am I refreshed to hear from thee, to hear of thy faithfulness and boldness in the work of the Lord. O! dear heart, I cannot utter the joy I have concerning thee; thy presence I have. continually in spirit, therewith am I filled with joy; all glory and honour be to our God for ever. O! blessed be the day in which thou wast born, that thou art found worthy to labour in the work of the Lord. Surely the Lord hath found thee faithful in a little, therefore he hath committed much unto thee; go on in the name and power of the Lord Jesus Christ, from whence all strength cometh, to whom be all glory, and honour for ever. O dear heart, go on, conquering and to conquer, knowing this that thy crown is sure. So, dear heart, now is the time of the Lord's work, and few are willing to go forth into it. All the whole world lieth in wickedness, doing their own work; but blessed be the Lord for ever who hath called us from doing our own work, into his great work. O! marvellous are his works, and his ways past finding out. O dear heart, thou knowest my heart, thou mayst read daily how that I rejoice in nothing more than in thy prosperity in the work of the Lord: oh! it is past my utterance to express the joy I have for thee. I am full, I am full of love towards thee, never such love as this; the mighty power of the Lord go along with thee, and keep thee faithful and val

iant, and bold in his pure counsel, to stand single out of all the world. O! dear heart, all my love is purer than gold seven times purified in the fire; O pure is he that hath loved us, therefore let purity and holiness cover us for ever. A joyful word it was to me, to hear that thou wast moved to go for Bristol: O! my own heart, my own life, in that which now stands, act and obey, that thou mayst stand upon thy alone guard; so, dear heart, let thy prayers be for me, that I may be kept pure, out of all temptations, singly to dwell in the life: so farewell.

"Anne Audland."

By this letter it appears, that there was an endeared mutual love between this virtuous couple. He was a man of great knowledge, but when his understanding came to be opened by the preaching of G. Fox, he would say sometimes, "Ah, what have we been doing! Or what availeth our great profession? All our building tumbles down; our profession is high as the wind; the day of the Lord is upon it, and his word as a fire, consumes it as dry stubble; and puts an end to all empty professions and high notions, without life or substance; to all the wisdom of fallen man. We must forsake the world, and all its glory; it is all but vexation of spirit: it is a Saviour that I long for; it is he that my soul pants after. O that I may

of life, by which our souls came to be quickened and made alive; and also in and by the quickening of his holy power, we were made one in a spiritual and heavenly relation, our hearts being knit together in the unspeakable love of truth, which was our life, joy, and delight, and made our days together exceeding comfortable as being that whereby all our temporal enjoyments were sanctified, and made a blessing to us.- -How hard it was, and how

great a loss, to part with so dear and tender an husband as he was to me, is far beyond what I can express the dolour of my heart, my tongue or pen is not able to declare. Yet in this I contented myself, that it was the will of the Lord that he was taken from the evil; and that my loss, though great, was not to be compared to his eternal gain." This widow, in process of time, was married to Thomas Camm, son of John Camm, her former husband's bosom friend. She was indeed a woman of great virtue; but now I part with her, with intention to say more of her when I shall come to the time of her decease.

I return to Francis Howgil, whom we left in prison, and who now appeared again at the assizes, which were holden at Appleby, in the month called August. And he having got liberty to speak with the clerk of the assizes, who told him, that he must prepare himself to

come to a trial, answered, "He was prepared, but thought that all he could say, would little avail, believing they purposed to prosecute him with all severity." Which proved so, as will appear by what follows; for the county justices had incensed the judges against him beforehand. Yet Howgil endeavoured all he could to convince them of his innocency; and to that end drew up the substance of the oath into several heads, which he could subscribe to; to this he joined another paper to judge Turner, shewing the cause of his first commitment, and the former proceedings against him; and how unequal it was to prosecute him upon a statute made against popish recusants. He also signified in that paper, that he was a man of a tender spirit, and feared the Lord from a child, and had never taken any oath but once in his life, which was twenty years ago; and that his refusing to take the oath of allegiance, was not in any evil intent to the king's person or government, but merely upon a conscientious account, and that he could not swear, being otherwise persuaded of the Lord, seeing it was against the command of Christ, and the apostle James's doctrine. Besides, that he was able to make it evident to be against the example of the primitive Christians for divers hundreds of years, and so no new opinion. That he did neither in wilfulness nor obstinacy refuse it,

mitted to speak to me; and thus briefly I have given thee an account hitherto. As to the oath, the substance thereof, with the representation of my case, is presented to the court already, unto which I have set my hand, and also shall in those words testify the same in open court, if required; and seeing it is the very substance the law doth require, I desire it may be accepted, and I cleared from my imprisonment.

Judge. I am come to execute the law, and the law requires an oath, and I cannot alter it; do you think the law must be changed for you, or only for a few; if this be suffered, the administration of justice is hindered, no action can be tried, nor evidence given for the king, nor other particular cases tried; and your principles are altogether inconsistent with the law and government: I pray you shew me which way we shall proceed, shew me some reason, and give me some ground.

F. H. said, I shall: in the mouth of two or three witnesses every truth is confirmed; and we never denied to give, and still are ready to give evidence for the king wherein we are con、 cerned, and in any other matter for the ending of strife between man and man in truth and righteousness, and this answers the substance of the law.

Judge. Is this a good answer, think you?