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to insist on what he had proposed, if any thing, though not well expressed, yet well intended, was offered by any one much weaker, nay, though but by a babe in Christ.

His countenance was manly and cheerful; his deportment grave, yet affable and courteous, even to the meanest person; his conversation innocent, pleasant, and instructive, yet severe against any thing that was beyond the liberty of truth. These, with his other qualifications of body and mind, did render him both very acceptable and very useful, as a friend, as a neighbor, and as a member and elder in the church of Christ; and the more, for that his time was chiefly employed in being serviceable in one or other of these capacities.

I might here particularly mention the several labors of our deceased friend, according to their respective times, and the nature of their several subjects; but much of this being already done in the ensuing pages, I choose to remit the reader thither, by which possibly he may be excited to the perusal of them, and shall only say concerning them, that the judicious reader will easily observe that his method and style do denote him to have been a scholar; and yet not farther so than the simplicity and purity of the truth, whereof he made profession, would permit him.

I was with our friend, Thomas Ellwood, the greater part of his sickness; in which he was also very frequently visited by our friend George Bowles, who was his neighbor; to whom, therefore, I refer, for the account which he may give of his sickness and dying words.

As it was my good lot to be well acquainted with him (though only in the latter years of his life), and know that he did neither use nor encourage the bestowing elaborate encomiums upon persons deceased; so neither shall I add further concerning him, than to say with the apostle, concerning the faithful, "That he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and by it he, being dead, yet speaketh."

LONDON,

The 12th of the Second month, 1714.

J. W.

* Hebrews xi. 4

GEORGE BOWLES' Testimony concerning THOMAS ELLWOOD.

DEAR FRIENDS,

It is in my heart briefly, on this occasion, to commemorate the tender dealings of the Lord with his people in this latter age of the world, when it hath pleased him, in love to poor lost man, graciously to appear, by the breaking forth of his glorious gospel-day. And by the secret divine reaches of the hand of God, which hath been felt and seen in the light of it, many have been drawn in their spirits to seek after the Lord, and to inquire after the knowledge of the way of life and salvation; and blessed be his holy name, who was graciously pleased, by the in-shinings of this divine light in the hearts of many, to expel the darkness and rend the veil. And then was the arm of his mighty power made bare, for the gathering many thousands to the saving knowledge of himself. And in that day was the Lord pleased, according to his promise, to pour forth of his spirit upon sons and upon daughters, yea, upon servants and upon handmaids, and many were made to prophesy; and being qualified by the holy spirit which they received, and were baptized by it into his name, became willing, and were freely given up in obedience to the Lord, and in bowels of tender love to the souls of mankind, in his power to preach the gospel of life and salvation to those to whom they were sent, and many were turned from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, by their ministry; amongst whom our dear deceased friend and brother, Thomas Ellwood, was one, whose conscience was reached and awakened by the powerful ministry of dear Edward Burrough, as I have heard him relate (and as, by the following sheets, will more plainly appear). And of that day and time, and the worthy instrument by whose ministry he was convinced, and turned unto God, and made sensible of the divine principle of life and light in his own heart, have I heard him speak with great regard; and also of the sufferings which did attend him, after he received the truth, in his father's family, for the truth's sake; and how the Lord preserved him in that time, under the various exercises which he passed through for truth's testimony, which, for Christ's sake, he was conscientiously concerned to stand in, according to that plainness and simplicity which truth then led, and still continues to lead, the sincere disciples of Christ into, by which they were distinguished from the world; and, for the sake thereof, they ware despised of men, and hated of the world. Such was the plain language of Thou to one, and refusing the hat-honour; for which, dear T. Ellwood suffered not a little in that day, as by the following account of his life more fully appears. And it were well if all, who come up in a profession of the blessed truth in this time, were faithful in these, and in the other branches of its testimony: and let all consider, that the neglecting thereof is, in a degree, a making void the sufferings of the faithful, and strengthening the

hands of evil doers, who, for the sake of their testimony, loved not their lives to the death, but underwent cruel mockings, buffetings, stonings, whippings, stockings, revilings, imprisonments, and spoiling of goods; rejoicing in the Lord that they were counted worthy to suffer, either less or more, for his name sake. In respect of which, this my dear friend was a good example, he being a man of a steady mind, and very patient in suffering, as well as faithful in his testimony for truth, and took joyfully the spoiling of his goods, wherein he was tried but a few years before his death. He was often concerned in defence of truth's testimony, both against our professed adversaries, and also against the libertine spirit which appeared in some, professing the same truth with us, who opposed themselves against that good order and discipline which the truth led Friends into all which will abundantly appear from the books themselves, which are in print, which he wrote upon various occasions, and upon divers subjects: and let not his great labor and industry be forgotten, in his writing those two historical volumes, relating to the Old and New Testament; a work truly great, and is, and may be, of great use and service. By all which, his many labors, it may be perceived by the wary and enlightened reader, that the Lord had endowed him with an excellent gift, and qualified him for the service of truth, his church and people; in which he employed the talent which the bountiful Lord had given him, to the honor of the great giver, and to the comfort and edification of the church of Christ. But more especially were his services known to the brethren in this county of Bucks, most of which are fallen asleep, and but few remaining here, who knew him in his beginning, or his first services for the Lord, his church, and people; amongst whom he was a zealous asserter of that excellent discipline the Lord had opened in, and led his people to, for the preserving his church as a garden enclosed; for which cause, how did many of those libertines set themselves fiercely against him, and shot their arrows at him; but the Lord defended him, and covered his head in the day of battle, and his bow abode in strength, and his bough spread over the wall, and continued fresh and green: but a blast from the Lord came upon their evil work, and how have they melted away?-and how is their strength failed, and their work brought to nought? But the blessing of the Lord is with his people, even with the faithful, to this day, whom he hath preserved as a peculiar treasure to himself; blessed be his holy name for evermore. And furthermore, it may be truly said of this our dear friend, that as the Lord fitted him for his service, so was he eminently serviceable in his hand, in the church of Christ; particularly in these parts, of which there are many living witnesses, in this and the adjacent counties, of his great labor of love, having served the church freely, with great diligence and faithfulness, the true sense of which toucheth me and others with the deeper sense of the great loss the church hath by his removal: but being also sensible, through the Lord's goodness, that our loss is his eternal gain, I feel in my heart an humble submission to the will of him

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who doth whatsoever pleaseth him, both in heaven and in earth; and who shall say unto him, "What doest thou?" And it is the tender breathing of my spirit to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that he would be graciously pleased, in pity and compassion to his poor people, to raise up, fit and furnish more faithful servants for his work and service, and make them zealous for his name and truth upon the earth, that the place of this my dear friend, and other faithful servants of the Lord and his people, of late removed from amongst us in these parts, may be supplied, and that the spouse of Christ may, amidst all her tribulations, afflictions, and sore exercises, be made to praise the Lord, and bless his holy name, who taketh away one, and raiseth up another, and blesseth his children with his goodness, according to his promise made of old by the holy prophet Isaiah, xliv. verse 3, saying, "I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring." And thus hath the Lord preserved Zion from age to age; and I doubt not, but am fully persuaded, that he will still bless his people, and preserve Zion, and deliver her from all her enemies.

And, my dear friends, brethren, and sisters, although it be matter of sorrow to us to part with our dear friends, especially such as have been made serviceable in their day, and have faithfully served the Lord and his people in their generation, as it may (I hope without just occasion of offence to any) be said of dear T. Ellwood, that he was a man who served the Lord in faithfulness, and his people with cheerfulness, and his neighbors with uprightness and integrity, and therefore both they and we have the greater loss, yet may we not sorrow unseasonably, as those which sorrow without hope, but, believing that the Lord hath taken him to himself in mercy (though it may be in judgment to some who were unworthy) let us all learn resignation to his blessed will, and say with holy Job, "The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away; blessed be the name of the Lord." And, dear friends, I may farther signify unto you, that it being my lot to be with this our dear friend (of whom I am speaking) almost every day of his last illness, I did observe in him, to my great comfort and satisfaction, a quiet, composed frame of mind and spirit, and resignation to the will of God. When I came first to him, which was soon after I heard of his being taken ill, which was the 24th of the second month, I found him very much disabled by the distemper, which was thought to be a palsy, that had seized him, especially on his right side, so that he could not stand alone, nor help himself, but a little with his left hand; and his speech was also very much interrupted, insomuch that it was with great difficulty, for the most part, that he expressed himself so as to be understood. Some time after I came to him, there being also other Friends with him, we sat down together under a weighty exercise of spirit, waiting upon the Lord in deep silence, with our eye to him, it pleased the Lord eminently to appear amongst us, and to fill our hearts with the refreshing streams of his divine love, and to open the mouth of one of us ir

prayer and supplication; and the Lord was graciously pleased abundantly to replenish our spirits, to our mutual comfort, in a living sense of divine goodness; and this our dear friend expressed himself in great tenderness and brokenness of spirit on this wise"I am sensibly comforted and refreshed in this visit." And that afternoon he, fixing his eyes upon me with great earnestness of spirit, expressed, as well as he could at that time, a great concern that was upon his mind for truth, and the friends of it, in divers particulars, especially in relation to our own monthly and quarterly meetings, the writings of both which had been under his care for more than forty years; after which he was much eased in his spirit, and so continued to the last, so far as I perceived, often saying, when asked how he did, "I am easy, I am quiet." And he was often very tender in his spirit, expressing his resignation to the will of God, whether in life or death, saying, "If the Lord hath no more work for me to do, I am content and resigned to his will; and my hearty farewell to all my brethren." And at another time, nearer his end, he said to us present, in much brokenness of heart, "I am full of joy and peace, my spirit is filled with joy;" or to this effect; for by reason that his speech was so weakened, several things could not be so well collected, which he at times spake, in a tender sense of the Lord's goodness; the sense of which deeply affected some of us who were with him. And my heart is sorrowfully affected at this time, in a sense of the great loss which the church of Christ (in these parts especially) hath by his removal: but in this I am comforted, in a living sense of the Lord's mercy and goodness towards him, in carrying him through his affliction in great patience and quietness, under which he was sweetly refreshed by the streams of divine love, and his cup was often made to overflow; and we, who were present, being touched with a sense thereof, were comforted therein, being in a travail. of spirit for him, and did in our measures truly sympathize with him under his affliction: and I am fully satisfied, he laid down his head in peace with the Lord, and is gathered to his everlasting rest. He departed this life the 1st of the third month, 1713, about the second hour in the morning, in the seventy-fourth year of his age. He received the truth in the year 1659, and lived in fellowship with the friends of it about fiftythree years; and I think it may be truly said of him, that as he lived so he died, the servant of the Lord and his people, and hath left a sweet savor behind him, and his memory is blessed with the righteous for ever. Amen.

The Eighth Month, 1713

GEORGE BOWLES.

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