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ther adulterers and wicked men were not sinners? and he said, Yes, Which made G. Fox say, "And did not Christ die for sinners? Did he not come to call sinners to repentance?" Yes, said the doctor. "Then," replied G. Fox, "thou hast stopped thy own mouth." And so he proved, that the grace of God had appeared unto all men, though some turned it into wantonness, and walked despitefully against it; and that Christ had enlightened all men, though some hated the light. Several of those that were present, confessed it was true; but the doctor went away in a rage, and came no more to him.

At another time the governor came to him, with two or three parliament men, and they asked him, whether he owned ministers and bishops; to which he said, Yes, such as Christ sent forth; such as had freely received and would freely give; and such as were qualified, and were in the same power and spirit that they were in, in the apostles' days. "But such bishops and teachers as yours are, that will go no farther than they have a great benefice, I do not own; for they are not like the apostles: for Christ saith to his ministers, "Go ye into all nations, and preach the gospel." But ye parliament men, that keep your priests and bishops in such great fat benefices, ye have spoiled them all: for do you think they will go into all nations to preach, or will go any further than they have great fat benefices? Judge yourselves, whether they will or no. To this they could say little, and whatever was objected to G. Fox, he always had an answer in readiness; and because sometimes it was simple and plain, his enemies from thence took occasion to say, that he was a fool. But whatever such said, it is certain that he had a good understanding, though he was not educated in human learning. This I know by my own experience, for I have had familiar conversation with him.

In this his prison, he was much visited, even by people of note. General Fairfax's widow came once to him with a great company, one of which was a priest, who began to quarrel with him, because speaking to one person, he said, thou and thee, and not you; and those that spoke so, the priest said, he counted but fools. Which made G. Fox ask him, whether they that translated the Scriptures, and that made the grammar and accidence, were fools; seeing they translated the Scriptures so, and made the grammar so, thou to one, and you to more than one. With these and other reasons he soon silenced the priest; and several of the company acknowledged the truth he declared to them, and were loving to him; and some of them would have given him money, but he would not receive it.

Whilst I leave him yet prisoner, I will go to other matters, and relate the remarkable case of one William Dundas, who being a man of some repute in Scotland, came over to the communion of those called Quakers, in a singular manner. He was a man of strict life, and observed the ecclesiastical institutions there as diligently as any of the most precise: but in time he saw, that bodily exercise profited little, and that it was true godliness which the Lord required from man. In this state, becoming more circumspect than he was accustomed to be, he did not frequent the public assemblies so much as formerly. But this was soon taken notice of, and being asked the reason why, he said, that there was a thing beyond that, which he looked for. But it was told him, this was a dangerous principle. To which Dundas replied, that he was not to receive the law from the mouth of man. Then the minister (so called) said to him, that he tempted God. To which Dundas returned, that God could not be tempted to evil. Now that which made him more averse to the priests of that nation, was to see their domineering pride; and how they forced some that were not one with them in their principles, to comply with their institutions, sprinkling the children of parents even without their consent. Add to this, their going from one benefice to another, being always ready to go from a small church to a great one, under pretence of more service for

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the church; whereas it plainly appeared, that selfish interest generally was the main cause. behaviour of the clergy, and their rigid persecution, if any deviated a little from the church ceremonies and the common form, turned Dundas's affection from them. An instance of this rigidness, was, that one-Wood, who had some charge in the custom house of Leith, and approved in some respect the doctrine of those called Quakers, had said, that Christ was the word, and that the letter was not the word. For this he was cited before the ecclesiastical assembly of Lothian, where Dundas was present; and Wood so well defended his saying, that none were able to overthrow his arguments: chiefly drawn from these words of John, "That the word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." Wood continuing to maintain his assertion, they began to threaten him with excommunication, and would not allow him so much time as to give his answer to the next assembly. Excommunication there was such a penalty, that people under it were very much deprived of conversation with men. The fear of this made Wood comply in a little time; and meeting Dundas about three months after in the street at Edinburgh, he told him, that he had been forced to bow to the assembly against his light; for if he had been excommunicated, he had lost his livelihood. Thus Wood bowed through human fear, but he hardly outlived this two years.

In the meanwhile the priest became more and more jealous of Dundas; for he not having them in such an esteem as they wished, they said, that he would infect the whole nation. And they did not stop here, but to know with whom he corresponded in England, they opened (so great was their power) his letters at the post-house, and sometimes kept them: but if they found nothing in them, by which they could prejudice him, they caused them to be sealed up again and delivered to him. By this base practice, they came to know that one Gawen Lawry, merchant of London, sent him a box, with about three pounds sterling worth of books. This box Dundas found afterwards that the priest, John Oswald, had taken away: and whatever he did, he could not get them again, till the English came into Scotland, but then many of them were wanting. Dundas in the meanwhile unwilling to comply with the kirk, was at length excommunicated; but he was generally so well esteemed, that none seemed to regard that sentence, so as to keep at a distance from him: which made this act the more contemptible. Now though Dundas favoured the doctrine of the Quakers, yet they were such a despised people, that he, who was

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