he was delivered out
of the snare, he did condemn all
their wild and mad actions towards
him and judged himself also.
Howbeit our adversaries and
persecutors unjustly took occasion
thereupon, to triumph and insult,
and to reproach and roar against
Quakers, though as a People (they
were) wholly unconcerned and clear
from those offences.'--G. WHITEHEAD._

_'And so His will is my
peace.'--JAMES NAYLER._

XX. THE SADDEST STORY OF ALL

BUT IT HAS A HAPPY END

Children--come close. Let us hold hands and gather round the fire.
This story must be told in the twilight, while the room is all dark
except for the dim glow of the coals. Then, if a few tears do run down
our cheeks--no one will see them. And presently the lamp will come in,
the darkness will vanish, and the story will end happily--as most
stories do if we could only carry them on far enough. What makes the
sadness to us, often, is that we only see such a little bit of the
way.

This is the story of a man who made terrible mistakes, and suffered a
terrible punishment. But, through his sufferings, and perhaps even
through the great mistakes he made, he learned some lessons that he
might never have learned in any other way. His name was James Nayler.
He was born in 1616, and was the son of a well-to-do farmer in
Yorkshire. He was 'educated in good English,' and learned to write and
speak well. His early life seems to have been uneventful. At the age
of 22 he married, and settled near Wakefield with his young wife,
Anne. After a few years of happy married life, the long dispute
between King Charles and his Parliament finally broke out into Civil
War. The old peaceful life of the countryside was at an end.
Everywhere men were called upon to take sides and to arm. James Nayler
was one of the first to answer that call. He enlisted in the
Parliamentary Army under Lord Fairfax, and spent the next nine or ten
years as a soldier. Under General Lambert he rose to be quartermaster,
and the prospect of attaining still higher military rank was before
him when his health broke down and he was obliged to return home.

A little later he made a friend. One eventful Sunday in 1652 'the Man
in Leather Breeches' visited Wakefield, and came to the
'Steeple-house' where Nayler had been accustom