"_ In the same manner he appears to have gone on, making a
deep impression upon his hearers, whenever he was fully and fairly
heard. Many clergymen, as I observed before, in consequence of his
powerful preaching, gave up their livings; and constables, who attended
the meetings, in order to apprehend him, felt themselves disarmed, so
that they went away without attempting to secure his person.
As to his life, it was innocent. It is true indeed, that there were
persons, high in civil offices, who, because he addressed the people in
public, considered him as a disturber of the peace. But none of these
ever pretended to cast a stain on his moral character. He was considered
both by friends and enemies, as irreproachable in his life.
Such was the character of the founder of Quakerism, He was born in July
1624, and died on the thirteenth of November 1690, in the sixty-seventh
year of his age. He had separated himself from the word in order to
attend to serious things, as I observed before, at the age of nineteen,
so that he had devoted himself to the exercises and services of religion
for no less a period than forty-eight years. A few hours before his
death, upon some friends asking him how he found himself, he replied
"never heed.
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