the ministry.

To this some of his friends objecting, he was put apprentice to a shoemaker, who was also a grazier and a dealer in wool; but it seems George was principally employed in country business, and particularly in the care of sheep, an employment suitable to his retired disposition, and, as Wm. Penn observes, “ a just figure of his after ministry and service." In this station he discharged his duties with great fidelity, and was remarkable for his veracity and sobriety; but his tender spirit was often oppressed with the inconsistent conduct of many religious professors, and great was the trouble of his innocent mind on this account. He was at this time frequently engaged in fervent prayer, and received, as he informs us, this divine intimation: "Thou seest how young people go together into vanity, and old people into the earth thou must forsake all, young and old; keep out of all, and be as a stranger to all."

About the 20th year of his age, the exercise of his mind increased upon him so much, that he travelled to various parts of the country, with the hope of finding, among religious professors, some relief to his afflicted state; but for a time his conflicts of spirit continued, and he was tempted almost to despair. It does not however appear that this temptation was of long

duration, though he was, in other respects, much tried and tempted for two or three years. In the course of his travels he came by Lutterworth, Northampton, Newport-Pagnel, and Barnet, to London, where he was much affected with the general state of different religious societies, with none of whom he could freely unite. Here he heard that his relations were uneasy with his absence from home, which induced him to re. turn to them. They seem to have been much strangers to the nature of his religious exercise; some of them proposing marriage, and others a military life, to remove that deep thoughtfulness which attended him on account of his soul's welfare, and those things which relate to the kingdom of God. During this time of sore conflict, he applied to several Ministers in different places for advice and assistance, but none of them afforded any relief to his tribulated spirit.

Whilst his mind was thus exercised, he re ceived many precious openings of divine truths, and of the nature of Christ's kingdom; one proof of which he gave in his reply to the Priest of Drayton, who asked him, why Christ cried out on the cross, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" and why he said, "If it be possible, let this cup pass from me; yet

not my will but thine be done." To this George replied: "At that time the sins of all mankind were upon Christ, and their iniquities and transgressions with which he was wounded, which he was to bear and to be an offering for, as he was man, but died not as he was God;, so in that he died for all men, tasting death for every man, he was an offering for the sins of the whole world." This' answer greatly pleased the Priest, who, at that time, highly applauded George Fox, and would frequently make use of his observations in composing his own sermons. This man, however, afterwards became one of his persecutors,

Other subjects, connected with the spirituality of the gospel dispensation, were, about this time, presented to his understanding; particularly that human learning was not only insufficient, but unnecessary, for making a Minister of Christ; and that there was no extraordinary holiness in those places of religious worship, called churches, which were superstitiously regarded as "dreadful places, holy ground, and the temples of God." The great importance which was then, and has since been attached to human learning, he justly considered to be a means of preventing the free ministry of the gospel of Christ. The maintenance of the

Priests, which was forced from the people, whether hearers or not, appeared, to his understanding, not only inconsistent with the nature of gospel ministry, and the direction of its Author, who said to his disciples, "freely ye have received, freely give;" but he also considered it injurious to the cause of religion, by exciting in its ministers those feelings of ambition and avarice, by which their ministerial labours are often rendered fruitless, if not contemptible. But though he had great openings on these and other subjects, yet he was still liable to many temptations and much trouble of mind, so that when it was day he wished for night, and when it was night he wished for day; but this proved a profitable dispensation, deepening him in religious experience, and enabling him to adopt the words of David: "Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge." He found the various views in which different subjects were presented to his mind, to be consistent not only with each other, but also with the Holy Scriptures, with which he appears to have been early and intimately acquainted, and for which he had a very high

esteem.

Whilst in this exercised state of mind, he travelled into Warwickshire. At Coventry, in the

year 1644, he took lodgings for a short time, and became acquainted with many serious tender-spirited people there. From this place he returned into Leicestershire; after which he again went into Warwickshire in the year 1645, passing by Mansetter, Tamworth, and Coventry; at which places he opened his situation to some P.ests, high in religious profession; from whom, however, he received such advice and treatment as indicated that they were deficient in true religious experience. In the year 1646, he appears to have again taken up his residence at Coventry. The following year he went into Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. In these counties he had many discourses with some well-disposed people, and in the latter he met with a woman named Elizabeth Hooton. This is the first person whom George Fox mentions by name, that we have reason to believe united with him, and, except himself, was the first public preacher of the doctrines professed by them. Whilst in these parts, his troubles and exercises continued: he fasted much; and, with no companion but his Bible, walked abroad in solitary places till night came on. Even during the night he frequently thus spent his time in solitude, and retirement from the world; and, like the forerunner of our blessed Lord, with others who have been distinguished for