s labours was at Swarthmoor, near Ulverston.
His disciples followed his example; the word of the Spirit was given to
women as well as men; and the preachers of both sexes, as well as many
of their followers, attracted the notice and the censures of the civil
magistrate. Their refusal to uncover before the bench was usually punished
with a fine, on the ground of contempt; their religious objection to
take an oath, or to pay tithes, exposed them to protracted periods of
imprisonment; and they were often and severely whipped as vagrants,
because, for the purpose of preaching, they were accustomed to wander
through the country. To these sufferings, as is always the case with
persecuted sects, calumny was added; and they were falsely charged with
denying the Trinity, with disowning the authority of government, and with
attempting to debauch the fidelity of the soldiers. Still, in defiance of
punishment and calumny, the Quakers, so they were called, persevered in
their profession; it was their duty, they maintained, to obey the influence
of the Holy Spirit; and they submitted with the most edifying resignation
to the consequences, however painful they might be to flesh and blood.[1]

Of the severities so wantonly exercised against these religionists it
is difficult to speak with temper; yet it must be confessed that their
doctrine of spiritual impulses was likely to lead its disciples of either
sex, whose minds were weak and imaginations active, to extravagances at the
same time ludicrous and

[Footnote 1: Fox, Journal, i. 29, et seq.; Sewel, i. 24, 31, 34, passim.]

revolting.[1] Of this, James Naylor furnished a striking instance. He had
served in the army, and had been quarter-master in Lambert's troop, from
which office he was discharged on account of sickness.[2] He afterwards
became a disciple of George Fox, and a leading preacher in the capital; but
he "despised the power of God" in his master, by whom he was reprimanded,
and listened to the delusive flattery of some among his female hearers,
who were so captivated with his manner and appearance; as to persuade
themselves that Christ was incorporated in the new apostle. It was not for
him to gainsay what the Spirit had revealed to them. He believed himself to
be set as a sign of the coming of Christ; and he accepted the worship which
was paid to him, not as offered to James Naylor, but to Christ dwelling
in James Naylor. Under this impression, during part of his progre