James Naylor

James Nayler (or Naylor; 1616–1660) was an English Quaker leader. He was among the members of the Valiant Sixty, a group of early Quaker preachers and missionaries. At the peak of his career, he preached against enclosure and the slave trade.

In 1656, Nayler achieved national notoriety when he re-enacted Christ's "Palm Sunday" entry into Jerusalem by entering Bristol on a horse. He was imprisoned and charged with blasphemy.

He was born in the town of Ardsley in Yorkshire. In 1642 he joined the Parliamentarian army, and served as quartermaster under John Lambert until 1650.

After experiencing what he described as the voice of God calling him from work in his fields, Nayler gave up his possessions and began seeking a spiritual direction, which he found in Quakerism after meeting the leader of the Quaker Friends movement, George Fox in 1652. Nayler became the most prominent of the travelling Quaker evangelists known as the "Valiant Sixty"; he attracted many converts and was considered a skilled theological debater.

Beginning in 1656, Fox expressed his concerns to Nayler that both Nayler's ministry, and that of his associate Martha Simmonds were becoming over-enthusiastic and erratic. Fox's concerns apparently centered specifically on Nayler's having allowed a group of his "followers" to effect that Nayler himself might in some sense be a great prophet or even a "messiah figure." They were soon hardly on speaking terms. On 23 September 1656, Fox visited Nayler in his prison at Exeter; when the prisoner refused to kiss his hand, Fox pushed his foot toward him, "It is my foot," clearly displaying his extreme displeasure with Nayler. The two men soon parted ways, their differences remaining sharp and unresolved. Prominent Quaker author, Rufus M. Jones provides a description of the strained encounter:

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