The Ancient Banner | Page 2

Lord.?Apart from human dwellings, in a green?Rich pasturage of England, sat a youth,?Who seemed a shepherd, for around him there?A flock was feeding, and the sportive lambs?Gambolled amid the herbage. But his face?Bore evidence of sadness. On his knee?The sacred book lay open, upon which?The youth looked long and earnestly, and then,?Closing the book, gazed upward, in deep thought?This was the instrument by whom the Lord?Designed to spread a clearer light below?And fuller reformation. He appeared,?Like ancient Samuel, to be set apart?For the Lord's service from his very birth.?Even in early childhood, he refrained?From youthful follies, and his mind was turned?To things of highest moment. He was filled?With awful feelings, by the wickedness?He saw around him. As he grew in years,?Horror of sin grew stronger; and his mind?Became so clothed with sadness, and so full?Of soul-felt longings, for the healing streams?Of heavenly consolation, that he left?His earthly kindred, seeking quietude?In solitary places, where he read?The book of inspiration, and in prayer,?Sought heavenly counsel.?In this deep-proving season he was told,?Of priests, whose reputation had spread wide?For sanctity and wisdom; and from these?He sought for consolation,--but in vain.?One of these ministers became enraged,?Because the youth had inadvertently?Misstepped within his garden; and a priest?Of greater reputation, counselled him?To use tobacco, and sing holy psalms!?And the inquirer found a third to be?But as an empty, hollow cask at best.?Finding no help in man, the youthful Fox,?Turned to a higher and a holier source,?For light and knowledge. In his Saviour's school,?He sat a scholar, and was clearly shown?The deep corruption, that had overspread?Professing Christendom. And one by one,?The doctrines of the Gospel, were unveiled,?To the attentive student,--doctrines, which,?Though clearly written on the sacred page,?Had long been hidden, by the rubbish man's?Perversions and inventions heaped thereon.?He saw that colleges, could not confer,?A saving knowledge of the way of Truth,?Nor qualify a minister to preach?The everlasting Gospel; but that Christ,?Is the true Teacher, and that he alone?Has power to call, anoint, and qualify,?And send a Gospel minister to preach?Glad tidings of salvation. He was shown,?No outward building, made of wood and stone?Could be a holy place,--and that the Church--?The only true and living Church--must be?A holy people gathered to the Lord,?And to his teaching. He was clearly taught,?The nature of baptism, by which souls?Are purified and fitted for this Church;?That this was not, by being dipped into,?Or sprinkled with clear water, but it was?The one baptism of the Holy Ghost.?He saw the Supper was no outward food,?Made and administered by human hands,--?But the Lord's Table was within the heart;?Where in communion with him, holy bread?Was blessed and broken, and the heavenly wine,?Which cheers the fainting spirit, handed forth.?The Saviour showed him that all outward wars,?Are now forbidden,--that the warfare here,?Is to be waged within. Its weapons too,?Though mighty, even to the pulling down,?Of the strong holds of Satan, are yet all?The Spirit's weapons. He was shown, that oaths?Judicial or profane, are banished from?The Christian dispensation, which commands,?"Swear not at all." He saw the compliments,--?Hat honour, and lip service of the world,?Sprang from pride's evil root, and were opposed?To the pure spirit of Christ's holy law.?And by His inward Light, was clearly seen?The perfect purity of heart and life?For which that Saviour calls, who never asked,?Things unattainable.?These truths and others, being thus revealed,?Fox was prepared and qualified to preach,?The unveiled Gospel, to the sons of men.?Clothed with divine authority, he went?Abroad through Britain, and proclaimed that Light,?Which Christ's illuminating Spirit sheds,?In the dark heart of man. Some heard of this,?Who seemed prepared and waiting, to receive?His Gospel message, and were turned to Him,?Whose Holy Spirit sealed it on their hearts.?And not a few of these, were called upon,?To take the message, and themselves declare?The way of Truth to others. But the Priests,?Carnal professors, and some magistrates,?Heard of the inward light, and purity,?With indignation, and they seized upon,?And thrust the Preacher within prison walls.?Not once alone, but often was he found,?Amid the very dregs of wickedness--?With robbers, and with blood-stained criminals,?Locked up in loathsome jails. And when abroad?Upon his Master's service, he was still?Reviled and buffeted, and spit upon.?But none of these things moved him, for within?He felt that soul-sustaining evidence,?Which bore his spirit high above the waves,?Of bitter persecution.?But now the time approached, for his release?From suffering and from labour. He had spent,?Long years in travel for the cause of Truth,--?Not all in Britain,--for he preached its light,?And power in Holland,--the West Indian isles,?And North America. Far through the wild,?And trackless wilderness, this faithful man,?Carried his Master's message; he lived,?To see Truth's banner fearlessly displayed?Upon both continents. He lived to see,?Pure hearted men and women gathered to?The inward teaching of the Saviour's will,--?Banded together in the covenant,?Of light and life. But his allotted work,?Was now accomplished, and his soul prepared,?For an inheritance with saints in light,?And with his