and more
sure that this was not the worship God wanted from him, as he thought
over these matters in solitude under the trees of Barnet Chace.

After a time he went back to his relations in Leicestershire. They saw
the youth was unhappy, and very naturally thought it would be far
better for him to settle down and have a happy home of his own than to
go wandering about the country in distress about the state of his
soul.

'Being returned into Leicestershire, my relations would have had me
married; but I told them I was but a lad and must get wisdom.' Other
people said: 'No, don't marry him yet. Put him into the auxiliary band
among the soldiery. Once he gets fighting, that will soon knock the
notions out of his head.'

Young George would not consent to this plan either. He had his own
battle to fight, his own victory to win, unaided and alone. He did not
yet know that it was useless for him to seek for outward help. Being
still only a lad of nineteen he thought that surely there must be
someone among his elders who could help him, if only he could find out
the right person. Having failed with the professors, he determined
next to consult the priests and see if they could advise him in his
perplexities. 'Priests' is another word that has changed its meaning
almost as much as 'professors' has done. By 'priests' George Fox does
not mean Anglican or Roman Catholic clergy, but simply men of any
denomination who were paid for preaching. At this particular time the
English Rectories and Vicarages were mostly occupied by Presbyterians
and Independents. It was they who preached and who were paid for
preaching in the village churches, which is what he means by calling
them 'priests' in his Journal.

In these stories there is no need to think of George Fox as arguing or
fighting against real Christianity in any of the churches. He was
fighting, rather, against sham religion, formality and hypocrisy
wherever he found them. In that great fight all who truly love Truth
and God are on the same side, even though they are called by different
names. So remember that these old labels that he uses for his
opponents have changed their meaning very considerably in the three
hundred years that have passed since his birth. Remember too that the
world had had at that time nearly three hundred years less in which to
learn good manners than it has now. The manners and customs of the day
were much rougher than those of modern times. However m