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GEORGE HARRISON,

OF KILLINGTON.

GEORGE HARRISON joined the Society of Friends in the year 1652. He belonged to a family of influence in the county of Westmoreland; and the change in his religious sentiments being distasteful to his relations, he was in consequence subjected to considerable hardship from them.

He travelled in the work of the ministry through many parts of England; persevering amid great sufferings, often received at the hands of those who made a high profession of religion.

His gospel labours terminated with his life, in 1656. He had preached through the streets of Edmondsbury, and on his return to the inn, being denied refreshment, he was obliged to proceed to the neighbouring town of Bradfield. But at Bradfield also, the people of the tavern, when they perceived that he was a Friend,

refused to supply him either with food or lodging. As he turned away he meekly reminded them of the words of Christ, "I was a stranger and ye took me not in ;" and leaving their inhospitable door he was constrained to ride abroad all night, unsheltered from the wet and inclement weather, to the injury of his health.

Shortly after this, along with Stephen Hubbersty, he was dragged from out a Friend's house at Haverhill, Suffolk, and was so sorely beaten and stoned, that the injuries he received, added to the effects of the serious indisposition occasioned by his recent exposure, brought on a fever from which he did not recover. He reached Coggeshall with difficulty, where he received the kind attention of Friends.

During his illness the Lord was with him, and to those around his bed, he said "Come Friends, rejoice with me;" and so lay praising God to his last hour.

He died at the house of Thomas Creek, of Little Coggeshall, and was burried in the orchard of Thomas Sparrow, at Stifted, Essex, in the end of the fifth month, 1656; aged twenty-six years.

(Piety Promoted: Besse's Sufferings: &c.)

STEPHEN HUBBERSTY,

OF HENDON, MIDDLESEX.

STEPHEN HUBBERSTY was resident at Underbarrow, Westmoreland, when convinced by George Fox, in the year 1652. He travelled as a minister through various parts of this nation, and like his brethren who bore the burden and heat of that day, was subjected to many sufferings. These, however, were not permitted to move him from his steadfastness. Himself experimentally knowing where strength was to be found, he was concerned also to direct his fellow believers to Christ their Helper, and to encourage them to faithful obedience to Him.

The following extract is from one of his epistles written in 1670; when the passing an "Act for the Suppression of Seditious Conventicles" exposed Friends to severe

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persecution in the maintenance of their religious meetings.

Stephen Hubbersty thus writes:

"My dearly beloved Friends and brethren, whom the Lord hath visited by His heavenly power, by which you have been gathered to Himself, to eat of the finest of the wheat.

"My love in the covenant of life is to you all, being often in my remembrance night and day, with sufferings with you who suffer, and with prayers to the Almighty God, that you may stand fast, having your loins girded about with truth, and be shod with the power of the Almighty, that no briers nor thorns may hinder you in your passage to your good land.

"Friends! It is the enjoyment of the sweet presence of God which will encourage you to stand; not forsaking the assembling yourselves together to worship God, as the saints used to do in the primitive times; for we are come, blessed be God! to the primitive Spirit, the Spirit of Christ which was in the primitive worshippers, by which they worshipped God, for which they went through many sufferings. Dear Friends everywhere! My love doth flow forth dearly to you. The Lord arm you with patience and boldness; and let all these things drive you nearer and nearer to your Beloved.

"The Lord sanctify you to Himself, that you may be like the holy Apostles, who, when charged to speak no more in Christ's name, would not obey, but chose rather to obey God. Let this be your choice; and ages and generations to come will bless God for you. Continue in the faith and in love; and the Lord exalt righteousness in the earth, and lay low the kingdom of sin. Live in the Spirit, and grow in it. The Wonderful Counsellor preserve you single hearted, and keep you over all storms. A calm will come again; and the joy of the Lord, which is as the joy of harvest, fill your souls with joy and peace in believing; and the Lord's blessing and peace, rest with and among you for ever."

Stephen Hubbersty became a prisoner in London, in 1683, on account of his christian testimony against tithes; and in 1686, he suf fered prosecution in the ecclesiastical courts for non-attendance on the "National Worship,' from which he was released by the King's Commission to the Attorney General.

We have no record of the date of his deceasc.

(Besse's Sufferings: Geo. Fox's Journal.)

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