Women's Speaking Justified and Other Pamphlets (Volume 65) (The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe: The Toronto Series) [1 ed.] 0866985956, 9780866985956

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Margaret Fell

Women’s Speaking Justified and Other Pamphlets E D I TE D BY

Jane Donawerth and Rebecca M. Lush

The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe: The Toronto Series, 65

WOMEN’S SPEAKING JUSTIFIED AND OTHER PAMPHLETS

The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe: The Toronto Series, 65

MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE TEXTS AND STUDIES VOLUME 538

The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe: The Toronto Series

Se rie S ed i to r S Margaret L. King and Albert Rabil, Jr. Se rie S ed i to r , e ng l i Sh te x tS Elizabeth H. Hageman

Previous Publications in the Series Madre María Rosa Journey of Five Capuchin Nuns Edited and translated by Sarah E. Owens Volume 1, 2009. Giovan Battista Andreini Love in the Mirror: A Bilingual Edition Edited and translated by Jon R. Snyder Volume 2, 2009 Raymond de Sabanac and Simone Zanacchi Two Women of the Great Schism: The Revelations of Constance de Rabastens by Raymond de Sabanac and Life of the Blessed Ursulina of Parma by Simone Zanacchi Edited and translated by Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski and Bruce L. Venarde Volume 3, 2010 Oliva Sabuco de Nantes Barrera The True Medicine Edited and translated by Gianna Pomata Volume 4, 2010 Louise-Geneviève Gillot de Sainctonge Dramatizing Dido, Circe, and Griselda Edited and translated by Janet Levarie Smarr Volume 5, 2010

Pernette du Guillet Complete Poems: A Bilingual Edition Edited by Karen Simroth James Translated by Marta Rijn Finch Volume 6, 2010 Antonia Pulci Saints’ Lives and Bible Stories for the Stage: A Bilingual Edition Edited by Elissa B. Weaver Translated by James Wyatt Cook Volume 7, 2010 Valeria Miani Celinda, A Tragedy: A Bilingual Edition Edited by Valeria Finucci Translated by Julia Kisacky Annotated by Valeria Finucci and Julia Kisacky Volume 8, 2010 Enchanted Eloquence: Fairy Tales by Seventeenth-Century French Women Writers Edited and translated by Lewis C. Seifert and Domna C. Stanton Volume 9, 2010

The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe: The Toronto Series

Se rie S ed i to r S Margaret L. King and Albert Rabil, Jr. Se rie S ed i to r , e ng l i Sh te x tS Elizabeth H. Hageman

Previous Publications in the Series Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Sophie, Electress of Hanover and Queen Sophie Charlotte of Prussia Leibniz and the Two Sophies: The Philosophical Correspondence Edited and translated by Lloyd Strickland Volume 10, 2011 In Dialogue with the Other Voice in Sixteenth-Century Italy: Literary and Social Contexts for Women’s Writing Edited by Julie D. Campbell and Maria Galli Stampino Volume 11, 2011 Sister Giustina Niccolini The Chronicle of Le Murate Edited and translated by Saundra Weddle Volume 12, 2011 Liubov Krichevskaya No Good without Reward: Selected Writings: A Bilingual Edition Edited and translated by Brian James Baer Volume 13, 2011 Elizabeth Cooke Hoby Russell The Writings of an English Sappho Edited by Patricia Phillippy With translations by Jaime Goodrich Volume 14, 2011

Lucrezia Marinella Exhortations to Women and to Others If They Please Edited and translated by Laura Benedetti Volume 15, 2012 Margherita Datini Letters to Francesco Datini Translated by Carolyn James and Antonio Pagliaro Volume 16, 2012 Delarivier Manley and Mary Pix English Women Staging Islam, 1696–1707 Edited and introduced by Bernadette Andrea Volume 17, 2012 Cecilia del Nacimiento Journeys of a Mystic Soul in Poetry and Prose Introduction and prose translations by Kevin Donnelly Poetry translations by Sandra Sider Volume 18, 2012 Lady Margaret Douglas and Others The Devonshire Manuscript: A Women’s Book of Courtly Poetry Edited and introduced by Elizabeth Heale Volume 19, 2012

The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe: The Toronto Series

Se rie S ed i to r S Margaret L. King and Albert Rabil, Jr. Se rie S ed i to r , e ng l i Sh te x tS Elizabeth H. Hageman

Previous Publications in the Series Arcangela Tarabotti Letters Familiar and Formal Edited and translated by Meredith K. Ray and Lynn Lara Westwater Volume 20, 2012 Pere Torrellas and Juan de Flores Three Spanish Querelle Texts: Grisel and Mirabella, The Slander against Women, and The Defense of Ladies against Slanderers: A Bilingual Edition and Study Edited and translated by Emily C. Francomano Volume 21, 2013 Barbara Torelli Benedetti Partenia, a Pastoral Play: A Bilingual Edition Edited and translated by Lisa Sampson and Barbara Burgess-Van Aken Volume 22, 2013 François Rousset, Jean Liebault, Jacques Guillemeau, Jacques Duval and Louis de Serres Pregnancy and Birth in Early Modern France: Treatises by Caring Physicians and Surgeons (1581–1625) Edited and translated by Valerie WorthStylianou Volume 23, 2013 Mary Astell The Christian Religion, as Professed by a Daughter of the Church of England Edited by Jacqueline Broad Volume 24, 2013

Sophia of Hanover Memoirs (1630–1680) Edited and translated by Sean Ward Volume 25, 2013 Katherine Austen Book M: A London Widow’s Life Writings Edited by Pamela S. Hammons Volume 26, 2013 Anne Killigrew “My Rare Wit Killing Sin”: Poems of a Restoration Courtier Edited by Margaret J. M. Ezell Volume 27, 2013 Tullia d’Aragona and Others The Poems and Letters of Tullia d’Aragona and Others: A Bilingual Edition Edited and translated by Julia L. Hairston Volume 28, 2014 Luisa de Carvajal y Mendoza The Life and Writings of Luisa de Carvajal y Mendoza Edited and translated by Anne J. Cruz Volume 29, 2014 Russian Women Poets of the Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries: A Bilingual Edition Edited and translated by Amanda Ewington Volume 30, 2014

The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe: The Toronto Series

Se rie S ed i to r S Margaret L. King and Albert Rabil, Jr. Se rie S ed i to r , e ng l i Sh te x tS Elizabeth H. Hageman

Previous Publications in the Series Jacques Du Bosc L’Honnête Femme: The Respectable Woman in Society and the New Collection of Letters and Responses by Contemporary Women Edited and translated by Sharon Diane Nell and Aurora Wolfgang Volume 31, 2014 Lady Hester Pulter Poems, Emblems, and The Unfortunate Florinda Edited by Alice Eardley Volume 32, 2014 Jeanne Flore Tales and Trials of Love, Concerning Venus’s Punishment of Those Who Scorn True Love and Denounce Cupid’s Sovereignity: A Bilingual Edition and Study Edited and translated by Kelly Digby Peebles Poems translated by Marta Rijn Finch Volume 33, 2014 Veronica Gambara Complete Poems: A Bilingual Edition Critical introduction by Molly M. Martin Edited and translated by Molly M. Martin and Paola Ugolini Volume 34, 2014

Catherine de Médicis and Others Portraits of the Queen Mother: Polemics, Panegyrics, Letters Translation and study by Leah L. Chang and Katherine Kong Volume 35, 2014 Françoise Pascal, MarieCatherine Desjardins, Antoinette Deshoulières, and Catherine Durand Challenges to Traditional Authority: Plays by French Women Authors, 1650–1700 Edited and translated by Perry Gethner Volume 36, 2015 Franciszka Urszula Radziwiłłowa Selected Drama and Verse Edited by Patrick John Corness and Barbara Judkowiak Translated by Patrick John Corness Translation Editor Aldona Zwierzyńska-Coldicott Introduction by Barbara Judkowiak Volume 37, 2015 Diodata Malvasia Writings on the Sisters of San Luca and Their Miraculous Madonna Edited and translated by Danielle Callegari and Shannon McHugh Volume 38, 2015

The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe: The Toronto Series

Se rie S ed i to r S Margaret L. King and Albert Rabil, Jr. Se rie S ed i to r , e ng l i Sh te x tS Elizabeth H. Hageman

Previous Publications in the Series Margaret Van Noort Spiritual Writings of Sister Margaret of the Mother of God (1635–1643) Edited by Cordula van Wyhe Translated by Susan M. Smith Volume 39, 2015 Giovan Francesco Straparola The Pleasant Nights Edited and translated by Suzanne Magnanini Volume 40, 2015 Angélique de Saint-Jean Arnauld d’Andilly Writings of Resistance Edited and translated by John J. Conley, S.J. Volume 41, 2015 Francesco Barbaro The Wealth of Wives: A Fifteenth-Century Marriage Manual Edited and translated by Margaret L. King Volume 42, 2015 Jeanne d’Albret Letters from the Queen of Navarre with an Ample Declaration Edited and translated by Kathleen M. Llewellyn, Emily E. Thompson, and Colette H. Winn Volume 43, 2016

Bathsua Makin and Mary More with a reply to More by Robert Whitehall Educating English Daughters: Late Seventeenth-Century Debates Edited by Frances Teague and Margaret J. M. Ezell Associate Editor Jessica Walker Volume 44, 2016 Anna StanisŁawska Orphan Girl: A Transaction, or an Account of the Entire Life of an Orphan Girl by way of Plaintful Threnodies in the Year 1685: The Aesop Episode Verse translation, introduction, and commentary by Barry Keane Volume 45, 2016 Alessandra Macinghi Strozzi Letters to Her Sons, 1447–1470 Edited and translated by Judith Bryce Volume 46, 2016 Mother Juana de la Cruz Mother Juana de la Cruz, 1481–1534: Visionary Sermons Edited by Jessica A. Boon and Ronald E. Surtz. Introductory material and notes by Jessica A. Boon. Translated by Ronald E. Surtz and Nora Weinerth Volume 47, 2016

The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe: The Toronto Series

Se rie S ed i to r S Margaret L. King and Albert Rabil, Jr. Se rie S ed i to r , e ng l i Sh te x tS Elizabeth H. Hageman

Previous Publications in the Series Claudine-Alexandrine Guérin de Tencin Memoirs of the Count of Comminge and The Misfortunes of Love Edited and translated by Jonathan Walsh Volume 48, 2016 Feliciana Enríquez de Guzmán, Ana Caro Mallén, and Sor Marcela de San Félix Women Playwrights of Early Modern Spain Edited by Nieves Romero-Díaz and Lisa Vollendorf Translated and annotated by Harley Erdman Volume 49, 2016 Anna Trapnel Anna Trapnel’s Report and Plea; or, A Narrative of Her Journey from London into Cornwall Edited by Hilary Hinds Volume 50, 2016 María Vela y Cueto Autobiography and Letters of a Spanish Nun Edited by Susan Laningham Translated by Jane Tar Volume 51, 2016 Christine de Pizan The Book of the Mutability of Fortune Edited and translated by Geri L. Smith Volume 52, 2017

Marguerite d’Auge, Renée Burlamacchi, and Jeanne du Laurens Sin and Salvation in Early Modern France: Three Women’s Stories Edited, and with an introduction by Colette H. Winn. Translated by Nicholas Van Handel and Colette H. Winn Volume 53, 2017 Isabella d’Este Selected Letters Edited and translated by Deanna Shemek Volume 54, 2017 Ippolita Maria Sforza Duchess and Hostage in Renaissance Naples: Letters and Orations Edited and translated by Diana Robin and Lynn Lara Westwater Volume 55, 2017 Louise Bourgeois Midwife to the Queen of France: Diverse Observations Translated by Stephanie O’Hara Edited by Alison Klairmont Lingo Volume 56, 2017

The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe: The Toronto Series

Se rie S ed i to r S Margaret L. King and Albert Rabil, Jr. Se rie S ed i to r , e ng l i Sh te x tS Elizabeth H. Hageman

Previous Publications in the Series Christine de Pizan Othea’s Letter to Hector Edited and translated by Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski and Earl Jeffrey Richards Volume 57, 2017 Marie-Geneviève-Charlotte Thiroux d’Arconville Selected Philosophical, Scientific, and Autobiographical Writings Edited and translated by Julie Candler Hayes Volume 58, 2018 Lady Mary Wroth Pamphilia to Amphilanthus in Manuscript and Print Edited by Ilona Bell Texts by Steven W. May and Ilona Bell Volume 59, 2017 Witness, Warning, and Prophecy: Quaker Women’s Writing, 1655–1700 Edited by Teresa Feroli and Margaret Olofson Thickstun Volume 60, 2018

Symphorien Champier The Ship of Virtuous Ladies Edited by Todd W. Reeser Volume 61, 2018 Isabella Andreini Mirtilla, A Pastoral: A Bilingual Edition Edited by Valeria Finucci Translated by Julia Kisacky Volume 62, 2018 Margherita Costa The Buffoons, A Ridiculous Comedy: A Bilingual Edition Edited and translated by Sara E. Díaz and Jessica Goethals Volume 63, 2018 Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle Poems and Fancies with The Animal Parliament Edited by Brandie R. Siegfried Volume 64, 2018

MARGARET FELL

Women’s Speaking Justified and Other Pamphlets •

Edited by JANE DONAWERTH and REBECCA M. LUSH

Iter Press Toronto, Ontario Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies Tempe, Arizona 2018

Iter Press Tel: 416/978–7074

Email: [email protected]

Fax: 416/978–1668

Web: www.itergateway.org

Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies Tel: 480/965–5900

Email: [email protected]

Fax: 480/965–1681

Web: acmrs.org

© 2018 Iter, Inc. and the Arizona Board of Regents for Arizona State University. All rights reserved. Printed in Canada. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Fell, Margaret, 1614–1702, author. | Donawerth, Jane, 1947– editor. Title: Women’s speaking justified and other pamphlets / edited by Jane Donawerth and Rebecca M. Lush. Description: Tempe : Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2018. | Series: The other voice in early modern Europe. The Toronto series; 65 | Series: Medieval and Renaissance texts and studies ; Volume 538 | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2018011560 (print) | LCCN 2018019880 (ebook) | ISBN 9780866987486 (ebook) | ISBN 9780866985956 (pbk.) Subjects: LCSH: Society of Friends--History. | Society of Friends--Doctrines. Classification: LCC BX7795.F425 (ebook) | LCC BX7795.F425 A25 2018 (print) | DDC 289.6092--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018011560 Cover illustration: Detail of “George Fox at Swarthmore Hall, with the Fell Family,” etching by Robert Spence. Reproduced by permission of Quaker & Special Collections, Haverford College, Haverford, Pennsylvania. Cover design: Maureen Morin, Information Technology Services, University of Toronto Libraries. Typesetting and production: Iter Press.

Dedicated to Tasos and Woody, Kate, Luke, Miriam, Sammy, Donnie, and Ariela

Contents Illustrations Abbreviations Acknowledgments

xv xvii xix

Introduction

1

A Relation of Margaret Fell, Her Birth, Life, Testimony, and Sufferings 55 To All the Professors of the World

69

A Testimony of the Touchstone for All Professions

85

A Loving Salutation to the Seed of Abraham among the Jews

103

The Examination of Margaret Fell

137

A Letter Sent to the King

151

Women’s Speaking Justified, Proved, and Allowed of by the Scriptures

157

The Daughter of Zion Awakened

177

Bibliography Index

199 213

xiii

Illustrations Cover

Detail of “George Fox at Swarthmore Hall, with the Fell Family,” etching by Robert Spence. Reproduced by permission of Quaker & Special Collections, Haverford College, Haverford, Pennsylvania.

Figure 1.

Swarthmoor Hall, frontispiece illustration by I. Walton West, RWL, from Helen G. Crosfield, Margaret Fox of Swarthmoor Hall (London: Headley Brothers, 1913). Public Domain, from the Pennsylvania State University Libraries. 3

Figure 2.

“George Fox at Swarthmore Hall, with the Fell Family,” etching by Robert Spence. Reproduced by permission of Quaker & Special Collections, Haverford College, Haverford, Pennsylvania. 3

Figure 3.

Title page, Margaret Fell, Women’s Speaking Justified … (London, 1666). ESTC R31506, Folger Shelfmark F642. Reproduced by permission of the Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, D.C.

Figure 4.

35

Title page, Margaret Fell, A Brief Collection of Remarkable Passages and Occurrences relating to … Margaret Fell … (London, 1710). ESTC N15446, Folger Shelfmark BX 7795. F75F6 Cage. Reproduced by permission of the Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, D.C. 36

xv

Abbreviations KJV King James Version of the Bible ODNB Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Online edition OED Oxford English Dictionary. Online edition

Books of the Bible OLD TESTAMENT Amos

Amos

1 Kings

1 Kings

1 Chron.

1 Chronicles

2 Kings

2 Kings

2 Chron.

2 Chronicles

Lam.

Lamentations

Dan.

Daniel

Lev.

Leviticus

Deut.

Deuteronomy

Mal.

Malachi

Eccles.

Ecclesiastes

Mic.

Micah

Esther

Esther

Nah.

Nahum

Exod.

Exodus

Neh.

Nehemiah

Ezek.

Ezekiel

Num.

Numbers

Ezra

Ezra

Obad.

Obadiah

Gen.

Genesis

Prov.

Proverbs

Hab.

Habakkuk

Ps.

Psalm

Hag.

Haggai

Pss.

Psalms

Hosea

Hosea

Ruth

Ruth

Isa.

Isaiah

1 Sam.

1 Samuel

Jer.

Jeremiah

2 Sam.

2 Samuel

Job Joel Jon.

Job Joel Jonah

Song of Sol. Song of Solomon (or Song of Songs, or Canticles) Zech. Zechariah

Josh.

Joshua

Zeph.

Judg.

Judges

Zephaniah

APOCRYPHA Bar.

Baruch

2 Macc.

Ecclus.

Ecclesiasticus (or Sirach)

Pr. of Man. Prayer of Manasses xvii

2 Maccabees

xviii Abbreviations 1 Esd.

1 Esdras

Sir.

Sirach (or Ecclesiasticus)

2 Esd.

2 Esdras

Sus.

Susanna

Jth.

Judith

Tob.

Tobit

1 Macc.

1 Maccabees

Wisd. of Sol.

Wisdom of Solomon

NEW TESTAMENT Acts

Acts of the Apostles

Mark

Mark

Col.

Colossians

Matt.

Matthew

1 Cor.

1 Corinthians

1 Pet.

1 Peter

2 Cor.

2 Corinthians

2 Pet.

2 Peter

Eph.

Ephesians

Phil.

Philippians

Gal.

Galatians

Philem.

Philemon

Heb.

Hebrews

Rev.

Revelation (or Apocalypse)

James

James

Rom.

Romans

John

John

1 Thess.

1 Thessalonians

1 John

1 John

2 Thess.

2 Thessalonians

2 John

2 John

1 Tim.

1 Timothy

3 John

3 John

2 Tim.

2 Timothy

Jude

Jude

Titus

Titus

Luke

Luke

Acknowledgments We began this edition when Rebecca, who is now an associate professor and chair of her department on the opposite side of the continent, was a graduate student at the University of Maryland. We would like to start by acknowledging how much we have learned from each other, not only about Margaret Fell, seventeenthcentury Friends and their theology, and women’s writing, but also about how to use all available technologies to collaborate long distance. Many colleagues have listened to papers or read portions of this manuscript in previous incarnations, including Gary Hamilton, Karen Nelson, Adele Seeff, Jeanne Fahnestock, and the communities of scholars in early modern women’s writings and women’s history of rhetoric; we very much appreciate their suggestions. The list of people who talked over these materials with us is even longer, but we would especially like to thank Carole Levin, Theresa Coletti, Leigh Ryan, Shirley Logan, Ana Kothe, Lisa Zimmerelli, and Jane’s students in countless classes on early modern women’s writings and the history of rhetorical theory. We are extremely grateful to the institutions that have supported our work, especially the National Endowment for the Humanities, for a grant for The Other Voice that allowed us to teach one less course each (over winter for Jane, over summer for Rebecca), and so to finish this project sooner than would otherwise have happened. Our universities, the University of Maryland and California State University San Marcos, as well, have supplied us with support for photocopying, technology, and research materials. We are grateful to the librarians of the Folger Shakespeare Library and the Kellogg Library at California State University San Marcos; in particular, we acknowledge the assistance of Pat Herron at the University of Maryland’s McKeldin Library; Cornelia S. King at the Library Company of Philadelphia, whose scanning saved us many hours; Sarah Horowitz of Quaker and Special Collections at Haverford College, for help with the cover illustration; and the librarians at Friends Historical Library at Swarthmore College. In addition, we thank the editors of the Sixteenth Century Journal for permission to use in our introduction several paragraphs, in slightly different wording, from Jane Donawerth, “Women’s Reading Practices in Seventeenth-Century England: Margaret Fell’s Women’s Speaking Justified,” Sixteenth Century Journal 37, no. 4 (Winter 2006): 985–1005. Deep gratitude is owed, as well, to our editors of The Other Voice series, Betty Hageman and Margaret King, and to the anonymous reader who helped us avoid many errors. We also wish to thank Albert Rabil, who served as editor of The Other Voice series when we first began this project, and who provided ongoing support and enthusiasm for our project. xix

xx Acknowledgments Not least, we are very grateful to friends and family. Jane thanks Woody, Kate and Luke and Miriam, Donnie and Ariela, for supporting her and listening to her talk about abstruse Friends’ theology, as well as friends who helped her laugh at the endless process of annotating Fell’s convoluted biblical allusions, especially Robert Taylor, Ana Kothe, Rosanne Sabatelli, Michele Osherow, Nabila Hijazi, and Daune O’Brien. Rebecca thanks Tasos for listening to her and helping to field Microsoft Word formatting questions at all hours, Oliver and Ellie who kept her company while writing and revising, Johnna Norris, Doris Morgan, and Kristin Bebout, for helping her request research materials, and friends and colleagues who were always happy to talk about early modern women’s studies, especially Heidi Breuer, Martha Stoddard Holmes, Kelly Wisecup, and Alyssa Sepinwall.

Introduction The Other Voice Margaret Fell (1614–1702) was one of the founders of the Society of Friends1 and one of most prolific women writers of the seventeenth century.2 Born Margaret Askew and late in life married a second time to George Fox, who had converted her, Fell collaborated to shape the theology of the Inner Light that guided Friends in their Bible reading and their lives, helped to establish empowered roles for women among Friends, and through her writings, especially her letters or epistles, aided in uniting the traveling preachers of the Society into a community that stretched across Britain, and, eventually, the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. Fell is best known today for Women’s Speaking Justified (1666 and 1667), one of the first defenses of women’s preaching in the Christian tradition, which has become an important text not only in Quaker Studies, but more broadly in early modern women’s studies, religious studies, and the history of rhetoric. Like the achievements of many other women writers, for many years Fell’s works and accomplishments were eclipsed by those of the men around her, but Fell has now

1. George Fox is generally referred to as “the founder” of the Society of Friends, but recent scholarship has recognized the importance of the community at large and especially the work of Margaret Fell and William Penn. See H. Larry Ingle, First Among Friends: George Fox and the Creation of Quakerism (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994); Bonnelyn Young Kunze, Margaret Fell and the Rise of Quakerism (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1994); Rosemary Moore, The Light in Their Consciences: Early Quakers in Britain 1646–1666 (University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2000); Catie Gill, Women in the Seventeenth-Century Quaker Community: A Literary Study of Political Identities, 1650–1700 (Burlington, VT and Aldershot, Great Britain: Ashgate, 2005); and Mary K. Geiter, “Penn, William (1644–1718),” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, ed. Lawrence Goldman (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004–), article published September 23, 2004, . 2. Other prolific women writers of the seventeenth century who have recently also received more attention include mystic Lady Eleanor Davies, poet and novelist Margaret Cavendish, duchess of Newcastle, and poet and dramatist Aphra Behn. There are biographies, many editions, and dozens of books and articles now on these women writers, but see, for example, some of the scholarship that helped begin their recovery: Lady Eleanor Davies (1590–1652), Prophetic Writings of Lady Eleanor Davies, ed. Esther S. Cope (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995); Margaret Cavendish, duchess of Newcastle (1623?–1673), The Blazing World and Other Writings, ed. Kate Lilley (London and New York: Penguin Books, 1992); Margaret Cavendish, duchess of Newcastle, The Convent of Pleasure and Other Plays, ed. Anne Shaver (Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999); Aphra Behn (1640?–1689), The Uncollected Verse of Aphra Behn, ed. Germaine Greer (Stump Cross, Great Britain: Stump Cross Books, 1989); and Behn, Oroonoko, The Rover and Other Works, ed. Janet Todd (London and New York: Penguin Books, 1992).

1

2 Introduction been recovered as a literary and religious figure increasingly important in feminist scholarship. The pamphlets published in this volume indicate the range of genres and topics Fell dealt with across a long career of writing and leadership in the Society of Friends—autobiography, epistle or formal letter, and examination or record of a religious trial. Furthermore, we have chosen them to illustrate the reasons Fell belongs in a series on The Other Voice: besides revealing an emphasis on women’s roles and gendered metaphors, her works contributed to the development of the unique theology of this small but lasting Protestant sect; her writings serve as evidence of seventeenth-century women’s vernacular literacy; she developed a theory of reading different from that taught in early modern men’s education; and her pamphlets exemplify the characteristics of the rhetoric of the Society of Friends. Fell’s works are also important because of her confident participation in the religious politics of her day; she is unafraid to stand up to male authority figures, both those within the Quaker movement and also those without, from justices of the peace to the king of England. A Relation of Margaret Fell, Her Birth, Life, Testimony, and Sufferings (1690), for example, not only surveys the events of her life, but also places them in a political context, depicting a decades-long conversation with Charles II and his government about the right to liberty of conscience, a conversation she conducted through many visits to London as well as in letters addressed to Charles and other members of the royal family: such is the carefully crafted Letter Sent to the King (1666). Her pamphlet aimed at converting the Jews, A Loving Salutation to the Seed of Abraham among the Jews (1656) sheds light on the millenarian purpose of Friends’ theology and on the early modern politics of relationships between religions lying outside the Church of England. Women’s Speaking Justified not only defends women’s preaching, but also alludes to the politics within the Society of Friends; Fell carefully stipulates that, according to the apostle Paul, some men as well as some women should not speak in church, referring perhaps to members of a rival faction who disputed George Fox’s leadership of the Friends by disrupting services. The pamphlets in this collection, then, do not just provide chronological breadth, but also show how early modern women played a vital and active role in religious and political communities.

Introduction 3

J Wilt,

{v ,-

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Figure 1. Swarthmoor Hall, frontispiece illustration by I. Walton West, RWL, from Helen G. Crosfield, Margaret Fox of Swarthmoor Hall (London: Headley Brothers, 1913). Public Domain, from the Pennsylvania State University Libraries.

A

Figure 2. “George Fox at Swarthmore Hall, with the Fell Family,” etching by Robert Spence. Reproduced by permission of Quaker & Special Collections, Haverford College, Haverford, Pennsylvania.

4 Introduction

Life and Works Margaret Fell (née Askew) was born in 1614 into a prosperous family near Daltonin-Furness in Lancashire. Her mother was probably Margaret Pyper, who married Margaret’s father John Askew in 1613.3 Fell has been portrayed in previous biographies as having a possible familial connection to the famous English Protestant martyr Anne Askew (1521–1546). While the connection is not proven, the shared name “Askew” was used by nineteenth-century scholars to foreshadow Fell’s own contributions to later Reformist groups.4 In 1632, while still a teenager, Margaret Askew married her first husband, Thomas Fell (bap. 1599, d. 1658), of Swarthmoor Hall in Ulverston, Cumbria (previously part of Lancashire), a barrister (a lawyer who pleaded court cases) and eventually a member of Parliament and a judge. He held several government positions in the region under Cromwell and the Protectorate.5 Between 1633 and 1653, the couple had nine children, eight of whom grew to adulthood: one son, (George) and seven daughters (Margaret, Bridget, Isabel, Sarah, Mary, Susannah, and Rachel). While she was raising her family, Fell also began to search for a deeper religious experience than that provided by organized religion, becoming a “Seeker,” who, according to Barbara Ritter Dailey, was an individual opting “for an inward attitude of waiting upon God.”6 As Fell later declares in A Relation, she was “inquiring and seeking about twenty years,” traveling in the region to hear different ministers, hosting “serious and godly men … then called lecturing ministers” at Swarthmoor.7 Seekers were deeply affected by the many political and religious crises of seventeenth-century England, finding the internal conflicts inherent to organized religion troubling and distracting from the cultivation of true faith. Many women religious leaders of the period spent part of their lives as Seekers 3. Biographies of Fell include Isabel Ross, Margaret Fell: Mother of Quakerism (London: Longmans, Green, 1949); Kunze, Margaret Fell and the Rise of Quakerism; and Kunze, “Fell [née Askew], Margaret (1614–1702),” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, ed. Lawrence Goldman (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004–), article published September 23, 2004, . 4. See Maria Webb, The Fells of Swarthmoor Hall and Their Friends: With an Account of Their Ancestor, Anne Askew, the Martyr (London: Alfred W. Bennett, 1865). On Anne Askew, see, for example, Elaine V. Beilin, Redeeming Eve: Women Writers of the English Renaissance (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1987), 29–47. 5. See Sean Kelsey, “Fell, Thomas (bap. 1599, d. 1658),” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, ed. Lawrence Goldman (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004–), article published January 3, 2008, . 6. Barbara Ritter Dailey, “The Husbands of Margaret Fell: An Essay on Religious Metaphor and Social Change,” Seventeenth Century 2 (1987), 58. 7. Fell, A Relation of Margaret Fell (London, 1690).

Introduction 5 because it afforded them a way in which to determine their own faith outside the controlling strictures of male-dominated religious groups.8 In 1652, when her husband was away on legal business, Fell, her family, and servants hosted such a traveling minister who changed their lives: George Fox (1624–1691).9 Fell, her daughters, and many of her servants were convinced of Fox’s message and, as Fell reports in A Relation, were “turned … from darkness unto light,” experiencing a new understanding of “the Eternal Truth, as it is in Jesus.”10 Margaret had first met George Fox at the parish church of St. Mary’s in Ulverston, where she prevented the churchwarden from ejecting him merely by standing up in her pew and looking at one of the principal church leaders.11 Although Thomas Fell did not become a Friend, he generally seemed supportive of his wife and children’s religious enthusiasms, allowing Friends to hold their Meetings at Swarthmoor Hall. Perhaps, as had many heads of household during the rule a century earlier of Catholic Queen Mary, he remained in the state church to protect his offices in the government, his lands from confiscation, and his family from poverty. By Fell’s own account, her marriage was a happy one, and, as Sally Bruyneel has observed, influential in Fell’s blending of “legal response with a longer apologetic for Friends belief and practice.”12 Upon her conversion, Fell played an active and enthusiastic role in advocating for fellow Friends and promoting her faith. During the Protectorate government of Oliver Cromwell (1653–1659), dissenting Protestant groups flourished. The Quaker movement of the 1650s was initially focused on the north of England, where Fell lived, and by 1660, an estimated 30,000 to 40,000 people belonged to the Society of Friends.13 During this early period, while Fell’s husband was still alive, Fell not only provided organizing support for the movement, but also began her writing campaigns. In 1656 alone, she published To All the Professors of the World, which addressed other dissenters in an attempt to persuade them to turn to their Inner Light and join the Society of Friends, A Testimony of the Touchstone 8. Sally Bruyneel, Margaret Fell and the End of Time: The Theology of the Mother of Quakerism (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2010), 31. 9. See H. Larry Ingle, “Fox, George (1624–1691),” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, ed. Lawrence Goldman (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004–), article published September 23, 2004, . 10. Fell, A Relation of Margaret Fell. 11. Margaret Fell, Undaunted Zeal: The Letters of Margaret Fell, edited by Elsa F. Glines (Richmond, IN: Friends United Press, 2003), 430. Sally Bruyneel reads the first encounter between Fell and Fox as one that indicates Fell’s position of power over Fox, because she is the one with the authority to allow Fox to continue to speak; see Margaret Fell and the End of Time, 13. 12. See A Relation of Margaret Fell in this volume. See also Bruyneel, Margaret Fell and the End of Time, 24–27. 13. See Elsa F. Glines, ed., Undaunted Zeal: The Letters of Margaret Fell (Richmond, IN; Friends United Press, 2003), 6.

6 Introduction for All Professions, a follow-up that urged other Protestants to use the Word inside them as a touchstone to test the beliefs of their sect, and A Loving Salutation to the Seed of Abraham among the Jews, urging the Jewish people to join Friends in welcoming the fulfillment of the prophecies of the Hebrew Scriptures. With the death of Thomas Fell in 1658, the Quakers lost a “judicial protector”14 and Margaret Fell “a tender, loving husband” of twenty-six years.15 Thomas’s will of 1658 provides additional evidence for his love and support of his wife: “I do hereby … give and Bequeth unto my dear careful and entirely beloved Margrett Fell, my wife, Fifty pounds, as a token and testimony of my dearest affection unto her.”16 Barbara Ritter Dailey reads Judge Fell’s will as “a statement of support for the household conversion of 1652.”17 With the restoration of Charles II to the throne of England in 1660, the political position of Friends grew increasingly tenuous, and Fell became a courageous activist for her faith, petitioning the king personally for the civil rights of all Friends; her Letter sent to the King (1666) is a later example of her direct personal activism. Although the Declaration of Breda18 of 1660 promised religious tolerance, persecution of Friends actually increased during the Restoration. Fell was particularly vulnerable at this time as a widow who had lost some of the agency she enjoyed as the wife of a well-positioned judge. Beginning in the 1660s, Fell spent time in prison for her religious beliefs, and one such experience is recounted in The Examination of Margaret Fell (1663/4). In 1664, at the instigation of Fell’s neighbors, Col. Richard Kirkby (ca. 1625–1681), his son Roger Kirkby (ca. 1649–1708), and his brother and justice of the peace William Kirkby,19 Fell and Fox were arrested for holding Meetings at Swarthmoor Hall in violation of the Conventicle Act.20 Fell’s legal woes were compounded by her refusal to take the Oath of Allegiance because she felt it would violate her religious principles. Not only was she imprisoned in Lancaster Castle for four years, but she also suffered loss of her income and property, as she explains in A Relation, through the sentence of praemunire. Friends often spent their time in prison writing, and were zealous employers of the printing press, distributing their pamphlets widely. 14. Glines, ed., Undaunted Zeal, 6. 15. Fell, A Relation of Margaret Fell. 16. Dailey, “The Husbands of Margaret Fell,” 58. 17. Dailey, “The Husbands of Margaret Fell,” 59. 18. A proclamation issued by Charles II that included provisions for religious tolerance. Glines notes that Charles most likely wished to assist Roman Catholics, and that Quakers faced increased persecution. See Glines, Undaunted Zeal, 253. 19. See Glines’s notes in Undaunted Zeal, 335, 361, 364, and 442. 20. The First Conventicle Act was passed in 1664 and forbade religious meetings of more than five people organized outside the bounds of the Church of England. The Act was meant to address the government’s concerns over potential conspiracy.

Introduction 7 While Fell was in prison on this occasion, she wrote Women’s Speaking Justified (1666 and 1667) as well as her petition to be released that was addressed to the king, A Letter Sent to the King (1666). Fell spent a total of about six years in prison over three separate occasions for her religious beliefs. Fell’s relationship with her second husband, George Fox, solidified her already prominent position within the Society of Friends. Fell married Fox in 1669, when she was fifty-five years old, ten years his senior, and had been a widow for a little more than a decade.21 Fell and Fox spent much of their twenty-two-year marriage apart from one another as each traveled to promote the Quaker faith.22 In the meantime, Fell’s home of Swarthmoor Hall had become a central location for Friends’ activities, from the spiritual act of worship to the organization of communication and publications: letters were sent there to be copied and passed on, and arrangements for publication and distribution of pamphlets were overseen there.23 As Kate Peters argues, “Margaret Fell at Swarthmoor Hall was the central figure in the establishment of the movement.”24 If Margaret Fell was celebrated as the metaphorical “Mother of Quakerism,” she was also a very real mother who raised nine children and several grandchildren. Fell makes frequent reference to her children in her works, showing the interrelatedness of her family and her theology. Still, having survived imprisonment and the loss of her property, Fell would face additional hardships and assaults on her right to her home and finances from her only son, George Fell. The only one of her children who failed to embrace her faith, George was openly hostile to his mother’s involvement in the Society of Friends and opposed her marriage to George Fox. George Fell argued that his mother had a claim to Swarthmoor Hall only as a widow, and that the estate should be transferred to him once she was married to Fox. His legal actions led to the eventual imprisonment of his mother, for the second time in her life, in 1670.25 George Fell died six months after she was imprisoned, however, and Fell successfully petitioned the king to grant the estate to her daughters Susannah 21. Following the Friends’ custom of equality between the sexes, George Fox waived his right to Margaret’s property, agreeing to “not meddle with her estate”; see Christopher Hill, The World Turned Upside Down: Radical Ideas during the English Revolution (Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin, 1972), 312; and Isabel Ross, Margaret Fell: Mother of Quakerism, 214–15. 22. After Fox’s release from a harsh and life-threatening imprisonment in Worcester from 1673 to 1675, Margaret brought him home to Swarthmoor to recuperate. As Kunze notes, “His stay of twentyone months from June 1675 to March 1677 was his longest stay with his wife, after which he recommenced his travels”; see Kunze, “Fell [née Askew], Margaret,” ODNB. 23. See Kate Peters, Print Culture and the Early Quakers (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 38–40. Swarthmoor Hall continues to be a central location for Society of Friends Meetings, courses and workshops, retreats, and other activities. 24. Peters, Print Culture and the Early Quakers, 60. 25. See Bruyneel, Margaret Fell and the End of Time, 51–52.

8 Introduction and Rachel; Fell was released from prison in 1671. Fell’s daughters allowed their mother to stay at Swarthmoor Hall, and the home to remain a stronghold for Quaker life. As Fell aged, her millenarian belief that they lived in the last days before Judgment deepened, and in 1677 she wrote her last pamphlet, the mystical The Daughter of Zion Awakened, which celebrates the Second Coming at work in the community of Friends, and the approach of the end of the world of suffering. Even in these later years, however, Fell could not escape the long reach of the authorities; arrested at her home in 1683 for holding a conventicle, she was imprisoned at Lancaster again for the third and last time in her life, along with her daughter Rachel and son-in-law Daniel Abraham, who would eventually inherit the Swarthmoor estate. George Fox died in London in 1691, leaving Fell again a widow. She had visited him between April and June 1690. In characteristic biblical language, Fell said of Fox: “He was the instrument in the hand of the Lord in this present age, which he made use of to send forth into the world to preach the everlasting gospel, which had been hid from many ages and generations.”26 Meetings were a cornerstone of the faith and practice of the Society of Friends, and Fell in particular played a pivotal role in advocating for Women’s Meetings. Although attempts at establishing Women’s Meetings occurred in the 1660s, it was not until Fell was released from prison in 1671 that regularized Women’s Meetings were established at Swarthmoor.27 While tradition attributes the establishment of regularized Women’s Meetings in the 1670s to George Fox, H. Larry Ingle argues that Fell and Fox were together in London in 1671 when Fox was formulating his plans, and that “In the north she positioned herself as champion of women’s meetings.”28 Kunze establishes that the “earliest women’s separate meeting outside London” was organized by Margaret Fell and her daughters, especially Sarah, and she further argues that in the early years of the movement Fell’s involvement in establishing Women’s Meetings was suppressed to shore up Fox’s contested leadership of the Society of Friends.29 By the 1680s, Catie Gill concludes, the Women’s Meetings both reinforced women’s traditional roles, overseeing care of orphans, widows, and Quaker prisoners, for example, but also preserved some of the equality in power of the early movement, as in the requirement that both men’s and women’s Meetings approve Friends’ marriages.30 In her later years, beyond her work with the Women’s Meetings and her organizational duties for the movement at Swarthmoor Hall, Fell continued her travels, especially to London, where she often appealed to the king or members 26. Kunze, Margaret Fell and the Rise of Quakerism, 24. 27. See Glines’s note in Undaunted Zeal, 406. 28. Ingle, First Among Friends, 252 and quotation p. 254. 29. Kunze, Margaret Fell and the Rise of Quakerism, 158, 164, and 166–67. 30. Gill, Women in the Seventeenth-Century Quaker Community, 164–71.

Introduction 9 of the royal family for release of Friends in prison and for protection of liberty of conscience. Her first visit to London in 1660 was to petition Charles II for George Fox’s release, along with that of other Friends, and she made nine more visits there. Fell remained active in the Society of Friends, and even traveled to London for the final time at the age of eighty-three.31 Fell died at Swarthmoor Hall on April 23, 1702, and was interred in the Quaker burial ground nearby. Although toward the end of her life she no longer enjoyed the same degree of popularity and influence among fellow Society of Friends leaders, her epistles were collected and republished posthumously by her children, ensuring that her contemporaries continued to remember her work and influence.32

Friends’ Theology and Early Modern Women’s Literacy In this section, we situate Margaret Fell and the tracts we have selected in several social and cultural contexts. Fell benefited from some of the outcomes of the Protestant Reformation as well as experienced some of its attendant political tensions.33 As Fell writes in A Relation of Margaret Fell, she was “desirous to serve God,” and “inquiring and seeking” in theological matters all of her life, and so a

31. See Kunze, Margaret Fell and the Rise of Quakerism, xi–xvi; and Bruyneel, Margaret Fell and the End of Time, 55. 32. See Bruyneel, Margaret Fell and the End of Time, 56. 33. On the English Reformation, the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century development and impact of a national Protestant church in Britain and the attempts to reform it or separate from it, see esp. Peter Lake, Anglicans and Puritans?: Presbyterianism and English Conformist Thought from Whitgift to Hooker (London: Unwin Hyman, 1988); Christopher Haigh, English Reformations: Religion, Politics, and Society Under the Tudors (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993); Alister E. McGrath, Reformation Thought: An Introduction, 2nd ed., (Oxford: Blackwell, 1993); Norman Jones, The English Reformation: Religion and Cultural Adaptation (Oxford: Blackwell, 2002); Patrick Collinson, The Reformation: A History (New York: Modern Library of Random House, 2004); Felicity Heal, Reformation in Britain and Ireland (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003); Diarmaid MacCulloch, Reformation: Europe’s House Divided 1490–1700 (London: Allen Lane, 2003); Lee Palmer Wandel, The Reformation: Towards a New History (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2011); Rosemary Moore, “Seventeenth-Century Context and Quaker Beginnings,” in The Oxford Handbook of Quaker Studies, ed. Stephen W. Angell and Pink Dandelion (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), 13–28; and the classic studies, A. G. Dickens, The English Reformation (New York: Schocken Books, 1964); and Christopher Hill, The World Turned Upside Down. Helpful bibliographies include John N. King, ed., Voices of the English Reformation: A Source Book (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004), 381–84; Margaret L. King, ed. and trans., Reformation Thought: An Anthology of Sources (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Co., 2016), 211–12; and Margaret L. King, ed., Oxford Bibliographies, Renaissance and Reformation (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010–present), .

10 Introduction crucial influence on the development of the theology of the Society of Friends.34 Equally important for our analysis, Fell’s writings, which demonstrate an exhaustive knowledge of the Bible, influence the development of Friends’ characteristic style, and record her own theory of reading scripture, also offer an opportunity for a case study in women’s rhetorical literacy in the seventeenth century. Fell was a Protestant, but after her conversion35 by George Fox, she no longer attended the state church, the Church of England, and turned to the beliefs of the Society of Friends, helping to develop its theology and church organization in its early years. Although she had been raised as an Anglican, her family had read widely in dissenters’ religious tracts; her first husband, Thomas Fell, was a respected local authority figure, a judge who remained Anglican and resigned his seat in Parliament because he disapproved of Cromwell. Thomas chose not to convert to the Society of Friends, but he supported their work and provided them with both protection and a place to meet. Margaret Fell was thus a crucial figure in the early days of the Society of Friends, when she, Fox, William Penn, and others established the Friends’ beliefs. Here we should note that although the term “Quakers” is used in both scholarly and popular contexts, this was originally a disparaging name for the sect, and so we will use the term “Friends” when possible, as preferred by those in the early Society. The Society of Friends, beginning in the mid-seventeenth century, drew on a century of Reformation, conformist, and dissenting beliefs in England. Like most English Protestants, Friends’ religious practice centered on reading the Bible. Like most Anglicans and unlike many dissenters, they believed in free will, that people might voluntarily turn to Christ for forgiveness and salvation. Like most Protestants, they were iconoclasts and anti-Catholic, having no images or statues in their Meeting Houses. Like many other sectarians, they broke from the Anglican Church to follow a religion based on conscience. Like Familists (a Protestant sect founded by a Dutchman in the sixteenth century) Friends believed in an Inner Light that guided them in their reading of the Bible and in their actions. The history of the seventeenth century, with the continental Thirty Years’ War and the British Civil War caused by religion, made Friends—like many other Protestants—believers in millenarianism, the expectation that the Second Coming was at hand and that Christ would soon return. But Friends further developed unique beliefs that set them apart from other Protestants. They held that the Inner Light in Friends showed that the Second Coming was already in progress, and that all Friends had Christ inside themselves. They refused to take oaths to the government, although they acknowledged its authority over earthly bodies, 34. Fell, A Relation of Margaret Fell. On Fell as a theologian, see Bruyneel, Margaret Fell and the End of Time, 16–17 and 164–65. 35. Although the term preferred by Friends is “convincement,” we use the more common term “conversion.”

Introduction 11 and they carried the social resistance of other Protestants to an extreme, accepting women as preachers, refusing to attend Anglican services, and even rejecting the social hierarchy: they referred to all people as “thee” or “thou” (rather than the polite, formal “you”), and refused to use titles or doff their hats to superiors.36 Fell was there from almost the beginning and helped to develop these beliefs. The English Reformation also was the seedbed for the growth of the first two centuries of published English women writers. Access to a vernacular Bible from the late 1520s onward increased literacy generally, especially with the emphasis on faith in Christ the Word as the route to salvation. By the seventeenth century, both the new King James Version of the Bible (1611), in a folio edition, and the radical, sixteenth-century Puritan Geneva Bible “in pocket editions,”37 were available. This emphasis on the Word also offered, for the first time, a clear justification for the importance of women’s education in England, and there was a dramatic increase in women’s literacy across the two centuries of the Reformation. Fell benefited from this increase, for she could both read and write. In addition, the lack of censorship during the British Civil War allowed the Friends and other protestant sects to develop their use of printing to promote their religious beliefs; and because of the equality of women in the early Friends’ movement, women, Fell among them, became writers, as well as preachers, leaders, and administrators. Granted, there were also constraints on women’s literacy, and they were often limited to reading the Bible or religious works. Although citing the classics as an authority was a mainstay of humanist argument during this period, Fell never cites any authority other than the Bible or the law (recalling her husband, a judge). The Reformation, however, was an important contributing factor in Fell’s ability to write and publish, as well as the source of the content of her pamphlets.

Friends’ Theology: The Inner Light and the Second Coming The most important tenet in Friends’ theology is the central belief in Jesus Christ as an Inner Light, or Word, or Seed that guides converted Friends, what Hilary Hinds describes as “an indwelling divine presence that transformed the fallen human subject by emphasizing his or her access to ‘that of God within,’ thereby erasing any absolute boundary between human subject and divine presence.”38 As 36. See Hill, The World Turned Upside Down, esp. 23–33, 72, 95, 98, 128, 176, and 243–48; MacCulloch, Reformation: Europe’s House Divided, esp. 499–300, 502, and 526; Peters, Print Culture and the Early Quakers, 1 and 30; and Stephen W. Angell, “God, Christ, and the Light,” in The Oxford Handbook of Quaker Studies, ed. Stephen W. Angell and Pink Dandelion (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), 158–71. 37. Hill, The World Turned Upside Down, 93. See also MacCulloch, Reformation: Europe’s House Divided, 72–76; and Ian Green, Print and Protestantism in Early Modern England (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), esp. 1, 26, 52, and 54. 38. Hinds, George Fox and Early Quaker Culture (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2011), 6.

12 Introduction Catherine M. Wilcox explains, “For the early Quakers, the work of Christ in the heart in the present was the focus of their religious thought and experience.”39 To Anglicans, this seemed almost heretical, a denial of the Trinity. But Friends believed, as Sally Bruyneel explains, that Christ’s Second Coming was in progress, that the end of the world was near,40 and that Christ had returned to live as a Word, Light, or Seed in the hearts of all Friends, helping them to understand the Bible, speaking the scripture directly to them, and commanding them to obey his requests rather than the laws of their government or the rules of the Anglican Church. To put it another way, each converted Friend was part of the Second Coming, the return of Christ in the flesh. Because of these beliefs, Friends’ theology may be called “Christocentric.” Fell helped established this tenet of Friends’ theology, that the end of time was near and that Christ was here, immanent, inside each Christian, but fully present in converted Friends. Fell and other Friends found the idea of Christ as Word or Light living in the heart in both the Hebrew and New Testament scriptures, but they interpreted it as a promise fulfilled, rather than a promise for the future. The New Testament Acts of the Apostles recorded the descent of the Holy Spirit to Christ’s followers, to remain until the Second Coming, and most Christians read these biblical metaphors of Light as references to the Holy Spirit. But Friends believed that the Second Coming was in progress, and that Christ was the Word, Seed, Law, Light, Rock, Cornerstone that lived in converts’ hearts, guiding them. Fell was an architect of this belief, and so helped to construct the eschatology of Friends’ religion, a belief that the millennium (the end of time, thought to be about a thousand years after Christ’s death) was at hand. In the texts included in this volume, we can see Fell shaping the belief in Christ, the returned Word or Light or Seed inside each Christian, as conscience, making the convert part of the Body of Christ—not only the Church, but also the immanent, returned Christ who heralds the end of the world. To All the Professors of the World, for example, is an early text in which Fell explains that other Protestants only profess “a Christ afar off,” but Christ is here, “the Light of Jesus Christ which manifests him in the flesh”—“This Word, which we have seen, which we have heard, which our hands have handled.” At the other end of Fell’s writing career, in The Daughter of Zion Awakened, Fell discusses the Second Coming as a continual process: “Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, hath God shined, in the light of his glorious Son, to recover, and to bring back, and to redeem his whole body, which is his Church, out of all nations, kindreds, peoples, tongues, and languages…. the everlasting day is dawning in the hearts of men and women.” This wonderful transformation imbued Friends with a powerful hope 39. Wilcox, Theology and Women’s Ministry in Seventeenth-Century English Quakerism: Handmaids of the Lord (Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 1995), 41. 40. Bruyneel, Margaret Fell and the End of Time, 6–7, 71, 79, and 103.

Introduction 13 that instilled in them the courage to resist governmental and social constraints, for “in these last days,” “Christ is come in the flesh.” As Fell describes them in A Testimony of the Touchstone for all Professions, the opponents of this transformation are mere “potsherds” compared to the Rock, hard hearts instead of hearts imprinted with the Word, the blind who cannot see the Light. Those who were converted, Friends believed, knew how to interpret scripture, and indeed heard the scripture inside themselves: as Fell urges, “Turn to the Light in every one of your consciences; this is the Word of Faith.” Friends, Fell explains in A Loving Salutation to the Seed of Abraham among the Jews, are “tried by the Light, and led by the Light, and guided by the Light.” Throughout her pamphlets, Fell equates Christ with all the references in the scriptures to Light, Seed, Law, Word, Rock, Cornerstone, and conscience.

Friends’ Theology: Visions of Equality and Liberty of Conscience One result of the belief that Christ is immanent in a Friend’s heart was the corollary belief that all are equal in God’s eyes—men and women, Jews and Christians, all races. Other Christians had adopted this tenet as well, following the passages by Paul in Galatians 3:28 and Colossians 3:11, frequently quoted by Friends, but other Christians interpreted this concept as applying to the hereafter, not to the present: all would be equal in Heaven, but in this life, all are under the strictures of fallen humanity—women must obey men, and people must bow to their government’s laws, earthly laws that enforced inequality. Fell was crucial in establishing the Friends’ belief that women were equal to men in the here and now, and especially that women might speak out and testify to their faith—what other sects called “preaching”—as surely as men.41 As we can see in Women’s Speaking Justified, Fell interprets scripture as establishing women and men as equal, “For Christ in the male and in the female is one,” and God “makes no such distinctions and differences as men do. … God hath put no such difference between the male and female as men would make.” In another passage, Fell urges that “the Bridegroom is with his bride, and he opens her mouth”; here she argues that Christ the Bridegroom (a frequent New Testament metaphor) lives in his Church, in the heart of every true believer, and, since the Church consists of both men and women, all are equal—women, as well as men, may speak in Meetings to testify to their beliefs. Elsewhere in Women’s Speaking Justified, Fell presents further evidence of women’s role in the church: “Moreover, the Lord is pleased, when he mentions his Church, to call her by the name of ‘woman,’ ” she writes, citing passages in Isaiah, Jeremiah, the Psalms, and the Song of Solomon (which Fell calls the Canticles). This belief in equality did not mean that men and 41. On the equality of men and women in Friends’ belief, see Wilcox, Theology and Women’s Ministry, 144, 161, 164–65, and 191–233; and Bruyneel, Margaret Fell and the End of Time, 18.

14 Introduction women needed to do everything the same way, however, and Fell and her daughters were active in establishing Women’s Meetings in London and Yorkshire.42 As a result of the belief that Christ has returned to live in the hearts of all converts, and that this return heralds the End of Time, Friends consequently believed that they were called to be missionaries, to turn as many people as possible—men and women, black and white, Jews and Muslims and Christians of other sects—to this belief. Friends traveled the world preaching their beliefs, and were imprisoned in locations as far apart as Madagascar and New England for their proselytizing. While Fell did not travel outside England, she promoted this belief in several pamphlets addressed to Jews and aimed at their conversion. As an example, we have included in this volume A Loving Salutation to the Seed of Abraham among the Jews. This pamphlet, published in English in 1656, but in Hebrew and English in parallel columns in 1660, is addressed to Jews, and urges them to convert by rereading the Hebrew Scriptures43 as support for Friends’ beliefs. In order to persuade Jews to these new beliefs, Fell uses the analogy of the covenant that God made with Israel to explain the Inner Light of Christ as a covenant to restore Jews to a spiritual Israel: “his covenant is he performing with you, if you do turn to that measure of Light which you have received from him.” This approach may seem intolerant to us now, but in the seventeenth century, when Jews were persecuted as heretics and banished from England and several other European countries, Fell’s strategy indicates her intention to treat them as equals, especially in her use of the Hebrew language and her arguments based not on New Testament but on the Hebrew Scriptures. The God to which Fell appeals in this pamphlet is one who views all people as equal: this “Lord teacheth all his people,” and he is a God “which all nations must follow … a leader of all unto God”—“Jew and Gentile, barbarian, Scythian, bond and free.”44 Especially interesting is her forgoing of the title “Christ” for this aspect of God, and her use, instead, of phrases from the Hebrew Scriptures. Just as belief in the equality of all people was based on Friends’ concept of the returned Christ as a Light manifested in their consciences, a Light all might follow, so Friends’ appeals to the doctrine of liberty of conscience were based on this same idea. Friends were committed to following that Inner Light of Christ, not the regulations of the Church of England or the laws of king and parliament. Many dissenters had appealed to such liberty of conscience before—the martyr 42. Kunze, Margaret Fell and the Rise of Quakerism, 154–57. 43. The Hebrew Scriptures (the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh), are the ancient texts of Judaism from which Christians compiled what they term the “Old Testament.” Although most of the Tanakh was composed in Hebrew, some texts, such as parts of Daniel, were written in Aramaic, a language closely related to Hebrew. 44. Kunze concludes that she was able to “change the rules for race … for she took a universalist approach in her theology.” See Margaret Fell and the Rise of Quakerism, 10.

Introduction 15 Sir Thomas More and other Catholics, the martyr Anne Askew, and many other dissenting Protestants. But, as Bruyneel claims, while the appeal to liberty of conscience was recognized in seventeenth-century English law, Friends “pushed the boundaries of the concept both in religion and society.”45 In her letter to Charles II in this volume, Fell makes this appeal, and in her Examination, we can see her enacting liberty of conscience with full awareness of the consequences, despite her appeal to its power as a legal principle. In A Letter sent to the King, Fell tells Charles that God made him king, but that he, in return, has “laid oppression and bondage on the consciences of God’s people [i.e. the Society of Friends].” She reminds Charles that when he was in exile, he promised “that thou would’st give liberty to tender consciences,” and let nonviolent and law-abiding dissenters follow their religion. Indeed, in many petitions, audiences with the king, and letters, Fell successfully used this appeal in specific circumstances to convince Charles to release imprisoned Friends. We can further see her enacting this principle in the record of her trial for holding Meetings at her estate, Swarthmoor Hall. Judge Twisden46 had threatened that if Fell did not promise to discontinue holding Meetings at her house and attend the Church of England (which was required by law), he would ask her to swear the Oath of Allegiance, an oath that was often used to sift out Catholics but was frequently employed against more radical dissenters as well—although only very rarely against women. Those who refused the Oath were fined and jailed. In response to this threat, Fell explains the Friends’ refusal to take any oaths: “Christ Jesus hath commanded in plain words, That I should not Swear at all, Matthew 5, and for obedience to Christ’s doctrine and command am I here arraigned this day. So you, being Christians, and professing the same thing in words, judge of these things according to that of God in your consciences.” Here Fell asks judge and jury to follow their liberty of conscience, the Light of Christ inside them, against the letter of the law. Fell insists that she has been indicted “upon the account of my conscience, and not for any evil or wrong done.” The exasperated judge tries again and again to make Fell acknowledge that she has broken a law, and so committed an evil act, but she maintains the clear distinction between evil and crime that liberty of conscience prompts in her. She explains that Friends cannot go to the Church of England “contrary to our consciences.” And when the judge offers her “liberty till the next Assizes,” she refuses it, for she “must keep [her] conscience clear”: in precise legal terms, in a witty combination of theological and legal concepts, she chooses liberty of conscience over liberty. 45. Bruyneel, Margaret Fell and the End of Time, 81. 46. Sir Thomas Twisden (1602–1683), a justice of the King’s Bench. See Paul D. Halliday, “Twisden (formerly Twysden), Sir Thomas, first baronet (1602–1683),” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, ed. Lawrence Goldman (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004–), article published September 23, 2004, .

16 Introduction

Friends’ Theology: Reading the Bible in the Heart Friends’ belief in the returned Christ as a Light in the heart of each convert further determined Fell’s hermeneutics (her theory of Bible reading) and her method of exegesis (interpretation of the Bible); indeed, Fell was instrumental in establishing Friends’ methods of reading the Bible. In her 1656 pamphlet, To All the Professors of the World, Fell sets out this method of reading: Therefore, turn in to the measure of the Light given you from the Fountain of Light, and see what ye have there in possession. There ye will find your house unswept and unclean. For the woman, that had lost the groat, sought without; but she found it not till she came to sweep her own house, and there she found it. This parable ye must read within. Jesus … likened the Kingdom of Heaven to leaven, which a woman hid in three measures of meal, till all was leavened. Though ye have the letter without you, yet these parables ye have to learn. Now turn to the Light, and there ye will come to see; and learning there, in the Light, ye will come to see and know the mysteries of God … Modern readers tend to see reading as transporting knowledge from outside texts into inner storage in the memory. For Fell, reading is not commodified, a transportation from outside to inside. Instead, reading is a work of caring, like women’s sweeping up the house or making bread for the family. Reading can be seen as an enriching of outer text by inner text, as yeast makes bread rise. In addition, reading is an interaction between the reader and the Word within. For this inner Word, Fell uses the analogies of “Inner Light,” or “Law, which is written on the heart,” or “the Books of Conscience.”47 For Fell, a reader understands a text only from the interaction of outer and inner word, as she explains in A Loving Salutation: “these Scriptures were spoken forth from an eternal Spirit within, and no other spirit can read them but the same that spoke them forth, which Spirit is Light.” If there is no Inner Light, readers are left with only “their own inventions and imaginations and meanings.”48 Only through the inner Word can the outer word of the Bible be understood. 47. To All the Professors and Loving Salutation—both in this collection; compare Fell’s A Call to the Universal Seed of God, Throughout the Whole World  …  (1664), in Margaret Fell, A Brief Collection of Remarkable Passages and Occurrences Relating to the Birth, Education, Life, Conversion, Travels, Services, and Deep Sufferings of That Ancient, Eminent, and Faithful Servant of the Lord, Margaret Fell; But by her Second Marriage, Margaret Fox … (London, 1710), 317: “he is the true Christian, that hears the Word of God in his Heart.” 48. Fell, A Declaration and an Information from Us the People of God called Quakers, To the Present Governors, the King and Both Houses of Parliament (London, 1660), 5.

Introduction 17 For Friends, reading is a continual experience of “Revelation”: “the Lord’s Love … opening unto you that which hath been shut, … the Revelation of Jesus being made manifest in your Consciences, and the Law of the new Covenant being written in your Hearts, which you have read in.”49 As Fell explains in A Testimony of the Touchstone, revelation is based not on a material text, but on the inner Word, “the immortal ingrafted Word of God.” According to Fell, others who call themselves Christians “have the Words and Declaration of Christ and the Apostles, declared from the Spirit of Life; and we have the Spirit, which these Words were declared from.”50 In her study of theology and ministry in the Society of Friends, Catherine Wilcox notes the Friends’ belief that the Word of Christ opened inside them and that, while revelation was never uninformed by scripture, those inspired by the Light experienced the same spirit that inspired scripture to guide them in their reading.51 The reading process that Fell envisages does not ignore the Bible as a material book. Fell frequently urges her audience to “read and examine” the Bible, to become active readers who will make the Bible their own. For example, she exhorts, “And search the Scriptures, and examine them honestly, and see whether ye are not deceived by them who draw you from the Light.”52 The reading process that Fell advises, however, does not accept the material scriptures as privileged over the inner judgment of the reader, what Fell would call the Light of Conscience or the inner Word: “So, Dear Friends, Read, and Understand, Search and Examine in every Particular with the Candle of the Lord, which is lighted in you, which makes all things manifest of what sort it is.”53

Women’s Literacy and Fell’s Reading and Writing Because the Reformation began in the sixteenth century shortly after the printing press arrived in Europe and England, Protestants strategically promoted literacy and exploited print technology in their proselytizing. In the seventeenth century, the Society of Friends employed these strategies with great success, and Margaret Fell was a prolific contributor, through her “epistles” or letters to Friends and other religious groups and through pamphlet publication. Except for her autobiography,

49. Margaret Fell and James Parke, Two General Epistles to the Flock of God (London, 1664), 4. On the Friends’ belief in “continuing revelation,” see Glines, ed., Undaunted Zeal, 5. 50. Fell, A True Testimony from the People of God, (Who by the World Are Called Quakers) … Directed To All the Professed Teachers in the World, Who Go under the Name of Christians, &c. (1660), in A Brief Collection, 242. 51. Wilcox, Theology and Women’s Ministry, 57–76. 52. Fell, A Tryal of the False Prophets (n.d.), in A Brief Collection, 144. 53. Fell, A General Epistle to Friends (1658), in A Brief Collection, 198.

18 Introduction A Relation, Fell’s works might have circulated first in manuscript54 before being printed for circulation to a wider audience, and, after her death, assembled in A Brief Collection of Remarkable Passages and Occurrences Relating to … Margaret Fell (1710). Friends anticipated the ways that later Protestant sects—especially Methodists—used literacy and religious newsletters and journals to sustain believers and propagate new conversions. While the Bible of the medieval Roman Catholic Church discouraged individual reading except for clerics or others who read Latin, or those with enough money to afford expensive, hand-produced vellum manuscripts, the vernacular translations of the Protestant Reformation, printed on relatively inexpensive paper, allowed much wider circulation of the Bible and more individual interpretation. Print technology thus supported two key Reform tenets from the sixteenth century on: the path to salvation was by means of the Word rather than the rite (Christ communicating through the biblical text rather than the ritual commemoration of Christ’s sacrifice in the Mass); and the guide to salvation was individual interpretation rather than the authority of the Catholic Church (based on the inner voice of faith, rather than the voice of the priest). The Protestant Reformation thus promoted wide literacy throughout Europe and Britain, including that of women, because one needed to read the Word to be saved.55 Studying Fell helps us to better understand women’s reading and writing practices. Early modern literacy has been assessed mainly by two means: percentages of actual signatures vs. signatories’ marks on public records such as wills, and book ownership and marginal commentary. This information mainly concerns men because women rarely owned books, and, in a culture where reading and writing were taught separately, women and lower-class men were more often taught just to read, rather than to read and write.56 In the last few decades, 54. See Phyllis Mack, Visionary Women: Ecstatic Prophecy in Seventeenth-Century England (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1992), 160: friends’ “letters were not truly personal in the modern sense. Hundreds would be recopied as inspirational messages of self-transcendence and loyalty to the group … while many were explicitly framed as epistles, to be circulated and read aloud at meetings. Letters were also the primary means of organizing the movement.” 55. See, for example, Harvey Graff, “The Legacies of Literacy,” in Language and Literacy in Social Practice, ed. Janet Maybin (Philadelphia: Multilingual Matters, 1994), 157: “The Reformation constituted the first great literacy campaign in the history of the West, with its social legacies of individual literacy as a powerful social and moral force.” He points out that Sweden, as a result, achieved nearly universal literacy through home education sponsored by the Lutheran Church with the monarchy’s support. This literacy, however, was almost wholly the ability to read not to write (159). On women’s literacy, see also R. A. Houston, Literacy in Early Modern Europe: Culture and Education, 1500–1800 (New York: Longman, 1988), 134–37; and Wilcox, Theology and Women’s Ministry, 133–34, on literacy and Quaker women. 56. On early modern men’s book ownership and annotation, see Anthony Grafton and Lisa Jardine, From Humanism to Humanities: Education and the Liberal Arts in Fifteenth- and Sixteenth-Century

Introduction 19 however, literacy has increasingly been defined not as the ability to write, but, in Deborah Brandt’s words, as “the broad ability to deal with other people as a writer or a reader.”57 As David Barton and Mary Hamilton point out, “literacy is best understood as a set of social practices.”58 Women’s reading and writing have thus recently been studied, although rarely through traditional means.59 Especially helpful is an essay by Frances Teague on the acts of reading dramatized by Shakespeare: it reminds scholars that “reading is a cultural practice that changes as the culture changes,” and early modern women’s reading would have been mainly social, in a sewing circle or in church. Teague suggests that early modern women’s reading would have been a practice characterized by rereading, excerpting, and memorizing for moral profit.60 Boys and girls generally shared their studies during the first two years of learning to read and write, the first year studying the alphabet and reading Europe (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1986), 184–96; William H. Sherman, John Dee: The Politics of Reading and Writing in the English Renaissance (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1995), esp. 79–113; and Kevin Sharpe, Reading Revolutions: The Politics of Reading in Early Modern England (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2000), esp. 257–69. On the extent of literacy (as judged by signatures), see David Cressy, Literacy and the Social Order: Reading and Writing in Tudor and Stuart England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980); and on reading practices and estimates of readers, see Eugene R. Kintgen, Reading in Tudor England (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1996). For critiques of Cressy’s definition of literacy, see Margaret Spufford, Small Books and Pleasant Histories: Popular Fiction and its Readership in Seventeenth-Century England (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1982), 22 and 32–33; Keith Thomas, “The Meaning of Literacy in Early Modern England,” in The Written Word: Literacy in Transition, ed. Gerd Baumann (Oxford: Clarendon, 1986), 102; Helen M. Jewell, Education in Early Modern England (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1998), 6–7; and Margaret W. Ferguson, Dido’s Daughters: Literacy, Gender, and Empire in Early Modern England and France (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003), 74–78. 57. Deborah Brandt, Literacy as Involvement: The Acts of Writers, Readers, and Texts (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1990), 14. On the debates about early modern literacy, see Margaret W. Ferguson, “Theoretical and Historical Considerations,” in Dido’s Daughters, 1–170, esp. 73, on “literacy as a site of social contest.” 58. David Barton and Mary Hamilton, Local Literacies: Reading and Writing in One Community (London: Routledge, 1998), 7. 59. On the limitations of early modern women’s reading, see Juan Luis Vives, The Instruction of a Christen Woman, ed. Virginia Walcott Beauchamp, Elizabeth H. Hageman, and Margaret Mikesell (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2002), esp. 24–28. On the scarcity of women’s marginalia, see Heidi Brayman Hackel, “ ‘Boasting of silence’: Women Readers in a Patriarchal State,” in Reading, Society, and Politics in Early Modern England, ed. Kevin Sharpe and Steven N. Zwicker (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), 101–21, esp. 107. On French and Spanish women’s reading, see Des Femmes et des Livres: France et Espagnes, XIVe–XVIIe siecle, ed. Dominique de Courcelles and Carmen Val Julian (Paris: École des Chartes, 1999). 60. Frances Teague, “Judith Shakespeare Reading,” Shakespeare Quarterly 47 (1996): 361–73, with the quotation on p. 364. On women’s widespread reading of the Bible, see Patricia Crawford, Women and Religion in England, 1500–1720 (London: Routledge, 1993), 79.

20 Introduction vernacular English (with the Bible a primary text for most students), the second year writing and working basic arithmetic problems.61 Since two letters in Fell’s own hand are extant, we know that Fell was literate as both a reader and writer. Her letter to her husband, Thomas Fell, from February 18, 1653, shows an elegant, clear, and bold hand, affection for her husband, and the same sort of scriptural vocabulary that she employs in her pamphlets.62 Most of Fell’s extant manuscript letters are in other hands, either copies that Friends made for circulation or preservation, or originals that were dictated to a family member or friend.63 As with other seventeenth-century readers who had the first two years of education, Fell’s reading revolved around the Bible; it is the only text that she quotes or alludes to, other than legal texts concerning Friends’ arrests. From analyzing Women’s Speaking Justified and other pamphlets by Fell, we can see that she quotes mainly from the King James Version of the Bible. But she quotes it inaccurately. For instance, when Fell lists Elizabeth as a preacher because Elizabeth recognizes and addresses Jesus as savior when he is still in Mary’s womb, Fell’s version varies radically from these “same” verses in Luke 1:39–42 of the King James Version, as we can see if we compare Fell’s version with other popular translations of the English Reformation: Tyndale (1534) And Mary arose in thoose dayes and went into the mountayns with hast into a cite of Iurie and entred into the housse of Zachry and saluted Elizabeth. And it fortuned as Elizabeth hearde the salutacion of Mary the babe spronge in her belly. And Elizabeth was filled with

61. Margaret Spufford, “First Steps in Literacy: The Reading and Writing Experiences of the Humblest Seventeenth-Century Spiritual Autobiographers,” Social History 4 (1979): 407–35. On women as teachers of reading, see Kenneth Charlton, “Mothers as Educative Agents in Pre-Industrial England,” History of Education 23, no. 2 (1994): 129–56, esp. 131–32; and Margaret Spufford, “Women Teaching Reading to Poor Children in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries,” in Opening the Nursery Door: Reading, Writing, and Childhood, 1600–1900, ed. Mary Hilton, Morag Styles, and Victor Watson (London and New York: Routledge, 1997), esp. 47–50 and 55–56. 62. Fell’s letter of February 18, 1653 is reproduced in Fell, Undaunted Zeal, ed. Glines, 2. Indeed, according to Patricia Crawford, Quaker women accounted for 20 per cent of the total of women’s writings in the seventeenth century; see “Women’s Published Writings 1600–1700,” in Women in English Society, 1500–1800, ed. Mary Prior (London: Methuen, 1985), 213. On women and the writings of the Society of Friends, see Patricia Crawford, “Women’s Published Writings,” 221–22; Elaine Hobby, Virtue of Necessity: Early English Women’s Writing, 1649–88 (London: Virago Press, 1988), esp. 1–84; Ian Green, Print and Protestantism, 230; Peters, Print Culture and the Early Quakers, passim; and Mary Van Vleck Garman, “Quaker Women’s Lives and Spiritualities,” in The Oxford Handbook of Quaker Studies, ed. Stephen W. Angell and Pink Dandelion (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), 232–44. 63. Rosemary Moore, foreword to Fell, Undaunted Zeal, ed. Glines, xx.

Introduction 21 the holy goost and cryid with a loude voyce and sayde: Blessed arte thou amonge wemen: and blessed is the frute of thy wombe….64 Coverdale (1535; with abbreviations spelled out) And Mary arose in those dayes, and wente in to the mountaynes with haist, into the cite of Jewry, and came into the house of Zachary, and saluted Elizabeth. And it fortuned as Elizabeth herde the salutacion of Mary, the babe sprange in hir wombe. And Elizabeth was fylled with the holy goost; and cried loude, and sayde: Blessed art thou amonge wemen, and blessed is the frute of thy wombe.65 Geneva (1560) And Marie arose in those dayes, and went into the hill countrey with haste to a citie of Iuda. And entred into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elisabet. And it came to passe, as Elisabet heard the salutation of Marie, the babe sprang in her bellie; and Elisabet was filled with the holie Gost. And she cryed with a loud voyce, and said, Blessed art thou among women, because the frute of thy wombe is blessed.66 King James, or Authorized Version (1611) And Marie arose in those dayes, and went into the hill countrey with haste, into a citie of Juda, And entred into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elizabeth. And it came to passe that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Marie, the babe leaped in her wombe, and Elizabeth was filled with the holy Ghost. And she spake out with a loud voyce, and sayd, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy wombe.67 Fell (1666) when Mary came to salute Elizabeth in the Hill Countrey in Judea, and when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the Babe leaped in her Womb, and she was filled with the Holy Spirit; and Elizabeth

64. From The English Hexapla (London: Samuel Bagster and Sons, 1841). 65. The Coverdale Bible, trans. Miles Coverdale, introd. S. L. Greenslade (1535; facsimile reprint, Folkestone, UK: Dawson, 1975). 66. The Geneva Bible: A Facsimile of the 1560 edition, introd. Lloyd E. Berry (1560; facsimile reprint, Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1969). 67. The Holy Bible: A Facsimile in a Reduced Size of the Authorized Version Published in the Year 1611, introd. A. W. Pollard (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1911).

22 Introduction spoke with a loud voice, Blessed art thou amongst Women, blessed is the fruit of thy Womb …68 Fell is quoting the King James Version, rather than the other common English translations: she writes that Mary’s destination is “Judea” rather than “Jewry”; she tells us that the baby “leaped” rather than “sprung” in Mary’s womb; she chooses “when Elizabeth heard,” rather than “as Elizabeth heard”; and she writes that Elizabeth “spoke,” rather than “cried.” These all indicate that she started with the King James, or Authorized, Version. Yet, there are many “mistakes” in the quotation. In Fell’s version, several words are omitted in the beginning, and the explanation of how Mary got there is condensed. Fell uses “Holy Spirit,” and the King James Version reads “holy Ghost.” Fell changes one of the pronouns in the Authorized Version to “Elizabeth.” The phrase “it came to pass” is omitted from Fell’s rehearsal of the passage. Verb forms are recast: “spake” in the King James Version becomes “spoke” in Fell’s version. We have also checked many other passages in multiple pamphlets: Fell’s quotations are almost always taken from the King James Version, even though that Bible borrows phrases from the earlier Bibles: these variants are not those of any other translation. There is no indication that Fell read any of the original biblical languages, so this is not her own translation. Nor do they seem to be printer’s errors, for the irregularities run consistently throughout the pamphlet, and printers do not generally make such transformative changes, being more likely to drop whole passages or to mistake a single word. The origin of Fell’s puzzling variants lies in Fell’s reading practice: she has not only read, but read so as to memorize large sections, perhaps all of the King James Bible. She is quoting from memory.69 Memorizing the Bible is an amazing feat. In the pamphlets that we have reproduced here, Fell “misquotes” from thirty of the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament, one of the twelve books of the Apocrypha, and twenty-two of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament. Her repeated, slight “inaccuracies” reveal the characteristic variants of oral transmission. First, Fell is always 68. Fell, Women’s Speaking Justified, Proved and Allowed of by the Scriptures (London, 1666), 13. This is not the edited version included in this volume. To compare spelling and punctuation with other original texts, we have here used the original first edition of Fell’s pamphlet. 69. See Rosemary Moore, Foreword to Fell, Undaunted Zeal, ed. Glines, xx: “Margaret Fell, like George Fox, seems to have known the Bible by heart.  …  When quoting, she was probably relying on her memory, rather than checking the bible, because the quotations are often paraphrases or slightly different from the actual words.” Ann Loades, however, in the foreword to Wilcox, Theology and Women’s Ministry, v, suggests that the “air of imprecision or improvisation” of “early Quaker writing” perhaps results from “a memory for biblical phrases read out loud.” Marjon Ames, in Margaret Fell, Letters, and the Making of Quakerism (London and New York: Routledge, 2017), 94–97, judges that it is impossible to decide whether Friends used the King James or the Geneva Bible because of their emphasis on the Spirit within rather than literal adherence to the words of the Bible.

Introduction 23 accurate on main words and the gist of the passage, and her word choice shows definitively that she is following the King James Version. Second, her quotations demonstrate not only the changed verb forms, dropped phrases, and substituted single words of the passage that we quoted as an example, but also changed prepositions, transposed phrases, and repetitious phrases dropped. These changes are characteristic of oral transmission, and can be seen clearly if we compare Fell’s “Also, there were many women which followed Jesus from Galilee ministering unto him, and stood afar off when he was Crucified”70 to the Authorized Verison of Matthew 27:55: “And many women were there (beholding afarre off) which followed Jesus from Galilee, ministring unto him.” Note how phrases are transposed, and a word changed, but the gist of the passage is there and, in this case, almost word for word once rearranged. In other quotations, a preposition is shortened from “unto” to “to,” or “of ” to “off,” and so forth. Like Cromwell, who memorized Erasmus’s Latin translation of the New Testament, and like Sir Thomas More, who cited from memory substantial amounts of scripture while imprisoned in the Tower of London, Fell has memorized large portions of the Bible.71 Indeed, Fell assumes that many readers of the Bible will have memorization as a goal when she explains, in To All the Professors of the World, “Though you may get all the words of the whole Scriptures in your brains and comprehension, so long as you deny the Light … ye shall never know them, but they shall be as a book sealed unto you.” Fell’s reading, then, is characteristic of early modern English culture, and also of Friends’ reading practices. Jonathan Barry has pointed out that “Reading … was associated [in early modern England] with memorisation of authoritative, even sacred, texts. … This made sense … to a culture where the primary justification of reading was the study of ‘the Word’ ”;72 and Phyllis Mack has argued that the Society of Friends was based on “a shared mnemonic culture.”73 The underlying assumptions of many previous historians have been that accurate quotation of the Bible indicates reverence for the Word, and that extensive biblical quotation 70. Fell, Women’s Speaking Justified (1666), 16. 71. For other evidence of memorization of the Bible by women, see Rosemary O’Day, Education and Society, 1500–1800: The Social Foundations of Education in Early Modern Britain (London: Longman, 1982), 44, on Alice Collins, a Lollard who knew much of the Bible by heart and recited the Epistles of Peter and James and the Ten Commandments for a conventicle; Keith Thomas, “The Meaning of Literacy,” 108, on the blind aunts of the Anglo-Irish archbishop James Ussher (1581–1656), who had memorized large portions of the Bible; and Kenneth Charlton, Women, Religion, and Education in Early Modern England (London: Routledge, 1999), 48–49, again on Alice Collins, and 84–87, on educational advice that recommended Bible memorization. We thank Marvin Breslow for pointing out Cromwell’s memorization and Robert Coogan for informing us of More’s. 72. Barry, “Literacy and Literature in Popular Culture: Reading and Writing in Historical Perspective,” in Popular Culture in England, ca. 1500–1850, ed. Tim Harris (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1995), 84. 73. Mack, Visionary Women, 137.

24 Introduction often indicates a passive acceptance of patriarchal authority, a way of hiding a woman’s voice behind the voices of the men who wrote the scriptures. However, Fell’s interweaving of scriptures seems to represent independent judgment and an activist reading practice, and Fell’s inexact quotations indicate intense reverence for the Word. For Fell, inaccurate quotation was reverential, since it was through this memorized, digested version that she showed herself in continued conversation with the Bible. Fell’s reading practice, moving from written to oral to written again, reinforces the current view that in early modern England the spoken word, manuscript, and print were “complementary modes” rather than exclusive activities.74 Fell’s quotation of scripture from memory is an example of what Michel de Certeau calls “orality insinuat[ing] itself … into the network … of a scriptural economy.”75 Especially in the case of scripture, the boundary between oral and print culture in Fell’s experience would have been blurred: she would have memorized the Bible from reading it and from hearing it read or recited from others’ memories; she would have written about her religion at times with a Bible before her and at times with only the virtual Bible in her heart to guide her. Fell’s mnemonic reading practice is crucial to her development of Friends’ theology; for example, her defense of the Meeting is based on listening to the Word inside while waiting in silence until called to speak: “beware of Hastiness, … in speaking many Words, except it be from a pure Discerning  …  wait low in the silence, until the Word be committed to you to minister: And none to strive for Mastery, but each to esteem others better than themselves.”76 The result of Fell’s reading practice, then, is convincement, a surety, based on memorization, that the Word is not outside in the material text, but inside—the “immortal ingrafted Word of God,” as she puts it in A Testimony of the Touchstone. We thus find in Fell’s irregular quotation of scripture what Certeau has claimed for all reading: the reader “invents in texts something different from what they ‘intended.’ ”77 Indeed, Certeau locates the withdrawal of the church from the practice of authorizing an accepted reading in the seventeenth century as the beginning of acknowledgment of “the indefinite plurality” of readings that 74. D. F. McKenzie, “Speech-Manuscript-Print,” Library Chronicle of the University of Texas at Austin 20, nos. 1–2 (1990): 88. Literacy and oral culture are “mixed” and “dovetailed,” according to Roger Chartier, The Order of Books: Readers, Authors, and Libraries in Europe between the Fourteenth and Eighteenth Centuries, trans. Lydia G. Cochrane (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1994), 20. On evidence of biblical reading practices from handwritten marginalia in Renaissance Bibles, see William H. Sherman, “ ‘The Book thus put in every vulgar hand’: Impressions of Readers in Early English Printed Bibles,” in The Bible as Book: The First Printed Editions, ed. Paul Henry Saenger and Kimberley Van Kampen (New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Press, 1999), 125–33. 75. Michel de Certeau, The Practice of Everyday Life, trans. Steven F. Rendall (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1984), 132. 76. Fell, An Epistle of M. Fell to Friends (1654), in A Brief Collection, 55. 77. Certeau, Practice of Everyday Life, 169.

Introduction 25 characterize modern texts.78 Similarly, in Reading Revolutions, Kevin Sharpe emphasizes the “recognition of the independence and power of readers … to construct their own meanings” in early modern English humanist education, noting that “reading was … not a passive process.”79 Fell’s close critical reading of biblical translations allows countless differences to filter into the text that was considered the final authority by all seventeenth-century English readers.80 Consciously or unconsciously, then, Fell is able to push the authority of the text in directions that are useful to her activist religious and gender politics. Besides memorization, what else can we infer about Fell’s reading practice, and perhaps that of other Friends or other early modern women? First, Fell elucidates passages in the Bible by reference to other passages. In Women’s Speaking Justified, for example, Fell reinterprets Paul’s words against women’s speaking in church (1 Corinthians 14) through reference to another book of the Bible—Acts 2: 17–18: since women were in the room when the Holy Spirit filled the disciples with the vision to carry the Word to the world, then not all women should be prevented from speaking in church, but only those not yet inhabited by the Inner Light. This cross-referencing is a common practice of Christian Bible reading, going back at least as far as the recommendations of Augustine’s De Doctrina Christiana (397 and 426 CE), and apparent in the marginal commentaries of most early modern Bible translations, which send the reader to similar passages throughout the Bible.81 Second, Fell recognizes the politics of Bible reading, including the gender politics. For example, in The Examination, she cites Matthew 5:34, “Swear not at all,” weaving it into her defense of her refusal to take the Oath of Allegiance because her conscience will not allow it: “Christ Jesus hath commanded in plain words, That I should not Swear at all, Matthew 5, and for obedience to Christ’s doctrine and command am I here arraigned this day.” And in Women’s Speaking Justified, when Fell quotes from 1 Corinthians 11, she skips all the verses in this chapter that enjoin female subservience, and quotes, in her own climactic order, only those verses that suggest equity in sexual politics. A commonplace prayer in discussions of early modern Bible reading is for the Christian to “read” not only with “eyes” but also with “hearts,” to “write” the “word” on their “hearts.”82 When 78. Certeau, Practice of Everyday Life. The quotation is on p. 169, but the argument about the historical development of an authorized reading is made in chap. 10, “The Scriptural Economy,” 131–53. 79. Sharpe, Reading Revolutions, 40 and 84. 80. Wording borrowed from Certeau, Practice of Everyday Life, 175, on medieval poets. 81. Saint Augustine, On Christian Doctrine [De Doctrina Christiana], trans. D. W. Robertson, Jr. (New York: Liberal Arts Press, 1958), bks. 2–3. See also Kintgen, Reading in Tudor England, 129–34, on the recommendations in the Geneva and Bishops’ Bibles to compare one biblical passage against another. 82. Church of England, Certayne Sermons (1547), quoted in Kintgen, Reading in Tudor England, 132. McKenzie, “Speech-Manuscript-Print,” 90, quotes similar passages from Edmund Staunton’s Rypes

26 Introduction Fell leaves out passages that do not support her interpretation, she might well have justified it as “reading with her heart,” but a modern scholar might call this practice “the politics of reading.” Christopher Hill reminds us that “the Bible was the source of virtually all ideas: it supplied the idiom in which men and women discussed them.”83 In working out an individual interpretation, Fell brings more coherence to scriptures than they possess—as all exegetes do. But she also steers her reading of the Bible in certain political directions. Eugene Kintgen claims that he does not find Renaissance readers, in general, practicing resistance.84 Roger Chartier, on the other hand, suggests that “reading, by definition, is rebellious and vagabond. Readers use infinite numbers of subterfuges … to read between the lines, and to subvert the lessons imposed on them.”85 The case of Fell supports Chartier: Fell read her Bible in a way that landed her and other Friends in prison because their interpretations clashed with those of Anglican clerics and local magistrates. Third, despite not having an education in biblical languages, Fell is influenced by the humanist tradition of comparing a translation to the original text, or the biblical text to other contemporary texts that may explain its meaning. Debora K. Shuger has explored in detail this sixteenth-century humanist comparative biblical reading practice, whereby philological explorations of words and cultural explanations of customs entered biblical studies.86 Fell seems to have adapted this method to “vernacular humanism”87 by comparing different translations, for she occasionally substitutes words or passages from other Bibles. In many instances she seems to be “correcting” the Authorized Version by using the Tyndale or Coverdale Bible, or the Geneva translation with its marginal glosses. It is no Israelis: The Rock of Israel, and John Strickland’s A Discovery of Peace (both 1644). 83. Hill, The English Bible and the Seventeenth-Century Revolution (London: Allen Lane; New York: Penguin, 1993), 34. 84. Kintgen, Reading in Tudor England, 216. 85. Chartier, Order of Books, viii. Brian Stock, in The Implications of Literacy: Written Language and Models of Interpretation in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1983), 119, argues that “heresy … was inseparable from the gradual formation of literate … communities.” 86. Shuger, The Renaissance Bible: Scholarship, Sacrifice, and Subjectivity (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1994). 87. See Warren Boutcher, “Vernacular Humanism in the Sixteenth Century,” in The Cambridge Companion to Renaissance Humanism, ed. Jill Kraye (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996), 189–202. In “Sponsors of Literacy,” College Composition and Communication 49, no. 2 (May 1998): 165–85, Deborah Brandt has shown how dominant forms of literacy migrate in the modern United States through informal tutorials and mentoring. Margaret Fell’s reading practice demonstrates that humanist methods migrated from men with humanist education in multiple biblical languages (Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic) to women with vernacular educations but multiple translations in seventeenth-century England.

Introduction 27 surprise that Fell would use the Geneva Bible; it was the radical Bible favored by late sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century dissenters, and the least expensive Bible of Fell’s period. It is more surprising that she uses the Coverdale, which was the reformists’ Bible for the mid-sixteenth century, and no longer printed after 1569.88 It is most surprising that she uses the King James Version, the translation authorized by the Church of England and the most expensive Bible. Thus early Bibles like the Coverdale must have been passed down from one generation to the next, and read alongside the newer, more “modern” translations. And the one instance we have found in which Fell cites the Tyndale translation perhaps comes from oral transmission rather than actually reading, or hearing read, a Tyndale New Testament—there is no way of knowing. When Fell quotes Genesis 3:5, the temptation scene, in Women’s Speaking Justified, for example, the serpent says, “If ye eat, your eyes shall be opened,” following the Geneva translation and gloss to that passage, rather than the King James Version, “in the day ye eate therof, then your eyes shal be opened.” She seems influenced, too, in her reading of the word “woman” in Song of Solomon and Jeremiah, by the Geneva glosses of “woman” as “Jerusalem,” or the church on earth. When she explicates the passage from Luke 15:8–9 in both To All the Professors of the World and A Testimony of the Touchstone, she uses the word “groat” from Tyndale’s New Testament, instead of the Authorized Version’s “pieces of silver.” And when Fell quotes Judith, she follows the Coverdale Bible, not the King James Version. The manner in which her text differs from the Authorized Version thus suggests that she is reading the Authorized Version against other translations, practicing humanist comparative reading of Bibles without Latin or Greek, weighing and judging alternatives to arrive at the best text and the most complete interpretation. As a case study of women’s literacy, we find that Fell must have had at least the two years of reading followed by writing instruction that was the most basic form of literacy in the seventeenth century, but not much more, since she shows no evidence of knowing Latin, or Greek, or Hebrew. She was an obsessive Bible reader, one who memorized, excerpted, and wrote about the Bible; given her social context, she would have read the Bible frequently with groups of other Friends, not only in Meetings, but every day with her household, or, when she was in prison, with other prisoners. She read the Bible not in a linear fashion, but comparing one passage with passages in other biblical books, sensitive to the politics of different interpretations, and she read the Word by comparing translations 88. According to the Short Title Catalogue, 2nd ed., comp. A. W. Pollard and G. R. Redgrave, rev. and enl. W. A. Jackson, F. S. Ferguson, and K. F. Pantzer (London: The Bibliographic Society, 1976–91), the Coverdale Bible and the Great Bible versions of Coverdale’s translation were printed frequently from 1535 to 1569, then were entirely superseded by the Geneva Bible and the Bishops’ Bible, and eventually by the Authorized Version.

28 Introduction to the King James Version, in an adaptation of humanist practices. Hers was not a material Bible, a copy of the print King James Version, but a “virtual” Bible, a memorized Bible, the inner Word of Christ, composed not of the words of the text, but the words of multiple texts compared, and interpreted through the Inner Light. Such a hermeneutic, or method of interpretation, deconstructs the Bible as text and takes the Reformation humanist reinterpretation of the Bible according to conscience and historical context further, into extreme individual interpretation.89 For Fell, in A Loving Salutation, this is “the pure language” of the inner Bible, which “no other Spirit can read  …  but the same that spoke them forth, which Spirit is Light.”

Religious Rhetoric A debate on the nature of “Quaker style” has been waged for more than half a century. In a seminal essay, Jackson Cope suggested that seventeenth-century Quaker style is characterized by the merging of metaphorical and literal meanings, the importance of Christ as Word, the use of biblical words to construct a plain-style text, incantatory repetition, ecstatic abandonment of grammar, imitation and absorption of scripture, lack of personal detail, and the presentation of scripture as key to its own meaning.90 Cope places the incantatory repetition of Quaker style in a Puritan tradition,91 but sees Women’s Speaking Justified as an exception, avoiding the incantatory style “in short paragraphs of short, limpid sentences without resort to metaphor.”92 As we will see, however, Fell’s use of metaphor is crucial to her argument, for one of her main points is that Christ regards women as equal to men because he uses “bride” and “woman” as metaphors for the church on earth. Most critics have agreed that Quaker style depends on repetition and incorporation of scripture. For instance, as Wilcox explains, “Their style is frequently rambling, sometimes incoherent, and invariably packed with quotations from and allusions to Scriptures.” She points to the “strings of Biblical quotations” that create “a distinctive style of preaching and writing in which loosely connected 89. Thomas W. Laqueur has argued that reading was an icon of radicalism for early modern Europe because, before the nineteenth century, evangelism and reading were linked in radical religious movements; see “Toward a Cultural Ecology of Literacy in England, 1600–1850,” in Literacy in Historical Perspective, ed. Daniel P. Resnick (Washington, DC: Library of Congress, 1983), 44–53. For a contemporary perspective, see Paulo Freire, “The Adult Literacy Process as Cultural Action for Freedom” (1970), reprinted in Language and Literacy in Social Practice, ed. Janet Maybin (Philadelphia: Multilingual Matters, 1994), 252–63, esp. 255, where Freire argues that the illiterate must not be viewed as marginal, but as representatives of the dominated class, who have no voice; to teach literacy, therefore, is to teach freedom. 90. Jackson I. Cope, “Seventeenth-Century Quaker Style,” PMLA 71 (1956): 725–54. 91. Cope, “Seventeenth-Century Quaker Style,” 742. 92. Cope, “Seventeenth-Century Quaker Style,” 738.

Introduction 29 texts … were heaped up to prove a point.”93 But critics have also challenged Cope’s analysis. Barbara Dailey has argued that Fell’s style is an attempt to recreate the early church.94 Mary Anne Schofield has suggested that the mid-century Quaker style represents a “feminine voice,” displaying the liminality and ambiguity of gendered social position.95 In two perceptive essays, Judith Gardiner has posited Fell’s Quaker style as “familial, affective rhetoric for public purposes,” a “rhetoric of attentive care,” but not distinctively a feminine voice.96 Characterizing Fell’s prose as “appropriation and refiguration of  …  biblical imagery and rhetoric,” Gardiner suggests that Fell “superimposes several historical periods and their divine purposes upon one another and weaves biblical quotations seamlessly into her own, using biblical genres like prophecy and epistle, … and biblical modes of address, including the promising and admonitory second person and the authoritative first person of … prophets.”97 And Nigel Smith concludes that “for the Quakers,” faith meant “a complete transformation of the ‘language’ one owned: into scriptura rediviva.”98 The analysis of Fell’s reading and literacy practices in the preceding section helps us to understand critics’ difficulties with “Quaker style.” Fell’s language is taken from the Bible, but thoroughly rearranged in her memory—becoming her own language, but still authoritative. Fell practices comparative reading of the Bible, juxtaposing passages from different books of the Bible, or “correcting” the King James Version that she quotes most often with words from the Coverdale or Tyndale Bible or from the Geneva marginal commentary or headnotes. But Fell also makes her comparative reading the basis of her style, interweaving several passages. For example, in To All the Professors, Fell builds to a climax on the danger of following “blind guides” by weaving together the passage in Matthew 23:16 with similar language against hypocritical and misguided believers in Romans 2:19, Acts 28:27, Isaiah 44:18, and Job 20:5–9. Sometimes Fell employs this juxtaposition of biblical passages as a conflation of their language in a single sentence, as in To All the Professors, in which she combines Isaiah 52:3 and Hebrews 13:20: 93. Ann Loades’s preface in Wilcox, x; Wilcox, Theology and Women’s Ministry, 80 and 58. 94. Dailey, “The Husbands of Margaret Fell,” 62–63. 95. Mary Anne Schofield, “ ‘Womens Speaking Justified’: The Feminine Quaker Voice, 1662–1797,” Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature 6 (1987): 61–77, esp. 61 on Fell. 96. Judith Kegan Gardiner, “Re-Gendering Individualism: Margaret Fell Fox and Quaker Rhetoric,” in Privileging Gender in Early Modern England, ed. Jean R. Brink (Kirksville, MO: Sixteenth Century Journal Publishers, 1993), 212 and 214. 97. Judith Kegan Gardiner, “Margaret Fell Fox and Feminist Literary History: A ‘Mother in Israel’ Calls to the Jews,” Prose Studies 17, no. 3 (December 1994), 48–49. 98. Nigel Smith, “Hidden Things Brought to Light: Enthusiasm and Quaker Discourse,” Prose Studies 17, no. 3 (December 1994), 68. But also see Brian Cummings, The Literary Culture of the Reformation: Grammar and Grace (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), 69–88, on Luther’s use of citation and Reformation style in general.

30 Introduction “They who have been sold for nought, shall be redeemed without money, even by the blood of the everlasting covenant.” In this sentence, the prophetic riddle of Isaiah—“without money”—is answered by the celebration of Christ’s coming in Hebrews: “the blood” of Christ’s sacrifice to establish “the everlasting covenant” of salvation. Because she has memorized the words of the translation, Fell “owns” what she has read in a way different from the modern reader. Because she believes that she is guided by Christ the Word inside her, she feels free to change the text, and to correct it against other texts (even though she has not studied the original language). Fell’s style of repetitive language seems designed to aid believers in incorporating the Word as the embodiment of Christ’s spiritual presence.99 For example, in A Testimony of the Touchstone, Fell combines passages from Matthew, Luke, John, Genesis, Revelation, and Daniel, but also rearranges the language to emphasize all the variant forms of the word “professors,” those who claim to believe or profess Christ as savior. Fell calls to “professors, [to] look about,” to see that their “profession” is no foundation of faith, accusing them of “profess[ing] the Scriptures without” rather than living by the Word within, and foretells that God will “break to pieces all your rotten profession.” Rather than seeing Fell’s use of scripture as a strategy to authorize the illegitimate female voice, we instead argue that we should see it as a collaborative coauthorship characteristic of early modern textual production, especially sectarian religious texts. We agree that critics are right in seeing the centrality of Christ as Word to Fell’s rhetoric, and interwoven scriptural allusions and repetition as important aspects of her strategies of persuasion. But we also point out that it is important to understand Fell’s work as developing an argument100 rather than as representing an ecstatic style, and to see that she adapts her rhetorical techniques to her differing audiences, even though the Bible is always the basis of her arguments. To some degree she has inherited her religious rhetoric from previous Protestants. As Susan Felch has pointed out, use of “cascading proof texts” was a characteristic practice of Reformation dissenters (she is speaking of William Tyndale), and Protestants were well aware that paraphrase was a form of commentary.101 In her last pamphlet, The Daughter of Zion Awakened, Fell is arguing for seeing her contemporary time as fulfilling the prophecies of the Last Days, when Christ has come 99. Two centuries later, Harriet Beecher Stowe describes Uncle Tom’s leadership of the slave cabin prayer meeting in terms quite similar to the way Margaret Fell uses scripture: Tom’s prayer is “enriched with the language of Scripture, which seemed so entirely to have wrought itself into his being, as to have become a part of himself.” See Uncle Tom’s Cabin, ed. Elizabeth Ammons (New York: W. W. Norton, 1994), 26. 100. In Theology and Women’s Ministry, 82–83, Catherine Wilcox sees Fell employing “a method of writing” in which “a wealth of texts [are] … linked by” a concept. 101. Susan M. Felch, “Tracing Translations in Tyndale’s Obedience of the Christian Man,” Sixteenth Century Society Conference, New Orleans, Louisiana, October 16, 2014.

Introduction 31 again and the world is about to end. To make this argument, in one brief section, Fell interweaves paraphrases from John, 2 Peter, and Genesis in “cascading proof texts,” and her words are paraphrases emphasizing that Christ is the Inner Light, that the “Day” of Christ’s return is in progress, and that the ancient prophecy of the woman’s seed bruising the serpent’s head is being fulfilled. Fell’s arguments, then, are couched in scriptural language reworked for her present time, as well as paraphrased commentary on what she sees as related biblical texts. Fell adapts this form of argumentative religious rhetoric in several ways: she has favorite books of the Bible, and passages that she returns to throughout her writing career; she changes the scriptures she employs in her argument to fit her audience; and she draws on the humanist tradition of commonplaces to present a variety of arguments to support her conclusion. Judging by the pamphlets we have reprinted here, Fell’s favorite books of the Bible are Isaiah and the gospels. The reliance on gospels is understandable, since Friends’ theology is so Christocentric. But why Isaiah? Isaiah is filled with prophecies, and so Fell turns to this book from the Hebrew Scriptures to show that her time is the fulfillment of these ancient prophecies, that her present day is close to the end of time. Fell also has some “go-to” biblical passages that she repeats in multiple epistles. For example, in both A Testimony of the Touchstone and To All the Professors, she uses the domestic image of “leaven” to make bread rise, from Matthew 13:33 and Luke 13:21, to reinforce the idea of Christ within Christians’ hearts as a conscience or Inner Light. In her theological pamphlets she frequently draws on the images of Matthew 23, in which Christ speaks metaphorically of hypocrites as “blind guides,” “whited sepulchers,” and “scribes and Pharisees”—all metaphors Fell disperses generously throughout her works when she is talking about Christians outside the Society of Friends, especially priests. But she also seems to concentrate on a set of books that differs for each epistle. For example, in Women’s Speaking Justified, she draws especially on Genesis and Corinthians (which one might expect, since the first contains the story of Eve, and the second Paul’s constraints on women’s preaching), but also on John and Revelation. In To All the Professors, Fell concentrates on Matthew and John, and in A Testimony of the Touchstone, on Luke, Matthew, John, and Hebrews, even though these two pamphlets are on the same topic, directed at the same audience, and even contain sections repeated word for word. In The Daughter of Zion Awakened, Fell centers her argument on Genesis, Numbers, Revelation, John, and 1 John—explainable, except for Numbers, by the eschatological topic of this pamphlet. Sometimes her choice of books seems based on content, as in Women’s Speaking Justified; at other times, perhaps on her current interest in Bible study, as in her emphasis on Numbers in The Daughter of Zion Awakened. Sometimes her variations in biblical citations seem based on audience. To All the Professors, addressed to other dissenters, draws especially on the gospels of Matthew and

32 Introduction John; A Loving Salutation, addressed to Jews, emphasizes books of the Hebrew Scriptures (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Zechariah, Ezekiel, and other prophets), while the New Testament is represented mainly by Hebrews, a biblical epistle addressed to early Jewish converts to Christianity. Fell’s persuasive rhetoric seems influenced not only by the history of Reformation argumentation based on the Bible, but also by the humanist and classical rhetorical practice of arguing from commonplaces. Eugene Kintgen lists commonplace books as the most important form of reading taught in English grammar schools; Peter Beal argues that commonplace books were “the primary intellectual tool for organizing knowledge and thought” for the well-educated in the seventeenth century.102 Cecile Jagodzinski cites Nicholas Byfield’s Directions for the Private Reading of Scripture (1648) in support of her conclusion that it was a frequent Bible-reading practice to record significant passages in a paper notebook; and Peter Mack suggests that “one of the main functions of the notebook [in Elizabethan education] was to collect impressive phrases for reuse.”103 Commonplaces or topics, as taught in classical rhetoric, constituted an inventional system designed to help writers come up with arguments: arguments from definition, from cause, from etymology, etc. But students were also expected to make up their own sets of special topics to organize their reading for their own purposes.104 Thus the commonplaces were a pervasive aspect of education in reading and writing in early modern England, and were a main means of discovering and organizing arguments for the writer. We can see this form of argumentation at work in Fell’s pamphlets, in what at first seems a random list of biblical passages. In A Testimony of the Touchstone, for instance, Fell sets up a series of contrasts through biblical citations emphasizing Christ as the center of faith and 102. Kintgen, Reading in Tudor England, 144; Peter Beal, “Notions in Garrison: The SeventeenthCentury Commonplace Book,” in New Ways of Looking at Old Texts: Papers of the Renaissance English Text Society, 1985–1991, ed. W. Speed Hill (Binghamton, NY: Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies, in conjunction with the Renaissance English Text Society, 1993), 134. See also Edith Snook, Women, Reading, and the Cultural Politics of Early Modern England (Aldershot, UK, and Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2005), 91–102, on women’s manuscript commonplace books and Elizabeth Grymeston’s use of a commonplace book mode of composition. 103. Cecile M. Jagodzinski, Privacy and Print: Reading and Writing in Seventeenth-Century England (Charlottesville and London: University Press of Virginia, 1999), 44; Peter Mack, Elizabethan Rhetoric: Theory and Practice (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002), 105; on commonplace books, see also 90. 104. On the use of special topics, which she sees as descended from medieval florilegia, see Ann Moss, Printed Commonplace-Books and the Structuring of Renaissance Thought (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996), esp. 24, 27–28, and 107; on commonplaces used to read scriptures, see 131–32. On the use of commonplaces or topics to organize reading in the seventeenth century, see also Sharpe, Reading Revolutions, 41, 100, 107, and esp. 180–81. On commonplace books used in biblical reading, see Sherman, “ ‘The book thus Put in Every Vulgar Hand,’ ” 126.

Introduction 33 other Christians or “professors” as misguided: Christ is a rock or cornerstone of faith for Friends, but other professors are standing on rotten, sandy foundations; Christ is the Inner Light, but other professors are blind; Christ gives hope but hypocrites are hopeless; Christ purges sin from the faithful, but other professors are unclean; Christ is the guiding shepherd for Friends, but the leaders of other sects are wolves; the professors take the devil as god, but God is an Inner Light of conscience for the faithful. In Women’s Speaking Justified, we can see that the biblical citations are organized by special topics: excerpts showing the reverence for women in calling the church the bride of Christ, examples of women’s preaching, and biblical passages contradicting literalist readings of Paul’s admonitions against women speaking in church. Each of these sections derives from one of the classical rhetorical commonplaces: argument by notation (meanings of words), argument by induction (similarity among examples), and argument from contradictories (both sides of a contradiction cannot be true).105 Fell also supports her argument for women’s preaching with biblical citations gathered under the special topics of men’s and women’s equality in Christ, and the misuse of the Bible by “blind” (or papist) priests.106 Fell’s use of common and special topics seems again a case of migrating literacy, for non-royal women were not frequently taught this rhetorical means of organizing reading and writing. However, the organization of Bible reading and citation under commonplaces was a fairly frequent practice across all levels of education. Acknowledging Fell’s collecting and arrangement of biblical quotations and arguments under the various topic headings allows us to see the framework that organizes her pamphlet. Her method of arguing depends on a scaffold of reasons supporting women’s preaching, expressed in the biblical language of the citations she uses. Fell’s organization is aptly described by Ann Moss’s explanation of 105. See Marcus Tullius Cicero, Topica, trans. H. M. Hubbell, in De inventione; De optimo genere oratorum; Topica, (London: Heinemann, 1949): on notation, 8:35; on induction, 10:42; and on contradictories, 14:56. See also Desiderius Erasmus, On Copia of Words and Ideas (De Utraque Verborem ac Rerum Copia), trans. Donald B. King and H. David Rix (Milwaukee: Marquette University Press, 1963), 167. Erasmus moves the topics into the ways of amplifying through content, and situates etymology, definition, differences, etc., next to exempla as methods of organizing ideas or quotations. 106. The commonplaces as Fell uses them for argument are akin to what modern cognitive linguistics terms schemata or “chunking”; see, for example, Colleen Donnelly, Linguistics for Writers (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1994), 30–32. Kintgen, Reading, 113–14 and 137–38, discusses the method of reading by gathering scriptures on the same topic in early modern England as a “rich web of intertextuality.” In Bible Readers and Lay Writers in Early Modern England: Gender and SelfDefinition in an Emergent Writing Culture (Farnham, UK, and Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2012), Kate Narveson discusses the relationship between Bible reading, especially marking correspondences and commonplacing (3–4, 29, 34, 36, and 51), and composition “in Scripture phrase” (55–65); see esp. 62: “Commonplacing and collation, then, provided a mode of rhetorical invention, helped Bible readers develop an effective style, and allowed a sense of authority.”

34 Introduction organization resulting from the use of commonplace books: “knowledge … loosely connected by association of ideas, by similarity and difference.”107 Moss finds that an author uses commonplace book quotations in such a way that “meaning is constructed by an interpretative reading which deliberately distorts their original sense and reconstitutes them as integrated parts of a new signifying whole.”108 The extracts or topics chosen make all the difference, as we can see in Fell, who read to the foreground all the women in the Bible. For example, in Women’s Speaking Justified, for Fell, “It was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and the other women that were with them, which told these things [about Christ’s resurrection] to the apostles,” and so conveyed “the message of the Lord God that he sends by women!” And when Mary visits Elizabeth, Fell interprets the words of Mary’s cousin as “Elizabeth’s sermon.” As Peter Beal points out, the commonplaces, “a way of preserving learning and putting it to effective use,” led “not only to the ordering, but also to the refinement of material.”109 Because Fell had collected together all the passages in the Bible on women’s speaking, she could see that Paul was inconsistent: in 1 Corinthians 14, Fell explains, he commands some men, as well as some women, to keep silent in church, while in Philippians 4:3 he urges aid to the women “who labored with him in the Gospel.” Fell’s reinterpretation of Paul depends on comparing disparate sections of the Bible, especially different passages from Paul’s epistles, to those that forbid women’s speech. Peter Mack has pointed out that “this habit of referring passages of text to headings also encourages the reader to compare the views on particular subjects expressed in different sections or by different speakers within the same text.”110 Once we understand Fell’s organization according to commonplace topics, we can see that her marshaling of scriptural evidence and language should not be seen as inspiration in opposition to reason.111 The organization by commonplaces, moreover, fits with memorization as a reading strategy: in a society that depends on memory, memorization is usually not verbatim, but topical, so that one repeats not word for word, but ideas or 107. Moss, Printed Commonplace-Books, 122. 108. Moss, Printed Commonplace-Books, 20. 109. Beal, “Notions in Garrison,” 131 and 145. 110. Peter Mack, Elizabethan Rhetoric, 44. As quoted in Grafton and Jardine, From Humanism to Humanities, 147, Erasmus advises students to read the Bible philologically and also according to commonplaces: “make for yourself or take over ready-made from someone else some theological loci [places], in which you can organize everything you read, as if they were pigeon-holes: thus it will be easier for you to find what you want to retrieve.” 111. Margaret Olofson Thickstun, “Writing the Spirit: Margaret Fell’s Feminist Critique of Pauline Theology,” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 63 (1995): 273–74, makes a similar point, although without recognizing the organization by commonplaces, when she suggests that Fell does not reject argument, since she follows the genre of Pauline epistle in her treatises, and “presents her arguments in waves.”

Introduction 35 arguments in order. Finally, Fell’s commonplace or topical composition strategy may also be seen as an outgrowth of the “discontinuous reading” that Peter Stallybrass has argued characterizes Christianity from its beginning.112

Figure 3. Title page, Margaret Fell, Women’s Speaking Justified … (London, 1666). ESTC R31506, Folger Shelfmark F642. Reproduced by permission of the Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, D.C. 112. See Peter Stallybrass, “Books and Scrolls: Navigating the Bible,” in Books and Readers in Early Modern England: Material Studies, ed. Jennifer Andersen and Elizabeth Sauer (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002), 42–79, who argues that missals and biblical commentary encouraged Christians from early medieval through Renaissance Christianity to read the Bible discontinuously.

36 Introduction

Figure 4. Title page, Margaret Fell, A Brief Collection of Remarkable Passages and Occurrences Relating to  …  Margaret Fell (London, 1710). ESTC N15446, Folger Shelfmark BX 7795.F75F6 Cage. Reproduced by permission of the Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, D.C.

Introduction 37

Summary and Analysis of the Texts Fell’s works were initially published as pamphlets; after her death, most were gathered and reprinted by her children as A Brief Collection of Remarkable Passages and Occurrences Relating to … Margaret Fell (1710). A seventeenth-century pamphlet was “a short, vernacular work, generally printed in quarto format, costing no more than a few pennies, of topical interest or engaged with social, political, or ecclesiastical issues.”113 The Society of Friends was especially adept at the use of pamphlets for proselytizing and for political action. Friends sent manuscripts to Margaret Fell at Swarthmoor Hall to be reviewed by leaders, who decided which ones to publish. Fell then sent them to London for printing and oversaw their dissemination, with London and Swarthmoor Hall as major sites of distribution. Pamphlets were carried across England by itinerant preachers, handed out after sermons, sent to important personages, and read aloud in market squares or churchyards.114 Many of Fell’s pamphlets fall under the general category of “epistle,” a formal or public letter addressed to the general body of Friends, a public group such as other dissenters, or the king and general public. “Epistle” is an appropriate term for these religious letters, because many of the books of the New Testament were epistles written by apostles and addressed to various church groups.115 We have chosen pamphlets that represent the range of Fell’s writing in genre and chronology. We begin with A Relation of Margaret Fell, Her Birth, Life, Testimony, and Sufferings for the Lord’s Everlasting Truth (1690), her autobiography, written late in her life and outlining God’s mercies to her. The rest of the pamphlets we present chronologically. We chose To All the Professors of the World (1656) because it uses imagery concerning women in the gospels to describe the nature of religious experiences. We include A Testimony of the Touchstone (1656) because it challenges the truth of other Protestant sects and outlines in detail Friends’ concepts of the Word and the Inner Light, demonstrating Fell’s participation in the development of Friends’ theology. A Loving Salutation to the Seed of Abraham among the Jews (1656), which Fell had arranged to be translated into Hebrew (probably by Spinoza), was one of several epistles Fell wrote to try to convert European communities of Jews.116 The pamphlet demonstrates the relatively tolerant attitude of Friends to Jews: instead of castigating them, Fell argues 113. Joad Raymond, Pamphlets and Pamphleteering in Early Modern Britain (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), 8. 114. See Peters, Print Culture and the Early Quakers, esp. 68–69, and 153. See also Betty Hagglund, “Quakers and Print Culture,” in The Oxford Handbook of Quaker Studies, ed. Stephen W. Angell and Pink Dandelion (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), 477–85. 115. On the influence of apostolic epistles in Margaret Fell’s and other Friends’ letters, see Marjon Ames, Margaret Fell, Letters, and the Making of Quakerism, chap. 4, esp. 113–17. 116. See Kunze, Margaret Fell and the Rise of Quakerism, 214–15.

38 Introduction that the Jews’ own Hebrew Scriptures demonstrate the coming of a Messiah they should welcome. The Examination of Margaret Fell (1663/4)117 documents Fell’s trial for holding Sunday services at her house; this type of publication—a trial transcript as recorded by the persecuted Christian—was a favorite Protestant genre during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in England, drawing on the earlier Catholic tradition of the saint’s life. A Letter Sent to the King from M. F. (1666) shows Fell’s continued dialogue, on behalf of the Society of Friends, with Charles II and the English government, arguing for Friends’ release from prison and freedom to worship. As one of the earliest fully developed defenses of women’s preaching in the Christian tradition, Fell’s Women’s Speaking Justified (1666 and 1667) demands inclusion. Finally, The Daughter of Zion Awakened (1677) gives chronological breadth to the collection, providing an example of Fell’s later, more prophetic style and her further use of gendered metaphors for religious experience.

A Relation of Margaret Fell, Her Birth, Life, Testimony, and Sufferings (1690) Fell’s autobiography is the opening text in the posthumous collection of her works published by her children in 1710. Fittingly, the text can be seen as a spiritual autobiography, filtering her life’s experiences through her religious beliefs, but it lacks the anxious pattern of searching, doubt, and growing faith of many such works. In her autobiography Fell presents herself as active politically and religiously, highlighting her journeys to London and other areas of England and her exchanges with Charles II on behalf of the Friends. She also makes tacit reference to the importance of women’s networks to the Society of Friends, mentioning at times that she brings her daughter with her on her different journeys to foster community among Friends.118 Of note is Fell’s shifting use of singular and plural first person. This text is her story, but it is a story that can be seen as symbolic of the struggles of many who adhered to the faith of the Society of Friends at a time when religious freedom 117. On the change from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar, see the section on “Editorial Principles and Practices” later in the introduction. 118. See the introduction to Her Own Life: Autobiographical Writings by Seventeenth-Century Englishwomen, ed. Elspeth Graham, Hilary Hinds, Elaine Hobby, and Helen Wilcox (London and New York: Routledge, 1989), 2: “An important source of women’s autobiographies in the period … is the published pamphlets of radical sectaries. Acting from what they believed was direct contact with God, many were led to engage in public preaching and the disruption of church services: activities that frequently resulted in their arrest and imprisonment. It therefore comes as no surprise to find that a good number of Quaker pamphlets, and some Baptist ones, published in the 1650s and 1660s were written from prison, and that their autobiographical element is strong, women explaining the origins of their behaviour and describing the events that precede their conversion and/or imprisonment.”

Introduction 39 was not guaranteed. Fell ends her autobiography by reproducing an epistle she wrote after attending a Women’s Meeting in London late in her life. This embedded epistle allows her to end her autobiography by reminding her readers of her role as a leader among Friends, and provides a joyous note that reflects on her satisfaction personally among her family and spiritually among fellow Friends. The letter serves both as a conclusion to the Relation and as a farewell to the wider community of Friends; Fell became slightly less active in her later years, when the stronghold of Quaker life moved from the north of England to London. “In this my dear and unchangeable love,” she writes, “remembered unto you all; acknowledging your dear, tender, and kind love, when I was with you, in which my heart was rejoiced, to feel the ancient love and unity of the eternal spirit among you.” Her letter also addresses both “Friends and Sisters,” underscoring her inclusion of women in the Society. It seems only fitting that Fell’s autobiography includes the genre most associated with her: the epistle.

To All the Professors of the World (1656) Addressed to Christians in sects other than the Society of Friends,119 To All the Professors of the World argues that Christians who treat the Bible as holy scripture rather than as the Word inside, the Inner Light of Christ, are idolators, not true Christians. “Professors” are people who claim a certain set of beliefs—in this case, those who profess or believe in Christ as savior and in the Bible as the guide to salvation. Fell urges Christians to accept “the Light of Jesus Christ, which manifests him in the flesh”—that is, they must allow themselves to house the returned Christ in themselves, recognizing that they are participating in the Second Coming, or Christ returned in the flesh. To All the Professors of the World is thus an important early text that shows Fell helping to establish central tenets of Friends’ theology: Christ as the Inner Light, and Friends as themselves embodying the Second Coming. To support this claim, Fell weaves biblical passages together in a series of arguments: a Christian must build a life on Christ the cornerstone, rather than the sandy and rotten foundation of other sects; a Christian must welcome in the Word as Seed rather than remain a painted sepulcher full of dead men’s bones; a Christian must call upon Christ today to fill himself or herself with this faith, or miss the time of Christ’s coming; a Christian who memorizes scriptures does not understand them without the guiding Light within; a Christian must not be blinded by worldly false priests, and must follow Christ the shepherd or be destroyed by wolves; a Christian must turn to the Light within rather than trust a set of beliefs dictated from outside.

119. Bruyneel, Margaret Fell and the End of Time, 40–41.

40 Introduction In the middle of this pamphlet, Fell prophesies that all other sects or professions will soon be destroyed by “the whirlwind of the Lord,” for such Christians profess faith but live in sin. She then calls to all Christians other than Friends to repent and turn inward to Christ, away from the hypocritical “church without them.” Those who do not repent will be revealed as “thieves and robbers,” who steal the words of scripture but deny the true Light or Word within. Yet there is always hope, because all persons have the potential Seed inside if they will only turn to it. In this pamphlet Fell draws mainly on the language of the gospels and Paul’s epistles, and there are few references to texts other than Isaiah among the Hebrew Scriptures. Perhaps this emphasis on Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Paul suggests that Fell is gauging Christian beliefs against an apostolic standard, urging other sectarians to turn away from their beliefs and emulate the apostles and their modern-day followers, the Society of Friends. As in many of her pamphlets, Fell here draws especially on imagery from the Bible related to women’s experiences. The sinner is like a house “unswept and unclean.” She cites the parable of the woman who loses a piece of silver but doesn’t find it until she starts sweeping her house, and the comparison of heaven to leaven, because a little yeast will soon transform and raise the whole, as when a woman bakes bread. The Christian is invited to “buy wine and milk without money” and to repent before “the day of the Lord … which burns as an oven.” Fell ends her pamphlet by recording a vision. While lying in her bed, she has seen all other sects as rotten houses ready to fall down. Out of pity for those about to be destroyed, she has written this pamphlet, thus aligning herself and other Friends with the biblical apostles and prophets.

A Testimony of the Touchstone for All Professions (1656) Like To All the Professors, A Testimony of the Touchstone for All Professions and All Forms and Gathered Churches is addressed to Christians other than Friends.120 This tract invites members of other Christian sects to turn to their consciences inside them as a touchstone or test of the validity of their faith, and thus to see that their beliefs are wrong and those of the Society of Friends represent the truth. Besides the central Friends’ tenet of Christ as the Inner Light, this tract also proclaims the Second Coming, because “God manifested in the flesh” is “manifested in you.” This pamphlet therefore uses the urgency of millenarianism—the belief that the world may soon end because Christ is coming—to give special force to the arguments that other sectarians should convert to the beliefs of the Friends before it is too late.

120. Bruyneel, Margaret Fell, 40–41.

Introduction 41 Fell uses images of building from the Bible as a running theme for this pamphlet, arguing that other sects are building a Babel, not a true faith, that their house will fall because it is not built on Christ the Rock, because they have refused Christ the Cornerstone. Fell also uses continual contrast between the outer wrong-headed faith of others and the true inner faith of Friends: others are worshiping Diana, not Christ; their supposed righteousness is only dung or rags; they observe outward forms but not the Inner Light; they pretend to receive the Word but slay the prophets and crucify the just; they profess Christ but possess the Devil’s kingdom. Most curious is that large passages of this pamphlet are paraphrases of To All the Professors, many phrases are exactly the same, and most of the scriptures on which To All the Professors is built are repeated in A Testimony of the Touchstone. Both pamphlets argue that other sects “profess a God and a Christ afar off,” that they build on a rotten and sandy foundation, and that they are painted sepulchers. Both pamphlets cite the parables of the woman who lost a piece of silver, and the comparison of heaven to leaven or yeast. Yet overall, these passages and phrases are interspersed with entirely different material. Is one of these pamphlets a draft and the other a revision? Because of the nature of their similarities and differences, we believe that they instead demonstrate Fell’s method of composition using biblical commonplaces. Perhaps both pamphlets were based on an oral testimony that Fell had given more than once in Meetings, so that she had a list of scriptures in her head that she followed in both cases, but “talked” them through or wrote them out in different ways. A Testimony of the Touchstone ends quite differently from To All the Professors, impressing upon its readers, in a series of climactic repeated phrases, that no one owns the truth except those who turn inward to the Light.

A Loving Salutation to the Seed of Abraham among the Jews (1656) Fell begins this pamphlet by addressing Jews through Hebrew scriptural prophecies, arguing that God has punished them because they did not “understand and seek God,” but that God will “raise up the tribes of Jacob and … restore … Israel,” if they “walk in the light of the Lord.”121 Throughout this opening, Fell is actually inviting Jews to become Christians, to join the Society of Friends, but she avoids 121. See Bruyneel, Margaret Fell and the End of Time, 138–40, for a summary of the arguments of A Loving Salutation, and 126 for historical context. Jews had been banished from England for several centuries, although a few lived there without publicly practicing their religion; under Oliver Cromwell, however, overtures were made, and by 1660 a small Jewish community existed in London. Readmission of Jews was seen by Fell as a sign of the Second Coming and the end of time. Friends believed that they were called to convert all people (134). On Fell’s pamphlets addressed to Jews, see Douglas Gwyn, “Quakers, Eschatology, and Time,” in The Oxford Handbook of Quaker Studies, ed. Stephen W. Angell and Pink Dandelion (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), 206.

42 Introduction the term “Christ,” instead using the terms “God” and “Lord” so that her audience will not immediately be put off. She also draws her arguments mainly from the Hebrew rather than the New Testament scriptures, especially Isaiah. She invites the Jewish people to make a new covenant with the Lord in the tradition of David, to follow the Light which will “fulfill the law of Moses,” and to turn to the Lord who offers them spiritual water, wine, and milk “without money.” She promises a gathering of the scattered people and an ending of the “captivity of Israel,” to make them again God’s people. The Light, explains Fell, is “the branch of  …  David” promised to Israel, who will lead the Jewish people “out of bondage,” and write the law on their hearts, but a Light that speaks to all, to Gentile as well as Jew. Since Fell repeatedly explains that salvation comes by turning to the Light within, she is making the argument, tolerant by seventeenth-century standards, that God welcomes Jews to Christian salvation. On the other hand, by modern standards, this pamphlet records an intolerant refusal to see the Jewish religion as a legitimate form of worship of God—for, Fell argues, they must “depart from evil” (the traditional Jewish religion) in order to turn to the Light. Fell is sensitive to her audience—and an exception among Christians of the day—in that she refers positively (although metaphorically) to circumcision and the law. For Fell, however, “the days are past and gone wherein the covenant was written in tables of stone,” a reference to God’s gift of the commandments to Moses and Israel. Without mentioning Christ, then, Fell makes all the traditional Christocentric arguments for reading the Hebrew scriptural prophecies of a leader who will return Jews to God’s favor and the land of Israel as, instead, a promise of Jesus as the Messiah, who offers a new covenant, a covenant promised by Moses, David, and all the prophets. Fell concludes her pamphlet by castigating the Jews for following false prophets, worshiping “graven images,” and refusing to “hearken” to the Lord, and by explaining that God has enlarged his covenant to include all, “Jews and Gentiles”—all who will turn inward to the Light of the Redeemer.

The Examination of Margaret Fell (1663/4)122 Margaret Fell’s trial transcript was published as a tract shortly after she was imprisoned, having been arrested in 1664 for violating the Conventicle Act. The examination was an extended trial that took place in Lancaster on three different days, and before two different judges. On the first day, March 14, 1663/4, Fell appeared before Sir Thomas Twisden, a justice of the King’s Bench,123 and was asked to take the Oath of Allegiance or to pledge not to continue Meetings at Swarthmoor Hall; the text of this section of the trial records Fell’s arguments for liberty of conscience—that 122. On the change from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar, see the section on “Editorial Principles and Practices” later in the introduction. 123. See Halliday, “Twisden (formerly Twysden), Sir Thomas, first baronet (1602–1683),” ODNB.

Introduction 43 she should not be brought before a court for refusing to swear an oath or for refusing to end Meetings at her house, because both are against her conscience. Fell does state her loyalty to the king, and she explains that “for conscience’s sake” she cannot swear and she cannot stop Meetings. This section depends on the stasis of definition: the statute under which she was accused, Fell explains, was intended to cover Papists’ meetings, not Meetings of Friends. Two days later, on March 16, 1663/4, Fell appeared again before Justice Twisden, and again was asked that she either pledge no longer to hold Meetings, or else take the Oath of Allegiance. In this section the text records that Fell accused her neighbors of falsely suggesting that she was disloyal to the king or breaking the peace with her Meetings. When Fell accuses her neighbors, Justice Twisden defensively replies, “I have done you no wrong.” But one of the justices, an associate of Justice Twisden, was Sir Daniel Fleming, a cousin of the Kirkby family who lodged complaints against the Fells.124 Fell further argues the technicalities of legal process rather than the higher appeal she had employed the first day: she hasn’t seen the order that allows her arrest, and she needs to consult others to decide what plea to enter (a consultation denied, but the crowd in the courtroom then shout their advice—“Traverse!”). This section also draws on the stasis of interpretation: she has not been shown the order, and so she doubts that it grants “the justices of the peace power to fetch me from my own house, to tender me the Oath.” The final section of the trial took place before Sir Christopher Turnor, a baron of the exchequer,125 on September 20, 1664, and included sentencing. This final section recapitulates Fell’s earlier arguments about technicalities (what is the charge?) and liberty of conscience. This time, however, she has a counselor (probably her uncle, Matthew Richardson, who was an attorney and frequently gave legal advice to Fell and her daughters).126 The text of this section depends on the stasis of fact: what is “the ground and the cause” that Fell is under indictment; what is the “matter of fact”? Fell doesn’t understand, if she was not arrested during a Meeting, how she can be accused of hosting Meetings. This section notes the presence in the courtroom of the neighbors Fell is accusing of causing her trouble: Col. Richard Kirkby (ca. 1625–1681) and his brother William Kirkby, a justice of the peace. The family at odds with the Fells also includes Richard’s son, Roger Kirkby (ca. 1649–1708).127

124. See C. B. Philips, “Fleming, Sir Daniel (1633–1701),” in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, ed. Lawrence Goldman (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004–), article published September 23, 2004, ; and Glines’s note in Undaunted Zeal, 381. 125. See Stuart Handley, “Turnor, Christopher (1607–1675,” in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, ed. Lawrence Goldman (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004–), article published September 23, 2004, . 126. See Kunze, Margaret Fell and the Rise of Quakerism, 67. 127. See Glines’s notes in Undaunted Zeal, 335, 361, 364, and 442.

44 Introduction While many biographers and historians take The Examination as a factual transcript,128 like many such trial records by dissenters, Fell’s record of her trial was very much shaped by her own rhetorical ends.129 The genre of the examination requires that the victim of persecution demonstrate her faith and her courage, but also that she appear more knowledgeable about the Bible and even the law than her legal and official persecutors. Thus rhetorical irony allows such accounts to tell the stories not of victims, but of heroes. Consequently, we should read The Examination with an appreciation for the ironies that Fell constructs around this contest. For example, at one point, Fell records Judge Twisden, exasperated, as shouting, “You are not here for obedience to Christ’s commands, but for keeping unlawful meetings.” In The Examination, Fell demonstrates steadfastness to her faith and unwillingness to compromise her beliefs in order to be released from court and prison. The text details that four of Fell’s daughters accompanied her, symbolizing a wider network of family of Friends on trial, but the presiding judge orders her daughter to move away from the bar where Fell awaited trial. Fell’s responses to her questioners reveal her to be an excellent rhetorician and experienced debater. She consistently denies wrongdoing, and, as Glines notes, Judge Twisden’s patience quickly wears thin.130 Fell defends her position and actions through reference to those with authority and influence chiefly by citing the king’s promise that Fell may keep her faith in her home. Not only does Fell boldly direct the court’s attention to one of the most powerful men in England, but she also uses his words to justify holding Meetings in her house. Fell establishes for the court her connection to some of the most powerful figures in England, but ultimately through her testimony argues that those with earthly power and their laws cannot compete with God, who “hath commanded [Fell] not to swear at all, neither by Heaven, nor by Earth, nor by any other oath.” Fell’s testimony also highlights two other features common to her epistles: she quotes from the Bible in constructing her argument, and she openly addresses her position as a woman. Fell’s biblical references during her examination provide further credence to our argument that she quotes the Bible from memory in her writing, and they provide further context to the ways in which she uses the Bible 128. See, for example, the summary of Fell’s trial in Ingle, First Among Friends, 218. 129. The Examination is excerpted in Fell, Undaunted Zeal, ed. Glines, 386–71; and a portion in Autobiographical Writings by Early Quaker Women, edited by David Booy (Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2004), 155–60; Booy argues that the tract was co-authored by Fell and George Fox (155). The publication of notes on trials for heresy, often smuggled out of prison, was an important genre of Protestant writing in England from the sixteenth century on; most pertinent to Fell’s work are those of Anne Askew (1546 and 1547, and also in John Foxe’s Actes and Monuments, 1563); see The Examinations of Anne Askew, ed. Elaine V. Beilin (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996). On Friends’ use of the genre of the examination, see Peters, Print Culture and the Early Quakers, 204. 130. Glines, ed., Undaunted Zeal, 368.

Introduction 45 as a constant frame of reference, internalizing it as consistent with her theology of the Inner Light. In acknowledging her position as a widow and mother, Fell implicitly seeks a sympathetic response, particularly since she states her financial position as a widow with five daughters “unpreferred”131 right before her address to the jury. Interestingly, Fell begins her address to the jury with these words: “Friends, I am here this day upon the account of my conscience, and not for any evil or wrong done to any man.” Her use of “Friends” should be read as a pun to indicate not only those who would view her kindly but also those who may share her religious affiliation. Furthermore, her address stipulates that she has not done wrong to “any man.” While masculine pronouns were used to refer to all people more broadly in the seventeenth century, Fell’s writings indicate that she is more likely to use gender-neutral plurals when referring to both men and women. Since Fell would be speaking to an all-male jury, her choice of words resonates as particularly personalized. Justice Twisden attempts to give Fell ways to avoid a prison sentence, and Justice Turnor allows Fell a Writ of Error to appeal her conviction and loss of property. But Fell’s striking emotional appeal to the court citing on-going complaints by Friends that the prisons were not “fit for people to lie in” is central to the conclusion of The Examination. The prisons are crowded, damp and cold, and lack sufficient bedding so that some prisoners must sleep on the floor. In this appeal for the health and comfort of other prisoners, although Fell is sharing their suffering, we can see one way Fell earned the title of “Mother of Quakerism.”

A Letter Sent to the King (1666) Fell’s letter to Charles II shows her to be politically engaged and unafraid to confront the king himself. Fell makes clear in her closing signature that she writes to Charles from prison, and alternates between admonishing him for the injustices faced by dissenters (which includes her own experiences) and advising him how to govern.132 In The Letter Fell bases her arguments not only on biblical explication but also on legal evidence and precedents, perhaps a reflection of her many years as the wife of a judge. More so than in The Examination, then, The Letter provides a view of Fell as politically active.133 131. Unmarried and uncontracted. Fell is making a legal argument about the nature of her financial obligations: the state cannot take her estate to punish her because a portion of the estate is already owed to each daughter for a future dowry. 132. Glines, ed., Undaunted Zeal, 390–95, dates The Letter as August 6, 1666, using an earlier manuscript copy as the basis of her text, but adding additional text from Fell’s A Brief Collection, the text we follow. Glines acknowledges that the text in A Brief Collection is a later, more finished version. 133. See Peters, Print Culture and the Early Quakers, 210: “The culmination of such a concerted effort [of pamphleteering] at local level was the emergence of a Quaker lobby addressed to the national governments.”

46 Introduction Fell’s overarching claim is that God punishes rulers for injustice to their people, and that the “righteous eye of the Almighty” has seen the inequitable treatment of Friends and other dissenters, simply for following “the consciences of God’s people.” As evidence, Fell cites the “governors before you, and how the Lord had overthrown them,” referring mainly to Oliver Cromwell, who led Puritan armies to victory over Charles’s father, but whose son Charles II replaced when he was called back by Parliament and restored to his throne. Fell interprets recent events as further punishment from God, “pestilence and sword”—referring to the Great Plague of London in 1665–1666 and the Second Anglo-Dutch War in 1665–1667. At the end of her letter, evoking even more fear of God’s punishment, Fell reminds Charles that all people must die and face the prospect of having “the door of mercy be shut against” them. Fell reminds Charles of his responsibility for the persecution of Friends, pointing out that he promised in the Declaration of Breda to support religious toleration, but that the laws passed during his reign “have laid oppression and bondage” on his subjects, instead. Here Fell is referring to two parliamentary acts: the Quaker Act of 1662, which criminalized the refusal to take the Oath of Allegiance, an oath no Friend could take since they refused all oaths, and the Conventicle Act of 1664, which forbad private meetings.134 As do most contemporary historians, however, Fell recognizes that, despite Charles’s intentions, Parliament often overruled him on this question. Fell phrases this accommodation as the traditional argument that the King’s “wrong counselors,” not the King himself, caused this injustice, citing the Chief Justice of England135 who declared that it was a crime “to worship God,” warning Charles not to listen to his bishops, and in her conclusion, appealing to Charles’s good intentions: “I know it hath been often in thy heart to perform [the covenant].” Fell personalizes her argument by pointing to her own suffering, “in prison for three long winters, in a place not fit for people to lie in,” and by highlighting the deaths of many other Friends because of the harsh conditions of English prisons. She admonishes the king for not acknowledging Friends’ loyalty, even though Friends from the beginning of Charles’s reign have explained in person and in missives their peaceful and loyal intentions. Fell reminds Charles that she herself visited him shortly after his return (in May 1660), and indeed, over her lifetime,

134. On April 4, 1660, Charles II issued the Declaration of Breda, which announced religious toleration for all peaceful sects. The Conventicle Act of 1664, re-enacted in 1670, declared conventicles and unauthorized meetings for worship illegal; a third conviction could lead to a sentence of banishment. The Quaker Act of 1662 pronounced Meetings illegal and authorized deportation for repeated offenses. See Richard C. Allen, “Restoration Quakerism, 1660–1691,” in The Oxford Handbook of Quaker Studies, ed. Stephen W. Angell and Pink Dandelion (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), 30–31. 135. Probably Sir Robert Foster (1589–1663).

Introduction 47 Fell made ten visits to London, often meeting with Charles or other members of the royal family (and later James II) to argue for Friends’ release from prison.136 This epistle attempts to convince the king that Friends are his sincere and loyal subjects, that Fell is “a true lover of all your souls (though a sufferer by you).” While this letter and many other of Fell’s petitions did have some effect in release of Friends from prison, the effect was never lasting. For example, in 1684, when Fell was seventy, local officials arrived at Swarthmoor Hall to force Fell to put an end to Meetings there. She was fined £100 and two dozen of her cattle were confiscated. She and her then-husband George Fox traveled to London once again to petition Charles. The king’s inconsistent responses to the persecution of dissenters had encouraged hope and sometimes resulted in release from jail, but had failed to protect Friends from frequent fines and imprisonment.137

Women’s Speaking Justified, Proved, and Allowed of by the Scriptures (1666–67) Written while Fell was in prison for holding Meetings at Swarthmoor Hall, Women’s Speaking Justified defends women’s speaking out for their religion and argues that women are not forbidden by God from testifying. While in general scholarship treats this pamphlet as a defense of women’s preaching, the Society of Friends did not use preaching from a pulpit, although their members and leaders often spoke at length at Meetings. Bruyneel argues that this tract is addressed not only to Friends, but to all dissenters, and supposes that Fell would have talked to other Protestant dissenters in prison with her and was responding to some of their beliefs in this pamphlet.138 Indeed, Women’s Speaking Justified was not the first pamphlet by Friends to argue in favor of allowing women an equal voice in the church. Teresa Feroli suggests that George Fox’s Concerning Sons and Daughters (1661) strongly influenced Fell’s pamphlet, but that Fell “celebrates women preachers themselves,” rather than men’s support of women.139 Peters cites four pamphlets before Fell’s: Richard Farnworth’s A Woman Forbidden to Speak in the Church (London, 1654), Ann Audland and others’ The Saints Testimony Finishing through Suffering (London, 1655), Priscilla Cotton and Mary Cole’s To the Priests and People of England (London, 1655), and Fox’s.140 But Bruyneel points out that

136. See Kunze, Margaret Fell and the Rise of Quakerism, 37 and ixx–xvi. 137. See Ingle, First among Friend, 278. 138. Bruyneel, Margaret Fell and the End of Time, 153. 139. Teresa Feroli, Political Speaking Justified: Women Prophets and the English Revolution (Newark: University of Delaware Press, 2006), 164. 140. See Peters, Print Culture and the Early Quakers, 129–42, for summaries of all four pamphlets.

48 Introduction Fell had already started developing her arguments much earlier, as can be seen in a private letter written in 1652.141 Fell supports her defense of women’s preaching through a series of scriptural arguments. She argues that God created men and women “in his own image, and makes no such distinctions and differences as men do.”142 Previous arguments against women’s preaching had used Eve’s transgression to place her as inferior to men, and so unworthy to preach. Fell offers an interpretation that sees Eve’s transgression as a benefit: as a result of her fall and repentance, God put enmity between woman and the serpent (the devil), and so women must speak out to counter the voice of the serpent.143 Moreover, Fell suggests the Bible represents the Church as a woman, indicating that women are a God-ordained part of the Church. Furthermore, Jesus spoke directly to women, and with his words to Mary Magdalene (Mark 16:9–11, John 20:10–18), humanity received the message of his resurrection from a woman who came to his tomb. A large section of the pamphlet is devoted to Paul’s cautions in the Bible in 1 Corinthians 14 and 1 Timothy 2 that women should keep silent in church. Fell reinterprets Paul by suggesting that it is not all women who cannot speak and who should learn from their husbands, but only women in confusion, under the old law, who have not seen the Light. She also points out that Paul is inconsistent, since he talks elsewhere of women praying and prophesying.144 141. See Bruyneel, Margaret Fell and the End of Time, 148, and Letter 59 in Glines’s edition of Fell’s letters, Undaunted Zeal, 206–8. 142. See also Schofield, “Women’s Speaking,” 61: Fell “argues that the Inner Light could be present to women as well as men.” Marilyn Serraino Luecke suggests that Fell sees woman as “justified not through the power of her body to procreate, but through the power of her intellect to understand and communicate the truth”; see Luecke, “ ‘God hath made no difference such as men would’: Margaret Fell and the Politics of Speech,” Bunyan Studies 7 (1997): 73–95, with the quotation on pp. 80–81. 143. See Dailey, “The Husbands of Margaret Fell,” 62–63: “No other radical group produced such a text. Luther and the Anabaptists had argued for female subordination on the basis of original sin (Eve’s seduction). Calvin’s innovation was to locate the ontology of women’s inferior status in the act of Creation itself. Fell dismissed these arguments and emphasized the ‘enmity’ God had placed between the ‘seed’ of the woman and that of the serpent.” 144. See Elaine Hobby’s “Handmaids of the Lord and Mothers in Israel: Early Vindications of Quaker Women’s Prophecy,” Prose Studies 17, no. 3 (1994): 89–90, which suggests that if we look at Quaker pamphlets preceding Fell’s, we can see that her argument in Women’s Speaking Justified is conservative, not radical in its claim that only some women can speak. Peters, in Print Culture and the Early Quakers, 150, also sees Fell’s argument as conservative; see, moreover, Christine Trevett, Quaker Women Prophets in England and Wales, 1650–1700 (Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 2000), 38–39, on Women’s Speaking Justified as not feminist. But Raymond, Pamphlets and Pamphleteering, 317, argues that critics calling Fell’s treatise conservative do not appreciate the ingenuity of her reading of Paul’s command for women to be silent in light of the preceding passage on women’s dress, so in Fell’s view, only immodestly dressed women, women under the old Law, should be silent. Thickstun, in “Writing the Spirit,” 270–72, argues that Fell privileges “continuing revelation” within the individual

Introduction 49 Besides placing Paul’s words in historical context, Fell also situates the current state of the world in her view of its historical import. Because the world is experiencing the Second Coming, Fell argues, there is a new “free woman,” for Christ “is coming down from heaven” to bring “freedom and liberty, and perfect redemption.” In her current age, according to Fell, Jesus is manifesting himself “without respect of persons,” so the rule of male dominance no longer applies. In her “Further Addition” at the end of the pamphlet, Fell returns to Paul again, then gives examples of women in the Bible who were prophets or preachers: Aquila and Priscilla, Deborah, Huldah, Sarah, Miriam, Hannah, Elizabeth to Mary, the Queen of Sheba, Esther, and Judith. She concludes her tract by arguing that the challenge to women’s right to preach comes mainly from “blind priests” who use women’s words from the scriptures as their text, but then deny women the right to speak about religion. Here Fell is drawing on English anti-Catholic biases, and garnering sympathy from other dissenters for the restrictions on preaching imposed by the Church of England—whose priests, according to Fell, are as bad as the Catholics in their treatment of women.

The Daughter of Zion Awakened (1677) In her final published pamphlet, The Daughter of Zion Awakened, Fell explains that the Second Coming is happening now: God, through his son, is redeeming “his whole body, which is his Church,” that is, causing a radical conversion of people across “nations, kindreds, peoples, tongues, and languages” so that Christ lives again, embodied in his Church. Throughout the pamphlet, Fell evokes the motif of the Church as a woman, and now the “Daughter of Zion Awakened,” continuing her use of images of women and domestic tasks to uphold women’s involvement in the movement.

believer “over Pauline injunctions.” In “ ‘This was a Woman that taught’: Feminist Scriptural Exegesis in the Seventeenth Century,” Studies in Eighteenth-Century Culture 21 (1992), 152, Thickstun sees that Fell’s reinterpretation of Paul depends on situating Paul’s commands in the historical context of early church politics, and comparing other sections of the Bible, especially other passages from Paul’s epistles, to those that forbid women’s speech. Christina Luckyj places Fell’s interpretation of Paul on women’s silence in a history of early modern women’s deployment of silence and responses to Paul: see “A Moving Rhetoricke”: Gender and Silence in Early Modern England (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2002), 121–24. For an early Lutheran woman’s use of arguments very similar to Fell’s in her reading of Paul, in order to justify her own speaking out in support of a university student punished for Lutheran ideas, see Argula von Grumbach, “The Account of a Christian Woman of the Bavarian Nobility Whose Open Letter, with Arguments Based on Divine Scripture, Criticizes the University of Ingolstadt for Compelling a Young Follower of the Gospel to Contradict the Word of God” (1523), in Argula von Grumbach: A Woman’s Voice in the Reformation, ed. and trans. Peter Matheson (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1995), 72–91.

50 Introduction Fell rehearses the history of the fall and the long process of redemption told in the Bible, interpreting it as a long contest between good and evil, the Son of Man (Christ) and the Serpent (the Devil). Thus, “the precious seed hath actually suffered and been oppressed all along by the wicked seed of the Serpent.” And this process is repeated in each sinner: “The just and the pure principle of the living God suffers in every heart, who is … under the power of the prince of darkness … in spiritual Sodom, and spiritual Egypt, and spiritual Babylon.” Having shown the history of destruction suffered by humans, Fell then reviews biblical passages offering hope: “Greater is he that is in us, than he that is in this world”—Christ the Light inside is greater than Satan, and Christ has come to save all. Fell draws not only on the prophets of the Hebrew Scriptures, showing how Christ has fulfilled their prophecies, but also on the mystical metaphors of Revelation, showing how the “Dragon” foretold to appear at the end of time is currently enacting the persecution of God’s people, the “Elect” in the Friends’ sense of “those who have faith in God.” Satan, or the Serpent/Dragon, cannot deceive the “Elect.” As Fell exults, those who are “built upon the Rock, Christ Jesus, … cannot be shaken.” Fell’s style in this final pamphlet is prophetic as she celebrates her faith and that of the Society of Friends, and she draws on the poetic images in the Bible that express such faith and hope: “the holy city, New Jerusalem, is coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride for her husband, having the glory of God; and her light is like a jasper-stone, most precious, clear as a crystal, which shines forth in its glory, and clearly makes manifest the power and body of spiritual darkness.” Those Christians outside the Society of Friends, who have not turned to the Light inside, Fell admonishes, are “decked and trimmed with the saints’ words, professing Christ and the scriptures without them, in a dark spirit.” They are “that spirit of antichrist.” But at this moment at the end of time, “the Lord is coming to gather his Elect … and command they all stand up together.” They have been called, as Fell feels herself called, to preach: “to open the blind eyes, and to unstop the deaf ears, and to cause the tongue of the dumb to sing …. and to make the prisoners of hope to rejoice, that have so long lain in the pit.” This last image must have been especially significant to all those Friends who spent years in prison for their faith. In one section, Fell reprises her arguments in her pamphlets addressed to the Jewish people: the “wall of separation between Jews and Gentiles” is down.145 This section thus supports the argument of the pamphlet that the end of time is 145. According to Glines, ed., Undaunted Zeal, 255, The Daughter of Zion Awakened is addressed to the Jews. We see no indication of this. Bruyneel, in Margaret Fell and the End of Time, 53–54, instead regards this pamphlet as a summary of Fell’s theology in general, especially through its many metaphors for the people of God. Dailey, in “The Husbands of Margaret Fell,” 63, points out that in this pamphlet, the bridal imagery represents the contemporary gift of grace that indicates the Second Coming is now, that, as The Daughter of Zion Awakened says, “all [are] one in Christ Jesus.”

Introduction 51 now, since the conversion of the Jews was held by most Christians to be a necessary step toward the Second Coming. Of interest in this tract is how Fell uses gendered metaphors that reflect both positive and negative associations with women. Fell uses the phrase “daughter of Zion” to refer to Israel as sinning, a move that she reinforces by mentioning the sin of Eve. Yet Fell refers to the “drawing of Adam and Eve into disobedience” by yoking Adam with Eve whenever possible, thus minimizing the rhetoric of the earlier Church Fathers that had focused on the Fall as woman’s folly. Fell’s complicated references to women continue when she blends Eve from Genesis with the woman clothed with the sun from Revelation: “So this enmity, that God hath put between the serpent and the woman, there is no reconciling of it; for where there is any part of the serpent’s seed or spirit, it is smiting and striking at the woman, and condemning her weakness. For when the woman, being with child, cried and travailed146 in birth, pained to be delivered, then behold the great red Dragon appeared, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his head; and the Dragon stood before the woman, which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.” While Eve is seen as suffering, and frequently blamed for the fall of humankind, Fell redeems Eve by pairing her through association with the woman clothed with the sun, who also faces hardships but whom “God always provided for.” Fell links these two biblical women, one from the Hebrew Scriptures, the other from the New Testament, through the connecting symbol of the serpent. This tract highlights Fell’s biblical knowledge and her ability to build an argument through almost entirely biblical paraphrase. This final pamphlet seems much more intentionally rhetorical: “His Word is at work, his Spirit is at work, his Power and Light is at work, his Grace and truth is at work.” In her concluding section, Fell surveys the many prophetic and poetic descriptions of God and his Son in the Bible: “that pure river of the water of life,” “the light of lights, perfection of perfections, glory of glories,” “that Tree of Life.” And Fell reiterates the equality of women with men in her vision of the reign of Christ: there is “no difference in this work between male and female, but they are all one in Christ Jesus, whose faith and belief stands in his name and power, who are sanctified and cleansed.” This final pamphlet sums up the main tenets of Fell’s and Friends’ beliefs, but also presents an exultant picture of the “glorious Church” they have built. Fell urges her people to stand firm, “to keep to the true testimony of God in their own hearts.”

Afterlife of the Texts Fell’s pamphlets, epistles, and autobiographical writings were popular during her lifetime, but we have found no editions of the works in this volume—after 146. “Travailed” means “labored.”

52 Introduction the posthumous publication of A Brief Collection in 1710—until the nineteenth century, when a few collections of excerpts from her works were published by Friends’ presses. Beginning in the late 1970s, however, with the development of women’s studies, there has been a revival of interest in Fell, and most popular has been her defense of women’s preaching, Women’s Speaking Justified—or, as many Friends’ editions retitle it, Women’s Ministry Justified. At least thirteen editions of this text have appeared between 1979 and 2010. (See bibliography on “Works by Margaret Fell” at end of our volume.)

Editorial Principles and Practices The aim of this volume is to provide selections of Margaret Fell’s rhetoric and religious exhortations in a modern-spelling edition for use by students, general readers, and scholars, and to map for readers the outlines of Fell’s writing and cultural world. Fell’s works offer a rich resource for those interested in religious literature, gender studies, or the early modern period, but given that many of her tracts bear references and phrasing unique to the early days of the Society of Friends, first-time readers of Fell may find her work difficult or inaccessible. We offer key texts by Fell while providing syntactical clarity, regularized spelling, and sufficient explanatory footnotes. Our hope is that our edition will enlarge readers’ views of women writers from the seventeenth century, and encourage increased research and scholarship on both Fell and her circle. Our edition does not preserve early modern spelling, and we also do not note all variants; such a standard edition of Fell’s works would be a boon to scholars as Fell becomes an increasingly studied literary and historical figure. A good start on editing the Fell corpus has been made by Elsa F. Glines’s Undaunted Zeal: The Letters of Margaret Fell, which includes all of Fell’s letters surviving in manuscript copies, but not the public printed epistles we publish here. Our edition of Margaret Fell: Women’s Speaking Justified and Other Pamphlets is based on the Folger Shakespeare Library copy of Margaret Fell’s A Brief Collection of Remarkable Passages and Occurrences Relating to the Birth, Education, Life, Conversion, Travels, Services, and Deep Sufferings of … Margaret Fell (1710), published shortly after her death, and generally accepted as the standard edition for Fell’s works. Since we started this edition together at the University of Maryland close to Washington, D.C., we were able to consult the Folger’s collection of Fell’s individual tracts, comparing the early publications of A Loving Salutation to the Seed of Abraham among the Jews (1656), The Examination of Margaret Fell, before Judge Twisden (1663/4), and both the 1666 and 1667 editions of Women’s Speaking Justified147 to the texts in A Brief Collection. In addition, 147. Margaret Fell, A Loving Salutation to the Seed of Abraham among the Jewes … (London, 1656); The Examination of Margaret Fell, before Judge Twisden … (London, 1663/4); Women’s Speaking Justified,

Introduction 53 Professor Lush has further compared to the base text digital copies from the Huntington Library of A Testimonie of the Touchstone (1656) and The Daughter of Sion Awakened (1677), and Professor Donawerth used a scanned copy from the Library Company of Philadelphia to compare to A Letter Sent to the King from M.F. (1666), as well as the Harvard copy on microfilm of A Loving Salutation (1660), for annotations.148 While there are copies of all the pamphlets (except these last two) in Early English Books Online (EEBO), we have not used these for our base text, and only the two Huntington copies used for annotations are the same as the ones in EEBO. There are remarkably few differences between the pamphlets and A Brief Collection, and so we have not detailed small variances among editions in our annotations to the texts from the Collection, especially since we have modernized spelling and punctuation in any case. We have recorded the notable differences in our notes. Older letter forms (such as the use of i/j, u/v, and vv/w) have been silently regularized, and spelling adjusted to conform to modern American usage. Whether by Fell or by the printer, the punctuation of the original texts often results in long sentence fragments that would be difficult for a modern reader to follow, so we have, when possible, modernized punctuation. We have, however, retained most of the early modern and characteristically Quaker verb and pronoun forms because Fell’s style is deliberately biblical and archaic, written for a seventeenth-century audience. We have modernized a few verbs that would be difficult for a modern reader to understand; for example, we have regularized “sitten” to “sat,” but left unchanged verbs such as “goest” and “talketh,” and pronouns such as “thee” and “thou,” since those are hallmarks of Fell’s Quaker style. We have also spelled out contractions and abbreviations: “hearest” for “hearst,” for example, “Mistress” for “Mrs.,” and “Fox” for “F.” Our greatest difficulty was deciding on capitalization. Writers and printers capitalized nouns and other words, sometimes to highlight their importance, but often for no discernible reason. Also, given that we were using printed texts from the period as our sources, and not manuscripts, discerning Fell’s capitalization choices from those of her printer was nearly impossible. We decided to regularize the varied religious titles for Christ and God and references to the Society of Friends by capitalization, since many are capitalized in the original: thus, “Light,” “Seed,” “Power,” “Word,” when they refer to a spiritual power, “Friend” to indicate Proved and Allowed of by the Scriptures … (London, 1666); a facsimile edition of Women’s Speaking Justified, Proved and Allowed of by the Scriptures … (1667), introd. David J. Latt, (Los Angeles: William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, UCLA, 1979). 148. Margaret Fell, A Testimonie of the Touch-stone  …  (London, 1656); The Daughter of Sion Awakened  …  (London, 1677); A Letter Sent to the King from M.F. Here is also Thereunto Annexed a Paper Written unto the Magistrates in 1664 … (London, 1666); A Loving Salutation to the Seed of Abraham among the Jewes … (London, 1660).

54 Introduction a member of the Society of Friends, and “Meeting” to designate a religious service. Otherwise, we have used modern rules for upper- and lower-case letters. Italics in Fell’s texts were already fairly regular in use. We have deleted italics from biblical names (such as “Isaiah” or “Anna”), since the printer italicized names only at times. We have left the long passages of italicized words, however, because they are all lengthy quotations or close paraphrases of the Bible. We have not added italics for all the biblical quotations missed by the printer, choosing instead to annotate them in the footnotes. We have added quotation marks for reported speech where they would be used in a modern text, unless the words are part of a biblical quotation which does not use quotation marks in the Bible. Finally, the footnotes to our edition make note of some idiosyncratic practices within the Society of Friends regarding dates and months of the calendar year. Friends started the calendar with March, not January, a practice they shared with many early modern writers, but Friends also refused to call days and months by names that came from pagan gods, using instead numerical titles. Some tracts and epistles also utilize a backslash dating system which reflects the existence of competing calendar models within seventeenth-century England: the Julian or Old Style, used by Fell, and the Gregorian or New Style. In 1752 the Gregorian calendar became the official timekeeping method for England and its colonies. We have clarified in footnotes the year and month for today’s readers when necessary.

A RELATION OF Margaret Fell, Her Birth, Life, Testimony, and Sufferings for the Lord’s Everlasting Truth in Her Generation— Given forth by herself, as followeth, Viz.1 I was born in the year 1614, at Marsh Grange in the parish of Dalton-in-Furness in Lancashire,2 of good and honest parents, and of honorable repute in their country. My father’s name was John Askew; he was of an ancient family, of those esteemed and called gentlemen, who left a considerable estate, which had been in his name and family for several generations.3 He was a pious, charitable man, much valued in his country4 for his moderation and patience, and was bred after the best way and manner of persons of his rank in his day. I was brought up and lived with my father until I was between seventeen and eighteen years of age, and then I was married unto Thomas Fell of Swarthmoor,5 who was a barrister-at-law at Gray’s Inn, who afterwards was a justice of the Quorum in his country, a member of parliament in several parliaments, vice-chancellor of the County Palatine of Lancaster, chancellor of the Duchy Court at Westminster, and one of the judges that went the circuit of Westchester, and North Wales.6 He was much esteemed in his country, and valued and honored in his day by all sorts of people for his justice, wisdom, moderation, and mercy, being a terror to evil-doers, and an encourager of such as did well, and his many and great services 1. Abbreviation for the Latin word “videlicet,” which means “that is to say.” 2. Located in the northwestern part of England, Dalton-in-Furness was in Fell’s day part of Lancashire, in a section now part of Cumbria. 3. Fell inherited £6,000 upon the death of her father, a considerable sum for the period. See Helen G. Crosfield, Margaret Fox of Swarthmoor Hall (London: Headley Brothers, 1913), 4. 4. Fell’s usage of “country” reflects an older definition that indicates a region, such as a county, as opposed to a nation. 5. Fell spells her estate “Swarthmore” in this pamphlet; seventeenth-century spelling was not yet standardized. 6. Thomas Fell (bap. 1599, d. 1658), Margaret Fell’s first husband, was a lawyer who also served as a judge for the Chester and North Wales circuit and vice-chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster. A “barrister-at-law” is the formal title in the English legal system for a lawyer who pleads causes in the courtroom. In 1623, Thomas Fell joined Gray’s Inn (an association of lawyers, one of the four Inns of Court located in London). The “Quorum” was a select body of justices of the peace from a given county. See Sean Kelsey, “Fell, Thomas (bap. 1599, d. 1658),” ODNB; and Glines’s note in Undaunted Zeal, 17.

55

56 MARGARET FELL made his death much lamented. We lived together twenty-six years, in which time we had nine children. He was a tender, loving husband to me, and a tender father to his children, and one that sought after God in the best way that was made known to him. I was about sixteen years younger than he, and was one that sought after the best things, being desirous to serve God, so as I might be accepted of him; and was inquiring after the way of the Lord, and went often to hear the best ministers that came into our parts, whom we frequently entertained at our house, many of those that were accounted the most serious and godly men, some of which were then called lecturing-ministers, and had often prayers and religious exercises in our family. This I hoped I did well in, but often feared I was short of the right way. And after this manner I was inquiring and seeking about twenty years. Then, in the year 1652, it pleased the Lord in his infinite mercy and goodness to send George Fox7 into our country, who declared unto us the Eternal Truth, as it is in Jesus, and by the Word and Power of the Eternal God, turned many from darkness unto light, and from the power of Satan unto God, and when I and my children, and a great part of our servants were so convinced8 and converted unto God, at which time my husband was not at home, being gone to London. When he came home and found us the most part of the family changed from our former principle and persuasion which he left us in when he went from home, he was much surprised at our sudden change. For some envious people of our neighbors went and met him upon the sands9 as he was coming home and informed him that we had entertained such men as had taken us off from going to Church,10 which he was very much concerned at, so that when he came home, he seemed much troubled. And it so happened that Richard Farnworth11 and some other Friends12 (that came into our parts a little time after G. Fox13) were then at 7. Considered the founder of the Religious Society of Friends, George Fox (1624–1691), who was married to Fell in 1669, many years after her first husband’s death, was a famous itinerant preacher. He traveled throughout England and English colonies in North America and the West Indies, and ministered to Native Americans, as well. Like his wife, Fox also spent time in prison for his faith and his refusal to take the Oath of Allegiance. See H. Larry Ingle, “Fox, George (1624–1691),” ODNB. 8. Converted. 9. A crossing between Lancaster and Ulverston at Morecambe Bay. 10. The Church of England. 11. A preacher and writer for the Society of Friends who sometimes accompanied George Fox, and was a correspondent with Margaret Fell. To see Fox, Farnworth traveled to Swarthmoor Hall, Fell’s home, in 1652. In 1655, in A Woman Forbidden to Speak in the Church, he argued that the Spirit spoke through women as well as men. See Richard L. Greaves, “Farnworth, Richard (1630–1666),” in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, ed. Lawrence Goldman (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004–), article published September 23, 2004, . 12. The term that Quakers use to refer to one another. As noted in the introduction, their branch of Christianity is known as “the Society of Friends.” 13. George Fox. Fell frequently abbreviates Fox’s name in this way throughout the piece.

A Relation of Margaret Fell, Her Birth, Life, Testimony, and Sufferings 57 our house when my husband came home; and they discoursed with him, and did persuade him to be still and weigh things, before he did anything hastily, and his spirit was something calmed. At night G. Fox spoke so powerfully and convincingly that the witness of God in his [Thomas Fell’s] conscience answered that he [Fox] spoke truth; and he [Thomas Fell] was then so far convinced in his mind that it was truth that he willingly let us have a Meeting14 in his house the next first day15 after, which was the first public Meeting that was at Swarthmoor. But he and his men went to the Steeple-House16 (our Meetings being kept at Swarthmoor about thirty-eight years, until a new Meeting House was built by G. Fox’s order and cost near Swarthmoor Hall), and so, through the good power and word of God, the truth increased in the countries all about us, and many came in and were convinced, and we kept our Meetings peaceably every first day at Swarthmoor Hall, the residue of the time of his life. And he [Thomas Fell] became a kind of friend to Friends,17 and to the practicers of truth upon every occasion, as he had opportunity. For he being a magistrate was instrumental to keep off much persecution in this country, and in other places where he had any power. He lived about six years after I was convinced, in which time it pleased the Lord to visit him with sickness, wherein he became more than usually loving and kind to our Friends called Quakers, having been a merciful man to the Lord’s people. I and many other Friends were well satisfied the Lord in mercy received him to himself. It was in the beginning of the 8th month,18 1658 that he died, being about sixty years of age. He left one son and seven daughters, all unpreferred,19 but left a good and competent estate for them. And in the year 1660, King Charles II came into England, and within two weeks after, I was moved of the Lord to go to London to speak to the king concerning the truth and the sufferers for it, for there was then many hundreds of our Friends in prison in the three nations, of England, Scotland, and Ireland, which 14. A term used by Friends for religious services. 15. The term used by Friends for Sunday, a practice derived from Mark 16:2. Friends used numbers to refer to the days of the week and the months to avoid names based on pagan gods. 16. A term used by Friends to refer to the formerly Roman Catholic, then Church of England parish church with a steeple. Judge Fell and his servants attended Anglican services. 17. Thomas Fell himself did not convert, but did permit the Society of Friends to meet in his home. Margaret Fell’s wordplay suggests that her husband was in spirit a Friend. 18. October, according to the calendar followed by the Society of Friends. 19. Fell seems to imply that her husband did not privilege any one of his children over the others in his estate. Kunze states that Thomas Fell’s will left an equal share of his “personal and real property” to all of his daughters; see Margaret Fell and the Rise of Quakerism, 43. “Unpreferred” could also mean that the children were underage, but, given Thomas Fell’s death in 1658, this would apply only to the younger daughters: Sarah, Mary, Susannah, and Rachel.

58 MARGARET FELL were put in by the former powers.20 And I spoke often with the king, and wrote many letters and papers unto him, and many books were given by our Friends to the parliament, and great service was done at that time. And they were fully informed of our peaceable principles and practices. I stayed at London at this time one year and three months, doing service for the Lord, in visiting Friends’ Meetings, and giving papers and letters to the king and council whenever there was occasion. And I wrote and gave papers and letters to every one of the family several times, viz. to the king, to the duke of York, to the duke of Gloucester, and to the queen mother, to the princess of Orange, and to the queen of Bohemia.21 I was moved of the Lord to visit them all, and to write unto them, and to lay the truth before them, and did give them many books and papers, and did lay our principles and doctrines before them, and desired that they would let us have discourse with their priests, preachers, and teachers, and if they could prove us erroneous, then let them manifest it. But if our principles and doctrines be sound according to the doctrine of Christ, and the apostles and saints in primitive times, then let us have our liberty. But we could never get a meeting of any sort of them to meet with our Friends. Nevertheless, they were very quiet, and we had great liberty, and had our Meetings very peaceably for the first half year after the king came in, until the Fifth Monarchy Men22 raised an insurrection and tumult in the city of London,23 and then all our Meetings were disturbed, and Friends taken up, which if that had not been, we were informed the king had intended to give us liberty. For at that very time, there was an order signed by the king and council for the Quaker’s 20. Charles II reigned over England, Scotland, and Ireland from 1660 until his death in 1685. His return, known as “the Restoration,” signaled the end of the Commonwealth of England, established at the end of the British Civil Wars. See Paul Seward, “Charles II (1630–1685),” in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, ed. Lawrence Goldman (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004–), article published September 23, 2004, . 21. The duke of York (1633–1701) is the younger brother of Charles II. The duke of Gloucester is Henry (1640–1660), the younger brother of both Charles II and James. The queen mother is Henrietta Maria (1609–1669), widow of Charles I. The princess of Orange is Mary (1631–1660), sister of Charles II and James. The queen of Bohemia is Elizabeth (1596–1662), the daughter of James I and the aunt of Charles II. In sum, Fell is writing to the key members of the most powerful family in England. 22. A nonconformist millenarian sect of the seventeenth century whose members believed the Second Coming of Christ was at hand. The group’s name derives from Daniel 2:39–44, a passage prophesying that Nebuchadnezzar II’s kingdom would be followed by three more, then a fifth that would last forever, which later Christians took to mean Christ’s kingdom. These dissenters were not pacifists. 23. Fell most likely refers to an event in January 1661 known as “Venner’s Rising” in which Thomas Venner, who spent some time in the North American Puritan colony of Massachusetts, led other Fifth Monarchists in an attempt to claim London in the name of “King Jesus.” Some Friends also took part in this event, despite their sect’s pacifist stance, hence the king’s reaction against Friends. See Richard L. Greaves, “Venner, Thomas (1608/9–1661),” in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, ed. Lawrence Goldman (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004–), article published September 23, 2004, .

A Relation of Margaret Fell, Her Birth, Life, Testimony, and Sufferings 59 liberty, and just when it should have gone to the press, the Fifth Monarchy Men rose, and then our Friends were very hardly used, and taken up at their Meetings generally, even until many prisons throughout the nation were filled with them. And many a time did I go to the king about them, who promised me always they should be set at liberty; and we had several in the council were friendly to us, and we gave many papers to them. And with much ado, and attendance in that time, about a quarter of a year after their first taking Friends to prison, a general proclamation from the king and council was granted for setting the Quakers at liberty, that were taken up at that time, and in some time after the proclamation came forth, and Friends were set at liberty.24 Then I had freedom in spirit to return home to visit my children and family, which I had been from fifteen months. And I stayed at home about nine months, and then was moved of the Lord to go to London again, not knowing what might be the matter of business that I should go for. And when I came to Warrington, in my way to London, I met with an act of parliament made against the Quakers for refusing oaths.25 And when I came to London, I heard the king was gone to meet the queen, and to be married to her at Hampton Court.26 At this time, Friends’ Meetings at London were much troubled with soldiers, pulling Friends out of their Meetings, and beating them with their muskets and swords, insomuch that several were wounded and bruised by them. Many were cast into prison, through which many lost their lives, and all this being done to a peaceable people, only for worshiping God as they in conscience were persuaded. Then I went to the king, and duke of York at Hampton Court, and I wrote several letters to them, and therein gave them to understand what desperate and dangerous work there was at London, and how the soldiers came in with lighted matches27 and drawn swords among Friends, when they were met together 24. Fell probably refers to “A Proclamation of Grace, for the Inlargement of Prisoners Called Quakers,” issued by Charles II in 1661, which states, “And His Majesty being now graciously pleased, that His said Subjects, called Quakers, now in prison as aforesaid, should for this time, and on so happy and blessed an opportunity and season of His Majesties Royal Coronation, participate of His Majesties Mercy and Clemency, and be forthwith discharged from their Imprisonment, without being put to the trouble and charges of suing out particular Pardons.” Proclamations were read aloud and posted in town centers. 25. The Quaker Act of 1662 criminalized the refusal to take the Oath of Allegiance. Anyone who had not taken this oath could not legally hold private meetings. 26. Charles II married the Portuguese Catherine of Braganza (1638–1705) on May 21, 1662. Since Charles met his bride in Portsmouth and married her before returning to Hampton Court, Fell seems to be misinformed. 27. The common weaponry used at this time was a “matchlock musket”; “lighted matches” indicates guns ready to be shot. A seventeenth-century gun had a priming pan in which to place gunpowder; a “match” was a piece of saltpeter-treated cord that had to be lit prior to firing the weapon in order to ignite the priming pan. Soldiers holding “lighted matches” were in the penultimate stage needed before actually firing their weapons; thus Fell is indicating impending danger.

60 MARGARET FELL in the fear and dread of the Lord to worship him; and if they would not stop that cruel persecution, it was very like that more innocent blood would be shed, and that would witness against their actions, and lie upon them, and the nation. And within some certain days after, they beat some Friends so cruelly at the Bull and Mouth,28 that two died thereof. The king told me when I spoke to him and wrote to him, that his soldiers did not trouble us, nor should they, and said the city soldiers were not his, and they would do as they pleased with them.29 But after a little time they were more moderate, and the king promised me that he would set those at liberty that were in prison; and when he brought his queen to London, he set them at liberty. And then I came home again, when I had stayed about four months in and about London. And in the third month, 1663, I was moved of the Lord again to travel into the countries to visit Friends; and I traveled through the countries visiting Friends till we came to Bristol, where we stayed two weeks, I, and some other Friends that were with me, and then we went into Somersetshire, Devonshire, and Dorsetshire, visiting Friends, and then came back to Bristol, from whence we passed through the nation into Yorkshire, to York, and into Bishopric,30 and Northumberland, visiting Meetings all along among Friends, and then went into Westmoreland, and so, home to Swarthmoor. This journey, that I then went, and one of my daughters,31 and some others that were with me, it was thought we traveled about a thousand miles; and in our journey we met with G. Fox, who came to Swarthmoor with us, and stayed about two weeks, and then the magistrates began to threaten, for G. F. went into Westmoreland and Cumberland and had some Meetings among Friends and came again to Swarthmoor; and they sent out warrants for him, and took him, 28. An inn in London where Friends gathered for Meetings. During the years ca. 1659–1662, the Bull and Mouth was frequently raided and Friends beaten and imprisoned; see Mary Moore, The Light in Their Consciences: Early Quakers in Britain 1646–1666 (University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2000), 170 and 183. Since many people were illiterate in seventeenth-century England, businesses were identified by pictures on signs: this inn most likely had a painted sign of a bull. 29. Fell implies that the king is making an argument of jurisdiction, saying that he did not have jurisdiction over “city soldiers,” who were commanded by the lord mayor. The City of London sponsored militia groups that also functioned as social clubs, such as the Honorable Artillery Company. Charles II would have relied on someone such as the lord mayor to control city militias, while the king himself would keep fewer than 200 soldiers for his guard. Our thanks to Marvin Breslow for his knowledge of English military history. 30. Any region ruled over by a bishop, but Fell likely means Durham, which is adjacent to the county of Northumberland. During Fell’s lifetime the bishop of Durham also held civic power over the county of Durham. 31. Fell traveled with her daughters Sarah and Mary as well as Leonard Fell, Thomas Salthouse, and Will Caton. See Glines’s note in Undaunted Zeal, 251.

A Relation of Margaret Fell, Her Birth, Life, Testimony, and Sufferings 61 and committed him to Lancaster Castle.32 About a month after, the same justices sent for me to Alverstone,33 where they were sitting at a private sessions; and when I came there, they asked me several questions, and seemed to be offended at me for keeping a Meeting at my house, and said, they would tender me the Oath of Allegiance. I answered, they knew I could not swear, and why should they send for me from my own house, where I was about my lawful occasions, to ensnare me? What had I done? They said, if I would not keep a Meeting at my house, they would not tender me the Oath. I told them, I should not deny my faith and principles for anything they could do against me; and while it pleased the Lord to let me have a house, I would endeavor to worship him in it. So they caused the Oath to be read, and tendered it unto me; and when I refused it, telling them, I could not take any oath for conscience sake, Christ Jesus having forbid it, then they made a mittimus,34 and committed me prisoner to Lancaster Castle. And there G. Fox and I remained in prison until the next assizes;35 and then they indicted us upon the statute for denying the Oath of Allegiance, for they tendered it us both again at the assizes. But they said to me, if I would not keep a Meeting at my house, I should be set at liberty. But I answered the judge, that I rather choose a prison for obeying God, than my liberty for obeying of men, contrary to my conscience. So we were called several times before them at the assizes, and the indictments were found against us. The next assizes we came to trial, and G. Fox’s indictment was found to be dated wrong, both in the day of the month, and in the year of the king’s reign, so that his indictment was quashed; but mine they would not allow the errors that were found in it, to make it void, although there were several; so they passed sentence of praemunire36 upon me, which was, That I should be out of the king’s protection, and forfeit all my estate, real and personal, to the king, and imprisonment during life. But the great God of heaven and earth supported my spirit under this severe sentence, that I was not terrified, but gave this answer to Judge Turnor, who gave the sentence: Although I am out of the king’s protection, yet I am not out of the protection of the Almighty God. So there I remained in prison twenty months, before I could get so much favor of the sheriff as to go to my own house, which then I did for a little time, and returned to prison again. And when I had been a prisoner about four years, I was set at liberty by an order from the king and council in 1668. And then I was moved of the Lord again, to go and visit Friends, and the first that I went to visit were Friends in prison; and I visited the most part of 32. Frequently used as a jail in the seventeenth century for prisoners awaiting trial. 33. Fell (or the printer) probably means Ulverston, which is near Swarthmoor Hall. 34. A warrant, issued by a justice of the peace, committing a person to custody. 35. The periodical sessions of the judges of the superior courts in every county of England for the purpose of administering justice in the trial and determination of civil and criminal cases. 36. The punishment of forfeiture of property.

62 MARGARET FELL the Friends that were prisoners in the north and west of England, and those in my way to Bristol. And after I had stayed two weeks there, I visited Friends in Cornwall, Devonshire, and Somersetshire; and then, through all the western counties to London. And I stayed in and about London about three months, and then I went and visited Friends throughout all Kent, Sussex, and some part of Surrey; and then to London again, where I stayed above two months; and then I returned through the countries, visiting Friends, until I came to Bristol, in 1669. And then it was eleven years after my former husband’s decease, and G. Fox being then returned from visiting Friends in Ireland. At Bristol he declared his intentions of marriage with me, and there was also our marriage solemnized, in a public Meeting of many Friends, who were our witnesses.37 And in some time after, I came homewards, and my husband stayed in the countries visiting Friends. And soon after I came home, there came another order to cast me into prison again; and the sheriff of Lancashire sent his bailiff, and pulled me out of my own house, and had me to prison to Lancaster Castle, where I continued a whole year; and most part of that time I was sick and weakly.38 And after some time, my husband endeavored to get me out of prison; and a discharge at last was got, under the great seal, and so I was set at liberty.39 And then I was to go up to London again, for my husband was intending for America, and he was full two years away, before he came back into England; and then he arrived in Bristol, where I went to meet him.40 And we stayed some time in the countries thereabout, and then came to London, and stayed there several months. And I was intending to return home into the north, and he came with me as far as the middle of the nation. But before we parted, we went to a Meeting in Worcestershire; and after the Meeting was ended, and Friends mostly gone, he was taken prisoner, together with my son-in-law Thomas Lower,41 by one Parker,42 a justice, so-called, and sent to Worcester jail; the account whereof is set 37. Fell and Fox married on October 27, 1669. Fell’s daughters and their husbands attended the service, but her son, George, did not. George Fell, who was not a Friend and disapproved of his mother’s marriage to George Fox, used this event to lay legal claim to the family estate, Swarthmoor Hall. 38. Fell was arrested and imprisoned in April 1670, possibly due to charges her son was pursuing to reclaim Swarthmoor Hall as his own. According to Kunze, Fell suffered from a “phantom pregnancy” at this time; see Kunze, “Fell [née Askew], Margaret (1614–1702),” ODNB. 39. Fell’s son, George, died in October 1670. Fell was pardoned and released from prison in April 1671. 40. George Fox crossed the Atlantic in 1671, stopping in Barbados, Jamaica, Maryland, Long Island, and North Carolina. 41. Lower (1647–1720) married Fell’s daughter Mary in 1668. The couple had ten children together, five of whom survived into adulthood. Lower also was George Fox’s amanuensis when Fox dictated his Journal. 42. Henry Parker (1638–1713) was a justice and recorder of Evesham who aggressively prosecuted Fox.

A Relation of Margaret Fell, Her Birth, Life, Testimony, and Sufferings 63 forth in his journal.43 And then44 I came home with my daughter Rachel, leaving him confined in prison, where he became much weakened in body and his health impaired by his long confinement. Howbeit, after much endeavors used, he was legally discharged, and set at liberty.45 We got him home to Swarthmoor, where he had a long time of weakness, before he recovered. And when he had stayed there about one and twenty months, he began his journey towards London again, in 1677, although he was but weakly, and unable to ride well, but the Lord supported him.46 And when he had stayed some time in London, then he went over into Holland, and traveled to Hamburgh, and into some part of Germany, and to several places in those countries, and then returned to London; and then went to Bristol to visit Friends, and back again to London. And then, after a little time, came to Swarthmoor, where he continued again above a year. And then he began his journey, and traveled through several counties, visiting friends, until he came to London. And when my husband was at London, it being a time of great persecution by informers, the justices in our country were very severe, and much bent against me because I kept a Meeting at my house, at Swarthmoor Hall. So they did not fine the house as his, he being absent, but fined it as mine, as being the widow of Judge Fell; and fined me £20 for the house, and £20 for speaking in the Meeting; and then fined me the second time £40 for speaking; and also fined some other Friends for speaking, £20 for the first time, and £40 for the second time; and those that were not able, they fined others for them, and made great spoil among Friends, by distraining47 and selling their goods, sometimes for less than half the value. They took thirty head of cattle from me. Their intentions were to ruin us, and to weary us out, and to enrich themselves, but the Lord prevented them. So I was moved of the Lord to go to London, in the seventieth year of my age;48 and the Word was in me, That as I had gone to King Charles, when he first came into England; so I should go, and bear to him my last testimony, and let him know how they did abuse us, to enrich themselves.49 And so I went up to London; and a paper was drawn up, to give a true and certain account how they dealt with 43. Fox describes this period of his life in chapter 19 of his autobiography, The Journal of George Fox, published posthumously in 1694. 44. The original says “when.” 45. George Fox was imprisoned from December 1673 to February 1675. Fell wrote about her husband’s last imprisonment in a letter to William Penn. See Glines, ed., Undaunted Zeal, 412–14. 46. The twenty-one months Fox stayed at Swarthmoor Hall after being released from prison was the longest period of time that Fell and Fox lived together continuously throughout their marriage. 47. Confiscating. 48. 1684. 49. Fell’s daughter and son-in-law (Rachel Fell and her husband, Daniel Abraham) were among the imprisoned Friends on behalf of whom Fell petitioned in her last journey to see Charles II. Her last

64 MARGARET FELL me and other Friends. And it was upon my mind to go first to the duke of York.50 And I wrote a short paper to him, to acquaint him, that as he had sometimes formerly spoke in my behalf to the king, my request was, that he would now do the like for me, or words to that effect. And I went with this paper to James’s house, and after long waiting, I got to speak to him.51 But some who were with him, let him know that it was I that had been with him and his brother, soon after they came into England. So I gave him my little paper, and asked him, If he did remember me? He said, I do remember you. So then, I desired him to speak to the king for us, for we were under great sufferings, and our persecutors were so severe upon us that it looked as if they intended to make a prey upon us. And he said, He could not help us, but he would speak to the king. And the next day, with much ado, I got to the king, and had my great paper, which was the relation of our sufferings, to present to him. But he was so rough and angry that he would not take my paper, but I gave several copies of it to his nobles around him. And afterwards I went to Judge Jeffreys,52 and told him of our sufferings, for he had been in the north country with us, but a little before, and he told me we might speak to the king. I answered, It was very hard to get to the king. He said, give me a paper, and I will speak to him; but said, “Your papers are too long; give me a short paper, and I will speak to him.” So I wrote a little paper from myself to him, to this effect: King Charles, Thou and thy Magistrates put very great and cruel sufferings upon us. But this I must say unto thee, If you make our sufferings to death itself, we shall not, nor dare not but confess Christ Jesus before men, lest he should deny us before his Father which is in Heaven.53 There were some more words in it, but this was the substance. So Jeffreys read it, and said, He would give it him. And we gave papers to several of those that waited on him, and they gave us some encouragement, that we should be helped. So we expected and waited for it. And about a week or two after, in the beginning meeting with Charles was unsuccessful, and he refused to receive her written request, as Fell details below. It is unclear why the publisher italicized this section of the text, since it is not a quotation. 50. James, Charles’s younger brother, who became James II the following year, 1685, when Charles II died. 51. Fell means James. 52. Sir George Jeffreys (1645–1689), Lord Chief Justice of the King’s Bench in 1684 when Fell was in London, and from 1685 on first Baron Jeffreys. See Paul D. Halliday, “Jeffreys, George, first Baron Jeffreys (1645–1689),” in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, ed. Lawrence Goldman (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004–), article published September 23, 2004, . 53. The full text of the letter referred to by Fell can be found in Glines, ed., Undaunted Zeal, 441–44.

A Relation of Margaret Fell, Her Birth, Life, Testimony, and Sufferings 65 of the 12th month,54 George Whitehead55 and I were going to one of the Lords, who had promised George before, that he would speak to the king for us. We went to his lodgings early in the morning, thinking to speak with him before he went out, but his servants told us he was not within, being gone to the king, who was not well. Then we came forth into Whitehall Court again, but all the gates were shut that we could not get forth. So we waited and walked up and down, and several came down from the king, and said, He could not stand. Others said, He could not speak.56 Then, after some hours waiting, we got through Scotland Yard,57 and came away. And the king continued sick and ill until the sixth day after, and then he died.58 So this confirmed that word, which God put into my heart, That I was sent to bear my last testimony to the king. Then James, duke of York, was proclaimed king, and about two weeks after I went to him, and gave him a paper, wherein it was written to this effect: King James, I have waited here some months, until this change is come, and now I would return home. But I cannot live peaceably there, except I have a word from thee, to give a check to my persecutors. I spoke to him to the same purpose that I had written in my paper. He said to me, “Go home, go home.” So after a few weeks, I went home. And a little time after, William Kerby,59 a justice, one of our greatest persecutors, met with my son-in-law, Daniel Abraham,60 upon the road, and said to him, “Tell your mother, that now the government will be settled again, and if you keep Meetings, you must expect the same again.” My son answered him, “We must keep Meetings, unless you take our lives.” Then William Kerby said, “We will not take your lives, but while you have anything, we will take it.” So I wrote a letter to King James, in which I said, Thou biddest me come home, and so I am; but as I said to thee, I could not live peaceably, so it is like to be. And then I hinted in my 54. February. 55. A prominent figure in the Society of Friends, George Whitehead (1637–1724) became a leader of the group after the death of George Fox; see Nigel Smith, “Whitehead, George (1637–1724),” in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, ed. Lawrence Goldman (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004–), article published September 23, 2004, . 56. Fell means that she has been informed the king is too weak and ill to see her about her petition. 57. Great Scotland Yard, a street that was close to the rear entrance of the Palace of Whitehall, where visiting kings of Scotland stayed. London’s Metropolitan Police headquarters derives it name from this street, where it was originally located (but not until 1829). 58. Charles II died unexpectedly on February 6, 1685. 59. William Kirkby was a justice of the peace who, along with his brother Col. Richard Kirkby (ca. 1625–1681), and his nephew Roger Kirkby (ca. 1649–1708)—all neighbors of Fell—illegally kept money gained by seizing Friends’ property; see Glines’s notes in Undaunted Zeal, 361 and 441–42. 60. Daniel Abraham (1662–1731) married Fell’s daughter Rachel in 1683.

66 MARGARET FELL letter, W. Kerby’s61 discourse with my son. And I desired of the king, to let me have something from him, that I might live peaceably at my house. This letter was delivered to him, and, as I heard, he carried it to the council, and it was read; and that some of the council said, “She desires a protection, that she may live peaceably at her own house”; and that some made answer, “They could give no protection to a particular.”62 However, (I do suppose) they gave our persecutors a private caution, for they troubled us no more; but, if that had not been, it’s likely they had a mind to begin anew upon us.63 For, a little before the time of the informers, they brought that law upon us,64 concerning twelve pence a Sunday, so called; and they carried me, and my son and daughter Abraham,65 to Lancaster Prison, and kept us there about three weeks. And when they considered that they could not fine me, nor my house, when I was in prison, then they let us go home; and soon after, they did fine us both for the house, and for speaking as is before hinted. And thus have they troubled and persecuted us divers ways. But the Lord God Almighty hath preserved me, and us, till this day. Glorious praises be given to him for evermore! And the Lord hath given me strength and ability, that I have been at London to see my dear husband and children, and relations and friends there, in 1690, being the seventy-sixth year of my age. And I was very well satisfied, refreshed, and comforted in my journey, and found Friends in much love. Praises be returned to the unchangeable Lord God forever! This being nine times that I have been at London,66 upon the Lord’s and his truth’s account. And after I returned home, I wrote this short epistle following, to the Women’s Meeting67 in London:

61. W. = William. 62. An individual, most likely implying a private citizen as opposed to a person who holds public office. 63. Although Fell did not see immediate results of her requests to James II, the king did eventually issue the 1687 Declaration of Indulgence that released Friends and other dissenters from prison. 64. Fell may be referring to the fines many Friends faced for not paying required tithes to the Anglican Church. Twelve pence would be a remarkably high fine for the time period. 65. Fell means Mr. And Mrs. Abraham, her daughter Rachel and son-in-law Daniel. 66. Fell made one last journey to London in 1697 at the age of eighty-three. 67. Women’s Meetings, which allowed female Friends to meet separately from their male counterparts, began in London around 1657, frequently focused on charitable works; they later became a point of contention among different factions of Friends. Fell and her daughters Sarah, Rachel, and Isabel were prominent figures in organizing Women’s Meetings.

A Relation of Margaret Fell, Her Birth, Life, Testimony, and Sufferings 67 Dear Friends and Sisters,68 In the eternal blessed truth, into which we are begotten, and in which we stand and are preserved, as we keep in it and are guided by it. In this my dear and unchangeable love remembered unto you all; acknowledging your dear, tender, and kind love, when I was with you, in which my heart was rejoiced, to feel the ancient love and unity of the eternal spirit among you. And my soul was, and is refreshed in my journey, in visiting of my dear husband and children, and you, my dear Friends. And now I am returned to my own house and family, where I find all well. Praised and honored be my Heavenly Father! And dear Friends, our engagements are great unto the Lord, and he is dear and faithful unto us. And blessed and happy are all they, that are dear and faithful unto him. And those who keep single and chaste unto him, they need not fear evil tidings, nor what man can do. For he that hath all power in heaven and earth in his hand, he will surely keep his own Church and family, those that worshipeth him, within the measuring line,69 that measures the temple and the altar, and those that worship therein, they are kept safe, as in the hollow70 of his hand.71 And so, dear Friends, my heart and soul was so much comforted and refreshed among you, that I could not but signify the remembrance of my dear love unto you, and also my acknowledgment of your dear love and tenderness to my dear husband, for which I doubt not, but the Lord doth and will reward you. Into whose hands and arm, and power, I commit you.

Swarthmoor, the 10 of the 5th month, 1690 th

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68. Fell’s use of “Sisters” emphasizes her female audience for the Women’s Meeting. 69. Zech. 2:1. 70. Originally “hallow.” 71. See Isa. 40:12, in which God measures the waters of the earth in the hollow of his hand. 72. July 10, 1690.

M. Fox

To All the Professors of the World, by M. F. 1656 To all the professors1 of the world, and to all in the empty forms which such professors live in, to the Light2 in all your consciences, which comes from Jesus, who is the Father’s Covenant of Light and Life, the Lamb, who is the Light of all nations that are saved,3 which now shines in all your consciences, to this in you all do I appeal, that with it you may search and try your standing, and ground, and foundation, which is in God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Cornerstone,4 who hath said, Upon this rock will I build my Church.5 Paul wrote to Timothy, how to behave himself in the House of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of Truth.6 For, saith he, Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness; God manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into Glory.7 Now professors, look about you, and see where your footing and foundation is, who do profess a God and a Christ afar off, and deny the Light of Jesus Christ, which manifests him in the flesh.8 How can you know him, or confess him in the flesh, who deny him to be manifested in you? What ground have you to build upon, when ye know nothing of him, but what ye have from a profession without you? Oh! Consider seriously, and turn your minds to the Light, which will let you see your foundation to be rotten and sandy, which ye foolish builders are building upon, in your imaginations;9 and yet profess the Scriptures without you, which were declared and spoken from a living eternal principle within; and this you pretend to build upon. But where is your foundation, where is your ground, where is your root, who deny the Cornerstone, Christ Jesus, as he is the Light, the Rock of Ages,10 which all the prophets and apostles, and holy men of God are founded 1. In the seventeenth century, an individual who declares his or her beliefs, often within a religious context. 2. The concept of the inner voice or conscience espoused by the Society of Friends; see the introduction. 3. A paraphrase of Rev. 21:24. 4. A biblical term for Christ. See Eph. 2:20, in which the Church is described as “built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone.” See also 1 Pet. 2:6. 5. Matt. 16:18. 6. 1 Tim. 3:15. 7. 1 Tim. 3:16, but with “was manifest” changed to “manifested.” Fell was probably quoting from memory here. 8. Fell here criticizes those who claim to believe in Christ but do not experience him within themselves. Friends held that they were part of the Second Coming, that Christ had already returned to earth to manifest himself in each believer. 9. A conflation of Matt. 7:26 and Luke 6:46–49, different renditions of the same parable. 10. This phrase is a more literal translation of “everlasting strength” in Isa. 26:4.

69

70 MARGARET FELL and built upon? A profession of this will stand you in no stead. For the Holy Seed is risen, the substance of all, and the life of the Scriptures, which spoke them forth, is manifested; the Word, which was in the beginning, which was with God, which Word was God; he who was dead, is alive, whose name is called The Word of God, who lives and abides forevermore. This Word, which we have seen, which we have heard, which our hands have handled, this we declare unto you, by which Word the world was made, and without which nothing was made that was made:11 this is manifested and witnessed. Praises, living praises be to the living God! And this is he that will break to pieces all your rotten profession. You cannot stand before him. His rod of iron,12 where he rules, will dash you all to pieces, ye potsherds of the earth, who have set up your images; the little stone, cut out of the mountain without hands, strikes at the feet, and overturns the foundation of them all.13 You, and your Diana shall fall, and the stone shall become a great mountain, and fill the whole earth—the mouth of the Lord of Hosts hath spoken it.14 And you who take the words, spoken from the life of God, and profess them, and God and Christ, only without you; and ye persecute the same life, which gave them forth, which now is made manifest in his people. Ye make up the measure of your forefathers, who slew the prophets, and ye garnish their sepulchers.15 Ye are in their steps, that killed the prophets, that beat the servants, and would also kill the heir;16 your fruits make you manifest. Ye are the graves that men go over, painted sepulchers, with words and professions of the outside, but within all full of rottenness, and dead men’s bones.17 The candle of the Lord God is lighted, by which he searches Jerusalem, and hath found you out;18 the Day of the Lord,19 which is coming upon you, which makes all things manifest, this will lay you open. To the Light in all your consciences do I speak, that to it ye may turn, to see what ye know of the living God. There he is, unknown to you yet (as he was to the Athenians, whom they ignorantly worshiped),20 though he be not far from every one of you. Therefore put him not far off you, but call upon him while he is near, and seek him while he

11. A paraphrase of John 1:1—Even though the printer has italicized “The Word of God,” it is not a direct quotation from John, but is used in other places in the Bible (in Acts 4:31, for example). 12. A paraphrase of Rev. 12:5 and 19:15. 13. A paraphrase of Isa. 45:9 14. A conflation of Acts 19:27 and Dan. 2:35. 15. A paraphrase of Matt. 23:29; see also Matt. 23:31. 16. An allusion to a parable found in Matt. 21:35–38, Mark 12:5–7, and Luke 20:11–14. 17. This passage incorporates many allusions to Matt. 23:27–29. 18. A reference to Prov. 20:27 that Fell interprets as signifying the Quaker concept of the Inner Light. 19. Judgment Day. 20. A reference to Acts 17:22–23 where Paul addresses Athenians who worship an unknown god.

To All the Professors of the World 71 may be found;21 if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts,22 while it is called today. Now you have time, prize it; this is the day of your visitation.23 Your profession without you will not serve you; it stinks in the Lord’s nostrils. And all your righteousness shall be spread as dung upon your faces;24 it is as filthy as rags,25 and as the early dew it shall pass away,26 and never be mentioned. He is come who convinces the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; therefore your righteousness, which is not the righteousness of Jesus Christ, is condemned by him, who is the righteousness of the Father, and the express image of his substance. The glorious brightness of his Coming makes manifest the man of sin,27 who hath so long been sitting in the temple of God, exalted above all that is called God in you. His time is come, wherein he is revealed. Therefore cease from your abominations, and outward profession of forms and colors without the life and power and purity of truth itself; for the glorious Light makes you manifest, and all your covers are too narrow.28 The woe from the living God is to them, and all coverings, which is not with his pure Spirit, are to be rent. And though ye may seem fair on your outside, this will not hide you; He who searches the heart, and tries the reins,29 is come, before whom all secrets are bare and naked. Therefore, turn in to the measure of the Light given you from the Fountain of Light, and see what ye have there in possession. There ye will find your house unswept and unclean. For the woman, that had lost the groat, sought without; but she found it not till she came to sweep her own house, and there she found it.30 This parable ye must read within. Jesus Christ likened the Kingdom of Heaven unto a merchant man who was seeking for goodly pearls, who digged deep and found it; 21. Acts 17:27. 22. Heb. 3:15. 23. A visit of inspection by a religious official to enforce church rites or physical arrangements, but also a miraculous occurrence, such as a vision. This may be one of the few times Fell uses a pun: sinners have a choice between a disciplinary or visionary visit from Christ. 24. A paraphrase of Mal. 2:3. 25. A paraphrase of Isa. 64:6. 26. Hosea 13:3. 27. A reference to 2 Thess. 2:3. 28. A reference to Isa. 28:20. 29. A commonplace of the Bible (i.e. Ps. 7:9). Here Fell employs the metaphors of “searches,” as in using an instrument to cleanse a wound, and “reins,” as in kidneys, the seat of emotions, to describe revealing the inner self. 30. A paraphrase of Luke 15:8–9, a parable that relies on domestic imagery. A “groat” was a Dutch or English silver coin worth about four pennies, and so a good paraphrase for the King James Version translation of “Δραχμη,” the Greek word used in the passage in Luke. That the 1526 Tyndale New Testament translated the passage as “groate” suggests that Fell is reading comparatively across multiple translations.

72 MARGARET FELL but when he had found it, he was to sell all and buy it.31 And again, he likened the Kingdom of Heaven to leaven, which a woman hid in three measures of meal, till all was leavened.32 Though ye have the letter without you, yet these parables ye have to learn. Now turn to the Light, and there ye will come to see; and learning there, in the Light, ye will come to see and know the mysteries of God, which to the world are parables, and to all you who deny the Light shall be shut for evermore. Though you may get all the words of the whole Scriptures in your brains and comprehension, so long as you deny the Light, and turn your minds from the Light, and seek to know these things without you, ye shall never know them, but they shall be as a book sealed unto you; the depth of the mysteries of them ye shall never understand.33 Therefore, if ever ye desire to know the mysteries of God, which is hid from all the world, and the world’s professions (though never so high), turn to the Light, wait in the Light, keep your minds within to the Light, and walk in the Light,34 which checks you, and convinces you of sin and evil, and discerns the thoughts of your hearts, and lets you see the outgoings of your minds,35 and discerns every sinful lust, even in the very appearance and rising of it. This is that by which the Lord God teacheth in this his day (which teacher never is removed into a corner),36 who hearken diligently, and turn their minds to it. This is the Light which the world sees not: though they have eyes, they see not; and ears, they hear not; and hearts, they do not understand.37 The God of this world hath blinded their eyes, and his ministers would keep them blind and shut up, and deny it to be a teacher sufficient. And so your leaders cause you to err, who are blind, and lead you that are blind; and so, you may follow them, till you both go into the pit. But if ever you come to know the living God, you must turn your minds to the Light which is in you. But your blind guides,38 who keep your minds from this Light, they put darkness for Light;39 and so then how great is that Darkness!40 But turning your minds to this Light, and joining your minds to it, and hearkening to it, then will ye come to see the blind eyes opened; and the blind man, which hath been born blind from 31. A paraphrase of Matt. 13:45–46. Fell adds, “who digged deep and found it.” 32. A paraphrase of Matt. 13:33 and Luke 13:21. 33. A paraphrase of Isa. 29:11. 34. 1 John 1:7. 35. A metaphor for thoughts. 36. A paraphrase of Isa. 30:20. 37. A biblical commonplace in, for example, Acts 28:27; see also Isa. 44:18 and Matt. 13:15. 38. Matt. 23:16 and Matt. 23:24; reminiscent of Matt. 15:14 and Rom. 2:19. Fell uses the term metaphorically to refer to hypocrites as the proverbial blind leading the blind. 39. Isa. 5:20. 40. Matt. 6:23.

To All the Professors of the World 73 his birth, will come to see, and his eyes will be anointed with eye-salve,41 which those blind guides, who lead you from the Light, never knew. And this ye shall forever witness to be truth: if ye turn your minds to the Light, then will you come to see what I speak, and witness it to be true. And all your blind guides, who deny the Light, and would not have you to mind the Light, but hearken to them who hate the Light, love darkness rather than Light, because their deeds are evil.42 But the Light is risen (glory be to God forevermore!), which is their condemnation, and hath found them out who are the thieves and robbers, who have gone before Christ,43 and climbed up another way.44 For Christ Jesus saith, I am the door of the sheep; all that ever came before me are thieves and robbers.45 Again, I am the door; by me, if any man enter, he shall be saved, saith Christ Jesus, who is the Light. And these thieves and robbers,46 who deny the Light, draw from the door, Christ Jesus (by which all that ever are saved enter), who is the good shepherd, who hath given his life for the sheep.47 But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth not himself to be the wolf, for such are blind;48 the God of this world hath blinded their eyes, who deny the Light,49 and so they leave the sheep and fly, and the lost sheep of the House of Israel,50 which Christ Jesus is sent to seek and to save, they know not, but let the wolf destroy the sheep in their flocks.51 But now is the shepherd of the sheep come, whose own the sheep are, who is the good shepherd, and knows his sheep and is known of them, who hear his voice, and know his voice, and he puts forth his own sheep.52 He goeth before them; the sheep follow him, for they know his voice, and a stranger will they not follow.53 Glory and praises be to the living God forever! Who is redeeming his sheep from the mouths of the wolves and devourers, who have scattered them upon every mountain and hill, in the dark and cloudy day.54 But now is the Light 41. A conflation of Isa. 35:5, John 9:1, and John 9:6. 42. John 3:19. 43. A paraphrase of John 10:8. 44. John 10:1. 45. A reference to John 10:7–8. 46. John 10:9. 47. A common epithet for Christ; see John 10:11. 48. John 10:12. Rather than failing to see the wolves, Fell’s bad shepherds are themselves wolves (a frequent Reformation metaphor for Catholic priests). 49. A conflation of John 12:40 and 2 Cor. 4:4. 50. Matt. 10:6 and Matt. 15:24. 51. Another reference to John 10:12 but conflated with Jer. 23:1; the professors are presented as wolves, not good pastors. 52. A reference to Christ as a good shepherd as in John 10:3–4, John 10:11, and John 10:14. 53. John 10:4–5. 54. A paraphrase of Ezek. 34:12.

74 MARGARET FELL of the glorious Gospel55 risen, and beautiful upon the mountains is his feet, that brings glad tidings of this Gospel, that publisheth peace, that saith unto Sion, thy King reigneth.56 To all who desire to know the way to Zion doth this voice cry, to turn your faces thitherward, to the Light of Jesus Christ, who came riding upon an ass’s colt, to the joy and rejoicing of all Zion’s children.57 Therefore, turn again, all you who are wandering up and down, from mountain to hill, seeking rest, but finding none.58 Turn to the Light in every one of your consciences; this is the Word of faith which we preach;59 which Moses taught Israel, and the Apostle Paul the Romans; which is nigh, in the heart, and in the mouth.60 Here is your teacher, if ye hearken to the pure Light, which shows you the deceit of your hearts, and your unclean thoughts; from which proceeds uncleanness, which the Light makes manifest, which will rip you up, and reprove you in secret. The Lord God of Power and Life is fulfilling his everlasting covenant in this his day. He is writing his law in the heart, and putting it in the inward part,61 that none need to say, Know the Lord; but all, who turn to the measure of God’s gift, shall know him, from the least to the greatest of them. And by no other way or means under heaven shall ye know the living God, but by this pure Light, and law written in the heart.62 Here will ye come to witness the Lord to be your God, and your king, and your lawgiver; which all the professions of the world are ignorant of. Therefore, to this pure measure of God in your inward parts, turn your minds, that ye may come to witness cleansing and purging within, that ye may come to see the uncleanness which proceeds out of the heart, which defiles the man, Matthew 15:18–19.63 For out of the heart comes evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication, theft, false witness, blasphemies; these are the things that defile a man.64 Now, you teachers and professors, who look without you and turn from this which should cleanse you within, how do you think that, that which is without you should cleanse you from this uncleanness within you? Let that of God in our consciences judge. Now, if ye turn to the Light, which makes these things manifest, and dwell and abide in it, then will ye abstain from them, and so come 55. Literally “good news,” used in this passage as an epithet for Christ rather than as one of the biblical books on the life of Christ. 56. A conflation of Isa. 52:7 with Nah. 1:15. 57. A conflation of Matt. 21:5 with John 12:15. 58. Matt. 12:43 and Luke 11:24. 59. Rom. 10:8. 60. Deut. 30:14. Fell inverts the placement of “mouth” and “heart” and replaces “thy” with the more modern “the.” 61. A paraphrase of Jer. 31:33. 62. A further reference to Jer. 31:33. 63. A paraphrase of Matt. 15:18–19, as Fell states. 64. A direct quotation of Matt. 15:19, with “proceed” changed to “comes.”

To All the Professors of the World 75 to witness cleansing: For he that walks in the Light, as he is in the Light, the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin.65 And Christ Jesus saith, Luke 6:45, A good Man, out of the good treasure of his heart, bringeth forth that which is good, and an evil man, out of the evil treasure of his heart, bringeth forth that which is evil. For out of the abundance of the heart, his mouth speaketh. And why call ye me Lord, Lord, said Christ, and do not the things which I say? Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doth them, I will show you to whom he is like: he is like a man which built a house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock; and when the floods arose, the storms beat violently upon the house and could not shake it, for it was built upon a rock. But he that heareth and doth not is like a man that, without a foundation, built a house upon the sand, against which the storms did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell, and the fall of that house was great.66 Now professors, here’s your building; ye shall witness this parable fulfilled upon you. The tempests and storms are coming upon you. Your house will be beaten down; it cannot stand, for ye have been sayers a long time, and not doers of the Word.67 Your house which ye have built is without foundation; it is not founded upon the Rock Christ Jesus.68 Ye who deny the Light, he saith unto them, why call ye me Lord, and do not the things which I say.69 Upon him shall ye be broken to pieces. And all your profession, it is known and seen: ye are made manifest; ye cannot hide yourselves. Therefore, let the time past of your lives suffice, and repent while ye have time, lest the whirlwind of the Lord70 come upon you, and destroy you before you are aware. And remember, ye are warned in your lifetime: ye who talk of faith, where is your foundation, who deny the Light, Christ Jesus the Cornerstone, whose blood washeth, and cleanseth, and purgeth away the filth of the daughter of Zion.71 What will your faith advantage you, who are yet in your sins? Is not that faith vain, which doth not purify the heart?72 The Apostle Paul saith, Now the end of the commandment is charity, out of a pure heart, and of good conscience, and of faith unfeigned, 1 Timothy 1:5.73 And again he saith, Holding the

65. 1 John 1:7, with some words changed and others dropped. Fell changes the plural “we” to the singular “he” and also leaves out “we have fellowship with one another.” 66. Actually Luke 6:45–49. 67. James 1:22. 68. Fell applies Christ’s parable, which she has just quoted, to her target audience. 69. A paraphrase of Luke 6:46, which Fell has just quoted. 70. Jer. 23:19 and Jer. 30:23. 71. An epithet for Jerusalem, sometimes standing for the nation of Israel; here a paraphrase of Isa. 4:4. Our thanks to Hebrew scholar Adele Berlin. Fell generally uses this epithet negatively to refer to a group straying from God’s path. 72. A reference to Acts 15:9. 73. 1 Tim. 1:5, as Fell states.

76 MARGARET FELL mystery of faith in a pure conscience, 1 Timothy 3.9.74 And the Apostle John saith, For whosoever is born of God overcometh the world; and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith, 1 John 6:4.75 Now see whether your faith hath overcome the world, and given you victory over sin, else never talk of faith, for ye that are yet in your sins (all who are of that faith by which the just lives) denies your faith; for ye who are alive to sin, crucify and slay the just. But who are in the faith of God? The just lives by his faith.76 And so now here you may read your faith by your works. For the Apostle James saith, What doth it profit though a man say he hath faith and hath not works, that faith cannot save.77 See what comparison James makes, James 2:17. Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works.78 Now see how blind you are who read these Scriptures, and profess them, and yet talk of faith, and live in your sins. Oh! The righteous God will plead with you for all your deceit and hypocrisy: Thou believes there is a God, thou doest well, the devils also believe and tremble. Therefore, know vain man, that faith without works is dead;79 and what is thy works, who art yet in thy sin? Is not sin the work of the Devil?80 Oh! That ever you should be so blind and besotted! Will the fig leaves of your profession cover your nakedness?81 Nay, the Lord hath found you out, and all your coverings are too narrow;82 and your faith, which is held with respect of persons (which the Apostle exhorts from) the Lord God abhors. But if ye had true living faith, as a grain of mustard-seed, ye might say to this mountain, be thou removed into the sea, and it would be so.83 But to you whose faith is dead, who are yet in your sins, this is a mystery.84 Therefore, repent and turn to the Lord God, and believe in the Light, which is rising and shines in your consciences; he it is who is the resurrection and the life; whosoever believes in him, though he were

74. 1 Tim. 3:9, as Fell states. 75. Actually 1 John 5:4. 76. A paraphrase of Rom. 1:17, Gal. 3:11, and Heb. 10:38. 77. Fell makes some changes to James 2:14—“What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?” 78. Actually James 2:17–18. 79. James 2:19–20. 80. Sin as the work of the Devil comes from 1 John 3:8. Our thanks to Sr. Anne O’Donnell for this citation. 81. In Gen. 3:7, Adam and Eve cover their nakedness with fig leaves. 82. Isa. 28:20. 83. Fell refers to the words of Jesus in Matt. 17:20, quoting this verse with some slight changes. 84. Fell and other members of the Society of Friends borrowed the Biblical term “mystery” for Christ’s miraculous resurrection to mean the wonder of conversion in the individual Christian.

To All the Professors of the World 77 dead, yet shall he live.85 Therefore, hearken diligently to the prophet,86 which the Lord is revealing in this his day, and believe in the Light; for whosoever doth not hearken to this prophet is to be cut off. Turn to the Light, and believe, and hearken diligently, that your souls may live; why will you give your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which perisheth?87 The pure everlasting Fountain of Life is set open, and the voice is calling to everyone to come, all that thirsteth, to come and buy wine and milk without money.88 They who have been sold for nought, shall be redeemed without money, even by the blood of the everlasting covenant.89 The God of peace, having brought again the Lord Jesus from the dead, is pouring forth of his Spirit for the redemption of Israel’s seed. Therefore, all turn to the voice that calls to ye, this is the way, walk in it.90 That which turns and draws your minds towards God, the Light that cometh from the Father of Light, turn to, and there will ye witness a living hope, which was that hope that Paul the Apostle was called in question for, that hope of the resurrection of the dead,91 who was a minister of God, who watched for the soul, which your ministers of death know not, but their labor tends to keep you in the death. But if you wait in the Light of Jesus Christ, who is the Resurrection and the Life, which is the mystery, even Christ in you the hope of glory,92 for this is he, by which you draw nigh unto God; and every man that hath this hope in him, purifieth himself, even as he is pure, 1 John 3:3.93 And the Apostle Peter saith, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which, according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 1 Peter 1:3.94 And this is none of the hypocrite’s hope, for the hope of the hypocrite doth perish,95 and the hypocrite hath no right nor interest in the true and living hope, which is the promise of the Lord to the heirs of his promise, the immutability of his counsel, confirmed by an oath, that by two immutable things, by which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge, to lay hold upon the hope set before us, which hope we have, as an anchor of the 85. John 11:25. 86. Christ. 87. A paraphrase of John 6:27 combined with Isa. 55:2. 88. A paraphrase of Isa. 55:1. 89. A conflation of Isa. 52:3 and Heb. 13:20. 90. Isa. 30:21. 91. A reference to Acts 24:21. Paul is called before a council of Jews on the issue of the resurrection of the dead. 92. Col. 1:27. Cf. Rom. 8:10. 93. 1 John 3:3, as Fell states. 94. 1 Pet. 1:3, as Fell states. 95. A conflation of Job 27:8 and Job 20:5–7.

78 MARGARET FELL soul, both sure and steadfast.96 But this is nothing to the dissembling hypocrites and professors of the world, who deny the Light of Christ Jesus, the second priest, and hath set up a priest without them, and hath a church without them, and a hope without them, and a rule without them, and a guide without them. These are none of the heirs of the promise; for the promise and covenant of God is within; and the second priest, the unchangeable high priest,97 which is surety of a better testament, and bringeth in a better hope, who is the covenant made with an oath,98 who is the refuge for the righteous to flee unto, which is the hope set before them.99 But this is a mystery100 to all you carnal professors, who are yet in your sins and your uncleanness, and yet will tell of faith, and hope, and God, and Christ. But your root is rottenness, your ground is corrupt, and your chaff is to be burned; the fire is kindled, which cannot be quenched.101 The day of the Lord is come, which burns as an oven, and all your corrupt profession and deceitful hypocrisy shall be as stubble.102 And if you give your goods to the poor, and your bodies to be burned, and do not believe in the Light, and turn to the Light, and walk in it, it is nothing.103 For so long as ye do not walk in the Light, ye know nothing at all of charity, which suffereth long, which envieth not, which vaunteth not itself, puffeth not up, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth.104 This you are far from, who are in your envy, wrath, malice, persecution, pleading for sin, against perfection, against the Light, which discovereth and maketh manifest all sin and uncleanness. Your profession of God and Christ in words (when in works you deny him) will not serve you; the Lord abhors all your vain profession and hypocrisy. Therefore, give over your deceitful dissembling, and turn to that which rips you up, and lays you naked and bare before the Lord God, from whom ye cannot hide yourselves.105 And to the Light of Christ come to be tried and searched, the tried

96. Heb. 6:17–19. 97. A reference to Heb. 7:24. 98. Perhaps an ironic reference to the Oath of Allegiance, which required all those of a certain wealth or status to swear allegiance to the King, used to persecute and imprison members of the Society of Friends, who refused to swear oaths. 99. The Geneva Bible commentary for Heb. 7:1–21 makes explicit that the priesthood of Christ is preferable to the mortal Levitical priesthood. 100. Here, Fell uses “mystery” to mean the unconverted person’s confused ignorance of the miracle of a converted believer’s faith. 101. A conflation of Isa. 5:24 and Luke 3:17. 102. A close paraphrase of Mal. 4:1. 103. A conflation of 1 Cor. 13:3 and 1 John 1:7. 104. 1 Cor. 13:4 and 1 Cor. 13:6. 105. Ezek. 23:29.

To All the Professors of the World 79 stone, which layeth judgment to the line, and righteousness to the plummet,106 for Zion is redeemed through judgment, and her converts with righteousness.107 Therefore, give over deceiving of your souls, for he that doth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous;108 and all sin and uncleanness the Light condemns, and if your hearts condemn you, God is greater, and knows all things. Therefore, do not deceive yourselves, but search and try your own selves,109 for if you know not how that Christ is in you, ye are reprobates.110 And so all you formal professors, try your own selves, and to the Light come to be tried, and there you will see your rotten profession will be too light.111 And do not deceive your souls, but now ye have time, prize it, while it is called today. Consider, and do not forget God, lest he tear you to pieces, while there be none to deliver you.112 And this is in love to all your souls, which ye shall witness to be truth, if ye turn to the Light, which is my witness. But if ye hate the Light, and turn from the Light, the Light is your condemnation. And when the books of conscience are opened, and all judged out of them, then shall that witness of God in you, bear me witness, that this is in love to your souls. And so, whether ye will hear or forbear, I have cleared my conscience, and the Lord is clear of your blood. And your foundation and bottom I know, and comprehend, but the Rock which ye know not shall break you to pieces; though you have the outward writings and declaration, which was spoken from another state and condition than ye are in, and these words ye take and make your own, whenas ye are in another condition and of another seed than that which the promise is to,113 for it is not to seeds, as to many, but to one seed, which is Christ the Light, and Cornerstone, which the builders refuse. And yet ye account it railing114 to be called thieves and robbers, though ye have nothing but what ye steal from others. Ye take Moses’s words, who was a servant of the Lord, sent to bring Israel the seed of God out of bondage; and ye who are like the 106. Isa. 28:17. A “line” or “plumb line” is a piece of cord with a weight at the bottom (a “plummet”) used to ascertain straight verticality in carpentry or construction. 107. Isa. 1:27. 108. 1 John 3:7. 109. A reference to Lam. 3:40; “search” is a medical term meaning to probe a wound for dirt, infection, or shrapnel. 110. A paraphrase of 2 Cor. 13:5. 111. Wordplay on “Light” and “light”—the first a reference to Jesus as a touchstone revealing the truth, and the second an insinuation that Christians who are not Friends will find their “profession” or faith too insubstantial. 112. A paraphrase of Ps. 50:22. 113. A reference to the idea in the Hebrew Scriptures that the people of Israel are the children of God’s covenant or promise; Christians see themselves as the heirs of Christ’s remaking of that covenant or promise. 114. Scolding or insulting.

80 MARGARET FELL Egyptian taskmasters, with his words keep the seed in bondage.115 To Moses’s state ye never came, which brings out of the house of darkness, you who deny116 the Light, and yet ye will profess Moses’s words. Now let that of God in all your consciences, which is just and equal, judge whether ye be not thieves and robbers in this, yea, or nay.117 And ye take the prophets’ words, which received the Word from the Lord, which the Lord spoke to them, and ye profess these words, and yet slay the prophet in his members, which the Lord promised to raise, like unto Moses, which he said everyone shall hear, who bring the seed out of spiritual Egypt.118 And yet ye crucify the just, and garnish his sepulcher, and so, ye are found the painted sepulchers, which hath slain the righteous, which Christ speaks of.119 Now, see if ye be not the blind guides and hypocrites in this, which Christ Jesus cried woe against,120 to them whom he found in the same steps as ye are in, who had Moses’s and the prophets’ words, which wrote of him, and prophesied of him; but he told them they knew them not, for if they had known Moses and the prophets, they would have known him.121 And so, ye go beyond these in Christ’s time, and exceed them in hypocrisy and deceit; for ye take Christ Jesus his words which he spoke before he was offered up, and since he is risen again, and ye profess them, and with these words ye deny the Light, though he hath said he is the Light, and which John (who was a faithful witness, and more than a prophet) witnessed of him, which Christ witnessed to be the greatest that was born among women.122 And Christ’s testimony and John’s testimony ye deny, who denies the Light. And yet ye take these words and profess them, and persecute the Light and Life which spoke these words. Now to that of God in your consciences (which cannot bear false witness, nor lie) do I speak. Let that try you, and examine you, whether ye do not exceed the scribes and Pharisees who crucified Christ Jesus, who professed Christ Jesus, by the writing of him, that he should come. Yet when he came, they did not know that it was he; and so they crucified him under the name of blasphemer, 115. For the story of Moses and the freeing of the Israelites from Egyptian slavery, see Exodus. 116. Our change from the now-ungrammatical “denies.” 117. A reference to John 10:8. 118. A reference to Isa. 19:1. Fell uses pagan Egypt as a metaphor to describe the “professors” who are the targets of her letter. 119. Fell seems to refer to the “whited speculchers” of Matt. 23:27–29, “which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.” Fell’s use of “painted” recalls criticisms of women who wore too much make-up, but also the painted statuary of the Catholic Church. 120. Fell uses “blind” or “blinded” twenty-four times in this letter. Cf. Matt. 23:16 and Matt. 23:24. 121. A paraphrase of John 5:46. 122. See Matt. 11:11 and Luke 7:28, which refer to John the Baptist as “the greatest that was born of women.”

To All the Professors of the World 81 and prince of devils.123 But ye say and prophesy that he is come, and profess that that was he which they crucified, and ye profess that he is risen again; and yet ye persecute and deny his Light and testimony, where it is risen and made manifest. Now, see whether ye are not blind, indeed, whenas ye go about to oppose, deny, and persecute that which ye yourselves profess. Now, see what a god this is ye serve, who keeps you so blind in your profession that ye persecute those who possesseth that which ye profess. Ye exceed all that ever went before you, that ever was read of. And yet you are so blind, as ye do not see yourselves, for those whom ye persecute and oppose, ye have nothing against them, but that they witness and possess that which ye blind hypocrites profess124 but know nothing of, farther than by reading without you in the letter. So ye make clean the outside, with an outward profession, and a form, and an image, and a likeness. But your inside is sin, uncleanness, filthiness, pride, envy, wrath, malice, strife, and persecution.125 This is of the Devil’s kingdom of sin, and this is the inheritance and possession which ye possess. Though you profess a God and a Christ from records without you, yet your possession and inheritance is of the Evil One. Let that of God in your consciences (which is pure) now examine and try you, and search you, and see if you be not found in sin and uncleanness, and deny being free from sin, and perfection, and purity, and plead for sin and the Devil’s kingdom, and yet profess God and Christ. Oh! that ever ye should be so abominably blind and sottish,126 do you look upon the pure and holy God (who cannot behold iniquity, with whom dwells no unclean thing) to be like yourselves. And so, likewise, ye take the epistles and writings of the apostles to the Church of Christ, which is in God, and which is the House of God, the ground and pillar of all truth,127 which is built upon the Rock Christ Jesus.128 And ye take the words which were written to these, who were born of the immortal seed, to which the promise of God is. And ye who live in your sin, and filthiness, and uncleanness, take these words and profess them and make them your own (as though they were spoken to you) whenas ye never knew their condition, nor the apostles, which were their ministers, and begot them into the everlasting truth, by the immortal, ingrafted Word of God. And this ye who deny the Light, which the Apostle preached, who was a minister of the spirit, and not of the letter, and this ye profess to be your rule, and here you build

123. See Matt. 9:34, Matt. 12:24, and Mark 3:22. 124. Fell’s rhyming wordplay on “possess” and “profess” represents Friends’ beliefs as authentic and Anglicans’ as hypocritical. 125. A reference to Luke 11:39. 126. Jer. 4:22. A sot is a drunk; “sottish” means drunk, or, like a drunk, foolish. 127. 1 Tim. 3:15. 128. 1 Cor. 10:4.

82 MARGARET FELL your nest129 in your forms, and here you sit decked with the words of the saints,130 with your unclean hearts and spirits, and persecuting the righteous seed, which these were spoken to, opposing and denying the Light, which they were gathered into. But your day of lamentation and howling131 is coming upon you; ye cannot escape. The righteous God hath found you out; the acceptable year of the Lord is proclaimed, and the day of vengeance of our God is come,132 and the prince of the world is come to be judged,133 and the day of the Son of Man is come, in which he is lifted up, and where he is lifted up from the earth, he draws all men after him. Praises be to the living God, forever! And your covenant with hell and death is and will be disannulled, and your refuge of lies and dissimulation will be swept away; the over-flowing scourge is coming upon you.134 Therefore, as you love your souls, give over your dissembling, and vain imaginations, and hypocrisy, and vain deceit, and see what ye have, and what ye know ye do enjoy in the Light, and in the Life, and in the Power of the Living God. For our Gospel stands not in words, but in life and power. And he is manifest, who is the power of God until salvation, unto all that believe. And this Gospel is not hid, but to those that are lost.135 Now, if ye turn your minds to the Light of Jesus Christ, which is the Light of the glorious Gospel, ye will see that this Gospel hath been hid from you. But if you wait in the Light, then will you come to know the power, and the power will raise the life; and he that walketh in the Light, shall not abide in darkness, but shall have the Light of Life.136 And so, give over professing words, which were spoken from the Light, life, and power while ye yourselves are without light, without life, without power, in a dead form. Nay, this will not serve. This is an abomination unto the living pure God, and all this will he burn and consume,137 with the Spirit of his Mouth, and with the Brightness of his Coming.138 Now, see what you have, that will answer to the fire; for nothing will stand in his presence (who is a consuming fire)139 but that which will abide the fire.140 And this ye shall certainly witness to be truth. And so, in this I have cleared my conscience, and laid before you, your 129. A reference to Jer. 49:16. 130. Any believer or Christian in the early church. Fell means that “professors” parade their knowledge of the writings of the apostles, but do not practice that knowledge. 131. Biblical language to refer to sinners’ suffering on Judgment Day. 132. Isa. 61:2. 133. John 16:11. The “prince of the world” refers to the devil. 134. Isa. 28:15. A scourge is a whip, so here, metaphorically, a punishment from God. 135. 2 Cor. 4:3. 136. Fell quotes John 8:12, but changes “he that followeth me” to “he that walketh in the Light.” 137. A reference to Deut. 32:22. 138. 2 Thess. 2:8. 139. Deut. 4:24; quoted by Paul in Heb. 12:29. 140. A paraphrase of Num. 31:23.

To All the Professors of the World 83 house and building, which is without the true foundation. And if ye turn your minds to the Light, it will let you see [that] you have no bottom, nor foundation, that can stand.141 Oh! that ever ye should be so ignorant, sottish, and blind, in this the day of the free grace of the everlasting God, which hath appeared unto all men, which is so sounded forth in your ears; and yet ye will not come to search and examine, where your foundation, and root, and bottom is. If ye will but turn your minds to the Light, ye will see, that ye have nothing at all, but that which is none of your own, which will stand you in no stead, which was written and spoken to others. Oh! that ever ye should be so blind, as to look upon this to be yours, in this glorious Gospel-day of Light, when it is so clearly manifested, and the Gospel freely preached to every creature; and that ye should be so careless of your own souls, as not to come to a search. Oh! what will ye do in the end, when the just and righteous God calls you to an account, who hath sent forth his ministers and messengers to preach the glad tidings142 of the Gospel to the poor,143 and liberty to the captive;144 and yet ye are as deaf adders, [who] will not hear.145 Yea, the Lord God seeth you, and knoweth your rebellious, stiff-necked, and uncircumcised heart and ears,146 and he will reward you according to your works; and then your profession in words, where you have neither good bottom nor foundation, will not serve. For the sword of the Lord is drawn, which cuts down all fruitless trees147 and groundless professions; and your forms and covers are to be ripped off, and ye will be found naked, miserable, and blind. Therefore, now ye have time, prize it, and harden not your hearts, while it is called today, but repent, and turn to the Lord, who waits to be gracious, who will not give his honor and glory to another,148 but will be enquired of. Turn to the Light, which cometh from the Father of Lights, which draws your minds toward God, and let this be your teacher, and leader. And here you will come to see your blind guides, which Christ Jesus cries Woe against,149 who hath so long devoured 141. A conflation of Matt. 7:26 and Luke 6:49. 142. A phrase from Luke 1:19, generally applied to the gospel, the good news of salvation; cf. Acts 13:32, for example. 143. That the good news of salvation is addressed especially to the poor (not the rich) is an idea frequent in the gospels, i.e., Matt. 11:5 and Luke 7:22. 144. Isa. 61:1. 145. Ps. 58:4. Fell’s contemporaries, following classical sources, thought that adders were deaf. The phrase was also used to indicate those who were willfully unhearing, according to the OED. 146. A conflation of Deut. 31:27 and Acts 7:51. “Uncircumscribed” in this passage is a metaphor for those not following the rules. 147. An allusion to Luke 13:6–9. 148. A reference to Isa. 42:8. 149. Matt. 23:16.

84 MARGARET FELL the flock, and scattered them,150 who draw them from that, by which the Lord teacheth his people; which is the Light, the witness of God, which witnesseth for God against all sin and uncleanness. And this they draw people from, to look out at them, who are the deceivers and betrayers of your souls. Therefore, as ye love your souls, turn from them, and lay your foundation on Christ the Light; for this is the door which everyone that enters goes in at;151 and whosoever climbs up another way is a thief and a robber;152 and this ye shall eternally witness. And so, to the Light turn, and there wait, and there will you see the savior of your souls. And if ye do not turn to this Light, this Light shall be your condemnation forever, and shall find you out at one day; and this ye shall witness, whether ye will hear or forbear. M. F. Before this paper was written, as I lay upon my bed, I saw a vision of all the professions in the world, and it appeared unto me, as a long, torn, rotten house, so shattered, and so like to fall, as I thought, I never saw a thing like it in all my life, so miserable, old, and decayed, and so ready for destruction. And a pity and a tenderness rose in my heart to the people, and so, in the motion of God’s spirit I wrote this paper aforesaid. M. Fell

150. Biblical language; cf. 1 Kings 22:17, 2 Chron. 18:16, Ezek. 34:6, and Nah. 3:18. 151. John 10:9. 152. John 10:1.

A TESTIMONY OF THE Touchstone,1 FOR ALL PROFESSIONS, AND ALL Forms, and Gathered Churches,2 (as They Call Them) of What Sort Soever, To Try Their Ground and Foundation by. By M. F.3 Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I lay in Zion4 for a foundation, a Stone, a tried Stone, a precious Cornerstone, a sure foundation, Isaiah 28:16.5 The Stone which the builders refused is become the head Stone of the corner, Psalm 118:22.6 Now, therefore, ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God, and are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief Cornerstone, Ephesians 2:19–20.7 Unto you therefore which believe is he precious, but unto them which be disobedient, the Stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, 1 Peter 2:78 First Printed in the Year 1656. 1. A black flint-like mineral used to test the purity of gold and silver by the streak on the stone from the touch of the metal, here a metaphor for the pamphlet, which will allow other sects or “professions” to test their own interpretations of Christianity against it; ultimately a metaphor for Christ the Word or the Bible, by which Christians test their faith and religious conceptions. 2. A term referring to Anabaptists and other sects, so the title alerts us that this pamphlet is addressed to all the radical Protestant sects other than the Society of Friends. 3. The original tract from 1656 was printed with the additional works A Trial by the Scriptures and Some of the Ranter’s Principles Answered, neither of which we have included in this volume. 4. Another name for Israel and the people of Israel. 5. Isa. 28:16, as Fell states. 6. Ps. 118:22, as Fell states, and repeated in Matt. 21:42 and Acts 4:11, as well as in the following biblical quotations in the rest of this headnote. 7. Eph. 2:19–20, as Fell states. 8. 1 Pet. 2:7, as Fell states.

85

86 MARGARET FELL To all the professions of the world, and to all the forms which all the professors9 live in, to the light in all your consciences,10 which comes from Jesus, who is the Father’s Covenant of Light and Life, the Lamb, who is the Light of all the nations that are saved,11 which now shines in all your consciences: to this in you all do I speak, that with it you may search and try your standing, and ground, and foundation. The Church is in God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Christ Jesus the Cornerstone,12 who hath said, Upon this Rock will I build my Church.13 Paul wrote to Timothy how to behave himself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of truth.14 For, saith he, Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness, God manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.15 Now professors, look about you, and see where your footing and where your foundation is, who do profess a God and a Christ afar off, and deny the Light of Jesus Christ which manifests him come in the flesh.16 How can you know him, or confess him in the flesh, who deny him to be manifested in you? What ground have ye to build upon, when you know nothing of him, but what ye have from a profession without you? Oh, consider seriously! And turn your minds to the Light, which will let you see your foundation to be rotten and sandy, which ye foolish builders are building in your imaginations,17 Babel in the air,18 professing the Scriptures without, which were declared and spoken from a living and eternal principle within.19 But where is your foundation? Where is your ground? Where is your root, who deny the Cornerstone, Jesus Christ, as he is the Light and Rock 9. Individuals who proclaim or declare their beliefs, usually religious beliefs. 10. The concept of the inner voice or conscience espoused by the Society of Friends; see the introduction. 11. A paraphrase of Rev. 21:23–24. 12. A biblical term for Christ. See Eph. 2:20, in which the Church is described as “built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone”; 1 Pet. 2:6. 13. Matt. 16:18. 14. 1 Tim. 3:15. 15.1 Tim. 3:16, but with “was manifest” changed to “manifested.” Fell is probably quoting from memory here. 16. Fell here criticizes those who claim to believe in Christ but do not experience him within themselves. Friends held that they were part of the Second Coming, that Christ had already returned to earth to manifest himself in each believer. 17. A conflation of Matt. 7:26 and Luke 6:46–49, different renditions of the same parable. 18. An allusion to the story of the Tower of Babel in Gen. 11:1–9: the people in pride tried to build a tower that reached to heaven, but God separated them by languages so that they could no longer work together and scattered them all over the world. 19. An extra sentence, 1656 ed.: “And this ye take and build upon.”

A Testimony of the Touchstone for All Professions 87 of Ages,20 which all the prophets, and apostles, and holy men of God are founded and built upon? A profession of this only will stand you in no stead; for the Holy Seed is risen, the substance of all, and the life of the Scriptures which spoke them forth is manifested. The Word, which was in the beginning, which was with God, which Word was God,21 and whose name is called The Word of God, who lives forevermore, this Word, which we have seen, which we have heard, which our hands have handled, this we declare unto you, by which Word the world was made, and without which nothing was made that was made.22 This is manifested and witnessed. Praises, living praises be to the living God! And this is he that will break to pieces all your rotten profession. You cannot stand before him: his rod of iron, where he rules, will dash you all to pieces, ye potsherds of the earth,23 who have set up an image;24 the little stone cut out of the mountain without hands25 strikes at it,26 and overturns its foundation. You and your Diana shall fall, and the stone shall become a great mountain.27 The mouth of the Lord of Hosts hath spoken it. And you who take the words spoken from the life of God, and profess them, and God and Christ without you, and ye persecute the same life which gave them forth, which now is made manifest in his people: ye make up the measure of your forefathers, who slew28 the prophets, and ye garnish their sepulchers.29 Ye are in their steps, who killed the prophets, who beat the servants, and would also kill the heir;30 your fruits make you manifest. Ye are the graves which men go over, painted sepulchers, with words and professions,31 but within are full of rottenness and dead men’s bones.32 The candle of the Lord God is lighted, by which he searcheth Jerusalem, and hath found you out.33 The day of the Lord,34 which is coming upon you, which makes all things manifest, this will lay you open. To the Light in 20. 1656 ed. reads, “the light Jesus Christ, the light and Rock of Ages.” 21. 1656 ed. includes, “he who was dead is alive.” 22. A paraphrase of John 1:1–3. 23. A paraphrase of Rev. 2:27; cf. Rev. 12:5 and Rev. 19:15. 24. Between “image” and “the little stone,” 1656 ed. includes “whose head is of gold, whose breast is of silver, whose feet is part iron and part clay,” a continuation of the quotation from Dan. 2:32. 25. A paraphrase of Dan. 2:34. 26. 1656 ed.: “sticks at his feet.” 27. A conflation of Acts 19:27 and Dan. 2:35. 28. 1656 ed.: “which shew.” 29. A reference to Matt. 23:29; see also Matt. 23:31. 30. An allusion to a parable found in Matt. 21:35–38, Mark 12:5–7, and Luke 20:11–14. 31. 1656 ed.: “professions of their outside.” 32. This passage incorporates many allusions to Matt. 23:27–29. 33. A reference to Prov. 20:27 that Fell interprets as signifying the Quaker notion of Inner Light. 34. Judgment Day.

88 MARGARET FELL all your consciences do I speak, that to it you may turn,35 to see what ye know of the living God there, there he is unknown to you yet, as he was to the Athenians, whom ye also ignorantly worship,36 though he be not far from every one of you. Therefore put him not far off you, but call upon him while he is near, and seek him while he may be found.37 If ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts,38 while it is called today. Now you have time, prize it; this is the day of your visitation.39 Your profession without you will not serve you; it stinks in the Lord’s nostrils, and all your righteousness shall be spread as dung upon your faces.40 It is as filthy rags;41 it shall pass away, and never be mentioned. He is come, who convinceth the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; therefore your righteousness, which is not the righteousness of Jesus Christ, is condemned by him, who is the righteousness of the Father, and the express image of his substance.42 The glorious brightness of his coming makes manifest the man of sin,43 who hath so long sat in the temple of God, exalted above all that is called God in you. The time is come wherein he is revealed. Therefore, cease from your abominations, and outward professions of forms and colors, without the life, power, and purity of truth itself. For the glorious Light makes you manifest, and all your covers are too narrow.44 The woe from the living God is to them; and all coverings, which are not by his pure Spirit, are to be rent. And though ye may seem fair on the outside, this will not hide you. He who searcheth the heart and trieth the reins is come,45 before whom all secrets are bare and naked. Therefore, turn in to the measure of the Light, which ye have received from the Fountain of Light, and see what ye have there in possession. There you will find your house unswept and unclean; and the woman that had lost the groat, sought without, but she found it not, till she came to sweep her own house, and 35. 1656 ed.: “may learn.” 36. A reference to Acts 17:22–23 where Paul addresses Athenians who worship an unknown god. 37. Acts 17:27. 38. Heb. 3:15. 39. A visit by a religious official to enforce church rites or physical arrangements, but also a miraculous occurrence such as a vision. This may be one of the few times Fell uses a pun: sinners have a choice between a disciplinary or visionary visit from Christ. 40. A paraphrase of Mal. 2:3. 41. Between “rags;” and “it shall pass” 1656 ed. includes “and as the early dew,” a paraphrase of Hosea 6:4. 42. 1656 ed.: “glory.” 43. A reference to 2 Thess. 2:3. 44. A reference to Isa. 28:20. 45. A commonplace of the Bible (e.g. Ps.7:9). Here Fell employs the metaphors of “searches,” as in using an instrument to cleanse a wound, and “reins,” as in kidneys, the seat of the emotions, to describe revealing the inner self.

A Testimony of the Touchstone for All Professions 89 there she found it.46 This parable ye must read within. Jesus Christ likened the Kingdom of Heaven unto a merchantman who was seeking for goodly pearls,47 and found one, and when he had found it, he was to sell all and buy it.48 And again, he likeneth the Kingdom of Heaven to a little leaven which a woman hid in three measures of meal, till it was leavened;49 though you have the letter without you, yet these parables ye have to learn. Now, turn to the Light, and there ye will come to see and know the mysteries of God,50 which to the world are parables, and to all you who deny the Light.51 Though ye should get all the words of the whole Scriptures in your brains and comprehension, so long as ye deny the Light, and turn your minds from the Light, and seek to know these things without you, ye shall never know them, but they shall be as a book sealed unto you:52 the depth and the mysteries of them ye cannot know.53 Therefore, as ever ye desire to know the mysteries of God, which are hid from all the world and the world’s profession though never so high, turn to the Light, wait in the Light, keep your minds within to the Light, and walk in the Light,54 which checks you, and convinceth you of sin and evil, and discerns the thoughts of your hearts, and lets you see the out-goings of your minds,55 and discerns every sinful lust, even in the very appearance and rising of it. This is that which the Lord God teacheth in this his day, which teacher never is removed into a corner56 to them who hearken diligently and turn their minds to it. This is the eye which is blind in all the world: though they have eyes, they see not, and ears, they hear not,57 and hearts, they do not understand. The god of this world hath blinded this eye, and his ministers would keep it blind and shut up, and deny it to be a teacher sufficient. And, so, your leaders cause you to err, 46. A paraphrase of Luke 15:8–9, a parable that relies on domestic imagery. A “groat” was an English or Dutch silver coin worth about four pennies, and so a good paraphrase for the King James Version translation of “Δραχμη,” the Greek word used in the passage in Luke. That the 1526 Tyndale New Testament translated the passage as “groate” suggests that Fell is reading comparatively across multiple translations. 47. Between “pearls,” and “and found,” 1656 ed. includes “who digged deeply in the earth.” 48. Matt. 13:45–46. 49. A paraphrase of Matt. 13:33 or Luke 13:21. 50. 1656 ed.: “and there you will come to see, learning there in the Light, ye will come to see and know the mysteries of God.” 51. 1656 ed. continues, “shall be shut for evermore.” 52. A paraphrase of Isa. 29:11. 53. 1656 ed. continues, “eternally ye shall witness me.” 54. 1 John 1:7. 55. A metaphor for thoughts. 56. A paraphrase of Isa. 30:20. 57. A biblical commonplace in, for example, Acts 28:27; see also Isa. 44:18 and Matt. 13:15.

90 MARGARET FELL who are blind, and lead you that are blind, and so ye may follow them, till ye both go into the pit. But58 if ever ye come to know the living God, ye must turn your minds to the Light which is in you, of which Christ Jesus saith, take heed that the Light that is in you be not darkness,59 for then how great is that darkness?60 And so all your blind guides61 which keep your minds from this Light which is in you, lead you into darkness,62 and so then how great is that darkness?63 But turning your minds to this Light, and joining your minds to it, and hearkening to it, then will ye come to see this blind eye opened. And the blind man, which hath been born blind from his birth will come to see, and his eyes will be anointed with eye-salve,64 which those blind guides, which lead you from the Light, never knew. And this ye shall witness to be truth: if ye turn your minds to the Light, then will ye come to see what I speak, and witness me to be true, and all your blind guides liars, who deny the Light, and would not have you to mind the Light, but hate the Light, and love darkness rather than Light, because their deeds are evil.65 But the Light is risen (glory forevermore!) which is their condemnation, and hath found them out, who are the thieves and robbers who have gone before,66 and climb up another way.67 But Christ Jesus saith, I am the door of the sheep, all that ever come before me are thieves and robbers. I am the door: by me if any man enter, he shall be saved, saith Christ Jesus, who is the Light.68 And these thieves and robbers who deny the Light draw from the door Christ Jesus, by which all that ever are saved enter, who is the good Shepherd,69 and who hath given his life for the sheep. But he that is an hireling and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, see not themselves to be the wolves, for they are blind;70 the god of this world hath blinded their eyes, who deny the Light,71 and so they leave the sheep and flee. 58. 1656 ed.: “But eternally.” 59. Luke 11:34–35. 60. Matt. 6:23. 61. Matt. 23:16 and Matt. 23:24. Reminiscent of Matt. 15:14 and Rom. 2:19. Fell uses the term metaphorically to refer to hypocrites as in the proverbial the blind leading the blind. 62. 1656 ed. reads, instead, “so your minds being from it, it is to you darkness.” 63. Matt. 6:23. 64. A conflation of Isa. 35:5, John 9:1, and John 9:6. 65. John 3:19. 66. A paraphrase of John 10:8. 67. A reference to John 10:1. 68. John 10:7–9. 69. A common epithet for Christ; see John 10:11. 70. John 10:12; but rather than failing to see the wolves, Fell’s bad shepherds are themselves wolves (a frequent Reformation metaphor for Catholic priests). 71. A conflation of John 12:40 and 2 Cor. 4:4.

A Testimony of the Touchstone for All Professions 91 And the lost sheep of the House of Israel,72 which Christ Jesus is sent to seek and to save, they know not, but let the wolf in every bosom destroy the sheep of their flock.73 But now is the Shepherd of the sheep come, whose own the sheep are, who is the good Shepherd, and knows his sheep and is known of them, who hear his voice and know his voice.74 And he puts forth his own sheep; he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice, and a stranger will they not follow.75 Glory and praises be to the living God forever, who is redeeming his sheep from the mouths of the wolves and devourers, who have scattered them upon every mountain and hill in the cloudy and dark day.76 But now is the Light of the glorious Gospel risen,77 and beautiful upon the mountains are the78 feet of them that bring glad tidings of this Gospel, that publish peace, that say unto Zion, thy King reigneth.79 To all who desire to know the way to Zion doth this voice cry to turn their faces80 to the Light of Jesus Christ, who came riding upon an ass’s colt, to the joy and rejoicing of all Zion’s children.81 Therefore, turn again, all you who are wandering from mountain to hill, seeking rest, but finding none.82 Turn to the Light in every one of your consciences; this is the Word of Faith which we preach83 (which Moses taught Israel, and the Apostle Paul the Romans) which is nigh in the mouth and in the heart.84 Here is your teacher, if you hearken to the pure Light, which shows you the deceit of your hearts, and your unclean thoughts, from which proceed uncleanness, which the Light makes manifest, which will rip85 you up, and reprove you in secret. The Lord God of Life and Power is fulfilling his everlasting covenant in this his day; he is writing his Law in the heart, and putting it in the inward parts,86 that none need say know the Lord, but all who turn to the measure of God shall know him, 72. Matt. 10:6 and Matt. 15:24. 73. Another reference to John 10:12 but conflated with Jer. 23:1; the professors are presented as wolves rather than good pastors. 74. A reference to Christ as a good shepherd as in John 10:3–4, John 10:11, and John 10:14. 75. John 10:4–5. 76. A paraphrase of Ezek. 34:12. 77. Literally “good news,” used in this passage as an epithet for Christ rather than as one of the biblical books on the life of Christ. 78. 1656 ed.: “his.” 79. A conflation of Isa. 52:7 with Nah. 1:15. 80. 1656 ed. continues “thitherward.” 81. A conflation of Matt. 21:5 with John 12:14–15. 82. Matt. 12:43 and Luke 11:24. 83. Rom. 10:8. 84. Deut. 30:14. 85. 1656 ed.: “reap.” 86. A paraphrase of Jer. 31:33.

92 MARGARET FELL from the least to the greatest of them. And by no other way or name under heaven shall ye know the living God, but by this pure Light and Law written in the heart.87 Here will ye come to witness the Lord to be your God, and your King, and your Lawgiver, which all the professions of the world are ignorant of; therefore, to this pure measure of God in your inward parts have your minds, that ye may come to witness cleansing and purging within, that ye may come to see the uncleanness which proceeds out of the heart, which defiles the man, Matthew 15: 18–19.88 For out of the heart cometh evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false testimony, slanders: these are the things which defile a man.89 And now,90 you teachers and professors who look without you and turn from this which should cleanse within! How do you look, that that which is without you, should cleanse from this uncleanness within? Let that of God in your consciences see how you can be cleansed by this, when ye turn from it. But if ye turn to the Light which makes these things manifest, and dwell and abide in it, then will ye abstain from them, and so come to witness cleansing. For him that walketh in the Light, as God is in the Light, the blood of Jesus cleanseth from all sin.91 And Christ Jesus saith, Luke 6:45, A good man out of the good treasure92 of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure93 of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for out of the abundance of his heart his mouth speaketh. And why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doth them, I will show you to whom he is like: he is like a man which built a house, and dug deep, and laid the foundation on a rock, and when the floods arose, the streams beat violently upon the house, and could not shake it, for it was built upon a rock. But he that heareth and doth not, is like a man, that without a foundation built an house upon the earth, against which the streams did beat violently, and immediately it fell, and the fall of that house was great.94 Now professors, here is your building! Eternally you shall witness this parable fulfilled upon you: the tempests and storms are coming upon you. Your house will be beaten down; it cannot stand, for ye have been sayers a long time, and not doers of the Word.95 Your house which ye have built is without foundation; it is 87. A further reference to Jer. 31:33. 88. A paraphrase of Matt. 15:18–19, as Fell states. 89. A direct quotation of Matt. 15:19, with “proceed” changed to “cometh.” 90. 1656 ed.: “How will.” 91. 1 John 1:7, with some words changed and others dropped. Fell changes the plural “we” to the singular “him,” and also leaves out “we have fellowship with one another.” 92. 1656 ed.: “treasury.” 93. 1656 ed.: “treasury.” 94. Actually Luke 6:45–49. 95. James 1:22.

A Testimony of the Touchstone for All Professions 93 not founded upon the Rock Christ Jesus.96 Ye who deny the Light, he saith unto you, why call ye me Lord, and do not the things which I say?97 Upon him shall ye be beaten to pieces, and all your profession. It is known98 and seen: ye are made manifest; ye cannot hide yourselves. Therefore, let the time past of your lives suffice, and repent while ye have time, lest the whirlwind of the Lord99 come upon you, and destroy you ere100 ye are aware. And remember that ye are warned in your lifetime. Ye who talk of faith, where is your foundation, who deny the Light Christ Jesus the Cornerstone, whose blood washeth, and cleanseth, and purgeth away the filth of the Daughter of Zion?101 What will your faith advantage you who are yet in your sins? Is not that faith vain which doth not purify the heart?102 The Apostle Paul saith, now the end of the commandment is charity, out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned, 1 Timothy 1:5.103 And again he saith, holding the mystery of faith in a pure conscience, 1 Timothy 3:9.104 And the Apostle John saith, for whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world, and this is the victory which overcometh the world, even our faith, 1 John 5:4.105 Now see whether your faith hath overcome the world, and given you victory over sin, else never talk of faith, for ye are yet in your sins. All who are of the faith by which the just live, deny your faith, for ye who are alive to sin,106 crucify and slay the just,107 but who are in the faith of God,108 live by faith.109 And so now here ye may read your faith by your works. For the Apostle James saith, what doth it profit though a man say he hath faith, and hath not works, that faith cannot save.110 See what comparison James 96. Fell applies Christ’s parable, which she has just quoted, to her target audience. 97. A paraphrase of Luke 6:46, which Fell has just quoted. 98. We have corrected what must be a misprint: the original reads “know.” 99. Jer. 23:19 and Jer. 30:23. 100. We have corrected a misspelling: the original reads “e’er,” which is an abbreviation of “ever,” but Fell means “ere,” an archaic word for “before.” 101. An epithet for Jerusalem, sometimes standing for the nation of Israel; here a paraphrase of Isa.4:4. Our thanks to Hebrew scholar Adele Berlin. Fell generally uses this epithet negatively to refer to a group straying from God’s path. 102. A reference to Acts 15:9. 103. 1 Tim. 1:5, as Fell states. 104. 1 Tim. 3:9, as Fell states. 105. 1 John 5:4, as Fell states. 106. Rom. 6:11. 107. A paraphrase of Heb. 6:6. 108. Between “God” and “live” 1656 ed. includes “the just.” 109. A paraphrase of Rom. 1:17, Gal. 3:11, and Heb. 10:38. 110. Fell makes some changes to James 2:14—“What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?”

94 MARGARET FELL makes, James 2:16: even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, thou hast faith, and I have works: show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works.111 Now see how blind ye are, who read these Scriptures, and profess them, and yet talk of faith, and live in your sins. Oh, the righteous God will plead with you, for all your deceit and hypocrisy. Thou believest there is a God, thou dost well; the devils believe also and tremble. Therefore, know, oh vain man, that thy faith without works is dead.112 And what are thy works, who are yet in thy sins? Is not sin the work of the devil?113 Oh, that ever ye should be so blind and besotted! Will the fig leaves of your profession cover your nakedness?114 Nay, the Lord hath found you out, and all your coverings are too narrow.115 And your faith which is held with respect of persons, which the Apostle exhorts from, the Lord God abhors. But if ye had true, living faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say to this mountain, be thou removed into the sea, and it would be so.116 But to you whose faith is dead, who are yet in your sins, this is a mystery.117 Therefore, repent, and turn to the Lord God, and believe in the Light, which is rising and shining in your consciences, he it is who is the Resurrection and the Life. Whosoever believeth in him, though he were dead, yet shall he live.118 Therefore hearken diligently to the prophet119 in this day, which the Lord hath raised, and believe in the Light! For whosoever doth not hearken to this prophet is to be cut off. Turn to the Light, and believe, and hearken diligently that your souls may live. Why will ye give your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which profitteth not?120 The pure, everlasting Fountain of Life is set open, and the voice is calling to everyone to come. All that thirst, to come and buy wine and milk without money;121 they that have been sold for nought

111. Actually James 2:17–18. 112. James 2:19–20. 113. Sin as the work of the Devil comes from 1 John 3:8. Our thanks to Sr. Anne O’Donnell for this citation. 114. In Gen. 3:7, Adam and Eve cover their nakedness with fig leaves when they lose their innocence. 115. Isa. 28:20. 116. Fell refers to the words of Jesus in Matt. 17:20, and quotes this verse with some slight changes in phrasing. 117. Fell and other members of the Society of Friends borrowed the Biblical term “mystery” for Christ’s miraculous resurrection to mean the wonder of conversion in the individual Christian. 118. John 11:25. 119. Christ. 120. A paraphrase of John 6:27 combined with Isa. 55:2. 121. A paraphrase of Isa. 55:1.

A Testimony of the Touchstone for All Professions 95 shall be redeemed without money, for the blood of the everlasting Covenant122 is poured forth, and shed for the redemption of Israel’s seed. Therefore, all turn to the voice that calls you. This is the way, walk in it.123 And that which turns and draws your minds towards God, the Light, which cometh from the Father of Light, turn to, and there will ye witness a living hope, which was that hope which Paul the Apostle was called in question for, of the resurrection of the dead,124 who was a minister of God, who watched for the soul, which your ministers of death know not, nor have no hope of, but their labor is to keep you in the death. But if ye wait in the Light of Jesus Christ, ye will know125 the Resurrection and the Life, which is the mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.126 For this is he which brings in a better hope, by which ye draw nigh unto God. And every man that hath this hope in him purifies himself, even as he is pure, 1 John 3:3.127 And the Apostle Peter saith, blessed be God, and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, 1 Peter 1:3.128 And this is none of the hypocrite’s hope, for the hope of the hypocrite doth perish,129 and the hypocrite hath no right nor interest in the true and living hope, which is the promise of the Lord, to the heirs of his promise. The immutability of his counsel, confirmed by an oath, that by two immutable things, by which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast.130 But this is nothing to the dissembling hypocrites and professors of the world, who deny the Light Christ Jesus, the second priest, and have set up a priest without them, and have a church without them, and a hope without them, and a rule without them, and a guide without them. These are none of the heirs of the Promise, for the Promise and Covenant of God is within, and the second priest, the unchangeable priest,131 which is surety of a better testament, and bringeth in a better hope. He is the Covenant made 122. A conflation of Isa. 52:3 and Heb. 13:20. Between “Covenant” and “is poured forth,” 1656 ed. includes “which brings again the Lord Jesus from the dead,” a continued paraphrase of Hebrews. 123. Isa. 30:21. 124. A reference to Acts 24:21. Paul is called before a council of Jews on the issue of the resurrection of the dead. 125. 1656 ed.: “who is.” 126. Col. 1:27. Cf. Rom. 8:10. 127. 1 John 3:3, as Fell states. 128. 1 Pet. 1:3, as Fell states. 129. A conflation of Job 27:8 and Job 20:5–7. 130. Heb. 6:17–19. 131. A reference to Heb. 7:24.

96 MARGARET FELL with an oath132 who is the refuge for the righteous to flee to, which is the hope set before them.133 But this is a mystery134 to all ye carnal professors, who are yet in your sins and uncleanness, and yet will tell of faith, and hope, and God, and Christ. But your root is rottenness, your ground is cursed and corrupt, and your chaff is to be burnt. The fire is kindled which cannot be quenched,135 and the day of the Lord is come, which burns as an oven, and all your filthy profession, and deceitful rotten hypocrisy shall be as stubble.136 And though ye should give your goods to the poor, and your bodies to be burnt,137 and do not believe in the Light, and turn to the Light, and walk in it, it is nothing.138 For so long as you do not walk in the Light, ye know nothing at all of charity, which suffereth long, which envieth not, which vaunteth not itself, puffeth not up, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth.139 This ye are far from, who are in your envy, wrath, malice, persecution, pleading for sin against perfection and against the Light which discovereth and makes manifest all sin and uncleanness. Your profession of God and Christ in word, when in works ye deny him, will not serve you; the Lord abhors all your profession and hypocrisy. Therefore, give over your deceitful dissembling, and turn to that which rips you up, and lays you naked and bare before the Lord God, from whom you cannot hide yourselves.140 And to the Light of Christ come to be tried and searched, the tried Stone, which layeth judgment to the line and righteousness to the plummet,141 for Zion is redeemed through judgment, and her converts with righteousness.142 Therefore, give over deceiving of your souls, for he that doth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.143 And all sin and uncleanness the Light condemns. And if your hearts condemn you, God is greater.

132. Perhaps an ironic reference to the Oath of Allegiance, which required all those of a certain wealth or status to swear allegiance to the king, used to persecute and imprison members of the Society of Friends, who refused to swear oaths. 133. The Geneva Bible commentary for Heb. 7:1–21 makes explicit that the priesthood of Christ is preferable to the mortal Levitical priesthood. 134. Here, Fell uses “mystery” to mean the unconverted person’s confused ignorance of the miracle of a converted believer’s faith. 135. A conflation of Isa. 5:24 and Luke 3:17. 136. A close paraphrase of Mal. 4:1. 137. A paraphrase of 1 Cor. 13:3. 138. A paraphrase of 1 John 1:7. 139. 1 Cor. 13:4 and 1 Cor. 13:6. 140. Ezek. 23:29. 141. Isa. 28:17. A “line” or “plumb line” is a piece of cord with a weight at the bottom (a “plummet”) used to ascertain straight verticality in carpentry or construction. 142. Isa. 1:27. 143. 1 John 3:7.

A Testimony of the Touchstone for All Professions 97 Therefore, do not deceive your souls, but search and try your own selves,144 for if ye know not that Christ is in you, ye are reprobates.145 And so all forms and all professions, try your own selves, and to the Light come to be tried, and there you will see your rotten profession will be too light;146 and do not deceive your souls, but now ye have time, prize it, while it is called today. Consider, and do not forget God, lest he tear you to pieces, while there be none to deliver you.147 And this is in love to all your souls, which ye shall eternally witness to be truth. But if ye hate the Light,148 and turn from the Light, the Light is your condemnation. And when the Book[s] of Conscience are opened, and all judged out of them, then shall that witness of God in you, witness me, that this is in love to your souls. And so, whether ye hear or forbear, I have cleared my conscience, and the Lord is clear of your blood. And your foundation and bottom I know and comprehend, but the Rock which ye know not shall break you to pieces, though ye have the outward writings and declaration which was spoken from another state and condition than ye are in. And these words ye take and make your own, whenas ye are in another condition and of another seed than that which the promise is to.149 For it is not to seeds as to many, but to one seed, which is Christ the Light and Cornerstone, which ye builders refuse, and yet ye account it railing150 to be called thieves and robbers, though ye have nothing but what ye steal from others. Ye take Moses’s words, who was a servant of the Lord sent to bring Israel, the seed of God, out of bondage; and ye who are like the Egyptian taskmasters, with his words keep the seed in bondage.151 To Moses’s state ye never came, which brings out of the house of darkness you who deny the Light, and yet you will profess Moses’s words. Now let that of God in all your consciences, which is just and equal, judge whether ye be not thieves and robbers in this, yea, or nay?152

144. A reference to Lam. 3:40; “search” is a medical term meaning to probe a wound for dirt, infection, or shrapnel. 145. A paraphrase of 2 Cor. 13:5. 146. Wordplay on “Light” and “light”—the first a reference to Jesus as a touchstone revealing the truth, and the second an insinuation that Christians who are not Friends will find their “profession” or faith too insubstantial. 147. A paraphrase of Ps. 50:22. 148. 1656 ed. reads, “If ye turn to the Light which is my witness, and if ye hate the Light . . .” 149. A reference to the idea in the Hebrew Scriptures that the people of Israel are the children of God’s covenant or promise; Christians see themselves as the heirs of Christ’s remaking of that covenant or promise. 150. Scolding or insulting. 151. For the story of Moses and the freeing of the Israelites from Egyptian slavery, see Exodus. 152. A reference to John 10:8.

98 MARGARET FELL And ye take the prophets’ words, who received the Word from the Lord, which the Lord spoke to them, and ye profess these words, and ye slay the Prophet, which the Lord promised to raise like unto Moses, which he hath said everyone shall hear, who bringeth the seed out of Egypt.153 And with their words ye crucify the just, and garnish his sepulcher, and so you are found the painted sepulchers, slaying the righteous, which Christ speaks of.154 Now see if ye be not the blind guides and hypocrites in this, which Christ Jesus cried woe against,155 to them whom he found in the same steps as ye are in, who had Moses’s and the prophets’ words, who wrote of him and prophesied of him, but he told them they knew them not. For if they had known Moses and the prophets, they would have known him.156 And so, ye go beyond those in Christ’s time and exceed them in hypocrisy and deceit. For ye take Christ Jesus his words, which he spoke before he was offered up, and since he is risen again and ye profess them, and with these words ye deny the Light, who hath said he is the Light, and which John, who was the faithful witness and more than a prophet, witnessed of, who was said to be the greatest that was born of women.157 And Christ’s testimony, and John’s testimony ye deny, who deny the Light. And yet ye take these words, and profess them, and persecute the Light and Life that spoke these words. Now to that of God in your consciences, which cannot bear false witness nor lie, do I speak. Let that try you and examine you whether you do not exceed the Scribes and Pharisees who crucified Christ Jesus, who had writings of him that he should come, yet when he came, they did not know that it was he, and so, they crucified him under the name of a blasphemer and prince of devils.158 But ye say and profess that he is come, and profess that that was he which they crucified, and ye profess that he is risen again, and yet ye persecute and deny his Light and testimony, where it is risen and made manifest. Now see whether ye be not blind, indeed, whenas ye go about to oppose, deny, and persecute that which ye yourselves profess. Now see what a god this is ye serve, who keeps you so blind in your profession, that ye persecute those who possess that which ye yourselves profess. Ye exceed all that ever went before you, that ever we read of, and yet ye are so blind, as ye do not see yourselves. For those whom ye persecute and oppose, ye have nothing against them, but that they witness and possess that which ye blind 153. A reference to Isa. 19:1. Fell uses the pagan Egypt as a metaphor to describe the “professors” who are the targets of her letter. 154. A paraphrase of Matt. 23:27, where Christ calls hypocrites “whited sepulchers.” 155. Fell uses “blind” or “blinded” twenty-four times in this epistle. Cf. Matt. 23:16 and Matt. 23:24. 156. A paraphrase of John 5:46. 157. See Matt. 11:11 and Luke 7:28, which refer to John the Baptist as “the greatest that was born of women.” 158. See Matt. 9:34, Matt. 12:24, and Mark 3:22.

A Testimony of the Touchstone for All Professions 99 hypocrites profess,159 but know nothing of. So ye make clean the outside160 with an outward profession, and a form, and an image, and a likeness, but your inside is sin, uncleanness, filthiness, envy, wrath, malice, strife, and persecution. This is of the Devil’s kingdom of sin, and this is the inheritance and possession which ye possess. Though ye profess a God and a Christ from records without you, yet your possession and inheritance is the Devil’s kingdom of sin. Let that of God in your consciences, which is pure, now examine and try you, and search you, and see if ye be not found in sin and uncleanness, and deny freedom from sin, and perfection, and purity, and plead for sin and the Devil’s kingdom, and yet profess God and Christ. Oh, that ever ye should be so abominably blind and sottish!161 Do ye look upon the pure and Holy God, who cannot behold iniquity, with whom dwells no unclean thing, to be like yourselves? And so, likewise ye take the epistles and writings of the apostles to the Church of Christ, which is in God, and which is the house of God, the ground and pillar of all truth,162 which is built upon the Rock Christ Jesus.163 And ye take the words which were written to these who were born of the immortal seed, to which the promise of God is, and ye who live in your sin, and filthiness, and uncleanness, take these words and profess them, and make them your own, as though they were spoken to you, whenas ye never knew their condition, nor the apostles, which were their ministers, and begot them into the everlasting truth, by the immortal ingrafted Word of God. And this, ye who deny the Light which the apostles preached, who were the ministers of the Spirit and not of the letter, ye profess to be yours; and here you build your nest164 in your forms, and here ye sit decked with the words of the saints,165 with your unclean hearts and spirits, and persecuting the righteous seed which these were spoken to, opposing and denying the Light which they were gathered into. But your day of lamentation and howling166 is coming upon you: ye cannot escape. The righteous God hath found you out. The acceptable year of the Lord

159. Fell’s rhyming wordplay on “possess” and “profess” represents Friends’ beliefs as authentic and Anglicans’ as hypocritical. 1656 ed. erroneously reads “witness and profess that which ye blind hypocrites possess.” 160. A reference to Luke 11:39. 161. A sot is a drunk; “sottish” means drunk, or, like a drunk, foolish. 162. 1 Tim. 3:15. 163. 1 Cor. 10:4. 164. A reference to Jer. 49:16. 165. Any believer or Christian in the early church. Fell means that “professors” parade their knowledge of the writings of the Apostles, but do not practice that knowledge. 166. Biblical language to refer to sinners’ suffering on Judgment Day.

100 MARGARET FELL is proclaimed, and the day of vengeance of our God is come,167 and the prince of the world is come to be judged, and the day of the Son of Man is come in which he is lifted up, and where he is lifted up, he draws all men after him.168 Praises be to the living God forever! And your covenant with hell and death is disannulled, and your refuge of lies and dissimulation will be swept away. The overflowing scourge is coming upon you.169 Therefore, as ye love your souls, give over your dissembling, and vain imaginations, and hypocrisy, and vain deceit, and see what ye have, and what ye know, and what ye do enjoy in the light, and in the life, and in the power of the living God, for our Gospel stands not in word, but in Life and Power. And he is manifest, who is the Power of God unto salvation unto all that believe. And this Gospel is not hid, but to those that are lost.170 Now, if ye turn your minds to the Light of Jesus Christ, which is the Light of the glorious Gospel, ye will see that this Gospel hath been hidden from you, and from your profession. But if ye wait in the Light, then will ye come to know the Power, and the Power will raise the Life. And he that walketh in the Light shall not abide in darkness, but shall have the Light of Life.171 And so, give over professing words which were spoken from the Light and Life and Power, while ye yourselves are without life, without power, in a form. Nay, this will not serve! This is an abomination unto the living, pure God; and this will he burn and consume172 with the Spirit of his mouth, and with the brightness of his coming.173 Now see what ye have that will answer to the fire, for nothing will stand in his presence, who is a consuming fire,174 but that which will abide the fire.175 And this ye shall eternally witness to be truth. And so, in this I have cleared my conscience, and laid before you your house and building which is without foundation.176 And if ye turn your minds to the Light, it will let you see you have no bottom nor foundation that can stand. Oh! that ever ye should be so ignorant, sottish, and blind, in this the day of the free grace of the everlasting God, which hath appeared unto all men, which is so sounded forth in your ears, and yet ye will not come to search and examine where your foundation, and root, and bottom is. If ye will but turn you minds to the Light, ye will see that you have nothing at all, but that which is none of your own, 167. Isa. 61:2. 168. John 12:31–32. The “prince of the world” refers to the devil. 169. Isa. 28:15. A scourge is a whip, so here, metaphorically, a punishment from God. 170. 2 Cor. 4:3. 171. Fell quotes John 8:12, but changes “he that followeth me” to “he that walketh in the Light.” 172. A reference to Deut. 32:22. 173. 2 Thess. 2:8. 174. Deut. 4:24, quoted by Paul in Heb. 12:29. 175. A paraphrase of Num. 31:23. 176. A conflation of Matt. 7:26 and Luke 6:49.

A Testimony of the Touchstone for All Professions 101 which will stand ye in no stead, which was written and spoken to others. Oh! that ever ye should be so blind, as to look upon this to be yours in this glorious day of Light, when it is so clearly manifested, and the Gospel freely preached to every creature; and that ye should be so careless of your own souls, as not to come to a search. Oh! what will ye do in the end, when the just and righteous God calls you to an account, who hath sent forth his ministers and messengers to preach the glad tidings177 of the Gospel to the poor,178 liberty to the captives,179 and yet ye as deaf adders180 will not hear. Yea, the Lord God seeth you and knoweth your rebellious, stiff-necked, and uncircumcised heart and ears,181 and he will reward you according to your works. And then your profession in words, where you have neither bottom nor foundation, will not serve, for the sword of the Lord is drawn, which cuts down all fruitless trees182 and groundless professions; and your forms and covers are to be ripped off, and ye will be found naked, miserable, and blind. Therefore, now ye have time, prize it, and harden not your hearts while they 183 are called today, but repent and turn to the Lord, who waits to be gracious, who will not give his honor to another,184 but will be inquired of. Turn to the Light which cometh from the Father of Lights, which draws your minds towards God; and let this be your teacher, and leader, and guide. And here ye will come to see your blind guides, which Christ Jesus cries woe against,185 who hath so long devoured the flock and scattered them,186 who draws them from that by which the Lord teacheth his people, which is the Light, the witness of God which witnesseth for God against all sin and uncleanness. And this they draw people from, to look out at them, who are the deceivers and betrayers of your souls. Therefore, as you love your souls, turn from them,187 and lay your foundation in the Light, for this is the door which everyone who enters

177. A phrase from Luke 1:19, generally applied to the gospel, the good news of salvation; cf. Acts 13:32, for example. 178. That the good news of salvation is addressed especially to the poor (not the rich) is an idea frequent in the gospels, i.e., Matt. 11:5 and Luke 7:22. 179. Isa. 61:1. 180. Ps. 58:4. Fell’s contemporaries, following classical sources, thought that adders were deaf. The phrase was also used to indicate those who were willfully unhearing, according to the OED. 181. A conflation of Deut. 31:27 and Acts 7:51. “Uncircumscribed” in this passage is a metaphor for those not following the rules. 182. An allusion to the parable of the barren fig tree in Luke 13:6–9. 183. Originally “while it is called.” 184. A reference to Isa. 42:8. 185. Matt. 23:16. 186. Biblical language; cf. 1 Kings 22:17, 2 Chron. 18:16, Ezek. 34:6, and Nah. 3:18. 187. The pronoun “them” apparently refers to the deceivers.

102 MARGARET FELL goes in at;188 and whosoever climbs up another way is a thief and a robber,189 and this ye shall eternally witness. And so, to the Light turn, and there wait, and there will ye see the betrayers of your souls. And if ye do not turn to this Light, this Light shall be your condemnation forever, and shall find you out one day, and this ye shall witness, whether ye will hear, or forbear. None owns the truth, as it is in Jesus, but who owns the Light, which he hath lighted them withal, who lighteth every man that cometh into the world. And none owns the truth, but who owns the Light that they are lighted withal, which comes from Christ Jesus the Light and Life, who is the Way to the Father of Life. And none owns the Way to the Father, who lighteth every man that cometh into the world, but such as owns the Light which comes from him. And none cometh to the Father, but by the Son;190 and none cometh to the Son, but who owneth the Light which from the Son doth come, who lighteth every man that cometh into the world. None heareth the Prophet, Christ Jesus, him by whom the world was made, who lighteth every man that cometh into the world, none heareth him, but who heareth that and owneth that which this Prophet hath enlightened withal, who saith, Learn of me.191 None learneth, but such as are turned to the Light, which from him doth come. None receive the Word in the heart, but such as receive the Light, which they are lighted withal, which cometh from him who lighteth every man that cometh into the world, Christ Jesus, who is called the Word of God. He that receiveth the Light shall receive the Word; and he that heareth not this Prophet, he heareth not the Light which he is lighted withal, that cometh from the Prophet, whose name is called The Word of God. He that will not hear this Prophet shall be cut off from among the people. He heareth not the Light which he is enlightened withal, though he makes a profession of all the saints’ words declared from the Light, yet he is cut off from among the people, and with the Light condemned.

188. John 10:9. 189. John 10:1. 190. A variation on Matt. 11:27. 191. Matt. 11:29.

A Loving Salutation, To the Seed of Abraham1 among the Jews,2 Wherever They Are Scattered Up and Down upon the Face of the Earth.3 And To the Seed of Abraham among All People upon the Face of the Earth; Who4 Are All out of the Way; Wandering Up and Down from Mountain to Hill,5 Seeking Rest, but Finding None. AND The Way of Truth Opened to Them, Which Is the Way of Holiness, Which All That Comes To Be Made Alive unto God Must Walk In, Where the Unclean Cannot Pass, but Is for the Ransomed and Redeemed To Return To Zion.6 David saith, The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God. They are corrupt; they have done abominable works. There is none that doth good,7 and the Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand and seek God, and they were all gone aside. They are altogether become filthy; there is none that doth good, no not one.8 Here you may see and

1. See Heb. 2:16, in which the epistle explains Jesus’s humanity by saying he came not as an angel, but as “the seed of Abraham.” 2. Fell addresses this letter not to her fellow Friends, but to Jews all over the world, because most early modern Christians believed that the end of the world would not arrive until all Jews were converted to Christianity. Unlike the biblical citations in her other epistles, those in this text are taken primarily from the Hebrew Scriptures, with almost none from the New Testament—as is appropriate for an invitation to Jews to join the Quakers. 3. See Gen. 11:4 and Gen. 11:8 on God’s punishment of the descendants of Noah for building the Tower of Babel: they are “scattered … abroad … upon the face of all the earth” (Gen. 11:8). 4. 1660 ed.: “which.” 5. Jer. 50:6. 6. This last section has several echoes of a prophecy in Isa. 35:8–10. On the title pages of both the 1656 and 1660 tract editions of Loving Salutation, below the title, are printed several biblical quotations from Isa. 48:17, Isa. 52:14–15, and Isa. 2:2–3. The 1660 tract edition of Loving Salutation, published in London, is set in parallel columns of Hebrew and English, and reads from back to front. There are two title pages, one in English and one in Hebrew. The copy we used was badly damaged, with several pages unreadable. 7. A marginal note reads, “Psal. 14. and 53”; the quotation is from both Ps. 14:1 and Ps. 53:1 (identical passages). 8. Ps. 53:1–3.

103

104 MARGARET FELL read yourselves where you are, who are out of the way of Peace, and the way of Truth, and the Life. Now this is unto you all who are out of the Light, from the seed which hath obtained the promise, that ye may come to partake of the same,9 and be brought to the fold where there is one Shepherd and one sheepfold,10 where the promise of the Lord is fulfilled, who hath said, “It is a light thing that thou mightest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel. I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the ends of the earth.”11 Thus saith the Lord the Redeemer of Israel, and his holy one, to him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers: kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because the Lord is faithful, and the holy one of Israel. In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee, and I will preserve thee and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages, that thou mayest say to the prisoner,12 go forth, and to them that are in darkness, show yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in the high places.13 So here is your mercy offered freely unto you, and the goodwill of him that dwelt in the bush.14 And there is no God besides him; neither shall ye find salvation in any other.15 By the hand of the mighty God16 is Jacob and Joseph made strong. From thence is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel, and the precious things spring17 from him, who is David’s root.18 Therefore, come, O ye House of Jacob,19 and let us walk in the light of the Lord. This is the day of your

9. See Eph. 3:6; “partakers of his promise” are Christians. 10. John 10:16. On behalf of the Society of Friends, Fell is urging Jews to join them as one people under the leadership of Christ the Shepherd. Although today this seems intolerant, at the time it was a much more compassionate approach to Christian-Jewish relationships than those offered by many other sects. 11. Isa. 49:6. Israel is here referred to as “the tribes of Jacob”: Jacob was one of the patriarchs of JudeoChristian history. 12. 1660 ed.: “prisoners.” 13. A marginal note reads, “Isaiah 39,” but in fact this is a very long direct quotation from Isa. 49:7–9. The King James Version uses the plural “prisoners.” 14. Deut. 33:16. 15. A paraphrase that combines elements of Deut. 4:35, Isa. 43:11, and Isa. 45:21. 16. Gen. 49:24. 17. 1660 ed.: “springs.” 18. A reference to Rev. 5:5. 19. Historically refers to the Israel which God protects; here, metaphorically signifies any Christian who is willing to turn to the Inner Light.

A Loving Salutation to the Seed of Abraham among the Jews 105 visitation.20 Therefore, seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts,21 and slight not the mercies of the Lord, and his gracious22 visitation unto you. For he hath brought salvation near, and his covenant is he performing with you, if you do turn to that measure of Light which you have received from him who is the Light of Israel. The covenant of the Lord is given for a Light to open blind eyes, which brings salvation to the ends of the earth,23 which Light lets you see the thoughts of your hearts, that they are vain; which Light lets you see when you do amiss, when you bear false witness, when you tell a lie, when you do wrong to any man; which Light will lead you unto justice and equity; which Light will teach you to fulfill the law of Moses,24 and to do to all men as ye would they should do to you;25 which Light will lead you unto righteousness,26 by which ye may fulfill, and answer to the righteousness of the law, and statutes, and commandments of God, which ye can never do, your minds being from the Light. Therefore, in the fear of the Lord God, turn your minds to within, where the Light shines in the heart, where the Lord teacheth all his people. Who are taught of him are taught by the Light and guided by the Light, for God is the Light of his Israel.27 All the children of the Lord are taught of the Lord, and they are established in righteousness, and they are far from oppression,28 and great is their peace, and the Lord’s children are taught by the Light. And so as ye desire to be the children of the Lord and taught of the Lord, turn your minds to the Light that shows you sin and evil, and checks you when you do transgress. This will guide your minds to God, and bring you out of the transgression, and out of the sin, into the new covenant, which the Lord doth make with his people, which is not according to the old covenant, which covenant you broke. But this is an everlasting covenant which can never29 be broken, to 20. Perhaps a metaphor alluding to the pregnant Mary’s visit to her cousin Elizabeth, pregnant with John the Baptist, a favorite subject of Renaissance paintings. As a metaphor, “visitation” might mean that a Christian is pregnant with faith in Christ. A visitation may also be an ecclesiastical inspection, here perhaps used ironically to contrast Anglican visitations that enforced church ornament and communion arrangements (or outward orthodoxy) vs. Fell’s meaning of Christ within the Christian. 21. Isa. 55:6–7. 22. 1660 ed., omitted. 23. A paraphrase of Acts 13:47. 24. The Ten Commandments, Exod. 20:1–17. 25. A common paraphrase of the Golden Rule, Matt. 7:12 and Luke 6:31. 26. Note throughout this passage Fell’s use of anaphora, the repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of succeeding clauses: “which Light” and “when you” are repeated. 27. Chosen people, and more particularly, those Friends who are guided by the Inner Light. 28. A paraphrase of Isa. 54:13–14. 29. 1660 ed.: “never can.”

106 MARGARET FELL those who live in it, and walk in it, and obey the leading and guiding of the Light, which is the covenant. This answers and fulfills the righteousness of the law of God, and brings you through, to fulfill the whole law and covenant of God, which you could never do, your minds being from the Light, which Light is the substance of the covenant of the law, of the commandments, of the statutes and judgments, which Light answers and fulfills the righteousness of them all, and takes them away outwardly. And those who dwell in the Light, and stand in it, dwell in the substance, out of the shadow, form, and likeness. So here is your way, in the Light, which ye feel and see in you, not a thing without you, but in that which is in you, which you know of, which you can bear testimony of. This is a substance, and not a shadow; and by no other way or30 means under heaven, shall you ever come to know the salvation of Israel, but as your minds are turned and joined to the Light which is in you, which brings salvation to the ends of the earth.31 And the prophecy is fulfilling, which crieth, “Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters freely, without money, buy wine and milk. Hearken diligently, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto me; hear, and your souls shall live. And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people.”32 And this is he which all nations must follow, who is given [as] a witness and a leader and a commander to all the people of God,33 who is the desire of all nations,34 which is come [as] a witness to all people, and a leader of all unto God, who are like sheep gone astray,35 who hath turned everyone to his own way. But now is the Lord gathering them that will be gathered.36 All that do turn unto this witness of God in them, the Lord will heal them. Behold, I will bring health and cure, and I will cure them, and will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth. And I will cause the captivity of Judah, and the captivity of Israel to return, and37 will build them as at first, and I will cleanse them from all their iniquities, whereby they have sinned against me, and whereby they have transgressed. So,

30. 1660 ed.: “nor.” 31. Acts 13:47. 32. A marginal note reads, “Isaiah 55,” and this passage is a close paraphrase of Isa. 55:1–4. 33. This clause, repeated twice, is from Isa. 55:4. 34. Hag. 2:7. 35. Isa. 53:6, repeated in 1 Pet. 2:25. 36. Friends believed that the promise of gathering together applies to the period in preparation for Judgment Day, when Jews will be converted to Christianity, and that Friends are themselves part of the Second Coming that gathers believers together. 37. 1660 ed.: “and I.”

A Loving Salutation to the Seed of Abraham among the Jews 107 if ye will be cleansed from your iniquity,38 turn to the Light within you, which makes manifest the deceit of your hearts;39 if ye will have health and cure, turn to the Light that lets you see your sin and transgression and your iniquity which separates you from God. And if ye desire your iniquity pardoned,40 and if ye41 desire to return from your captivity, and to be built as ye42 were at first, turn to the Light that separates from iniquity, and depart from evil, and hearken there in the pure Light in your consciences diligently, and there you will hear as you abide in the Light, and dwell in it, and walk in it. So you will come to hear the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the Bridegroom and the voice of the Bride, the voice of them that shall say, Praise the Lord of Hosts, for the Lord is good, for his mercy endureth forever, for I will cause their captivity to return as at first, saith the Lord.43 So here is the Lord’s love freely tendered to you, if ye come into the Light, by which the Lord God teacheth his people, that in the pure obedience of the leading and teaching and guiding of the Light, turn your minds to within, into the Light, which convinceth of sin and evil. Here ye will come to have your hearts circumcised, and the foreskin of your heart taken away.44 Here ye will come to have your hearts rent, and not your garments.45 Here ye will turn to the Lord, and receive his covenant and promise, who hath said, “I will make an everlasting covenant with you that I will not turn away from them to do them good, but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me; yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly, with my whole heart, and with my whole soul.”46 See here the faithfulness of the Lord, and his lovingkindness held forth unto you. In giving to you his Light and testimony, whereby you may be guided up unto him, which makes manifest his will, and likewise shows unto you that which is contrary to his will, in turning of your minds to

38. Jer. 33:6–8. Between “sinned against me” and “and whereby they have transgressed,” the 1660 ed. reads, “And I will pardon all their iniquities whereby they sinned against me.” 39. Jer. 14:14 or Jer. 23:26. 40. A possible reference to Isa. 40:2. 41. 1660 ed.: “you.” 42. 1660 ed.: “you.” 43. A marginal note reads, “Jer. 53.11,” but the passage is actually Jer. 33:11. 44. A reference to Col. 2:11–13, in which Paul uses the Jewish rite of circumcision as a metaphor for the repentance that a believer in Christ feels; see also Deut. 30:6, “And the Lord thy God will circumcise thy heart.” 45. Joel 2:13. In this passage, outward obedience to the law (“garments”) is contrasted with inward faith (“heart”). 46. Jer. 32:40–41.

108 MARGARET FELL the Light, you will come to know the one Teacher, by which the Lord teaches his people, Jew and Gentile, barbarian, Scythian, bond and free.47 By this eternal Light of the Lord, doth the Lord gather all his people into one, and fulfills his promise, who saith, “Behold, I will gather them out of all countries, whither I have driven them in my anger, and in my fury, and in my wrath, and I will bring them again into this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely, and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, and I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me forever.”48 See here the infinite goodness of God, who hath manifested his one way, and there is no other to the Father, his eternal Light, which makes manifest and discovers all sin and uncleanness,49 and leads up into purity and righteousness, which purifies the heart, and places the pure fear, and brings into the one heart, and into the one way, where the fear of the Lord is forever, and the truth is in the inward parts, which only is accepted with the Lord. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised to the House of Israel, and to the House of Judah.50 In those days, and at that time, will I cause the branch of righteousness to grow unto David, and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land. In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely, and this is his name wherewith he shall be called, the Lord our Righteousness. David shall never want51 a man to sit upon the throne of Israel.52 So to the Light of the God of Israel turn your minds, and here ye will see him perform the good thing that he hath promised. And this pure Light of God will lead you into righteousness, and will bring you to the branch of righteousness, where you may dwell safely, where ye may have the Lord for your teacher, and leader, and guider, thus:53 Thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: in returning and rest shall ye be saved, and in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength.54 Therefore doth the Lord wait, that he may be gracious unto you. Therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you, for the Lord is a God of Judgment. Blessed are all they that wait for him: he will be very gracious unto thee. At the voice of thy cry, when he shall hear it, he will answer thee. And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teacher be removed into a corner anymore, but thine eyes shall see thy teacher, and thy ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, 47. Col. 3:11. 48. A close paraphrase of Jer. 32:37–39. 49. Zech. 13:1. 50. The two kingdoms of ancient Israel. 51. Need or lack. 52. Jer. 23:5–6 and Jer. 33:14–17; Jer. 33:17 is also a reference to 1 Kings 9:5. 53. 1656 ed.: “thus” is absent. 54. Isa. 30:15.

A Loving Salutation to the Seed of Abraham among the Jews 109 walk in it, when ye turn to the right hand, or to the left. So this is the Word which thou must hear, which teacher will nevermore be removed into a corner, which shows thee when thou turnest to the right hand or to the left,55 which shows thee the intents of thy heart, and is a discerner of thy secret thoughts.56 By this eternal Light doth the Lord God teach his people, which reveals all secrets, which rips up and lays open the hidden things of Esau.57 And so, waiting here in the Light, the mind being subjected to the leading and guiding of the Light, then the power of the Lord will be manifested, which brings the seed out of bondage, out of the house of darkness. So the seed being raised by the power of the Lord God out of Egypt and darkness, the firstborn58 will come to be slain, when the Lord calls his Son59 out of Egypt, Israel his firstborn. And then the law will be given and written in the heart, and the covenant of the Lord will be performed with his own seed, as he calls Israel out of the house of bondage, the darkness of Egypt, where the dead bodies lie in the street of the great city, Sodom60 and Egypt,61 spiritually. But the free covenant of everlasting love and life is set open, and the voice cries freely. Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come to the water of life, and he that hath no money, come and buy wine and milk.62 You that have sold yourselves for naught shall be redeemed without money, if you turn your minds to the Light within you, which is freely given you of the Lord, which shows you63 sin and evil, by which the Lord teaches his people, Jews and Gentiles. This is the promise of the Father, the Light, which is his covenant: behold my servant, whom64 I uphold, mine elect in whom65 my soul delighteth.66 I have put my Spirit upon him; he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. I, the Lord, have called thee in righteousness. I will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a Light to the Gentiles.67 Mark, here is 55. Beginning with “Therefore doth the Lord wait,” a quotation, with very few alterations, from Isa. 30:18–21. 56. A paraphrase of Heb. 4:12. 57. A paraphrase of Jer. 49:10. Esau was the twin brother of Jacob, who tricked him out of his birthright as eldest son; see Gen. 27:9–30. 58. A reference to the last plague God visited on Egypt—the death of the first-born son in each house—to force the Egyptians to free the Israelites; see Exodus 12. 59. 1660 ed.: “Spirit.” 60. Rev. 11:8. Sodom is the archetypical sinful city that God destroys in Gen. 19:24–25. 61. After “Egypt,” the 1656 and 1660 eds. include several words: “which is all the world.” 62. Isa. 55:1. 63. 1660 ed.: “your.” 64. 1656 and 1660 eds.: “which,” not “whom.” 65. 1660 ed.: “which.” 66. A marginal note reads, “Isaiah 42.” The quotation is Isa. 42:1. 67. A paraphrase of Acts 26:23.

110 MARGARET FELL the covenant, and here is the Light, and this is for the opening of the blind eyes, to bring forth the prisoner from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.68 There is the prison, in darkness;69 there is the Egypt70 and the bondage, in the darkness, who are not in the Light. But [those] whose minds are turned into the Light, there will be a rising out of the darkness. And here the blind eyes will be opened, and deaf ears will hear,71 and the prisoner will come forth of the prison, and here the promise of the Lord will be fulfilled. As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant, I have sent forth the prisoners out of the pit wherein there is no water.72 Turn ye to the stronghold, ye prisoners of hope.73 I am the Lord, that is my name; my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images. Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare; before they spring forth, I tell you of them. Sing unto the Lord a new song, and his praise to the ends of the earth, ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein, the isles and the inhabitants thereof. Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voices. Let the inhabitants of the rocks sing; let them shout from the top of the mountains. Let them give glory to the Lord, and declare his praise in the islands.74 For whose minds are turned into the Light, and free covenant of the living God, there to abide and dwell and live, shall have cause to praise the Lord forever, and shall receive his everlasting free promise unto them forever, which is freely tendered unto all, and all have received a Light from him that75 shows the secrets of their hearts and testifies against sin and evil. And that mind that is led and guided by this pure Light will be guided up unto God, and will receive his everlasting promise, which is as sure as the covenant is with the day and with the night. Thus saith the Lord, If ye can break my covenant with the day and with the night, that there should not be day and night in their season, then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne.76 For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace 68. A nearly direct quotation of Isa. 42:7. 69. 1660 ed. omits “There is the prison, in darkness.” 70. A metaphor for enslavement taken from the history of the Israelites in Egypt in the Book of Exodus; cf. a similar metaphor in Zech. 10:10. 71. The images of the blind seeing and the deaf hearing are frequent in biblical prophecy: see, for example, Isa. 29:18, Isa. 35:5, Matt. 11:5, and Luke 7:22. In addition, this passage may allude to Christ’s miracles, as in Matt. 9:27–29 and Mark 8:22–24. 72. Zech. 9:11; a marginal note reads, “Zech. 9, 11.” 73. Zech. 9:12. 74. Beginning with “I am the Lord,” a direct quotation from Isa. 42:8–12. 75. 1660 ed.: “which.” 76. Jer. 33:20–21.

A Loving Salutation to the Seed of Abraham among the Jews 111 be removed, saith the Lord, that hath mercy on thee. O thou afflicted and tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colors, and thy foundation with sapphires. And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones.77 So if you will lay your foundation with sapphires, come in to the Light, wherein dwells purity. If you will lay your stones with fair colors, come into the Light which teacheth righteousness, uprightness, and purity. And if you will have all the78 borders of pleasant stones, come into the Light, dwell in the Light, live in the Light79 by which the Lord God doth teach his people. Here is the border of the sanctuary. God is Light, and in him is no darkness at all.80 And the Lord hath said, “All thy children shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy children. In righteousness shalt thou be established; thou shalt be far from oppression. No weapon formed against thee shall prosper, and every tongue that riseth up against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn.This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.”81 So if ye desire this inheritance, turn your minds in, to the Light which is of God, where righteousness dwells, which teaches righteousness,82 which leads into righteousness, and establishes in righteousness, which Light is of God, which God hath given, which Light shines in the conscience, which Light keeps the conscience tender, which Light was before man was, which is of God, and comes from God, and, as it is minded and dwelt in, the fear of the Lord is placed, which is to depart from evil, which fear of the Lord is the beginning of pure wisdom.83 And unto those that fear my name, saith the Lord, shall the son84 of righteousness arise with healing in his wings, and ye shall go forth and grow up as calves of the stall.85 And the secrets of the Lord are with those that fear him. And Solomon saith, “The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life.”86 So, as you87 mind the Light that shines in your consciences, the fear of the Lord will be kept, and so ye will be kept low, and tender, and humble. What man is he that feareth the Lord? Him shall he teach in 77. A marginal note reads, “Isaiah 54”; the quotation is Isa. 54:10–12. 78. 1660 ed.: “your.” 79. 1660 ed. omits “dwell in the Light, live in the Light.” 80. 1 John 1:5. 81. Isa. 54:13–14 and Isa. 54:17. 82. 1660 ed. omits “which teaches righteousness.” 83. A paraphrase of Ps. 111:10. 84. 1660 ed.: “Sun.” 85. A marginal note reads, “Mal. 4”; the quotation is Mal. 4:2, which reads not “son” but “Sun of righteousness.” 86. Prov. 14:27. Fell and other Renaissance Bible readers thought that the Book of Proverbs was written by Solomon. 87. 1660 ed.: “ye.”

112 MARGARET FELL the way that he shall choose. The secrets of the Lord are with them that fear him, and he will show them his covenant. The meek shall he guide in judgment, and the meek will he teach his way. All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and testimony.88 Here is the path of the Lord, in the mercy, and in the truth, and in keeping his covenant, and his testimony, and his fear, and this is in the inward parts. Who dwells and abides here will have the new heart given which the Lord hath promised: “A new heart also will I give you, and a new Spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh, and I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.”89 And again, “I will give them one heart, and will put a new Spirit within them,90 and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and I will give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes, and keep my ordinances, and do them, and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.”91 So here now you may see, the Lord’s work is in the inward parts: there doth he look for the truth within, and there doth he make his covenant and write his law in this his day. For the days are past and gone wherein the covenant was written in tables of stone,92 and the days are come, which the Lord promised, who said, “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel and Judah, not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which my covenant they broke. But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the House of Israel. After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, and will be their God, and they shall be my people; and they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, know the Lord, for they all shall93 know me, from the least of them94 to the greatest, saith the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquities, and will remember their sin no more.”95

88. A marginal note reads, “Psalm 25.” But Fell quotes the verses out of order: verse 12, then 14, then 9–10. 89. A marginal note reads, “Ezek. 35.26,” but the quotation is actually Ezek. 11:19–20. 90. 1660 ed.: “you.” 91. A marginal note reads, “Ezek. 11,” but Fell actually repeats the scriptural text as it is reiterated in Ezek. 36:26–28. 92. The Ten Commandments given to Moses were written on “tables” or tablets of stone; see Exod. 24:12. 93. 1656 ed.: “shall all.” 94. 1660 ed. omits “of them.” 95. A marginal note reads, “Jeremiah 31”; the very long direct quotation is Jer. 31:31–34.

A Loving Salutation to the Seed of Abraham among the Jews 113 So this is the covenant which the Lord is making in these his days with the House of Israel, and with the House of Judah, and with all that do flow to the mountain of the Lord’s house, which is established in the top of the mountains, where all nations shall flow unto it. For out of Zion goes forth the law, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem,96 which he writeth in the heart, and putteth in the inward parts. So here ye must97 look for your law and your testimony, which hath been bound and sealed up among the disciples, which Isaiah saw, who said, “I will wait upon the Lord, that hideth his face from the House of Jacob, and I will look for him.”98 Isaiah knew that he would hide his face, and that the law and testimony should be bound and sealed;99 yet he did look for him, who is now come in these his days, whose law and testimony is manifested, and written in the inward parts. And the days are come, which Joel prophesied, who said, “It shall come to pass afterwards, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh, your sons and daughters100 shall prophesy; and also upon the servants and on the handmaids in those days will I pour out of my Spirit.”101 For, behold, in these102 days, and at that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the Valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there.103 And again, “Fear not, I am with thee. I will bring thy seed from the East, and gather thee from the West, and I will say to the North, give up, and to the South, keep not back; bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth. Bring forth the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears. Let all nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled.104 For I will pour water on him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground. I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring.”105 Here you may read the large love and mercy of the Lord to all that will turn to the measure of his Spirit, which is Light, which he hath given to everyone. If you look for the promise of the Lord to be fulfilled, you must look for the Spirit; for the promise of God is the Spirit, until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest.106 Mark, here your fruitful field must be counted for a forest, when the 96. A summary of Isa. 2:2–3. 97. 1656 ed.: “must ye.” 98. Isa. 8:17. 99. A reference to Isa. 8:16. 100. 1660 ed. reads, “your daughters.” 101. A marginal note reads, “Joel 2”; the quotation is Joel 2:28–29. 102. 1656 ed.: “the,” not “these.” 103. A marginal note reads, “Joel 3”; the quotation is Joel 3:1–2. 104. A marginal note reads, “Isaiah 43”; the quotation is Isa. 43:5–6 and Isa. 43:8–9. 105. Isa. 44:3. 106. A marginal note reads, “Isaiah 32”; the quotation is Isa. 32:15.

114 MARGARET FELL Spirit is poured from on high, and that which hath been the wilderness must be the fruitful field; then shall judgment dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in that fruitful field. The work of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness, and assurance forever. And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.107 See now if ye can come to this, and own this Spirit to teach you, and guide you, and lead you; this promise you will receive and enjoy, when the Lord speaks comfortably unto Jerusalem, and bids the prophet cry that her warfare is accomplished. He saith, “The Voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, and make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”108 Now God is a Spirit, and his promise is the Spirit. The Lord came down in a cloud, and spoke unto him, and took off the Spirit that was upon him and gave it unto the seventy elders. And it came to pass that when the Spirit rested upon them,109 they prophesied, and did not cease.110 Turn ye at my reproof; behold, I will pour out my Spirit upon you, and I will make known my words unto you. The Lord hath said, “The parched ground shall become a pool; the thirsty land, springs of water; and a highway shall be there and a way that shall be called the way of holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it, but it shall be for those. The wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast go thereon. They111 shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there. And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy shall be upon their head. And they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall fly away.”112 So here is your way, which you must pass, even in the purity of the Spirit, which is the way of holiness, where the unclean cannot pass. And when ye are come into this way, and passing on in this way, then ye may look for your113 privileges. For he to whom the promise is, the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, and the Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding, the Spirit of Counsel and of Might, the Spirit of Knowledge and of the Fear of the Lord. And with righteousness doth he judge, and reprove with equity. And he is set for an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.114 Then shall the Lord utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian Sea and all the power of darkness. And with his mighty 107. Isa. 32:16–18. 108. Isa. 40:2–3. 109. 1656 and 1660 eds.: “that” before “they prophesied.” 110. A marginal note reads, “Numbers 11”; the quotation is Num. 11:25. 111. 1656 and 1660 eds.: “which,” not “They.” 112. A paraphrase of Isa. 35:7–10, where “err” has the archaic meaning “to wander.” 113. 1656 and 1660 eds.: “outward privileges.” 114. A conflation of Isa. 11:2, Isa. 11:4, and Isa. 11:12.

A Loving Salutation to the Seed of Abraham among the Jews 115 wind, which is the Spirit, shall he shake his hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams thereof, which is the power of Egypt’s darkness, and so make men go over dry-shod. In the Spirit there is the highway for the remnant of his people,115 who hear the voice which doth cry unto everyone that thirsteth, which saith, “Incline your ear and come unto me; hear, and your souls shall live. And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. Behold, I have given him for a witness unto the people, a leader and commander to the people.”116 This leader and this witness is in the Spirit. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near.117 Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that know not thee shall run unto thee because of the Lord thy God and the Holy One of Israel, for he hath glorified thee.118 This promise is unto David, and unto his seed forever in the Spirit. For of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom, to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice, from henceforth even forever.119 The Lord sent a Word unto Jacob, and it hath lighted upon Israel.120 Now if ye will mind the Word, which the Lord hath sent unto Jacob, this will lighten and open your blind eyes, and the Lord’s promise will be fulfilled unto you, who hath said, “I will bring the blind by a way that they know not, and I will lead them in paths that they have not known; I will make darkness light before them, and crooked ways straight.”121 In those days and at that time, will I cause the branch of righteousness to grow up unto David, and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land. In those days shall Judah be saved and Jerusalem shall dwell safely. And this is his122 name wherewith he shall be called, The Lord our righteousness. For thus saith the Lord, David shall never want a man to set upon the throne of the House of Israel.123 So this you must look for in the Spirit: this branch of righteousness is in the Spirit, and he executes judgment in the Spirit; and this promise of the Lord unto David is in the Spirit. And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries, whither I have driven them, and I will bring them again to their folds, 115. A paraphrase of Isa. 11:15–16. 116. Isa. 55:3–4. 117. Isa. 55:6. 118. Isa. 55:5. 119. A marginal note reads, “Isaiah 9”; the quotation is Isa. 9:7. Jesus was born into a family descended from the House of David; Fell offers this passage as a means of connecting Jews (represented by David) and Christians. 120. Isa. 9:8. 121. A marginal note reads, “Isaiah 42”; the quotation is Isa. 42:16. 122. The word “his” added from the 1656 ed. 123. Jer. 33:15–17.

116 MARGARET FELL and they shall be fruitful and increase; and I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them, and they shall fear no more, nor be afraid, neither shall be lacking, saith the Lord. And the righteous branch that the Lord doth raise unto David, the king that reigns and prospers, is called the Lord our Righteousness.124 He is the righteousness of all, and he executes justice and judgment in the earth in righteousness.125 And David in Spirit called him Lord, who is our righteousness, and the righteousness of all who are guided by him and taught of him; and here ye must look for your King and your Messiah, in the Spirit. So kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but little. Blessed are they that trust in him126 who is Light, and a Spirit, that guides and leads his people in paths they have not known.127 And this Michael the great prince ye must look for within first, and they that are wise, and look for him where he is to be found,128 shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars for ever and ever;129 many shall be purified and made white130 and tried, but the wicked shall do wickedly, and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand.131 Doth not wisdom cry, and understanding put forth her voice?132 Unto you, O men, I call, and my voice is unto the sons of men. O ye simple, understand wisdom, and ye fools, be of an understanding heart.133 Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom; I am understanding. I have strength; by me kings reign, and princes decree justice; by me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth.134 Here you may see the universal leading and guiding and governing of the Lord is by his own wisdom and counsel in the Spirit; not by might, nor power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts.135 Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his counselor hath taught him? With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding? Behold, the nations are as the drop of a bucket,136 124. A paraphrase of Jer. 23:3–6. 125. A marginal note reads, “Psalm 110,” but it is not quoted. 126. Ps. 2:12. 127. Isa. 42:16. 128. A prophecy in Dan. 10:21. 129. A marginal note reads, “Daniel 12”; the quotation is Dan. 12:3. 130. A reference to Dan. 11:35. 131. A reference to Dan. 11:32. 132. Prov. 8:1. 133. Prov. 8:4–5. 134. Prov. 8:14–16. 135. A marginal note reads, “Zech. 4”; the quotation is Zech. 4:6. 136. A marginal note reads, “Isaiah 40”; the quotation is Isa. 40:13–15.

A Loving Salutation to the Seed of Abraham among the Jews 117 and all flesh is as grass, and the grass withereth, and the flower fadeth, because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it, but the Word of our God shall stand forever.137 This is the Word which Moses taught Israel when he said, “Thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and if thou turn to the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul. For this commandment, which I command thee this day is not hidden from thee; neither is it far off, but the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.”138 Mark, here the Word was in their heart,139 whereby they might keep the law and the statutes; if they did turn to the Lord with all their heart, and with all their soul, then they could keep and do it. Moses saith further, “See, I have set before thee this day life and death, good and evil; in that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live, and the Lord thy God will bless thee. If they walked in this and kept this, it was life. But if thy heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt draw away and worship other gods, I denounce unto thee this day that thou shalt surely perish.”140 So here comes the destruction, by the heart turning away from the Word, which is nigh in the heart, which teacheth to love the Lord with all the heart, which Word teaches to keep the law, the statutes, and the judgments, and to walk in them. And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers141 be removed into a corner anymore, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers,142 and thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, this is the way, walk in it, when ye turn to the right hand or to the left.143 This is the Word of the Lord that endures forever, and by this doth the Lord teach his people: “I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering. The Lord hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary.”144 He that hath an ear, let him hear.145 Is not my Word like a fire, and like a hammer that breaks the rocks in pieces?146 And David saith, “Thy Word have I hid in my heart, that I might not 137. A paraphrase of Isa. 40:6–8. 138. A marginal note reads, “Deuteronomy 30”; the quotation is Deut. 30:10–11 and Deut. 30:14. 139. 1660 ed.: “the voice within their heart.” 140. A marginal note reads, “Isaiah 30”; the quotation is actually Deut. 30:15–18. 141. 1660 ed.: “Teacher.” 142. 1660 ed.: “Teacher.” 143. Isa. 30:20–21. 144. Isa. 50:3–4. 145. Matt. 11:15. 146. Jer. 23:29.

118 MARGARET FELL sin against thee. Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my paths.”147 The Word in David’s heart was a light unto him, and so it is unto all whose heart is upright, who is guided148 by the Light, which is the Word, which is the Spirit, which is the Law, which is written in the heart. David saith, “Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part shalt thou make me to know wisdom.” David learned wisdom in the hidden part: wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.149 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.150 This is in the inward part, where the Lord desireth truth. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right Spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me151 the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with thy free Spirit.152 Here was David’s strength in the free Spirit, whose desire was to be renewed in the inward parts, who knew the sacrifice that God accepted. For thou desirest not sacrifice, else would I give it thee; but thou delightest not in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.153 This is the sacrifice God only accepts, truth in the inward parts, where the righteousness of his law is known and seen. The Lord is nigh to them that are of a broken heart, and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.154 Here the Lord writeth his law and here he placeth his fear. The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of judgment. The law of God is in his heart; none of his steps155 shall slide.156 The law of God is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous; altogether more to be desired are they than gold, yea than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey, and the honeycomb. By them is thy servant forewarned, and in keeping of them there is great reward.157 147. Ps. 119:11 and Ps. 119:105. 148. 1660 ed.: “judged.” 149. Ps. 51:6. 150. Ps. 51:7. The 1656 ed. mistakenly reads “then the snow.” 151. 1656 ed.: “me unto.” 152. Ps. 51:10–12. 153. A marginal note reads, “Psalm 51”; the quotation is Ps. 51:16–17, but Fell has been quoting from this psalm for several paragraphs. 154. Ps. 34:18. 155. 1660 ed.: “footsteps.” 156. A marginal note reads, “Psalm 37”; the quotation is Ps. 37:30–31. 157. A marginal note reads, “Psalm 19”; the quotation is Ps. 19:7–11.

A Loving Salutation to the Seed of Abraham among the Jews 119 See how David reads them in his pure heart, and ranks them up together, who knows the worth and value of them, who lives in uprightness and purity, in keeping the righteous judgments and statutes of the Lord, who saith, “I will run the way of thy commandments when thou shalt enlarge my heart. Teach me, O Lord, the way of thy statutes, and I shall keep it to the end; give me understanding, and I shall know thy law.”158 Here is David’s way in the commandments, in the statutes, in the keeping of the law, in the testimony, in the Word, in the fear of the Lord, in the precepts, and in the righteousness, and this is the way of all the righteous who are pure in heart, who only see God; and unto this spirit of David, which leads unto purity and holiness, is the promise of the Lord established forever. Thus saith the Lord, if ye can break my covenant of the day and of the night, that there should not be day and night in their season, then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne. As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured, so will I multiply the seed of David, my servant.159 This is the day of the fulfilling of this promise to all David’s seed and David’s spirit. Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord. O how do I love thy law! It is my meditation all the day. Unless thy law had been my delight, I should have perished in mine affliction; my soul is continually in mine hand, yet do I not forget thy law. Take not the word of thy truth out of my mouth, for I have hoped in thy judgments, so that I keep thy law continually, forever and ever.160 Here David kept the law through the Word forever. O Lord, thy Word is settled in Heaven. The Word of the Lord is right, and all his works are one in truth.161 Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now have I kept thy word. The proud hath forged lies against me—their heart is fat as grease. But I have kept thy law. The law of thy mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver.162 The entrance of thy Word giveth Light. And Solomon saith, “The commandment is a lamp, and the law is Light, and the reproofs of instruction are the way of life.”163 This is the way of life, the Light, which is the law, where reproofs are, where the instruction is leading and guiding in the pure path. Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law. Hearken unto me, O my people. Give ear unto me, O my nation, for a law shall proceed from me, and I 158. A marginal note reads, “Psalm 119”; the passage is a paraphrase of Ps. 119:32–34. 159. A marginal note reads, “Jeremiah 32”; however, the passage is actually a paraphrase of Jer. 33:20–22. 160. A marginal note reads, “Psalm 119”; the quotation is Ps. 119:1, Ps. 119:97, Ps. 119:92, Ps. 119:109, and Ps. 119:43–44. 161. A marginal note reads, “Psalm 33”; the quotation is Ps. 33:4. 162. A paraphrase of Ps. 119:67–72. 163. A marginal note reads, “Proverbs 6”; the quotation is Prov. 6:23.

120 MARGARET FELL will make my judgment to rest for a Light. My righteousness is near, my salvation is gone forth, and mine arm shall judge the people. And the isles shall wait upon me, and on my arm shall they trust.164 Here is the righteousness of the law brought near to them whose minds are turned to the Light, which leads into righteousness, and teacheth righteousness, all them that wait upon the arm of the Lord. For the Lord God is gathering his sheep where they have been scattered. For thus saith the Lord God, Behold I, even I, will both search my sheep and seek them out, as a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so I will seek out my sheep and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day, and I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel, by the rivers, in all the inhabitable places of the country. I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel, there shall their fold be.165 Mark, there166 is the Lord’s house established, in the top of the mountains, unto which the nations flow;167 there shall they lie down in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God, and I will seek that which is lost, and bring again that which is driven away, and I will bind up that which is broken, and will strengthen that which is sick, but I will destroy the fat and the strong. I will feed them with judgment. Therefore will I save my flock, and they shall be no more a prey, and I will judge between cattle and cattle, and I will set up one shepherd, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd, and I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David,168 a prince among them. I, the Lord, have spoken it.169 This prophecy is the Lord bringing to pass, and gathering his flock and raising up the plant of his renown,170 which shall never be consumed, but shall grow up to the praise and glory of his name. For the Stone cut out of the mountain without hands is smiting the image upon his feet, which is iron and clay, and the brass, and the silver, and the gold is he breaking to pieces, and it is becoming as the chaff of the threshing floor, that withereth away. And the Stone that smites the image is becoming a great mountain, and it shall fill the whole earth.171 And the thrones are casting down, and the Ancient of Days doth sit, whose garment is 164. A marginal note reads, “Isaiah 51”; the passage is a paraphrase of Isa. 51:1 and Isa. 51:4–5. 165. A marginal note reads, “Ezekiel 34”; the passage is a close paraphrase of Ezek. 34:11–14. 166. 1660 ed.: “here.” 167. A paraphrase of Isa. 2:2. 168. 1660 ed. omits “he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd, and I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David.” 169. Fell continues with a close paraphrase of Ezek. 34:14–16 and Ezek. 34:22–24. 170. Ezek. 34:29. 171. A paraphrase of Dan. 2:34–35.

A Loving Salutation to the Seed of Abraham among the Jews 121 white as snow, and the hair of his head as pure as wool. His throne is like the fiery flame; a fiery flame issueth and cometh out before him. Thousand thousands give praises to him, and ten thousand times ten thousand give glory and honor before him. And judgment is set, and the books are opening, and the beast is coming to be slain, and his body to be given to the burning172 flame,173 who bear his image and have his mark, who have fallen down and worshiped him. His power is falling, and the dragon that gives him his power is chaining, and the measuring reed is gone forth that measures the temple, and leaves out the court. And the just balance is weighing, and the tried Stone is judging, the precious Cornerstone, which lays judgment to the line, and righteousness to the plummet.174 So all that desire to know the living God, who desire to have the light of his countenance to shine upon them, turn to the Light within you; this is the way, the truth, and the life, and there is no other way, nor name under heaven by which any shall be saved,175 or come to the knowledge of the true God, for God is Light, and God is a Spirit, and God is the Word. And this is the blessing wherewith Moses, the man of God, blessed the children of Israel. And he said, The Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them, and he shined forth from Mount Paran; from his right hand went a fiery law for them.176 This is the law which the saints receive from the Lord’s right hand, which burns up all the chaff, and cuts down all that is contrary to it.177 The flaming sword that keeps the Tree of Life178—he that can receive it, let him. So now, if ye will come out of the old covenant,179 which covenant ye have broken, and so are covenant breakers with God, and cannot be accepted in that condition but lie desolate and forsaken, so if ye will be accepted of God, or received unto him, ye must come into the new covenant. For there is God engaged to you, and there is God known in the Spirit, and there is God worshiped in the Spirit, where the law is written in the heart,180 and the Spirit put in the inward parts, which teacheth righteousness, and leads and guides into purity, which

172. 1660 ed. omits “burning.” 173. A paraphrase of Dan. 7:9–11. 174. A paraphrase of Isa. 28:16–17. 175. John 14:6. 176. Deut. 33:1–2. Sinai, Seir, and Paran are mountains significant in the history of Israel. 177. Luke 3:17. 178. Gen. 3:24. 179. To Fell, as to all Christians, the “old covenant” is the Law that upheld the bond between God and Israel, as opposed to the new covenant, which depends on Jesus’s sacrifice to save fallen humanity. See, for example, Heb. 8:6–13. 180. A reference to Rom. 2:15.

122 MARGARET FELL Spirit circumciseth the heart, which is the seal of the new covenant, circumcision which is of the heart, in the Spirit.181 So be not faithless and unbelieving, still going on in hardness of heart and in the provocation, as your fathers did, which grieved the Lord that he swore in his wrath, they should not enter into his rest. They tempted him, and proved him, and would not believe in his works, and so entered not because of unbelief. And the prophet Isaiah complained and said, “Who hath believed our report?”182 Hardness of heart and unbelief hath been your ruin; ye would not believe your going to Babylon, which the Lord spoke by Jeremiah, but would rather hearken to Hananiah, the false prophet.183 And the Lord commanded you, saying, let not your prophets and diviners be in the midst of you, who184 deceives you, for they prophesy falsely in my name; and I have not sent them, saith the Lord. And the prophet Isaiah cried, “Woe to the rebellious house, saith the Lord, that taketh counsel, but not of me, that cover with a covering, but not of my Spirit.”185 Now, go ye write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come, forever and ever, that this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord, which say to the seers, See not, and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things; speak unto us smooth things; prophesy deceits.186 And you would not hear the roll that the Lord by Jeremiah made to be written, but when it came to pass, when Jehudi had read three or four lines, he cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth,187 so caused Jeremiah and Baruch to be cast into the dungeon, and thus you requited the Lord evil for good, who had always thoughts of good toward you, and thoughts of peace. Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt, unto this day, saith the Lord, I have sent my servants the prophets, saith the Lord, daily rising up early and sending them, yet they hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear, but hardened their necks; they did worse than their fathers.188 This hath been your sin all along—you would not believe the Lord when he spoke to you, neither by Moses, nor by his true prophets, but yet did set up and establish false prophets among you. Your fathers received the law by the dispensation of angels, and have not kept it,189 but have broken it. For Moses said, “Thou 181. A reference to Rom. 2:29. 182. Isa. 53:1. 183. A marginal note reads “Jeremiah 28”; this is not a quotation, but a reference to Jeremiah’s preaching against the false prophet Hananiah in Jer. 28:2–17. 184. 1660 ed.: “which.” 185. A marginal note reads, “Isaiah 30”; the passage begins with a reference to Isa. 30:1. 186. The reference continues with a direct quotation of Isa. 30:8–10. 187. A marginal note reads, “Jeremiah 36”; the quotation is Jer. 36:23. 188. A combination of Jer. 25:4 and Jer. 7:26. 189. A marginal note correctly reads, “Acts 7:53.”

A Loving Salutation to the Seed of Abraham among the Jews 123 shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.”190 Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God. And Moses said, “The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet like unto me; unto him shalt thou hearken according to all that thou desirest of the Lord thy God in Horeb, in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, neither let me see the great fire anymore, that I die not.”191 This was terrible to you, thunderings and lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking, and the thick darkness, which was where God was.192 This ye desired to see no more, and God was pleased to answer your desire, and said unto Moses, “They have well spoken that which they have spoken; I will raise them up a prophet, from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth. He shall speak unto them all that I command him. And it shall come to pass that whosoever will not hearken unto my words, which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.”193 And unto this prophet ye have not hearkened yet unto this day, nor obeyed his voice.194 And now is the prophet speaking unto you in the Spirit, which is Light, which is in the midst of thee. And now, if ye will hear and believe in this prophet, this is the Word which Moses said was nigh, in the heart, which the Lord hath raised in this his day, that all men through him might believe.195 The Light is risen in the hearts and consciences of men, by which the Lord teaches all nations, and gathers all nations into one, which is like unto Moses, who saith, “This commandment which I command thee this day is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldst say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, to bring it unto us, that we may hear it and do it? Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldst say, Who shall go over the sea for it, to bring it unto us, that we may hear it and do it? But the Word (and the prophet) is very nigh, in thy heart, that thou mayst hear it and do it.”196 Here thou must find the prophet that the Lord promised unto Moses, that he would raise up, if ever thou find him. “I have not spoken in secret,” saith the Lord, “in a dark place of the earth; I say not unto the House of Jacob, Seek ye my face in vain. I, the Lord, speak righteousness; I desire things that are right. Assemble yourselves, and come near together. Who hath declared this from ancient times? Who hath told it from that time? Have not I, the Lord? And there 190. Deut. 6:5; cf. Matt. 22:37, Mark 12:30, and Luke 10:27. 191. Deut. 18:13 and Deut. 18:15–16. 192. A paraphrase of Exod. 20:18 and Exod. 20:21. 193. A close paraphrase of Deut. 18:17–19. 194. There are many instances in Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy in which the people of Israel do “not hearken” to Moses. 195. A paraphrase of 1 Pet. 1:21. 196. A close paraphrase of Deut. 30:11–14.

124 MARGARET FELL is no God else besides me, a just God and a Savior, and there is none besides me. Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.”197 And to this Word and prophet must all the ends of the earth look, that are saved. Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; he that believes shall not make haste. Judgment also shall he lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet.198 This is he that is laid in Zion, a sure foundation; whoever believes in him lays judgment to the line. For Zion is redeemed through judgment, and her converts with righteousness. Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant, whom I have chosen, that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he; before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be any after me. I have declared, and I have saved, and I have showed, when there was no strange God in you. Therefore, ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God. Remember ye not former things; neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.199 Now see if you can believe in the Lord, who200 is doing a new thing and is bringing forth his mighty works, even among the heathen. The Lord is working a work in these days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you. Now, if ye love your souls and your eternal good, be no more stiff-necked and unbelieving, but come down into the fear of the Lord, and let the Light of the Lord, which checks you for sin and evil, search you and try you, and see your foundation where you stand, who always were a rebellious people against the Lord, so that he complains, “My people would not hearken to my voice, and Israel would have none of me. Oh, that my people would have hearkened unto me, and Israel would have hearkened to my ways! How soon would I have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries!”201 And Moses said, “Of the Rock that begot thee thou art unmindful, and hast202 forgotten God that formed thee. And when the Lord saw it, he abhorred thee, and he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be. For they are a very froward generation, children in whom there is no faith.”203 197. A marginal note reads, “Isaiah 45”; the passage is actually a paraphrase of Isa. 45:19–22. 198. Isa. 28:16–17. A “line” or “plumb line” is a piece of cord with a weight at the bottom (a “plummet”) used to ascertain straight verticality in carpentry or construction. 199. A close paraphrase of Isa. 43:10, Isa. 43:12, and Isa. 43:18–19. 200. 1660 ed.: “which.” 201. A marginal note reads, “Psalm 81”; the passage is a paraphrase of Ps. 81:11–14. 202. 1660 ed. omits “hast.” 203. A paraphrase of Deut. 32:18–20; “froward” means rebellious or disobedient. A marginal note in the 1660 ed. reads, “Deut. 3. 18, 19, 20.”

A Loving Salutation to the Seed of Abraham among the Jews 125 And again, the Lord saith unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? And how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs that I have showed among them?204 So here you stand yet in the unbelief and hardness of heart,205 and stiff-neckedness. And now it is time for you to return unto the Lord, who calls you, and to believe on him, and hearken to his voice within you, his witness and testimony which he hath given you, which testifies against all sin, and all unrighteousness, and all unbelief, and hard-heartedness, and uncleanness; and this testifies against all oppression and wrong. There is that in your hearts which tells you that you should do unto all men as ye would they should do unto you.206 This is just, this is righteous, this is equal. There is that in you which testifies against lying and false swearing, and bearing false witness against your neighbor. There is that in your consciences which tells you, you should have no other God but the living God, and that ye should not make any graven image.207 Now, if you do not mind that of God in you, to guide you and lead you, you serve not the living God, but make an image in your minds of him, which the Light of God in you lets you see is not the truth. If ye will come down to the Light of God in you, it will show you your hardness of heart, and your hypocrisy, and your rebellion against the living God, and if you mind the Light of God in you, which will rip you up and lay open all the secrets of your hearts, it lets you see that you have taken the name of the Lord in vain, and that you are guilty before the Lord of sin and transgression; and the Light of the living God will let you see that you have not kept the Sabbath208 and fast to the Lord, which is to loose the bands209 of wickedness, and to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke.210 This is the fast which the Lord hath chosen, and this ye have not done yet. The Light will let you see the bands211 of wickedness are yet unbroken, and the just witness212 of God suffers oppression in you. For if you had kept his213 fast, then should the Light break forth as the morning, and your health should spring forth speedily, and righteousness should go before thee, and the glory of the Lord should be thy rereward.214 Here would be a Sabbath and rest to the just of God, which is in bonds in you and in oppression, which the true 204. Num. 14:11. 205. Mark 16:14. 206. The Golden Rule: Matt. 7:12 and Luke 6:31. 207. A paraphrase of Exod. 20:16 and Exod. 20:2–4. 208. A paraphrase of Exod. 20:7–8. 209. 1656 ed.: “bonds,” not “bands.” 210. Isa. 58:6. 211. 1656 ed.: “bonds,” not “bands.” 212. 1656 ed. leaves out “witness.” 213. 1656 ed.: “this,” not “his.” 214. Isa. 58:8; a “rereward” is the rear guard of an army. 1656 ed.: “reward,” not “rereward.”

126 MARGARET FELL fast of the Lord would break. The pure Light of God in you doth let you see that you ought not to steal, nor to kill, which saith, Thou shalt do no murder, thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not covet.215 If you would bring your minds to the pure eternal Light of God in you, you would hear the same voice of God as ever was, who is manifested in this his day in his Spirit. And this Light and Spirit of the living God will let you see yourselves to be commandment-breakers, to be Sabbath-breakers, and covenant-breakers. This will let you see that you are out of the way and that you are become filthy and corrupt. And in this condition there is no peace for you, nor reconciliation with God. If ever ye know peace and atonement with God, ye must come to the Light, to be proved by the Light, and tried by the Light, and led by the Light, and guided by the Light. And this will lead you into all truth and righteousness and peace, and here you will be washed and purged and purified, and the veil will be taken off and rent, which is over your heart, and the true circumcision will be known, which is of the heart, in the Spirit, and the offering of a broken and contrite heart,216 which the Lord only accepteth will be known, and the Sabbath of the Lord will be known, where there is true rest and peace, and true worshiping in the Spirit, and the holy day will be known, but all this is known by the washing of the blood of the everlasting covenant,217 which cleanses from all sin. And so, if you would abide here in this pure Light and Spirit, ye would know life eternal, and then ye would know what the Lord said, when he said, I would have fed them with the finest wheat, and with the honey out of the rock would I have satisfied thee.218 And so, as you come to wait in the Light, and abide in the Light, you will come to know this, and so the just will come to live, for the just live by faith.219 So wait in the Light of the Lord, who is sending forth the Light of his truth in this his day. They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength.220 Blessed are all they that wait for him. David saith, “Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait on thee.”221 And again, “Wait on the Lord, be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thy heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord.”222 “Those that wait on the Lord 215. A paraphrase of Exod. 20:13–17. 216. Ps. 51:17. 217. Heb. 13:20. 218. Ps. 81:16. 219. A marginal note reads, “Hab. 2,” and the passage is a close paraphrase of Hab. 2:4; Fell’s original reads, “lives,” but the Bible reads, “shall live.” 220. Isa. 40:31. 221. Ps. 25:21. 222. Ps. 27:14.

A Loving Salutation to the Seed of Abraham among the Jews 127 shall inherit the earth.”223 “I wait for the Lord; my soul doth wait. In his Word do I hope. My soul waiteth for the Lord, more than they that watch for the morning. Let Israel hope in the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy. He shall redeem Israel from all his iniquity.”224 Now, if ye can believe David, you will come to wait upon the Lord. Your soul will wait upon the Lord, more than they that watch for the morning.225 And David saith, “The Lord is my Light and salvation.”226 In thy Light I shall see Light. And again, “he shall bring forth thy righteousness as Light.”227 And again, “God is the Lord who hath showed us his Light. Here did David wait upon the Lord in his Light.”228 And Solomon saith, “Wait on the Lord and he shall save thee.229 He shall not fail nor be discouraged till he have set judgment in the earth, and the isles shall wait for his law.”230 And they that wait upon the Lord shall mount up as with eagles’ wings; they shall walk and not be weary, run, and not faint.231 So here is your way, and no salvation shall ye find in any other, but as you come into the fear of the Lord, to wait upon him in his Light in you, to guide your minds when you turn to the right hand or to the left. Being guided by the Light, this will strengthen your heart, and this will lead you to uprightness and singleness of heart.232 And here ye must know, your king, he is just and righteous, having salvation, and he rules and reigns in justice and righteousness. And so, waiting here in the Spirit, you will come to receive the promises of the Lord unto you, who is now holding forth his hand of love unto you, and if ever ye come to know him, or to know the kingdom restored unto Israel, ye must prepare to meet him in the Spirit; eternally ye shall witness this to be truth. And as ye are subject and obedient to the teaching and leading and guiding of the233 Lord in the Spirit, so will he save you from all your uncleanness, and you will receive his promise. And so the dry bones will come to live, and the wind will breathe from the four winds, that they may live, and you will receive this promise. Thus saith the Lord, I will open your graves, and I will cause you to come up out of your graves, and you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, and brought you up out of 223. Ps. 37:9. 224. Ps. 130:5–8. 225. Ps. 130:6. 226. Ps. 27:1. 227. Ps. 37:6. 228. Ps. 118:27. 229. A marginal note reads, “Proverbs 20”; the quotation is from Proverbs 20:22. 230. Isa. 42:4. 231. A paraphrase of Isa. 40:31. 232. A phrase from Acts 2:46. 233. 1660 ed. omits “the.”

128 MARGARET FELL your graves, and I will put my Spirit within you, and ye shall live.234 Moreover, I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them,235 and I will place them, and multiply them, and I will set my sanctuary in the midst of them forevermore. My tabernacle also shall be with them; yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people, and the heathen shall know that I, the Lord, do sanctify Israel when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them forevermore.236 So, as you wait in the pure, eternal Spirit of237 Light, this you will come to see fulfilled, according to your faithfulness, and according to your obedience, for obedience is required, and the new covenant, which is Light, leads into obedience, which is better than sacrifice. This Moses prophesied of when he spoke of your trouble and afflictions which were to come upon you. He saith, “Even in the latter days, if thou turn to the Lord thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice, the Lord thy God is a merciful God; he would not forsake thee.”238 And again, It shall come to pass when all these things are come upon thee, the blessings and the curses, which I have set before thee, and shalt call them to mind among all the nations whither the Lord thy God hath driven thee, and shalt return unto the Lord thy God, and shalt obey his voice, according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, that the Lord thy God shall turn away thy captivity, and will have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all nations, whither the Lord thy God hath scattered thee.239 See now whether ye will believe Moses, and whether ye will be obedient to the prophet that the Lord is raising like unto Moses, which is Light, to which, if ye will be obedient, it will gather you from all nations whither you are scattered, and bring you into the good land, where there is one heart and one spirit, where the Lord is one and his name one, and this is the land of promise, and the covenant of God unto you and all nations who come to know him in the Spirit.240 They that are willing and obedient eat the good of this land,241 and they that are afar242 off shall 234. A summary and paraphrase of Ezek. 37:4–14; Fell’s text reads, “and the wind will breath,” but the Bible reads, “breathe.” 235. 1660 ed. omits “It shall be an everlasting convenant with them.” 236. A marginal note reads, “Ezekiel 3,”with a final numeral cut off; this is a direct quotation from Ezek. 37:26–28. 237. 1660 ed. omits “pure, eternal Spirit of.” 238. A marginal note reads, “Deuteronomy 4”; the quotation is from Deut. 4:30–31. 239. A marginal note reads, “Deuteronomy 30”; this is a close paraphrase of Deut. 30:1–3. 240. A reference to Ezek. 11:16–19. 241. Isa. 1:19. 242. 1660 ed.: “far.”

A Loving Salutation to the Seed of Abraham among the Jews 129 come and build in the temple of the Lord, and ye shall know that the Lord hath sent me unto you. And this shall come to pass, if you diligently243 obey the voice of the Lord your God.244 So here is the condition, and promise, and covenant of the Lord: according to your obedience to the voice of the Lord in his Spirit, so will it be unto you. And now the prophecy of Hosea is fulfilled upon you; you have been many days without a king, without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an ephod.245 Now, if you would return unto the Lord in obedience to his Light in you, and seek the Lord, and David your king, and fear the Lord and his goodness in these latter days, it would go well with you, for the Lord desireth mercy, and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of the Lord more than burnt offerings.246 And if ye desire to know the Lord, you must turn your minds unto his Light. There will you come to know him, and feel him, and find him near; then will you know the trumpet of the Lord that is blown in Zion, and the alarm sounded in his holy mountain, which makes all the inhabitants of the earth to tremble when the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand.247 And it is come to pass, which the prophet prophesied of, Zeph. 4. At that time it shall come to pass that I will search Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men that are settled on their lees;248 the day of the Lord discovers them, and will be sorrow and distress unto them. The great day of the Lord is near; it is near, and hastens greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord; that day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of the trumpet and alarm.249 So wait in the pure Light that shineth in you, and there you will see this day of the Lord, and hear the voice of this day near. Therefore, wait upon me, saith the Lord, until the day that I rise up to the prey, for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger, for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my indignation.250 Who waits upon the Lord in his pure Light and Spirit shall see this fulfilled, and shall be preserved in the Lord’s Light, for then will I turn to the people a pure

243. 1660 ed.: “diligent.” 244. Zech. 6:15. 245. Hosea 3:4; an “ephod” is a linen apron worn as a vestment by an ancient Hebrew priest. 246. A conflation of Ps. 51:16–17 and Hosea 6:6. 247. A marginal note reads, “Joel 2”; this is a paraphrase of Joel 2:1. 248. While the text reads, “Zeph. 4,” there is no fourth chapter of Zephaniah, and this is actually a quotation from Zeph. 1:12. 1660 ed. reads, “Zeph. 1. 12.” 249. A reference to Joel 2:1–2. 250. A close paraphrase of Zeph. 3:8.

130 MARGARET FELL language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent.251 Here is the one Light that gathers into one; here is the one Spirit and the one heart, and here is the pure language learned. Here the envy of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off. Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim, when the gathering of the nations is unto this ensign.252 When the Lord thy God is in the midst of thee, who is mighty to save, he will rejoice over thee. Then sing, and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for lo, I come, and will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord. And many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people, and I will dwell in the midst of thee. And the Lord shall inherit Judah his portion in the Holy Land, and shall choose Jerusalem again. But let all flesh be silent before the Lord, for he is risen up, out of his holy habitation,253 where no flesh can come, nor the service of no flesh is accepted, but all flesh is to be silent before the Lord. For the pure worship of God is in the Spirit, which is one in all, which is the ensign that is set for the gathering of all nations together in the one Spirit and one heart, where the Lord is in the midst, and the glory of this latter house is greater than the former, saith the Lord of Hosts. In this place will I give peace,254 and in that day will the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David, and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the Lord before them. And it shall come to pass in that day that I will seek to destroy all nations that come against Jerusalem.255 This you may look for when there is pure obedience, and waiting in the Light upon the Lord, to be guided, and his mighty power, and arm to carry on. Then will the Lord fulfill his promise, who saith, I will make thee a sharp threshing instrument, having teeth; thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and make the hills as chaff,256 and then the promise of the Lord will be fulfilled. I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplication, and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.257 Waiting in the Light, in the pure fear and subjection, there will ye come to see him whom ye have pierced. And when ye see him, ye will mourn over him, as one that mourneth for his firstborn. And then the spirit of grace and supplication 251. Zeph. 3:9. 252. A marginal note reads, “Isaiah 11”; this is a paraphrase of Isa. 11:12–13. 253. A paraphrase of Zech. 2:10–13. 254. Hag. 2:9. 255. Zech. 12:8–9. 256. Isa. 41:15. 257. Zech. 12:10.

A Loving Salutation to the Seed of Abraham among the Jews 131 you will know, and then the fountain ye will see opened, which is the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.258 And in that day the living waters shall go out from Jerusalem, and the Lord shall be king over all the earth. In that day there shall be one Lord, and his name one.259 And so here is your head, and your rest, and your kingdom, and your land of promise, and to this you must pass in the Spirit. There is no other way but the Light, the way of holiness, which is through the wilderness, and through the desert. And as ye pass in this way, ye will know the shaking down of the power of darkness. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts: yet once, and it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land, and I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come, and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of Hosts.260 Glory and honor be to the Lord forevermore! Now, as ye wait in the eternal Light, and your minds are kept to it, this you will read near, for these Scriptures were spoken forth from an eternal Spirit within, and no other spirit can read them, but the same that spoke them forth, which Spirit is Light, which all the servants and messengers of God spoke from, which the natural man knoweth not, where the power of darkness reigns. Behold, I send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant whom ye delight in. Behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of Hosts, but who may abide the day of his coming, and who shall stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fuller’s soap, and he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he shall purify the sons of Levi and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness. Then shall the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in former years.261 As the pure obedience to the pure Light is given, so there will be purging and purifying. And the refiner shall sit, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away thy tin,262 who saith, I will come near to you in judgment, and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerer, and the adulterer, and the false swearer, for I am the Lord. I change not; therefore, ye sons of Jacob be not consumed.263 258. Zech. 13:1. 259. A paraphrase of Zech. 14:8–9. 260. A marginal note reads, “Hag. 2”; the quotation is Hag. 2:6–7. 261. Beginning with “Behold, I send my messenger,” a direct quotation from Mal. 3:1–4. In refining silver or gold, the metal is heated, then poured off when impurities sink. Fuller’s soap contained oil, salt, and borax or another chemical and was used in the making of wool cloth to clean the wool in preparation for felting, or beating the fibers together. 262. A marginal note reads, “Isaiah 25”; but this is actually a quotation from Isa. 1:25. 1656 ed. reads “sin,” not “tin.” 263. A condensed version of Mal. 3:5–6.

132 MARGARET FELL So as ye love your souls and your eternal peace, turn to the Lord that calls you, whose Spirit will not always strive with man,264 whose hand of love is continued and held forth to you. Do not always hate to be reformed, lest he break in upon you and destroy you.265 For he hath put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation upon his head, and he hath put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and is clad with zeal as with a cloak. According to your deeds, accordingly he will repay fury to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies. So when his righteousness is revealed, in executing vengeance on his enemies, then shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him, and the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord. As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord, My Spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, from henceforth, and forever.266 This promise is eternal, and this remains upon the seed of the promise forever, and the promise to the seed is the Spirit. And the Redeemer comes unto Zion in the Spirit, and he comes to those that turn from their transgression; and the ministry267 of the Spirit is to turn from the darkness to the Light, and from the power of Satan unto God. And here comes the resurrection and the hope of Israel, and here the valley of Achor is the door of hope.268 Thus saith the Lord, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not, for a blessing is in it, so will I do for my servant’s sake, that I may not destroy them all. And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob and out of Judah. Mine elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there. And Sharon shall be a fold of flocks, and the valley of Achor a place for the herds to lie down in, for my people that have sought me.269 This is to all the servants of the Lord that have sought him, Jews and Gentiles, where the new wine is found in the cluster, which the blessing is to. Sharon is a fold for all those flocks that seek unto the Lord and serve him, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles. And so the promise is fulfilled, where it is said, God shall enlarge Japhet, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem,270 and where the Lord saith by the prophet, 264. Gen. 6:3. 265. 1660 ed. omits “and destroy you.” 266. A close paraphrase of Isa. 59:17, Isa. 59:19, and Isa. 59:21. 267. 1660 ed.: “mystery.” 268. A phrase from Hosea 2:15. 269. A marginal note reads, “Isaiah 65”; this is a close paraphrase of Isa. 65:8–10. 270. Gen. 9:27.

A Loving Salutation to the Seed of Abraham among the Jews 133 I will sow her unto me in the earth, and will have mercy on her that had not obtained mercy, and I will say unto them that were not my people, thou art my people, and they shall say, thou art my God.271 Here is the large, infinite love of God manifested, who saith, It is a light thing that thou shouldest raise up the Tribes of Jacob and restore the preserved of Israel. I will also give thee for a Light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the ends of the earth.272 Here is the covenant that reacheth unto all, the Light; and all that come into the Light to be guided, led, and governed comes into the covenant. So think it not strange to receive this testimony from the Gentiles, who have obtained mercy and receive the promise of the Lord, according to Isaiah’s prophecy. I am found of them that sought me not. I said unto a people, behold me unto a nation that was not called by name. I have spread out my hand all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts.273 Here is your state and condition; therefore, be not high-minded, but fear,274 for this is no new thing to you. For the Lord said by Moses, They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not good; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities. And I will move them to jealousy with those who are not a people. I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.275 This ye have caused the Lord to do through your provocations, who always rebelled against him276 and caused him to turn to the Gentiles with salvation. But though ye be provoked to anger and jealousy by a people that were not, and by a foolish nation, yet be not angry, but turn to him that smiteth, whose hand of dear love is held forth unto you, who waits to be gracious unto you, who is God over all, and rich unto all, that so in your stumbling ye may not utterly fall, but that rather, through your fall, salvation is come to the Gentiles, to provoke you to jealousy. And now that your stumbling hath been the riches of the world and your diminishing the riches of the Gentiles, how much more will your gathering be joy and life and rejoicing to the Gentiles, which writes thus unto you, which ye shall eternally witness to be an everlasting testimony of the love of God to you.

271. A marginal note reads, “Hosea 2, 23”; the quotation is Hosea 2:23. 272. Isa. 49:6. 273. A marginal note reads, “Isaiah 65”; the quotation is Isa. 65:1–2. 274. Rom. 11:20. 275. A marginal note reads, “Deuteronomy 32, 21”; the quotation is Deut. 32:21. 276. A reference to Neh. 9:26.

134 MARGARET FELL Therefore, start not aside, nor cast not this277 behind you, as ye have done all the gracious tenders of the Lord’s love formerly. But come to this Light that is in you, which will lead you into the paths of peace, and into the covenant where the gathering is, that so you may receive the promise of the Lord to you, who hath said, The sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee; and thou shalt suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shalt suck the breasts of kings, and thou shalt know that I, the Lord, am thy Savior and thy Redeemer, the mighty one of Jacob.278 Now, if ye will know your Redeemer and your Savior, the mighty one of Jacob, turn to his279 Light; join your minds into the Light which is within you, and there will you see your Savior and Redeemer, and there ye shall suck the milk of the Gentiles, and there shall you receive your king. Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will lift up my hand unto the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people, and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders, and kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers. They shall bow down to thee with their faces towards the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet.280 See here now if this be not fulfilled. Is there not even a bowing down unto thee in this loving invitation, and even a licking of the dust of thy feet, with their faces towards the earth, who have the standard of the Lord set among us, which is for the gathering of all nations together, that we might bring thy sons in our arms, and thy daughters upon our shoulders. Our souls’ desire is that you might all be gathered, and come into the covenant of light and love, and partake with us of the everlasting riches and inheritance that never fades away. Therefore, arise and shine, for thy Light is come, and the Gentiles are come to thy Light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. Thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side. Then shalt thou see, and flow together, and thy heart shall fear and be enlarged, because of the abundance of the sea that shall be converted unto thee; the forces of the Gentiles shall come to thee.281 This we desire to see fulfilled, and this we wait for, that even the fullness might come in. For Shiloh is come, unto whom the gathering is, though blindness

277. The peroration of this pamphlet is addressed to the Jews, and so “this” refers specifically to the pamphlet: do not throw this pamphlet away without reading it, because it is a message from God. 278. Isa. 60:10 and Isa. 60:16. 279. 1656 ed.: “the,” not “his.” 280. A marginal note reads, “Isaiah 66,” but this is actually a quotation from Isa. 49:22–23. 281. A paraphrase of Isa. 60:3–5.

A Loving Salutation to the Seed of Abraham among the Jews 135 is happened unto Israel.282 But the Redeemer is come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob.283 So as you turn from your transgression, this ye will see and witness. And so, whether you hear or forbear, this shall be an eternal testimony for the Lord, forever. M. F.

282. A reference to Rom. 11:25. 283. Isa. 59:20.

The Examination of Margaret Fell, before Judge Twisden,1 at the Assizes2 Held at Lancaster,3 the 14th Day of the 1st Month, 1663/44 Viz. First,5 she was called to the bar, and when she was at the bar, order was given to the jailer by the judge to set a stool and a cushion for her to sit upon. And she had four of her daughters with her at the bar. And the judge said, Let not Mistress Fell’s daughters stand at the bar, but let them come up hither; they shall not stand at the bar. So they plucked them up, and set them near where the judge sat. Then after a while, the mittimus6 was read, and the judge spoke to her, and she stood up to the bar, and he began to speak to her, as followeth. Judge. He said,7 Mistress Fell, you are committed by the justices of peace for refusing to take the Oath of Obedience; and I am commanded, and8 sent by the king, to tender it to any that shall refuse it. M. Fell. I was sent for from my own house and family, but for what cause or transgression I do not know. Judge. I am informed by the justices of the peace in this county, that you keep multitudes of people at your house, in pretence to worship9 God; and it may be you worship him in part, but we are not to dispute that. M. F. I have the king’s word from his own mouth, that he would not hinder me of my religion. “God forbid (said he) that I should hinder you of your religion. You may keep it in your own house.” And I appeal to all the country, whether those people that meet at my house be not a peaceable, a quiet, and a godly, honest people? And whether there hath been any just occasion of offense given by the Meeting that was kept in my house.

1. Sir Thomas Twisden was made a justice of the King’s Bench in 1660. See Paul D. Halliday, “Twisden (formerly Twysden), Sir Thomas, first baronet (1602–1683),” ODNB. 2. The periodical sessions of the judges of the superior courts in every county of England for the purpose of administering justice in the trial and determination of civil and criminal cases. 3. 1664 ed.: “Lancaster Castle.” 4. “1st Month” refers to March—in this case, March 1664. 5. 1664 ed.: Roman numeral I Instead of “First.” 6. A warrant, issued by a justice of the peace, committing a person to custody. 7. In1664 ed., the judge’s speeches are italicized. 8. 1664 ed.: “or,” not “and.” 9. 1664 ed.: “in a pretence of worshipping.”

137

138 MARGARET FELL Judge. If you will give security that you will have no more Meetings, I will not tender the Oath10 to you. You think if there be no fighting nor quarreling amongst you, that you keep the peace, and break no law; but I tell you, that you are a breaker of the law, by keeping of unlawful Meetings. And again, you break the law, in that you will not take the Oath of Allegiance. M. F. I desire that I may have liberty to answer to those two things which11 are charged against me. And first, for that which is looked upon to be matter of fact, which is, concerning our Meetings: there are several of my neighbors that are of the same faith, principle, and spirit and judgment that I am of, and these are they that meet at my house, and I cannot shut my doors against them. Judge. Mistress, you begin at the wrong end, for the first is the Oath. M. F. I suppose that the first occasion of tendering me the Oath was because of Meeting; but as for that, if I have begun at the wrong end, I shall begin at the other. And first, then, as to the Oath, the substance of which is allegiance to the king: and this I shall say, as for my allegiance, I love, own,12 and honor the king, and desire his peace and welfare; and that we may live a peaceable, a quiet, and a13 godly life under his government, according to the Scriptures; and this is my allegiance to the king. And as for the Oath itself, Christ Jesus, the King of Kings, hath commanded me not to swear at all, neither by Heaven, nor by Earth, nor by any other oath. Judge. Then14 he called for the statute book, and the grand jury to be present. Then one of the justices that committed her said, Mistress Fell, you know that before the Oath was tendered to you, we offered that, if you would put in security to have no more meetings at your house, we would not tender you the Oath. M. F. I shall not deny that. Judge. If you will yet put in security that you will have no more meetings, I will not tender the Oath15 to you. M. F. I speak16 to the judge, and the court, and the rest of the people: you all here profess to be Christians, and likewise you profess the Scriptures to your rule;17 so in answer to those things that are laid against me, Christ Jesus hath left upon record in the Scripture, That God is a Spirit, and that his worship is in the 10. The Oath of Allegiance, a statement of loyalty made to a monarch. As a Quaker, Fell refused to pledge oaths of any kind. 11. 1664 ed.: “that,” not “which.” 12. To “own” the king was to acknowledge or recognize his sovereignty. 13. 1664 ed.: no “a” before “godly.” 14. 1664 ed.: no “Then” to begin speech. 15. 1664 ed.: “it” instead of “the Oath.” 16. 1664 ed.: “Spoke” instead of “I speak.” 17. 1664 ed.: “to your rule” absent.

The Examination of Margaret Fell 139 spirit and truth, and that he seeketh such to worship him. 1 John 4.18 In which spirit, I, and these that meet at my house, do meet, and worship God, in obedience to Christ’s19 doctrine and commands. Secondly, the same Christ Jesus hath commanded in plain words, That I should not Swear at all, Matthew 5,20 and for obedience to Christ’s doctrine and command am I here arraigned this day. So you, being Christians, and professing the same thing in words, judge of these21 things according to that of God in your consciences. And I appeal to all the country, whether ever those Meetings did22 any hurt or prejudice? So after she had spoken of the worship of God in spirit, and the obedience to Christ’s doctrine and command, etc. Judge. You are not here for obedience to Christ’s commands, but for keeping23 unlawful meetings. And you think that if you do not fight and24 quarrel or break the peace, that you break no law; but there is a law against unlawful meetings. M. F. What law have I broken, for worshiping God in my own house?25 Judge. The common law. M. F. I thought you had proceeded by a statute. Then the Sheriff whispered to him, and mentioned that Statute of the 35th of Elizabeth.26 Judge. I could tell you of a law, but it is too penal27 for you, for it might cost you your life. M. F. I must offer and tender my life, and all, for my testimony, if it be required of me. Then the latter part of the statute was read to the Jury, for the Oath of Obedience.

18. Fell, or the printer, identifies this text as the epistle 1 John 4, but it is actually a conflation of the gospel John 4:24 and John 4:23. 1664 ed., “First John 4” comes before the quotation, not after, and that order is followed throughout that ed.; also in 1664 ed., it is worded “he is seeking of ” instead of “he seeketh.” 19. 1664 ed.: “his” instead of “Christ’s.” 20. A paraphrase of Matt. 5:34. 21. 1664 ed.: “those” instead of “these.” 22. 1664 ed.: “ever those Meetings any hurt or prejudice did?” 23. 1664 ed.: “keeping of.” 24. 1664 ed.: “or.” 25. 1664 ed.: two lines left out: “Judge. What law? M. F. Aye. What law have I broken, for worshipping God in my own house?” 26. The Act against Puritans and against Papists (1593), 35 Elizabeth, cap. 1, which made illegal failure to attend Anglican service, on penalty of imprisonment. See Henry Gee and William John Hardy, eds., Documents Illustrative of Church History (New York: Macmillan, 1896), 492–98. 27. Punitive or severe.

140 MARGARET FELL Judge.28 And then the judge informed the jury and the prisoner concerning the penalty of the statute, upon refusal; for it would be to the forfeiture of all her estate, real and personal, and imprisonment during life. M. F. I am a widow, and my estate is a dowry,29 and I have five children unpreferred.30 And if the king’s pleasure be to take my estate from me, upon the account of my conscience, and not for any evil or wrong done, let him do as he pleaseth. And further, I desire that I may speak to the jury, of the occasion of my being here. Judge. The jury is to hear nothing but me, to tender you the Oath, and you to refuse it, or take it. M. F. You will let me have the liberty that other prisoners have. And then she turned to the jury, and said, Friends, I am here this day upon the account of my conscience, and not for any evil or wrong done to any man, but for obeying Christ’s doctrine and commands, who hath said in the Scripture, That God is a Spirit, and that his worship is in the Spirit and Truth,31 and for keeping Meetings in the unity of this Spirit, and for obeying Christ’s commands and doctrine, who hath said, Swear not at all,32 am I here arraigned this day. Now you profess yourselves to be Christians, and you own the Scriptures to be true; and for the obedience of the plain words of Scripture, and for the testimony of my conscience am I here. So I now appeal to the witness of God in all your consciences, to judge of me according to that. First,33 you are to consider this statute, what it was made for, and for whom. It was made to manifest the Papists,34 and the Oath was for35 allegiance to the king. Now let your conscience judge, whether we be the people that it was made for, who cannot swear any oath at all, only for conscience’s sake, because Christ commands not to Swear at all.36 Then the judge seemed to be angry, and said she was not there upon account of her conscience, and said she had an everlasting tongue; you draw the whole court after you. And she continued speaking on, and he still crying, will you take the Oath or no? 28. 1664 ed. omits “Judge.” 29. The property or wealth a woman brings to a marriage. 30. Unmarried and uncontracted. Fell is making a legal argument about the state of her financial obligations: she needs to provide five dowries. 31. A paraphrase of John 4:24. 32. Matt. 5:34. 33. 1664 ed.: “Secondly” instead of “First.” 34. That is, to identify Catholics. “Papist” is a disparaging term referring to Catholics. 1664 ed. has “It was made for Papists” rather than “It was made to manifest the Papists.” 35. 1664 ed. omits “for.” 36. A paraphrase of Matt. 5:34.

The Examination of Margaret Fell 141 M. F. It is upon the account of my conscience, for if I could have sworn, I had not been here. Secondly, if I would not have Meetings in my house, I need not have the Oath tendered to me; and so I desire the jury to take notice, that it is only for those two things that I am here arraigned, which are only upon the account of my conscience, and not for any evil done against any man. Then the judge was angry again, and bid them tender her the Oath, and hold her the Book.37 Judge. Will you take the Oath of Allegiance, yea or nay.38 M. F. I have said already, I own allegiance and obedience to the king, and39 his just and lawful commands.—And I do also own40 allegiance and obedience unto Christ Jesus, who is the King of Kings, who hath commanded me not to swear at all.41 Judge. That is no answer. Will you take the Oath, or not take it?42 M. F. I say I owe obedience and allegiance unto Christ Jesus, who commands me not to swear at all.43 Judge. I say unto you, that is no answer. Will you take it, or will you not take it? M. F. If you should ask me never so often, I must answer to you, that44 the reason why I cannot take it, is because Christ45 hath commanded me not to swear at all;46 I owe my allegiance and obedience unto him. Justice. Then one of the justices that committed her said, Mistress Fell, you may with a good conscience (if you cannot take the Oath) put in security, that you will have no more meetings at your house? M. F. Wilt thou make it good, that I may with a safe conscience make an engagement to forbear Meetings, for fear of losing my liberty and estate? Wilt not thou, and all you47 here judge of me, that it was for saving of my estate and liberty,

37. The Bible. 38. 1664 ed.: “, yea or nay” absent. 39. 1664 ed.: “at” instead of “and.” 40. 1664 ed.: “owe” instead of “own.” 41. A paraphrase of Matt. 5:34. In the 1664 ed., the word order differs: “allegiance and obedience to the King of Kings Christ Jesus, who hath … .” 42. 1664 ed.: “or will you not take it?” instead of “not take it?” 43. A paraphrase of Matt. 5:34. 44. 1664 ed.: “that” absent. 45. 1664 ed.: “Jesus” after “Christ.” 46. A paraphrase of Matt. 5:34. 47. 1664 ed.: “you all,” not “all you.”

142 MARGARET FELL that I did it? And should not I48 in this deny my testimony, and would not this defile my conscience? Judge. This is no answer. Will you take the Oath? We must not spend time. M. F. I never took oath in my life; I have spent my days thus far, and I never took an oath. I own allegiance to the king, as he is king of England; but Christ Jesus is king of my conscience. Clerk. Then the clerk held out the Book, and bid her pull off her glove, and lay her hand on the Book. M. F. I never laid my hand on the Book to swear in all my life, and I never was at the assizes here49 before: I was bred and born in this county, and have led my life in it; and I was never at any assize before this time. And I bless the Lord, that I am here this day upon this account, to bear testimony to the truth. Then they asked her, if she would have the Oath read? She answered, I do not care if I never hear an oath read; for the land mourns because of oaths. Judge. Then the judge cried, Take her away; and asked her,50 If she would give security, that she would have no more Meetings? M. F. Nay, I can give no such security; I have spoken enough for that—And so they took her civilly away.51 Then G. Fox was called to the bar, whose examination and answer are engrossed in another book amongst his travels.52 Margaret Fell’s Appearance the Second time at the Bar, before the said judge; being the 16th Day of the said First Month,53 1663/4 Judge. Mistress Fell, you stand here indicted by the statute, because you will not take the Oath of Allegiance; and I am here to inform you, what the law

48. 1664 ed.: “And do I not” instead of “And should not I.” 49. 1664 ed. omits “here.” 50. 1664 ed.: “Then they took her civilly away, and asked her,” instead of “and asked her.” 51. 1664 ed.: “And so they took her civilly away” absent. 52. George Fox (1624–1691), a founder along with Margaret Fell and William Penn of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). 1664 ed. reads, “Then George Fox was called before Judge Twisden …” and includes an account of Fox’s examination. Fox describes this period of his life in chapter 15 of his autobiography, The Journal of George Fox, published posthumously in 1694; see The Journal of George Fox, ed. Nigel Smith (London and New York: Penguin, 1998). 53. “First month” refers to March. Quakers used numbers for months and days of the week to avoid names based on pagan gods. 1664 ed. reads, “The appearance of M. F. The second time, being the 16th day of the aforementioned month 1663/4.”

The Examination of Margaret Fell 143 provides for you in such a case.54 First, if you confess to the indictment, then55 the judgment of a praemunire56 is to pass upon you. Secondly, if you plead, you have liberty to traverse.57 Thirdly, if you stand mute, and say nothing at all, judgment will be passed against you. So see which you will choose of these three ways. M. F. I am altogether ignorant of those things, for I had never the like occasion; so I desire to be informed by thee, which of these is the best for me, for I do not know. And then several about the court cried, Traverse, Traverse. Judge. If you will be advised by me, put in your traverse, and so you have liberty until the next Assizes to answer your indictment. M. F. I had rather, according to thy own proposal, have a process,58 that I might have liberty till59 the next Assizes, and then to put in a traverse. Judge. Your traverse is a process. M. F. May not I have a process, and put in my traverse the next Assizes? I am informed that was the thing thou didst intend I should have. Judge. You shall have it. M. F. That is all I desire now.60 Then a clerk of the Crown Office61 stood up, and whispered to the judge, and said, It was contrary to law, and said, I must put in my traverse now. Judge. I would do you all the favor I can, but you must enter your traverse now. M. F. I acknowledge thy favor and mercy, for thou hast shown more mercy than my neighbors62 have done; and I see what thou hast done for me, and what my neighbors have done against me, and I know very well how to make a distinction. For they, who have done this against me, have no reason for it. Judge. I have done you no wrong. I found you here. M. F. I had not been here, but by my neighbors. Judge. What say you, are you willing to traverse? M. F. If I may not be permitted to have that which I desire (that is, longer time), I must be willing to traverse till the next Assizes; and that upon this account, that I have something to inform thee of, which I did not speak on the 54. 1664 ed. adds “viz.” 55. 1664 ed. omits “then.” 56. The punishment of forfeiture of property. 57. To deny or take issue with an indictment, formally at law. 58. A summons or writ to bring a defendant into court to answer in a judicial action. 59. 1664 ed.: “until” instead of “till.” 60. 1664 ed.: “now” absent. 61. The office in which the business of the Crown side of the King’s Bench was transacted. 62. Fell’s neighbors who persecuted her and other Friends were probably William Kirkby, a justice of the peace, his older brother Col. Richard Kirkby (ca. 1625–1681), and Richard’s son, Roger Kirkby (ca. 1649–1708); see Elsa F. Glines’s notes in Fell, Undaunted Zeal, 335, 361, 364, and 442.

144 MARGARET FELL last time when I was brought before thee, viz.63 the justices, who committed me told me, they had express order from above, but they did not show me the order. Neither indeed did I ask them for it; but I heard since, that they have given it out in the country, that they had an order from the council.64 Others said that they had an order from the king. The sheriff said that there was express order; and also Justice Flemming65 said there was an order from the king and council. So the country is incensed, that I am some great enemy to the king. So I desire that I may have this order read, that I may know what my offense is, that I may clear myself. Judge. I will tell you what that order is. We have express order from the king to put all laws and statutes66 in execution, not only against you, but all other people, and against Papists, if they be complained of. M. F. Will that order give the justices of peace power to fetch me from my own house, to tender me the Oath? Judge. Mistress, we are all in love;67 if they say they68 had order, believe they had one. M. F. If they have one, let them show it, and then I can believe it. Judge. Come, come, enter your69 traverse. M. F. I had rather have had more time, that I might have informed the king concerning these things. Judge. You may inform the king in half a year’s time. So now let us have your friend called up. Then after she was gone down, the judge called her back again, and said, If you will put in bail, you may go home, and have your liberty till the next Assizes; but you must not have such frequent meetings. M. F. I will rather lie where I am; for, as I told you before, I must keep my conscience clear, for which70 I suffer. And then G. F. was called up the second time, whose examination is recorded elsewhere.71

63. 1664 ed.: “viz.” absent. 64. The Privy Council, advisors to the king. 65. Sir Daniel Fleming (1633–1701), a justice of the peace and sheriff of Cumberland, a staunch Anglican who harshly prosecuted both dissenters and Roman Catholics. See C. B. Phillips, “Fleming, Sir Daniel (1607–1675),” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, ed. Lawrence Goldman (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004–), article published September 23, 2004, . 66. 1664 ed.: “statutes and laws” not “laws and statutes.” 67. “We agree” (used sarcastically). 68. 1664 ed. reads, “if they had order …” 69. 1664 ed.: “the” instead of “your.” 70. 1664 ed.: “that” instead of “which.” 71. George Fox; see ch. 15 of Fox’s Journal.

The Examination of Margaret Fell 145 The 20th Day of the 7th Month, 1664.72 At the Assizes held in Lancaster, Margaret Fell brought to the Bar before Judge Turnor,73 and the Indictment Read. Judge. Come will you take the Oath? M. F. There is a clause in the indictment, that the churchwardens informed of some things,74 which seem that that should be the ground or first occasion of this indictment; I desire to know what that information was, and what the transgression was, by which I came75 under this law. Judge. Mistress, we are not to dispute that; you are here indicted, and you are here to answer, and to plead to your indictment. M. F. I am first to seek out the ground and the cause, wherefore I am indicted; the law is made for the lawless and transgressor, and except I be a transgressor, you have no law against me, neither ought you to have indicted me. For it being that the churchwardens did inform, my question is, What matter of fact did they inform of? For I was sent for from my own house, from among my children and family, when I was about my outward occasions, and76 when I was in no Meeting, neither was it a Meeting Day. Therefore I desire to know what the77 first foundation, or matter of fact was, for there is no law against the innocent and righteous; and if I be a transgressor, let me know wherein. Judge. You say well: the law is made for transgressors. But, Mistress, do you go to church? M. F. I do go to church. Judge. What church? M. F. To the Church of Christ. Judge. But do you go to church among other people? Ye know what I mean. M. F. What dost thou call a church, the house, or the people? The house, ye all know, is wood and stone. But if thou call the people a church, to that I shall answer, as for the Church of England that now is, I was gathered unto the Lord’s 72. “7th Month” refers to September. 1664 ed. reads, “The 29th Day of the 6th month in the year 1664.” 73. Sir Christopher Turnor (1607–1675), a baron of the exchequer (the court that judged causes relating to revenue) who presided over many trials of dissenters, and was seen as a moderate in enforcing the Conventicle Act, which made banishment the penalty for holding repeated private religious meetings; see Stuart Handley, “Turnor, Sir Christopher (1607–1675),” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, ed. Lawrence Goldman (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004–), article published September 23, 2004, . 74. 1664 ed.: “something” instead of “some things.” 75. 1664 ed.: “come” instead of “came.” 76. 1664 ed.: “and” absent. 77. 1664 ed.: “this” instead of “the.”

146 MARGARET FELL truth, unto which I now stand a witness, which truth was before their church was a church. And I was separated from the general worship of the nation, when there was another power up than78 that which now is,79 and was persecuted by that power which then was, and suffered much hardship. And would you have us now to deny our faith and principles, which we have suffered for so many years? And would you now have us to turn from that which we have been witnesses of80 for so many years, and turn to your church contrary to our consciences? Judge. We spend time about these things; come to the matter in hand, what say you to the Oath, and to the indictment? M. F. I say this to the Oath, as I have said in this place before now: Christ Jesus hath commanded me not to swear at all, and that is the only cause, and no other. The righteous judge of heaven and earth knows, before whose throne of justice you must all appear one day; and his eye sees us all and beholds us at this present, and he hears and sees all our words and actions. And therefore, everyone ought to be serious, for the place of judgment is weighty. And this I do testify unto you here, where the Lord’s eye beholds us all, that for the matter or substance of the Oath, and the end for which it was intended, I do own one part, and deny the other. That is to say, I do own truth and faithfulness, and obedience to the king in all his just and lawful demands and commands. I do also deny all plottings and contrivings against the king, and all popish81 supremacy and conspiracy; and I can no more transgress against King Charles in these things, than I can disobey Christ Jesus his commands. And by the same power and virtue82 of the same word, which hath commanded me not to swear at all, the same doth bind me in my conscience, that I can neither plot nor contrive against the king, nor do him, nor any man upon the earth, any wrong. And I do not deny this Oath only because it is the Oath of Allegiance; but I deny it because it is an Oath, and because Christ Jesus hath said, Swear not at all, neither by Heaven, nor by Earth, nor any other Oath.83 And if I might gain the whole world for swearing of an oath, I could not; and whatever I have to lose this day for not swearing of an oath, I am willing to offer it up. Judge. What say you to the indictment? M. F. What should I say? I am clear and innocent of wronging any man upon the earth, as my little child that stands by me here.84 And if any here have anything to lay to my charge, let them come down, and testify it here before you 78. 1664 ed. reads, “another set up than” instead of “another power up than.” 79. The Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland, headed by Oliver Cromwell from 1653 until his death in 1658. 80. 1664 ed. reads, “born witness of ” instead of “been witnesses of.” 81. A disparaging term for Roman Catholics. 82. Efficacy. 83. A paraphrase of James 5:12. 84. Fell is referring to one of her young daughters, almost certainly Rachel Fell, born in 1653.

The Examination of Margaret Fell 147 all; and if I be clear and innocent, you have no law against me. You have work enough besides, if you do not meddle with the innocent and them that fear the Lord.85 Then Colonel Kirby86 and the Sheriff whispered to the Judge. And I looked up, and spoke to Colonel Kirby, and said, Let us have no whispering; I will not have so many judges, one of one side, and another of another. Here is one judge, that is to be judge. And the judge said, No, I will not heed87 them. And then I called to Colonel Kirby and said, If thou hast anything to lay to my charge, or to speak against me, come down here, and testify against me. And I said, The judge represents the king’s person and his power, and that I own.88 Judge. Jury, take notice, she doth not take the Oath. M. F. This matter is weighty to me, whatsoever it is to you, upon many accounts; and I would have the jury to take notice of it, and to consider seriously what they are going to do. For, first,89 I stand here before you upon the account of the loss of my liberty, and my estate. Secondly, I stand here for obeying Christ’s command, and so keeping my conscience clear; which if I obey this law, and King Charles’s commands, I defile my conscience, and transgress against Christ Jesus, who is the king of my conscience. And the cause and the controversy in this matter, that you all are to judge of here this day, is betwixt Christ Jesus, and King Charles, and I am his servant and witness this day, and this is his cause, and whatever I suffer, it is for him, and so let him plead my cause when he pleaseth. Judge. Then the judge said to the jury, Are you all agreed? Have you found it? And they said, for the king. M. F. Then I90 spoke to the judge and said, I have council91 to plead to my indictment. And he said he would hear92 them afterward, in arrest of judgment.93 So the court broke up at that time. And after dinner, when they came again, they intended to have called us at the first; and they had called G. F.94 out, and was 85. 1664 ed., this whole sentence absent. 86. Colonel Richard Kirkby (ca. 1625–1681) of Furness, a neighboring justice and Royalist who was a chief persecutor of Friends and other dissenters. Fell spells the name “Kirby” throughout this pamphlet. 87. 1664 ed.: “hear” instead of “heed.” 88. Concede to be true. 89. 1664 ed. omits “first.” 90. 1664 ed. omits “I.” 91. An archaic spelling of counselor, or legal advisor, probably a reference to Fell’s uncle, Matthew Richardson, who was a lawyer and had previously helped the Fells with legal advice; see Elsa F. Glines’s note in Fell, Undaunted Zeal, 335. 92. 1664 ed.: “clear” instead of “hear.” 93. A stay of proceedings after a verdict, on the grounds of error or possible error. 94. George Fox.

148 MARGARET FELL calling of me. And I stepped up to the bar, and desired the judge that he would give us time till the next morning to bring in our arrest of judgment; and the judge said at the first, we should; and I was stepping down to go my way, and the judge called me back again, and said, Mistress Fell, you wrote to me concerning your prisons, that they are bad, and rain in, and are not fit for people to lie in. And I spoke to the sheriff of it, and the sheriff said, he did not know.95 I answered, The sheriff did know, and hath been told of it several times; and now it is raining, if you will send to see at this present, you may see whether they are96 fit for people to lie in, or not. And Col. Kirby stood up, and spoke to the judge, to excuse the sheriff, and the badness of the room. And I spoke to him, and said, If you were to lie in it yourselves, you would think it hard; but your minds are only in cruelty, to commit others, as William Kirby97 here hath done, who hath committed ten of our Friends, and put them in a cold room, where there was nothing but bare boards to lie upon, where they have lain several nights, some of them old ancient men, above threescore years of age, and known to be honest men in their country where they live. And when William Kirby was asked, why they might not have liberty to shift for themselves for beds, he answered and said, They were to commit them to prison, but not to provide prisons for them. And we asked him, who should do it then? He said, the king. And then the judge spoke to them, and said, They should not do so; they should let them have prisons fit for men, with several more such like words. Then at that time we were returned to our chambers again. And the next day we were called about the 10th hour, and I stood up to the bar, and said, I have council here, and named them, that the judge might assign them to speak. And I said, I had a few words to speak before them. And I said, I did see all sort of prisoners that did appear before the judge, received what mercy the law would afford them, but we desired only to receive justice and law. And the judge said, What are we here for else? So I stepped down, and the lawyers spoke, and showed the judge several errors and defects and places of contradiction and confusion in my indictment; at which he seemed to give ear to some of them, others he seemed to waive. But he made a pause, and a stop, and seemed dissatisfied. And then called G. F.98 and when he came to plead to his indictment and brought in his exceptions against it, by which it was clearly quashed,99 the judge spoke to the lawyers, and said, he would consider of those particulars they had spoken of to him in my indictment, and he would speak to his brother Twisden before he 95. 1664 ed., this whole sentence absent. 96. 1664 ed.: “be” instead of “are.” 97. A neighbor, a justice of the peace, and Col. Richard Kirkby’s brother. 98. George Fox. 99. Rendered invalid. 1664 ed. reads, “and bringing that by which his indictment was quite quenched, and then they put the Oath to G. F.”

The Examination of Margaret Fell 149 passed judgment upon me. But if I do pass judgment, said he, you may have a Writ of Error.100 And the lawyers answered him again, Will you pass an erroneous judgment, my Lord? So, after they had called the Grand Jury, and tendered G. F.101 the Oath again, they returned us to our chambers. And when they had drawn up another indictment, and found it, they called us again in the afternoon; and G. F.102 pleaded not guilty103 to his indictment, and entered his traverse. When he had done, the judge spoke to me, and said, If such words104 had been in, which was not in mine, (but it was in G. Fox’s,105 and yet it was neither of those words by which his indictment was quashed) but if they106 had been in mine, he said he would not have passed sentence; but seeing they were107 not there, he passed the sentence of praemunire against me. Then I stood up and told him, he had said to my council, that I might have a Writ of Error to reverse it. He said, I should have what the law afforded me. So I said, the Lord forgive thee for what thou hast done, for108 this law was made for popish recusants,109 and110 ye pass sentence but on few of them. M. Fell

100. A writ sending the case to an appellate court for review. 101. George Fox. 102. George Fox. 103. 1664 ed. omits “not guilty.” 104. 1664 ed.: “a word” instead of “words.” 105. George Fox. 106. 1664 ed.: “that” instead of “they.” 107. 1664 ed.: “being that it was” instead of “seeing they were.” 108. 1664 ed.: “and” instead of “for.” 109. Persons who refused to attend services of the Church of England because of allegiance to the Roman Catholic Church. 110. 1664 ed.: “but” instead of “and.”

A Letter Sent to the King1 from M. F.2 King Charles, I desire thee to read this over, which may be for thy satisfaction and profit.3 In the fear of the Lord God stand still,4 and consider what thou and you have been doing these six years, since the Lord brought you peaceably into this realm, and made you rulers over this people.5 The righteous eye of the Almighty hath been over you, and hath seen all your doings and actions. What laws have you made or changed, save such as have laid oppression and bondage on the consciences of God’s people, and that of no less penalty than banishment out of their native country?6 The greatest crime that you could find with the people of God, was, that they obeyed and worshiped Christ Jesus. So that the greatest stroke that hath appeared of your justice hath been upon such as you 1. King Charles II (1630–1685), invited by Parliament to return from exile, reigned over England, Scotland, and Ireland from 1660 until his death in 1685. Charles’s return in 1660, known as the Restoration, signaled the end of the Commonwealth of England, which had been established after the British Civil Wars; see Seward, “Charles II (1630–1685),” ODNB. 2. The Letter was originally printed in 1666. At the bottom of the title page it is stated: “This was delivered to the King, the 29th. of the 6. Month, 1666 by Elizabeth Stubbs.” Elizabeth Stubbs and her husband John (1618–1675) “were trusted friends of Margaret’s” and devoted Friends; see Elsa F. Glines’s note in Fell, Undaunted Zeal, 183. The Letter was bound with “A Paper Written unto the Magistrates in 1664 Which Was Then Printed, and Should Have Been Dispersed, but Was Prevented by Wicked Hands.” 3. The 1666 ed. includes four biblical passages on the title page: the first a paraphrase of Jer. 5:28, the second an accurate quotation of Jer. 5:29, the third from Ps. 33:16 and Ps. 33:12, and the fourth from Prov. 19:21. The last quotation is from the Geneva Bible; the other quotations are from the King James Version, as is usual with Fell. Although Isa. 1:24 is cited on the title page, it is not quoted. As noted in the introduction, the use of more than one biblical translation is characteristic of Fell’s Bible reading. 4. Though this is not a direct biblical quotation, Fell still uses biblical language here. For example, “standing in fear” of the Lord is a biblical commonplace, e.g., Exod. 14:13 and Prov. 1:7. 5. Fell refers to the first six years of the reign of Charles II. The British Civil War led to the overthrow of the monarchy; consequently, Charles II was forced to flee the country and spent nine years in exile in France and the Netherlands. Fell reminds Charles that God has restored him to his position as ruler, thus also effectively reminding him that he was once without power. 6. Fell is most likely referring to two pieces of legislation that legalized persecution of Friends: the Quaker Act of 1662 and the Conventicle Act of 1664. The Quaker Act criminalized the refusal to take the Oath of Allegiance; anyone who had not taken this oath could not legally hold private meetings and repeated offenses might result in deportation. The Conventicle Act reaffirmed the conditions of the Quaker Act; see Mary Moore, Light in their Consciences, 182–85. Nevertheless, Charles II made attempts to promote tolerance for dissenters and Catholics and to circumvent the acts that Parliament passed on uniformity; see I. M. Green, The Re-Establishment of the Church of England, 1660–1663 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1978), 203–36. This passage is perhaps also a reference to Ezra 7:26.

151

152 MARGARET FELL counted offenders for worshiping of God, insomuch that several of your judges of the land have several times said in open court, to any that did confess that they met to worship the Lord God, that that was crime enough, whereby they could proceed to banishment. And when it was asked in open court, whether it was now become a transgression or a crime in England to worship God, he that was then the chief justice of England7 answered, “Yes, Yes.” O wonderful!8 Let this be chronicled in England for after-ages, that all magistrates may dread and fear so to affront the Almighty, except they dare say, they are stronger than he. And all this hath been without any just cause given at any time by that people, which was the object of this law; so that men that had but the least measure of righteousness and equity could never have proceeded on to have inflicted such a height of punishment, without some just ground. And all that ever was pretended,9 was but suspicion, which can never be paralleled; to be prosecuted to such a height of suffering without a just ground given, although occasion hath been continually sought and watched for, but never found. But the Lord hath preserved his people innocent and harmless;10 and therefore is he engaged to plead their cause, into whose hand it is wholly given and committed. I desire you also to consider seriously in the fear of the Lord, what effects and fruits these things have11 brought forth. First, I believe it hath brought hundreds of God’s people to their graves.12 It hath also rendered this realm and the governors of it cruel in the eyes of all people, both within its own body, and in other nations; besides the guilt of innocent blood lies upon this kingdom. Since which time, the Lord in his judgment hath taken many thousands of its people away by his two judgments, pestilence and sword.13 And before any of this was, when you first entered into this kingdom, I was sent of the Lord to you, to inform you truly of the state and condition of our 7. Probably Sir Robert Foster (1589–1663), who was Lord Chief Justice from 1660 to 1663 and presided over many Quaker trials; see D. A. Orr, “Foster, Sir Robert (1589–1663),” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, ed. Lawrence Goldman (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004–), article published September 23, 2004, . 8. Indicates astonishment. 9. Falsely alleged. 10. Biblical language that reflects the commonplace of the Lord preserving his chosen people. See 1 Sam. 30:23. 11. 1666 ed.: “hath.” 12. William C. Braithwaite estimates that at least 450 Friends died in prison during the reign of Charles II. See The Second Period of Quakerism (New York: Macmillan, 1919), 115. 13. The biblical language of punishment by disease and war, as in Jer. 42:22. Fell may be referring to recent events: the Great Plague of London (1665–1666), and the Second Anglo-Dutch War (1665–1667).

A Letter Sent to the King 153 people. And when I came before thee, O king, I told thee, I was come to thee in the behalf of an innocent, harmless, peaceable people; which words I would then, and ever since, and should at this day, seal with my blood, if I were put to it: And thy answer was to me, “If they be peaceable, they shall be protected.”14 I also wrote to thee several times concerning our faith and principles, how that we could not swear for conscience sake; neither could we take up arms, nor plot, nor contrive to do any man wrong nor injury, much less the king.15 I also told you that we must worship God, for God required it of us. We did likewise give you many of our books, which contained our faith, and principles, and doctrine, that thereby we might be tried by the Scriptures of truth (which all of you do profess) whether our principles were erroneous or no; and to that purpose we gave our books to the king and parliament, and to the bishops and ministers, both ecclesiastical and civil. Our books were sold openly amongst all people; and our principles declared in a declaration, and freely held forth to the whole world. We also desired that we might have a meeting of bishops or ministers of the land, and that our Friends would freely and willingly give them a meeting, that thereby they and we might be tried by the Scriptures, which of us was in the error—whereupon thou wast pleased to grant us our requests, and promised us that we should have a meeting, which was but reasonable. But the bishops, and those that were concerned,16 they turned it off, when our Friends were ready, and would not give us a meeting.17 This action of theirs, did clearly manifest them to be out of the life and power of the Scriptures: for Christ Jesus said to those that he sent forth, that they should not be afraid, for he would give them a mouth and wisdom, that all their adversaries should not be able to gainsay nor resist;18 and likewise the Apostle when he wrote to his son Timothy, in 2 Timothy 2:24–26, And the servant of the Lord (saith he) must not strive, but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach,

14. In 1660 Fell traveled to London and appealed to Charles II and to his brother James, the Duke of York on behalf of imprisoned Friends. She also wrote letters to Parliament advocating for the Society of Friends. See Kunze, Margaret Fell and the Rise of Quakerism, 37. 15. Friends are pacifists whose theology also prohibits the taking of oaths. See The Examination of Margaret Fell, earlier in this volume, on the political consequences Friends faced for observing their beliefs about oaths. 16. In between “concerned” and “they turned” the 1666 ed. adds “feared that their cause would not hold stitch with the rule of Scriptures, and so.” 17. A marginal note in original text: “Account hereof is more fully given in a former letter of hers.” This most probably refers to The Examination of Margaret Fell, also included in this volume. 18. Luke 21:15: “or I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist.” The preceding clause, “they should not be afraid,” is Fell’s addition.

154 MARGARET FELL patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves, if God peradventure will give them repentance, and come to the acknowledging of the truth, etc.19 If they had been the ministers of Christ, and in the apostles’ doctrine, they would have taken this way with us; they would have endeavored to have convinced20 us by sound doctrine, or at least have tried us this way, before they had agreed with the civil magistrates21 to make laws against us; but this manifested their spirits and principle, for they rather chose to deliver us up to you, that had the whip and the scourge in your hands, and that which they could not do by sound doctrine, they agreed with22 others to do it for them by compulsion. But the all-seeing God hath seen all this. And all this we did, that you should not be ignorant what we could do, and what we could not do. I told you, also, that we could give unto Caesar the things that are23 Caesar’s, and unto God also the things that are24 God’s.25 And this is a witness for the Lord in this day, that he pleads with you, of which you are not ignorant.26 I also wrote to thee to beware how thou rulest27 in this nation, for the people of this nation were a brittle28 people generally; and besides them, the Lord had a people here that were dear unto him. And I desired thee not to touch them, nor hurt them. I also desired thee to beware of the counsel of the bishops; for if thou hearkened to their counsel, they would be thy ruin, for it was their counsel was the ruin of thy father, for their counsel is the same that Rehoboam’s young men was: read what the Lord did with that king, in 1 Kings 12.29 Thou knowest this is true, their counsel is to make the burden heavier, as theirs was. 19. Actually, 2 Tim. 2:24–25. Friends, as well as many other seventeenth-century dissenters, used family terms to refer to other members of their sects. Fell is herself frequently addressed as “Mother” by other Friends. Thus Fell also terms Timothy the apostle a “son” to Paul (the Apostle). 20. Converted. 21. 1666 ed. adds: “before they had put the civil magistrates upon it to make laws.” 22. 1666 ed.: “they put it upon others.” 23. 1666 ed.: “was.” 24. 1666 ed.: “was.” 25. An allusion to a passage in three of the gospels: Matt. 22:21, Mark 12:17, and Luke 20:25. Fell uses “Caesar” as a way to indicate the leadership position of Charles II. 26. Biblical language of witnesses: see 1 John 5:9. 1666 ed. reads: “that he pleads, that you were not ignorant.” 27. 1666 ed.: “ruled.” 28. Easily broken. Fell may be referring to the recent British Civil Wars, which broke the country apart. 29. Rehoboam was the son of Solomon and a king of Israel who followed the advice of young advisors recommending that he tax heavily and treat the people of Israel sternly to command respect; the result

A Letter Sent to the King 155 All this, with much more, I wrote to thee, and warned thee of (I can truly say in the fear of the Lord) in much love and tenderness to thee. And now I may say unto thee, for which of these things hast thou kept me in prison three long winters, in a place not fit for people to lie in, sometime for wind, and storm, and rain, and sometime for smoke;30 so that it is much that I am alive, but that the power and goodness of God hath been with me. I was kept a year and seven months in this prison, before I was suffered to see the house that was mine,31 or children or family, except they came to me over two dangerous sands in the cold winters,32 when they came with much danger to33 their lives. But since that34 last assizes I have had a little more respect from this sheriff, than formerly from others. And in all this I am very well satisfied, and praise the Lord, who counts me worthy to suffer for his sake. For I never did thee, nor any other man in the nation, any wrong; and so I may say for many more of our Friends, that have suffered even until death. And all that we could write or speak, we were not believed, and all the warnings that we gave of judgments, and told you plainly we had done so with other governors before you, and how the Lord had overthrown them, and desired you many times to beware, lest the Lord’s judgments came over you also. But all was to no purpose, for as long as there was peace in the land, the main business of the parliament was to invent laws to punish and persecute Quakers. But to make laws to punish vice, sin, and wickedness, and lasciviousness, we had but a little of such laws. And now after all my sufferings, in the same love that I visited thee in the beginning, I desire thee once more to fear the Lord God, by whom kings rule, and princes decree justice, who sets up one, and pulls down another, at his pleasure.35 And let not the guilt of  36 the burden of the breach of that word that passed from thee at Breda37 lie upon thy conscience, but as thou promised when thou was a revolt. Fell uses this political event in the Hebrew Scriptures to characterize the fall of Charles I; see 1 Kings 12 and 2 Chronicles 10–12. 30. Fell was arrested in 1663/4 and sentenced to life imprisonment and the forfeiture of her property, but she was released in 1668. 31. After Fell was sentenced to forfeiture of her property, her daughters stayed on at Swarthmoor Hall and her estranged son George petitioned to be granted the estate, which was transferred to him in 1665. Fell was released in 1668 but arrested again in 1670. Her son died later in 1670, and in 1671 Fell was pardoned and released and Swarthmoor Hall was granted to her daughters Susannah and Rachel Fell; see Kunze, “Fell, Margaret (1614–1702),” ODNB. 32. 1666 ed.: “winter.” 33. 1666 ed.: “of.” 34. 1666 ed.: “the.” 35. Prov. 8:15. 36. 1666 ed.: “or.” 37. The city in the Netherlands where Charles II lived for some of his time in exile during the Interregnum. Fell reminds the king of his previous misfortunes as a way to elicit sympathy for the

156 MARGARET FELL wast in distress, and also renewed it many times since, that thou would’st give liberty to tender consciences, in the fear of the Lord perform it, and purge thy conscience of it, and hearken not to wicked counselors, that have stopped it in thee all this time, for they will bear none of thy burden for thee, when the Lord pleads for breach of covenant with him and his people. I know it hath been often in thy heart to perform it, and thou hast seen what fruit the want of it hath brought forth. So if thou lovest thy eternal peace and comfort with the Lord, try what the performance of it will bring forth, who wilt thereby see thou hast hearkened to wrong counselors. And every mortal man hath but a moment in this life, either to serve, fear, and honor the Lord, and therein to receive mercy from him; or else to transgress, sin, disobey, and dishonor him, and so receive the judgment of eternal misery. So never a one of you knows how long, or how short your day may be; therefore fear not man, that can kill the body; but fear the Lord, who, when he hath killed the body, can cast the soul and the body into hell;38 yea I say unto you, fear him.39 From a true lover of all your souls, (though a sufferer by you) and the desire of my heart is, that you may take these things into consideration betime, before it be too late; and set open the prison doors, and let the innocent go free,40 and that will take part of the burden and guilt off you, lest the door of mercy41 be shut against you. Margaret Fell From my prison at Lancaster Castle, the 6th Day of the 6th Month, 1666.42

plight of members of the Society of Friends. Fell is also referring to the Declaration of Breda, a proclamation by Charles II on April 4, 1660, that promised, among other things, religious toleration. 38. 1666 ed.: “can cast the soul into hell.” 39. Matt. 10:28. 40. For two instances of prison doors being opened miraculously in the Bible, see Acts 5:19 and 16:26. 41. The original text states “mery,” which appears to be a printer’s error. 42. The sixth month is August.

Women’s Speaking Justified, Proved, and Allowed of by the Scriptures, All Such As Speak by the Spirit and Power of the Lord Jesus. And How Women Were the First That Preached the Tidings of the Resurrection of Jesus, and Were Sent by Christ’s Own Command, Before He Ascended to the Father, John 20:171 Whereas it hath been an objection in the minds of many, and several times hath been objected by the clergy, or ministers, and others, against women’s speaking in the Church, and so consequently may be taken, that they are condemned for meddling in the things of God, the ground of which objection is taken from the Apostle’s words,2 which he wrote in his first Epistle to the Corinthians, chapter 14, verses 34–35,3 and also what he wrote to Timothy in the first Epistle, chapter 2, verses 11–12.4 But how far they wrong the Apostle’s intentions in these Scriptures, we shall show clearly when we come to them in their course and order. But first let me lay down how God himself hath manifested his will and mind concerning women, and unto women. And first, when God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he them, male and female; and God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply. And God said, Behold, I have given you of every herb, etc. Genesis 1.5 Here God joins them together in his own image, and makes no such distinctions and differences as men do. For though they be weak, he is strong; and as he said to the Apostle, His grace is sufficient, and his strength is made manifest

1. In John 20:17, on the third day after the crucifixion, Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene in front of his empty tomb. He tells her “go unto my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father … .” Fell interprets Mary’s taking the message to the apostles as preaching. On the title page of the 1666 and 1667 pamphlet editions, several scriptures are also quoted: Joel 2:28 (as quoted in Acts 2:17), John 6:45, Isa. 54:13, and Jer. 31:34. 2. “The Apostle” is Paul, who wrote epistles to the people of Corinth and to his protégé Timothy. The full titles are “The First Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians” and “The First Epistle of Paul the Apostle to Timothy.” 3. In 1 Cor. 14:34–35, Paul commands that women must be silent in church and obedient to the law, and, if they have questions, must ask their husbands at home. 4. In 1 Tim. 2:11–12, Paul declares to Timothy that women must “learn in silence with all subjection,” and must not “usurp authority over the man.” 5. Gen. 1:27–29, with Fell following more closely the King James Version but changing and dropping words and a whole sentence. Especially significant, Fell’s middle “them” is “him” in both the KJV and the Geneva Bible; the Coverdale Bible reads “created he them.”

157

158 MARGARET FELL in weakness, 2 Corinthians 12:9.6 And such hath the Lord chosen, even the weak things of the world, to confound the things which are mighty; and things which are despised hath God chosen to bring to nought things that are, 1 Corinthians 1.7 And God hath put no such difference between the male and female as men would make. It is true, the Serpent, that was more subtle than any other beast of the field,8 came unto the woman with his temptations and with a lie, his subtlety discerning her to be the weaker vessel9 or more inclinable to hearken to him, when he said, If ye eat, your eyes shall be opened.10 And the woman saw that the fruit was good to make one wise; there the temptation got into her, and she did eat and gave to her husband, and he did eat also,11 and so they were both tempted into the transgression and disobedience.12 And therefore God said unto Adam (who13 hid himself when he heard his voice), Hast thou eaten of the tree which I commanded thee that thou should’st not eat? And Adam said, The woman which thou gavest me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And the Lord said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.14 Here the woman spoke the truth unto the Lord. See what the Lord saith, verse 15, after he had pronounced sentence on the Serpent: I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel, Genesis 3.15 6. 2 Cor. 12:9. No early modern translation that we have located so far uses the word “manifest,” but perhaps Fell is responding to the Geneva marginal commentary objecting to the phrasing “made perfect.” 7. 1 Cor. 1:27–28, but leaving out several phrases. The spelling “nought”—a variant of “naught,” meaning “nothing”—is that of the King James Bible. 8. Gen. 3:1. 9. 1 Pet. 3:7 describes the wife as “the weaker vessel.” This phrase is absent in the 1666 and 1667 pamphlet eds. 10. Gen. 3:5. 11. The phrase, “she did eat and gave to her husband, and he did eat also,” is italicized in the 1666 and 1667 eds. 12. Gen. 3:6, but more words than the italicized ones are from this biblical passage. 13. 1666 and 1667 eds.: “when that he” instead of “who.” 14. Gen. 3:9–13. 15. Gen. 3:15. Early modern male writers frequently cited the traditional interpretation of Eve as inferior to Adam, arguing that she was made from his rib, and was the cause of the fall of humanity because of eating the apple. Many early modern women writers offered revisions of Eve: see Jane Anger, Iane Anger her Protection for Women (1588), in Essential Works for the Study of Early Modern Women, Part 2, Vol. 1: Texts from the Querelle, 1521–1615, sel. and introd. Pamela J. Benson (Aldershot, UK, and Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2008), sig. Clr; Aemilia Lanyer, “Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum” (1611), ll. 783–816, in The Poems of Aemilia Lanyer: Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum, ed. Susanne Woods (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993), 84–86; and Rachel Speght, “A Mouzell for Melastomus”

Women’s Speaking Justified, Proved, and Allowed of by the Scriptures 159 Let this Word of the Lord, which was from the beginning,16 stop the mouths of all that oppose women’s speaking in the power of the Lord. For he hath put enmity between the woman and the Serpent, and if the seed of the woman speak not, the seed of the Serpent speaks; for God hath put enmity between the two seeds, and it is manifest that those that speak against the woman, and her seed’s speaking, speak out of the envy of the old Serpent’s seed. And God hath fulfilled his Word and his promise: When the fullness of time was come, he sent17 forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons, Galatians 4:4–5.18 Moreover, the Lord is pleased, when he mentions his Church, to call her by the name of “woman,” by his prophet’s saying, I have called thee as a woman forsaken, and grieved in spirit, and as a wife of youth, Isaiah 54.19 Again, How long wilt thou go about, thou back-sliding daughter? For the Lord hath created a new thing in the earth, a woman shall compass a man, Jeremiah 31:22.20 And David, when he was speaking of Christ and his Church, he saith, The King’s daughter is all glorious within. Her clothing is of wrought gold. She shall be brought unto the King; with gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought. They shall enter into the King’s palace, Psalm 45.21 And also King Solomon in his Song, where he speaks of Christ and his Church, where she is complaining and calling for Christ, he saith, If thou knowest not, O thou fairest among women, go thy way by the footsteps of the flock, Canticles 1:8, 5:9.22 And John, when he saw the wonder that was in heaven, he saw a woman clothed with the sun,23 and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars; and there appeared another wonder in heaven, a great red Dragon stood ready to devour her child. Here appears the envy of the Dragon, Revelation 12.24

(1617), in The Polemics and Poems of Rachel Speght, ed. Barbara Kiefer Lewalski (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996), 12–15 and 18. 16. John 1:1–2. 17. 1666 and 1667 eds.: “he hath sent” instead of “he sent.” 18. Gal. 4:4–5, as Fell states. 19. Isa. 54:6. 20. Jer. 31:22, as Fell states. 21. Ps. 45:13–15, with some words left out. 22. Song of Sol. 1:8; “O thou fairest of women” is repeated in 5:9. 23. The word “sun” is spelled “son” in the original text, possibly a pun on Christ as the Son of God. 24. Rev. 12:1 and Rev. 12:3–4, KJV, with many words left out. The Geneva Bible gloss interprets the woman as the Church. 1666 ed. reads, “Here the enmity appears that God put between the woman and the Dragon … .”

160 MARGARET FELL Thus much may prove that the Church of Christ is represented as25 a woman, and those that speak against this26 woman’s speaking speak against the Church of Christ and the seed of the woman, which seed is Christ; that is to say, those that speak against the Power of the Lord and the Spirit of the Lord speaking in a woman, simply by reason of her sex or because she is a woman, not regarding the Seed, and Spirit, and Power that speaks in her, such speak against Christ and his Church, and are of the seed of the Serpent, wherein lodgeth enmity.27 And as God the Father made no such difference in the first creation, nor ever since between the male and the female, but always out of his mercy and loving-kindness28 had regard unto the weak, so also, his Son, Christ Jesus, confirms the same thing. When the Pharisees came to him and asked him, if it were lawful for a man to put away his wife, he answered and said unto them, Have you not read, that he that made them in the beginning made them male and female, and said,29 For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they twain shall be one flesh, wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh? What therefore God hath joined together, let no man put asunder, Matthew 19.30 Again, Christ Jesus, when he came to the city of Samaria, where Jacob’s Well was, where the woman of Samaria was, you may read in John 4 how he was pleased to preach the everlasting Gospel to her. And when the woman said unto him, I know that when the Messiah cometh (which is called “Christ”), when he cometh, he will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.31 Also, he said unto Martha, when she said she knew that her brother should rise again in the last day,32 Jesus said unto her, I am the Resurrection and the Life; he that believeth on me, though he were dead, yet shall he live, and whosoever liveth and believeth shall never die. Believest thou this? She answered, Yea Lord, I believe thou art the Christ, the Son of God. Here she manifested her true and saving faith, which few at that day believed so on him, John 11:25–26.33

25. 1666 and 1667 eds.: “represented as” is absent. 26. 1666 and 1667 eds.: “the” instead of “this.” 27. 1666 and 1667 eds. read, “the enmity.” 28. The phrase “loving-kindness” means benevolent affection. 29. 1666 and 1667 eds.: “and said” is not italicized. 30. Matt. 19:3–6, with a few words left out. 31. John 4:25–26. 1666 and 1667 eds.:, a whole sentence follows this passage: “This is more than ever he said in plain words to man or woman (that we read of) before he suffered.” 32. 1666 and 1667 eds. lack italics here. 33. Actually John 11:24–27.

Women’s Speaking Justified, Proved, and Allowed of by the Scriptures 161 Also, that woman that came unto Jesus with an alabaster box of very precious ointment and poured it on his head as he sat at meat,34 it is manifest35 that this woman knew more of the secret Power and Wisdom of God than his disciples did, who36 were filled with indignation against her; and therefore Jesus saith, Why do ye trouble the woman, for she hath wrought a good work upon me. Verily, I say unto you, wheresoever this Gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this that this woman hath done be told for a memorial of her, Matthew 26, Mark 14:3.37 Luke saith further, She was a sinner, and that she stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with her tears, and did wipe them with the hair of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with ointment.38 And when Jesus saw the heart of the Pharisee39 that had bidden him to his house, he took occasion to speak unto Simon, as you may read in Luke 7, and he turned to the woman, and said, Simon, seest thou this woman? Thou gavest me no water to my feet, but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head. Thou gavest me no kiss, but this woman, since I came in, hath not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil thou didst not anoint, but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. Wherefore I say unto thee, her sins, which are many, are forgiven her, for she hath loved much, Luke 7:37 to the end.40 Also, there were many women which followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering unto him, and stood afar off when he was crucified, Matthew 28:55, Mark 15.41 Yea, even the women of Jerusalem wept for him, insomuch that he said unto them, Weep not for me, ye daughters of Jerusalem, but weep for yourselves, and for your children, Luke 23:28.42 And certain women which had been healed of evil spirits and

34. Fell is referring to Luke 7:37–38, in which a woman who was a known sinner (often in Fell’s time identified as Mary Magdalene) “brought an alabaster box of ointment” to the Pharisee’s house, at which Jesus was eating dinner, then washed his feet with her tears and anointed them with the ointment. Fell’s reference to anointing the head of Jesus may be to John 11:2: “It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.” But in Luke 7:46, Jesus says specifically, “My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment.” 35. 1666 and 1667 eds. read, “it’s manifested.” 36. 1666 and 1667 eds.: “that” instead of “who.” 37. Matt. 26:10 and Matt. 26:13; also Mark 14:6 38. Luke 7:37–38. 39. In Luke 7, Jesus is eating at the house of a Pharisee, a member of a Jewish sect practicing strict observance of the rites and ceremonies of the written law and upholding the validity of oral law. 40. Luke 7:44–47. 41. Actually Matt. 27:55, Mark 15:40–41, and Luke 23:49. Fell follows Matthew but changes the order of words. 42. Luke 23:28, as Fell states.

162 MARGARET FELL infirmities, Mary Magdalene, and Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward’s wife, and many others which ministered unto him of their substance, Luke 8:2–3.43 Thus we see that Jesus owned44 the love and grace that appeared in women, and did not despise it, and by what is recorded in the Scriptures, he received as much love, kindness, compassion, and tender dealing towards him from women, as he did from any others, both in his lifetime, and also after they had exercised their cruelty upon him. For Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James45 beheld where he was laid: And when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had brought sweet spices that they might anoint him. And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulcher at the rising of the sun. And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulcher? And when they looked, the stone was rolled away, for it was very great, Mark 16:1–4, Luke 24:1–2.46 And they went down into the sepulcher and, as Matthew saith, The angel rolled away the stone, and he said unto the women, Fear not, I know whom ye seek, Jesus which was crucified. He is not here, he is risen, Matthew 28.47 Now Luke saith thus, that there stood two men by them in shining apparel, and as they were perplexed and afraid, the men said unto them, He is not here. Remember how he said unto you when he was in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again; and they remembered his words, and returned from the sepulcher, and told all these things to the eleven, and to all the rest.48 It was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and the other women that were with them, which told these things to the apostles, and their words seemed unto them as idle tales, and they believed them not.49 Mark this, ye despisers of the weakness of women, and look upon yourselves to be so wise. But Christ Jesus doth not so, for he makes use of the weak. For when he met the women after he was risen, he said unto them, All Hail! And they came and held him by the feet, and worshiped him; then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid. Go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there they shall see me, Matthew 43. Luke 8:2–3, as Fell states, but a compressed version. 44. The word “owned” means acknowledged. 45. 1666 and 1667 eds. read “Joses,” instead of “James.” In Matt. 27:56, “Mary the mother of James and Joses” is one of the women following from afar. 46. Mark 16:1–4 and Luke 24:1–2, as Fell states, but also Matt. 28:1–2 and John 20:1. 47. Matt. 28: 1–6, with many words rearranged, deleted, and substituted. 48. Luke 24:4–9. There are eleven disciples because Judas has deserted them. 49. The wording is Luke 24:11, but see also Mark 16:13. Here the base text does not have italics even though it is a direct Biblical quotation. We imagine that the printer added the italics, and sometimes missed a quotation, since Fell’s style depends on the interweaving of Biblical language. Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, is mentioned only in Luke 8:3 and Luke 24:11. 1666 and 1667 eds. lack “and their words seemed unto them as idle tales, and they believed them not.”

Women’s Speaking Justified, Proved, and Allowed of by the Scriptures 163 28:10, Mark 16:9.50 And John saith, when Mary was weeping at the sepulcher, that Jesus said unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? What seeketh51 thou? And when she supposed him to be the gardener, Jesus said unto her, Mary; she turned herself, and said unto him, Rabboni, which is to say, Master; Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father; but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father, and to my God, and your God, John 20:16–17.52 Mark this, you that despise and oppose the message of the Lord God that he sends by women! What had become of the redemption of the whole body of mankind, if they had not cause to believe53 the message that the Lord Jesus sent by these women, of and concerning his resurrection? And if these women had not thus, out of their tenderness and bowels of love,54 who had received mercy, and grace, and forgiveness of sins, and virtue, and healing from him, which many men also had received the like, if their hearts had not been so united and knit unto him in love that they could not depart as the men did, but sat watching, and waiting, and weeping about the sepulcher until the time of his resurrection, and so were ready to carry his Message, as is manifested, else how should his disciples have known, who were not there? O blessed and glorified be the glorious Lord! For this may all the whole body of mankind say, though the wisdom of man that never knew God is always ready to except against the weak. But the weakness of God is stronger than men, and the foolishness of God is wiser than men, 1 Corinthians 1:25.55 And in Acts 18, you may read how Aquila and Priscilla took unto them Apollos, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly, who was an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures;56 yet we do not read that he despised what Priscilla said because she was a woman, as many now do. And now to the Apostle’s words, which is the ground of the great objection against women’s speaking. And first, 1 Corinthians 14. Let the reader seriously 50. Actually, Matt. 28:9–10 and Mark 16:7. “Brethren” is an archaic plural of “brother.” 51. 1666 and 1667 eds. read, “seekest.” 52. Actually John 20:15–17. 53. 1666 and 1667 eds. read, “believed” instead of “cause to believe.” 54. See Col. 3:12: “Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, the bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering.” 55. 1 Cor. 1:25, as Fell states, but she has reversed the order of clauses: “foolishness” comes before “weakness.” The sentence beginning “For this may all” seems to mean that human wisdom without God’s grace is limited to approving common sense wisdom and hierarchical strength, so that the weak and vulnerable cannot receive justice without God’s sympathy for the disadvantaged, a mercifulness that seems to humans foolish. Thus, unsaved humans’ wisdom must “except against” or exclude the weak, whom God, in infinite wisdom, includes. 1666 and 1667 eds. lack the citation to 1 Cor. 1:25. 56. Acts 18:26 and Acts 18: 24.

164 MARGARET FELL peruse that chapter, and see the end and drift of the Apostle in speaking these words. For the Apostle is there exhorting the Corinthians unto charity, and to desire spiritual gifts, and not to speak in an unknown tongue, and not to be children in understanding, nor57 to be children in malice, but in understanding to be men; and that the spirits of the prophets should be subject to the prophets, for God is not the author of confusion, but of peace. And then he saith, Let your women keep silence in the church, etc.58 Where it doth plainly appear that the women, as well as some59 others that were among them, were in confusion, for he saith, How is it brethren? When ye come together, everyone of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation? Let all things be done to edifying.60 Here is no edifying, but61 confusion speaking together. Therefore, he saith, If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at most by three, and that by course, and let one interpret. But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church.62 Here the man is commanded to keep silence as well as the woman, when63 in confusion and out of order. But the Apostle saith further, They are commanded to be in obedience, as also saith the law; and if they will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home, for it is a shame for a woman to speak in the church.64 Here the Apostle clearly manifests his intent, for he speaks of women that were under the law, and in that transgression as Eve65 was, and such as were to learn, and not to speak publicly, but they must first ask their husbands at home, and it was a shame for such to speak in the church. And it appears clearly that such women were speaking among the Corinthians, by the Apostle’s exhorting them from malice, and strife, and confusion, and he preacheth the law unto them, and he saith, in the law it is written, With men of other tongues, and other lips, will I speak unto this people, verse 2.66

57. 1666 and 1667 eds. erroneously read, “but,” not “nor.” 58. “The Apostle” is Paul, who, in 1 Cor. 14:34 commands, “Let your women keep silence in the churches”—but, Fell suggests, only in the general context of commanding all Christians to behave properly toward each other and reverently in church. 59. 1666 and 1667 eds. lack “some.” 60. 1 Cor. 14:26. 61. 1666 and 1667 eds. read, “here was no edifying, but all was in …” 62. 1 Cor. 14:27–28. An “unknown” tongue means a non-human language, and “by course” means in order. 63. 1666 and 1667 eds. read, “when they are in confusion… .” 64. 1 Cor. 14:34–35. 65. Eve was the first person to sin or “transgress.” 66. Actually, 1 Cor. 14:21. The printer perhaps misread the manuscript here. Also, there are no italics highlighting the passage, even though it is a direct biblical quotation.

Women’s Speaking Justified, Proved, and Allowed of by the Scriptures 165 And what is all this to women’s speaking that have the everlasting Gospel to preach, and upon whom the promise of the Lord is fulfilled, and his Spirit poured upon them according to his Word? Acts 2:16–18.67 And if the Apostle would have stopped such as had the Spirit of the Lord poured upon them, why did he say just before, If anything be revealed to another that sitteth by, let the first hold his peace, and you may all prophesy one by one?68 Here he did not say that such women should not prophesy as had the revelation and Spirit of God poured upon them, but their women that were under the law, and in the transgression, and were in strife, confusion, and malice.69 For if he had stopped women’s praying or prophesying, why doth he say, Every man praying or prophesying having his head covered dishonoreth his head; but every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoreth her head. Judge in yourselves, Is it comely that a woman pray or prophesy uncovered? For the woman is not without the man, neither is the man without the woman in the Lord, 1 Corinthians 11:3–4, 13.70 Also that other Scripture, in 1 Timothy 2, where he is exhorting that prayer and supplication be made everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting, he saith in the like manner also, that women must adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness71 and sobriety, not with broidered hair, or gold, or pearl, or costly array. He saith, Let women learn in silence with all subjection; but I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman, being deceived, was in the transgression.72 Here the Apostle speaks particularly to a woman in relation to her husband, to be in subjection to him, and not to teach, nor usurp authority over him, and therefore he mentions Adam and Eve. But let it be strained73 to the utmost, as the opposers of women’s speaking would have it, that is, that they should not preach nor speak in the church, of which there is nothing here; yet the Apostle is speaking to such as he is teaching to wear their apparel, what to wear, and what not to wear, such as were not come to wear modest apparel, and such as were not come to shamefacedness74 and sobriety, but he was exhorting them from broidered hair, gold, and pearls, and costly array; and such are not to usurp authority over the 67. Actually, Acts 2:17–18. 68. 1 Cor. 14:30–31. 69. 1666 and 1667 eds. read, “malice in their speaking.” 70. Actually, 1 Cor. 11:45, 1 Cor. 11:13, and 1 Cor. 11:11. Fell transposes some clauses and ignores the verses admonishing women to be obedient, quoting only those on women’s equality. 71. 1666 and 1667 eds.: “shamefastness.” 72. 1 Tim. 2:9 and 1 Tim. 2:11–14. Fell borrows “shamefacedness,” which means modesty or blushing easily, from the King James Version. The word “broidered” is a short form of “embroidered.” 73. The word “strained” means “forced” or “stretched.” 74. 1666 and 1667 eds.: “shamefastness.”

166 MARGARET FELL man, but to learn in silence with all subjection, as it becometh women professing godliness with good works. And what is all this to such as have the Power and Spirit of the Lord Jesus poured upon them, and have the message of the Lord Jesus given unto them? Must not they speak the Word of the Lord because of these undecent and unreverent75 women that the Apostle speaks of, and to, in these two Scriptures? And how are the men of this generation blinded, that bring these Scriptures, and pervert the Apostle’s words, and corrupt his intent in speaking of them? And by these Scriptures, endeavor to stop the message and Word of the Lord God in women, by condemning and despising of them. If the Apostle would have had women’s speaking stopped, and did not allow of them, why did he entreat his true yokefellow to help those women who labored with him in the Gospel? Philippians 4:3.76 And why did the apostles join together in prayer and supplication with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren, Acts 1:14,77 if they had not allowed, and had union and fellowship with the Spirit of God, wherever it was revealed, in women as well as others? But all this opposing and gainsaying of women’s speaking hath risen out of the bottomless pit, and spirit of darkness that hath spoken for these many hundred years together in this night of apostasy,78 since the revelations have ceased and been hid, and so that spirit hath limited and bound all up within its bond and compass, and so would suffer none to speak, but such as that spirit of darkness approved of, man or woman.79 And so here hath been the misery of these last ages past, in the time of the reign of the Beast, that John saw when he stood upon the sand of the sea, rising out of the sea, and out of the earth, having seven heads and ten horns, Revelation 13,80 in this great city of Babylon, which is the woman that hath sat so long upon the scarlet-colored Beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten 75. Archaic versions of “indecent” and “irreverent.” Fell may here be referring to the followers of James Nayler and Martha Simmonds, who created conflict in the movement and challenged Fox’s leadership by their extreme behavior, going beyond disrupting Anglican services, which was ordinary procedure for Friends. See Peters, Print Culture and the Early Quakers, 233–51; and Trevett, Quaker Women Prophets, 151–71. 76. Although these words are not italicized, they nevertheless echo Phil. 4:3: “And I intreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which laboured with me in the gospel … .” A “yokefellow” is a fellow worker, as in a pair of oxen yoked together. 77. Acts 1:14 records Mary, the mother of Jesus, and other women praying with the apostles. 78. Abandonment or renunciation of religion. Protestants in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries frequently used “apostasy” to refer to Roman Catholic beliefs, which they thought of as abandoning the beliefs of the early Christian church. 79. Fell is implying that the “spirit of darkness” is the Roman Catholic religion. While many Protestant sects encouraged inspirational preaching and individual interpretation, Catholic priests were limited by Church doctrine. 80. Rev. 13:1.

Women’s Speaking Justified, Proved, and Allowed of by the Scriptures 167 horns. And this woman hath been arrayed and decked with gold, and pearls, and precious stones; and she hath had a golden cup in her hand, full of abominations, and hath made all nations drunk with the cup of her fornication.81 And all the world hath wondered after82 the Beast, and hath worshiped the Dragon that gave power to the Beast;83 and this woman hath been drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus,84 and this hath been the woman that hath been speaking and usurping authority for many hundred years together.85 And let the times and ages past testify how many have been murdered and slain in ages and generations past: every religion and profession (as it hath been called) killing and murdering one another, that would not join one with another. And thus the Spirit of Truth and the Power of the Lord Jesus Christ hath been quite lost among them that have done this. And this mother of harlots86 hath sat as a queen, and said, she should see no sorrow.87 But though her days have been long, even many hundreds of years, for there was power given unto the Beast to continue forty and two months, and to make war with the saints, and to overcome them. And all that have dwelt upon the earth have worshiped him, whose names are not written in the Book of the Life of the Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world.88 But blessed be the Lord, his time is over, which was above twelve hundred years, and the darkness is past, and the night of apostasy draws to an end. And the True Light now shines, the Morning Light, the bright Morning Star, the Root and Offspring of David.89 He is risen, he is risen, glory to the Highest forevermore! And the joy of the morning is come, and the bride, the Lamb’s wife, is making herself ready, as a bride that is adorning for her husband, and to her is granted that she shall be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, and the fine linen is the 81. Rev. 17:2–4. 82. Been in awe of, with a pun on “wandered,” meaning sinfully “followed after.” 83. Rev. 13:4. 84. Rev. 17:6. 85. Many biblical commentaries (including the marginalia of the Geneva Bible, which Fell almost certainly knew) interpret the woman of Revelation as a symbol of the Roman Catholic Church, with its persecution of Protestants and its religious images, ornate churches, and rich vestments. On the English tradition of anti-Catholicism and the negative imagery of the Catholic Church usurping true Christianity, especially in the person of the Pope usurping Christ’s position as head of the Church, see Peter Lake, “Anti-popery: The Structure of a Prejudice,” in Conflict in Early Stuart England: Studies in Religion and Politics, 1603–1642, ed. Richard Cust and Ann Hughes (London: Longman, 1989), 72–106, esp. 74–75. 86. Rev. 17:5. 87. Rev. 18:7. 1666 and 1667 eds. italicize “she should see no sorrow.” 88. Rev. 13:5–8, much condensed and rearranged. 89. Rev. 22:16.

168 MARGARET FELL righteousness of the saints.90 The holy Jerusalem is descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, and her light is like a jasperstone, clear as crystal.91 And this is that free woman that all the children of the promise are born of, not the children of the bondwoman, which is Hagar, which genders to strife and to bondage, and which answers to Jerusalem, which is in bondage with her children; but this is the Jerusalem which is free, which is the mother of us all.92 And so this bondwoman and her children, that are born after the flesh, have persecuted them that are born after the Spirit, even until now. But now the bondwoman and her seed is to be cast out, that hath kept so long in bondage and in slavery, and under limits; this bondwoman and her brood is to be cast out, and our holy city, the New Jerusalem,93 is coming down from heaven, and her light will shine throughout the whole earth, even as a jasperstone, clear as crystal,94 which brings freedom and liberty, and perfect redemption to her whole seed; and this is that woman and image of the eternal God, that God has owned,95 and doth own, and will own forevermore. More might be added to this purpose, both out of the Old Testament, and New, where it is evident that God made no difference, but gave his good Spirit, as it pleased him, both to man and woman, as Deborah, Huldah, and Sarah.96 The Lord calls by his prophet Isaiah, Hearken unto me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord, look unto the Rock from whence ye were hewn, and to the hole of the pit from whence ye were digged; look unto Abraham your Father, and to Sarah that bare you, for the Lord will comfort Zion, etc., Isaiah 5.97 And Anna the prophetess, who was a widow of fourscore and four years of age, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day, she coming in at that instant98 (when old Simeon took the child Jesus in his arms), and99 she gave thanks unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them who looked for 90. Rev. 19:7–8. 91. Rev. 21:10–11. The spelling in the original text is “chrystal,” so that readers might catch the pun on “Christ.” 92. Gal. 4:24–26. In “genders,” Fell follows the King James Version of the verb “gendereth,” meaning “gives birth to” or “reproduces.” 93. The Society of Friends, like all English Protestant sects, gave the phrase “the New Jerusalem” a variety of interpretations: the church on earth, the Protestant Church, the Quaker sect, England, or London. 94. Rev. 21:10–11, with a pun on Christ/crystal. 95. Belonging to God. 96. Deborah (Judg. 4:4 ff.) and Huldah (2 Kings 22:14 and 2 Chron. 34:22) were prophets in ancient Israel. Sarah was the wife of Abraham and the mother of Isaac: see Gen. 12:5 ff. 97. Actually Isa. 51:1–3. 98. 1666 and 1667 eds. italicize “who was a widow … in at that instant.” 99. 1666 and 1667 eds.: “and” is absent.

Women’s Speaking Justified, Proved, and Allowed of by the Scriptures 169 redemption in Jerusalem, Luke 2:36–38.100 And Philip the Evangelist, into whose house the Apostle Paul entered, who was one of the seven, Acts 6:3,101 he had four daughters which were virgins, that did prophesy, Acts 21.102 And so let this serve to stop that opposing spirit that would limit the Power and Spirit of the Lord Jesus, whose Spirit is poured upon all flesh, both sons and daughters,103 now in his resurrection; and since that the Lord God in the creation, when he made man in his own image, he made them male and female;104 and since that Christ Jesus, as the Apostle saith, was made of a woman, and the Power of the Highest overshadowed her, and the Holy Ghost came upon her, and the holy thing that was born of her was called the Son of God.105 And when he was upon the earth, he manifested his love, and his will, and his mind, both to the woman of Samaria, and Martha, and Mary her sister, and several others, as hath been shown; and after his resurrection also manifested himself unto them first of all, even before he ascended unto his Father. Now when Jesus was risen, the first day of the week, he appeared first unto Mary Magdalene, Mark 16:9.106 And thus the Lord Jesus hath manifested himself and his power, without respect of persons,107 and so let all mouths be stopped that would limit him, whose Power and Spirit is infinite, that is pouring it upon all flesh. And thus much in answer to these two Scriptures, which have been such a stumbling block, that the ministers of darkness have made such a mountain of. But the Lord is removing all this, and taking it out of the way.108 M. F.

100. Luke 2:36–38, as Fell states. 1666 and 1667 eds. italicize “she gave thanks … in Jerusalem.” 101. Acts 6:3, as Fell states. 102. Acts 21:9. 103. Acts 2:17. 104. Gen. 1:27. 105. Luke 1:35. 106. Mark 16:9, as Fell states. 1666 and 1667 eds. italicize “Now when Jesus … Mary Magdalene.” 107. This language is frequent in the New Testament, but perhaps closest to Rom. 2:11: “For there is no respect of persons with God.” 108. A reference, perhaps, to Heb. 12:27: “the removing of things that are shaken, … that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.”

170 MARGARET FELL

A Further Addition109 in Answer to the Objection concerning Women keeping silent in the Church: For it is not permitted for them to speak, but to be under obedience, as also saith the law. If they will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home, for it is a shame for a woman to speak in the Church. Now this as Paul writeth in 1 Corinthians 14:34110 is one with that of 1 Timothy 2:11, Let women learn in silence, with all subjection.111

To which I say, if you tie this to all outward women, then there were many women that were widows which had no husbands to learn of, and many were virgins which had no husbands. And Philip had four daughters that were prophetesses112 (such [as] would be despised) which the Apostle did not forbid.113 And if it were to all women, that no woman might speak, then Paul would have contradicted himself; but they114 were such women that the Apostle mentions in Timothy, that grew wanton and were busy-bodies and tattlers,115 and kicked against Christ.116 For Christ in the male and in the female is one,117 and he is the husband, and his wife is the Church, and God hath said that his daughters should prophesy as well as his sons.118 And where he hath poured forth his Spirit upon them, they must prophesy, though blind priests119 say to the contrary, and will not permit holy women to speak. 109. Because of the way early modern books were put together, the pages of quarto-sized books came in multiples of four. If there was space at the end, a printer might ask the author to contribute something to fill up the blank end pages. This “Addition,” then, might have been added later by Fell or at the suggestion of the printer to complete the blank pages of her pamphlet. This theory is supported by the fact that the “Addition” cites primarily the Geneva Bible, while the rest of the treatise cites mainly the King James Version. 110. Actually, 1 Cor. 14:34–35. 111. 1 Tim. 2:11, as Fell states. 112. 1666 and 1667 eds. read, “prophets.” 113. Acts 21:9. 114. Because of the ambiguous pronouns, “it” and “they,” this sentence is confusing, but means “And if the rule applied to all women, then no woman might speak, and Paul would be contradicting himself when he said the virgins prophesied; but Paul meant that the rule applied only to those women such as Paul mentions in Timothy, who were wanton, busybodies, etc.” 115. 1 Tim. 5:13. 116. 1666 and 1667 eds. italicize “grew wanton … against Christ.” 117. Gal. 3:28. 118. Acts 2:17. 119. In general, “blind priests” refers to Roman Catholic priests, who according to Protestants misled the Christian church for centuries. Fell, however, generally refers to Anglican priests as well as Roman

Women’s Speaking Justified, Proved, and Allowed of by the Scriptures 171 And whereas it is said, I permit not a woman to speak, as saith the law,120 but where women are led by the Spirit of God, they are not under the law. For Christ in the male and in the female is one; and where he is made manifest in male and female, he may speak, for he is the end of the law for righteousness to all them that believe.121 So here you ought to make a distinction what sort of women are forbidden to speak, such as were under the law, who were not come to Christ, nor to the Spirit of Prophecy. For Huldah, Miriam, and Hannah were prophetesses,122 who were not forbidden in the time of the law, for they all prophesied in the time of the law. As you may read in 2 Kings 22, what Huldah said unto the priest, and to the ambassadors that were sent to her from the king: Go, saith she, and tell the man that sent you to me, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and on the inhabitants thereof, even all the words of the Book which the King of Judah hath read, because they have forsaken me and have burnt incense to other gods, to anger me with all the works of their hands. Therefore, my wrath shall be kindled against this place, and shall not be quenched. But to the King of Judah, that sent you to me to ask counsel of the Lord, so shall you say to him, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Because thy heart did melt, and thou humbledst thyself before the Lord, when thou heard’st what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants of the same, how they should be destroyed, behold I will receive thee to thy Father, and thou shalt be put into thy grave in peace, and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place.123 Now let us see if any of you blind priests can speak after this manner, and see if it be not a better sermon than any of you can make, who are against women’s speaking. And Isaiah, that went to the Prophetess, did not forbid her speaking or prophesying, Isaiah 8.124 And was it not prophesied in Joel 2 that handmaids should prophesy?125 And are not handmaids126 women? Consider this, ye that are against women’s speaking, how in the Acts the Spirit of the Lord was poured forth upon daughters as well as sons.127 In the time of the Gospel, when Mary came to salute Elizabeth in the hill country in Judea, and when Elizabeth heard the salutaCatholic priests as idolaters and heretics. Cf. John Milton on “blind prelates” in Animadversion upon the Remonstrants Defence, against Smectymnuus (1641); see vol. 1 of The Complete Prose Works of John Milton, ed. Don M. Wolfe (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1953), 116. 120. A paraphrase of 1 Tim. 2:12. 121. A close paraphrase of Rom. 10:4. 122. 1666 and 1667 eds.: “prophets.” See 2 Kings 22:14 and 2 Chron. 34:22 on Huldah, Exod. 15:20 on Miriam (sister of Moses), and 1 Sam. 2:1–10 for Hannah’s prophecy. 123. Geneva Bible translation, 2 Kings 22:15–20. 124. Isa. 8:3. 125. Joel 2:28. 1666 and 1667 eds. italicize “handmaids should prophesy.” 126. Female attendants. 127. Acts 2:17–18, quoting Joel 2:28.

172 MARGARET FELL tion of Mary, the Babe leaped in her womb, and she was filled with the Holy Spirit; and Elizabeth spoke with a loud voice, “Blessed art thou amongst women, blessed is the fruit of thy womb. Whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For lo, as soon as thy salutation came to my ear, the Babe leaped in my womb for joy, for blessed is she that believes, for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord.”128 And this was Elizabeth’s sermon concerning Christ, which at this day stands upon record. And then Mary said, “My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit rejoiceth in God my Savior, for he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaid. For behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed; for he that is mighty hath done to me great things, and holy is his name, and his mercy is on them that fear him, from generation to generation. He hath showed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imaginations of their own hearts; he hath put down the mighty from their seats and exalted them of low degree; he hath filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he hath sent empty away. He hath helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to his Father, to Abraham, and to his seed forever.”129 Are you not here beholding to the woman for her sermon, to use her words to put into your Common Prayer?130 And yet you forbid women’s speaking. Now here you may see how these two women prophesied of Christ and preached better than all the blind priests did in that age, and better than this age, also, who are beholding to women to make use of their words. And see in the Book of Ruth, how the women blessed her in the gate of the city, of whose stock came Christ: the Lord make the woman that is come into thy house like Rachel and Leah, which built the House of Israel; and that thou may’st do worthily in Ephrata, and be famous in Bethlehem, let thy house be like the house of Pharez, whom Tamar bare unto Judah, of the seed which the Lord shall give thee of this young woman. And blessed be the Lord, who hath not left thee this day without a kinsman, and his name shall be continued in Israel.131 And also see in the first chapter of Samuel, how Hannah prayed and spoke in the temple of the Lord, “Oh Lord of Hosts, if thou wilt look on the trouble of thy handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thy handmaid.”132 And read in the second chapter of [1] Samuel, how 128. 1666 and 1667 eds. italicize “Elizabeth in the hill country … from the Lord.’“ 129. Luke 1:39–55. 1666 and 1667 eds. italicize this long quotation. 130. In this passage, the baby who moves in Elizabeth’s womb later becomes John the Baptist, who thus is saluting Jesus and Jesus’s mother Mary. Mary’s response to Elizabeth in Luke 1:46–55 forms the basis for the Magnificat (from Mary’s “magnify”), which becomes a Catholic prayer that is part of Vespers and that is retained in Anglican Evening Prayers. “Common Prayer” thus refers to the Anglican handbook for services, The Book of Common Prayer. 131. Ruth 4:11–12 and, Ruth 4:14. 1666 and 1667 eds. italicize “The Lord make … continued in Israel.” 132. Geneva Bible translation, 1 Sam. 1:11. 1666 and 1667 eds. italicize “Oh Lord of Hosts … handmaid.”

Women’s Speaking Justified, Proved, and Allowed of by the Scriptures 173 she rejoiced in God, and said, “My heart rejoiceth in the Lord. My horn is exalted in the Lord, and my mouth is enlarged over my enemies, because I rejoice in thy salvation. There is none holy as the Lord, yea, there is none besides thee; and there is no God like our God. Speak no more presumptuously; let not arrogance come out of your mouths, for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him enterprises are established. The bow and the mighty men are broken, and the weak hath girded to themselves strength; they that were full are hired forth for bread, and the hungry are no more hired, so that the barren hath born seven, and she that had many children is feeble. The Lord killeth, and maketh alive, bringeth down to the grave, and raiseth up; the Lord maketh poor, and maketh rich, bringeth low and exalteth. He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill to set them among princes, to make them inherit the seat of glory. For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s, and he hath set the world upon them; he will keep the feet of his saints,133 and the wicked shall keep silence in darkness, for in his own might shall no man be strong. The Lord’s adversaries shall be destroyed, and out of Heaven shall be thunder upon them; the Lord shall judge the ends of the world, and shall give power to his King and exalt the horn of his Anointed.”134 Thus you may see what a woman hath said, when old Eli the priest thought she had been drunk,135 and see if any of you blind priests that speak against women’s speaking can preach after this manner, who cannot make such a sermon as this woman did, and yet will make a trade of this woman and other women’s words. And did not the Queen of Sheba speak, that came to Solomon, and received the Law of God, and preached it in her own kingdom, and blessed the Lord God that loved Solomon and set him on the throne of Israel, because the Lord loved Israel forever, and made the King to do equity and righteousness?136 And this was the language of the Queen of Sheba. And see what glorious expressions Queen Esther used to comfort the people of God, which was the Church of God, as you may read in the Book of Esther, which caused joy and gladness of heart among all the Jews, who prayed and worshiped the Lord in all places, who jeopardized her life contrary to the king’s command, went and spoke to the king, in the wisdom and fear of the Lord, by which means she saved the lives of the people of God. And righteous Mordecai did not forbid her speaking, but said, if she held her peace, her and her Father’s house

133. He will guide their feet on the path. 134. Geneva Bible translation, 1 Sam. 2:1–10. 1666 and 1667 eds. italicize this long quotation. 135. 1 Sam. 1:13–14. 136. Geneva Bible translation, 1 Kings 10:1–9. 1666 and 1667 eds. italicize “Law of God … righteousness.”

174 MARGARET FELL should be destroyed.137 And herein you blind priests are contrary to righteous Mordecai. Likewise you may read how Judith spoke, and what noble acts she did, and how she spoke to the elders of Israel, and said, “Dear brethren, seeing ye are the honorable and elders of the people of God, call to remembrance how our fathers in time past were tempted, that they might be proved if they would worship God aright. They ought also to remember how our Father Abraham, being tried through manifold138 tribulations, was found a friend of God; so was Isaac, Jacob, and Moses, and all they pleased God and were steadfast in faith through manifold troubles.”139 And read also her prayer in the Book of Judith, and how the Elders commended her and said, “All that thou speakest is true, and no man can reprove thy words; pray, therefore, for us, for thou art an holy woman, and fearest God.”140 So these Elders of Israel did not forbid her speaking, as you blind priests do; yet you will make a trade of women’s words to get money by, and take texts, and preach sermons upon women’s words, and still cry out, “Women must not speak. Women must be silent.” So you are far from the minds of the elders of Israel, who praised God for a woman’s speaking. But the Jezebel,141 and the woman, the false church, the great whore, and tattling and unlearned women, and busy-bodies, which are forbidden to preach, which have a long time spoken and tattled, which are forbidden to speak by the true Church, which Christ is the head of—such women as were in transgression under the law, which are called a woman in the Revelation.142 And see farther how the wise woman cried to Joab over the wall, and saved the city of Abel, as you may read, 2 Samuel 20, how in her wisdom she spoke to Joab, saying, I am one of them that are peaceable and faithful in Israel, and thou goest about to destroy a city and mother in Israel. Why wilt thou destroy the inheritance of the Lord? Then went the woman to the people in her wisdom, and smote143 off the head of Sheba, that rose up against David, the Lord’s anointed. 137. Esther 4:14 and 7:1–8:16. Fell changes Mordecai’s speech to Esther from direct address to indirect discourse. 1666 and 1667 eds. italicize “if she held … destroyed.” 138. Uniting diverse elements. 139. 1666 and 1667 eds. italicize this long quotation. 140. Coverdale Bible translation, Judith, middle of chapter 8. (The Coverdale Bible does not have verse divisions). 1666 and 1667 eds. italicize this long quotation. 141. Jezebel was the tyrannical wife of Ahab, who caused Naboth to be stoned to death, and who encouraged the worship of Baal: see 2 Kings 21:5 ff. But here the name is used metaphorically, as in Rev. 2:20, to mean a false church or religion. Since Jezebel is also associated with immodest use of cosmetics, Fell is using the name to refer to the Roman Catholic Church, persecutor of Protestants, builder of ornate churches with painted statuary. 142. See 1 Tim. 5:13 and Rev. 2:20. 143. Cut.

Women’s Speaking Justified, Proved, and Allowed of by the Scriptures 175 Then Joab blew the trumpet, and all the people departed in peace.144 And this deliverance was by the means of a woman’s speaking. But tattlers and busy-bodies are forbidden to preach by the True Woman, [to] whom Christ is the husband, to the woman as well as the man, all being comprehended to be the Church. And so in this True Church, sons and daughters do prophesy, women labor in the Gospel.145 But the Apostle permits not tattlers, busy-bodies, and such as usurp authority over the man, who146 would not have Christ reign nor speak neither in the male nor female; such the law permits not to speak, such must learn of their husbands. But what husbands have widows to learn of, but Christ? And was not Christ the husband of Philip’s four daughters? And may not they that are learned147 of their husbands speak then? But Jezebel, and tattlers, and the Whore that deny revelation and prophecy are not permitted. Who148 will not learn of Christ and they that are149 out of the Spirit and Power of Christ that the prophets were in, who are in the transgression, are ignorant of the Scriptures, and such are against women’s speaking, and men’s, too, who preach that which they have received of the Lord God. But that which they have preached, and do preach, will come over all your heads, yea, over the head of the false church, the Pope; for the Pope is the head of the false church, and the false church is the Pope’s wife, and so he and they that be of him, and come from him, are against women’s speaking in the true Church, when both he and the false church are called “woman” in Revelation 17,150 and so are in the transgression that would usurp authority over the man Christ Jesus, and his wife, too, and would not have him to reign. But the judgment of the great whore is come. But Christ, who is the Head of the Church (the true woman which is his wife), in it do daughters prophesy, who are above the Pope and his wife and atop151 of them. And here Christ is the Head of the male and female, who may speak; and the Church is called a royal priesthood;152 so the woman must offer as well as the man, Revelation 22.17, The Spirit saith, Come, and the bride saith, Come.153 And so is not the bride the Church? And doth 144. Geneva Bible translation, 2 Sam. 20:19–22. 1666 and 1667 eds. italicize “I am one of them … in peace.” 145. Acts 2:17, quoting Joel 2:28, combined with Phil. 4:3. 146. 1666 and 1667 eds.: “who” is absent. 147. 1666 and 1667 eds.: “learn” rather than “are learned.” 148. 1666 and 1667 eds.: “Which” rather than “Who.” 149. 1666 and 1667 eds.: “be” rather than “are.” 150. The marginal commentary to Rev. 17:4 in the Geneva translation reads, “This woman is the Antichrist, that is, the Pope with the whole body of his filthy creatures, as is expounded in verse 18, whose beauty only standeth in outward pomp and impudency and craft like a strumpet.” 151. On top. 152. 1 Pet. 2:9. 153. Rev. 22:17, as Fell states.

176 MARGARET FELL the Church only consist of men? You that deny women’s speaking, answer: doth it not consist of women as well as men? Is not the bride compared to the whole Church? And doth not the bride say, Come? Doth not the woman speak, then the husband Christ Jesus, the Amen? And doth not the false church go about to stop the bride’s mouth? But it is not possible, for the Bridegroom is with his bride, and he opens her mouth. Christ Jesus, who goes on conquering, and to conquer, who kills and slays with the sword, which is the Word of his mouth; the Lamb and the Saints shall have the victory, the true speakers of men and women over the false speaker.154

154. At the end of the 1667 ed. is a postscript that does not appear in either the 1666 ed. or the 1710 ed. of A Brief Collection: Postscript And you dark priests, that are so mad against women’s speaking and it’s so grievous to you, did not God say to Abraham, let it not be grievous in thy sight, because of the lad and because of thy bond-woman? In all that Sarah hath said to thee, hearken to her voice: (mark thee) the husband must learn of the woman, and Abraham did so, and this was concerning the things of God, for he saith in Isaac shall thy seed be called, and so Abraham did obey the voice of Sarah, as you may read in Genesis 21 and so he did not squench the good that was in his wife, for that which he spoke to Abraham was concerning the church. And you may read Deborah and Barak, and so how a woman preached and sang, Judges 5. What glorious triumphing expressions there were from a woman, beyond all the priests, servants, whom Barak did not bid be silent, for she sang and praised God, and declared to the church of Israel, which now the hungry priests that deny women’s speaking make a trade of her words for a livelihood. And in Judges 13. There you may see how the angel appeared to a woman, and how the woman came to her husband and told him, saying, a man of God came to me, whose countenance was like the countenance of a man of God, and said that she should conceive and bear a son, and again the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman, and she made haste and ran, and showed her husband and said unto him, “behold, he hath appeared unto me that same unto me the other day, and when the angel of the Lord was gone, the woman’s husband said, we should surely die because we had seen God, and then you may read how the woman comforted her husband again, and said, if the Lord were pleased to kill us, he would not have showed us all these things, nor would this time have told us such things as these, and this was a woman that taught.

THE Daughter of ZION 1 AWAKENED, And Putting on Strength, She Is Arising, and Shaking Her Self out of the Dust, and Putting on Her Beautiful Garments.2 By M. F. And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the Daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the Kingdom shall come to the Daughter of Jerusalem, Micah 4:8.3 The Lord shall send the Rod of thy Strength out of Zion,4 Psalms 110:2.5 Sing and rejoice, O Daughter of Zion; for lo I come, and will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord: and many nations shall be joined unto the Lord in that day, and shall be my people; and I will dwell in the midst of thee; and thou shalt know, that the Lord of Hosts hath sent me unto thee, Zechariah 2:10–11.6 Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion; shout, O Daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, thy King cometh;7 he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt, the foal of an Ass,8 Zechariah 9:9 and Matthew 21:5, John 12:15.

1. “Daughter of Zion” is an epithet for Jerusalem, which may also stand for the nation of Israel. It is sometimes translated as “Lady Zion” or “fair Zion,” and can be a term of endearment. Our thanks to Hebrew scholar Adele Berlin. While Fell usually uses “Daughter of Zion” negatively (as in Isa. 3:16–24 or Lam. 2:1), to refer to a people straying from God’s path, here, instead, she uses it positively (as in Mic. 4:10–13 or Zech. 9:9) to represent a millenial vision of a people participating in the Second Coming, preparing for Judgment Day. 2. A paraphrase of Isa. 52:1. 3. Mic. 4:8, as Fell states. 4. Another name for Israel and the people of Israel. 5. Ps. 110:2, as Fell states. 6. Zech. 2:10–11, as Fell states. 7. Zech. 9:9, as Fell states. 8. The rest of the quotation following the semi-colon is actually a paraphrase of both Matt. 21:5 and John 12:15.

177

178 MARGARET FELL Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence; whosoever believeth on him, shall not be ashamed, Romans 9:33.9 There shall come out of Zion a deliverer, and he shall turn away iniquity from Jacob, Romans 11:26.10 Behold, I lay in Zion a chief Corner-Stone, elect and precious; he that believeth on him, shall not be ashamed, 1 Peter 2.6.11 First Printed about the Year 1677.12 The Daughter of Zion Awakened, and Putting on Strength, &c. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, hath God shined,13 in the light of his glorious Son, to recover, and to bring back, and to redeem his whole body, which is his Church, out of all nations, kindreds, peoples, tongues, and languages.14 Now the universal, divine, glorious, infinite, invisible God is shining in the dark places, in the hearts of men and women. There is a day dawning in the heart, and a Day-Star arising,15 which the night hath been over since Adam;16 even the everlasting day is dawning in the hearts of men and women: glorious praises to the highest forever. Even that day, which the Serpent in the beginning veiled and clouded with darkness, through his temptation, and drawing of Adam and Eve into disobedience to the command of God in the beginning, and so beguiled them, by which they and all their posterity, in that fallen state, have brought upon, ever since the heavy displeasure and wrath of almighty God, so that the serpent was not only 9. Rom. 9:33, with some slight changes of phrase. Fell modifies “stumbling stone” to “stone of stumbling” and leaves out the “and” before “whosoever.” 10. Slight changes in phrasing. Rom. 11:26 reads, “There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.” In this context “Jacob,” in the form of a synecdoche, represents the nation of Israel. 11. 1 Pet. 2:6, as Fell states. Fell adds “and” before “precious.” The original reads, “he that believeth on him, shall not be confounded.” Fell may be conflating the end of this verse with that of Rom. 9:33, quoted earlier. 12. This work was Fell’s last published theological tract during her lifetime. She was sixty-three years old at the time. 13. Ps. 50:2. 14. Most likely a reference to Rev. 7:9. 15. 2 Pet. 1:19. 16. Following Biblical typology, Christ was seen as the second Adam.

The Daughter of Zion Awakened 179 cursed, but the ground also, and man and woman came under the heavy judgments of God in that state and condition.17 But the holy Lord, in his infinite wisdom and rich bounty, hath found out a way to recover all that are faithful and obedient unto him. So that as Adam and Eve went from God’s commands through disobedience, so all that ever come unto God must return by the obedience to his Light that shines from the Son of his Love.18 For the Lord God said unto the serpent in the beginning, “Because thou hast done this thing, I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”19 Now this part of these last words hath been perfectly fulfilled ever since the Fall.20 For the Lamb hath been slain from the foundation of the world, Revelation 13:8,21 ever since this world of wickedness, and darkness, and disobedience entered into the hearts of Adam and Eve. For the prince of darkness, is the god of this world.22 And it23 broke forth and manifested itself in Cain, the first birth (which Adam and Eve brought forth) who slew his brother Abel in wrath and revenge. And all that stock of bloody Cain went on in that nature, until they had corrupted the earth.24 And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was evil continually.25 And it repented the Lord that he had made man, and it grieved him at his heart, when the earth was corrupted, and was filled with violence, and all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.26 And the Lord said, “I will destroy man (whom I have created) from the face of the Earth, both man and beast.”27 And so the Lord brought the flood of destruction upon all the ungodly. 17. Fell refers to events from Genesis 3. 18. A reference to Adam and Eve in Genesis 3 after they were tempted in the Garden of Eden, which necessitated the happy or fortunate sacrifice of Christ. 19. A close paraphrase of Gen. 3:15 with a clause from Gen. 3:14. 20. A term used to describe Adam and Eve’s disobedience in the Garden of Eden. 21. Rev. 13:8 actually reads, “And all that dwell upon the earth, shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world.” 22. As God is King of Heaven, and Jesus is Lord, so Satan or the devil sees himself as the prince of the world. 23. The pronoun “it” refers to “sin.” 24. Events described in Genesis 4. 25. A direct quotation from Gen. 6:5. 26. A nearly direct quotation of Gen. 6:6 conflated with Gen. 6:12. 27. Gen. 6:7.

180 MARGARET FELL So this cursed seed bruised the heel of this good seed before the flood.28 And after the Lord replenished the earth again, of the three sons of Noah, there was a cursed Ham, who, Noah said was cursed, who, when he saw his father’s nakedness, told his brethren.29 So Shem and Japhet took a garment, and covered their father’s nakedness, and went backward, because they would not see it.30 And Noah said, “Blessed be the Lord God of Shem, and Canaan shall be his servant; and God shall enlarge Japhet, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem, and Canaan shall be his servant; and a servant of servants is he to be.”31 And so this cursed seed ever appeared and opposed the good, as the generation of this Ham and Canaan did manifest, who would go build Babel;32 and the son of Ham was Cush, and Cush begat Nimrod, and the beginning of his kingdom was Babel; and God confounded their language. From thence did the Lord scatter them upon all the face of the earth, Genesis 10.33 And Ishmael, which the Angel of the Lord said would be a wild man,34 which was born of Hagar, the Egyptian woman.35 And Sarah36 saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian mocking of Isaac,37 which was the seed to whom the covenant and promise of God was.38

28. Another reference to Gen. 3:15. 29. Gen. 9:22. After Noah became drunk with wine, his son Ham saw him naked and did not cover his father. 30. Shem and Japheth were the other sons of Noah; see Gen. 9:23. 31. Gen. 9:26–27, except for the last phrase (“a servant of servants is he to be”), which is a close paraphrase of Gen. 9:25. Fell is conflating verses in close proximity to create a more concise summary of Biblical events. 32. Gen. 11:1–9. The descendants of Noah tried to build a tower that reached to heaven, but God separated them by different languages so that they could not work together and scattered them over the earth as punishment. 33. The descendants of Noah are outlined in Genesis 10, as Fell states, but the story of Babel and God’s confounding their language appears in Genesis 11. 34. Gen. 16:12. 35. See Genesis 16. Abram’s wife Sarai could not bear children, so she told her husband to conceive a child with her Egyptian maidservant Hagar. Hagar bore Abram a son named “Ishmael.” The birth of Ishmael allowed Abram to become the father of many nations, according to God’s covenant with him, his name as a result changing to “Abraham.” 36. Just as “Abram” becomes “Abraham” after God makes his covenant with him, “Sarai” becomes “Sarah”; see Gen. 17:15. 37. Sarah conceived Isaac at the age of ninety after the birth of Ishmael; see Gen. 17:19. 38. Although Ishmael is the first-born son of Abraham, God bestows his covenant on Isaac, Abraham’s son with his wife Sarah. See Gen. 17:19–21. Ishmael mocks Isaac in Gen. 21:9.

The Daughter of Zion Awakened 181 And also Esau hated Jacob, because of the blessing wherewith his father had blessed him.39 And Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father is at hand; then will I slay my brother Jacob.”40 So here the murderous seed of the old Serpent appeared again. And how often was the Lord grieved with the children of Israel’s murmurings and lustings, when they loathed the manna, and lusted after flesh? And when the people complained, it displeased the Lord, and his anger was kindled, and the fire of the Lord burned, and consumed as many as were in the outermost parts of the camp.41 And likewise, when they gathered the quails, when the flesh was yet in their teeth, the wrath of the Lord was kindled against them, and smote them with a very great plague.42 And also, when they rebelled against Moses, that they bid, stone him with stones, that the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation, before all the children of Israel.43 And the Lord spoke unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, How long shall I bear with this evil congregation? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me. Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the Lord, as ye have spoken in mine ear, so will I do unto you; your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness, and all that were numbered of you, from twenty years old, and upwards, that have murmured against me, etc.44 And how did Corah, Dathan, and Abiram45 rebel and oppose Moses? And what a breach did they make among the congregation of Israel? Though the God of Israel had separated them to do the service of the tabernacle, and to stand before the congregation to minister unto them, yet Corah, Dathan, and Abiram gather all their company together against the Lord, and did murmur against Moses and

39. Jacob and Esau were the twins of Isaac and his wife Rebekah; see Gen. 25:24–26. Esau, the firstborn of the twins, sold his birthright to the younger brother, Jacob. Later, Jacob received a blessing from his now-blind father Isaac when his mother encouraged him to pretend to be Esau. See Genesis 27, esp. Gen. 27:41, regarding Esau’s hate of Jacob. 40. Nearly a direct quotation of Gen. 27:41. Fell uses “is at hand” instead of “are at hand,” both constructions that would have been acceptable in seventeenth-century English. 41. Events from Numbers 11, in which the people desire meat to eat and anger God, who has given them the gift of manna to eat during their wandering in the desert after their escape from Egypt. 42. Num. 11:33. 43. Num. 14:9–10. 44. Nearly a direct quotation from Num. 14:26–29. 45. Num. 16:1–33. When Korah, Dathan, and Abiram rebelled against Moses, the earth opened and swallowed them at God’s command.

182 MARGARET FELL Aaron; and when Moses sent to call them, they said, “We will not come up;”46 and farther said, “Is it a small thing that thou hast brought us out of a land that flowed with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, except thou altogether makest thy self a prince over us? Moreover, thou hast not brought us into a land that flows with milk and honey, nor given us inheritance of fields and vineyards. Wilt thou put out the eyes of these men? We will not come up.”47 Here was the rebellious spirit indeed, but the Lord was avenged of them, and of their company. And again, when the people rebelled against God, and against Moses, and said, “Wherefore have ye brought us up out of the land of Egypt, to die in the wilderness, where there is no bread, neither is there any water, and our souls loathe48 this light bread.”49 And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit them, and much people of Israel died, etc.50 And how would Balack51 and Balaam52 have cursed Israel by their divination, that they might not have been a people, if the Lord would have suffered them?53 And Balaam was forced to confess, That God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the Son of Man, that he should repent. Hath he said it, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? Behold, I have received a commandment to bless, and he hath blessed, and I cannot reverse it.54 He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel; the Lord his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them.55 There is no enchantment against Jacob, nor divination against Israel.56 I shall see him, but not now; I shall behold him, but not nigh. There shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Scepter shall arise out of Israel; out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion, etc.57 Here Balaam had a true sight and prophecy of Christ, the 46. Fell describes events from Numbers 16. “We will not come up” is a direct quotation from Numbers 16:12. 47. Num. 16:13–14. 48. Fell uses “loath” where the Bible reads, “loatheth”; we have modernized the spelling of this verb to “loathe.” 49. Num. 21:5. 50. Num. 21:6. 51. “Balack,” the King of Moab, is more frequently spelled “Balak.” 52. Balaam was a soothsayer. 53. A reference to Num. 22:11–12. 54. Num. 23:19–20, except that Fell adds an additional “it” after “Hath he said.” 55. Num. 23:21. 56. A paraphrase of Num. 23:23. 57. Num. 24:17.

The Daughter of Zion Awakened 183 blessed Seed, and everlasting covenant, yet would he have cursed this people for the unrighteous wages of Balak, if he could. Nevertheless, he taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before them; for while Israel abode at Shittim, they began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab, and they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods, and the people did eat, and bow down to their gods, etc.58 And Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor,59 and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel; and the Lord said unto Moses, “Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up against the sun, that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel, etc.”60 And when Moses taught the children of Israel the judgments and statutes of the Lord, he said, “Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baal-peor; for all the men that followed Baal-peor, the Lord thy God hath destroyed from among you.”61 So all this cursed seed hath still disobeyed and opposed the command of the Lord, throughout all generations, and hath bruised the heel of this good seed till this very day. The Lord hath cursed this seed of the serpent, and the curse remains upon him forever. Read Deuteronomy, Chapter 28 from the 16th verse to the end.62 And this is the seed that ever bruiseth the heel of the good seed, as the prophet Isaiah largely prophesied of, who said, “He made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit found in his mouth; yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him.63 He is despised and rejected of men, a Man of Sorrows,64 and acquainted with grief.65 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows. He was afflicted, yet we esteemed him not; he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for out iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes

58. Num. 25:1–2. 59. A deity of Moab. 60. Num. 25:3–4. Fell streamlines that last verse. Num. 25:4 reads: “And the Lord said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the LORD against the sun, that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel.” 61. Deut. 4:3. 62. Deut. 28:16 ff. lists God’s curses for disobedience. 63. Isa. 53:9–10. Fell’s quotation is not in the order of this Biblical chapter, as the following notes will detail. 64. Isa. 53:3. “Man of Sorrows” was later interpreted in Christian theology to be a prefiguration of Christ. An entire artistic iconography around the suffering of Christ developed in medieval and early modern Christian art in depictions of the crucifixion and events associated with the mockery of Christ. 65. Isa. 53:3.

184 MARGARET FELL we are healed.66 All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord hath laid upon him the iniquities of us all, Isaiah 53.67 Here the precious seed hath actually suffered and been oppressed all along by the wicked seed of the Serpent; so that the faithful word of the Lord is fulfilled, which said, it should bruise his heel; as may be clearly seen through the Scriptures of Truth, and may also be read in every heart and every bosom of every man and woman (upon the face of the whole earth) which lies in the Fall, and in the disobedience, and under the curse. The just and the pure principle of the living God suffers in every heart, who is in the darkness, and under the power of the prince of darkness.68 The just lies slain there, in spiritual Sodom, and spiritual Egypt, and spiritual Babylon, which is all the world spiritually; the world of darkness the old Serpent hath set and sown in the hearts of men and women, in Adam and Eve, and all their offspring.69 When he tempted them into transgression and disobedience of God’s command, then the image of God was defaced, in which God made them in the beginning; through the disobedience they fell from purity and righteousness, and from favor with God, and now they lie in darkness and in death, filled with sin and iniquity. So this world of darkness and death stands fast in the hearts of men and women, so that they cannot see God in his work. For the Apostle70 saith, “As by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned, etc.”71 And again the Apostle saith, “We are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.”72 And he saith, “If our Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest the Light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them, etc.”73 And David saith, “The Lord shall judge the world in righteousness. And he desired of the Lord to be delivered from the men of the world, which have their portion in this life, etc.”74 66. A close paraphrase of Isa. 53:4–5. 67. Isa. 53:6. 68. An epithet for Satan or the devil. 69. Fell’s use of “spiritual” before place names indicates a metaphorical usage to signify people who have not yet seen the Light. 70. Paul. 71. Rom. 5:12. 72. A paraphrase of 1 John 5:19. 73. Nearly a direct quotation of 2 Cor. 4:3–4. Fell changes “which believe not” to “that believe not.” 74. A conflation of Ps. 9:8 and Ps. 17:14.

The Daughter of Zion Awakened 185 And Christ Jesus saith, “Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men after me,” John 12: 31–32.75 And the Apostle saith, “They had not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we may know the things that are freely given us of God,” 1 Corinthians 2:12.76 And again, the Apostle saith, “Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, that spirit that now works in the children of disobedience,” Ephesians 2:2.77 And he bids them, “Put on the whole armor of God, that they may be able to stand against the assaults of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, and against powers, and against the prince of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places, etc.”78 And the Apostle saith, “Greater is he that is in us, than he that is in this world.”79 And also, the same Apostle saith, “Now we know that whatsoever things the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law,80 that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world become guilty before God, etc.”81 So here lies all the world of the ungodly, guilty of sin, guilty of transgression, guilty of disobedience; but now in these last days, the Lord Jesus Christ is come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life, and that through him they might be saved, John 3:16–17.82 So now the Lord Jesus Christ, who is sent a Light into the world, and lighteth every man that cometh into the world,83 he that was in the beginning with God, all things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made; in him was life, and the life was the Light of men.84 75. John 12:31–32, as Fell states. However, Fell has changed “all men unto me” to “all men after me.” 76. 1 Cor. 2:12, as Fell states. However, while 1 Cor. 2:12 consistently uses plural first person (“we”), Fell has changed the first part of the quotation to third person plural (“They”) and has slightly streamlined the phrasing. 77. Eph. 2:2, as Fell states. 78. A quotation from Eph. 6:11–12, with some changes. Fell uses “assaults” in place of “wiles,” and “prince of darkness” in place of “rulers of the darkness.” 79. 1 John 4:4. However, Fell has changed “in you” to “in us.” 80. An epithet in the New Testament for Jews who follow strict codes, “under the law,” especially concerning food and sacrifice, from which Christians are released. Fell would have understood this passage to predict the regulations of the Catholic Church as well. 81. Rom. 3:19. 82. A paraphrase of John 3:16–17. 83. A reference to John 1:9. 84. A close, condensed paraphrase of John 1:1–4.

186 MARGARET FELL And this Light doth shine in darkness, in this world of darkness, though darkness cannot comprehend it.85 John was sent from God to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was sent to bear witness of the Light, that was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.86 So this Light, that lights every man that comes into the world, this is the true Light that shines in the dark heart, and this is the true Day that dawns in the heart; and Christ Jesus is the Day-Star that ariseth in the heart.87 And this is the true Seed,88 and this is the blessed Seed, that hath the promise and Word of the eternal God joined and fixed to it, that he should bruise the Serpent’s head, who hath set darkness in the hearts of people. And as certainly as the Lord hath fulfilled that word, which he promised in the beginning, That the seed of the Serpent should bruise his heel; so certainly and perfectly is he fulfilling the other part of it, That the seed of the woman should bruise the Serpent’s head.89 And God hath not only put enmity between the two seeds, but he hath put enmity between the serpent and the woman, Genesis 3.90 And the Lord God said unto the woman, “What is this that thou hast done?” And the woman said, “The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.” And the Lord said unto the serpent, “Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above all the beasts of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed, and her seed.”91 So this enmity, that God hath put between the serpent and the woman, there is no reconciling of it; for where there is any part of the serpent’s seed or spirit, it is smiting and striking at the woman, and condemning her weakness. For when the woman, being with child, cried and travailed92 in birth, pained to be delivered, then behold the great red Dragon appeared, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his head; and the Dragon stood before the woman, which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.93 85. A close paraphrase of John 1:5. 86. A paraphrase of John 1:7–9. 87. Another reference to 2 Pet. 1:19. 88. An alternative name for “Christ”; see, for example, Gal. 3:16. 89. A paraphrase of Gen. 3:15. 90. More specifically, this passage refers to Gen. 3:15, also quoted in the previous paragraph. 91. Gen. 3:13–15. 92. Labored. 93. A close paraphrase of Rev. 12:2–4. Fell abridges these verses while maintaining very close phrasing.

The Daughter of Zion Awakened 187 But she brought forth her man-child, which is to rule all nations with a rod of iron, and her child was caught up to God, and to his throne, and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she had a place prepared of God, etc.94 So God always provided for the woman, that she was nourished and preserved from the face of the Serpent. And the Serpent will not yet cease to cast out waters as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. 95 And the Dragon is very wroth with the woman, and seeks to make war with the woman, and with the remnant of her seed.96 And so, this is perfectly fulfilled, also; for the Serpent, or any part of his spirit, where it is, hath a perfect enmity against the woman. But the eternal Word and Promise of God stands upon the head of the Serpent, which is, that the Seed of the woman should bruise the Serpent’s head; and this is perfectly fulfilling in this our day. For the head of the Serpent is now coming to be bruised by the Seed of the woman, Christ Jesus. For the Serpent’s seed and spirit is now gotten into the highest dress; he is now got into the profession and words of truth itself, and would, if it were possible, do as he did, when he told her, They should be as gods; but he betrayed her, and beguiled her, as she said.97 But now he is opposing one that is too strong for him, as he tempted Christ in the days of his flesh; but he could not prevail then, nor surely can he now against him in his spiritual appearance.98 The Elect99 he cannot deceive, who dwells in the Light, that comes from the throne of divine glory, that sees him, and discerns him, and his secret baits, and snares, and wiles; he doth deceive the dark and the ignorant, and betrays them that keep not to the ensign that is set for the gathering of all nations;100 but the Elect he cannot deceive, that are rooted and grounded upon the precious cornerstone, that is laid in Zion; they that are built upon the Rock, Christ Jesus, they cannot be shaken.101 94. Rev. 12:5–6. Fell changes “who was to rule” to “which is to rule.” 95. A paraphrase of Rev. 12:15. 96. A paraphrase of Rev. 12:17. 97. A reference to Gen. 3:5. 98. The devil tempts Christ in Matt. 4:3–10. 99. A term associated mostly with Calvinist Protestant doctrine whereby God has determined those who will be saved after their mortal body’s death. The “Elect,” in the Calvinist sense, did not have a place in Quaker theology; see Gill, Women in the Seventeenth-Century Quaker Community, 92. Fell’s use of “Elect” appears to reflect a definition closer to “those who have faith in God”; see Fell’s pamphlet An Evident Demonstration to Gods Elect (London, 1660), in which she provides a better contextual definition of “Elect” as distinct from Calvinist and Puritan doctrines. 100. A reference to Isa. 5:26. 101. A reference to Luke 6:46–49.

188 MARGARET FELL But Christ Jesus shakes all foundations that are not built upon him, and his coming to raze102 out and to root out that foundation which the old Serpent hath laid in the hearts of people; he is coming to dispossess him, and to destroy him and all his works. The right is his; he was before ever the old Serpent was; he was set up from everlasting to everlasting;103 man and woman was created in his image,104 and he is now coming to claim his own, and to recover and restore man again. The Devil hath had a long reign; he may well be called the old Serpent, because he had a beginning; but now his head and power is coming to be bruised, and the Word of the eternal God is coming to be fulfilled upon him, which is, “That the Seed of the woman shall bruise the Serpent’s head.”105 And, he will make a short work in the earth, and cut it short in righteousness for his Elects’ sake.106 The Lord God is now at work; his Word, and Power, and Spirit, by which the heavens and the earth were made, is at work; the grace and the truth, which comes by Jesus Christ, is at work; and the light of the glorious Gospel, the power of God, is working, for the destruction of the Devil and all his works. And he is pouring down his spirit of grace and supplication, so that now all people, that come to the Lord’s eternal light and truth, may look upon him whom they have pierced, and mourn over him, as one that mourneth for his only son, Zechariah 12:10.107 And now, in these last days, since there hath been a falling away, and a night of darkness, and a night of apostasy108 from the true, spiritual, and glorious appearance of the resurrection of Jesus, in the apostles’ and primitive Christians’ days, since which time the woman that brought forth the man-child hath fled into the wilderness, a place prepared of God for her, and had the two wings of the great eagle given her.109 But she is now returning out of the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved; and the holy city, New Jerusalem, is coming down from God out of Heaven, prepared as a bride for her husband,110 having the glory of God; and her light is like a jasper-stone, most precious, clear as a crystal,111 which shines 102. To remove or obliterate. 103. Ps. 106:48. 104. Gen. 1:27. 105. Another reference to Gen. 3:15. Fell’s repeated use of this passage is interesting in light of theological and gender arguments from the early modern period; rather than demonizing woman for causing the Fall of humanity, Fell continually asserts that women are the agents of bruising the Serpent. 106. A paraphrase of Rom. 9:28. 107. A paraphrase of Zech. 12:10, as Fell states. 108. Renouncing religious or spiritual faith or vows. 109. A reference to Rev. 12:13–14. 110. Rev. 21:2. 111. Originally spelled as “Chrystal,” a pun for “Christ-all.”

The Daughter of Zion Awakened 189 forth in its glory, and clearly makes manifest all the power and body of spiritual darkness.112 And the man of sin is now revealed, the son of perdition, who hath sat in the Temple of God, in the hearts of man and woman, who was and is in the falling away from the new covenant, and the resurrection of Jesus, in his spirit, in the hearts and bodies of his saints, which was his temple, in the apostles’ days.113 The man of sin114 hath sat in that temple all Christendom over, where Christ and the scriptures are professed without them, ever since the apostles’ days, in this night of apostasy; the man of sin hath kept the hearts of people professing Christ, the Apostles’ and saints’ words without them, in the spirit of darkness. So they have all been out of the true worship of God, which is in his own Spirit, and in his own truth, and in his own Light, which is his new covenant, where he writes his law in their hearts, and puts his Spirit in their inward parts, where sin is done away, and transgression and iniquity is blotted out.115 But in this night of apostasy, they have all been out of this way, and out of this truth, and out of this light and life; and so in a dark unclean spirit they have taken Christ’s words, and the prophets’ and apostles’, and saints’ words; there the man of sin hath sitten in the hearts of people, decked and trimmed with the saints’ words, professing Christ and the scriptures without them, in a dark spirit, but do not confess him come within them. The Apostle said, “Many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh; this is a deceiver and an antichrist.116 And hereby know ye the Spirit of God, every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is of God, etc. And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is not of God. And this is the spirit of antichrist, whereof you have heard it should come, and now, even already, it is in the world.”117 And this is that spirit of antichrist, which is entered into the world, which hath been in the world, in this dark night of apostasy, who professeth Christ in words without them, but will not confess his light, and his spirit, and his truth within them. And therefore the Apostle said to the saints, “Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things;118 let that therefore abide in you, which you 112. A reference to Rev. 21:11. 113. A reference to 2 Thess. 2:3–4. 114. 2 Thess. 2:3. Perhaps a reference to the Pope, who, according to Friends and other Protestants of the time, misled Christians into apostasy. 115. A reference to Jer. 31:33–34. Fell’s use of “blotted out” recalls Acts 3:19. 116. 2 John 1:7. 117. 1 John 4:3. 118. 1 John 2:20.

190 MARGARET FELL have heard from the beginning. If that which you have heard from the beginning remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father.119 These things have I written unto you, concerning them that seduce you. But the anointing which you have received of him abideth in you; and you need not that any man teach you, but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie; and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him, etc.”120 And so this anointing and unction of the Holy One, it121 ever was, and ever shall be the saints’ teacher. But this is not antichrist’s teacher; he sitteth in the temple of God, professing words without, and can have no union with, nor benefit of the true Christ, which came by water and blood, not by water only, but by water and blood.122 And it is his Spirit that beareth witness, because his Spirit is Truth.123 He that believeth in the Son of God hath the witness in himself.124 And this is the record that God hath given us of his Son, eternal life; and this life is in his Son. But antichrist in the world hath none of this record; his record is without, and his pretence of Christ is only as without, and will not have him within. But glory be to the Highest forever,125 this man of sin, this son of perdition is revealed, which hath sat in that temple which God hath chosen for himself  126 in the hearts of men and women, in which he hath written his law and covenant.127 But by the spirit of his mouth, and by the brightness of his coming, will he slay the wicked, who hath long opposed Christ’s reign in his saints and members.128 And the Lord is coming to gather his Elect from the four winds, and from the one end of the earth to the other;129 he has all power in heaven and in earth given unto him, and he is the Lord of all the hosts in the heavens and in the earth; at his word and command they all stand up together, etc. He is the only begotten Son come into the world;130 he hath lighted every man and woman come into the world.131 119. 1 John 2:24. 120. 1 John 2:26–27. 121. 1677 ed.: “is.” 122. A reference to 1 John 5:6. 123. 1 John 5:6, but with “the Spirit” changed to “his Spirit.” 124. 1 John 5:10. 125. A variation on Luke 2:14. 126. A paraphrase of 2 Thess. 2:3–4. 127. Another reference to Jer. 31:33–34. 128. A paraphrase of 2 Thess. 2:8. 129. A reference to Mark 13:27. 130. A reference to 1 John 4:9. 1677 ed. reads, “he hath brought his only begotten Son into the world.” 131. A reference to John 1:9. While the original quotation says simply, “every man,” Fell adds, “and woman.”

The Daughter of Zion Awakened 191 And so, let all the angels worship him,132 he who is the head of all; principalities and powers,133 angels, and authorities are all subject to him; and he sendeth forth his angels, his ministering spirits, that are sent forth for the heirs of salvation,134 and his ministers in flames of fire, upon the head of the spiritual wickedness of the old Serpent. His angels are his messengers and reapers, that bind the tares in bundles, and cast them into the fire.135 He is sending forth his angel, that hath the sharp sickle,136 that he may thrust in his sickle, for the harvest is ripe.137 To which of the angels hath he said at any time, “Thou art my son?”138 Or to which of the angels hath he said at any time, “Sit at my right hand?”139 He hath not put in subjection unto the angels the world to come, whereof we speak.140 But unto the Son he hath said, “Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the utmost parts of the earth for thy possession.”141 And unto the Son he hath said, “Sit thou on my right hand, until all thine enemies be thy footstool.”142 Yea, unto the Son he hath said, “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore, God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.”143 Though the heathen raged,144 and the wicked hath imagined vain things,145 yet hath the Lord set his king upon his holy hill of Zion;146 and he hath anointed him to preach glad tidings to the poor, liberty to the captives;147 and he hath anointed him to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God.148 And he hath anointed him to open the blind eyes, and 132. A reference to Heb. 1:6. 133. A possible reference to Eph. 3:10. 134. A reference to Heb. 1:14. 135. A reference to Matt. 13:30. “Tares” are weeds in a grain field that can contaminate the harvest. 136. Fell evokes the image of the Grim Reaper, a personification of death also known as the Angel of Death. 137. A reference to Rev. 14:15. 138. Heb. 1:5. 139. A paraphrase of Heb. 1:13. 140. A paraphrase of Heb. 2:5. 141. Ps. 2:7–8. Fell has changed “uttermost” to “utmost.” 142. A close paraphrase of Heb. 1:13. 143. A very close paraphrase of Ps. 45:6–7. 144. A reference to Ps. 46:6. 145. A reference to Ps. 10:2. 146. A reference to Ps. 2:6. Between “his” and “king,” 1677 ed. includes “holy.” 147. A reference to Luke 4:18. 148. Isa. 61:2.

192 MARGARET FELL to unstop the deaf ears, and to cause the tongue of the dumb to sing, and to loose the tongue of the stammerer, that he may speak plainly, etc.149 He hath anointed him to make the lame to leap and skip as an hart.150 He hath anointed him to set open the prison doors, and to bring forth the prisoners out of the prison house; and those that have long been sitting in darkness,151 and under the veil of the shadow of death,152 he hath anointed him to bring them forth, that they may show themselves, that upon them his glorious light may shine. He hath anointed him to bring again that which hath been driven away, and to gather together again that which hath been scattered;153 and to make the prisoners of hope to rejoice, that have so long lain in the pit, where there is no water.154 He hath anointed him to raise up the tabernacle unto David, and to make up the breaches thereof.155 He hath anointed him to bring back the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, and the whole seed of Israel, and to unite and knit together into one the House of Judah and the House of Joseph, the House of David and the House of Israel.156 He hath anointed him to enlarge Japhet, that he may dwell in the tents of Shem.157 He that is the light of the Gentiles, and the glory of his people Israel, and the salvation to the ends of the earth.158 He is the Lord’s Anointed, for the taking away of that middle wall of partition, that wall of separation between Jews and Gentiles, that law of commandments that was contained in ordinances, which was contained in an outward temple, that was contained in an outward covenant, and an outward priesthood, and outward offerings, and outward washings and sacrifices,159 which the Apostle calls a worldly sanctuary160 and beggarly rudiments;161 he hath abolished all these in his flesh, and thereby hath slain the enmity,162 and nailed them to his cross; and 149. A reference to Isa. 35:5–6 and Isa. 32:4. 150. A reference to Isa. 35:6. A “hart” is a deer, but this can also be read as a pun on “heart.” 151. A reference to Isa. 42:7. 152. A reference to Ps. 23:4. 153. Likely a reference to the idea of a “scattered Israel” that appears in several places in the Bible, such as Jer. 31:10 and Joel 3:2. 154. A reference to Zech. 9:11–12. 155. A paraphrase of Amos 9:11. 156. A reference to Joel 3:1–2. 157. A reference to Gen. 9:27. 158. A reference to Luke 2:32. 159. A reference to Eph. 2:14–15. Between “covenant” and “and,” 1677 ed. includes “written in tables of stone,” a paraphrase of Exod. 31:18. 160. Heb. 9:1. 161. Gal. 4:9 in the Geneva Bible. Also see the headnote to this chapter: “He sheweth wherefore the ceremonies were ordained. Which being shadowes must end when Christ the truth commeth.” 162. A paraphrase of Eph. 2:16.

The Daughter of Zion Awakened 193 he hath made to himself of twain one new man, and so making peace, and that he might reconcile both Jew and Gentile unto God in one body, for through him we have both access by one spirit unto the Father.163 So now, it’s neither circumcision nor uncircumcision that avails, but a new creature,164 and a new creature in Christ Jesus.165 For he is our peace, who hath made both one; which the Apostle saith, is a mystery, which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promises in Christ (by the Gospel) in whom is hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.166 For he hath taken away the first covenant and law, that he might establish the second covenant written in the heart.167 And he hath taken away the first priesthood, that could not stand by reason of death, that he might establish the second priesthood, that is not made by the law of a carnal commandment, but by the power of an endless life.168 And he hath taken away the outward offerings and sacrifices, that he might establish the one offering.169 He hath taken away the first temple, that Solomon built, that he might establish the second temple of his body,170 which is his Church, that the glory of this latter house may far exceed the glory of the former.171 He is the mediator of a better covenant, established upon better promises, an everlasting covenant, that never can be broken, written not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart.172 By this one offering, which he hath offered up, even himself, through the Eternal Spirit once for all,173 he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified,174 of what nation or people soever, Jew or Gentile, barbarian, Scythian, bond or free,

163. Another reference to Eph. 2:14–15. 164. 1677 ed.: “nature.” 165. A reference to Eph. 2:11. 166. A condensed, close paraphrase of Eph. 3:5–6. Between “Gospel” and “in,” 1677 ed. includes “which he hath purchased for us.” 167. A conflation of Heb. 10:9, 2 Cor. 3:2–3, and Prov. 3:3. Between “law” and “that,” 1677 ed. includes, “which was written in tables of stone.” 168. Heb. 7:16. 169. Fell succinctly describes the main point of Hebrews 10. 170. A reference to John 2:21. 171. Hag. 2:9. 172. 2 Cor. 3:3. 173. A paraphrase of Heb. 9:14. 174. 1677 ed. reads, “by this one offering he is able to save to the utmost all that ever comes unto God by him, which believeth in his Light, and walketh in it” in place of “he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.”

194 MARGARET FELL male or female, all that ever comes to God by him, he is able to save to the utmost, etc.175 By this one offering he hath opened a living fountain, not only for Judah and Jerusalem to wash in, but whosoever is athirst, of what nation soever, they may come unto him and drink.176 For in the days of his flesh, he invited all that were a-thirst to come unto him and drink, John 7:37–39.177 And this he spoke of his spirit, which he was then going to pour forth, which he hath now largely manifested, which he is pouring upon all flesh, upon his sons and upon his daughters, upon his servants and upon his handmaids.178 And the tabernacle of God is now with men, and he dwells with them, and they are his people, and God himself is with them, and is their God.179 And the Lord Jesus Christ is building the temple, which is his Church, which is made up of living stones.180 He that is greater than Solomon hath laid his foundation in Zion; he hath laid the Rock and the Cornerstone;181 he is building up spiritual Zion, the city of his solemnity;182 the wise master-builder is at work, and he is building up that city that our father Abraham looked for, whose builder and maker is God.183 His Word is at work, his Spirit is at work, his Power and Light is at work, his Grace and truth is at work. He that lays true judgment to the line, and righteousness to the plummet in the hearts of men and women, he is at work.184 He that sits in the midst of the throne, and in the midst of the four beasts, and in the midst of the four and twenty elders, as a lamb that hath been slain, he that hath the seven eyes, and the seven horns, which are the seven spirits of the living God, sent forth throughout all the earth, and runs to and fro, and sees both before and behind;185 the gathering is unto him, yea, the gathering of all nations is unto him.

175. A paraphrase of Col. 3:11. 176. A possible reference to Isa. 48:1 or Joel 3:18. 177. Fell succinctly summarizes John 7:37–39, as indicated. 178. A paraphrase of Joel 2:28–29. 179. A paraphrase of Rev. 21:3. 180. A reference to 1 Pet. 2:5. 181. A reference to Isa. 28:16. 182. A reference to Isa. 33:20. 183. A paraphrase of Heb. 11:8–10. 184. A paraphrase of Isa. 28:17. 185. A paraphrase of Rev. 5:6.

The Daughter of Zion Awakened 195 He that walked in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks,186 which hath not only the Urim and the Thummim,187 but the light of lights, perfection of perfections, glory of glories, and holiness to the Lord. And this is that pure river of the water of life, proceeding out of the throne of God, and of the Lamb; in the midst of it, and of either side of it, is the Tree of Life.188 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the Tree of Life, and enter in through the gates into the City.189 He is that Tree of Life that stands in the midst of the whole paradise of God, which bears his fruit every month, whose leaves are for the healing of the nations.190 So all nations, and all the ends of the earth, must look unto him, if they be saved, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness,191 and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son, who is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of every creature.192 He is the head of his body, the church, who is anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows; and in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, Colossians 1:19;193 and he dispenses of his fullness throughout his whole body; and the precious oil, with which he is anointed, flows plentifully to every member, who holds the head, and abideth in the unity, and keeps in the savor of his good ointment;194 for that is as the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descendeth upon the mountains of Zion; for there the Lord commandeth his blessing, even life forevermore;195 which is a mystery that hath been hid from ages and generations, but now is made manifest to his saints; to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in us the hope of glory,196 whom the Apostle preached, warning every man, and

186. A reference to Rev. 1:20. 187. Associated with the Old Testament “breastplate of judgment.” The OED defines “Urim and Thummim” as “Certain objects, the nature of which is not known, worn in or upon the ‘breast-plate’ of the Jewish high-priest, by means of which the will of Jehovah was held to be declared.” Biblical references to these objects appear in Exod. 28:30, Lev. 8:8, Ezra 2:63, and Neh. 7:65. 188. A paraphrase of Rev. 22:1–2. 189. Rev. 22:14. 190. A paraphrase of Rev. 22:2. 191. Col. 1:13. 192. Col. 1:15. 193. Actually a paraphrase of Col. 1:18–19. Additionally, “oil of gladness” appears in Ps. 45:7 and Heb. 1:9, not in Colossians. 194. Possibly a paraphrase of Ps. 133:2. 195. Ps. 133:3. 196. A close paraphrase of Col. 1:26–27. Notably, Fell has changed “in you” to “in us.”

196 MARGARET FELL teaching every man, in all wisdom, that he might present every man perfect in Christ Jesus, &c.197 And this is our way, and the truth; and there is no other way nor name under the whole heaven, but Jesus Christ,198 by which any can be saved;199 to which name every knee must bow, and every tongue confess.200 For it is he that is crowned with glory and honor, that by the grace of God he should taste death for every man,201 that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, which is the Devil.202 He hath blotted out the handwriting of ordinances, and hath taken it away, nailing it to his cross.203 And he hath spoiled principalities and powers, and hath openly triumphed over them.204 So in this great work of the Lord Jesus Christ, in which he hath given himself for his body, which is his Church, he hath made no difference in this work between male and female, but they are all one in Christ Jesus,205 whose faith and belief stands in his name and power, who are sanctified and cleansed. So he presents his glorious Church unto himself (not having spot or wrinkles, or any such thing) which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all, Ephesians 1:22–23.206 Postscript: And blessed and happy are all the faithful, that are constant, true, and obedient to the Lord’s eternal light, Spirit, and truth; that so the holy anointing, which they have received from the beginning, abide in them, and they abide in it,207 then have they fellowship with the Son and with the Father.208 For that was the reason why the apostle John wrote in his epistle to the saints, it was concerning them that did seduce them; therefore, he said, “Let that abide in you, which you have heard from 197. Col. 1:28, except that Fell has changed “that we” to “that he” to match the Apostle as the speaker. 198. 1677 ed.: “the name of Jesus.” 199. A paraphrase of Acts 4:12. 200. Isaiah 45:23, quoted by Paul in Rom. 14:11. 201. Heb. 2:9. 202. Heb. 2:14. Fell has changed “that is the Devil” to “which is the Devil.” 203. A close paraphrase of Col. 2:14. 204. A paraphrase of Col. 2:15. 205. A paraphrase of Gal. 3:28. 206. The very last part of this sentence, “the fullness of him that filleth all in all,” does come from Eph. 1:23, but the first part of the sentence is actually a paraphrase of Eph. 5:27. 207. A reference to 1 John 2:27. 208. A paraphrase of 1 John 1:3.

The Daughter of Zion Awakened 197 the beginning; if that which you have heard from the beginning remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son and in the Father,” 1 John 2:24–25.209 And this is the safety and preservation of all the faithful, to keep to the holy unction, and anointing of the Holy One,210 which they have received of him, which is in them, and which was in the beginning, is, and ever shall be the saint’s teacher, that never changes; here are the saints and faithful in Christ Jesus preserved.211 But there was a spirit in the apostles’ days, that came in privily, and drew away many after their pernicious ways, as may be seen in 2 Peter 2.212 Which did fulfill the prophecy of the Apostle Paul to Timothy, where he saith, That the spirit spoke expressly, That some should depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils, etc.213 Also Jude is very zealous against that spirit, as may be read in his epistle. But as the apostles Peter and Jude say, “If God spared not the angels, which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, who was cast down to Hell, to be reserved in chains of darkness unto the judgment of the great day, etc.”214 And therefore, let all beware and take heed, in the fear of the Lord God, to keep to the true testimony of God in their own hearts, and to the true touchstone, that God has placed in them; and not believe every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they be of God, for many false spirits are gone out into the world, etc.215 “We are of God,” saith the Apostle; “he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error,” 1 John 4:6.216 This is the same spirit still, and God is the same, and his power and spirit is the same. And let all the opposers of his spirit read their portion in the epistles of Peter and Jude. M. F.

209. Actually, just 1 John 2:24. 210. A reference to 1 John 2:20. 211. Fell borrows language from Ps. 37:28 or Jude 1:1. 212. A paraphrase of 2 Pet. 2:1–2. 213. A close paraphrase of 1 Tim. 4:1. 214. A paraphrase of 2 Pet. 2:4 and Jude 1:6. 215. A paraphrase of 1 John 4:1. 216. 1 John 4:6, as Fell states.

Bibliography This bibliography is selective, covering only works included or cited in this volume. However, to indicate the popularity of Fell’s works during her lifetime and then again from the 1970s on, all editions of her works selected for this volume are cited immediately after a listing of the initial publication of those works. Fell’s works are listed in chronological order, but the other sections are alphabetical. Works by Fell cited but not included in this volume are listed under “Other Primary Works.”

Primary Sources Works by Margaret Fell in This Volume Fell, Margaret. A Loving Salutation to the Seed of Abraham among the Jewes: Where Ever They Are Scattered Up and Down upon the Face of the Earth, and to the Seed of Abraham among All People upon the Face of the Earth …. London, 1656. ———. A Testimonie of the Touchstone, for All Professions, and All Forms, and Gathered Churches (As They Call Them), of What Sort Soever to Try Their Ground and Foundation by …. London, 1656. ———. To All the Professors of the World. London, 1656. ———. The Examination of Margaret Fell, before Judge Twisden, at the Assizes Held at Lancaster, the 14th Day of the 1st Month. London, 1663/4. ———. A Letter Sent to the King from M.F. Here is Also Thereunto Annexed a Paper Written unto the Magistrates in 1664…. London, 1666. ———. Womens Speaking Justified, Proved and Allowed of by the Scriptures …. London, 1666. ———. The Daughter of Sion Awakened, and Putting on Strength: She is Arising, and Shaking Herself out of the Dust, and Putting on Her Beautiful Garments. London, 1677. ———. A Relation of Margaret Fell, her Birth, Life, Testimony, and Sufferings for the Lord’s Everlasting Truth in Her Generation. London, 1690. ———. A Brief Collection of Remarkable Passages and Occurrences Relating to the Birth, Education, Life, Conversion, Travels, Services, and Deep Sufferings of That Ancient, Eminent, and Faithful Servant of the Lord, Margaret Fell; But by her Second Marriage, Margaret Fox. Together with Sundry of Her Epistles, Books, and Christian Testimonies to Friends and Others; and also to Those in Supreme Authority, in the Several Late Revolutions of Government. London, 1710. 199

200 Bibliography

Subsequent Editions of Pamphlets Included in This Volume The Examination of Margaret Fell Fell, Margaret. “The Examination and Trial of Margaret Fell” In Autobiographical Writings by Early Quaker Women, edited by David Booy, 155–60. Aldershot, UK, and Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2004. A Letter Sent to the King Fell, Margaret. “A Letter Sent to the King from M.F.” In The Life of Margaret Fox, Wife of George Fox. Compiled from Her Own Narrative, and Other Sources; with a Selection from Her Epistles, etc., 42–46. Philadelphia: Association of Friends for the Diffusion of Religious and Useful Knowledge, 1859. ———. “A Letter Sent to the King, 1666.” In Hidden in Plain Sight: Quaker Women’s Writings, 1650–1700, edited by Mary Garman, Judith Applegate, Margaret Benefiel, and Dortha Meredith, 42–46. Wallingford, PA: Pendle Hill Publications, 1996. A Loving Salutation to the Seed of Abraham Fell, Margaret. A Loving Salutation to the Seed of Abraham among the Jewes …. London, 1660. ———. A Loving Salutation to the Seed of Abraham among the Jews  …. In Spinoza’s Earliest Publication?: The Hebrew Translation of Margaret Fell’s A Loving Salutation to the Seed of Abraham Among the Jews, Wherever They are Scattered Up and Down the Face of the Earth, edited by Richard H. Popkin and Michael A. Signer, 22–97. Assan, Netherlands, and Wolfboro, NH: Van Gorcum, 1987. ———. A Loving Salutation to the Seed of Abraham, 1656. Women Writers Online. Originally published 1999. . A Relation of Margaret Fell Fell, Margaret. “A Relation of Margaret Fell” (selections). In The Life of Margaret Fox, Wife of George Fox. Compiled from Her Own Narrative, and Other Sources; with a Selection from Her Epistles, etc., 6–11, 17, 22–24, 29–30, 34–36, 49, 52–53, 55–61, 65. Philadelphia: Association of Friends for the Diffusion of Religious and Useful Knowledge, 1859. ———. “A Relation of Margaret Fell (1690).” In A Sincere and Constant Love: An Introduction to the Work of Margaret Fell, edited by T. H. S. Wallace, 105–15. Richmond, IN: Friends United Press, 1992. ———. “A Relation of Margaret Fell, Her Birth, Life, Testimony, and Sufferings, 1690.” In Hidden in Plain Sight: Quaker Women’s Writings, 1650–1700,

Bibliography 201 edited by Mary Garman, Judith Applegate, Margaret Benefiel, and Dortha Meredith, 244–54. Wallingford, PA: Pendle Hill Publications, 1996. ———. “A Relation.” In Life-Writings by British Women, 1660–1815: An Anthology, edited by Carolyn A. Barros and Johanna M. Smith, 58–69. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 2000. ———. “A Relation of Margaret Fell.” In Autobiographical Writings by Early Quaker Women, edited by David Booy, 148–49, 153–55. Aldershot, UK, and Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2004. Women’s Speaking Justified Fell, Margaret. Womens Speaking Justified, Proved and Allowed of by the Scriptures …. London, 1667. ———. Womens Speaking Justified, Proved and Allowed of by the Scriptures … [reprint of 1667 edition]. Introduction by David J. Latt. Los Angeles: William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, UCLA, 1979. ———. Womens Speaking Justified, Proved and Allowed of by the Scriptures: All Such as Speak by the Spirit and Power of the Lord Jesus. and How Women Were the First That Preached the Tidings of the Resurrection of Jesus …. Amherst, MA: Mosher Book and Tract Committee, New England Yearly Meeting of Friends, 1980. ———. Womens Speaking Justified … (1667). In First Feminists: British Women Writers, 1578–1799, edited with an introduction by Moira Ferguson, 114– 27. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1985. ———. Womens Speaking [reprint of 1666 edition]. Edited by Christine Rhone. London: Pythia Press, 1989. ———. “Women’s Speaking Justified.” In Women’s Speaking Justified, and Other Seventeenth-Century Quaker Writings about Women, edited by Christine Trevett, 4–12. London: Quaker Home Service, 1989. ———. Womens Speaking Justified [reprint of 1667 edition]. New York: AMS Press, 1992. ———. “Womens Speaking Justified, Proved and Allowed of by the Scriptures,” 1667. Women Writers Online. Originally published 1999. . ———. “Women’s Speaking Justified, Proved, and Allowed of by the Scriptures” (1667). In The Rhetorical Tradition: Readings from Classical Times to the Present, 2nd ed., edited by Patricia Bizzell and Bruce Herzberg, 748–60. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s Press, 2001. ———. “Women’s Speaking Justified, Proved, and Allowed of by the Scriptures” (1667). Available Means: An Anthology of Women’s Rhetoric(s), edited by Joy Ritchie and Kate Ronald, 66–70. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2001.

202 Bibliography ———. “Women’s Speaking Justified, Proved, and Allowed of by the Scriptures” (1667). In Rhetorical Theory by Women before 1900: An Anthology, edited by Jane Donawerth, 59–72. Lanham, MD.: Rowman and Littlefield, 2002. ———. “Women’s Ministry Justified” [Women’s Speaking Justified, Proved, and Allowed by the Scriptures (London, 1666)]. In Quaker Writings: An Anthology, 1650–1920, edited by Thomas D. Hamm, 95–105. New York: Penguin, 2010. ———. “Women’s Speaking Justified (1666).” In Transatlantic Feminisms in the Age of Revolutions, edited by Lisa L. Moore, Joanna Brooks, and Caroline Wigginton, 54-58. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012. ———. Women’s Speaking Justified, Proved, and Allowed of by the Scriptures …. Glenside, PA: Quaker Heritage Press, 2013. . ———. Womens Speaking Justified, Proved and Allowed of by the Scriptures  … (London, 1666). In A Celebration of Women Writers, edited by Mary Mark Ockerbloom. University of Pennsylvania Digital Library, 2014. .

Other Primary Sources “The Act against Puritans and against Papists (1593). 35 Elizabeth, cap. 1.” In Documents Illustrative of Church History, edited by Henry Gee and William John Hardy, 492–98. New York: Macmillan, 1896. Anger, Jane. Iane Anger her Protection for Women (1588). In Essential Works for the Study of Early Modern Women, Part 2, Vol. 1: Texts from the Querelle, 1521–1615. Selected and introduced by Pamela J. Benson. Aldershot, UK, and Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2008. Askew, Anne. The Examinations of Anne Askew. Edited by Elaine V. Beilin. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996. Augustine, Saint. On Christian Doctrine [De Doctrina Christiana]. Translated by D. W. Robertson, Jr. New York: Liberal Arts Press, 1958. Behn, Aphra. The Uncollected Verse of Aphra Behn. Edited by Germaine Greer. Stump Cross, Great Britain: Stump Cross Books, 1989. ———. Oroonoko, The Rover, and Other Works. Edited by Janet Todd. London and New York: Penguin Books, 1992. Charles II, King of England. “A Proclamation of Grace, for the Inlargement of Prisoners Called Quakers.” London, 1661. Cicero, Marcus Tullius. Topica, translated H. M. Hubbell. In De inventione, De optimo genere oratorum, Topica, 347–73. London: Heinemann, 1949. The Coverdale Bible. Translated by Miles Coverdale. Introduction by S. L. Greenslade. 1535; facsimile reprint, Folkestone, UK: Dawson, 1975.

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Bibliography 205 Braithwaite, William C. The Second Period of Quakerism. New York: Macmillan, 1919. Brandt, Deborah. Literacy as Involvement: The Acts of Writers, Readers, and Texts. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1990. ———. “Sponsors of Literacy.” College Composition and Communication 49, no. 2 (May 1998): 165–85. Brayman Hackel, Heidi. “ ‘Boasting of silence’: Women Readers in a Patriarchal State.” In Reading, Society and Politics in Early Modern England, edited by Kevin Sharpe and Steven N. Zwicker, 101–21. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. Bruyneel, Sally. Margaret Fell and the End of Time: The Theology of the Mother of Quakerism. Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2010. Certeau, Michel de. The Practice of Everyday Life. Translated by Steven F. Rendall. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1984. Charlton, Kenneth. “Mothers as Educative Agents in Pre-Industrial England.” History of Education 23, no. 2 (1994): 129–56. ———. Women, Religion and Education in Early Modern England. London: Routledge, 1999. Chartier, Roger. The Order of Books: Readers, Authors, and Libraries in Europe between the Fourteenth and Eighteenth Centuries. Translated by Lydia G. Cochrane. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1994. Collinson, Patrick. The Reformation: A History. New York: Modern Library of Random House, 2004. Cope, Jackson I. “Seventeenth-Century Quaker Style.” PMLA 71 (1956): 725–54. Courcelles, Dominique de, and Carmen Val Julian, eds. Des Femmes et des Livres: France et Espagnes, XIV e–XVIIe siecle. Paris: École des Chartes, 1999. Crawford, Patricia. Women and Religion in England, 1500–1720. London: Routledge, 1993. ———. “Women’s Published Writings 1600–1700.” In Women in English Society, 1500–1800, edited by Mary Prior, 211–82. London and New York: Methuen, 1985. Cressy, David. Literacy and the Social Order: Reading and Writing in Tudor and Stuart England. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980. Crosfield, Helen G. Margaret Fox of Swarthmoor Hall. London: Headley Brothers, 1913. Cummings, Brian. The Literary Culture of the Reformation: Grammar and Grace. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002. Dailey, Barbara Ritter. “The Husbands of Margaret Fell: An Essay on Religious Metaphor and Social Change.” Seventeenth Century 2 (1987): 55–71. Dickens, A. G. The English Reformation. New York: Schocken Books, 1964.

206 Bibliography Donawerth, Jane. “Women’s Reading Practices in Seventeenth-Century England: Margaret Fell’s Women’s Speaking Justified.” Sixteenth Century Journal 37, no. 4 (Winter 2006): 985–1005. Donnelly, Colleen. Linguistics for Writers. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1994. Felch, Susan M. “Tracing Translations in Tyndale’s Obedience of the Christian Man.” Sixteenth Century Society Conference, New Orleans, October 16, 2014. Ferguson, Margaret W. Dido’s Daughters: Literacy, Gender, and Empire in Early Modern England and France. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003. Feroli, Teresa. Political Speaking Justified: Women Prophets and the English Revolution. Newark: University of Delaware Press, 2006. Freire, Paulo. “The Adult Literacy Process as Cultural Action for Freedom.” Harvard Educational Review 40 (1970): 205–25. Reprinted in Language and Literacy in Social Practice, edited by Janet Maybin, 252–63. Philadelphia: Multilingual Matters, 1994. Gardiner, Judith Kegan. “Margaret Fell Fox and Feminist Literary History: A ‘Mother in Israel’ Calls to the Jews.” Prose Studies 17, no. 3 (December 1994): 42–56. ———. “Re-Gendering Individualism: Margaret Fell Fox and Quaker Rhetoric.” In Privileging Gender in Early Modern England, edited by Jean R. Brink, 205–24. Kirksville, MO: Sixteenth Century Journal Publishers, 1993. Garman, Mary Van Vleck. “Quaker Women’s Lives and Spiritualities.” In The Oxford Handbook of Quaker Studies, edited by Stephen W. Angell and Pink Dandelion, 232–44. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. Geiter, Mary K. “Penn, William (1644–1718).” In Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, edited by Lawrence Goldman. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004–. Article published September 23, 2004. . Gill, Catie. Women in the Seventeenth-Century Quaker Community: A Literary Study of Political Identities, 1650–1700. Aldershot, UK, and Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2005. Glines, Elsa F., ed. and introd. Undaunted Zeal: The Letters of Margaret Fell. Foreword by Rosemary Moore. Richmond, IN: Friends United Press, 2003. Graff, Harvey. “The Legacies of Literacy.” In Language and Literacy in Social Practice, edited by Janet Maybin, 151–67. Philadelphia: Multilingual Matters, 1994. Grafton, Anthony, and Lisa Jardine. From Humanism to Humanities: Education and the Liberal Arts in Fifteenth- and Sixteenth-Century Europe. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1986. Graham, Elspeth, Hilary Hinds, Elaine Hobby, and Helen Wilcox, eds. Her Own Life: Autobiographical Writings by Seventeenth-Century Englishwomen. London and New York: Routledge, 1989.

Bibliography 207 Greaves, Richard L. “Farnworth, Richard (1630–1666).” In Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, edited by Lawrence Goldman. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004–. Article published September 23, 2004. . ———. “Venner, Thomas (1608/9–1661).” In Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, edited by Lawrence Goldman. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004–. Article published September 23, 2004. . Green, Ian. Print and Protestantism in Early Modern England. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. Green, I. M. The Re-Establishment of the Church of England, 1660–1663. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1978. Gwyn, Douglas. “Quakers, Eschatology, and Time.” In The Oxford Handbook of Quaker Studies, edited by Stephen W. Angell and Pink Dandelion, 202–17. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. Hagglund, Betty. “Quakers and Print Culture.” In The Oxford Handbook of Quaker Studies, edited by Stephen W. Angell and Pink Dandelion, 477–91. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. Haigh, Christopher. English Reformations: Religion, Politics, and Society Under the Tudors. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993. Halliday, Paul D. “Jeffreys, George, first Baron Jeffreys (1645–1689).” In Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, edited by Lawrence Goldman. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004–. Article published September 23, 2004. . ———. “Twisden (formerly Twysden), Sir Thomas, first baronet (1602–1683).” In Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, edited by Lawrence Goldman. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004–. Article published September 23, 2004. . Handley, Stuart. “Turnor, Sir Christopher (1607–1675).” In Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, edited by Lawrence Goldman. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004–. Article published September 23, 2004. . Heal, Felicity. Reformation Britain and Ireland. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003. Hill, Christopher. The English Bible and the Seventeenth-Century Revolution. London: Allen Lane; New York: Penguin, 1993. ———. The World Turned Upside Down: Radical Ideas During the English Revolution. Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin, 1972. Hinds, Hilary. George Fox and Early Quaker Culture. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2011. Hobby, Elaine. “Handmaids of the Lord and Mothers in Israel: Early Vindications of Quaker Women’s Prophecy.” Prose Studies 17, no. 3 (December 1994): 88–98.

208 Bibliography Houston, R. A. Literacy in Early Modern Europe: Culture and Education, 1500– 1800. New York: Longman, 1988. Ingle, H. Larry. First Among Friends: George Fox and the Creation of Quakerism. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994. ———. “Fox, George (1624–1691).” In Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, edited by Lawrence Goldman. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004–. Article published September 23, 2004. . Jagodzinski, Cecile M. Privacy and Print: Reading and Writing in SeventeenthCentury England. Charlottesville and London: University Press of Virginia, 1999. Jewell, Helen M. Education in Early Modern England. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1998. Jones, Norman. The English Reformation: Religion and Cultural Adaptation. Oxford: Blackwell, 2002. Kelsey, Sean. “Fell, Thomas (bap. 1559, d. 1658).” In Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, edited by Lawrence Goldman. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004–. Article published September 23, 2004. . King, John N., ed. Voices of the English Reformation: A Source Book. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004. King, Margaret L., ed. Oxford Bibliographies: Renaissance and Reformation. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010–. . ———, ed. and trans. Reformation Thought: An Anthology of Sources. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Co., 2016. Kintgen, Eugene R. Reading in Tudor England. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1996. Kunze, Bonnelyn Young. “Fell [née Askew], Margaret (1614–1702).” In Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, edited by Lawrence Goldman. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004–. Article published September 23, 2004. . ———. Margaret Fell and the Rise of Quakerism. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1994. Lake, Peter. Anglicans and Puritans?: Presbyterianism and English Conformist Thought from Whitgift to Hooker. London: Unwin Hyman, 1988. ———. “Anti-popery: The Structure of a Prejudice.” In Conflict in Early Stuart England: Studies in Religion and Politics, 1603–1642, edited by Richard Cust and Ann Hughes, 72–106. London: Longman, 1989. Laqueur, Thomas W. “Toward a Cultural Ecology of Literacy in England, 1600– 1850.” In Literacy in Historical Perspective, edited by Daniel P. Resnick, 43– 57. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1983.

Bibliography 209 Luckyj, Christina. “A Moving Rhetoricke”: Gender and Silence in Early Modern England. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2002. Luecke, Marilyn Serraino. “ ‘God hath made no difference such as men would’: Margaret Fell and the Politics of Speech.” Bunyan Studies 7 (1997): 73–95. MacCulloch, Diarmaid. Reformation: Europe’s House Divided, 1490–1700. London: Penguin, 2003. Mack, Peter. Elizabethan Rhetoric: Theory and Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. Mack, Phyllis. Visionary Women: Ecstatic Prophecy in Seventeenth-Century England. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1992. McGrath, Alison E. Reformation Thought: An Introduction. 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell, 1993. McKenzie, D. F. “Speech-Manuscript-Print.” Library Chronicle of the University of Texas at Austin 20, nos. 1–2 (1990): 86–109. Moore, Mary. The Light in Their Consciences: Early Quakers in Britain 1646–1666. University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2000. Moore, Rosemary. “Seventeenth-Century Context and Quaker Beginnings.” In The Oxford Handbook of Quaker Studies, edited by Stephen W. Angell and Pink Dandelion, 13–28. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. Moss, Ann. Printed Commonplace-Books and the Structuring of Renaissance Thought. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996. Narveson, Kate. Bible Readers and Lay Writers in Early Modern England: Gender and Self-Definition in an Emergent Writing Culture. Farnham, UK, and Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2012. O’Day, Rosemary. Education and Society, 1500–1800: The Social Foundations of Education in Early Modern Britain. London: Longman, 1982. Orr, D. A. “Foster, Sir Robert (1589–1663).” In Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, edited by Lawrence Goldman. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004–. Article published September 23, 2004. . Peters, Kate. Print Culture and the Early Quakers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. Phillips, C. B. “Fleming, Sir Daniel (1633–1701).” In Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, edited by Lawrence Goldman. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004–. Article published September 23, 2004. . Pollard, A. W., and G. R. Redgrave, comp. A Short-Title Catalogue of Books Printed in England, Scotland, and Ireland, and of English Books Printed Abroad, 1475–1640. 2nd ed. Revised and enlarged by W. A. Jackson, F. S. Ferguson, and K. F. Pantzer. 2 vols. London: The Bibliographic Society, 1976–91. Raymond, Joad. Pamphlets and Pamphleteering in Early Modern Britain. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.

210 Bibliography Ross, Isabel. Margaret Fell: Mother of Quakerism. London: Longmans, Green, 1949. Schofield, Mary Anne. “ ‘Womens Speaking Justified’: The Feminine Quaker Voice, 1662–1797.” Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature 6 (1987): 61–77. Seward, Paul “Charles II (1630–1685).” In Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, edited by Lawrence Goldman. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004–. Article published September 23, 2004. . Sharpe, Kevin. Reading Revolutions: The Politics of Reading in Early Modern England. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2000. Sherman, William H. “ ‘The Book thus put in every vulgar hand’: Impressions of Readers in Early English Printed Bibles.” In The Bible as Book: The First Printed Editions, edited by Paul Saenger and Kimberley Van Kampen, 125– 33. London: British Library; New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Press, 1999. ———. John Dee: The Politics of Reading and Writing in the English Renaissance. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1995. Shuger, Debora Kuller. The Renaissance Bible: Scholarship, Sacrifice, and Subjectivity. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1994. Smith, Nigel. “Hidden Things Brought to Light: Enthusiasm and Quaker Discourse.” Prose Studies 17, no. 3 (December 1994): 57–69. ———. “Whitehead, George (1637–1724).” In Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, edited by Lawrence Goldman. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004–. Article published September 23, 2004. . Spufford, Margaret. “First Steps in Literacy: The Reading and Writing Experiences of the Humblest Seventeenth-Century Spiritual Autobiographers.” Social History 4 (1979): 407–35. ———. Small Books and Pleasant Histories: Popular Fiction and Its Readership in Seventeenth-Century England. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1982. ———. “Women Teaching Reading to Poor Children in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries.” In Opening the Nursery Door: Reading, Writing, and Childhood, 1600–1900, edited by Mary Hilton, Morag Styles, and Victor Watson, 47–62. London and New York: Routledge, 1997. Stallybrass, Peter. “Books and Scrolls: Navigating the Bible.” In Books and Readers in Early Modern England: Material Studies, edited by Jennifer Andersen and Elizabeth Sauer, 42–79. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002. Stock, Brian. The Implications of Literacy: Written Language and Models of Interpretation in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1983. Teague, Frances. “Judith Shakespeare Reading.” Shakespeare Quarterly 47 (1996): 361–73.

Bibliography 211 Thickstun, Margaret Olofson. “ ‘This was a Woman that taught’: Feminist Scriptural Exegesis in the Seventeenth Century.” Studies in Eighteenth-Century Culture 21 (1992): 149–58. ———. “Writing the Spirit: Margaret Fell’s Feminist Critique of Pauline Theology.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 63 (1995): 269–79. Thomas, Keith. “The Meaning of Literacy in Early Modern England.” In The Written Word: Literacy in Transition, edited by Gerd Baumann, 97–131. Oxford: Clarendon, 1986. Trevett, Christine. Quaker Women Prophets in England and Wales, 1650–1700. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 2000. Wandel, Lee Palmer. The Reformation: Towards a New History. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2011. Webb, Maria. The Fells of Swarthmoor Hall and Their Friends: With an Account of Their Ancestor, Anne Askew, the Martyr. London: Alfred W. Bennett, 1865. Wilcox, Catherine M. Theology and Women’s Ministry in Seventeenth-Century English Quakerism: Handmaids of the Lord. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 1995.

Index authorship, collaborative, 30 autobiography, 2, 17, 37–39, 55–67; popular during her lifetime, 51; spiritual, 38

Aaron (biblical figure), 181–82 Abel (biblical city), 174 Abel (biblical figure), 179 Abiram (biblical figure), 181 Abraham (biblical patriarch), 168, 172, 176n154, 180n36; as father of Israel, 103, 174, 180n35, 194 Abraham, Daniel (son-in-law of MF), 8, 63n49, 65–66 Abram. See Abraham Act against Puritans and against Papists (1593), 139n26 Adam (biblical patriarch), 76n81, 94n114, 165, 178; as equally culpable for Fall, 51, 158, 179, 184 Ahab (biblical king), 174n141 Allen, Richard C., 46n134 Alverstone, 61 America, 62 Ames, Marjon, 22n69, 37n115 Anabaptists, 48n143, 85n2 Angell, Stephen W., 11n36 Anger, Jane, 158n15 Anglicans. See Church of England Anglo-Dutch War, Second, 46, 152n13 Anna (biblical prophet), 168 antichrist, 50, 175n150, 189–90 Apollos (biblical figure), 163 apostasy, 166, 189 apparel, modest, 165 Aquila (biblical figure), 49, 163 Aramaic, 14n43, 26n87 Argula von Grumbach, 49n144 Askew, Anne (1521–1546), 4, 15, 44n129 Askew, John (father of MF), 4, 55 Askew, Margaret. See Fell, Margaret Askew assizes, 15, 61, 137, 143–45, 155 Audland, Ann, 47 Augustine, St., 25

Baal-peor (deity of Moab), 174n141, 183 Babel, 41, 86, 103n3, 180 Babylon, 50, 122, 166; as spiritual, 184 Balaam (biblical figure), 182 Balack (biblical king of Moab), 182–83 Baptists, 38n118 Barak (biblical figure), 176n154 Barbados, 62n40 Barry, Jonathan, 23 Barton, David, 19 Baruch (biblical figure), 122 Beal, Peter, 32, 34 Beauchamp, Virginia Walcott, 19n59 Behn, Aphra, 1n2 Beilin, Elaine V., 4n4, 44n129 Benson, Pamela J., 158n15 Berlin, Adele, 75n71, 93n101, 177n1 Bethlehem, 172 Bible, 18; as material book, 17; Apocrypha of, 22; Bishops version of, 25n81, 27n88; Coverdale Version of, 21, 26–27, 29, 157n5, 174n140; cross-referencing of, 25; English Hexapla for, 21n64; Geneva Version of, 11, 21, 22n69, 25n81, 26–27, 29, 78n99, 96n133, 151n3, 157–59, 167n85, 170–73, 175nn144 and 150, 192n161; Great Bible version of, 27n88, 29n88; individual interpretation of, 18, 26, 28; King James or Authorized Version of, 11, 20–23, 26–29, 71n30, 89n46, 104n13, 151n3, 157n5, 159n24, 168n92, 170n109; Latin translation of, 18; 213

214 Index memorization of, 22–28, 30, 34; paraphrase of as interpretation, 30–31; politics of interpretation of, 25–26; reading of, 10, 16–17, 20, 35n112; theory of reading of, 12–13, 89; text of not privileged over inner Word, 17; Tyndale New Testament version of, 20, 26–27, 29, 71n30, 89n46; vernacular translation of, 11, 18 Bible, books of: Acts, 12, 25, 29, 70–72, 75n72, 77n91, 83nn142 and 146, 85n6, 88–89, 93n102, 95n124, 101nn177 and 181, 105–6, 109n67, 122n189, 127n232, 156n40, 157n1, 163, 165–66, 169–71, 175n145, 189n115, 196n199; Amos, 192n155; 2 Chronicles, 84n150, 101n186, 155n29, 168n96, 171n122; Colossians, 77n92, 95n126, 107–8, 163, 194–96; 1 Corinthians, 25, 31, 34, 48, 78nn103–4, 81n128, 96nn137 and 139, 100n170, 157–58, 163–65, 170, 185; 2 Corinthians, 73n49, 79n110, 82n135, 90n71, 97n145, 99n163, 158, 184n73, 193nn167 and 172; Daniel, 14n43, 30, 58n22, 70n14, 87nn24–25 and 27, 116nn128–31, 120–21; Deuteronomy, 74n60, 82–83, 91n84, 100–1, 104nn14–15, 107n44, 117nn138–40, 121n176, 123–24, 128nn238–39, 133n275, 183; Ephesians, 69n4, 85–86, 104n9, 185, 191–93, 196; Esther, 174n137; Exodus, 80n115, 97n151, 105n24, 109n58, 112n92, 123nn192 and 194, 125–26, 151n3, 171n122, 192nn159 and 162, 195n187; Ezekiel, 32, 73n54, 78n105, 84n150, 91n76, 96n140, 101n186, 112nn89 and 91, 120nn165 and 169–70, 128nn234 and 236 and 240; Ezra, 151n6,

195n187; Galatians, 13, 76n76, 93n109, 159, 168n92, 170n117, 186n88, 192n161, 196n205; Genesis, 27, 30–31, 51, 76n81, 86n18, 94n114, 103–4, 109nn57 and 60, 121n178, 132nn264 and 270, 157–58, 168–69, 176n154, 179–81, 186–88, 192n157; Habakkuk, 126n219; Haggai, 106n34, 130–31, 193n171; Hebrews, 29–32, 71n22, 76–78, 82n139, 88n38, 93nn107 and 109, 95nn122 and 130–31, 96n133, 100n174, 103n1, 109n56, 121n179, 126n217, 169n108, 191–96; Hosea, 71n26, 88n41, 129n245, 132–33; Isaiah, 13, 29–32, 40, 42, 67n71, 69–80, 82–83, 85, 88–91, 93–96, 98n153, 100–1, 103–11, 113–17, 120–22, 124–28, 130–35, 151n3, 157n1, 159, 168, 171, 177nn1–2, 183–84, 187n100, 191–92, 194nn176 and 181–82 and 184, 196n200; James, 75–76, 92–94, 146n83; Jeremiah, 13, 27, 32, 73n51, 74–75, 81–82, 91–93, 99n164, 103n5, 107–10, 112n95, 115–17, 119n159, 122nn183 and 187–88, 151–52, 157n1, 159, 189–90, 192n153; Job, 29, 77n95, 95n129; Joel, 107n45, 113nn101 and 103, 129nn247 and 249, 157n1, 171, 175n145, 192nn153 and 156, 194nn176 and 178; John, 30–32, 40, 48, 70n11, 73–74, 77nn85 and 87, 80nn117 and 121, 82nn133 and 136, 84nn151–52, 87n22, 90–91, 94nn118 and 120, 97–98, 100nn168 and 171, 102nn188–89, 104n10, 121n175, 139–40, 157, 159–60, 161–63, 177, 185–86, 190n131, 193–94; 1 John, 31, 72n34, 75–79, 89n54, 92–96, 111n80, 139, 154n26, 184–85, 189– 90, 196–97; 2 John, 189n116; Jude,

Index 215 197nn211 and 214; Judges, 168n96, 176n154; Judith, 27, 174; 1 Kings, 84n150, 101n186, 108n52, 154–55, 173n136; 2 Kings, 168n96, 171, 174n141; Lamentations, 79n109, 97n144, 177n1; Leviticus, 195n187; Luke, 20–22, 27, 30–31, 40, 69–72, 74–75, 78n101, 80–81, 83nn141– 43 and 147, 86–87, 89–93, 96n135, 98–101, 105n25, 110n71, 121n177, 123n190, 125n206, 153–54, 161–62, 169, 172n129, 187n101, 190–92; Malachi, 71n24, 78n102, 88n40, 96n136, 111n85, 131nn261 and 263; Mark, 40, 48, 57n15, 70n16, 81n123, 87n30, 98n158, 110n71, 123n190, 125n205, 154n25, 161–63, 169, 190n129; Matthew, 15, 23, 25, 29–31, 40, 69–70, 72–74, 76n83, 80–81, 83nn141 and 143 and 149, 85–87, 89–92, 94n116, 98nn154–55 and 157–58, 100–2, 105n25, 110n71, 117n145, 123n190, 125n206, 139–41, 154n25, 156n39, 160–62, 177, 187n98, 191n135; Micah, 177; Nahum, 74n56, 84n150, 91n79, 101n186; Nehemiah, 133n276, 195n187; Numbers, 31, 82n140, 100n175, 114n110, 123n194, 125n204, 181–83; 1 Peter, 69n4, 77, 85–86, 95, 106n35, 123n195, 158n9, 175n152, 178, 194n1; 2 Peter, 31, 186n87, 197n212; Philippians, 34, 166, 175n145; Proverbs, 70n18, 87n33, 111n86, 116nn132–34, 119n163, 127n229, 151n3, 193n167; Psalms, 13, 71n29, 79n112, 83n145, 85, 88n45, 97n147, 101n180, 103nn7–8, 111–12, 116nn125–26, 118–19, 124n201, 126–27, 129n246, 151n3, 159, 177–78, 184n74, 188n103, 191–92, 195nn194–95, 197n211; Revelation, 30–31, 50–51, 69–70,

86–87, 104n18, 109n60, 159, 166–68, 174–75, 178–79, 186–89, 191n137, 194–95; Romans, 29, 72n38, 74n59, 76–77, 90–91, 93nn106 and 109, 95n126, 121–22, 133n274, 135n282, 169n107, 171n121, 178, 184–85, 188n106, 196n200; Ruth, 172; 1 Samuel, 152n10, 171–73; 2 Samuel, 174–75; Song of Solomon, 13, 27, 159; 2 Thessalonians, 71n27, 82n138, 88n43, 100n173, 189–90; 1Timothy, 48, 69nn6–7, 75–76, 81n127, 86nn14–15, 93, 99n162, 157n4, 165, 170–71, 174n142, 197n213; 2 Timothy, 153–54; Zechariah, 32, 67n69, 108n49, 110nn70 and 72–73, 116n135, 129–30, 177, 188, 192n154; Zephaniah, 129–30 Book of Common Prayer, 172 Booy, David, 44n129 Boutcher, Warren, 26n87 Braithwaite, William C., 152n12 Brandt, Deborah, 19, 26n87 Breda, city of, 155 Breslow, Marvin, 23n71, 60n29 Bristol, city of, 60, 62–63 Bruyneel, Sally, 5, 7n25, 9nn31–32, 10n34, 12–13, 15, 39–41, 47–48, 50n145 Bull and Mouth, the, 60 Byfield, Nicholas, 32 Caesar (imperial Roman title), 154 Cain (biblical figure), 179 calendar, Gregorian, 54 calendar, Julian, 54 Calvin, John, 48n143; doctrine of, 187n99 Canaan, 180 Catherine of Braganza, queen of England (1638–1705), 59–60 Caton, Will, 60n31

216 Index Cavendish, Margaret. See Newcastle, Margaret Cavendish, duchess of Certeau, Michel de, 24–25 charity, 164 Charles I, king of England, 46, 155n29 Charles II, king of England, 2, 6, 14, 43–45, 57–60, 63–65, 137–38, 140–41, 144, 146–47; death of, 65; petitioned by Fell, 7, 9, 15, 38, 46–47, 66, 151–56 Charleton, Kenneth, 20n61, 23n71 Chartier, Roger, 24n74, 26 Christ, as shepherd, 33, 39, 73, 90–91, 104 Christocentrism, 12, 31, 42 Church of England, the, 6n20, 12, 25– 27, 49, 56, 145, 166n75, 172n130; as state church, 10, 14–15, 66n64, 105n20; priests of as “blind guides,” 72, 90, 94, 98–101, 170–74, 176 Cicero, Marcus Tullius, 33n105 circumcision, 42, 107, 122, 126, 193 Civil War, British, 10–11, 151n5, 154n28 Cole, Mary, 47 Collins, Alice (Lollard), 23n71 Collinson, Patrick, 9n33 Commandments, Ten, 42, 112 commonplaces, rhetorical, 31–35, 41 Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland, 58n20, 146n79, 151n1 conscience, 10, 79–80, 88, 91–93, 97, 125, 140–42, 151, 155–56; housing Inner Light, 70, 86, 94, 123; causes to write, 82, 100; right to liberty of, 2, 9, 13–15, 42–43, 144, 146–47. See also freedom to worship conventicle. See Meetings Conventicle Act of 1664, 6, 42, 46, 145n73, 151n6 conversion, 12, 49 convincement. See conversion Coogan, Robert, 23n71 Cope, Esther S., 1n2 Cope, Jackson I., 28

Corah (biblical figure), 181 Cornwall, 62 Cotton, Priscilla, 47 Courcelles, Dominique de, 19n59 covenant, 14, 30, 46, 104–34 passim; old vs. new, 17, 42, 105 Crawford, Patricia, 19n60, 20n62 Cressy, David, 19n56 Cromwell, Oliver, 4–5, 10, 23, 41n121, 46, 146n79 Crosfield, Helen G., 3, 55n3 Cumberland, 60 Cumbria, 4, 55n2 Cummings, Brian, 29n98 Cush (biblical figure), 180 Dailey, Barbara Ritter, 4, 6, 29, 48n143, 50n145 Dalton-in-Furness, 4, 55 Dathan (biblical figure), 181 David (biblical king), 42, 103, 106, 108, 110, 115, 117–20, 126–27, 129–31, 159, 174, 184, 192; as ancestor of Jesus, 104, 116, 167 Davies, Lady Eleanor, 1n2 Deborah (biblical prophet), 49, 168, 176n154 Declaration of Breda, 6, 46, 156n37 Declaration of Indulgence of 1687, 66n63 Devil. See Satan Devonshire, 60, 62 Diana (goddess), 41, 70, 87 Dickens, A. G., 9n33 dissenters, 10, 14–15, 27, 30–31, 37, 44 46, 58–59, 66; as audience of Fell’s pamphlets, 47, 49; under Protectorate, 5 Donnelly, Colleen, 33n106 Dorsetshire, 60 Eden, Garden of, 179nn18 and 20 education, men’s, 2 elect, the, 50, 187

Index 217 Egypt, 80, 97–98, 109–10, 112, 114–15, 122, 182; as spiritual, 50, 80, 181–82, 184 Eli (biblical figure), 173 Elizabeth (mother of John the Baptist), 20–22, 34, 49, 105n20, 171–72 Elizabeth, queen of Bohemia (1596– 1662), 58 Ephraim (biblical figure), 130 epistles, 1, 18, 29, 31, 39, 44, 103n2; biblical, 32, 34, 81, 99; definition of, 2, 17, 37; popular during seventeenth century, 51; published posthumously, 9. See also letters equality, 160, 193–94; sexual, 7–8, 13, 51, 157–58, 171, 196; social, 13–15 Erasmus, Desiderius, 23, 33–34 Esau (biblical son of Isaac), 109, 181 eschatology, 12, 31. See also millenarianism Esther (biblical queen of Persia), 49, 173 Eve (biblical matriarch), 31, 76n81, 94n114, 164–65, 178–79, 184; as “the woman” 158–59, 186; transgression of justified, 48, 51, examination, 2, 44, 137–49 exegesis, 16, 26 faith (theological concept), 4–5, 8, 96, 160; and works, 76, 93–94, 126 Fall, the, 11 Familists, 10 Farnworth, Richard (1630–1666), 47, 56 Felch, Susan M., 30 Fell, Bridget (daughter of MF), 4 Fell, George (son of MF), 4, 7, 62n37– 39, 155n31 Fell, Isabel (daughter of MF), 4, 66n67 Fell, Leonard, 60n31 Fell, Margaret Askew, passim; as activist, 6, 24, 45–47; as center for the Society of Friends, 1, 2, 7–8; as Mother of Quakerism, 7, 45;

as widow, 6–8, 45, 63, 140; birth of, 4; circulation of works of in manuscript, 18; conversion of, 5–6, 10, 56; death of, 9, 55; domestic imagery in style of, 31, 40, 49; emphasizing women of the Bible, 34; family of, 4–5, 7, 45, 56–59, 67, 137, 155; imprisoned, 6–7, 38, 44–47, 50, 61–62, 66, 148, 155; literate, 20; marriages of, 4, 7, 55–56, 62; reading theory of, 2, 16–17, 24; rhetoric of, 29–35, 44, 52; style of, 53; theology of, 1–2, 7, 12, 16–17, 37, 178; trials of, 6, 15, 38, 42–45, 137–49 Fell, Margaret Askew, works of: A Brief Collection, 16–18, 36–37, 45n132, 52–53, 176n154; A Call to the Universal Seed of God, 16n47; The Daughter of Zion Awakened, 8, 12, 30–31, 38, 49–51, 53, 157–97; A Declaration and an Information, 16n48; An Epistle of M. Fell to Friends, 24; An Evident Demonstration to Gods Elect, 187n99; Examination, 6, 15, 25, 38, 42–45, 52, 55–67, 137–49, 153nn15 and 17; A General Epistle to Friends, 17n53; A Letter Sent to the King, 2, 6–7, 15, 38, 45–47, 53, 151–56; A Loving Salutation, 2, 6, 13–14, 16, 28, 32, 37, 41–42, 52–53, 103–35; A Relation of Margaret Fell, 2, 4–6, 9–10, 18, 37–39; Some of the Ranter’s Principles Answered, 85n3; A Testimony of the Touchstone, 5–6, 13, 17, 24, 27, 30–32, 37, 40–41, 53, 85–102; To All the Professors, 5, 12, 16, 23, 27, 29, 31, 37, 39–41, 69–102; A Trial by the Scriptures, 85n3; A True Testimony, 17; A Tryal of the False Prophets, 17; Two General Epistles (with James Parke), 17; Undaunted Zeal: The Letters of Margaret Fell,

218 Index 5n11, 44n129; Women’s Speaking Justified, 1–2, 7, 13, 20, 22–23, 25, 27–28, 31, 33–35, 38, 47–49, 52, 157–76 Fell, Margaret (daughter of MF), 4 Fell, Mary (daughter of MF), 4, 57n19, 60n31, 62n41 Fell, Rachel (daughter of MF), 4, 8, 57n19, 63, 65–66, 146n84, 155n31; helping to establish Women’s Meetings, 66n67 Fell, Sarah (daughter of MF), 4, 8, 57n19, 60n31; helping to establish Women’s Meetings, 8, 66n67 Fell, Susannah (daughter of MF), 4, 7, 57n19, 155n31 Fell, Thomas (husband of MF), 4–6, 10–11, 20, 55–57, 62–63; will of, 6 Ferguson, F. S., 27n88 Ferguson, Margaret W., 19 Feroli, Teresa, 47 Fifth Monarchy Men, 58–59 Fleming, Sir Daniel (1633–1701), 43, 144 Foster, Sir Robert (1589–1663), 46n135, 152n7 Fox, George, 3, 5–6, 8–10, 44n129, 56–57, 60–61, 66, 144, 147–49, 166n75; as Fell’s second husband, 7, 47, 62–63, 67; as founder of Society of Friends, 1–2, 142; death of, 8 Fox, George, works of: Concerning Sons and Daughters, 47; Journal of George Fox, 63, 142n52 Fox, Margaret Fell. See Fell, Margaret Askew Foxe, John, 44n129 France, 151n5 freedom to worship, 38. See also conscience, right to liberty of free will, 10 Freire, Paulo, 28n89 Friends, Society of, and printing, 6–7, 11, 17–18, 37; as missionaries,

14; belief in Second Coming as in progress, 8, 10, 12; belief in social equality, 11; founding of, 1, 5, 7; marriages of requiring both men’s and women’s approval, 8; millenarian beliefs of, 2, 14, 30–31, 40, 50–51; persecution of, 6, 9, 14–15, 46, 50, 59–60, 63–66, 87, 96, 98–99, 148, 151, 155; social resistance of, 11; relation to other sects of, 2; theology of, 9–17, 24, 37, 39; use of “thee” and “thou,” 11 Galilee, 161–62 Gardiner, Judith, 29 Garman, Mary Van Vleck, 20n62 Gee, Henry, 139n26 Geiter, Mary K., 1n1 gender politics, 25 genre, 2, 39, 44 Germany, 63 Gill, Catie, 1n1, 8, 187n99 Glines, Elsa F., 5, 8n27, 17n49, 44–45, 50n145, 52, 55n6, 60n31, 63–64, 143n62, 151n2; on Kirkby family, 6, 43n62, 65, 147n91 Gloucester, Henry, duke of (1640– 1660), 58 Graff, Harvey, 18n55 Grafton, Anthony, 18n56, 34n110 Graham, Elspeth, 38n118 Gray’s Inn, 55 Greaves, Richard L., 56n11, 58n23 Greek, 26–27 Green, Ian, 11n37, 20n62, 151n6 Green, I. M., 151n6 Greer, Germaine, 1n2 Gwyn, Douglas, 41n121 Hackel, Heidi Brayman, 19n59 Hagar (biblical figure), 168, 180 Hageman, Elizabeth H., 19n59 Hagglund, Betty, 37n114 Haigh, Christopher, 9n33

Index 219 Halliday, Paul D., 15n46, 42n123, 64n52, 137n1 Ham (biblical figure), 180 Hamilton, Mary, 19 Hampton Court, 59 Hananiah (biblical figure), 122 Handley, Stuart, 43n125, 145n73 Hannah (biblical mother of Samuel), 49, 171–72 Hardy, William John, 139n26 Heal, Felicity, 9n33 Hebrew, 14, 26n87, 103n6 Henrietta Maria, queen of England, 58 hermeneutics, 16, 28 Herod (biblical ruler), 162 Hill, Christopher, 7n21, 9n33, 11, 26 Hinds, Hilary, 11, 38n118 Hobby, Elaine, 20n62, 38n118, 48n144 Holland. See Netherlands Holy Spirit, 12, 25, 118, 172 Hosea (biblical prophet), 129 Houston, R. A., 18n55 Huldah (biblical prophet), 49, 168, 171 humanism, 11; comparative Bible reading practice of, 26–29 hypocrisy, 31, 40, 77–78, 80, 82, 94–99, 100; of priests, 29, 33 iconoclasm, 10 Ingle, H. Larry, 1n1, 5n9, 8, 44n128, 47n137, 56n7 invention, 32–34 Ireland, 62 irony, 44 Isaac (biblical son of Abraham), 174, 176n154, 180–81 Isaiah (biblical prophet), 113, 122, 133, 168, 171, 183 Ishmael (biblical son of Abraham), 180 Israel (biblical kingdom), 73–75, 85n4, 91, 97, 104–6, 108–9, 112–15, 117, 120, 124, 127–28, 133, 171–74, 176–77, 192; as the Jewish people, 41–42, 51, 77, 79n113, 95, 121,

181–83; as spiritual condition, 14. See also Zion Jackson, W. A., 27n88 Jacob (biblical patriarch), 104, 113, 115, 123, 131–35, 160, 174, 178, 182; as tricking twin Esau, 109n57, 181 Jagodzinski, Cecile M., 32 Jamaica, 62n40 James (the apostle), 76, 93 James II, king of England, previously duke of York, as “duke of York” 58, 64–66, 153n14; as “king of England” 47, 65–66 Japheth (biblical figure), 132, 180, 192 Jardine, Lisa, 18n56, 34n110 Jeffreys, Sir George (1645–1689), 64 Jehudi (biblical figure), 122 Jeremiah (biblical prophet), 122 Jerusalem, 70, 75n71, 93n101, 108, 113, 115, 129–31, 161, 168–69, 177, 192, 194; as woman, 27; as New Jerusalem, 50, 188. See also Zion Jewell, Helen M., 19n56 Jews, conversion of, 6, 14, 37, 41–42, 50–51, 103–35 Jezebel (biblical queen), 174–75 Joab (biblical figure), 175 Joanna (biblical figure), 34, 162 John (the apostle), 76, 93, 159, 163, 166, 196 John the Baptist, 80, 98, 105n20, 172n130, 186 Jones, Norman, 9n33 Joseph (biblical figure), 104, 192 Judah (biblical figure), 132, 172 Judah (biblical kingdom), 21–22, 106, 108, 112–15, 130–31, 171, 192, 194; as Judea 171 Jude (biblical figure), 197 Judea. See Judah Judith (biblical slayer of Holofernes), 49, 174

220 Index justice of the peace, 2, 6, 43, 55, 61, 137–38, 144, 147; persecuting Fell, 63, 65 Kelsey, Sean, 4n5, 55n6 King, John N., 9n33 King, Margaret L., 9n33 Kintgen, Eugene R., 19n56, 25–26, 32–33 Kirkby, Richard, Col. (ca. 1625–1681), 6, 43, 65n59, 143n62, 147–48 Kirkby, Roger (ca. 1649–1708), 6, 43, 65n59, 143n62 Kirkby, William (justice of the peace), 6, 43, 65–66, 143n62, 148 Kunze, Bonnelyn Young, 1n1, 4n3, 7–9, 14, 37n116, 43n126, 47n136, 57n19, 62n38, 153n14, 155n31 Lake, Peter, 9n33, 167n85 Lancashire, 4, 55, 62 Lancaster, 6, 8, 42, 55n6, 61–62; as “Lancaster Prison” 66, 137, 145, 156 Lanyer, Aemilia, 158n15 Laqueur, Thomas W., 28n89 Latin, 26–27 Latt, David J., 53n147 Lazarus (biblical figure), 161n34 Leah (biblical matriarch), 172 letters, 1, 7, 17, 39, 45–47, 58–59, 65, 151–56; in scribal hand, 20; manuscript circulation of, 18 Levi (biblical figure), 131 Lewalski, Barbara Kiefer, 159n15 Light, Inner, 1, 5, 25, 28, 31, 33, 39, 42, 48, 50, 69–84 and 86–110 passim; Christ as, 185, 189; definition of, 69n2; theology of, 10–17, 37, 45 Lilley, Kate, 1n2 literacy, 11, 17–18; definition of, 19; migration of, 26n87, 33; vernacular, 2, 19–20, 26–27; women’s, 2, 9–11, 17–28 Loades, Ann, 22n69, 29n93

London, 2, 8–9, 38, 47, 55–60, 62–63, 66; as distribution center, 37; as site of Women’s Meetings, 14, 39 Lower, Thomas (son-in-law of MF), 62 Luckyj, Christina, 49n144 Luecke, Marilyn Serraino, 48n142 Luke (biblical prophet), 161–62 Luther, Martin, 29n98, 48n143 Lutheran religion, 18n55, 49n144 MacCulloch, Diarmaid, 9n33, 11 Mack, Peter, 32, 34 Mack, Phyllis, 18n54, 23 Marsh Grange, 55 Martha (biblical figure), 160, 169 martyrs, 4 Mary (mother of James), 34, 49, 162 Mary (mother of Jesus), 20–22, 34, 105n20, 166, 171–72 Mary (sister of Lazarus), 161n34, 169 Mary, princess of Orange (1631–1660), 58 Mary I, queen of England, 5 Mary Magdalene, 34, 48, 157n1, 161–63, 169 Matheson, Peter, 49n144 Matthew (biblical prophet), 162 McGrath, Alister E., 9n33 McKenzie, D. F., 24–25 Meeting Houses, 10, 57 Meetings, 27, 58, 60–62, 145; at Swarthmoor Hall, 5–6, 15, 43–44, 57, 61, 63, 137–38, 140–42; cornerstone of faith, 8; women speak in, 13; Women’s, 8, 14, 39, 66–67 metaphor, 12, 28, 31, 50; gendered, 2, 38, 48–49, 51 Methodists, 18 Mikesell, Margaret, 19n59 millenarianism, 2, 10, 12, 14, 40–41, 50–51, 178; definition of, 8, 10. See also Friends, Society of, millenarian beliefs of; Second Coming Milton, John, 171n119

Index 221 ministers, lecturing, 4, 56. See also preachers, traveling Miriam (biblical prophet), 49, 171 mittimus, 61, 137 Moab, 183 Moore, Mary, 60n28, 151n6 Moore, Rosemary, 1n1, 9n33, 20n63, 22n69 Mordecai (biblical figure), 173–74 More, Sir Thomas, 15, 23 Moses (biblical figure), 74, 79, 91, 97, 117, 121–23, 133, 174, 181–83; as law-giver, 105; as prophet, 42, 80, 98, 122, 128 Moss, Ann, 32–34 Naboth (biblical figure), 174n141 Narveson, Kate, 33n106 Nayler, James, 166n75 Nebuchadnezzar (biblical figure), 58n22 Netherlands, 63, 155n37; as Holland, 151n5 Newcastle, Margaret Cavendish, duchess of, 1n2 Nimrod (biblical figure), 180 Noah (biblical patriarch), 103n3, 180 Oath of Allegiance, 6, 15, 25, 42–43, 46, 56n7, 59, 61, 78n98, 96n132, 137–142, 144–49, 151n6; as “oath of obedience” 137, 139 Oath of Obedience. See Oath of Allegiance oaths, against Friends’ religious principles, 6, 10, 15, 43, 46, 61, 139–42, 146 O’Day, Rosemary, 23n71 O’Donnell, Anne, Sr., 76n80, 94n113 Orr, D. A., 152n7 pamphlets, 2, 6–9, 11, 14, 17, 20, 31, 40, 47–51; definition of, 37 Pantzer, K. F. 27n88 Parke, James, 17n49 Parker, Henry (1638–1713), 62

parliament, 46, 58, 59 Paul (the apostle), 40, 69–70, 74–77, 81–82, 86, 91, 93–95, 100n174, 153, 184–85, 189, 192–93, 195–97; on equality of all before God, 13; on women’s speaking, 2, 25, 31, 33–34, 48–49, 157, 163–66, 169–70, 175 Penn, William, 1n1, 10, 63n45, 142n52 Peter (the apostle), 77, 197 Peters, Kate, 7, 11n36, 20n62, 37n114, 44–45, 47–48, 166n75 petitions, 6, 9, 15, 47, 64–66 Pharisees, 31, 80, 98, 160–61 Philip the Evangelist, 169–70, 175 Phillips, C. B., 43n124, 144n65 plague: Great Plague of London, 46, 152n13 Pollard, A. W., 27n27 politics, religious, 2, 45–47 praemunire, 6, 61, 143 printing press, 6, 17 preachers, traveling, 1, 5, 37 priests, as “blind guides.” See Church of England Priscilla (biblical figure), 49, 163 Privy Council, 144n64 Proclamation of Grace (1661), 59 professors, 69–102 prophecy, 6, 30, 80–81, 87, 98, 102–3, 122–23, 182–83, 186, 188; fulfillment of, 31, 94, 106, 129 Protectorate, 4–5 Protestantism, 6, 9–11; radical, 85–102; theology of, 18 Protestant Reformation, 9–11, 17–18 Pyper, Margaret (mother of MF), 4 Quaker Act of 1662, 46, 59, 151n6 Quakers. See Friends, Society of Queen of Sheba, 49, 173 Rachel (biblical matriarch), 172 Ranters, 85n3 Raymond, Joad, 37n113, 48n144

222 Index reading, 2, 16–28; taught separately from writing, 18 Rebekah (biblical matriarch, wife of Isaac), 181n39 Redgrave, G. R., 27n88 Rehoboam (biblical son of Solomon), 154 reprobates, 79, 97 Restoration, 6, 58n20, 151n1 resurrection, 169, 188 revelation, 165–66 rhetoric, argumentative strategies of, 30–35; building arguments from biblical texts, 30–31, 39, 44, 48, 51; Quaker, 2; religious, 28–35; using biblical language in, 28–29, 31. See also style Richardson, Matthew (uncle of MF), 43, 147n91 rights, civil, 6 Roman Catholic Church, 6, 18, 38, 57n16, 81n124, 149, 185n80; antiCatholicism against, 10, 15, 43, 49, 80n119, 140, 144, 146, 166–67, 170n119, 174n141 Ross, Isabel, 4n3, 7n21 Ruth (biblical figure), 172 Salome (biblical figure), 162 Salthouse, Thomas, 60n31 salvation, 11, 18, 42 Samaria (biblical city), 160, 169 Sarah (biblical matriarch), 49, 168, 176n154, 180 Satan, 50, 56; as “Devil” 41, 76, 81, 94, 98–99, 188, 196; as Dragon, 167; as “prince of darkness” 179, 184–85; as “prince of the world” 82, 100; as “Serpent” 48, 50–51, 158–60, 178–79, 181, 184, 186–88, 191 schemata, 33n106 Schofield, Mary Anne, 29, 48n142 Scotland Yard, 65 Second Coming, 8, 10–13, 39–40, 49, 69n8, 106n36; Friends embody,

39; in process, 86–87, 188, 190. See also millenarianism seeker, 4, 56 Serpent. See Satan Seward, Paul, 58n20, 151n1 Shakespeare, William, 19 Sharpe, Kevin, 19n56, 25, 32n104 Shaver, Anne, 1n2 Shem (biblical figure), 132, 180, 192 Sherman, William H., 19n56, 24n74, 32n104 Shuger, Debora K., 26 Simeon (biblical figure), 168 Simon (biblical figure), 161 Simmonds, Martha, 166n75 sin, 71, 78, 81, 84, 88–89, 93–94, 96, 99, 101, 106–7, 109–10, 125, 161, 185, 189–90; cleansed of by Christ’s sacrifice, 92, 126; laws should punish, 155; of Jews as God’s people, 122, 131; only true faith overcomes, 76 Smith, Nigel, 29, 65n55, 142n52 Snook, Edith, 32n102 Sodom, 50, 109; as spiritual 184 Solomon (biblical king), 111, 119, 127, 154n29, 159, 173; as builder of the first temple, 193–94 Somersetshire, 60, 62 Speght, Rachel, 158–59n15 Spence, Robert (artist), 3 Spinoza, Baruch, 37 Spufford, Margaret, 19n56, 20n61 Stallybrass, Peter, 35 stases, 43 Staunton, Edmund, 25n82 steeple-house, 57 St. Mary’s in Ulverston, 5 Stock, Brian, 26n85 Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 30n99 Strickland, John, 26n82 Stubbs, Elizabeth, 151n2 Stubbs, John (1618–1675), 151n2 style, prophetic, 38, 50; Quaker, 28–35; repetition in, 28, 30, 41

Index 223 Swarthmoor Hall, 3–6, 8–9, 15, 42, 44, 47, 55–57, 60–63, 67, 155; as center for Society of Friends, 7, 37 Tamar (biblical figure), 172 Teague, Frances, 19 Thickstun, Margaret Olofson, 34n111, 48–49 Thirty Years’ War, 10 Thomas, Keith, 19n56, 23n71 Timothy (biblical apostle), 69, 86, 153, 157, 170, 197 tithes, 66n64 Todd, Janet, 1n2 tolerance, religious, 6, 46 topics. See commonplaces, rhetorical tracts. See pamphlets Trevett, Christine, 48n144, 166n75 trinity, 12 Turnor, Sir Christopher (1607–1675), 43, 45, 61, 145–49 Twisden, Sir Thomas (1602–1683), 15, 42–45, 137–44, 148 Tyndale, William, 30 Ulverston, 4–5, 61n33 Ussher, James, 23n71 Val Julian, Carmen, 19n59 Venner, Thomas (1608/9–1661), 58n23 Venner’s Rising 58n23 vision, mystical, 40, 84 visitation, 88, 105 Vives, Juan Luis, 19n59 Wandel, Lee Palmer, 9n33 Webb, Maria, 4n4 West, I. Walton, 3 Whitehall Court, 65 Whitehead, George (1637–1724), 65 Wilcox, Catherine M., 12, 13n41, 17–18, 28, 30 Wilcox, Helen, 38n118 Wolfe, Don M., 171n119

women, as judged inferior to men, 158–59; as preachers, 11, 157, 163, 165–66, 170–76; as prophets, 164–65, 168–72, 175; as teachers of reading, 20n61; defenses of preaching by, 1, 33, 38, 47–49, 157–76; education of, 11, 18; empowering of, 1; feminine voice of, 29; forbidden to speak, 34, 48; imagery of, 37, 159–60, networks of, 38; roles of, 2, 44; social reading of, 19, 27; taught to read, not write, 18; writings by, 1n2, 20n62. See also Meetings, Women’s Woods, Susanne, 158n15 Worcester, 7n22 Word, Christ as, 11–12, 28, 30, 85n1, 87, 92, 102, 115, 121, 176; inner, 6, 12–13, 16–17, 24, 28, 37, 39–41, 70, 74–75, 80–81, 87, 92, 98–99, 109, 117–19, 121, 123, 127, 166 wordplay, 57n17, 79n111, 81n124, 97n146, 99n159; puns, 45, 88n39 Yorkshire, 14, 60 Zion, 74, 79, 85, 91, 96, 103, 113–14, 124, 129, 132, 135, 168, 178, 187, 191, 194–95; as “daughter of Zion” 12, 51, 75, 93, 130, 177