Roger Brierley
p.3
In 1651 & 52 George Sor gathered together groups of supporters and eager helpers.
In May 1652 he trekked westwards with Richard Farnsworth. They hadn’t eaten for many days. When they arrived at Pendle Hill (610m) in Lancashire. Sor was driven by a spirit to climb the hill. He wrote the following in his diary.
“As I arrived at the summit the sea surrounded Lancashire. On this spot the Lord allowed me to see which area to assemble the throng. As I descended I found a spring from which I drank, since I had eaten and drunk very little for several days. During the night we arrived at an inn. I announced the truth to the innkeeper and wrote down a proclamation for the priest and the teacher.
The day of the Lord was nigh and Christ himself had come in order to teach the people through His strength and spirit the ways of the Lord. The Innkeeper distributed leaflets and was seized by the truth. This is where the lord entered my mind to see people clothed in white walking along the riverside and the area I saw was Wensleydale and Sedbergh”.
What George Sor saw in his mind’s eye came to fulfilment at surprising speed in the coming weeks. He had parted from his companions and continued alone in the n/e direction.
Near to Sedbergh he entered into the circle of Seekers who were situated across Westmorland and neighbouring areas. Almost all of them joined the silent meeting.
The Seekers or Waiters were Separatists. They rejected the idea of the legitimate church. They understood that God had never given a mandate for its reconstruction after the fall of the church of the Apostles. Therefore one must forgo the idea of a school of thought and use the sacraments.
The believers could do nothing but rebuild themselves without leaders and in silent prayer await guidance from God. Not until God would send new prophets and apostles who were in the position to bring about the proof of the power of the Spirit would one be able to resurrect the Church.
P4
The Seekers met frequently to sustain each other through silent or spoken prayer and once a month larger gatherings would take place at the Church of Preston Patrick..
The opinions of the Seekers ate by no means singular. From the days of Obbe Philipps and Sebastian Franks to Roger Williams we are always meeting those who suffered regular attacks on their beliefs and eventually resigned. It is therefore questionable to immediately think of historic connections. Much closer is the question whether in the northern counties of England some religion is prevalent.
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On the northern floor of Pendle Hill we find the name Grindleton on the map. There was a chapel in the diocese of the county of Craven. In the English Ketzer story the Grindletonians are known as a branch of the English Familisten Ephraim Pagett. Could they be connected with the Seekers?
The Grindletonians are the followers of the priest Roger Brierley. He was born on the 4 August 1586, a farmer’s son in Rochdale. Following his ordination he was the perpetual curate of Grindleton chapel.
He was accused of wrong teachings. Following a lengthy interrogation the Archbishop Tobias Matthews in York ( + 29.3.1628) he was allowed back into office. In 1631 he received the Pfrunde of Burnley (Lancs) and died there in 1637.
Brierley’s Gedankenwelt (literally “thought world”) is known to us because of his predictions
English text
P5 2. Besides there is another edition of the same title.
The London edition is based on an earlier edition.
It contains a 70 page appendix of poems in English
b) A conversation with the Lord in rhyme ending with the song of the Soul’s Freedom
c) Paraphrased in rhyme
b) Begins with the Lord’s reply . . . .
The introduction to the predictions is as the language reveals is undoubtedly written by a Quaker who signs himself with the initials JC. After all could this be the Quaker apostle and former one time leader of the Seekers, John Camm. He was 15 – 20 years younger than Brierley as a strong preacher of self punshment and consolation for forgiveness of the sins. The high commission in York brought 50 articles against him for wrongful teaching (blasphemy?) but nothing could be proved against him. After extensive investigation the bishop allowed him to preach again. After his death the extracts of his prediction of forgiveness have been made available to the publisher. The contents of the prediction offered a great surprise. It is pure unfalsified Lutheran prediction of forgiveness completely free of bias from Calvinism, malancholism and antimony.
To eliminate any doubt we will in the following let Brierley speak for himself.
According to Brierley there is no other way of alleviating the heavy guilt and through Christ the follies of the heart . . . . We should not accept any other services than the Saviour
P9 To sum up one can say in Christianity Brierley strongly opposes activities of the believer. Spiritual advancement is solely dependent upon deeper contemplation of your sins and consequently of God’s forgiveness.
P10. God carries through the development of belief in the school of the Cross. The child of God is required to do no more than remain silent and to believe ………………As a consequence the sins of the father are inherited
P12 Particularly noteworthy is the rejection of “ Arminianism” of the mystic and the Christological speculation. Towards Mystikers he expounds Lutherism.
P13. Her we get a strong impression of the simple natural and kindly ways of Brierley. Whomsoever he wants to address with polemic is not very clear
Brirley was not the only Lutherian of the 17th century. He was the closest follower of his teachings/philosophy. That becomes clear when we take account of the beliefs of the other “Antimoner” John Eaton and Tobias Crip.
Because it will of importance to our further investigation to differentiate between the different Lutheran practice which up to know has not been tried so we must research it thoroughly
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