not a bare legal change of relation to penalty. This is a mere commonplace of theology, as old as the pages of the New Testament; how then can it have been to George Fox a "revelation"? At present we are relating the history; and it is part of the history, that Fox accepted this as a revelation from God. Later on, we may review his revelations as a whole, and try to estimate their value. But it may be remarked here, in passing, that the orthodoxy of that day sharply, sometimes angrily, distinguished between justification and sanctification. All true believers, said orthodoxy, are justified by faith alone; and orthodoxy resented it as an insult to the sovereignty of the Deity, and a slight upon the merits of Christ's sacrifice, if the moral change wrought in the sinner's character were so much as mentioned in this connection. Hence it came to pass that the moral change hardly seemed necessary to salvation, however proper and desirable in itself. And as a matter of fact, the doctrine that believers may be, even ought to be, made perfectly holy in this life was regarded as rank heresy. It is true, the best of the Puritan divines were practically as zealous for holiness as George Fox himself; and it would be as unfair to accept his view of their teaching, as theirs of his. Nevertheless one can easily understand how George Fox may have stumbled over and struggled with these difficulties, during those years of darkness. A salvation which left the believer still a sinner seemed to him no salvation at all. When at length his eyes were opened, and he saw clearly that man's moral condition is no mere secondary consideration, but that its regeneration is itself the very salvation of God, is it so surprising that the slow-witted,

humble-minded peasant lad, should never for an instant imagine that his own wit and wisdom had discovered this glorious truth, should honestly believe that it was directly revealed to him by God himself?

Again a revelation came. "At another time, as I was walking in a field on a first-day morning, the Lord opened unto me that being bred at Oxford or Cambridge was not enough to fit and qualify men to be ministers of Christ; and I stranged at it, because it was the common belief of the people; but I saw it clearly as the Lord opened it to me, and was satisfied, and admired the goodness of the Lord who had opened this thing unto me that morning." O, sancta simplicitas! one is ready to exclaim; was this a revelation? Who ever believed that mere education and ordination could make men priests in Christ's temple? Yet George Fox" stranged at it because it was the common belief of the people." We have another witness for that. Bunyan tells us that when he began to reform his vicious life, "I was so overrun with the spirit of superstition, that I adored and that with great devotion, even all things (both the high place, priest, clerk, vestment, service and what else) belonging to the church; counting all things holy that were therein contained, and especially the priest and the clerk most happy, and without doubt, greatly blessed, because they were the servants, as I then thought, of God, and were principal in the holy temple, to do His work therein. This conceit grew so strong in a little time upon my spirit, that had I but seen a priest (though never so sordid and debauched in his life) I should find my spirit fall under him, reverence him, and knit

1 Ibid.

unto him; yea, I thought, for the love I did bear unto them (supposing them the ministers of God) I could have laid down at their feet, and have been trampled upon by them; their name, their garb, and work, did so intoxicate and bewitch me." Thus Bunyan amply confirms Fox's statement as to the popular belief. From the time when he received this second revelation, George Fox, to the great grief of his relations, refused to attend. with them at the parish church. Nor would he join with the dissenters, but would get into the orchard, or into the fields, with his Bible, by himself.

The third revelation struck at the popular reverence for the sacred edifices. "At another time it was opened

in me, 'That God who made the world, did not dwell in temples made with hands.' This at first seemed a strange word, because both priests and people used to call their temples or churches, dreadful places, and holy ground, and the temples of God; but the Lord showed me, so that I did see clearly that He did not dwell in these temples, which men had commanded and set up, but in people's hearts; for both Stephen and the Apostle Paul bore testimony that He did not dwell in temples made with hands, nor even in that which he had once commanded to be built, since He put an end to it, but that His people were His temple, and He dwelt in them. This opened in me as I walked in the fields to my relations' house; and when I came there, they told me that Nathaniel Stevens, the priest, had been there, and told them he was afraid of me for going after new lights; and I smiled in myself, knowing what the Lord had opened in me, concerning him and his brethren; but I told not

1 Grace Abounding. Cassell's edition, 1886, page 20.

my relations, who, though they saw beyond the priests, yet they went to hear them, and were grieved because I would not go also; but I brought them Scriptures, and told them there was an anointing within man to teach him, and that the Lord would teach His people Himself.”1

These three earliest revelations have been recounted at length in the exact words of their recipient, and the quotations will be serviceable when we come to investigate the question whether Fox did really receive them from God, or was self-deluded. To continue our historical narrative; after these he had other and great openings, which he does not record, concerning the things written in the Apocalypse; but in spite of the openings, his mental distress continued. Yet he was not forsaken. 'As I cannot declare the great misery I was in, it was so great and heavy upon me; so neither can I set forth the mercies of God unto me in all my misery." The received theology, the Established Church, the dissenting preachers, public worship and the society of other Christians, he had abandoned all, and was now solitary with his Bible. 'And when all my hope in them and in all men was gone, so that I had nothing outwardly to help me, nor could tell what to do; then, O! then, I heard a voice which said: 'There is one, even Christ Jesus, that can speak to thy condition;' and when I heard it, my heart did leap for joy. Then the Lord did let me see why there was none upon the earth that could speak to my condition; namely, that I might give Him all the glory, for all are concluded under sin, and shut up in unbelief as I had been, that Jesus Christ might have the pre1 Journal, I. 80.

eminence, who enlightens and gives grace, and faith, and power; thus when God doth work who shall let it? and this I knew experimentally. My desires after the Lord grew stronger, and zeal in the pure knowledge of God, and of Christ alone, without the help of any man, book, or writing; for though I read the Scriptures that spake . of Christ and of God, yet I knew Him not, but by revelation, as He who hath the Key did open, and as the Father of Life drew me to His Son by His Spirit; and then the Lord did gently lead me along, and did let me see His love, which was endless and eternal, and surpasseth all the knowledge that men have in the natural state, or can get by history or books, and that love did let me see myself as I was without Him; and I was afraid of all company, for I saw them perfectly where they were, through the love of God which let me see myself.”1 Now he was nearly through the dark valley. Now he begins his rapturous praise of the great theme of his prophecy, the Light within, the indwelling Christ. "Christ it was, who had enlightened me, that gave me His light to believe in, and gave me hope which is in Himself, revealed Himself in me, and gave me His Spirit, and gave me His grace, which I found sufficient in the deeps and in weakness."2 Now the revelations came abundantly. Sometimes he heard, sometimes he saw. "Again I heard a voice which did say, 'Thou Serpent, thou dost seek to destroy the life, but canst not: for the sword which keepeth the tree of life shall destroy thee.""3 Next it was a vision. "One day when I had been walking solitarily abroad, and was come home, I was taken up in the love of God, so that I could not but 2 Ibid, p. 84. 3 Ibid, p. 85.

1 Journal, I. 83.