TRUE HEROISM.* "Lives of great men all remind us THE foot-prints of departed worthies are as indelibly written on the history of the past as are those fossil records which, engraven on the solid rock, have excited the wonder of the geologist, and the superstitious awe of the unlearned and ignorant man. While the hero of the tented plain lives amid the resoundings of popular applause, the verdict of posterity is given in favour of those true heroes whose lives have presented rich lessons of practical wisdom, whose characters have been melted down and refined in the alembic of holiness; who, with "Excelsior" inscribed on their banner, have entered on the field of appointed duty; willingly have these laboured with a sublime constancy, and quitted it only when summoned from earthly labour to that "rest which remaineth for the people of God." Far removed from sectarian egotism is the feeling with which we contemplate the lives of many men of kingly stature, who, within our own borders, have rallied around the Standard of Truth heedless of the * This essay (with one other), written for these pages, was found amongst the MSS. of our late valued friend and contributor, Sarah H. Steevens. The solemn reflection that, since its preparation, the writer has been gathered to her eternal rest, will, we feel, add deepened interest to its contents.-EDITOR. cost,-men of the good old apostolic type, bearing nobly their part in the great drama of life; heroes in the camp of religious freedom, and sages at her councilboard. These greathearts in their day struggled and wrestled to gain for themselves and others that high level of civil and religious liberty now so happily attained. To the devout-minded student of the history of that eventful period those wonderful sermons and addresses that moved the hearts of the masses, and spoke in trumpet-tones to kings and magistrates, are deeply interesting, as among the moral forces that helped to bring out those truth-rays which neither bonds nor afflictions, no power of the persecutor, no mists of ignorance, have ever been able to extinguish. Conspicuous among those thus summoned to a lifelabour stands the name of George Fox, a character, it may be, somewhat rugged and severe in outline, but complete in detail-a man of high moral and spiritual calibre—a man of unflinching courage, who, amid the taunts of magisterial (and ecclesiastical) tyranny, advocated, with a solemn and earnest assertion, the inalienable rights of man, and invested with an absolute prerogative the Great High Priest of our profession; abjured with dignified simplicity the forms, nomenclatures, and usages of the world, and preached an evangel of universal peace and brotherhood; his faith reaching onward to that promised period when "nation shall no longer lift up the sword against nation, neither shall men learn war any more." There is much of interest and instruction in the study of this struggling and earnest spirit, yearning with an intense and sorrowful longing after the light of Divine Truth, in an age of much spiritual darkness and unrest; faithful and true to his convictions, upholding the standard of religion and freedom, whether scourged in market-places, or languishing within those loathsome dungeons into which the persecutor threw his victims; preaching even from thence a stern crusade against priestly despotism, passing an irrevocable judgment on what was unscriptural in doctrine or incorrect in practice; studying all his obligations at the foot of the Cross, obedient to the call of apprehended duty, and devoting his whole life and powers to the service of God. In every phase of such a life there is a noble symmetry-a moral grandeur-both becoming a great reformer. Laying aside the formalities of an established ritual, he re-constructed, amid much danger and difficulty, what he believed to be a Church on the Apostolic model; prepared for the use of his followers a code of discipline detailed and digested with great clearness and ability; and laboured in the infant churches with a truly apostolic fervour, leaving permanent traces of his zeal, both on the Continent of Europe and in the infant settlements of the Western World. The testimony concerning him, of one who was his companion in many labours, is a gem in religious biography well worthy an attentive consideration. A few brief gleanings must here suffice; they are extracted from the preface written by William Penn, another valiant in the great cause of religious freedom :— "Endued with a clear and wonderful depth his matter was profound; he had an extraordinary gift in expounding the Scriptures, but, above all, he excelled in prayer the most awful, living, reverent frame I ever felt was his in prayer. Though God had clothed him with a divine presence and authority, and, indeed, his very presence expressed a religious majesty, he held his place in the Church of God with great meekness, and an engaging humility and moderation; for upon all occasions, like his blessed Master, he was ever willing to be a servant to all. I never saw him out of his place, or not a match for every service and occasion; for in all things he acquitted himself like a strong man, a new-born and heavenly-minded man. Ignorant of useless and sophisticated science, he yet had in him the foundation of all useful and commendable know ledge, and cherished it everywhere. In manner he was courteous beyond all the forms of breeding-temperate in all things. Thus he lived and sojourned among us; and as he lived so he died, so full of assurance was he that he triumphed over death and the grave. "In a good old age he went, and we may truly say that, 'being dead, he yet speaketh.' His works praise him, because they are to the praise of Him who wrought by Him." Several years of his valuable life were passed in prison, his health often impaired by the foul air and the hardships to which he was subjected; but no sooner was he liberated, either by some friendly interference or by some lull in the march of persecution, than he again stood boldly forth as a preacher of righteousness, or as a pleader on behalf of his suffering brethren. At one time there were 4,500 Friends in the prisons of England and Wales. In 1622 twenty died in different prisons in London, and seven more, from ill-treatment, died after being liberated. In 1664 twenty-five died, and in 1665 fifty-two more. The number who perished in this way amounted to between three and four hundred. Whilst these cruelties were inflicted on the heads of families, and imprisonment and scourging awaited them everywhere, we find a wonderful development of piety among the young in their desolated homes, and a matured wisdom in the management of what wreck of prosperity the greed of the oppressor had left them in truth, the children of from ten to sixteen were suddenly transformed into men and women. The rifled meeting-houses were opened for worship, the fields and granaries managed marvellously in many instances. The sufferings of the young are very touching. George Fox, in his Journal, says :-" Whilst I was in the dungeon at Carlisle, a little lad (James Parnell) came to see me, and was convinced, and the Lord quick y made him a powerful minister of the word of life. Many were turned unto Christ by him, though he lived not long, for, travelling into Essex in the work of the ministry, in the year 1665, he was committed to Colchester Castle, where he was put by the cruel gaoler into a hole in the Castle wall, called the Oven, so high from the ground that he went up to it by a ladder, which, being six feet short, he had to climb from the ladder to his hole by a rope fastened above; and when Friends would have given him a cord and a basket to draw up his food, the inhuman keeper would not suffer it, but forced him to fetch it, which, for a long time he did, yet at length, his limbs becoming much benumbed, he missed the rope, and fell a great height on the stones, by which fall he was so wounded in his head and arms, and his body so bruised, that he died a short time after." up This gentle and promising youth had been trained in the schools of literature-he was a valiant soldier of the Lamb. This young martyr writes from Colchester Castle:"They have laboured to make my bonds grievous, but I am kept and nourished in the midst of mine enemies. Glory be to God Who hath accounted me worthy to bear the bonds of the Gospel." Edward Burrough, young in years, but a powerful and awakening minister, was taken at a meeting held in London, and shut up, with above a hundred other Friends, among felons in a noisome prison, where, from want of room, he and many others sickened and died. This devoted servant of the Lord languished daily. He was often heard in prayer both day and night, not forgetting to intercede for his persecutors. Nicholas Beard was a faithful minister of Christ, and a great sufferer for His sake. For one year's tithes he had taken from him twelve oxen, six cows, and one bull--they were sold for £111 5s., but were worth more. For worshipping God according to his conscience, and refusing to bear arms or to swear, he was prosecuted on the Statute for £20 a month, E |