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This text has been proofread but is not guaranteed to be free from errors. Corrections to the original text have been left in place.
Title: The Oppression of Prophecy: Quaker Women in Late Seventeenth Century Yorkshire:  Writings by Judith Boulbie
and Mary Waite, an electronic edition. Edited with an
		       introduction by Amy Enright
Author: Boulbie, Judith and Waite, Mary
Publisher: 
Place published: 
Date: 16551688
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Introduction to A Testimony for Truth against all Hireling-Priests and Deceivers . . . .  
1655;  A Warning to all Friends who Professeth the Everlasting Truth . . . .  Enright, AmyThe English civil war began as a heated argument over the nature of monarchy among the male ruling elite.  Once ignited, the fire of rebellion, fanned by the winds of social and religious reform, grew beyond all expectations. The subsequent popular movements which occurred during the Interregnum (1642-1660) were characterized by their challenge to traditional hierarchy, for the battlefields of seventeenth-century English revolt were not only material but ideological.  Ironically, both conservatives and radicals looked to the Bible for inspiration and affirmation.  On the one hand, Christian scripture associated rebellion with sin. The extremist vocabulary of the Reformation continued to inform perceptions about authority and society; any threat to ecclesiastical hierarchy must be the work of Satan's legions. On the other hand, The English Bible, authorized by King James I, had been officially distributed in 1611 and, in it, popular movements found the grounds to challenge ungodly monarchy and oppressive social structure. Thus, the middle decades of the seventeenth century were a time of unprecedented conflict and experimentation in English government and society.Following the death of the Protector, Oliver Cromwell, in 1658, the last remnants of political consensus deteriorated and the Commonwealth government failed.  Fear of anarchy brought about a conservative backlash which contributed to the restoration of the monarchy in 1660 and continued throughout the reign of Charles II.  The Quakers, a successful religious sect, sixty thousand strong in 1660, were particularly targeted for persecution because of their radicalism in both political and religious circles.  In The Quakers and the English Revolution, Barry Reay concludes that the Quakers were understood to be "identifiable remnants of the excesses of the Interregnum." 1Barry Reay. Quakers and the English. (New York, 1985). p. 64. The Quakers were politically radical in the sense that many of them had served in Cromwell's army. Through their religious platform, they continued to espouse the egalitarian cause associated with the military's Levellers, who had called for universal male suffrage.  They were socially radical in the sense that they "cast aside the hegemony of the elite and threatened all social conventions."2Richard Bailey. The Making and Unmaking of a God: New Light on George Fox and Early Quakerism Ph.D Dissertation presented to University of Waterloo, Canada, 1991. p. 16. They refused to engage  in the social activities that bolstered human authority: the swearing of civil oaths, the doffing of the hat  and the use of the formal personal pronoun directed to citizens of higher social rank.Worse yet, the Quakers drew their religious practices and theology from the most radical of the Interregnum sects.  In "Women and the Civil War Sects," Keith Thomas offers a comprehensive list of sectarian characteristics."...they believed in a pure church, they made spiritual regeneration a condition of membership and insisted upon separation from a national church which contained ungodly elements...they usually thought in terms of direct inspiration by the Holy Spirit; and they tended to depreciate the role of a ministry, of "outward ordinance" and of human learning. Their assertion of the spiritual equality of all believers led to an exalted faith in private judgment, lay preaching, a cult of prophecies and revelations, and culminated in the Quaker doctrine of the spirit dwelling in all men." 3Keith Thomas. "Women and the Civil War Sects" in Past and Present  13 (1958). p. 44. Thomas is using "men" to signify "humanity" at the close of the quote.Many Quaker beliefs and practices, including the in-dwelling of the spirit, along with their anti-clerical and anti-hierarchical behavior, flowed from past radical traditions.4Bailiey, pp. 14-15. In the early 1650's, George Fox, an ex-army officer and religious sectarian, received a series of revelations from which he understood that salvation from sin was open to all people if they would be redeemed by God's "light of truth" within them.  Scripture and even knowledge of Jesus were incidental to the power of God made manifest in the human heart.  During the early years of the decade Fox traveled throughout the North and West of England, preaching and converting those sympathetic to radical religion.Fox's adherents frequently met in silence, waiting upon the spontaneous prompting of the spirit within them before speaking.  In contrast to their Puritan neighbors, they believed that the introspective inner light could search and burn out all hidden sins. The process of unrelenting introspection could be accompanied by shaking (hence the name Quaker), crying, groaning, collapsing, and other outward signs of the struggle within. Once this agonizing victory of spirit over human nature had been accomplished, Quakers held themselves to be fully redeemed.  Fox understood human perfection to be attainable, for he experienced a vision in which "All things were new, and all the creation gave another smell unto me than before, beyond what words can utter.  I knew nothing but pureness, and innocency, and righteousness, being renewed up into the image of God by Christ Jesus, so that I say I was come up to the state of Adam which he was in before he fell."5Richard Bauman. Let Your Words Be Few. (Cambridge, 1983). p. 3.The redemption of the world would necessarily follow the Quakers' own inner transformation.  The Quakers conceived of themselves as the true people of God, sent to overturn the world and lead the righteous community towards salvation before the arrival of the end of the world on Judgment Day.  They styled themselves as vital cogs in history's machinery; in the 'latter days' of the seventeenth-century, they were the second apostles. The concept that God's truth was universal, that every human heart could receive it, had two consequences.  First, it spurred the Quakers on in an aggressive campaign of conversion.  Every human being urgently needed to be saved by the inner light; therefore, 	the Quakers spread the gospel by means of charismatic preaching and symbolic action. One example of these living metaphors is the Quaker practice of "going naked for a sign." In order to convict a city of moral nakedness, individual Quakers, usually but not necessarily men, were occasionally lead by the spirit to strip publicly.  The second consequence of universal Truth was the equality of all believers. Quakers emphasized the inner spirit of each believer rather than the outward trappings of gender or class. A tract on authority in the "Outward Creation," states that "...the power and image and spirit of God is of the same authority in the female as in the male..."6Phyllis Mack. Visionary Women: Ecstatic Prophecy in Seventeenth-Century England. (Berkeley, 1992). p. 242.  Like other sects of the Interregnum, Quakers allowed women to preach and prophecy, a phenomenon which was itself a biblical sign that God's coming and the end of the world were at hand.  Between1658-9, in reaction to the bleak political situation, the Quakers increased their proselytizing activities by waging a "Lamb's War," a conquest of England by the Holy Spirit.  Prompted by their own victory over internal sin and attainment of Perfection, they followed the "leadings" of God and continued to preach repentance in the markets, churches, and city streets of England.7Hugh Barbour and J. William Frost. The Quakers. (New York, 1988). pp. 31-35.However disturbing their interruption of church services and public preaching, Reay argues that, during the initial panic preceding the Restoration, the Quaker refusal to pay tithes, accompanied as it was by petitions full of thousands of names, was their most threatening characteristic. The petitions implied widespread political organization against the Anglican Church and this spurred the conservative reaction against radicalism to the point where many English began to "look to the monarchy as the only salvation from social and religious anarchy."8Bailey, p. 17.  In this ideologically-charged atmosphere, the king's return in May of 1660 was viewed by the conservative majority as divine deliverance.  As William Brownsword, the Presbyterian vicar of Kendal, proclaimed in a sermon welcoming Charles, 'God is blasting our Phanatick enemies; and we are in a way to the Religious as well as Civil settlement.'9Reay, p. 100.The Restoration, from the Quaker point of view, "marked the nadir of their expectations for toleration, the abolition of tithes, and law reform."10Michael J. Galgano. "Catholic and Quaker Women in the Restoration Northwest." in The World of William Penn. (ed) Richard S. Dunn and Mary Maples Dunn. (Philadelpia, 1986). p. 117. The government and authorities were actively hostile to Quakers during the 1660's as the specifically anti-sectarian legislature of the decade demonstrates.  Clergy ejected from their churches during the Interregnum were restored to them in 1660. The Corporation Act of 1661required that all Englishmen swear oaths of allegiance and supremacy in order to hold civic office. The Act of Uniformity which followed the next year demanded the conformity of all schoolmasters and clergy to the liturgy of the Anglican Church. Also announced in 1662,the Quaker Act declared that anyone who refused to swear an oath or who met with five or more other Quakers was liable to a five or ten pound fine, three to six months in prison, or transportation to the colonies.  The First Conventicles Act in 1664 made it illegal for any person aged sixteen or over to attend a meeting of five or more people without an Anglican Prayer Book present.  A third offense against this Act could result in fines of one hundred pounds or transportation for seven years.  A Second Conventicles Act, passed in 1670, rendered the prior Act perpetual and greatly increased the fines. Interestingly, constables guilty of failing to enforce the Act were now subject to fines. Finally, the Five Mile Act of1665, forbid ministers ejected under the Uniformity Act from coming within five miles of their former parishes.11Geoffrey Holmes. The Making of a Great Power, Late Stuart and Early Georgian Britain. (London, 1993). pp. 454-5.  These laws, also known as the Clarendon Code, greatly affected the Quaker communities, for they outlawed the behaviors that defined Quakerism.  It is estimated that between 1655 and 1670, 450 Quakers died in prison, 15,000 were jailed, and 243 were transported to penal colonies.12Hugh Barbour. The Quakers in Puritan England. (New Haven, Conn, 1964). p. 53. A majority of radical Quakers died young in prison.13See Christopher Hill's extensive list in Christopher Hill, The Experience of Defeat. (London, 1984). p. 166. Of the original male leaders, only George Fox, George Whitehead and William Dewsbury survived the 1660's.Unlike other sects, the Quakers continued their activities in the face of persecution. Their refusal to swear oaths, pay tithes, or acknowledge social rank, as well as their persistence in meeting together publicly, brought them before the authorities repeatedly. When leaders were imprisoned, the meetings carried on without them. VisionaryWomen: Ecstatic Prophecy in Seventeenth-Century England, Phyllis Mack relays an incident during which officials interrupted a Reading meeting whose membership included only four women and three children. One of the women exemplified the Quaker attitude to persecution in her response to the arresting officer.This is the place we met in the beginning, and have ever since...We do not meet here in wilfulness or stubborness, God is our witness, but we cannot run into the corners to meet as some do, but must bear our testimony publicly in this thing, whatever we suffer...to us it's a weighty matter, and our case is the same as it was with Daniel in days past.14Mack. Visionary Women..., p. 267.The Quakers survived under the heel of the government but the persecutions took their toll on the community.  Mack reports that "Friends' private letters reveal moods of depression and exhaustion, moods that were largely absent from their earlier ecstatic prose."15Mack, Visionary Women..., p. 268. Even Elizabeth Hooten, Fox's first convert and fellow-preacher, wrote to him in 1677, "I do truly acknowledge that my mind hath been burdened, and oppressed oft times more than I can express..."16Mack, Visionary Women..., p. 269.  The Quaker community continued to grow throughout their time of tribulation, for though the earlier period characterized by freedom of movement, fiery public preaching, and mass conversion was on the wane, they succeeded in forging new expressions of religious faith while struggling to maintain the old. In The Experience of Defeat, civil war historian Christopher Hill summarizes the events of these decades of transition: "Whether or not defeat is the right word, the Society of Friends was something very different after the Restoration from the loose body of Quakers which had existed before. Imposing the peace principle meant organizing, distinguishing, purging."17Hill. The Experience of Defeat. p. 165.One of the major aspects of Quaker experience altered by the Restoration was the role of Quaker women in both Quaker and English society.  Radically religious Englishwomen were one of the primary targets of the conservative backlash. As Mack points out in her article "The Prophet and Her Audience: Gender and Knowledge in The World Turned Upside Down," female prophets were perceived as "both sign and symptom of social breakdown and political rebellion..."18Phyllis Mack. "The Prophet and Her Audience: Gender and Knowledge in The World Turned Upside Down" in Reviving the English Revolution.(ed) Geoff Eley and William Hunt. (London, 1988). p. 142. A key text for such a perception is Christian scripture; for example, the prophet Isaiah's sinful society is characterized by juvenile oppressors and ruling women. Female prophets were associated with the Interregnum's caesura of authority with good reason, for the sectarian environment in fact did facilitate their calling.Women's prophesy was a defining characteristic of unauthorized religion. Mack argues effectively that, during the religious innovations of the civil war period, the nature of women as irrational, emotional, submissive, passive and ignorant was understood to lend itself to prophecy. By virtue of their weaknesses and passions, women were thought to be purer conduits than men for the words of God.19Phyllis Mack. "Women as Prophets During the English Civil War" in Feminist Studies. 8, Number 1. (Spring 1982). p. 23-24. Through female prophets are evident in the contemporary social consciousness, their status in society did not improve. The authority by which these women admonished neighbors, cities, and national leaders was perceived, by themselves as well as their audience, to flow not from themselves but from God.  During the ideological and social chaos of the Interregnum, English society might have been willing to listen to a woman's voice, if they believed she foretold God's solution to their time of troubles. With the Restoration (which was itself a solution to England's troubles, as far as the majority was concerned) and the persecution of unauthorized religion, the idea that God spoke through women or through a member of the lower class was discredited. A contemporary limerick ran "Women preach and cobblers pray, the fiends in hell make holiday."20E.M. Williams. "Women Preachers in the Civil War" in the Journal of Modern History. Volume 1. (1929). p. 562.Of the nearly three hundred women prophets identified during the civil war period, over two hundred and twenty were Quakers.21Mack, "Women as Prophets...", p. 24. The consensus of scholarship holds forth that, of all the radical sects, Quakerism offered women the most freedom of expression. While this may in fact be the case, it should be noted that the preponderance of Quaker documentation may have tipped the scales in its favor. Elaine Huber suggests that the opportunity for full participation, which included travel and preaching, the empowerment of the doctrine of Perfection, and the simplicity of inner spirituality (as opposed to Oxbridge theological training) may have attracted women to Quakerism.22Elaine C. Huber. ""A Woman Must Not Speak": Quaker Women in the English Left Wing" in Women of Spirit. (ed) Rosemary Reuther and Eleanor McLaughlin. (New York, 1979). pp.155-179. As prophets and preachers, women were an integral part of the mission that spread Fox's doctrine across England and beyond to Ireland, America, the Caribbean, and even as far as, by one woman's individual effort, the court of the Ottoman Sultan.The persecution of the Restoration was especially harsh for Quaker women. Dorothy Ludlow argues that "Because of the widespread suspicion and fear of these "inner Light" advocates, women Friends were often condemned to humiliating public whippings and long, inhumane imprisonment. Never given to tergiversation and bold to the point of foolhardiness, these women brought down upon themselves the combined wrath of civiland religious leaders..."23Dorothy P. Ludlow. "Sectarian Women in England, 1641-1700" in Triumph Over Silence (ed.) Richard L. Greaves. (Westport, Conn, 1985). p. 98. In The Weaker Vessel, Antonia Fraser echoes Ludlow's conclusions, suggesting that the public activity of the Quaker woman prophet played to society's worst prejudices concerning the uncontrolled female.24Antonia Fraser. The Weaker Vessel. (New York. 1984). p. 263. Michael Galgano, a historian of Northern Englishwomen at the time of the Restoration, states that Quaker women received little sympathy from the surrounding community because their "strange behavior negated traditional feminine roles."25Galgano, p. 125. Instead of passive conduits of God's word, Quaker women prophets were aggressive and self-righteous.  Gender was, for them, a function of spiritual status.  Quaker prophet Dorothy White wrote in 1662, "all, before they come into (preaching), must come unto silence, and so learn of Christ, the husband, the head of the woman, which is to keep silence: in the Church all flesh ought to be silenc'd, but he or she that is born of God, who are members of the same body...as this prophet speaketh, here the man speaketh, which is Christ in all."26Mack, Visionary Women..., p. 175. A decade earlier, Quaker Priscilla Cotton had explained, in her anti-clerical tract, that, in actuality, priests were women, by virtue of the fact that they should be forbidden to speak in church.27Mack, Visionary Women..., p. 176.Female prophets, in general, and Quaker women prophets, in particular, were under attack during the later seventeenth century in England. Under the barrage of legislative and physical hostility, unauthorized, female prophecy, with the important exceptions of Quaker women and female printers, was effectively silenced.  During the Restoration, the mere presence of women prophets marked their communities for governmental repression. In order to survive, most radical sects suppressed their female members' abilities to preach and participate fully.28Ludlow, p. 116. Quaker women were among the few who sustained an active role, albeit altered, within their communities.The changing role of Quaker women was accomplished against the backdrop of general transition, for, in reaction to the oppression of 1660's and 1670's, the Quaker community was adapting itself. While maintaining most of its own beliefs and practices, it changed to better fit within English society. The primary doctrinal tenets remained intact, though the Quakers, like their Puritan neighbors around them, lost their apocalyptic fervor as time progressed.  With regard to social structure, the idea, which had been present from the inception of Quakerism, that the testimony of God's greatness might be given merely by exemplary living rather than through public preaching, became widely accepted.  A certificate began to be required for preaching, which now occurred in a Quaker meeting-house rather than in the middle of the village green.  Business meetings were instituted for men, and later, for women, to support and organize the community in the face of the hostile community.29Hugh Barbour and Arthur O. Roberts. Early Quaker Writings, 1650-1700.(Grand Rapid, Michigan, 1973). pp. 66-67.  Quakers began to write down their visions and conversion stories, for persecution prevented their verbal delivery.30Baubour and Frost, pp. 27-28. A censorship board was created which edited many of the early documents and controlled the content of new tracts, omitting or censoring most political and apocalyptic discourse.  Much has been written about this quietist trend in Quakerism, this transition from sect to denomination. Certainly the metamorphosis was total; for in the 1650's, Quakers were perceived of as fire-and-brimstone anarchists and by the eighteenth century they had begun to earn their modern reputation for model though pacifist citizenship. Quaker scholarship has generally condemned the post-Restoration transition. William Braithwaite summarized the changes, "Quakerism...began as a fellowship, thrilling with intense life, with the great purposes of God ringing in its ears and driving it forth to adventurous, if sometimes mistaken service, and later by...the accretions of habit, the stereotyping force of tradition, and the pressure of the outside world, it established a strong organization and lost something of its soul."31William Braithwaite. The Second Period of Quakerism. (York, 1979). p. 324.The suppression of female spirituality  was a contributing factor to Quakerisms' "loss of soul". Scholarly consensus understands Quakerism, like all Christian movements throughout history, to have ingratiated itself with temporal authority by restricting the role of its women members, that it might conform more closely to the external society's notion of womanhood. Like a sacrificial lamb, women's freedom of expression and movement was sacrificed for the freedom of the entire community. Certainly, this conclusion is accurate, for, Quaker women prophets were oppressed and suppressed by their own community in order to lessen the persecution of the Restoration period.  For example, few women failed to obtain the new licenses necessary for preaching. Those who attempted to bypass the new bureaucratic system, by virtue of authority from God, were disciplined. When they were permitted to speak, women were advised to be brief, "no more words than the Lord requires." Women were restricted in their traveling missionary activities and young men and women were forbidden to travel together.32Ludlow, p. 113. After 1672, women's writings were frequently altered or rejected by the all-male censorship board. Those tracts by women that were published contained lengthy justifications and apologies for their writing, a conceit which did appear in the bold declarations of God's word in the earlier decades.33Elaine Hobby. The Necessity of Virtue. (London, 1988). p. 46-47. By the 1670's, the familiar channels of religious expression were definitely closing to Quaker women. However, as Phyllis Mack points out in Visionary Women..., the oppression of women's prophecy is not the only story to be told concerning Restoration Quaker women.34Mack, Visionary Women..., p. 275.     The bureaucratic structure introduced in the 1670's created a new arena for women, the women's meeting, even as it collapsed their former freedoms. While Quaker women was directed away from confrontation with the public, they were given the task of stabilizing the internal community in the face of persecution and, as Quakerism evolved, division. The women's meeting grew out of a need to care for the persecuted community. Before the meetings were formally instituted by Fox and his wife, Margaret Fell, in 1671,the women of the London community had been gathering  at a Box-Meeting for more than ten years. Their meeting was so named because each participant contributed money to a box. The money was later spent to bring comfort to the many imprisoned Quakers or given to those left destitute by the fines of the Clarendon Code.35Baubour and Frost, pp. 42. Formal women's meetings throughout England and the colonies continued this nurturing work: caring for the sick, visiting the prisoners, and sustaining the persecuted.     Though Quaker women's new role as "mother of Israel" appeared to appease English conceptions of submissive womanhood, they were not without authority within  their own community.36Ludlow, pp. 112-113. Their meetings collected their own funds and administered them as they saw fit. Most importantly, women monitored and created Quaker culture. As the apocalypse failed to arrive, Quakers, like the early Christian church,  were forced to establish procedures for marriage, child-rearing, and discipline. Respect for hierarchy and humility were the values to be stamped on all Quakers and, by virtue of their closer connection to family and children, women were to do the imprinting.  Mature Quaker women also advised younger women in matters of spirituality and sociability. They cautioned those who associated with non-Quaker men, trying to prevent them from "marrying-out." Satisfactory marriage matches were actually approved by the Women's Meeting before they were allowed to move on to the general community for ratification. Fox described the new role accorded to Quaker women:"Now a mother in the Church of Christ, and a mother in Israel is one that gives suck and nourishes, and feeds, and dresses, and washes, and rules, and is a teacher in the Church,...and an admonisher, and instructor, and exhorter...and (has) the breasts of life that are full of the milk of the word to suckle all the young ones,...and has the heavenly flax, and the wheel, and spindle, by which she hath the fine linen to clothe the young ones...So the elder women as mothers are to be teachers of good things....And if the unbelieving husband be sanctified by the believing wife, then where is the speaker, and where is the hearer; surely such a woman is permitted to speak, and to work the works of God, and to make a member in the Church, and then as an elder to oversee that he walk according to the gospel."37Mack, Visionary Women..., p. 289.The transition from prophet to carer, as Maureen Bell and her coeditors of A Biographical Dictionary of English Women Writers term the social roles, did not entirely rob women of their authority and equality, but limited them to the internal community.38Bell, Maureen et al. A Biographical Dictionary of English Women Writers, 1580-1720. (Boston, 1990). p. 263.     The fact that women retained power can be demonstrated by the continuing discomfort concerning Women's Meeting on the part of some male Quaker leaders.39Mack, Visionary Women..., pp. 319-326. The appropriate social role of women was a matter of continuing debate as part of a larger argument, for issues of authority and structure were to divide Quakers throughout the late seventeenth century.      Women defended their project, claiming that they performed the services that knit the community together. Women purified, cleaned, and purged the community of all sin. In 1681, Katharine Whitton of Yorkshire drew a parallel between the management of a house and the cleaning and ordering of the inner self.40Katharine Whitton, An Epistle to Friends Everywhere... [London, 1681)  In the same year, an Oxfordshire women's meeting cited the conversion of a drunkard as proof of their worth in God's eyes, "This...may...be sufficient to convince all questioners and opposers: that the Lord do own and justify our Godly care and Christian endeavors as well in our women's as in our men's meetings by the example aforesaid of this man who never was at such a meeting in all his life before."41Mack, Visionary Women..., p. 322. Women's meetings joined together, through correspondence, to produce a written testimony of God's favor and their good works.An example of this genre of Quaker epistle is The Testimony for the Lord and his Truth  prepared by the Women's Meeting of York during the summer of 1688.42Epistle from the Womens-Yearly Meeting at York. (1688) Text obtained from the Brown University Women Writers Project; "transcribed from the copy located at an unknown library." Women's concern for community and dispensation of practical advice are the pillars upon which the meeting stands. Addressed to their "friends and sisters, in their several monthly meetings, in this country and else where," the letter begins with a statement of purpose, "We, being met together in the fear of the Lord, to wait upon him for his ancient power, to order us, and...to guide us in our exercise relating to church affairs," and continues with an affirmation of God's presence at the meeting. "It hath pleased him to break among us in a glorious manner, to our great satisfaction, and he hath filled our meeting with his living presence, and crowned our assembly with his heavenly power.." The immediate effect of the outpouring of God's spirit was the opening of  "the fountain of life" so that "streams of love" flowed between the women and the disclosure of testimonies to God's acceptance of their "sacrifices and free-will offerings." Following which, letters confirming the health of other women's meetings were shared and celebrated.  They note that it is these letters which prompt their own writing for "there is as great need as ever to watch over one another for good" though  active persecution is on the wane by 1688. The Yorkshire women advise their friends to make good use of the increased freedom and to remain vigilant against the sinful world. In one of the underlying themes of the letter, they warn against division within the Quaker community. The work of the devil is to "divide, rend, tear, destroy and separate" Quakers from one another and from God. In the effort to uphold unity in the face of corrosion and complacency, the women advise the other meetings to "be concerned for the preservation of one another in every of your respective monthly meetings, and be faithful in performing your service and duty to God, and to one another...." By this concern, "the very weakest, and the hindermost of the flock, may be gathered into the fold of rest and safety,..." At the close of the letter, the biblical models which are listed all reinforce the social role of the authoritative carer:  be "as Lydia openhearted to God and one another, as Dorcas careful to do one another good, as Deborah concerned in the common wealth of Israel, and as Jael zealous for the truth..."The last third of the epistle is concerned with advising young women, "whom our souls love,..." They are exhorted by their Yorkshire friends towards modest and chaste behavior, that they might be an example, not only to the larger community, but to other Quaker women as well. Secondly, young woman are recommended not to be concerned about marriage, for the moment, but to embrace God as all-important and wait for him to provide them with a husband. Only then, "will your marriage be honourable, being orderly accomplished with the assent of parents, and the unity of friends...." The letter ends with the another facet of their emphasis on community-building, "let the record be kept from month to month, and from year to year, of the Lord's dealing with us, and mercy to us, to future ages; that from age to age, and generation to another, his own works may praise him..." In fact, the community followed its own suggestion. Records of the York Yearly Meetings were preserved for 1688 and the surrounding years.The community of women which produced this letter lived on the cusp of the transition from prophet to carer. Their lives and their writings illuminate the change in women's social role during the Restoration. Unfortunately, the candle of history has shed little light on these women and in most cases, only their names testify to their participation in the meeting.
1686:Anna Allenson, Elizabeth Simpson, Judith Boulbie, Frances Taylor, Margaret Breckson, Mary Waite, Elizabeth Leaper, Dorothy Wells, Mary Lindley, Catharine Whitton, Mary Moun, 1688:Elizabeth Beckwith, Frances Taylor,Judith Boulby, Deborah Wynn, Mary Lindley, Mary Waite, Elizabeth Sedman, Catharine Whitton, 1692:Anne Allison, Elizabeth Moore, Elizabeth Beckwith, Isabell Morris,Judith Boulbie, Katherin Ratlife, Margaret Bracking, Dorothy Wells, Sarah English, Deborah Wynn, Grace Barwick Helmsley,  Katharine Whitton Wynn, 
Most of the historical information collected on these women consists of birth, marriage, and death dates along with their publishing dates if they wrote tracts, which a considerable percentage did. The studies of the social composition of Quakerism suggest that most of these women were middle-class, born of and marrying into merchant or artisan families. The majority of them were literate and most could write as well as read.43Bailey, p. 12.  Quaker development within the city of York, which was the capital of northeastern Quakerism, follows the national norm; its earliest converts were generally of higher social rank than those who converted after 1660.44David Scott. Quakerism in York, 1650-1720. (University of York, Borthwick Paper No. 80, 1991). p. 7 and chart on p. 8. Information on York Quakers would be relevant for only a few of these women, as the Yearly Meeting gathered women from all overYorkshire.A Biographical Dictionary of English Women Writers, 1580-1720 offers information, gleaned from primary sources, on a handful of the women who participated in the York Yearly Meeting from 1686-1692.45Bell, Maureen et al. Unless otherwise noted, the following information is supplied by these biographical entries. In 1655, Grace Barwick Helmsley (c.1618-1701) wrote a personal letter to George Fox, asking him to chastise a male Quaker who was too noisy during meetings. In the fall of 1659, she traveled from Yorkshire to London in order to influence her soldier-husband's commanding officer to push for the national abolition of tithes. Her mission was not successful but her petition was published by the Quaker printer, Mary Westwood, under the title, To all Present Rulers, whether Parliament or Whom-so ever in England  (Clearly the Restoration was anticipated.) Robert Barwick died in jail in 1661 and a son, age unknown, died the same year. She had given birth to twin girls four years before, one of whom had died soon after. In 1664, she married Joseph Helmsley, whom was either a Quaker himself or exceedingly sympathetic to the cause, for George Fox held a meeting at their house in 1666.Elizabeth Threakston (-1720) married Marmaduke Beckwith in 1666 and bore at least two children, Hannah and Sarah. Hannah wrote A true relation of the life and death of Sarah Beckwith (1671-1691)...after her sister's death at age twenty. The next year, Hannah married Joseph Wynn to whom she bore eight children.Elizabeth Leaper joined with Benjamin Padley's widow, Susanna, to give testimonies of his life and death which occurred in 1687. Both accounts were published inSome fruits of a tender branch sprung from the living vine in 1691. Leaper's tribute to Padley describes his encouragement of her journey, with her sister, Mary Frost, to Quakers in Cumberland.Mary Thompson was born in 1652 and married Benjamin Lindley in 1677.Frances Taylor (-1696) was the wife of John Taylor, a wealthy sugar refiner and a personal friend of George Fox. The Taylors had previously lived in Barbados where two of their three children were born. They moved to York from Bridgetown in 1676 and became active in the Quaker community there. Along with John Hall and Thomas Waite, Taylor "dominated business meetings." He eventually headed one side in an argument over re-marriage procedures that resulted in the withdrawal from the meeting of one-third of York's Quakers.46Scott, pp. 12, 16-18.Deborah Kitching married John Wynn, a clothier, in 1668. Two of their seven children survived to adulthood; one of which, Deborah, married John Bell in 1710 and moved to London. The elder woman wrote The testimony of Deborah Wynne concerning her husband  in 1699 which was published with her daughter's testimony of John Wynn in1715. Bell kept a diary of the years 1707-1737 which was published in 1762 as A short journal of the labours and travels in the work of ministry of that faithful servant of Christ Deborah Bell.Katharine Whitton was fined in 1670-1 for engaging in Quaker activities. She wroteAn epistle for Friends everywhere: to be distinctly read in their meetings when assembled together in the fear of the Lord by a friend of the truth, and a lover of righteousness;published in 1681 by the Quaker printer Benjamin Clark of London. In 1688, she married Stephen Wynn, an artisan; presumably after the death of her first husband Robert. She also wrote a testimony for Robert Lodge which appeared in Several living testimonies given forth by divers Friends which was published in 1691.At the very least, the information available highlights age differences within the Yearly Meeting itself, for Mary Thompson was only seven years old when Grace Barwick delivered her prophetic vision to Lambert's army. Their husbands' occupations, the prevalence of published works and the number of children they bore invite tantalizing speculation about the conditions under which these women lived and wrote, but because of spotty nature of the data, any conclusions would be inaccurate.More extensive biographies are possible for Judith Boulbie and Mary Waite, who, like Grace Barwick, were the old guard of the York Women's Meeting.Judith Boulbie (-1706) is reputed to have written at least five short tracts, includingA Testimony for the Truth against all Hireling-Priests and Deceivers  (1655), To all Justices of the Peace  or other Magistrates to whom this may come (1667) and A Few Words to the Rulers of this Nation  (1673) and A Warning and Lamentation Over England. Boulbie's goods were confiscated  by the authorities in 1671, as punishment for Quaker activity no doubt. The next year she ran into difficulty with the Censorship board in London. In 1686, a manuscript she had written concerning the "impending judgment" was set aside "till she be further enquired of." Apparently her responses to their questions or corrections were displeasing, for, when she submitted an alternative manuscript, AWarning and Lamentation Over England,  it was dismissed as unsafe to print without alteration. Fourteen months later, Boulbie was still struggling to publish her prophecy. Eventually, she conceded to their suggested changes, but even then, her work was not published. The board continued to object to the content of her revelation and refused to print it. She was, however, permitted to circulate it in manuscript form. Three years later, the indomitable Boulbie tried again. The rejection slip explained that her opening statements were inaccurate and that they did not consider it wise to disrupt the present toleration of Quaker activities by printing tracts that attacked the secular authorities. She might circulate copies of a small section of the manuscript, entitled Following  the Lamb, if she made the necessary changes.47Luella M. Wright. The Literary Life of the Early Friends 1650-1725. (New York, 1932). pp. 104-106. Despite her battles with the London censorship board, Boulbie continued to be active in Yorkshire. In 1688, she was imprisoned in York for non-payment of tithes. In1693, she encouraged the women of the monthly and quarterly meetings to continue their cooperative service, even in the face of ridicule:And (you)....scoffers (who say) those silly Quakers...setting up men and women's meeting their prescribing laws and statutes...and decrees to what purpose is women's meetings the men can do the business the women must e subject to their husbands, but...there is a little remnant which is one with our brethren and is entered into the work and service and feels that heavenly reward in their bosoms which all that world...can (not)...take it from us. Therefore my dear sisters let nothing discompose your minds...but to on in that name and power of the Lord...48Mack, Visionary Women..., p. 333.It should be noted that, though she was an active participant in the women's meetings, Boulbie was one of the unfortunate poor whom the women's meeting existed to support. She received funds in 1679, 1689, 1695, and lastly in 1697, at which time she was given nearly ten pounds. The 1701 Yorkshire Quarterly Meeting reports that Boulbie, "an ancient friend," wanted to travel to Ireland on Quaker business. This formerly fiery prophet was referred to the monthly meeting, where she might apply for a  certificate to travel.49Mack, Visionary Women..., p. 390.Mary Smith (-1689) married Thomas Waite in 1666. Both of them had been active members of the York meetings since the 1650's. The growth of the city's Quaker community was slow, only fifty members by 1660 in comparison to Bristol's one thousand and London's ten thousand member meetings. During the initial decade of Quakerism, only one major meeting was held in the city, occurring in 1659. The few evangelistic efforts staged were led by Quakers from outside the community. Only four York Quakers were imprisoned for public order offenses during the fifties; Mary Waite was one of them. With John Taylor and John Cox, she is purported to have been one of the prominent evangelists of the early community. Her future husband is recorded to have been one of  the most politically active members of the rather conservative group. He used his profession as a "stationer" to produce and distribute Quaker literature and consistently attended business meetings. Witness by example rather than preaching was the norm in York, even before the1660's, as Thomas Waite's proposal "to quit himselfe of all such bookes as are Contrary to the Truth" demonstrates.50Scott, pp. 3-14. During the 1670's and '80's, Mary Waite was heavily involved with the women's meetings. In 1678, she and Isabel Fell Yeamans framed a letter of support for a neighboring women's meeting.We understand that although there was a women's meeting set up about Balby yet it is now lost which we are concerned for that the evil spirit, hath o far prevailed as to disunite the meeting, but our desire...is that for as much as thou art sensible wit us of the service thereof that thou endeavor wit all diligence to be helpful in setting up the meeting again...and though you be but few in number and may meet with great opposition you being found waiting upon the lord in the patience of the lamb's spirit you shall know and overcoming and a breaking down of that spirit that hath set it self against you.51Mack, Visionary Women..., p. 333.Waite's own tract, A Warning to all Friends who professeth the Everlasting Truth, written in the next year, was read aloud at each of the yearly meetings. It was eventually bound and distributed with the epistle written at the 1688 women's meeting.. Mary Waite was imprisoned in York castle in 1684 and died from unknown causes five years later. The community's reaction to her loss may have prompted the inclusion of her writing within the Yearly Meeting's letter.Boulbie and Waite seem to have initially shared an apocalyptic and evangelical prophetic tradition. Boulbie's continuation of this tradition brings her before the authorities, both secular and Quaker. Waite, on the other hand, appears to have left off her public career to become a grande dame of the women's meeting, focusing on the stability of the Quaker community rather than the conversion of the masses. The scanty historical data can only suggest Boulbie and Waite's positioning within the spectrum of women's changing social role. An examination of their writings will help to elucidate their motivations and concerns; their creations must lead where their biographies can not."Besides the continuity of membership and suffering, the post-Restoration5Ludlow, p. 111 Strangely, Ludlow1/4s text reads "post-Reformation" at this point. As the her own section heading is 'The Restoration Era' and she is discussing specific post-1660 events, I have to conclude it is a typographical error. I have taken the liberty of substituting the correct periodization in my quotation.  era also saw continued writing....Like the earlier Quaker tracts, these are also chiefly apocalyptical proclamations, warning inhabitants of a particular  area or the national leaders of present or future disaster. Much of this corpus is monotonous in style, unimaginative in content, incoherent in syntax...53Ludlow, p. 112.The seventeenth-century narratives are much shorter than those of the eighteenth century. Primarily, the authors are interested in presenting themselves, establishing a selfhood, recording their life as exemplum, and there the account ends. Though there is an attempt to tell a romance, it remains for the eighteenth-century writers to exploit the narrative possibilities of the form.54Mary Anne Schofield. ""Womens Speaking Justified":The Feminine Quaker Voice, 1662-1797" in Tulsa Studies in Women1/4s Literature. Volume 6, Number 1. (Spring 1987). pp. 61-76.If the age of female prophecy ended with the increased persecution of the Restoration and the rise of the eighteenth-century heroine was beyond the horizon, what can be said of the late seventeenth-century Quaker women writers? Was the Quaker writing of the intervening period truly as uniform and derivative as Ludlow avers? History confirms that the remaining political and apocalyptic Quakers writers were censored  but scholarship appears to be disinterested in and even slightly contemptuous of these prophets whose promised day had come and gone.  Surely the twilight of female prophecy has as much, if not more, to say concerning women's role in society as the noontime of its fervor? As Bell and her co-biographers point out, an examination of unanthologised Quaker women writers is needed to flesh out the transition from prophet to carer.55Bell, p. 263.Judith Boulbie and Mary Waite lived through the persecution and transformation of Quakerism in the three decades following the Restoration.  Their writings can be examined as representations of the changing role of Quaker women. An understanding of their intended audience and personal voice, as well as the scriptural imagery and authority they draw upon, demonstrates that they reflect and constitute differing traditions of prophecy. Boulbie exemplifies the historical oppression of women's prophecy.  She is the "mouthpiece of God" silenced by the painstakingly polite letters of a remote censorship board; her feverishly-written manuscripts dropped in the circular file. Though Mary Waite is also conscious of persecution, her writing is motivated by a more internal sense of oppression. Where Boulbie, as a Quaker woman prophet, is the victim of external authority, Waite, as the Quaker woman carer,  is "weighted down" by the spiritual and social responsibilities that result from her position of authority. Judith Boulbie's A Testimony for Truth against all Hireling-Priests and Deceivers is similar to early Quaker preaching styles in terms of audience, content, and style. Prompted by the imminent apocalypse, she hopes to convert as many people as possible away from the proud ways of the world. In an urgent effort to redeem her audience, which includes "all the inhabitants of this Nation," Boulbie's platform is two-fold. She discredits non-Quaker sources of salvation and confirms the transformative and redemptive power of the inner light. Boulbie's anti-clerical rhetoric is located within a long tradition of ecclesiastical criticism. Stemming from the Lollard movement in the fourteenth century and reinforced by the sixteenth century dissolution of the monasteries and the seventeenth century Puritan struggles, anti-clerical sentiment maintained a mid to low simmer throughout early modern England. Diarist Samuel Pepys records the attitude towards clergy during the Restoration. Entries for August 31, 1661 and November 9, 1663 read: "And the clergy was high, that all the people I meet with do protest against their practice. In short I see no content or satisfaction anywhere..." and "(Mr. Blackburne) told me how highly the present clergy carry themselves everywhere, so as that they are hated and laughed at by every body..."56Huber, p. 158.Quakerism was partially built upon society's frustration with priests and ministers. In fact, George Fox's first outburst in a church occurred in the defense of a woman berated for challenging the priest.57Huber, p. 161.Traditionally priests were a common target of the people's anger because of the comparative wealth of the church. When theological differences were added to the social injustice of the tithe system, attacks against priests became intense. For Quakers the call to ministry could only come from God made manifest within. The duties that the priest performed - the administration of the Lord's supper and baptism, the reading of sermons and liturgical prayers, the special holy days and services, the meeting within a "sanctified church" - were irrelevant to salvation as Quakers saw it. Salvation came from the internal spirit; the priests were mistakenly concerned with external forms of worship. Quakers accused priests of incompetence and sinfulness in reference to their advanced educational degrees and salaried positions. They claimed that in the course of study at Oxford or Cambridge, priests became acquainted with the meditations of the Church Fathers in orderto "steal" and regurgitate the words to their own parishes. Thus, the priests spoke "false" words, chosen by their own agency rather than by God's spirit. Quakers employed the metaphors of commerce and theater to describe the priests' training and activity.They put you to the university to learn the art of speaking-by-rote, and trading in words; and when any of you hath been a competent time there, and is grown pretty cunning at cutting out of discourses, wresting plain words, and handling your tongue deceitfully, then you are fitted for the work of ministry; and the next thing is but to seek out for a stage to shew your art to the people, first in one place and then in another, as mountebanks, till you can meet with some so silly as to bargain with you for your ware by the year, and allow you a shop to sell it in, and this is your call to ministry; for till some or other will thus buy your merchandise, you have no call: but let the Scriptures with which you trade, bear witness whether this was ever the call to the Ministry of Christ.58Bauman, p. 39.The inner and individual call to ministry was at the heart of each Quaker's right to preach. Rather than becoming a priest upon receiving a parish, Quaker ministers were appointed by God and went out to search for their audience. As a whole, the early Quaker mentality echoed that of the old Testament prophets, such as Isaiah and Jeremiah, whom they read so fervently: God was using them as instruments through which to call an evil nation back to repentance before the arrival of the day of Judgment, doom to all sinners. Quaker prophets' were specifically called by God to confront, criticize and convert their neighbors. The first step of the conversion process was to demonstrate the inability of the local priest to offer salvation and the efficacy of Quaker inner transformation in achieving eternal life. Therefore, examples of Quaker anti-clerical attacks are plentiful during the earlyd ecades of the movement.In Let Your Words Be Few, Richard Bauman notes that "Tell, reprove, andforewarn - these were among the major communicative tasks undertaken by the Quakers "during the 1650's and '60's. After 1655, published prophecies increasingly addressed large, but specific audiences, such as priests, lawyers, or the inhabitants of particular towns or cities.59Hobby, p. 39. Quaker Richard Farnsworth defined his religious mission in 1655, "to tell magistrates, priests and people what they are, and reprove them of their transgressions; and for their sins and iniquities, and forewarn them of the judgments to come, except they repent and amend, and turn to the Lord."60Bauman, p. 84. Female Quaker prophets and ministers participated fully in the conversion effort and in its anti-clerical agenda. In 1655, Quaker Ann Audland, when asked what was untrue in the doctrine of the Banbury vicar, claimed the priest was so far out of the spirit of Christ that even if he said "the Lord liveth," he would be lying.61Bauman, p. 40.  In the same year, Quaker Margret Braidley declared to minister John Shopp, "Thou art no minister of Christ, but a minister of Antichrist." Hester Biddle addressed the cities of Oxford and Cambridge: "thy wickedness surmounteth the wickedness of Sodom; therefore repent whilst thou has time..."62Hobby, p. 41. The early decades of the movement mark the high point of warning literature by Quaker women, for twenty-five(out of the total 171 titles published by Quaker women before 1700) entreaties to repent were published during the fifties and sixties, with only six tracts on the same subject in later years.63Hilda Smith and Susan Cardinale,  Women and the Literature of the Seventeenth Century: An Annotated Bibliography based on Wing1/4s 'Short Title Catalogue'. (New York, 1990). p. ii. Quakers held that a true minister is "able to speak, from a living experience, of what he himself is a witness; and therefore knowing the terror of the Lord, he is fit to persuade men...and his words and ministry, proceeding from the inward power and virtue, reach to the heart of his hearers, and make them approve of him, and be subject unto him.64Bauman, p. 40. Male language in the preceding quote aside, the authority of the "experience of God within, "meant that women, too, were free to follow God's leading and to criticize priests. Like Quaker men, they understood themselves to be working within the tradition of the Old Testament male prophets. This self-conception is especially evident in Boulbie's text, for the prophecies of Jeremiah provide her, not only with apocalyptic and redemptive imagery, but with a model for her own self-concept.Quaker female prophecy flowed from the reverence  for the God manifest within the human soul. That the soul transcended class and gender allowed for the equality of all believers. It also allowed Quaker women to utilize the traditions of male biblical figures to justify their own prophecies.65Mack, Visionary Women..., p.139. Boulbie's gender disappears in the conventional diatribe against sinful society. Rather than apologies for the sound of her feminine voice, the text is filled with her declarations of speech: "Therefore I say..." (lines 24-25), "What shall I say to prevail with thee, O England?" (lines 80-81), "yet I say..." (line 87), "in the dread of God Almighty do I declare it..." (Lines 94-95), "I do tell thee..." (line 144). Throughout the text 'Boulbie the prophet,' is directly and unashamedly confronting, by means of imperative verbs and rhetorical sentences, the priests and people of England.Boulbie justifies her project in the tradition of Jeremiah. Just as she "is constrained to cry out against...Ungodly Gaines," Jeremiah was reluctant to prophesy doom to Israel until the message of the Lord burned within him and he was forced to deliver it, "My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! Oh, the walls of my heart! My heart is beating wildly; I cannot keep silent; for I hear the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war" (Jer.4:18-19).66New Revised Standard Version Harper Study Bible. (Grand Rapids, Michigan. 1991).Boulbie works extensively from the thirty-first chapter of Jeremiah. In order to depict the horror of the day of judgment, she inverts his description of redemption found inverses eleven to thirteen. In verse fifteen, Jeremiah describes the incessant weeping of Rachel for her lost children. Boulbie moves from her picture of judgment to her own reaction to its arrival where, like Rachel, she weeps, "Because of these things I weep, Sorrow hath filled mine heart, and mine eyes run down with water..." (Lines 71-80)Jeremiah, himself, is known as the weeping prophet; for, in the ninth chapter, he laments, "O that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears, so that I might weep day and night for the slain of my poor people!" Boulbie does not apologize for herself, for that would imply awareness of self. Her  transcendent soul, which was, like Jeremiah, worthy to transmit the word of God, is the voice in her writing. Not surprisingly in the early era of apocalyptic prophesy by means of the transcendent soul, there is little difference between the language of male and female Quaker writers.67Mack, Visionary Women..., p. 10.As with her understanding of purpose, much of Boulbie's imagery originates from the Old Testament male prophets, especially Jeremiah. In Visionary Women..., Mackpoints out that Northern visionary language tended to rely more heavily on the aggressive, male language of the biblical prophets, whereas Southern Quaker women expressed themselves in a more mystical, meditative tone.68Mack, Visionary Women..., p. 187. Even in her own poem which marks the end of her first piece, Boulbie continues to use the natural, usually rural, imagery of the Old Testament. Her writing style is typical of the Quaker "incantory" preaching, which is characterized by "an incredible repetition, a combining and recombining of a cluster of words and phrases drawn from Scripture."69Bauman, p. 76. This style of preaching and prophesying drew together key passages of the bible and key Quaker concepts, such as Light, power, life, gospel, order, seed, and government.70Bauman, p. 77. For example, Boulbie utilizes Jeremiah's conception of a new covenant with God, beginning at the level of the human heart, to tie together Quaker understandings of the apocalypse, inner transformation, and perfection. The heart, in her writing, has come to symbolize that inner core of the human where transformation and redemption occur. She had loaded the word with Quaker significance which gives additional meaning to subsequent biblical references  that include it (see lines170-173). Due to the reverence for spontaneous, spirit-led preaching, the expression of Quaker prophecy was not bound to logical rules; in fact, a certain amount of  incoherence proved its unpremeditated and genuine nature.71Bauman, p. 79.  While Boulbie's style is not disordered, there is a fluid urgency to her tone that echoes the apocalyptic pitch of early Quaker preaching.Boulbie's use of key Quaker concepts was shared by all Quakers, for, in effect, George Fox created a new language in order to describe his theology. One of the aspects of Quaker perfection was their plain language, spoken from the 'heart.' They imagined themselves as the people of pure speech, predicted in Zephaniah 3:8-9, which was yet another sign of their role in the apocalypse: "Therefore wait for me, says the Lord, for the day when I arise as a witness. For my decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, to pour out upon them my indignation, all the heat of my anger; for in the fire of my passion all the earth shall be consumed. At that time I will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech that all of them may call on the name of the Lord and serve him with one accord."72New Revised Standard Version Harper Study Bible. (Grand Rapids, Michigan. 1991). Waiting for the Lord in silence, speaking with pure speech prompted by the spirit, striking a cord in the listener's heart: these were all characteristics of God's chosen people. When describing their special importance to God, Quakers called themselves The Seed or Sion. Both are biblical images signifying the redeemed community. The Word of God, the Power of God, the Truth, the Light: all these words were understood to mean the divine power within humans that perfects and saves them. Light carries its own metaphorical apparatuses, for it is the transformative spotlight of God that "uncovers" and "cleans" every hidden and filthy sin on the human soul. Light is also associated with day, daylight, and dawn, representing the triumph of goodness, vs. night, night-time and dark, signifying all-conquering evil. Dawn generally had apocalyptic connotations as that time which brought the rising of the Light and the dispersal of darkness. As has been demonstrated in by their anti-clerical rhetoric, a strong division between the carnal and the spiritual ruled their theology. Though they depended on the Scriptures for language, they did not find the "Word of God" within the material pages. Quaker Robert Barclay explained, "The Word of God is unto himself, spiritual...and therefore cannot be heard or read with the natural external senses, as the Scriptures can..."73Bauman, p. 26. Though they resisted carnal influence, Quakers frequently employed body language to depict their spiritual experiences.74Mack, p. 151. Hence, their feelings flow from their depths or "bowels," they are taken within God's "bosom," and their hearts, eyes, and bodies are effected by their emotions. Both Boulbie and Waite pull from this pool of images and concepts in order to share God's appointed message.Boulbie's writing is characteristic of early Quakerism's "movement of anti-structure, energized...by charismatic preaching and a theology of universal love.75Hobby, p. 3. "The Quaker agenda  of the 1650's was anti-structural in both form and content. Speaking by the authority of the spirit rather than the pulpit, Quaker preachers sought to change, invert, and convert the structures of the non-Quaker community. Waite's writing, evolving out of the same environment fourteen years later, is wholly concerned with building internal structures that will enable the Quaker community to withstand the hostility and temptations of the world. Waite's title immediately demonstrates the change in audience for she addresses herself to "friends everywhere...whether on this side or beyond the seas. "The non-Quaker world does not enter into her message,  except as a locus of evil, a  pit into which careless Quakers might fall.Mary Waite's 1679 epistle participates in the introduction of a new genre of Quaker literature which began slowly in the late seventeenth century and blossomed in the eighteenth in conjunction with the Quaker interest in education.76Arnold Lloyd. Quaker Social History. (London, 1950). pp. 166-173. Elaine Hobby terms these later writings, appearing in the 1680's, "defensive tracts."77Hobby, p. 47. Quaker women prophets are no longer on the offensive; instead, they are defending (and establishing) the truths and structures of Quaker society. Boulbie's writing has demonstrated that early Quaker prophecy had little to say on the subject of family.78Galgano, p. 129. Many of the first Quakers were the only members of their family to join the movement. The looming apocalypse tended to minimize blood ties and emphasize obligation to the spiritual family or to the erring unconverted.79Richard Vann, The Social Development of English Quakerism. (Cambridge, Mass, 1969). p. 168. By 1679, the apocalypse had retreated to some extent. Though Waite is expectant, she employs the day of Judgment as a scare tactic for erring Quakers as much an imminent historical reality. Until such time as the end of the world arrives, the family, which included apprentices and servants, became the basic unit of Quaker society.80Vann, p. 179. Waite's writing is primarily concerned with renewing the faith of former Quaker prophets and solidifying the hierarchical authority and theological purity of the Quaker family.Later Quaker women were aware of the fact that they were responsible for raising the next generation. Having lived through brutal persecution themselves they knew the temptation towards compromise with the world's standards and so brought their children up strictly, emphasizing the chasm of difference between worldly and Quaker practices. In theory, there could be no middle road, no blending of the two ideologies. Parents, who were to rule with one voice,  were considered to be responsible for their children's' souls, as is shown by a 1692 epistle from Ambrose Rigge, "this is your Duty, the Lord requires it of you, even to watch over your Children, as those that must give an Account to God, while they are under your Wings."81Vann, p. 177. In Visionary Women..., Mack cites examples of these mothers "concerned for the purity of the next generation". A 1697 epistle sent by female minister from Coventry advises London mothers to "Keep (your children) under your eye as much as may be, and always at your command, begin betimes to bow them to the yoke, keep them employed in some employment that may suit with the truth...my soul is grieved...for the backslidings...of the daughters of Sion."82Mack, Visionary Women..., p. 359. The York Yearly Women's Meeting remained vigilant on the issues that drove Waite to write in 1679, for Yearly Meeting in 1698 underscores the same theme: "You that are mother of children and rulers of families, be good examples to your children and servants in all things...for if children rule over parents, it is not comely."83Mack, Visionary Women..., p. 346.The new role of carer effected Quaker women's writing, for some of the spontaneous and feverish aspects common to early preaching were diminished. Women could craft and refine the messages given by God before passing them on to the Quaker community, provided they included a brief apology for doing so.84Hobby, p. 49. The presence of authorial voice, especially the female voice, was uncharted territory, for the early voices ofthe early prophets, of sexless divinity, had not paved the way. Thus, Mary Waite does not share Judith Boulbie's bold, direct identification with Jeremiah. In fact, a second characteristic of later seventeenth century Quaker women's writing is the new identification with feminine biblical figures.85Mack, Visionary Women..., p. 311. (Note examples in the 1688 Epistle from the York Yearly Women's Meeting.) Unlike Boulbie, Waite's writing must be prompted by an extraordinary crisis, a message  given by God as he heals her from a potentially fatal illness. She posits her writing as a once-only experience, which she performs out ofobedience to God. It is with profound relief that she "returns to her tent" of safety after writing, an activity that apparently involves exposure and potential harm. Clearly, Waite is in the midst of enduring the years of English persecution. But her unease with prophetic expression is also due to the fact that she and her audience are aware that, though the message is God's, the words are her own.In a perfect example of Hobby's crafted writing, Waite constructs a world of opposing metaphors: high/low, clean/dirty, light/heavy, light/dark. In the incantory style, she weaves these key Quaker metaphors with threads of scripture in order to depict the social situation of the Quaker community.  In one example of this admixture, she weaves Isaiah's description of the sorrowing servant, who was sacrificed by God for the community and, therefore, understood by Christians to represent Jesus Christ, with her own community's suffering under persecution. (Lines 92-100) Most of the characteristics she attributes to the Christ-figure are taken directly from the Old Testament. Those that do not - he has been pressed under the iniquities "as a cart with sheaves" and "his voice has not been heard in the streets" - are Waite's own imagery. Isaiah mentions that the servant is silent before his enemies, Waite has updated the image to her own time frame, where Quaker preachers have been driven from the city streets.The binary metaphors emphasize the all-important division within and without the Quaker community: righteous and unrighteous. Thus, cleanliness is associated with holiness, filth with sinfulness. However, Waite's imagery of oppression complicates the simple opposing metaphor. In the first place, the spirit has "bowed down and groaned under" the unrighteous spirit (Line 26); the weights, burdens, heaviness, pressures, and hiding places that describe the position of the righteous Quaker community are numerous. The persecuted Messiah, the man of sorrow, is meek and lowly. At the same time, this diminished position is the appropriate one for life in the wicked world; friends should "keep in the low valleys of safety" (Line 11);  they must stay low in the fear of the Lord and "stoop to Christ's appearance" in themselves (Lines 217-222). Only with the arrival of the apocalypse will the tables be turned. At that time, the unrighteous will shoulder their burdens as the righteous are eased  (Lines 80-87), the ineffective will be trodden under foot(Line 51), and the wicked be without refuge from the pursuing justice of God (Lines57-62). Images of height illustrate God's domain, for his path to eternal life is depicted as ahigh way to which the redeemed are raised up; the Lord will arise at the time of the apocalypse (Lines 86-87); good desires are raised to God (Line 143); and everlasting high praises will usher in the coming of God (Line 251). Waite presents the apocalypse as a spiritual revolution, where the righteous will emerge  from under the oppressive heel of the unrighteous to join God on the heights of glory. Until such time, however, the righteous must maintain their "low" position and wait in faith and in service.Discovering Women's WritingLocating Boulbie and Waite within a seventeenth century Quaker context is challenging, for the lives and writings of all but a few Quaker women have been neglected by literary and historical scholars.The majority of Quaker scholarship has not been informed by Quaker women's writings.  For example, a search for family-oriented literature in any but the most recent research yields a discussion of male tracts on child-rearing and education. One must additionally consult recent feminist scholarship which focuses exclusively on writings by women and weave the two separate traditions together. Barbour and Robert's 566-pagetome, Early Quaker Writings 1650-1700, contains only the writings of a handful of women. Though the authors include a chart of types and dates of early Quaker writing which was cross-referenced  with Wing's 'Short Title Catalog,' it is not at all clear that little known texts by women are included within it.Recent anthologies of British women writers either ignore Quaker tracts, presumably because their religious rhetoric is thought to obscure any social significance they might have, or stereotype them as pietist and family-oriented. Thankfully the work of Elaine Hobby, Margaret Bell et al. and Phyllis Mack have vigorously dispelled this myth. Mary Waite's work has been treated within a recent anthology, though Boulbie apparently has not been previously edited.Likewise, the majority of Quaker historiography is not informed by Quaker women's experience. Published three years ago, David Scott's Quakerism in York,1650-1720 is a prime example of the importance of gender as a tool of historical analysis. Scott's thesis is that Quakers in York were a conservative, quietist community from their inception. By virtue of their bourgeois values and commercial ties to the larger community, they remained in good contact with their Puritan neighbors throughout the Restoration period. However, commercial interaction at this social level is essentially the exclusive territory of male Quakers. Scott's charts of Quaker social composition and meeting attendance bear this out - he is focusing, for the most part, on men's experience. His own text suggests there is a second story to tell. "Of the four York Quakers known to have participated in the 'Lamb's War' three were either widows or unmarried women, and thus occupied a relatively marginal place in civic society with fewer worldly ties and obligations to weigh in the balance against unflinching obedience to the Light Within." Apparently there were more radical Quakers in York who had not compromised their faith for the sake of the larger community, but Scott gives them neither name nor footnote. Scott, himself, points out that gender created a different experience; an experience that challenges his thesis, in fact. Yet he does not follow it up. Throughout his text, women are truly marginalized - into footnotes. Of the two mentions of Mary Waite, one appears in the footnotes and the other simply names her as one of the three most prominent early Quaker evangelists. Even when Quaker history does concentrate wholly on women's experience, as in Mabel Braithwaite's 1915 Quaker Women 1650-1690,  the exceptional figures are exclusively spotlighted.Biographies of any but the most prominent Quaker women are difficult to relate with any confidence. Though Judith Boulbie, when she is cited, is usually identified correctly, Mary Waite seems to have suffered unnecessarily at the hands of scholars. The Feminist Companion to Literature lists her as a Quaker "who probably m. Richard W. of Suffolk, and bore a son at Carlisle in 1680." They do not list their source for this information but it is most likely inaccurate in the face of Mary and Thomas Waite's activities in York, as reported by Scott. In Necessity of Virtue, Elaine Hobby imprecisely categorizes Waite's writing, grouping it with 1670's tracts that "are concerned either with ending strife within the Society and calling Friends to stand firm in the faith, or with describing the deathbed testimonies of dying Friends." In my opinion, Waite's epistle is more accurately grouped with the "defensive tracts" which lament the desertion of former Friends and advise young friends to obey their parents. Even the Biographical Dictionary of English Women by Bell and Co., which is the most useful reference guide for much of the information on early Quaker women writers, incorrectly attributes a second tract to Waite. The unprinted The righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance is supposed to her work though Smith's Descriptive Catalogue of Friends' Books, the definitive guide, attributes it to a second Mary Waite. The fact that it is associated with the date 1719, well after Mary Waite of York's death, would seem to bear this out. Bell et al. are also confused about the date of Waite's death in that they list it as 1689 and yet claim that she signed the participant list of the 1692 Yearly Women's Meeting. As they claim in Frances Taylor's biographical blurb that she, too, signed attended the 1692 meeting and yet neglect to include her in the 1692 list, perhaps Waite's inclusion is a simply a second error.Complete biographies of seventeenth century women writers are difficult to construct because marriage and re-marriage changed  these authors' names. The beginning researcher  has no way to know that Catharine Whitton, who attended the 1686 meeting at York became  Katharine Wynn (or Winn), who signed in 1692. To add to the confusion, seventeenth century orthography was hardly stable. For example, Boulbie is alternatively Bowlbie or Bulby. Thomas Waite is referred to in a printing anecdote as Thomas Wayte of York. When not lost by name change or "misspelling," Quaker women's writing is buried within larger texts attributed to men. This is the case with Judith Boulbie's 1679 warning tract directed to Londonderry, for it was published within Rutty's History of Friends in Ireland. Elaine Hobby acknowledges and regrets this phenomenon in the  closing pages of Necessity of Virtue.With regard to Ludlow's rather daunting accusation of "incoherent syntax," it should be noted that, just as they are drawing from a communal well of imagery, Boulbie and Waite's writings exhibit punctuation and orthographic structures common to many seventeenth century texts. While not particularly opaque, the structure of their writing does merit some minor explication and, in a few cases, alteration, in order that it may be easily read in its original state.Commas, semi-colons, or colons are frequently employed to signify a fully completed thought. The longer sentence structure, with its many clauses, is very different from standard modern forms. It is advisable to pay attention to conjunctions, which introduce new topics and connect separate "sentences," rather than expect periodization and capitalization to enclose each idea, as in modern sentence structure.The use of the possessive contraction is infrequent and inconsistent throughout the text, but should be obvious in context, i.e. "God's Truth" is often printed as "Gods Truth." Italics and parenthesis are often used for emphasis, though it is not clear whether they originate in the author's manuscript or the printing shop.Biblical quotes are generally italicized in Boulbie's work, less so in Waite's, though neither work cites or italicizes scripture fully or consistently. Therefore, critical footnotes will alert the reader to religious citations.Perhaps the largest pitfall for the modern reader will be the use of the lone demonstrative pronoun to represent an aforesaid noun, i.e. "the truth hath not grown in them, for such have long journeyed...". (Waite, lines 140) A modern translation might translate "such" as "such as these" or "such people."In conclusion, a certain amount of effort on the part of the reader is required in order to navigate these seventeenth century texts. But having made that clear, the following minor changes, which stem from textual structures that would impede the reader's comprehension above and beyond the challenges listed above, have already been effected .Boulbie: A Testimony for Truth...
Line 72: pretious...preciousLine 108: faln...fallenLine 157: pretious...preciousLine 171: fare...fairLine 176: Moneths...MonthsLine 185 Honour, Everlasting Praise...Glory, Honour; Everlasting Praise: semi-colon is added to demonstrate that a new clause is beginning.Waite: A Warning to All Friends...Line 25: months yea...months, yea: comma added to demonstrate new clauseLine 40: aud...andLine 48, 68, 69: Covetousness is spelled without an ending "e" in the first case and with an "e" elsewhere.Line 69: evil, and advised....evil. And advised: period is added to aid comprehension.Line 97: acpuainted...acquaintedLine 105: hear...hereLine 176: their...thereLine 210: wander neither...wander, neither: comma added to demonstrate beginning of new clauseLine 213: world for...world. For: period added to demonstrate beginning of new phrase and concept.Line 226: eys...eyesLine 228, 229: grouth...growthLine 242: Lyer..Liar Line 242: not he...not, he: comma added to demonstrate beginning of new phraseLine 245: is shall...is, shall: comma added to demonstrate beginning of new phraseLine 256: oyle...oilLocation of Texts: Those texts consulted for this edition are capitalized.Waite, Mary.A Warning to all Friends Who Professeth the Everlasting Truth (London, 1679) Publisher unknown.Text locations in England and the United States: British Museum, Cambridge University, The Friend's Library, Bevan-Naish Library at Birmingham, Durham University, John Rylands University Library at Manchester, York Minster;  HENRY E. HUNTINGTON LIBRARY at San Marino, CA, Newberry Library, Earlham College, Harvard University, Union Theological Seminary, Library Company of Philadelphia, Folger Shakespeare Library, Yale University.Boulbie, Judith. A Testimony of Truth against all Hire-ling Priests and Deceivers (London, 1665) Publisher unknown.Text locations in England and the United States: THE BRITISH MUSEUM, The Friend's Library,Bevan-Naish Library at Birmingham; Haverford College, Swathmore College, Yale University.Boulbie, Judith. 
               A Testimony for Truth . . .A Testimony for Truth AGAINST  ALL Hireling-Priests and Deceivers: With a Cry to the Inhabitants of this Nation, to turn to the Lord, before his dread-ful Judgements overtake them .Also a Testimony against all Observers of Times and Dayes.O Ye Priests and Bishops of this Nation, the Lord God that made Heaven and Earth is a Witness for me this day, I have no evil in my heart to any of you, but in Love to your Souls;  and in Bowels1Line 14,  Bowels: inner-depths of the body. Thus, Boulbie conveys the idea that she was prompted to speak against the Priests' activities by her most profound feelings. of tender compassion am I constrained to cry out against your Ungodly Gaines, for Gods day is come,  and Wo2Line 16, Wo: Woe to all the Workers of Iniquity.

O ye Bishops and Priests of this Nation, ye have for a long time  covered your selves with the name of Christ's Ministers,  but now your covering3Line 19, covering...narrow: One of the prophet Isaiah's visions of the destruction of the evil at the end of the world describes the inexorable advance of the "overflowing scourge." Isaiah 28:19-20 From the time that it goeth forth, it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it passe over, by day and by night, and it shalbe a vexation, onely to understand the report. For the bed is shorter, then that a man can stretch himselfe on it: and the covering is narrower, then that he can wrap himselfe in it.1 Like most visions, the significance of the images is not self-evident, especially out of context. However, Boulbie seems to be associating the Isaiah's lack of covering in the face of God's storm with the lack of covering for the contemporary priest's errors. is too narrow, and your Profession4Line 19, Profession: not profession in the modern sense of career, but rather profession as a manner of professing faith. will not hide you, for the Light of Christ is risen, and with it you are judged and condemned,  and seen to be Enemies5Line 21, Enemies...Christ: By calling them "Enemies of the cross of Christ," Boulbie accuses the Priests of obstructing the miracle of redemption and eternal life gained for mortals by Jesus Christ's subjection to a criminal's death on a cross and his subsequent resurrection three days later.  to the cross of Christ and Strangers6Line 22, Strangers...Promise: Boulbie claims that the Priests were excluded from the Covenant of faithfulness between God and his chosen people, which was declared to Abraham and David and manifested in the advent of Jesus Christ. They were not members of the community that God has promised to save from death. to the Covenant of Promise;  being in Cains way,7Line 22, Cains Way: Boulbie draws from the Old Testament story of Adam and Eve's sons, Cain and Abel. Cain killed his brother because God preferred Abel's offering. who    Gen. 4.8   slew his Brother about Religion ; and in Balaams way,8Line 23, Balaams Way: Boulbie refers to the Old Testament figure, Balaam, who was known for his reluctance to prophesy God's message. He was tempted to curse the Israelites, God's chosen people, in return for the gold and silver of King Balak of Moab.Num, 22.  who loved the Wages of Unrighteousness. Therefore I Jer. 31,      say, leave off your Deceit, and keep the People no longer vers 31.      in  your  dark  Forms;  but  let  them   have Liberty  to 32, 33, 34 Worship in Spirit and Truth ; for the time9Lines 27 - 32, time...my people:  Jer 31: 31-4. Behold, the dayes come, saith the LORD, that I will make a newe covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah. Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that  I tooke them by the hand, to bring them out of the land of Eygpt, which my covenant they brake,  although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD. But this shall be  the covenant, that I will make with the house of Israel, After those dayes, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, and wil be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know mee, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD, for I will forgive their iniquitie, and I will remember their sinne no more.  Note that Boulbie1/4s printer italized only part of the uncited passage. is come, that every man need not teach his Neighbor or his Brother, saying, Know the Lord; for every one must10Line 29, must:  throughout the tract, "must" might be usefully translated as an emphatic "will." know him from the least to the greatest.  Yea, Gods second Covenant of Light and Glory is made manifest,  I will forgive their Sins, and remember their Iniquities nomore; I'll be to them a God, and they shall be my People:  O ye Blind Guides,11Line 33, Blind Guides: In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus frequently refers to the Pharisees, Jewish religious leader associated with legalistic religious practices, as blind guides and hypocrites. (Matt. 15:14, 23:16, 23:24) Will ye seek to dissannul this? Will ye seek to stop the Lords Work in this the Day of his Power?  Ye are but as Bryars and Thorns,12Line 34-35, Briars and Thorns: The Old Testament prophet Isaiah connects the concepts of evil, thorns, and the vengeful, righteous fire of the Lord. Isa 9:18-19 For Wickednes burneth as the fire: it shall devoure the briers and thornes...Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts is the land darkened, and the people shall be as the fuell of the fire. Isa. 10:17 And the light of Israel shall bee for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame : and it shall burne and devoure his thornes and his briers in one day  Isa. 27:4 Furie is not in mee : who would set the briars and thornes against me in battell? I would goe through them, I would burn them together. who are setting your selves together against him, who is a consuming  Fire, and is risen to consume you, and all your false Doctrine  (if ye repent  not.)  Therefore I say again and again, Leave off your Deceit, and come to  the Teaching of  Gods Witness in your own particulars : For this is the day that God is pouring13Line 39-41, pouring...prophecy: Joel 2:28 And it shall come to passe afterward, that I will powre out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sonnes and your daughters shall prophecie, your old men shall dreame dreames, your yong men shall see visions. Note that Boulbie identifies "the time afterward" as her own era. This passage explains and supports Boulbie's own right to prophecy. After verse twenty-eight predicts female prophets, the next verse challenges class assumptions of holiness. And also upon the servants, and upon the handmaids in those dayes will I powre out my Spirit.. Jo 2,28 forth  of his  Spirit, and his Sons and Daughters  do Prophesie; for there is no more room for Deceit. Why take ye Christs Words in your Mouths, and hate to be reform'd?  Why talk ye of the Scriptures, and are err'd from the Spirit that gave them forth? Ye are gone from the Practice of Christ, and of the Apostle : Did ever Peter, Paul, James, John, or any of Christs Ministers, keep Curates to get money? did they ever Sue any man for Lambs, Piggs, Hens or Geese? Did they ever hale any to the Courts, and to Prison?  Nay, Was not this the Testimony of him that was called to the Ministry,  Cor. 9. 16.14Lines 49-53, Cor...Man?: Boulbie contrasts the behavior of the Priests with that of the Apostle Paul who worked as a tent-maker to support his Christian ministry throughout the Mediterranean.(saith he) A Necessity is laid upon me to Preach the Gospel, and Wo be unto me if I Preach it not , I have coveted no mans Silver, nor Gold, nor Apparrel, but have Laboured with these hands, Day and Night, that I should not be chargeable to any Man ?  And was not this Christs Doctrine, Do Good to them that Hate you, Bless them that Curse you, if any Sue thee at the Law, and take away thy Coat, let him have thy Cloak also, he that smites thee on one side, turn to him the other  ?  Matthew  5. 39. 40.  Oh! Blush for shame, and trade no more with the Scriptures, for they testifie against you, to your Condemnation, ye 
Hireling-Shepherds :  Have you brought any Lambs to Christs fold?15Line 59, Christ's fold: An inability to win converts to Christianity was one of Jesus' accusations against the hypocritical Pharisees. See Matt. 23:15. The 'Lord as shepherd/people as sheep' metaphor runs throughout the Old and New Testaments; notably in Psalm 23.  Have ye brought any of your Hearers into the  pleasant16Line 60-61, pleasant...Life: Throughout the Bible, water is associated with life and rejuvenation. (See Ezekiel) Valleys, however, are habitually places of death or evil, if mentioned in a spiritual sense at all. One possible source of scripture for Boulbie's imagery is among the final verses of Joel, a book with which she was familiar. It is sufficiently apocalyptical for her taste and it mentions water and valleys in a positive light. Joel 3:18 And it shall come to passe in that day, that the mountaines shal drop downe new wine, and the hils shall flow with milke, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountaine shall come forth of the house of the LORD, and shall water the valley of Shittim.  Valleys, where the Springs of Life are to be felt?  Nay : Are they not wandring in the Imaginations17Line 62, Imaginations...Hearts: The Song of Mary (the Magnificat) Luke 1:46-55. Luke 1:51 Hee hath shewed strength with his arme, he hath scattered the proud, in the imagination of their hearts. Luke uses the phrase to describe Mary praising God for bestowing Jesus on a meek and lowly person, but Boulbie employs it in order to comment, almost sympathetically, on the degree of aimlessness and hopelessness in her society. of their own Hearts, and many of them dissatisfied, thirsting after the Bread of Life,18Line 63, Bread of Life: John 6:35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: hee that commeth to me, shall never hunger : and he that beleeveth on me, shall never thirst. but know not where to find it, while you are eating the Fat, and clothing your selves with the Fleece, and putting the Day of the Lord far from you,  when many of Gods faithful Servants, whom he hath called to labour in his Vine-yard,19Line 67, his Vine-yard: Throughout the bible, agricultural metaphors are plentiful and the vineyard is compared to the House of Israel (Isa. 5:7) and the kingdom of Heaven (Matt 20:1.) Jesus often described the vineyard, with its master and workers, as a parable for God1/4s dealings with humans (Matt. 21, Mark 12, Luke 13, 20.) are exercised with strong  Cryes to the God that made Heaven and Earth, that he may turn away his Judgments, and revoak his destroying Angel,20Line 69, destroying Angel: reference to the book of Revelations which predicts the end of the world. In Rev. 8, a series of angels release death and destruction on earth. In Rev. 16, a second series pour natural disaster and disease on the remaining population. and spare this Nation, which otherwise will feel an heavy Stroke of Gods Hand, if they repent not.  And though you live in Pride and Excess, spending your precious  time  in Vanity and Pleasure, eating and drinking with the Drunken, and say in your hearts, The Lord delays his coming, but know, that for all these things ye must come to Judgement: For21Line 75-80: For...Water: Boulbie inverts the apocalyptic ideal described in Jeremiah 31:11-14. ...Then shall the virgine rejoyce in the daunce, both yoong men and old together: for I will turne their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoyce from their sorrow. And I will satiate the soule of the priests with fatnesse, and my people shall be satisfied with goodnesse... The latter verse, in an inverted sense, may be the source behind lines 61-64 where she discusses the dissatisfaction of the people and the evil priests who have begun to "eat the fat" before the arrival of the end-time. Jeremiah 31:15 goes on to lament: A voyce was heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping: Rahel weeping for her children, refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not. Rachel cries for those who were not alive to participate in the joyous apocalypse, just as Boulbie does in lines 79-80. of a truth, ye Priests and People of this Nation, The Lord will turn your Feasting into Fasting, and your Mirth into Lamentation ; he will fill you with Terror,  and Amazement : Though you have had Plenty and Fulness, your Barns and Store-houses must become empty; because of these things I Weep, Sorrow hath filled mine heart, and mine  Eyes run down with Water  : What  shall I say to prevail with thee, O England?   Must thou needs be left Desolate? Where are thy Wise and Prudent? Where are thy Divines (so called?)  There is a Seed raised, and a Birth brought forth which will confound them all,  the promised seed is come, Christ is risen, and unto him must the gathering of the People be: For though the World cry out, No Perfection (and the Hireling-shepherds, No Redemption on this side of the Grave)  yet I say, There is a Birth brought forth, which will naturally do the Will of God, as ever man did his own will.  But O ye People of this Nation, are ye willing to receive him?  Are not 
your hearts filled with Pleasures and Delights?  Are they not filled with Cares and Incumbrances of this present  Life, while there is no room for your Christ:  O Man22Line 93, O Man...Stable: The heart is full of "things3/4 while Christ, who belongs at its center, is relegated, as at his birth, to the stable, i.e. the periphery. and Woman, Is not every thing in thine  Heart, and Christ in the Stable: O ye Inhabitants of this Nation, its hard for ye to kick against  that which pricks you, for in the dread of God Almighty do I declare it, There's not another way, in which God will be Worshiped, but by the Light which shines in your inward parts, neither is there another Gospel to be Preacht but this; Gods Power made manifest in the Heart.  O ye Professors,23Line 98-102, O ye Professors...souls: Boulbie seems to be admitting to a former religious affiliation, for she shared "the same dark profession," (that is,  the same manner of professing faith) as her audience. my heart is a little enlarged to you, I being once with you in the same dark Profession:  O how doth my soul breath for you in secret, that you may all come to the Substance,24Line 101, Substance: the true faith, rather than just the "form" of religion, she hoped that they would share the substance also. the one thing that is needful, and witness the Redemption of your souls, to serve the living God no longer in the oldness of the Letter, but in the newness of the Spirit ; for you have a Form, but the Life and the Power is wanting; you are crying up Scriptures, and crying up Ordinances, you are crying up Baptism and the Lord's supper, while you know nothing of the Faith which works by Love;  And because of these things, saith the Apostle, many are sick25Line 108-109, sick...asleep: In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul  warns that those who celebrate the bread and wine (the Eucharist) as Christ's sacrificial body without self-examination and understanding will become physically sick and weak. Boulbie employs the quotation in this specific sense and also more generally. The superficial faith of the priests' harms not only their parishes but themselves.  and weak among you, and many are sallen asleep, not discerning the Lords Body, I Cor. 11.30, for you discern not the Body of whom Christ Jesus is the Head, nor the Gospel which is the Power of God unto Salvation; you discern not the Glad-Tidings of Life and Salvation, which is freely tendered without Money or Price;  Let26Line 113-117, Let...not?: The sentences that precede and follow the Isaiah citation are both a part of it, though the former is italicized and the latter is not. every one that thirsteth come to the Waters, and he that hath no Money, let him come buy Wine and Milk without Money  and  without  Price, Isa. 55. 1, 3, 4. Why do you spend your Money for that which is not Bread, and your Labour for that which satisfieth not?  Learn27Line 117-119, Learn...David: possible reference to Jesus' first celebration of the bread and the wine, when he makes a new covenant, stemming from his own sacrifice and assuring eternal life, which is as "sure" as God's everlasting promise of love to David. (See Matt 26:28, Luke 22:20, Mark 14:24) of me, saith Christ, hearken diligently and your souls shall live; and I will make an everlasting Covenant with you, even the sure Mercies of David.  O England, thy Teachers  have deceived thee; they have spoken Lyes unto thee, and the 
Divination of their own Brains,  but not one word from the Mouth of the Lord; they have cryed28Line 122, they...Bowels: 1 Ths 5:3 For when they shal say, Peace and safety: then sudden destructio commeth upon them, as travaile upon a woman with childe, and they shall not escape. Peace, Peace, when sudden destruction was ready to enter into thy Bowels : Mic. 3. 21. Thy Priests preach for Hire, thy Heads judge for Reward, thy Prophets divine for Money, and the People love to have it so, but what will ye do in the end thereof?  Consider  your wayes and you doings, and turn spedily unto the Lord by a true and unfeigned Repentance, before the Decree be sealed, which must never be revoked again; Rev. 22. 11.  He29Line 129-131, He...Works: As Boulbie cited, reference to Rev. 22:11, which begins He that is unjust, let him be unjust still...Boulbie emphasizes the urgency of repentance for it will not always be possible to turn back to towards the good. There will come a time when the evil will remain evil and the good remain good until Judgment comes with its consequences for each. A possible source for Jesus judging according to works is Rev. 1:23 And I will kill her children with death, and all the Churches shall know that I am hee which searcheth the reines and the hearts : and I will give unto every one of you according to your workes. that is filthy, let him be filthy still, he that is holy, let him be holy still; And behold I come, saith Christ Jesus, so render unto every man according to his Works.O Land though fruitful thou hast been,thy Glory must decay ;The thing thy Heart takes pleasure in,must wither like the Hay.O England, wilt thou still forget,God's Kindness unto thee?A little time  is left thee yet,that  happy  thou may be.But if pervesely thou go'st on,then mark what I do say ;I do thee tell ere it be long,the Lord will bring a day, Of bitter Howling unto thee,of Anguish, and of Smart ;In which the Deceit  thou shalt see,that  lodgeth in thine Heart.Boulbie, Judith. A Testimony for Truth against all Ob-servers of
            Times and Dayes.O Ye that live in Pleasures and Vanities, and spend your precious time in Sin and Transsgression, as Carding and Dicing,  Drunkening and Feasting,  in pretence of keeping Christs-Day:30Line 160-168: Christs-Day...Christs Day: Boulbie puns on the phrase, for in the first sense it refers to a specific holy day and in the second, to the apocalypse, the Day of Christ's coming. She is suggesting that those who believe that observing Christs-Day, the one-time Church mass, will not necessarily experience Christ's Day, the gathering of the redeemed. Quakers maintained that the prompting of the Spirit occurred at any time, and that no building, day, or time was more or less holy than any other. Throughout the tract, she lashes out against hypocritical religious observances by means of the metaphors of light/dark and day/night.  O my Friends consider where you are, and what you are doing ; Are you indeed come to Christs-Day? or are you not  rather in the Night, wherein gross Darkness surrounds you about?  You are making provision for the flesh to satisfie the Lusts thereof : O starved souls, lean, dry and barren ! you are making provision for the flesh whilst your Souls lie in Death and Darkness, unredeemed to God : Alas my Friends ! to what purpose is your Feasstings, to what purpose is your Obserations  of Dayes and Times, so long as the Babe31Line 167-168, Babe...God:  Boulbie repeats the image of Christ as a child in the Stable1/4s manger, rejected by the world,  to show that, through her audience observes holy days, they have not yet received the mature Christ nor have they become members of the redeemed community. lieth in the Manger,  and the Seed of Life is unredeemed to God?  Ah Friends, If ever you would be Witnesses of Christs Day, and of his Glory, which he is now revealing, ye must all come to the Light, which you are enlightened by, as the Apostle32Line 170-173, Apostle...hearts: Boulbie, or her printer, offers an incomplete biblical reference, for the verse (which precedes the citation) is from 2 Peter 1:19 rather than Peter 2:19. The Day-Star which arises in the hearts of the redeemed community is understood to be Jesus Christ. (see Rev. 2:28 where the morning star is given to the authority figure of the apocalypse and Rev 22:16  where Jesus declares I am the roote and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning starre. said, We have a more fair Word of Prophesie, unto which you do well to take heed, as unto a Light which shineth in a dark place, until the Day-dawn, and the Day-Star arise in your hearts, Pet. 2.19. Now Friends, if the Day-star were risen in you, there would be no need of observing Dayes and Times, there would be no keeping  a day in Twelve Months,  but every day would be a holy Day, so that Gods Glory would fill his Temple : But if the Day-Star be not risen in you, then ye are in the Night and in Darkness, and he that walks in Darkness knoweth not whether he goes: and thus the Parable33Line 179-183, Parable...Judah: The passages for Rev. 5 both precede and follow Boulbie1/4s citation. Within the chapter, Jesus is described as the Lamb, the Lion of the tribe of Judah and the Root of David who, by virtue of his sacrificial death, is worthy to break the first of the seals to the Book of the Apocalypse. He therefore ushers in the end of the world, a time when all parables and holy mysteries come to fruition. Because Jesus has redeemed humankind by his death, he is praised by all creation. Rev 5:12 ...Worthy is the Lambe that was slaine, to receive power, and riches, and wisedome, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blesssing. Boulbie seems to be echoing this list of praise in her closing words. comes to be opened, and the Mystery which hath been hid from Ages and 
Generations, comes to be revealed, even by him who was found worthy to open the Book which was sealed with seven Seals, Reve. 5.5. who is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, whose Everlasting Day is dawned, and his Glory risen; he hath filled our hearts with Praise and Thanksgiving, Glory, Honour;  Everlasting Praise, saith my Soul, be unto him forever. Judith Boulbie.T H E   E N D.White, Mary. A WARNING TO ALL FRIENDS . . . A WARNING TO ALL FRIENDS Who Professeth the Everlasting Truth of God, which he hath Revealed and made manifest in this his Blessed Day, (whether on this Side, or beyond the Seas.) Dear Friends, In Tender Bowels of love, do I feel (from the  Lord) a warning Spring in my heart to you,  that you all may be kept low in his humble self denying Life, where safety is to be found. For assuredly,  the great and Notable day of the Lord is at hand,  in which he will arise in the greatnesse of his strength, to plead the cause of his suffering Seed, with all its enemies, whether within, or without.So all Dear Friends be faithful under your several dispensations,1Line 17, dispensations:The Oxford English Dictionary defines dispensation as 'Ordering, management: esp. the divine administration or conduct of the world'. Essentially, Waite is advising Quakers to remain faithful within whatever life situation or station they find themselves.  For in our Fathers2Line 18, Fathers...Mansions: John 14:1-2 Let not your heart be troubled: yee beleeve in God, beleeve also in me. In my Fathers house are many mansions ; if it were not so, I would have told you: I goe to prepare a place for you. Waite is reminding the community of Jesus' promise to lead them to eternal life in the kingdom of Heaven. house are many Mansions, Keep in the low valleys;  For there will be your safety, there will the green pastures3Line 19, green pastures: possibly Ps 23:2 He maketh me to lie down in greene pastures: he leadeth mee beside the still waters.  Waite is drawing on imagery of rest and beauty to describe Heaven. of Gods love be partaken of, and with such be delight to dwell.  So all Friends keep4Line 21-23, keep...Reward: Matt 24:40-42 And knew not until the Flood came, and tooke them all away : so shall also the comming of the Sonne of man be. Then shall two be in the field, the one shalbe taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill : the one shall be taken and the otherleft. Watch therfore, for ye know not what houre your Lord doth come. Alternatively, Matt. 25: 1-30 gives two parables describing servants who prepare for the Lord's coming and are saved and servants who fail to prepare and are cast into outer darkenesse, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Waite is warning her community to remain alert to God, lest they miss his coming and suffer damnation. to your watch,  that the day of the Lord come not in an hour you look not for it,  and so you receive the unfaithful Servants Reward,  for indeed friends my soul is in a great Travel5Line 23, Travel: Travail or labor. The metaphor of a woman laboring in childbirth occurs throughout the Old Testament, most notably in the Psalms and throughout Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Micah. Waite seems to echo Isaiah's cry as he prophecies the destruction of his sinning society. Isaiah 21:3 Therefore are my loynes filled with paine, pangs have taken hold upon me, as the pangs of a woman that travelleth: I was bowed downe at the hearing of it, I was dismayed at the seeing of it. for the Prosperity of Sion, that her walls may be builded, her breaches Repaired and made up.  For, for many months, yea some years, hath my spirit been bowed down and groaned under the sense of an easeful, selfish, Lukewarm Spirit,6Line 27, Lukewarm Spirit: Rev. 3:15-16 I know thy workes, that thou art neither cold nor hot...So then because thou art Lukewarme, and neither cold nor hot, I wil spew thee out of my mouth  Waite uses "Lukewarm" as a trigger word to point her audience to the critique of the Laodicean Church found in Revelations. This church in Asia Minor was theologically sound but had grown rich and complacent. God promises redemption and glory to those within it who repent. that hath crept in upon many for want of watchfulnesse,  and Keeping to the Dayly Cross7Line 28, Daily Cross: Luke 9:23-24 And he (Jesus) said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him denie himselfe, and take up his crosse daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. Waite is reminding the community of the necessary and constant sacrifices demanded for salvation. of Christ Jesus, and in the Narrow way,8Line 29, Narrow Way: Matt 7:13-14 Enter ye in at the strait gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which goe in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that finde it. Also Luke 13:24 Strive to enter in at the strait gate : for many...will seeke to enter in, and shall not be able. Waite is highlighting yet again the exclusivity of the saved community. and Savoury life,9Line 29, Savoury Life: The Oxford English Dictionary notes that, though it refers to the Hebrew word "smell," in terms of animal sacrifices and incense offered to God, within a New Testament context, savoury is used 'chiefly with reference to spiritual sacrifice'. Waite admonishes her audience to maintain a life sacrificed to God's will. that only will bring honour and praise to the Name of the Lord.  And how to be eased of these weights and burdens I did not know, my cry was to the Lord that he would give me wisdome,  and strength to do his will.  And it pleased him to lay his hand upon me and bring me near to the gates of Death (so far as I saw) and was pleased to hide himselfe from me,  and my Soul was in a languishing condition, and my cries10Line 36-7, cry...me: Many Old Testament prophets and psalmists cry to the Lord for spiritual and physical aid. When the Lord "hid his face" from them, he refused to listen to their pleas and help them. Waite is drawing from a tradition exemplified by Psalm 69:16-17 Heare me, O LORD, for thy loving kindnesse is good: turne unto mee according to the multitude of thy tender mercies. And hide not thy face from thy servant, for I am in trouble: heare my speedily. (also Psalms 13,27, 44, 51, 88, 102, 104, 143) were great unto the Lord that he would not hide his face from me but let me feel of his wonted goodness,  and mercy,  by which I had received daily comfort and satisfaction from him in his unerring path,  in which he had been pleased to lead me.  And at length the Lord appeared,  and said he would be my Phisition and cure my disease,11Line 40-41, Phisition...disease: God as healer occurs in both the Old and New Testament. Jesus' touch dispersed leprosy, blindness, hemorrhaging, lameness, and death. Jeremiah posits a connection between healing and prophecy in Jer. 33:6 where God promises Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them, and wil reveale unto them the abundance of peace, and trueth. (also Isaiah 58:8, Jer. 8:22, and Mal 4:2)  and came in and comforted my Spirit,  with his overcoming love, which greatly revived me.  And in the openings of the bowels of his endlesse love, he shewed me, a Terrible day drew near,  (even as one may say at the doors.)  And laid it upon me,  to goe warn his people in this City (and elsewhere)  to Depart from all filthinesse both of the flesh and Spirit, from all Lukewarmness,12Line 46, Lukewarmness: see note to line 27.  from the fashions,  customes, and friendships of this world,  from Pride,  Covetousness and every  in that seperateth from the Lord,  and brings drynesse,  barronnesse, and deadnesse,  upon many,  and made as unsavoury salt,13Line 50, unsavoury salt: Matt 5:13 Yee are the salt of the earth: But if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it bee salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be troden under foote of men. Matthew describes persecuted prophets as the salt of the earth, full of a persistent  and unique flavor. Waite uses the second part of his verse, the consequence of losing flavor, to comment onthe worldly condition of former prophets in her community. that was good for nothing,  but to be cast forth and trodden upon.And to warn them not to delay time,  but come into the true humility,  lowlinesse of spirit,  and selfedenying life, that the Lord might be a hiding place14Line 54, hiding place: God as hiding place and refuge for the persecuted, righteous community is a common theme throughout Psalms and Isaiah. i.e. Psalm 32:7 Thou art my hiding place, thou shalt preserve mee from trouble: thou shalt compasse me about with songs of deliverance. to them,  for terrible will that day be to all the unfaithful and disobedient.   All the sinners in Sion shall be afraid,  fearfulnesse shall take hold on the Hypocrite.  Dread and horror shall surprise them.  O whither will you unfaithful fly!  would you not be glad that either Rocks15Line 55-56, Rocks...you: Just as God is a refuge for the just, there is no hiding place for the unjust. In Isaiah 28:15, the wicked community boasts they have made an agreement with death and hell to pass over them on the day of Judgment. Verse 28:17-18 offers God's response: Judgement also will I lay to the line, and righteousnesse to the plummet: and the haile shall sweepe away the refuge of lyes, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place. And your covenant with death shalbe disanulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall passe thorough, then yee shalbe troden downe by it. or Mountains could hide you from the presence of the Lord,  and the wrath of the Lamb.16Line 58-59, Rocks...Lamb: Rev 6:15-16 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chiefe captaines, and the mighty men, and every bondsman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dennes, and in the rockes of the mountaines, And said to the mountaines and rockes, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sittieth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lambe: For the great day of his wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand? O this will be a terrible day indeed,  unto all those that have had a form of Godlinesse, but denyed the power, that would have saved them out of all defilements and pollutions of this world.For long hath the Spirit of the Lord been grieved with these,  who have long come and sitten amongst God's people,  as if they had been of them,  but never came to sink down to the heart searching Light of the Christ Jesus in them,  that by it they might be cleansed,  from all secret and open sins,  from every Dalilah17Line 67, Delilah: temptation. Judges 16 tells the story of the Israelite judge, Samson, who was betrayed by his lust for Delilah, a woman of the valley of Sorek. Waite posits Delilah as a personification of temptation to sinful living. that lodgeth in the bosome,  as Pride and Coveteousnesse,  which often the one attends the other.  Covetousnese18Line 69-70, Covetousness...evil: 1 Tim 6:10 For the love of money is the root of all evill, which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves with many sorrows. The association of covetousness and lose of faith weaves into Waite's diatribe against the worldly. (saith the servant of the Lord,) is the root of all evil,  and advised them to fly from it,  but who abide not in the spirit of judgement,19Line 71, Judgement...away: Isaiah 4:4 When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the middest thereof, by the spirit of judgement, and by the spirit of burning. Isaiah predicts a time when all moral filth (sin) will be wiped away from those who remain in the holy city of Jerusalem. Daughters of Zion (Sion) is a frequently used phrase, signifying the female Israelite community. The Day of Judgment is associated with the fire in the prophecies of Isaiah and John of Patmos, who wrote Revelation. and of Burning, which God hath prepared to purge away the filth of the daughter of Sion, their filth hath not been purged nor done away, which causeth many miscarriages,20Line 73: miscarriage: The Oxford English Dictionary defines miscarriage first as 'an error of conduct; a misdemeanor, misdeed'. Miscarriage, meaning the 'untimely delivery of a child' is its third definition. In this case, the first sense of the word is most relevant. blots and staines, and great Reflections21Line 74, Reflections: An indirect expression of censure or discredit. (fourth definition of American Heritage Dictionary) Waite is arguing that the moral uncleanness of these worldly Friends is harming the reputation of the Quaker witness to God's truth. have such22Line 74, such: such as they. A modern translation might read: And great Reflections have they brought upon the Blessed truth. brought upon the blessed truth;  and much dirt hath been thrown upon the pure and holy undefiled way of the Lord,23Line 76, the way of the Lord: also the highway of the Lord, this image describes both a cultural affinity to God (one can share "the way of the Lord") and a metaphorical road of repentance, leading back to God. The second understanding springs from Isaiah's prophecy that a remnant of the Israelites would return from their captivity in Babylon to restore Jerusalem and receive God's salvation. Their path from Babylon to Judah would take them through the desert, hence the prediction: The voyce of him that cryeth in the wildernesse, Prepare yee the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a high way for our God.  which he hath cast up,  for the Ransomed24Line 77, Ransomed: Isaiah 35:10 And the ransomed of the LORD shall returne and come to Zion with songs, and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtaine joy and gladnesse, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. The Ransomed, or redeemed, community are the walkers on the way of the Lord for they are the community that will return to Zion. to walk in,  and so through the unfaithfulness  and uneven walking of such, the name of the Lord hath been greatly dishonoured,  his spirit grieved,  and the hearts of the Righteous made sad. And many a wounded Soul there is amongst the Lords people, who are bowed under these weights and pressures, but assuredly the day hastens that every one must bear their own burden,  and the Lord will ease his Innocent ones, who have been bowed down before him, and have mourned and groaned under these things: yea, the day hastens, that the unfaithful and disobedient  hall  bear their own burdens.  And the Lord will arise for his own Name and Glory sake, and will ease him of his enemies, and avenge him of his adversaries,  and take to himselfe his great power, that he may Reign and Rule in the hearts of his,25Line 89, his: his own peopl that (faithfully labour in his work, and) ordereth their conversations26Line 90, conversations: In his chapter 'The Character of an English Quaker,' Arnold Lloyd notes that "In terms of "conversation" this meant for Friends not only visiting the widows and fatherless but maintaining a high standard of family life themselves." (Quaker Social History, p. 70.) aright before him ; his glory shall rest upon them, for he will not give it to another seed,  or birth, but to Christ Jesus27Line 92-100, Christ...earth: Isaiah 53:2-12 Hee hath no forme nor comelinesse: and when wee shall see him, there is no beautie that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with griefe:...But he was wounded for ourtransgression, he was bruised for our iniquities...All we like sheepe have gone astray: we have turned every one to his owne way, and the LORD hath layd on him the iniquities of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted...Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him, he hath put him to griefe: when thou shalt make his soule an offering for sinne, he shall see his seede, hee shall prolong his daies, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.  The last verses of the prophecy are understood to mean that the man of sorrows, killed for the sins of the community, will be praised by future generations. the seed of the woman ; who was given to bruise the Serpents head ; he hath born the iniquities of all, and been pressed under them as a Cart with sheaves,  his face hath been more marred then any mans,  and his voice not heard in the streets,  no beauty nor comlinesse seen in him.  And because he hath been a man of sorrows,  and acquainted with griefs, therefore hath he been passed by and not regarded, but the Lord will make him the joy of many Generations ; and his Sion the praise of the whole earth.Therefore Dear Friends, love him with all your Souls,  and be you delighted in him,  above all injoyments whatever, that you may lye down in the bosome28Line 103, bosome: literally, chest. "deep embrace", as in embraced deep within God's chest, might be a useful translation. of his love, and be nourished29Line 103, nourished by his side: no scriptural reference found, but the meaning conveyed is that the Quaker is spiritually fed from the body of God. by his side, as Children of our heavenly-Father ; begotten30Line 104-5, begotten...life: Gen 1, wherein God creates the world and humans by means of speech. by the Immortal word of life, to Live and Reign here with him (in it,) and when time  hall be no more, enter into that blessed rest, prepared for all them that have obeyed his glorious Gospel : and through as yet we be but as the gleaning of the Vintage,31Line 108, gleaning of the Vintage: The harvest is employed throughout the Bible as a metaphor for the gathering of the redeemed community. Matt 13:38,39 The field is the world. The good seed, are the children of the kingdome: but the tares are the children of the wicked one...The harvest, is the ende of the world. And the reapers are the Angels.  and Rev 14:15, 18 And another Angel came out of the Temple crying with a loude voice to him that sate on the cloud: Thrust in thy sickle and reape, for the time is come for thee to reape, for the harvest of the earth is ripe...Thrust in thy sharpe sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for her grapes are fully ripe. yet the Lord hath many to gather yea, the numberless number  hall be gathered.  And great will be the work of our God,  which he is bringing to pass in this his blessed day,  it cannot be declared,  as it is seen and felt in the spirit.  So Friends be faithful in the work of your day,  be valliant for the Lord and his blessed truth : Come up in the Nobillity of his life,  and stand faithful witnesses for him ; for we are the City set upon a hill,32Line 114-115, City...hill: Matt 5:14 Yee are the light of the world. A citie that is set on an hill, cannot be hid. Matthew describes the prophets of God as examples to the rest of the community. yea, battle Axes33Line 115-116, battle axes...Spiritual: In Margaret Fell's 1659 epistle to the Council of Officers (of the army), she echoes Fox's separation between carnal and spiritual forces, exhorting the soldiers to remain as the spiritual instruments of God. "You have bin the Instruments of warre, and the Battle-axe in the hand of the Lord..." Though the army soon failed the Quaker cause, the community itself apparently understood their own work in similar terms. (quoted in Margaret Fell and the Rise of Quakerism, by Bonnelyn Young Kunze. (London, 1994), p. 134. in Gods hand, Though our weapons are not carnal,  but Spiritual, and mighty through the power of God,  to the pulling down the strong holds of sin and Sathan : Friends, we are they whom the Lord hath raised to hold forth Christ Jesus, whom he hath given for an ensign to the Nations,34Line 119, ensign to the Nations: Isaiah 66:19 And I will set a signe among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations...and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles. Waite is drawing on Old Testament concepts of prophethood to describe the contemporary mission undertaken by her community. unto whom all the ends of the earth must come for salvation ;   So Dear Friends, let your light35Line 121-122, let...father: Matt 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good workes, and glorifie your father which is in heaven.. Note that Waite quotes the scripture almost word for word. shine forth before men that they may see your good workes and gloryfie your heavenly father, so that by your godly life and holy conversation many may enquire the way to Sion.So Dear Friends be faithful, and keep your meetings, in the fear of the Lord, be dilligent in his work, for the woe and Curse belongs to them that do the Lords work negligently (or with carelese minds,) and it is come on  ome allready, and will come more upon others,  if  by speedy repentance they return not unto the Lord.  So be Zealous for the Lord and his truth, and as much as in you lies gather36Line 130-140, gather...wilderness: see map of meeting participants' localities which precedes the bibliography in relation to the concern about tardiness. orderly together as neare the time as possible; that the meeting is appointed at, for Disorderly comeing hath been a hurt and burdened the faithfull who dare not be negligent, in the Lords work ; and often they have waited a Considerable season and Gods power hath been felt,  and the manifold grace of God been dispensed amongst us, and then others comes in : and misses of the Counsels, Admonitions, and Refreshments which the Lord by the operation of his blessed spirit hands forth to his people,  and so for want of Zeal in comeing duly to meetings (especially on the week dayes) truth hath not grown in them, but such37Line 140-141, such...there: "such" is, again, best translated as "such as they." She compares the tardiness of contemporary travelers to the Israelites forty years of wandering in the desert of Sinai before entering into the promised land of Canaan. (See Exodus, Numbers, Deuteronomy have long travelled in the wilderness : and many Carkasses fall'n there, and so for want of Zeal and faithfulness the enemy hath crept in, and darkned many minds, where once there was tender good desires raised after God,  So all have need to be faithful and wait dilligently every opportunity the Lord gives you to feel your strenghs renewed, for in the world is many Incumbrances and Intanglements, some on one hand, and  ome on another to draw the mind from God,  (and but one to draw it to him,) so there is great need of holy zeal and dilligence,  in observing the time to wait upon the Lord to feel your strength renewed ; to help through the many things and his power to strengthen and support, that in your families and all your undertakings you may be a good favour to the Lord,  being guided by his wisdome to rule and order your Children and Servants ,  and he will give Authority to stand over every thing thats contrary to his witness,  And in the feare of the Lord I warn and Exhort all parents not to winke or Connive at any sin in your Children, as you tender their Everlasting welbeing,  let no sin go on reproved or corrected, but take the wise mans counsel who saith ; Folly is bound38Line 158-161: Prov 22:15 Foolishnesse is bound in the heart of a child: but the rod of correction shal drive it farre from him. and Prov. 23:13 Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. up in the heart of a Child but the rod of Correction must drive it out,  And he that corrects his Child shall deliver his Soul from Death : So friends Traine up your Children in the Blessed truth and fear of the Lord, So may you have hope they will not depart from it (when they are old.) And take heed of giving way or suffering them to get into pride, and the vain and foolish fashions, which are a shame to Sober people,  and a great inlet to a many evils,   for they are prone to that by nature, and it may soon be set up, but hard to get it down;  So Friends keep the yoak upon that Nature thats Proud, Stubborn, or Disobedient to Parents, break that will in them betimes which comes from the evil one, and bend them while they are young,  least when they grow up you cannot.  And then you may sorrow greatly when it is too late,  for by your over looking their Folly, or Pride, the wrong Nature growes in them to a strong head,  whereby you have helped them forwards in the broad way which leads to destruction,39Line 173-174, Matt 7:13-14 Enter ye in at the strait gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which goe in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that finde it. and their blood (may come) to be required at your hands.  Ah Friends, friends, as much as in you lies keep down the evil, and the good will arise, then there will be Room for the tender seed to grow up in them, and they will bless the Lord on your behalfs, for your love and care of their Immortal Souls. And all Masters and Mistresses of Families, Keep in the Dominion of Truth, that in it you may Rule over every unclean thing,  and wrong Spirit, that is contrary to the Lord, that you abiding in him who is the highest power, (and higher then the powers of darkenesse) may in it keep in your Authority in your Families, and look that all be kept  weet and clean,  out of the Condemnable state, first in your selves ; and then in your families to see that all Wildness, Wantonness, and Rudeness, be kept under by the power ; yea everything that would blot or staine the precious truth.  And then if the Lord Require any Service or Testimony of any of you, (for this name and blessed truth,) that all may be cleare in your selves and justified by Gods witness, that you have stood in his Counsel and Authority in your families and been good Examples in life and converssation, by keeping your own houses in the good Order, and Ruleing there for God, then may you openly with boldness appear for the Lord,  and thresh down sin and every evil way,  in the power and Authority of his life,  that none may have any thing to accuse any of you, (on the accounts above mentioned,) And deare Friends all keep in the savoury life ; but more especially you who are drawn forth to beare publick Testimonys for the Lord and his blessed truth, keep you to the watch that at all times, Places, and on all occasions your lives may preach for God, by a clean unspotted Conversation, which is the Crown of all the faithfull,40Line 201, Crown of all the faithful: The epistles and Revelation describe several crowns (of righteousness, glory, and life) which will be awarded to the redeemed community upon Christ's return and the end of the world. (See 2 Tim 4:8, 1 Pet 5:4, and Rev 2:16 who labour in the worke of the Lord,  and are upright before him, his Glory  hall rest upon them and their Reward is sure.Now unto all you young people Sons and Daughters, Apprentices, Men or Maids, Servants,  all that are convinced of Gods truth and the way that leads to everlasting life and happiness, be you all faithful to Gods witness in you, and mind the motions and opperations of it,  that thereby you may be changed, and all judge out whats contrary to his pure witness,  let not your minds wander, neither look out at the vanities in this world, for Christs Kingdome is not of it,  nor to be found in Pride, wantonness and lusts of the flesh ; The fashions, Customes, and friendships of this world.  For the Devil is the King of pride,  and all its attendants that leads to the gates of Hell and everlasting destruction, where is the Woe and Misery and that41Line 215: that: that, though a singular demonstrative pronoun, refers to the preceding nouns. A more modern translation of the entire sentence might read:  For the devil is the king of pride (and all its attendants,) that lead to the gates of Hell and everlasting destruction, where there is woe and misery forevermore.  for evermore ,  there the worm never dyes,42Line 215-216, worm...out: Isaiah 66:24 (final prophecy of the end of the world) And they shall goe foorth, and looke upon the carkeises of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worme shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched, and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh. (also Mark 9:48) the fire never goes out, so all you young and tender ones, where desires are begotten after God, keep you low in his fear,  and to the daily Cross  that all the contrary may be crucified, and all the Enmitie slain upon it.  For every one that will be a disciple of Christ Jesus , must come into the selfdenying life,  (you cannot have two Kingdomes,43Line 220-221, two Kingdoms: By self-denying life, Waite seems to champion frugality. For her subsequent reference to "two kingdoms" is reminiscent of the New Testament injunction against two masters:  Matt 6:24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else hee will holde to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon. (also see Luke 16:13)) So my advice to you all is, stoop to Christs appearance in you, he who Invites all to come44Line 222-223, come...souls: Matt 11:28,29 Come unto me all yee that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learne of me, for I am meeke and lowly in heart: and yee shall find rest unto your soules.  and learn of him , who is meek and lowly and you  hall find rest for your souls.   So all be faithful in your several places and the exercises45Line 224, several...exercises: Several places suggest various work situations, exercises might be translated as instructions.  you may be under,  that you may grow in grace and in the feare and wisdome of God,  let not your eyes look out at others, but mind46Line 226-228, mind...home: reminiscent of Matt 7:3, 5 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brothers eye, but considerest not the beame that is in thime owne eye?...Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beame out of thine owne eye: and then shalt thou see clearely to cast out the mote out of they brothers eye. (also se Luke 6:41-42) your own Conditions; for if you do, it will Spye many faults in others, and may be over look more at home,  This hinders the growth of many, so all waite low within to feel your growth in the Blessed truth, and know how the work goes on,  and whether thou feels Gods love, mercy and goodness Renewed to thee day by day , or not, for your accounts will be for the deeds done in your bodyes and not for others, so every one is to labour to know your calling47Line 233, your calling: best translated as "your own calling and election made sure."  and election made sure.And you that are Apprentices keep in the truths love and obey it, for it will keep you faithful in your places and (out of every deceitful way) performing them not with eye-service48Line 237-238, eye-service...Lord: Col 3:22 Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh: not with eye service as men pleasers, but in singlenesse of heart, fearing God but with singlenese of heart,  as unto the Lord,  from whom you must receive a Reward.   And if the enemy entice,  consent not.  Though he come in with never so fair pretences ; that thou may'st deceive thy Master, and it will never be known &c.  Or purloin or waste his Goods, believe him not, he is a Liar49Line 242, Liar: Jo 8:44 Ye are of your father the devill...for he is a liar, and the father of it. and the Father of lies, for there is an Eye50Line 243-245, Eye...Reward: 1 Cor 4:5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, untill the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkenesse, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God (meaning: then will every man be appraised by God that sees in secret, which will bring all the hidden deeds of darkness to Light and every worke to judgement,  So as thy worke is, shall be thy Reward.  But fear the Lord and obey his voice in thee, and he will deliver51Line 246-248, deliver...paths: Isaiah 35:8 And an high way shalbe there, and a way, and it shall be called the way of holinesse, the uncleane shall not passe over it... thee out of every unclean way, and polluted path, by his dear Son Christ Jesus whom he hath given for a high way of Holyness, and a Restorer of paths to dwell in, Glory to his Name for ever, saith the Redeemed,52Line 249-250, Redeemed...mouths: Isaiah 35:10 And the ransomed of the LORD shall returne and come to Zion with songs, and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtaine joy and gladnesse, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. who is now returning unto Sion with Songs of diliverance in their mouths; and everlasting high praises is founded unto him,  by those53Line 251-252, those...Lamb: Rev 7:14 The redeemed community is described as they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the Blood of the Lambe.  whose garments are made white in the blood of the Lamb, for Sions Redeemer54Line 252-260, Redeemer...Children: This list of apocalyptic events is an amalgamation of Isaiah's visions: Isaiah 35:3 Strengthen yee the weake hands, and confirme the feeble knees. Isaiah 61:1-3 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the LORD hath anointed me, to preach good tidings unto the meeke, hee hath sent me to binde up the broken hearted...To proclaime the acceptable yere of the LORD, and the day of vengence of our God, to comfort all that mourne: To appoint unto them that mourne in Zion, to give unto them beautie for ashes, the oyle of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heavinesse...that he might be glorified. is come,  the taker away of  in and iniquity is made manifest, the mourners in Sion comforted, The weary Travelers are Refresed, The feeble knees are strengthened, the broken Spirit bound up, and the wounded Soul hath oil poured in,  who can but rejoyce and be exceedingly glad,  for he hath put a new Song in our mouths,  he hath given his people beauty for Ashes, and in stead of heavinesse the  pirit of praise, all that know him will speak well of his name,  for all the Noble Acts he hath brought to pass for his Children.  My soul is greatly affected in the Remembrance of the Lords numberlesse mercyes (to me) and a little Remnant55Line 262-263, Remnant...fire: Amos 4:11 ...yee were as a firebrand pluckt out of the burning whom he hath pluck'd as Brands out of the fire,  to shew forth his praises and declare of his goodnesse in the Land of the living, to hold forth Christ (the way to the Father,) To the Nations, that his scattered seed may be gathered from all the ends of the earth.So I have cleared my Spirit of what hath long lain upon me, and discharged my Conscience in delivering the Lords Message faithfully according to the ability he hath given me.  And so am clear in my spirit : The Lord set it home upon every heart whom it may concerne, and that it may be Received, in the same bowels of love it was given forth.  Then shall I receive my reward; and the Lord his Glory. And so shall to return56Line 275-276, return...Rock: One possible scriptural source is Psalm 18:2 The LORD is my rocke, and my fortresse, and my deliverer: my God, my strength in whome I will trust, my buckler, and the horne of my salvation, and my high tower. to my Tent, and enter into the hole of the Rock, where safetie is to be found, til the indignation be overpast, and in the endless unchangable love of God, do I Salute you, and bid you Farewel in the Lord.Mary WaiteYork 10th 2nd Month57Line 283, 10th 2nd Month: In her Author's Note to Visionary Women..., Mack explains that Quakers deviated from the English calendar titles, presumably because they had pagan sources. Instead, March was "1st Month,"  April "2nd Month," etc. Therefore, it should be noted that Waite finished her message in on the 10th day of April, rather than February, as one might think. 1679 Let this be Read in Friends meetings, when they are gathered together, in the fear of the Lord, and in his weightie,58Line 287, weightie:  'weightie' was understood to mean spiritually significant or important. It was generally used to describe certain Quakers, especially Fox and those of the community who attended the business and yearly meetings. (See Baubour and Frost, p. 68-69) savoury LifeBibliography for Judith Boulbie and Mary Waite.Primary Sources: Epistle from the Womens-Yearly Meeting at York: A Testimony for the Lord and his Truth..., 1688.Boulbie, Judith.A Testimony for Truth against all Hireling-Priests and Deceivers..., 1655.Waite, Mary. A Warning to all Friends who Professeth the Everlasting Truth..., 1688.Whitton, Katharine.An Epistle to Friends Everywhere..., London:Benjamin Clark,1681.Secondary Sources:The Authorised Version of the English Bible, 1611.(ed) William Wright.Cambridge:Cambridge at the University Press,1909.Bailey, Richard G.The Making and Unmaking of a God: New Light on George Fox and Early Quakerism. Thesis presented to University of Waterloo.Waterloo, Ontario, Canada,1991.Barbour, Hugh.The Quakers in Puritan England.New Haven, Conn:Yale University Press,1964.Barbour, Hugh and J. William Frost.The Quakers. New York:Greenwood Press,1988.Barbour, Hugh and Arthur O. Roberts.Early Quaker Writings, 1650-1700.Grand Rapids, Michigan:William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company,1973.Bauman, Richard.Let Your Words Be Few: Symbolism of Speaking and Silence among Seventeenth Century Quakers.Cambridge Studies in Oral and Literate Culture.Cambridge:Cambridge University Press,1983.Brailsford, Mabel R.Quaker Women, 1650-1690.London:Duckworth and Co.,1915.Braithwaite, William C.The Beginnings of Quakerism. 2nd ed.Cambridge:Cambridge University Press,1955.Bell, Maureen, et al.A Biographical Dictionary of English Women Writers, 1580-1720.Boston:G.K. Hall,1990.Chartier, Roger."Texts, Printing, and Readings," in The New Cultural History.edited by Lynn Hunt.Berkeley:University of California Press,1989.Dictionary of British and American Women Writers. edited by Janet Todd.London:Routledge,1989.English WomenUs Voices, 1540-1700.edited by Charlotte Otten.Maimi:Florida International University Press,1992.The Feminist Companion to English Literature: Women Writers from the Middle Ages to the Present. edited by Virginia Blain, Isobel Grundy, and Patricia Clements.New Haven:Yale University Press,1991.Fraser, Antonia.The Weaker Vessel. New York:Vintage Books,1984.Galgano, Michael J."Out of the Mainstream: Catholic and Quaker Women in the Restoration Northwest," in The World of William Penn.edited by Richard S. Dunn and Mary Maples Dunn.Philadelphia:University of Pennsylvania Press,1986.Hey, David.Yorkshire from AD 1000.Regional History of England.London:Longman,1986.Hill, Christopher.The Experience of Defeat. London:Faber and Faber,1984.Hobby, Elaine.Virtue of Necessity, English Women's Writing 1646-1688. London:Virago Press,1988.Holmes, Geoffrey.The Making of a Great Power, Late Stuart and Early Georgian Britain: 1660-1722. Foundations of Modern Britain.London:Longman,1993.Huber, Elaine C."A Woman Must Not Speak": Quaker Women in the English Left Wing," in Women of Spirit: Female Leadership in the Jewish and Christian Traditions.edited by Rosemary Ruether and Eleanor McLaughlin.New York:Simon and Schuster,1979.Kelly, Joan. Women, History, and Theory.Chicago:The University of Chicago Press,1984.Kunze, Bonnelyn Young.Margaret Fell and the Rise of Quakerism.London:McMillian Press, 1994.Lloyd, Arnold.Quaker Social History, 1669-1738. London:Longmans, Green and Co.,1950.Ludlow, Dorothy P."Shaking Patriarchy's Foundations: Sectarian Women in England, 1641-1700," in Triumph over Silence: Women in Protestant History. edited by Richard L. Greaves.London:Greenwood Press,1985.Mack, Phyllis.Visionary Women, Ecstatic Prophecy in Seventeenth-Century England.Berkeley:University of California Press,1992."The Female Prophet and her Audience: Class and Gender in the World Turned Upside Down," in Reviving the English Revolution, edited by Geoff Eley and William Hunt,Verso,1988."Women as Prophets during the English Civil War,"Feminist Studies  8(1982).Philip's County Atlas.London:George Philips & Sons,1883.Reay, Barry.The Quakers and the English Revolution. London:Temple Smith,1985.Schofield, Mary Anne.""Womens Speaking Justified": The Feminine Quaker Voice, 1662-1797,"Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature  6( Spring 1987).Scott, David.Quakerism in York, 1650-1720.Borthwick Paper No. 80:University of York,1991.Smith, Hilda and Susan Cardinale, comp.Women and the Literature of the Seventeenth Century: An Annotated Bibliography based on Wing's "Short-Title Cataloge".New York:Greenwood Press,1990.Smith, Joseph.A Descriptive Catalogue of Friends' Books...from their first Rise to the Present Time. 2 vols.London:Joseph Smith,1867.Thomas, Keith."Women and the Civil War Sects,"Past and Present 13(April 1958).Vann, Richard T.The Social Development of English Quakerism, 1655-1755.Cambridge, Mass.:Harvard University Press,1969.Williams, Ethyn M."Women Preachers in the Civil War,"Journal of Modern History. Volume 1(1929).Wright, Luella M.The Literary Life of the Early Friends, 1650-1725.New York:Columbia University Press,1932.