| | by admin | | posted on 10th December 2025 in Quakers Through the Ages | | views 2545 | |
Due to causing a national scandal, the Quaker James Nayler (1618 – 1660) was branded with a ‘B' for Blasphemer.
The national scandal took place in Bristol, England, in 1656. Nayler (sometimes spelt Naylor) and several followers staged a re-enactment of the “Palm Sunday” arrival of Christ riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. Nayler rode on horseback into Bristol attended by followers who sang “Holy, holy, holy” as they strewed the muddy path with garments.
For the outraged religious authorities during the Commonwealth of England, this was nothing short of Nayler being a self-described new Messiah and his actions were quickly condemned.
Nayler and some of his followers were apprehended, arrested and subsequently brought before Parliament. On 16 December, 1656, he was convicted of blasphemy in a highly publicised trial. Nayer had argued during the trial that he wasn’t claiming to be Jesus, but rather he had the Inward Christ as did all people.
Narrowly escaping execution, instead he was sentenced to be put in the pillory and on there to have a red hot iron bored through his tongue, and also to be branded with the letter ‘B’ for Blasphemer on his forehead, and other public humiliations. Finally, he was imprisoned for two years of hard labour.
George Fox was horrified by the Bristol scandal, and recounted in his Journal that, “James ran out into imaginations, and a company with him; and they raised up a great darkness in the nation”.