THE latter part of the summer, 1763, there came a man to Mount Holly who hadpreviously published a printed advertisement that at a certain public-house he would show many wonderful operations, which were therein enumerated. At theappointed time he did, by sleight of hand, perform sundry things which appearedstrange to the spectators. Understanding that the show was to be repeated thenext night, and that the people were to meet about sunset, I felt an exerciseon that account. So I went to the public-house in the evening, and told the manof the house that I had an inclination to spend a part of the evening there;with which he signified that he was content. Then, sitting down by the door, Ispoke to the people in the fear of the Lord, as they came together, concerningthis show, and laboured to convince them that their thus assembling to seethese sleight-of-hand tricks, and bestowing their money to support men who, inthat capacity, were of no use to the world, was contrary to the nature of theChristian religion. One of the company endeavoured to show by arguments thereasonableness of their proceedings herein; but after considering some texts ofScripture and calmly debating the matter he gave up the point. After spendingabout an hour among them, and feeling my mind easy, I departed.
Twenty-fifth of Ninth Month, 1764. -- At our Yearly Meeting at Philadelphiathis day, John Smith, of Marlborough, aged upwards of eighty years, a faithfulminister, though not eloquent, stood up in our meeting of ministers and elders,and appearing to be under a great exercise of spirit, informed Friends insubstance as follows: "That he had been a member of our Society upwards ofsixty years, and he well remembered that, in those early times, Friends were aplain, lowly-minded people, and that there was much tenderness and contritionin their meetings. That, at twenty years from that time, the Society increasingin wealth and in some degree conforming to the fashions of the world, truehumility was less apparent, and their meetings in general were not so livelyand edifying. That at the end of forty years many of them were grown very rich,and many of the Society made a specious appearance in the world; that wearingfine costly garments, and using silver and other watches, became customary withthem, their sons, and their daughters.
"These marks of outward wealth and greatness appeared on some in our meetingsof ministers and elders; and, as such things became more prevalent, so thepowerful overshadowings of the Holy Ghost were less manifest in the Society.
That there had been a continued increase of such ways of life, even until thepresent time; and that the weakness which hath now overspread the Society andthe barrenness manifest among us is matter of much sorrow." He then mentionedthe uncertainty of his attending these meetings in future, expecting hisdissolution was near; and, having tenderly expressed his concern for us,signified that he had seen in the true light that the Lord would bring back Hispeople from these things, into which they were thus degenerated, but that Hisfaithful servants must go through great and heavy exercises.
Twentieth of Ninth Month. -- The committee appointed by the Yearly Meeting tovisit the Quarterly and Monthly Meetings gave an account in writing of theirproceedings in that service. They signified that, in the course of the visit,they had been apprehensive that some persons holding offices in governmentinconsistent with our principles, and others who kept slaves, remaining activemembers in our meetings for discipline, had been one means of weaknessprevailing in some places. After this report was read, an exercise revived inmy mind which had attended me for several years, and inward cries to the Lordwere raised in me that the fear of man might not prevent me from doing what Herequired of me, and, standing up, I spoke in substance as follows:
"I have felt a tenderness in my mind towards persons in two circumstancesmentioned in that report; namely, towards such active members as keep slavesand such as hold offices in civil government; and I have desired that Friends,in all their conduct, may be kindly affectioned one towards another. ManyFriends who keep slaves are under some exercise on that account; and at timesthink about trying them with freedom, but find many things in their way. Theway of living and the annual expenses of some of them are such that it seemsimpracticable for them to set their slaves free without changing their own wayof life. It has been my lot to be often abroad; and I have observed in someplaces, at Quarterly and Yearly Meetings, and at some houses where travellingFriends and their horses are often entertained, that the yearly expense ofindividuals therein is very considerable. And Friends in some places crowdingmuch on persons in these circumstances for entertainment hath rested as aburden on my mind for some years past. I now express it in the fear of theLord, greatly desiring that Friends here present may duly consider it."In the fall of this year, having hired a man to work, I perceived inconversation with him that he had been a soldier in the late war on thiscontinent; and he informed me in the evening, in a narrative of his captivityamong the Indians, that he saw two of his fellow-captives tortured to death ina very cruel manner. This relation affected me with sadness, under which I wentto bed; and the next morning, soon after I awoke, a fresh and living sense ofdivine love overspread my mind, in which I had a renewed prospect of the natureof that wisdom from above which leads to a right use of all gifts, bothspiritual and temporal, and gives content therein. Under a feeling thereof, Iwrote as follows: -"Hath He who gave me a being attended with many wants unknown to brutecreatures given me a capacity superior to theirs, and shown me that a moderateapplication to business is suitable to my present condition; and that this,attended with His blessing, may supply all my outward wants while they remainwithin the bounds He hath fixed, and while no imaginary wants proceeding from an evil spirit have any place in me? Attend then, O my soul! to this purewisdom as thy sure conductor through the manifold dangers of this world.
"Doth pride lead to vanity? Doth vanity form imaginary wants? Do these wantsprompt men to exert their power in requiring more from others than they wouldbe willing to perform themselves, were the same required of them? Do theseproceedings beget hard thoughts? Do hard thoughts, when ripe, become malice?
Does malice, when ripe, become revengeful, and in the end inflict terriblepains on our fellow-creatures and spread desolations in the world?
"Do mankind, walking in uprightness, delight in each other's happiness? Anddo those who are capable of this attainment, by giving way to an evil spirit,employ their skill and strength to inflict and destroy one another? Rememberthen, O my soul, the quietude of those in whom Christ governs, and in all thyproceedings feel after it.
"Doth He condescend to bless thee with His presence? To move and influencethee to action? To dwell and to walk in thee? Remember then thy station asbeing sacred to God. Accept of the strength freely offered to thee, and takeheed that no weakness in conforming to unwise, expensive, and hard-heartedcustoms, gendering to discord and strife, be given way to. Doth He claim mybody as His temple, and graciously require that I may be sacred to Him? Oh thatI may prize this favour, and that my whole life may be conformable to thischaracter! Remember, O my soul! that the Prince of Peace is thy Lord; that Hecommunicates His unmixed wisdom to His family, that they, living in perfectsimplicity, may give no just cause of offence to any creature, but that theymay walk as He walked!"Having felt an openness in my heart towards visiting families in our ownmeeting, and especially in the town of Mount Holly, the place of my abode, Imentioned it at our Monthly Meeting in the fore part of the winter of 1764,which being agreed to, and several Friends of our meeting being united in theexercise, we proceeded therein; and through divine favour we were helped in thework, so that it appeared to me as a fresh reviving of godly care amongFriends. The latter part of the same winter I joined my friend William Jones ina visit to Friends' families in Mansfield, in which labour I had cause toadmire the goodness of the Lord toward us.
My mind being drawn towards Friends along the seacoast from Cape May to nearSquan, and also to visit some people in those parts, among whom there is nosettled worship, I joined with my beloved friend Benjamin Jones in a visit tothem, having Friends' unity therein. We set off the 24th of Tenth Month, 1765,and had a prosperous and very satisfactory journey, feeling at times, through the goodness of the Heavenly Shepherd, the gospel to flow freely towards a poorpeople scattered in these places. Soon after our return I joined my friendsJohn Sleeper and Elizabeth Smith in a visit to Friends' families at Burlington,there being at this time about fifty families of our Society in that city; andwe had cause humbly to adore our Heavenly Father, who baptized us into afeeling of the state of the people, and strengthened us to labour in truegospel love among them.
Having had a concern at times for several years to pay a religious visit toFriends on the eastern shore of Maryland, and to travel on foot among them,that by so travelling I might have a more lively feeling of the condition ofthe oppressed slaves, set an example of lowliness before the eyes of theirmasters, and be more out of the way of temptation to unprofitable converse; andthe time drawing near in which I believed it my duty to lay my concern beforeour Monthly Meeting, I perceived, in conversation with my beloved friend JohnSleeper, that he also was under similar concern to travel on foot in the formof a servant among them, as he expressed it. This he told me before he knewaught of my exercise. Being thus drawn the same way, we laid our exercise andthe nature of it before Friends; and, obtaining certificates, we set off the6th of Fifth Month, 1766, and were at meetings with Friends at Wilmington, DuckCreek, Little Creek, and Motherkill. My heart was often tendered under thedivine influence, and enlarged in love towards the people among whom wetravelled.
From Motherkill we crossed the country about thirty-five miles to Tuckahoe,in Maryland, and had a meeting there, and also at Marshy Creek. At the lastthree meetings there were a considerable number of the followers of one JosephNichols, a preacher, who, I understand, is not in outward fellowship with anyreligious society, but professeth nearly the same principles as those of ourSociety, and often travels up and down, appointing meetings which many peopleattend. I heard of some who had been irreligious people that were now hisfollowers, and were become sober, well-behaved men and women. Someirregularities, I hear, have been among the people at several of his meetings;but from what I have perceived I believe the man and some of his followers arehonestly disposed, but that skilful fathers are wanting among them.
We then went to Choptank and Third Haven, and thence to Queen Anne's. Theweather for some days past having been hot and dry, and we having travelledpretty steadily and having hard labour in meetings, I grew weakly, at which Iwas for a time discouraged; but looking over our journey and considering howthe Lord had supported our minds and bodies, so that we had gone forward muchfaster than I expected before we came out, I saw that I had been in danger oftoo strongly desiring to get quickly through the journey, and that the bodily weakness now attending me was a kindness; and then in contrition of spirit, Ibecame very thankful to my gracious Father for this manifestation of His love,and in humble submission to His will my trust in Him was renewed.
In this part of our journey I had many thoughts on the differentcircumstances of Friends who inhabit Pennsylvania and Jersey from those whodwell in Maryland, Virginia, and Carolina. Pennsylvania and New Jersey weresettled by Friends who were convinced of our principles in England in times ofsuffering; these, coming over, bought lands of the natives, and applied tohusbandry in a peaceable way, and many of their children were taught to labourfor their living. Few of these, I believe, settled in any of the southernprovinces; but by the faithful labours of travelling Friends in early timesthere was considerable convincement among the inhabitants of these parts. Ialso remembered having read of the warlike disposition of many of the firstsettlers in those provinces, and of their numerous engagements with the nativesin which much blood was shed even in the infancy of the colonies. Some of thepeople inhabiting those places, being grounded in customs contrary to the puretruth, were affected with the powerful preaching of the Word of Life and joinedin fellowship with our Society, and in so doing they had a great work to gothrough.
In the history of the reformation from Popery it is observable that theprogress was gradual from age to age. The uprightness of the first reformers inattending to the light and understanding given to them opened the way forsincere-hearted people to proceed further afterwards; and thus each one trulyfearing God and labouring in the works of righteousness appointed for him inhis day findeth acceptance with Him. Through the darkness of the times and thecorruption of manners and customs, some upright men may have had little morefor their day's work than to attend to the righteous principle in their mindsas it related to their own conduct in life without pointing out to others thewhole extent of that into which the same principle would lead succeeding ages.
Thus, for instance, among an imperious warlike people, supported by oppressedslaves, some of these masters, I suppose, are awakened to feel and to see theirerror, and through sincere repentance cease from oppression and become likefathers to their servants, showing by their example a pattern of humility inliving, and moderation in governing, for the instruction and admonition oftheir oppressing neighbours; these, without carrying the reformation further,have, I believe, found acceptance with the Lord. Such was the beginning; andthose who succeeded them, and who faithfully attended to the nature and spiritof the reformation, have seen the necessity of proceeding forward, and have notonly to instruct others by their own example in governing well, but have alsoto use means to prevent their successors from having so much power to oppressothers.
Here I was renewedly confirmed in my mind that the Lord (whose tender merciesare over all His works, and whose ear is open to the cries and groans of theoppressed) is graciously moving in the hearts of people to draw them off fromthe desire of wealth and to bring them into such an humble lowly way of livingthat they may see their way clearly to repair to the standard of truerighteousness, and may not only break the yoke of oppression, but may know Himto be their strength and support in times of outward affliction.
We crossed Chester River, had a meeting there, and also at Cecil andSassafras. My bodily weakness, joined with a heavy exercise of mind, was to mean humbling dispensation, and I had a very lively feeling of the state of theoppressed; yet I often thought that what I suffered was little compared withthe sufferings of the blessed Jesus and many of His faithful followers; and Imay say with thankfulness that I was made content. From Sassafras we wentpretty directly home, where we found our families well. For several weeks afterour return I had often to look over our journey; and though to me it appearedas a small service, and that some faithful messengers will yet have more bittercups to drink in those southern provinces for Christ's sake than we have had,yet I found peace in that I had been helped to walk in sincerity according tothe understanding and strength given to me.
Thirteenth of Eleventh Month. -- With the unity of Friends at our monthlymeeting, and in company with my beloved friend Benjamin Jones, I set out on avisit to Friends in the upper part of this province, having had drawings oflove in my heart that way for a considerable time. We travelled as far asHardwick, and I had inward peace in my labours of love among them. Through thehumbling dispensations of divine Providence my mind hath been further broughtinto a feeling of the difficulties of Friends and their servants southwestward;and being often engaged in spirit on their account, I believed it my duty towalk into some parts of the western shore of Maryland on a religious visit.
Having obtained a certificate from Friends of our Monthly Meeting, I took leaveof my family under the heart-tendering operation of truth, and on the 20th ofFourth Month, 1767, rode to the ferry opposite to Philadelphia, and thencewalked to William Horne's, at Derby, the same evening. Next day I pursued myjourney alone and reached Concord Week-Day Meeting.
Discouragements and a weight of distress had at times attended me in thislonesome walk, but through these afflictions I was mercifully preserved.
Sitting down with Friends, my mind was turned towards the Lord to wait for hisholy leadings; and in infinite love He was pleased to soften my heart intohumble contrition, and renewedly to strengthen me to go forward, so that to meit was a time of heavenly refreshment in a silent meeting. The next day I cameto New Garden Week-Day Meeting, in which I sat in bowedness of spirit, and being baptized into a feeling of the state of some present, the Lord gave us aheart-tendering season; to His name be the praise. Passing on, I was atNottingham Monthly Meeting, and at a meeting at Little Britain on First-Day; inthe afternoon several Friends came to the house where I lodged and we had alittle afternoon meeting, and through the humbling power of truth I had toadmire the loving-kindness of the Lord manifested to us.
Twenty-sixth of Fourth Month. -- I crossed the Susquehanna, and coming amongpeople in outward ease and greatness, supported chiefly on the labour ofslaves, my heart was much affected, and in awful retiredness my mind wasgathered inward to the Lord, humbly desiring that in true resignation I mightreceive instruction from him respecting my duty among this people. Thoughtravelling on foot was wearisome to my body, yet it was agreeable to the stateof my mind. Being weakly, I was covered with sorrow and heaviness on account ofthe prevailing spirit of this world by which customs grievous and oppressiveare introduced on the one hand, and pride and wantonness on the other.
In this lonely walk and state of abasement and humiliation, the condition ofthe Church in these parts was opened before me, and I may truly say with theProphet, "I was bowed down with the hearing of it; I was dismayed at the seeingof it." Under this exercise I attended the Quarterly Meeting at Gunpowder, andin bowedness of spirit I had to express with much plainness my feelingsrespecting Friends living in fulness on the labours of the poor oppressednegroes; and that promise of the Most High was now revived, "I will gather allnations and tongues, and they shall come and see My glory." Here the sufferingsof Christ and His tasting death for every man, and the travels, sufferings, andmartyrdom of the Apostles and primitive Christians in labouring for theconversion of the Gentiles, were livingly revived in me, and according to themeasure of strength afforded I laboured in some tenderness of spirit, beingdeeply affected among them. The difference between the present treatment whichthese Gentiles, the negroes, receive at our hands, and the labours of theprimitive Christians for the conversion of the Gentiles, were pressed home, andthe power of truth came over us, under a feeling of which my mind was united toa tender-hearted people in these parts. The meeting concluded in a sense ofGod's goodness towards His humble, dependent children.
The next day was a general meeting for worship, much crowded, in which I wasdeeply engaged in inward cries to the Lord for help, that I might stand whollyresigned, and move only as He might be pleased to lead me. I was mercifullyhelped to labour honestly and fervently among them, in which I found inwardpeace, and the sincere were comforted. From this place I turned towards PipeCreek and the Red Lands, and had several meetings among Friends in those parts.
My heart was often tenderly affected under a sense of the Lord's goodness in sanctifying my troubles and exercises, turning them to my comfort, and Ibelieve to the benefit of many others, for I may say with thankfulness that inthis visit it appeared like a tendering visitation in most places.
I passed on to the Western Quarterly Meeting in Pennsylvania. During theseveral days of this meeting I was mercifully preserved in an inward feelingafter the mind of truth, and my public labours tended to my humiliation, withwhich I was content. After the Quarterly Meeting for worship ended, I feltdrawings to go to the women's meeting for business, which was very full; herethe humility of Jesus Christ as a pattern for us to walk by was livingly openedbefore me, and in treating on it my heart was enlarged, and it was a baptizingtime. I was afterwards at meetings at Concord, Middletown, Providence, andHaddonfield, whence I returned home and found my family well. A sense of theLord's merciful preservation in this my journey excites reverent thankfulnessto Him.
Second of Ninth Month, 1767. -- With the unity of Friends, I set off on avisit to Friends in the upper part of Berks and Philadelphia counties; was ateleven meetings in about two weeks, and have renewed cause to bow in reverencebefore the Lord, who, by the powerful extendings of His humbling goodness,opened my way among Friends, and I trust made the meetings profitable to us.
The following winter I joined some Friends in a family visit to some part ofour meeting, in which exercise the pure influence of divine love made ourvisits reviving.
Fifth of Fifth Month, 1768. -- I left home under the humbling hand of theLord, with a certificate to visit some meetings in Maryland, and to proceedwithout a horse seemed clearest to me. I was at the Quarterly Meetings atPhiladelphia and Concord, whence I proceeded to Chester River, and, crossingthe bay, was at the Yearly Meeting at West River; I then returned to ChesterRiver, and, taking a few meetings in my way, proceeded home. It was a journeyof much inward waiting, and as my eye was to the Lord, way was several timesopened to my humbling admiration when things appeared very difficult. On myreturn I felt a very comfortable relief of mind, having through divine helplaboured in much plainness, both with Friends selected and in the more publicmeetings, so that I trust the pure witness in many minds was reached.
Eleventh of Sixth Month, 1769. -- There have been sundry cases of late yearswithin the limits of our Monthly Meeting, respecting the exercising of purerighteousness towards the negroes, in which I have lived under a labour ofheart that equity might be steadily preserved. On this account I have had someclose exercises among Friends, in which, I may thankfully say, I find peace.
And as my meditations have been on universal love, my own conduct in time past became of late very grievous to me. As persons setting negroes free in ourprovince are bound by law to maintain them in case they have need of relief,some in the time of my youth who scrupled to keep slaves for term of life werewont to detain their young negroes in their service without wages till theywere thirty years of age. With this custom I so far agreed that being joinedwith another Friend in executing the will of a deceased Friend, I once sold anegro lad till he might attain the age of thirty years, and applied the moneyto the use of the estate.
With abasement of heart, I may now say that sometimes, as I have sat in ameeting with my heart exercised towards that awful Being who respecteth notpersons nor colours, and have thought upon this lad, I have felt that all wasnot clear in my mind respecting him; and as I have attended to this exerciseand fervently sought the Lord, it hath appeared to me that I should make somerestitution; but in what way I saw not till lately, when being under someconcern that I might be resigned to go on a visit to some part of the WestIndies, and under close engagement of spirit seeking to the Lord for counselherein, the aforesaid transaction came heavily upon me, and my mind for a timewas covered with darkness and sorrow. Under this sore affliction my heart wassoftened to receive instruction, and I now first perceived that, as I had beenone of the two executors who had sold this lad for nine years longer than iscommon for our own children to serve, so I should now offer part of mysubstance to redeem the last half of the nine years; but as the time was notyet come, I executed a bond, binding myself and my executors to pay to the manto whom he was sold, what to candid men might appear equitable for the lastfour and a half years of his time, in case the said youth should be living, andin a condition likely to provide comfortably for himself.
Ninth of Tenth Month. -- My heart hath often been deeply afflicted under afeeling that the standard of pure righteousness is not lifted up to the peopleby us, as a Society, in that clearness which it might have been, had we been asfaithful as we ought to be to the teachings of Christ. And as my mind hath beeninward to the Lord, the purity of Christ's government hath been made clear tomy understanding, and I have believed, in the opening of universal love, thatwhere a people who are convinced of the truth of the inward teachings ofChrist, are active in putting laws in execution which are not consistent withpure wisdom, it hath a necessary tendency to bring dimness over their minds. Myheart having been thus exercised for several years with a tender sympathytowards my fellow-members, I have within a few months past expressed my concernon this subject in several meetings for discipline.