Skipton 1907

Skipton, H. P. K. The Life and Times of Nicholas Ferrar. London: A. R. Mowbray & Co., Ltd., 1907.

Robert Ferrar, great-uncle to Nicholas Ferrar, killed in Marian persecutions

• story told in Foxe (14)

as a child, Ferrar read and memorized Scriptures and passages from the Book of Martyrs each day (25)

• could read and repeat Biblical chapters by age 5

traveled with the Princess Elizabeth

• Francis Quarles, author of Pious Emblems, may have been on board the same ship (36)
• traveled with his own concordance and the New Testament (45)

involvement in the Virginia Company

• William Crashaw (father to Richard Crashaw) was an early supporter of the plantations (61)

extrication of family from problems of Virginia Company, commemorated with a prayer of thanksgiving, read every year at Little Gidding until September 1657, possibly longer (81)

"Wonderful indeed hath been Thy goodness towards us: while the wise have been disappointed in their counsels, while the full of friends have been left desolate, while the men whose hands were mighty have found nothing, while the strong on every side have fallen, we, O Lord, have been by Thy power raised up, by Thine arm have we been strengthened, guided by Thy counsels, and relieved by the favour of Thy mercies. and that we might know that it was Thy doing, by those ways and means which we thought not of, Thou hast brought us into a wealthy place, and to the many comforts which we now enjoy."

intention to found Little Gidding; announcement took the form of a solemn vow, formally recorded on parchment:

"That since God had so often heard his most humble petitions, and delivered him out of many dangers; and in many desperate calamities had extended His mercy to him; he would therefor now give himself up continually to serve God to the utmost of his power, in the office of a deacon, to be the Levite himself in his own house, and to make his own relations, which were many, his cure of souls." (85)