Spurgeon  who  related  that  once  when  an  admirer  praised
George  Fox,  he  (Fox)  answered  him,  "  Beware  of  h}'poc-
risy  and  a  rotten  heart."  This  was  the  kind  of  man  to
Hft  up  a  standard  of  revolt  against  flattery,  against  form,
against  spiritual  wickedness  in  high  places.  And  many  a
time  he  was  cast  into  prison.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is
said  that  the  last  martyr  burned  alive  for  his  religion
in  England  was  Edw.  Wightman,  a  Baptist,  who  was
burnt  at  Lichfield,  April  ii,  1612.  When  the  scene  of
warfare  was  transferred  to  America,  and  Roger  Williams
in  Rhode  Island,  and  William  Penn  in  Pennsylvania,  both
bore  aloft  the  standard  of  liberty  of  conscience,  there  was
not,  and  there  has  not  been  to  this  day,  the  same  need  for
the  manner  of  Fox's  testimony,  which  was  rudely  sincere,
and  adapted  to  the  atmosphere  of  his  era.  And  it  is  to  be
feared  that  in  this  day  we  have  got  far  enough  away  from
the  stern  honesty  which  cared  naught  for  "  man  whose
breath  is  in  his  nostrils,"  and  sought  "  the  honor  which
Cometh  from  God  only."  Friends,  from  a  protest  against
all  forms  in  religion,  which  carried  them  into  antagonism
to  the  rites  held  dear  by  most  Christian  sects, — the  Lord's
Supper  and  water  baptism, — came  at  last  to  set  up  forms
of  their  own  ;  forms  of  dress  and  of  language,  unscriptural
forms,  which  they  worshiped  almost  as  much  as  the
Anglican  and  Papist  their  wafer.
