleanor, in her testimony concerning him, said, ‘My spirit hath been, and is bowed under a deep sense of my great loss and exercise, in the removal of my dear husband, whom it hath pleased God in his wisdom to take away from me, who was comfort to my life, and joy to my days in this world, being given me of God, in great mercy and loving kindness; and so he hath been enjoyed by me in thankfulness of heart, to the close of that time God had appointed; and now is taken from the world, with all its troubles and exercises, as also from all his labours and travels, which were great amongst the churches of Christ, which with me have no small loss in his removal. But what shall I say: wise and good is the Lord, who doth what he will in heaven and in earth, and amongst his churches and his chosen. He can break and bind up, wound and heal, kill and make alive again, that the living may see his wonders, and magnify his power in all, through all, and over all, who is God eternal, blessed for ever. Amen.’
Then in her testimony she gives an account of his life, and how in her young years he had been to her a faithful instructor in godliness, and at length became her husband. After a description of his life, and his many travels in the ministry of the gospel, to edify and build up the churches, she saith also, that though his love to her was above all visibles, as the best of enjoyments he had in this world, yet she was not too dear to him to give up to serve the truth of God. ‘I was made,’ said she ‘a blessing to him, more comfortable every day than other: he would often express it; and truly so was he to me every day, every way, and in every respect. No tongue nor pen can relate the full of that comfort and joy we had in God and one in another. Yet we find such hath been the pleasure of God concerning them he hath loved, to try them in the most near and dear enjoyments, that it might be manifest he was loved above all; that no gifts may be preferred above the giver; but that he may be all in all, who is, and is to come, God blessed for ever. And truly there hath been great care and watchfulness one over another, and over our own spirits, to see that our love, though great, was bounded and kept within its compass, the truth being its original, the Alpha and Omega also. Although it hath been the pleasure of God to try me, in the removal of so great a blessing from me, sure it is, that I may be the more inward to him, and have his love always in my remembrance, who gives and takes away, and in all bless his name. My soul travails that I may always follow his foot-steps of self-denial in all things, that I may finish my course in this world to the glory of God, as he did, and have my part in that mansion of glory with him eternal in the heavens; though it may be my lot to stay for a time in this world of troubles, yet I have hope in immortality and eternal blessedness, when time in this world shall be no more.’ Thus she wrote: but to shun prolixity, I break off. She then giving some account of his life and ministry, mentions, that being gone from home, she was not present at his death; but that they having taken leave of each other before, had parted in great love, with mutual breathings to God, for one another’s welfare; and she concludes with these words: ‘Though I saw not his going away, yet I have seen in what he went, and that it was full of zeal and fervency in the love of God, and life of righteousness. So in pure submission to the will of God, I conclude this short and true relation of my worthy dear husband, whose name and memory is blessed, and will live, and be of a sweet savour in the hearts of the righteous through ages.’ With such a testimony it was, that Eleanor transmitted the memorial of her beloved consort to posterity.
1697.
Meeting in this year with no more remarkable occurrences, I pass over to 1697, in which a treaty of peace was concluded between England, France, and Holland, and though many thought it would be lasting, yet among the popish clergy there were those that had another opinion of it: of which this artificial distich, sent over by a clergyman from Ghent in Flanders to Holland, so that it fell first into my hands, was an evidence: