William Smith

William Smith was born in Nottinghamshire, England, and was a devout pastor of an Independent congregation before being convinced of the Truth as professed by the people called Quakers in the year 1658. He was a faithful laborer in the work of the gospel, and many were turned to God through his ministry, though he was often abused and persecuted for his testimony to the Truth. Much of his adult life was spent in long and tedious imprisonments, and on one occasion he was kept twenty-one weeks in the dungeon of Nottingham jail. But being a diligent laborer and a man of great spiritual understanding, he wrote many useful books in the time of his imprisonment, including “The New Creation Brought Forth in the Holy Order of Life.”