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MEMOIRS
OF
JOSEPH JOHN GURNEY;
?plrrtinns from jjis Snnnurl niiii CnrrrsjiDiiilpnrr.
EDITED BV
JOSEPH SEVAN BRAITHWAITE.
•Herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God and toward men." Acts xxiv. 10. — Motto selected by J. J. Gurnet/ for some of the earlier volumes of his Journal.
IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. II.
PHILADELPHIA:
LIPPINCOTT, GBAMBO & CO. 1854.
Entere'l, Mcording to Act of Congress, in the year ISoi, hy ELIZA P. G UK KEY, the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the District of New Jersey
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXVII.
Page
State of Feeling in the Society of Friends ; Publication of the Beacon : Letter to Isaac Crewdson 11
CHAPTER XXVIII.
The Yearly Meeting; Appointment of a Committee to Visit Lan- cashire ; Letter to the Author of the Defence in Reply to the Beacon: First and Second Visits to Manchester; Journey in Derbyshire and North Wales ; Illness and Death of his Wife 33
CHAPTER XXIX.
Third and fourth Visits to Manchester ; Extracts from Journal ; Yearly Meeting ; Conclusion of the Labours of the Committee ; Journey in Scotland and the North of England ; Prospect of Visit to North America ; Letters; Granting of Certificates 01
CHAPTER XXX.
Voyage to America; Writes his Autobiography; Arrival at Phila- delphia ; Journey to Ohio, Indiana, and North Carolina ; Attend- ance of Yearly Meetings ; Extracts from Letters and Journal ... 92
(v)
\
vi
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXXI.
Pag«
Journey from Richmond to Washington ; Interviews with the President, Henry Clay. John Quincy Adams, &c. ; Meeting at Washington; Baltimore; Arrival at Philadelphia; Extracts from Journal and Letters ; New York ; Rhode Island ; Massachusetts : Justice Story; Dr. Channing; Reflections on completing his fiftieth Year 110
CHAPTER XXXII.
Visit to the Seminary at Andover ; Conversation with Moses Stuart : Anti-Slavery; Yale College; Professor Silliman ; Journey to Canada; Correspondence with the Earl of Durham; Engage- ments in Lower Canada ; Return to Baltimore Yearly Meeting ; Visit to Friends at New York : Extracts from Letters and Journal 141
CHAPTER XXXIII.
Conclusion of Labours at New York ; Illness at Flushing ; Pamphlet on Slavery ; Second attendance of Yearly Meetings at Phila- delphia and New York ; Labours in the State of New York and in Upper Canada; Sing Sing Prison; Fenimore Cooper ; Tone- wanta Indians; Baltimore Yearly Meeting; Prospect of Visit to the West Indies 104
CHAPTER XXXIV.
Departure from New York; Voyage; Arrival at Santa Cruz; St. Thomas'; Tortola ; St. Christophers ; Antigua; Dominica; Letter from Thomas Fowell Buxton; Jamaica; Result of Investiga- tions; Address to the Planters : Havana; Return to America. . . l'Jb
CHAPTER XXXV.
Savannah ; Charleston : Second Visit to Washington ; Interviews with the President, J. C. Calhoun, Henry Clay, &c. ; New York and New England Yearly Meetings; Letter to his Children: Voyage Home ; Extracts from Journal . . . 219
CONTEXTS.
vii
CHAPTER XXXVI.
' Page
Publication of the Winter in the West Indies ; African Civilization Society; Letters; Extracts from Journal; Address on Peace; Yearly Meeting ; Engagement in Marriage ; Visit to Paris 241
CHAPTER XXXVII.
Departure for the Continent; Rotterdam; Gouda; the Hague; Visit to the King and Queen of Holland ; Amsterdam ; Bremen ; Hamburgh 2G4
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
Progress to Copenhagen ; Engagements there ; Visit to the King and Queen of Denmark ; Visit to Friends at Pyrmont and Minden ; Hanover; Berlin; Journey into Silesia; Visit to the King of Prussia ; Return Home 286
CHAPTER XXXIX.
Marriage; Re-settlement at Home; Extracts from Journal; Visit to Friends at Bristol, &c. ; Narrow Escapes from a Mad Dog and Poison ; Religious Engagements in Norfolk and Suffolk : Total Abstinence : Publication of his Work on the Papal and Hierarchical Systems ; commencement of long Journey in France and Switzerland ; Boulogne; Amiens; Clermont; Paris 313
CHAPTER XL.
Engagements at Paris continued; Due de Broglie ; Gui/.ot; Do To- queville; Protestant Meeting; French Bible Society; Visit to the King and Queen at Neuilly; Journey to the South of France: Macon ; Lyons ; Avignon ; Xismcs ; Congenies ; Visit to the Friends; Illness at Congenies 337
viii
CONTEXTS.
CHAPTER XLI.
Page
Journey through Savoy into Switzerland ; Chamberry ; Anneci ; Geneva ; Countess de Sellon ; Lausanne ; Neufehatel ; Zurich ; Basle ; Strasburg ; Stutgard ; Visit to the King and Queen of Wurtembetfg ; Brussels; Calais 204
CHAPTER XLII.
Total Abstinence Meeting at Norwich ; Marriage of his Daughter ; Publication of his last Work, Thoughts on Habit and Discipline ; Journey in France ; Boulogne ; Rouen ; Paris ; Orleans ; Tours ; Mettray; Saumur; Nantes; La Rochclle ; Bordeaux; St. Foy : Nerac ; Pau 393
CHAPTER XLIII.
Journey in France continued; Pau; Toulouse; Saverdun ; Mon- tauban ; Orleans ; Paris ; Attendance of Yearly Meeting ; Voyage to Guernsey : Jersey ; Labours there ; Lecture ou Total Absti- nence; Water is Best; Return Home . ,. 120
CHAPTER XLIV.
Extracts from Journal ; Illness of his Sister Elizabeth Fry ; Letters to her ; Letter to a Friend ; Illness of Sir T. F. Buxton, and Letter to him 440
CHAPTER XLV.
Extracts from Journal ; Death of Sir T. F. Buxton ; Public Meeting on the Endowment of Maynooth ; Letter to Dr. Chalmers on the Duty of Christian Churches in Relation to Slavery ; Journey in Scotland and the North of England ; Death of Elizabeth Fry . . . 459
CONTEXTS.
IX
CHAPTER XLVI.
Pago
Brief Memoirs of Sir T. F. Buxton and Elizabeth Fry ; Letter to Sir Robert Peel on the Distress among the Norwich Poor ; Cor- respondence on the Oregon Question ; Personal Trials ; Attends the Yearly Meeting for the last time ; Letter to Sir Robert Peel on the Introduction of Slave Grown Produce ; Declaration of Faith 484
CHAPTER XL VII.
His last Engagements in the work of the Ministry ; Journey to Darlington ; Last Illness, Death, and Funeral 508
Recollections of Joseph John Gurney, by his Daughter 531
Appendix — Declaration of Faith 545
LIFE
OF
JOSEPH JOHN GURNEY.
CHAPTER XXVII. 1835. — s,t. 47.
STATE OF FEELING IN THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS J PUBLICATION OF THE BEACON; LETTER TO ISAAC CREWDSON.
Tlte interest felt by Joseph John Gurney in the controversy that was at this time agitating the Society of Friends, and the prominent part which he was led to take in some of the proceedings to which it gave rise, render some notice of it here unavoidable. It is far from the object of these pages to stir up painful recollections. No one deplored more than he did the severance of ties which had long united him to many whom he loved and valued. Deeply as he was attached to the religious community of Avhich he was a mem- ber, from a settled conviction of the Christian soundness of its principles, no one more regretted the loss to that body of many whom he had hoped to have seen numbered amongst its brightest orna- ments. Nothing but a sense of duty could have
(11)
12
THE EARLY FRIEXDs
1835.
sustained liim in the course which he felt it ricjht to take. It was a course attended with much suffering and humiliation; and he has often spoken of this period as one of the most sorrowful of his life. It may be desirable here to premise a few obser- vations for the information of the general reader.
The Society of Friends, as is well known, took its rise about the middle of the 17th century. Raised up at a period of religious excitement, unparalleled in English history, the early Friends were instrumental, under the divine blessing, in bringing about a revival of primitive Christianity and vital godliness, to which the general historian of the Christian Church has not yet done justice. The successors of these devoted men inherited the results of their faithfulness in the enjoyment of a large measure of civil and religious liberty; but, in the midst of ease and abundance, worldliness in too many instances gradually took possession of the heart ; cool- ness succeeded to zeal; and a traditional attachment to the opinions derived from early education, took the place of that vital change and depth of conviction which had wrought so marvellously in their fore- fathers. True indeed it is, that, through the divine mercy, there were preserved among them a consider- able number of honest and true-hearted disciples of Christ, who were enabled to hold fast the truth in the love of it ; but no one who duly reflects upon the in- ternal state of this religious body about the middle of the last century, as it is unfolded in the mournful but instructive pages of the Journals of some of its most valued members at that period,* can fail to deplore
* See particularly the Journal of John Griffith.
iET. 47.
AND. THEIR SUCCESSORS.
13
the degeneracy that was then laying it waste. Brighter days followed; increased attention to the discipline purged the Society of many unworthy members; and, without the ordinary human pro- visions, or the stimulus of worldly emoluments, a body of faithful ministers was still raised up to preach, with increasing clearness and authority, the unsearchable riches of Christ. Yet in this revival there appeared lacking that thorough Christian devotedness which was so remarkably manifested at the rise of the Society. Whilst the preaching of the gospel amongst Friends, at this period, was often marked by great earnestness in setting forth the spirituality of religion, and the necessity of its inward operations, — it was not always connected With an equally clear and practical enforcement of other great and not less essential portions of revealed truth, which, in the minds of the earlier Friends, were inseparably connected with their deep and comprehensive views of the soul-searching and spiritual character of true Christianity.* And
* " Christ," says George Fox, "gave himself, his body, for the life of the whole world; he was the offering for the sins of the whole world; and paid the debt and made satisfaction." And surely no one, who did not, in his heart, feel the deep practical value of this precious truth, could have addressed his suffering friends in the • following touching strain : — "The heavenly joy fill your hearts and comfort you in the inward man in all tribulations ! The glorious light is shining, the immortal is bringing forth out of death : the prisoners have hope of their pardon, the debt being paid, and they freely purchased by Christ's blood." And again, "The voice of the Bridegroom is heard in our land, and Christ is come amongst the prisoners, to visit them in their prison houses; they have all hopes of releasement and free pardon, and to come out freely, for the debt is paid. Wait for the manifestation of it, and he that comes out of prison shall reign." Selections from George Fox's Epistles by
14
FRIENDS IN ENGLAND.
1835.
it may, perhaps, be added, that the increased attention to the discipline, valuable and important as it "was, was too often associated with a rigid adherence to forms, and a tendency to multiply rules, and to make the exact carrying of them out, in degree at least, a substitute for that patient and discriminating wisdom, tempered with love, which should ever characterize Christian discipline. In this country the revival was happily connected with an increased attention to the education of the youth (among the results of which may be noticed the establishment of the school at Ackworth,) and to the reading of the Holy Scriptures in families, which, though always recommended and carefully practised by the more faithful members, had too much fallen into disuse. And it cannot but be considered as a striking evidence of the general prevalence of sound Christianity among the mem- bers, that when, towards the close of the last century, a minister from America attempted publicly to throw discredit upon the writings of
Samuel Tuke, pp. 12 and 17, second edition. Without needlessly multiplying quotations, this note may he closed hy the following tes- timony recorded among the dying sayings of a Friend in the year 1G9S. The passage, is, it may he ohserved, on account of its excel- lence, printed in large hlack letter, in the original editions of Piety Promoted. " Now is my soul redeemed to God, and he that hath redeemed me is near me. The sufferings and deatii of Christ,
AND niS AGONIES, THE SHEDDING OF HIS BLOOD, AND WHAT HE HATH DONE FOR ME, I FEEL NOW THAT I HAVE TnE BENEFIT OP ALL. BLESSED BE MY REDEEMER WHO IS NEAR ME." Piety Promoted, part 2nd, p. 19, second edition. Truly could they, who had been brought to such an experience, feelingly adopt the language of the Apostle, "We joy in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement." Rom. v. 11.
JET. 47.
AND IN AMERICA.
15
the Old Testament, and when, in 1814, as has been already stated, an individual who had been dis- owned for promulgating Unitarian doctrines, appealed to the Yearly Meeting for a reversal of his disownment ; in each of these cases the Yearly Meeting openly disavowed the opinions attempted to be pressed upon it, and plainly declared itself on the side of the pure and simple truths of Holy Scripture.
Meanwhile, in the United States of North America, to parts of which many members of the Society had emigrated in the days of Robert Barclay and William Penn, and where the body had become very numerous, causes had been more recently at work, which at length, between the years 1826 and 1828, produced a separation from the main body in five out of the eight American Yearly Meetings, of a considerable number, (esti- mated at about one third of the whole,) amongst whom, Elias Hicks, an aged and influential minister, held the most prominent position.* " Captivated by- specious pretences to a refined spirituality," they had been led on. step by step, into an open denial of the fundamental doctrines of the Christian religion, to the undervaluing of the Holy Scriptures, and to the denial of the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ, and of his offices as the Redeemer and Saviour of men, and the one Propitiation and Mediator with the Father. And not a few, who
* The largest secession was in the Yearly Meetings of New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore; but the separation extended also to the Yearly Meetings of Ohio and Indiana. No secession took place in New England, North Carolina, or Virginia.
16
IIICKSITE SEPARATION.
1835.
shrank from an avowal of these sentiments, were induced to join the ranks of the secession by the influence of personal feeling or family connexions ; which, in minds inadequately instructed, and in many cases almost indifferent as regards evangelical truth, easily outweighed more important consider- ations.
Deeply afflicting as such an event must ever be to the mind that duly considers it, it affords a striking lesson, one it is hoped never to be forgotten, of the unspeakable necessity of humbly and reverently maintaining the truth of the Gospel in its integrity, and of holding fast that "form of sound words" which it has pleased Infinite Wisdom to make use of as a most important means of conveying it to our understandings, and of pre- serving it from corruption. Among those who thus separated were many, who, from a one-sided zeal, " not according to knowledge," for the doctrine of inward and immediate revelation, were gradually drawn away from the one incarnate Eedeemer, the Fountain of all true spiritual life; substituting, under the notion of high spirituality, an exclusively inward Christ, of their own imagining, for Jesus of Nazareth, the one Messiah, the anointed of God.
"They are a determined body of people," says Joseph John Gurney in allusion to these separatists, in one of his letters a few years later, "entirely possessed by their one idea in religion, and little disposed to admit anything more. It is a desperate web, from which escape seems almost morally im- possible. Quakerism truly asserts that Christ is 'the light;' because Christ, by his Spirit, enlightens the minds of men, and is truly indivisible from that divine influence of the Holy Ghost, by and in which he visits all men, and dwells in
2ET. 47.
IN AMERICA.
17
believers. Hicksism asserts most falsely and dangerously that tins light, life, or influence, is itself the Christ, the Son of God; the Redeemer, &c. They own no other Saviour; and this particular view, respecting the light within, is the true and obvious root of all their defect of faith ; of their final and utter rejection of scriptural Christianity. * * * The mystified interpretation of the Gospel, of the blood of Christ, and of Christ himself, is the unquestionable parent of infidelity, as the whole history of Hicksism most abundantly proves."
Amongst the causes that led to this melancholy separation, it may not be uninstructive to remark, that one of the most powerful appears to have been (to use the words of the Yearly Meeting of Phila- delphia) " the neglect of many members in not bestowing upon their offspring a guarded religious education, labouring to imbue their minds with the saving truths of the Gospel, and habituating them to the frequent reading of the Holy Scriptures." For want of this care on the part of parents and teachers, many of the youth had grown up in great ignorance of these all-important subjects, as well as of the history and principles of the early Friends, and thus fell an easy prey to the cavils and sophistry of designing men who were seeking to lead them astray.*
The existence or spread of unsound and danger- ous doctrines is no new thing in the Christian church. From the earliest ages of Christianity there have been those whose unsubjected spirits have refused to yield a full and submissive obedience
* Declaration issued by Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, in 1828. p. 5. Vol. II. — 2
18
DECLARATION ISSUED BY THE
1835.
to the authority of divine revelation. The cause lies not in the truth, but in the natural opposition of that carnal mind which ever has been and ever will be enmity against God. And painful as the recollection of such events must ever be to the feel- ing mind, it ill becomes us, through either a mis- placed charity, or a heedless forgetful ness, to blind ourselves to the lessons of deep and lasting instruction which they are designed to afford.
After the separation, the several Yearly Meetings of Friends in America issued declarations disowning the doctrines promulgated by Elias Hicks and his followers, and showing their inconsistency with the doctrines of Christ and his apostles, which had ever been maintained by the Society of Friends ; and in 1829 the Yearly Meeting of London issued a brief but explicit declaration to the same effect.
"We have heard," says the Yearly Meeting, "with deep concern and sorrow, of the close trials to which our brethren on the American continent have been subjected by the diffu. sion of anti-Christian doctrines among them ; and we con- sider it to be a duty to disclaim, and we hereby do disclaim, all connexion, as a religious society, with any meetings for the purpose of worship or discipline, which have been estab- lished, or which are upheld, by those who have embraced such anti-Christian doctrines.
And, in order to prevent any misapprehension as to our views, we feel ourselves called upon, at this time, to avow our belief in the inspiration and divine authority of the Old and New Testament.
We further believe, that the promise made, after the trans- gression of our first parents, in the consequences of whose fall all the posterity of Adam are involved, " that the seed of
JET. 47.
YEARLY MEETING OF LONDON.
19
the woman shall bruise the head of the serpent and the declaration unto Abraham, " In thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed,"2 had a direct reference to the coming in the flesh of the Lord Jesus Christ. To him also did the prophet Isaiah bear testimony, Avhen he declared, "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given ; and the government shall be upon his shoulder ; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace : of the increase of his govern- ment and peace there shall be no end."3 And again the same prophet spoke of him when ho said, " surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows ; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted ; but he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities ; the chastisement of our peace was upon him ; and with his stripes are we healed."4 The same blessed Redeemer is emphatically denominated by the prophet Jeremiah, " the lord OUR
RIGHTEOUSNESS."
At that period, and in that miraculous manner, which God in his perfect wisdom saw fit, the promised Messiah appeared personally upon the earth, when " he took not on him the nature of angels ; but he took on him the seed of Abraham."0 " He was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin."7 " Having finished the work which was given him to do,"8 "he gave himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God."9 " He tasted death for every man."10 "He is the propitiation for our sins : and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world."11 "We have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins."12 " He passed into the heavens;"13 and, "being the brightness of the glory of God, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things
1 Gen. iii, 15. 2 Gen. xxviii, 14.
3 Isaiah ix, 6 — 7. 4 Isaiah liii, 4 — 5.
5 Jerem. xxiii, G. 6 Heb. ii, 16.
7 Heb. iv, 15. 8 John, xvii, 4.
9 Eph. v, 2. 10 Heb. ii, 9.
" 1 John ii, 2. 12 Col. i, 14. 13 Heb. iv, 14.
20
DECLARATION ISSUED BY THE
1835.
by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;"11 and "ever liveth to make intercession for us."15
"It is by the Lord Jesus Christ that the world will be judged in righteousness."16 He is " the Mediator of the New Covenant ;"17 " the image of the invisible God, the first-born of every creature ; for by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers : all things were created by him, and for him ; and he is before all things, and by him all things consist."18 "In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily:"19 and to him did the Evangelist bear testimony when he said, " In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him ; and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life ; and the life was the light of men. He was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world."20
Our blessed Lord himself spoke of his perpetual dominion and power in his church, when he said, " My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and tbey follow me ; and I give unto them eternal life:"21 and, wben describing the spiritual food which he bestoweth on the true believers, he declared, " I am the bread of life : he that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst."22 He spoke also of his saving grace, bestowed on those who come in faith unto him when he said, " Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst ; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life."23
Our religious society, from its earliest establishment to the
14 Heb. i, 3. 15 Heb. vii, 25.
16 Acts svii, 31. 17 Heb. xii, 24.
18 Col. i, 15—17. 19 Col. ii, 9.
20 John i, 1—4, 9. 21 John x, 27, 28.
22 John vi, 35. 23 John iv, 14.
JET. 47.
YEARLY MEETING OF LONDON.
21
present day, has received these most important doctrines of Holy Scripture in their plain and ohvious acceptation; and we do not acknowledge as in fellowship with us, as a Christian community, any body of religious professors which does not thus accept them, or which openly receives and accredits as ministers, those who attempt to invalidate any of these doc- trines which we esteem as essential parts of the Christian religion.
It is the earnest desire of this meeting that all who profess our name, may so live, and so walk before God, as that they may know these sacred truths to be blessed to them in- dividually. We desire that, as the mere profession of sound Christian doctrine will not avail to the salvation of the soul, all may attain to a living efficacious faith, which, through the power of the Holy Ghost, bringcth forth fruit unto holiness ;21 the end whereof is everlasting life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Such a declaration carefully prepared, deliberated upon, and sanctioned by the body of Friends in this country, in their representative assembly, — an assembly to which each 'member has access, and in which he has a right to take a part, and which usually consists of at least one thousand persons, and of a yet larger number on important occasions, — ought surely to be accepted as satisfactory evidence of the soundness of the faith of the Society in all the fundamental articles of the Christian religion. But whilst the views of the body were thus clearly and fully set forth, and whilst it may, with thank- fulness, be acknowledged that the Society of Friends in England have been spared the pain of differences so great and wide spread as those which have afflicted their brethren in America, it could
24 Rom. vi, 22.
22
CONFLICTING
TENDENCIES
1835.
not be concealed that there was existing among certain individuals, even in this country, a want of complete harmony of mind and feeling. The comprehension of the entire truth, and the holding of each part in its due place and proportion are only to be found in connexion with a full submission of the heart and understanding to the enlightening and sanctifying operations of the Spirit of God; and, if attained to at all, the process is usually a very gradual one ; the result of much time and experience. Instead, therefore, of being too much dismayed at differences of opinion, it should be rather matter of thankfulness, when many distinct and indepen- dent minds are brought, through divine mercy, to see and to act together. There were some members of the body who, whilst distinguished for their warm attachment to those views of the spirituality of the Gospel, which had led the early Friends to the disuse of all outward rites and ceremonies in the worship of God, and "to press home to the con- sciences of men the practical operations of the Holy Spirit upon the heart; were yet, perhaps, hardly enough alive to the importance of keeping steadily in view the great and glorious truths of the incarnation of the Son of God, and of the necessity and efficacy of his atoning sacrifice upon the cross. These were not indeed disbelieved, but they had evidently not occupied so large a share in their meditations, as some other portions of divine truth. Others there were who, though brought up with <rreat strictness in the habits and usages of the Society, had not imbibed in their earlier years an extended knowledge of scriptural truth, and
JET. 47.
AMONGST FRIENDS IN ENGLAND.
23
who, after leading a regular and blameless life among their fellow-men, had, in their middle or declining age, been, for the first time, awakened to the full conviction that their salvation wholly depended on the free and unmerited mercy of God in Christ Jesus. This was indeed a new light to their souls, and, under the painful consciousness that they were dark before, they were too ready, perhaps, to reject all their former experiences ; too ready to think that all their brethren were in precisely the same condition as they had been in ; too ready to make this one precious doctrine the entire sum of their Christianity.
The working of these two classes of mind obviously tended in opposite directions. If, on the one hand, the spirituality of the Gospel was dwelt upon by some in a way that appeared, at times, to throw into the shade truths of equal importance and necessity, which can never be profitably separated from it ; there was, on the other hand, no less danger of these latter truths being treated in too distinct and exclusive a manner, and of too little place being given to the doctrine of the Holy Spirit in all its fulness and practical application.
Amidst these conflicting tendencies it was Joseph John Gurney's earnest endeavour steadily to main- 'tain a course removed from extremes in either direction. His own belief in the Christian sound- ness of the doctrines and practices of Friends had remarkably kept pace with his general religious convictions; and as, on the one hand, he found his mind incapable either of putting aside, or keeping out of view, any one of those glorious truths of
24
TESTIMONY TO THE WHOLE TRUTH.
1835.
Christian redemption upon which, as he often expressed himself, were founded all Ids hopes; so, on the other hand, he was not less indisposed to let go any of those practices and testimonies which he believed to be, if not equally essential, yet equally part of pure and complete Christianity.
"Not to rest our hope of salvation," he wrote to Jonathan Hutchinson, in the sixth month, 1833, " alone on the merits and mercies of our gracious Redeemer is fearful unbelief; and not much less so to surrender our faith in his being always with his people by his Spirit to guide them into all truth. I feel quite sure we shall never mend matters by clipping any one part of Divine truth. The remedy appears rather to lie in a comprehensive view and full statement of the whole."
A few months later he writes in his Journal : —
" Conversed with in private, first on the danger cf
conversation on the supposed unsoundness of others ; on varying opinions ; on American and supposed English Hicksism. Secondly on the vast importance in our procla- mation of orthodox doctrine, not to trench on the 'anointing,' or on those things which we have found experimentally to be truly precious. Earnestly do I desire that the evil so much dreaded, and which I consider non-existent, may not be fretted into being. May the great Master keep us in the plenitude of his mercy and love. I feel thankful in the belief that he has done this, and will yet do it."
Still later, he continues : —
1th mo., Qth, 1834. Many thoughts pass and repass, in spite of one's self, respecting the state of things amongst us. as a religious society. I have been considering, this morning, the importance of steadily maintaining the juste milieu. I
JET. 47.
PUBLICATION OF THE BEACON.
25
believe the only way is to forget one's self, and to forget men, and every arm of flesh, on the right hand and on the left; and to look simply and singly to Jesus, in the reverent desire to be preserved without error in his blessed truth, and without interruption, to do the Father's will. " I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. 0 when wilt thou come unto me ! I will walk within my house, with a perfect heart."
Such was the state of Joseph John Gurney's feelings when, towards the conclusion of his minis- terial labours in London, the conflict of opinion amongst Friends in this country was brought to a crisis by the publication of the Beacon, in the beginning of the year 1835. The late Isaac Crewdson, of Manchester, the author of this work, was a man greatly esteemed and beloved by a large circle, and was then in the station of an acknow- ledged minister. He had been brought up in all the strictness of an external Quakerism, and had early imbibed a strong attachment to its usages ; but it was not until towards middle life that evangelical truth dawned upon his mind. " I remember," says Joseph John Gurney in his Auto- biography, "telling my friend Isaac Crewdson, nearly three years before the publication of the Beacon, that he and I had started in our race from opposite points, had met, and crossed on the road."
" This publication consisted," to adopt Joseph John Gurney's description, " of a running commentary on various passages in the sermons of the late Elias Hicks of North America, who had been disowned by Friends in that country ; and, with proofs, drawn from Scripture, of this preacher's perversions and delusions, are mixed up many painful innuendos, trenching,
2G
PUBLICATION OF THE BEACON.
1835.
in various degrees, on our well known views of the spirituality of the Gospel of Christ. Indeed, it is ray deliberate judg- ment, that the work, professing as it docs to defend sound Christianity, has an undeniable tendency to undermine the precious doctrine of the immediate teaching, guidance, and government of the Holy Spirit. Calculated as it was to dis- parage the character of the Society, it was forced upon the attention of the public by placards and advertisements of various kinds, and was the means of bringing down upon us a shower of offensive weapons, in reviews and other publica- tions, from our evangelical fellow Christians. The Society was, in no common degree, held up to scorn and reproof; the common butt of many, who were destitute of any correct knowledge of our principles. The consequence was just what might have been expected ; the alarm occasioned by the Beacon operated in a direction which was not intended by its author, and was well nigh being the means of driving some easily alarmed ones on to the very rocks, against Avhich he was wishing to warn us. A reply, published without any sanction from the Morning Meeting, soon made its appearance ; and, naturally enough, was eagerly laid hold of by Friends in different parts of the country, and especially Lancashire ; but, with much that was valuable, it was found to contain many errors, and helped to confirm the prevailing notion, that we really needed such a work as the Beacon.
The annoyance of this internal warfare disturbed me a good deal, even in its early stages ; it seemed to have a tendency to divide best friends, and many were the jealousies which it was the means of propagating."
TO PETER BEDFORD.
Eai'lham, 3rd ruo., 7th, 1S35.
* * * I do from my very soul love the genuine and unadulterated gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. In it arc developed all my hopes, and on its merciful provisions depends all my happiness. My attachment to Quakerism arises from
jET. 47.
LETTER TO ITS AUTHOR.
27
a firm conviction that, rightly understood, it is simple Christianity — Christianity without diminution, and without addition.
I fully hclieve that He who raised us up as a people to bear testimony to his name, will surmount and regulate the present storm, and overrule it to the extension of pure truth and to his own glory. In the mean time it is impossible not to be anxiou* on two points. The first is, lest the faith of any of our members in the grand fundamental doctrines of the New Testament, should be in any degree shaken, or I might rather say their relish for them impaired, by the imprudence of some who press these points almost to the exclusion of their practical consequences. The second is, lest that most precious doctrine of the inward and perceptible guidance of the Holy Spirit, which lies at the very foundation of all our peculiar testimonies, should be let down in the minds of our beloved inquiring young people.
With an earnest desire to promote a spirit of reconciliation and harmony, Joseph John Curney addressed a long and affectionate letter to the author of the Beacon,* in which, after briefly but distinctly adverting to several important points in regard to which he considered the remarks of the author " useful and striking, and quite in accord- ance with the sentiments of every sound and enlightened Christian," he proceeds to a lengthened explanation of his grounds of objection to the work. It was a letter not of attack, but of calm Christian suggestion and expostulation, written in the hope of eliciting such an explanation from the Friend to whom it was addressed as would have been generally satisfactory. True to that charity which w believeth all things," and conscious of his own
*This letter is dated Earlham, 4th mo., 27th, 1835.
28
LETTER TO
1835.
deep-rooted attachment to the principles of Christi- anity maintained by Friends, it was with difficulty that he Avas persuaded that others whom he had long looked upon as holding the same profession, were not equally animated by a love for the same religious principles. Without unduly burthening the attention of the reader, the following extracts may serve to illustrate the general tone and character of the letter.
After adverting to the tendency of the Beacon to disparage the doctrine of " an inward and universal light," he continues : —
The doctrine that a measure of the influence of the Spirit — although in numberless instances, small and faint — is actually communicated to the whole human species, appears to me to be the only safe and sufficient basis of a closely analogous truth ; namely, that all men are placed, through the redemp- tion which is in Christ, in a real capacity of salvation. I conceive that this capacity is broadly declared by the apostle Paul, when he says, " Therefore, as by one man's offence (judgment is come) upon all men to condemnation ; even so by the righteousness of one (mercy is come) upon all men unto justification of life." Now, that this view of the subject is most salutary to the human mind, and that the steady maintenance of it, in the ministry of the gospel of Christ, is of immense use and importance, there are, as I believe, thousands who can testify. I am informed by the Wesleyan Methodists, that this is one great secret of their extensive success ; and it may surely be ascribed in part to the same cause, that such wonderful effects were produced by the preaching of the early Friends. •
To be able to assure those whom we are addressing, that if they will come, they may come and "take of the waters of life freely;" to declare to them that they are already placed, through the infinite compassion of trod, in a salvable con-
MT. 47.
ISAAC CREWDSON.
20
dition ; to direct them all to that divine influence by which the Father draws them, and which, as they give way to it, will never fail to answer to the gospel, and dispose them to receive it — must surely be numbered among the plainest duties, as well as the happiest privileges, of the Christian minister. "I turned the people," cried George Fox, "to the divine light which Christ the heavenly and spiritual man enlightcneth them withal ; that with that light they might see their sins, and that they were in death and darkness, and without God in the world ; and might also see Christ from whom it cometh, their Saviour and Redeemer, who shed his blood and died for them ; who is the way to God, the truth, and the life." *
Again, I deem it to be of peculiar importance, that our children should be frequently reminded of that unflattering witness for God, in the conscience, which testifies against their sins ; of that still small voice of Israel's Shepherd in the soul, which would lead them into every virtue. The more this "inward light" is attended to, the clearer will be their view of their own corruption ; the more they will be brought into humility and contrition ; the better they will be prepared for a full apprehension of Scriptural truth ; the more earnestby will they "flee for refuge" to the "hope set before us" in the gospel.
Before I quit this subject, I wish to say a few words on the Word of God. I am quite aware that both Xo'/og and ftpa very frequently mean the declaration of the divine- will, or of divine truth ; and therefore the Scriptures, in this sense, unquestionabJn contain the word of God ; and they may themselves be justly described as the declaratory or written word. But I cannot think that there is any authority in Scripture itself for our applying this title to the volume of sacred writ, in the naked and exclusive manner which is so customary among many Christians. It appears to me, that the scruple of Friends on the subject is not without a good and sufficient foundation ; and that they do well to restrict the
Journal, p. 156.
t
30 LETTER TO 1835.
application of that title, as one of pre-eminence, to him of ■whom the Scriptures testify — to him who is essentially, eter- nally, and, in the highest sense, the Word of Jehovah.
In reply to an observation in the Beacon, in which it appeared to be asserted, that the source of instruction to the apostles was " immediate," but that to us it is '''mediate," except only that the Spirit deals immediately with the affections to dispose the heart to receive their doctrine, Joseph John Gurney remarks : —
Xow here, my dear friend, if I understand thee aright, I am directly at issue with thee ; because I consider that we have plain scriptural authority for asserting, that the promise of the Spirit, in all its richness and variety, is the inheritance, in this world, of the Holy Catholic Church in all ages. This point appears to me to be proveable, first from John xiv, 16, "And I will pray the Father, and he shall give }rou another Com- forter, that he may abide with you FOR ever;" with which compare Matthew, xxviii, 20, "Lo, I am with you alicay, even unto the end of the world:' secondly, from the words of Peter, in Acts ii, 39, " The promise is unto you, and to your chil- dren, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call;" and thirdly, from the promise of God to the Messiah, in Isaiah lix, 21, "As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord, [compare Jer. xxxi, 31-34,] my Spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever."
Here I must particularly desire not to be misunderstood. When I speak of the universal application of the promise of the Spirit to the church of Christ in all ages, I have no intention to promulgate the notion, that the Spirit is bestowed on the church in an equal measure at all times, and under all
JET. 47. ISAAC CREWDSON. 31
circumstances ; much less that every individual in the church has the same calling. On the contrary, I believe that there have been many especial effusions of the Spirit at particular periods of the church ; and it is too obvious to require remark, that one Christian is called into one service, and one into another.
The effusion of the Holy Ghost, which commenced on that great day of Pentecost, and which distinguished the first age of the church, was in a large and unparalleled measure indeed, a measure exactly adapted to the work which was then to be done for the Lord, and more especially to the peculiar and extraordinary call of the apostles of Jesus Christ. That call was to promulgate among all nations, for the first time, the truth of God in its evangelical fulness ; not merely to confirm the dictates of what is usually called natural religion, but to declare the glorious fact, that the eternal Word of the Father — one with him in the divine nature — had become incarnate, had died on the cross as a propitiatory sacrifice for the sins of all men, and had now afforded an unanswerable evidence of his divinity and mission by his resurrection from the dead. As the ambassadors of Christ, and in the demon- stration of the Spirit and power, they called upon all men to repent of their sins and to believe in Jesus Christ, that they might be justified by his blood, purified by his Spirit, and thus translated from the power of darkness into the kingdom of the dear Son of God. Now that vastly pre- eminent measure of the Holy Spirit, by which the apostles and their brethren were enabled to disseminate these new truths in the world, and thus to establish the church of Christ among men, qualified some of them also for another specific service — namely, that of writing the books of the New Testament ; which, in connexion with the Hebrew Scriptures, were destined to form the only written standard of doctrine and practice in all succeeding ages. There can be no question that, in the execution of these offices, the promise of Christ, that the Spirit " should bring all things to their remembrance whatsoever he had said to them," was accom- plished, in then' experience, in that literal and primary sense,
32
LETTER TO
1835.
in which it applied exclusively to their own case ; and the absolute divine authority both of the preaching and the ■writings of the apostles, was demonstrated by the miracles which they were enabled to work.
In the gospel which the apostles preached, and which is recorded for the most important of practical purposes in the New Testament, no change could afterwards take place. Nothing might be added to it, nothing might be taken away from it; he that attempted to preach any other gospel was accursed. Nothing could be more distinct than the testimonies of our early Friends to this grand point. They utterly dis- claimed the pretension which was sometimes falsely ascribed to them, of having received the revelation of any new truths; but, under afresh and powerful out-pouring of the Spirit, they made abundant use of apostolic materials — even the doctrines of the New Testament — and proclaimed the old, the unchang- ing gospel in its genuine spirituality.
In what respect, then, are we now permitted to realise the promise of the Holy Ghost as an unfailing and ever-present Guide and Teacher in the church ? One, who though he may often make use of human instruments, still operates directly and immediately, not merely on the affections, but oil the understandings of his people ?
I would venture to reply : —
First, in unfolding to the mind, with divine clearness and power, yet often very gradually, all those blessed truths which are recorded by the pen of inspiration in the Holy Scriptures.
Secondly, in perpetually directing the children of God to the practice of holiness, teaching them how to apply to their daily duties, to the exigencies and requirements of each passing moment, the general principles of the divine lav,- ; principles which are primarily written on the heart, and are confirmed and beautifully unfolded in the sacred volume. Here I would remark, in passing, that obedience, in practice, to that swift witness for God in our bosoms, who testi- fies against all that is wicked, and leads into all that is virtuous and comely in our daily walk, has a vast efficacy in preparing the mind for a right understanding of Christian
2ET. 47.
ISAAC CREWDSON.
33
truth. I wish also to observe, that these precious immediate influences of the Spirit are to be enjoyed, not in the disuse and neglect of Scripture, or of any other appointed means of re- ligious instruction and edification, but in connexion with the diligent use of them to the best of our ability.
But, thirdly, this immediate anointing will lead the living members of the body of Christ into those specific services in his cause, which belong to their individual paths of duty ; — as the Spirit divideth to every man severally, even as he wills. And the same influence which leads into these duties, will ever be present with the believer, to qualify him for their performance. While the general tenor of these services may be collected both from the precepts and examples afforded us in Scripture, and while the spirit of them must ever be checked and tested by the known principles of Christianity, we can derive no information from the sacred volume respecting their peculiar direction in our own case. Here we have no resource but immediate revelation. Our Lord and Master, who speaks to our souls by his Spirit, can alone determine for us what our service shall be ; and when, where, and how it shall be per- formed. Blessed be his holy name; he still enables his faithful, humble, and watchful followers — even those who are willing to wait for his teaching in deep humiliation of mind — to dis- tinguish the Shepherd's voice from the "voice of the stranger."
The full application of this blessed principle to the ministry of the gospel, not only as it regards the original call, but as it repects the continued exercise of the gift on every successive occasion, must, I think, still be regarded as a marked and dis- tinguishing peculiarity in the views of our religious Society, a peculiarity based, like our other testimonies, (as I believe,) on Jesus Christ, and inseparably connected with the spirituality of his gospel.
Feeling as I do the great practical importance of this our Christian testimony, and the necessity of our maintaining it inviolate, both for our own benefit, and for the welfare of the church at large, I cannot wonder at the disquietude which hag been excited by the omission of any reference to it in the Beacon. Vol. II. — 3
34
LETTER TO
1835.
Thou hast adduced abundant evidence from Scripture, that the gospel is not, as E. Hicks pretends, " God in man," but the annunciation of the glad tidings of salvation through an incarnate and crucified Redeemer. And I am perfectly aware that when Paul says, "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation;" he is not defining the word "gospel," or identifying it with the Spirit, but is only describing its efficacy, when preached under divine authority, for the conversion and salvation of sinners. But in returning an affirmative answer to the question, Can man preach the gospel? it would certainly have been very satisfactory hadst thou clearly stated that, according to our views, man cannot lightly preach it, except under the direct and renewed influ- ences of the Holy Ghost.
The omission of such a statement may probably have been accidental ; yet it seems to correspond with thy remarks on silent worship. (Beacon, p. 96.)
I fully admit that the New Testament contains no specific direction respecting mode of worship ; and when Ave consider the infirmities of man, and the various mental conditions of sincere and pious Christians, we may be thankful that it is so. But the New Testament contains unchanging principles, which it is the duty of all men to follow up, according to the light given to them. For us, then, who dare not preach or pray, in our meetings, except under the immediate influence (as Ave believe) of divine anointing, silence and stillness are surely essential to true worship. They are not merely con- venient and advantageous accessories to this our public homage to our Lord ; they are, practically speaking, indispensable to its right performance. While Martha was busied about "much serving," Mary sat still at the feet of her Lord; Avliich, in his view, was the one thing needful. This beautiful anecdote may suffice to show that there is a "passivity" which is Avorthy of the gospel, and consistent with its principles. " There is a stillness," said our late dear friend, Jonathan Hutchinson, "which is not the stillness of death; there is a silence which is not the silence of the grave !"
Unreasonable as the length of this letter may appear, there
JET. 47.
ISAAC CREWDSON.
35
are two other passages in The Beacon to which, before I con- clude, I shall he best satisfied to allude, " Crcaturcly exertions," " creaturely activity," thou sayest, " are not Scripture phrases, and the mischief is very great of using unscriptural terms on religious subjects, when the meaning of those terms is not clear and definite. Such phrases, also, as 'sinking down,' ' centering down,' ' digging deep,' ' dwelling deep,' ' turning inward,' &c, the reader may have observed, but we hardly need say they are not the language of Christ and his apostles." (p. 112.) The general principle, as regards terms, here alluded to, is unquestionable. But allow me to express my conviction that, although these phrases are somewhat awkward, they are capable of a meaning which is deeply scriptural, and of the greatest possible importance to our religious welfare, both as individuals and as a society. The want of more depth, of more humiliation, of a more frequent descent to the well- spring of life, of a more diligent application to the all-wise Counsellor who condescends to dwell within us by his Spirit, appears to me to be one of the greatest and most character- istic dangers of the present day. May we be brought into the depths together, and there know the love and power of Christ to triumph over all our disputations, and to heal all our wounds !
Finally, my dear friend, I must, in all honesty, tell thee that I cannot at all approve the contrast with which the Beacon concludes, between " a religion of feelings," and a "religion of faith."
While I am prepared to go all lengths with thee in de- precating the mystical absurdities of misplaced metaphysics, and the arbitrary impressions of a wild enthusiasm, — unsup- ported as they are by reason, and unchecked by Scripture, — I am quite sure that religion is nothing to us, unless it is a religion of feelings ; and notwithstanding the contrast which thou hast thus drawn, I am heartily willing to give thee credit for the same assurance. It is only as we give way to those gracious impressions of the Holy Spirit, which bring us into tenderness, and fill us with the love of God ; it is only as we obey the perceptible government of our Holy Head in the path of practical piety, that we shall ever be established in
36
FURTIIER LETTER
1835.
our most holy Faith. Thus alone shall we be made in the end " more than conquerors through him that loved us."
In conclusion, I wish to express the hope (to which I cling) that, after all, I may have misconceived thy sentiments, as conveyed in the Beacon, respecting the doctrin'e of Universal Light ; respecting the immediate influence and perceptible teaching of the Spirit ; and respecting the nature of true worship and ministry. If so, I can only plead, in my excuse, that the volume has produced precisely the same effect on a multitude of other minds — on minds as deeply impressed as thy own respecting the immense value and importance of the Christian revelation, of the Holy Scriptures, and of the glorious doctrine of Christ crucified. Under such circum- stances, I would suggest, as the only sufficient remedy, an explicit disavowal of the sentiments imputed to thee, as open and public as the Beacon itself.
I can say truly, that this suggestion is offered to thee as to a Christian brother, by a most sincere friend, and in tender love.
Such a disclosure of Joseph John Gumey's views awakened a considerable amount of feeling amongst those who approved of the Beacon. But, happily, he had not now, for the first time, to learn the lessons of Christian truth. Long disciplined in the school of experience, he was, in mercy, prepared for a conflict in some respects more painful and severe than any which he had yet endured.
TO A FRIEND,
(Who had written warmly to Joseph John Gurney on the subject of the Beacon, Ac.)
Norwich, otb mo., ISth, 1S35.
My dear Friend,
Thy two letters have reached me in due course, and I am sincerely obliged to thee for so freely telling me all that is in thy mind towards me. I utterly deny that I have, in the smallest degree, to the best of my knowledge, com- promised the blessed truth as it is in Jesus Christ our Lord,
mi. 47.
ON THE BEACON.
37
either in private or in public. To the best of my ability, (I well know bow poorly and weakly as regards myself,) I have declared what I believe to be "the whole counsel of God," from place to place, especially during my late prolonged visit to London and Middlesex. More than this, in the public teaching of young people, I have, in the most specific manner, detailed both the evidences of the Christian religion and of the divine authority of Scripture, and the scriptural proofs of the grand doctrines of the Divinity and Atonement of Christ. I have found it my place to unfold these points by themselves, before I touched on the doctrine of the Spirit, and the views of it which are in some degree peculiar to Friends. In all this service I have never met with the slightest opposition from those among whom I was labouring ; but, as far as I know, have had the full unity and kind co-operation of Friends. What possible reason then can I have for taxing Friends with infidelity ?
I have fully stated my views of the Beacon to our dear friend Isaac Crewdson. While I cordially concur in his view of the Divine authority of Scripture, the inspiration of the Apostles, the privilege and necessity of prayer, and, above all, the great and glorious doctrine of the justification of the penitent and converted sinner through faith in the blood of Jesus, I as clearly differ from what I understand to be his view of univer- sal light and of the immediate teaching of the Holy Spirit in the church of Christ. On neither of these branches of truth have my sentiments undergone the least change since I first became a Quaker on conviction : and, until I am better in- formed, it is my calm and deliberate intention to adhere to them both (as ability is afforded) to my life's end.
38
YEARLY MEETING.
1835.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
1835. mi. 47—48.
the yearly meeting ; appointment of a committee to visit lancashire j letter to the author of the "defence" in reply to the beacon; first and second visits to man- chester; journey to derbyshire and north wales; ill- ness and death of his wife.
In the Yearly Meeting of J 835, the difficulties con- sequent on the publication of the Beacon formed a prominent topic for deliberation.
"It was proposed," •writes Joseph John Gurney, "to appoint a committee to aid Lancashire Quarterly Meeting in the case ; upon which I expressed my sentiment that there was so much fault on hoth sides of the controversy, that the whole affair had hotter be left -where it was, or in other words, all proceed- ings quashed. This proposition was overruled ; and, notwith- standing my earnest request to the contrary, I was appointed on the committee. Arduous, indeed, did we find the service, when we met in Lancashire, at their summer Quarterly Meeting."
Previously to going into Lancashire, Joseph John Gurney addressed the following letter to the Friend who had written the Defence of Immediate Revela- tion, in reply to the Beacon, explanatory of several particulars in which he considered the reply defective or open to objection.
jet. 47.
TO THE AUTHOR OF THE DEFENCE.
39
Earlham, Norwich, Oth mo., Sth, 1S35.
My Peak Friend,
Attached as I am on principle, to those spiritual jet simple views of religion which have always been main- tained in the Society of Friends, I am prepared to unite with thee in earnest endeavours, through every day of rebuke and difficulty, steadily to uphold them. And I wish openly to repeat a declaration which I have often made, that my state of mind on this subject is not founded on any sectarian or traditional notions, but on a firm conviction that Quakerism, rightly understood, is nothing more nor less than the religion of the New Testament. I look upon it as Christianity with- out addition and without diminution.
Such were the views of George Fox, "William Penn, Robert Barclay, and other veterans of their day. They pretended to the revelation of no new truths ; they proclaimed no modern variations from the one, original, unchanging Gospel. They pleaded only for broad, unfettered, spiritual Christianity. And, with respect to the whole system of divine truth, as it is revealed to us in the Holy Scriptures, they sometimes ex- pressed themselves in the words with which the apostle John concludes the book of Revelation : " If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book ; and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book."
Inseparably connected with this principle was their noble testimony on the subject of human creeds. They were indeed always willing, when occasion recmired, publicly to declare their faith in the doctrines of Christianity ; but they refused to tie themselves down, like many other Christian societies, to "articles of belief" constructed either by themselves or others. They depended on the Holy Spirit as their immediate guide and teacher ; and their only written creed was the volume of inspiration.
I am induced to make these remarks by observing that in thy reply to the Beacon, thou hast not clearly defined what
40
TO THE AUTHOR OF THE DEFENCE.
1835.
is the standard by which the sentiments of its author are to be tried ; for while, on the one hand, thou hast expressed thy ■wish that thy defence " should rest entirely on the authority of Holy Scripture," thou hast, on the other hand, checked and tested the Beacon by passages from Barclay's Apology ; and one of the remarks on the subject is as follows : — " I quote the Apology of Robert Barclay, concluding that one who is now a minister, in outward fellowship in the same society with myself, can hardly be supposed to have thrown olf the authority of a work so justly esteemed arnongst us ; for this would imply that his departure from the ground of our testimonies was greater than I am yet willing to believe it to be. " [Defence, 2nd Edition, p. 23.)
I have no desire to detract from the value of the writings of Robt. Barclay. He is certainly an author of extraordinary learning, ability, and piety ; and, as such, must always be entitled to a very considerable degree of influence in our religious society. Nor can there be any objection to cur making use of his Apology, when occasion requires it, as an able exposition of his own sentiments, and those of .his brethren.* But whatsoever a superficial view of Quakerism may dictate to us on the subject, there can, in my opinion, be no greater departure from .the "ground of our testimonies," than to bring the doctrines or practices of any man to the authoritative test of any writings which do not bear the stamp of absolute inspiration; or, in other words, of any writings whatsoever but the Holy Scriptures.
I cannot believe that there is any real question between us on this point. But if such a question docs exist, let me, in the present instance, give way, and refer the settlement of it to Robert Barclay himself. His verdict on the subject is short and explicit. " We do look upon them (the Holy Scriptures) as the only fit outward judge of controversies
* I am, however, incline;! to the opinion, that were we compelled tc select a single writer in order to ascertain the religious principles of the early Friends, we could scarcely do better than choose George Fox himself. — Note by J. J. Gv.rn.ty,
JET. 47.
IN REPLY TO THE BEACON.
41
among Christians, and that -whatsoever doctrine is contrary unto their testimonies may therefore justly be rejected as false." (Apol. prop. Ill, § 6.) Just similar were the frequent declarations of Barclay's brethren ; and nothing appears to have been further from the minds of these eminent men than any desire to test each other's doctrines, -whether written or preached, by their own as a standard.
No, my dear friend, their sentiments on the subject were of a nobler and sounder character ; and, while they appealed to the Scriptures only as their written test, they cast themselves on the guidance of that divine anointing, which, to a wonder- ful extent, led them, in their views of revealed truth, to a blessed unanimity. When they were gathered together for divine worship, Christ was their present head, and preserved them in harmony both of feeling and doctrine. And -when they met for the purpose of conducting the affairs of the church, it was his gracious power which enabled them to bear their Christian testimony not only against moral delinquency, but against all vital and dangerous error, in matters of faith. May we never be found departing from this safe, and only Christian ground. * * * *
No man can more sincerely believe than I do, in the doc- trines to which thy -work chiefly relates, immediate revelation, and the universality of divine light : but I greatly regret that, in a public defence of our principles, which has obtained so extensive a circulation, these points are not more carefully distinguished. It was matter of surprise to me, in perusing the chapter, in the Defence, on immediate revelation, to find almost the whole of it relating to that manifestation of the Spirit of Christ which we believe to be universally bestowed on mankind, through the redemption which is in him, and of which therefore even the benighted heathen are joint partakers with ourselves. Thus two vastly different measures of the same thing are so intermingled as to involve the mind of the reader in considerable perplexity.
Immediate revelation must, I think, be understood of a far higher operation of the Spirit of God upon the mind of man than that which is universally enjoyed by our species. It is
42 TO THE AUTHOR OF THE DEFENCE. 1835.
justly represented by Robert Barclay, of whose system of Theology it is the primary and fundamental article, as that especial work of the Holy Spirit, by which a true and saving knowledge of divine things is imparted to the soul, and by which the Lord's chosen instruments in different ages have been prepared to communicate these truths to others. By this the patriarchs and prophets of old were instructed in the secrets of a glorious future, and spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. By this the Apostles and their brethren were taught the doctrines of true religion in their evangelical fulness, and were enabled to record them in the New Testa- ment, for the instruction of men, in all future ages.
And now, under the enlarged effusion of the Holy Spirit, in connexion with a knowledge of Christianity, which dis- tinguishes the dispensation of the gospel from that of the law, it is immediate revelation by which the eye of the soul is opened to a saving view of the truths thus recorded ; it is this by which the Christian believer is guided in his daily path of holiness ; it is this by which he is led into those specific and often sacred duties, which belong to his particular place and calling in the church of Christ. " The anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you ; but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth and no lie, and even as tit hath taught you, ye shall abide in him." (1 John ii, 27.) This precious anointing — this immediate and perceptible guidance of the Holy Spirit, appears to me to be the grand practical characteristic of the New Covenant ; a large and important feature in the whole system of the gospel. May we ever maintain this blessed principle of truth inviolate ! May we neither overrun the Lord's anointing by our natural activity, nor curb and check it by our prejudices and our fears ! It is only as it spreads and rules amongst us, that we can ever maintain our true standing in the church of Christ; or fulfil the purposes for which we were raised up of the Lord, to form, for a season at least, a distinct religious community.
No sincere Quaker can entertain a doubt that the imme- diate influence of the Spirit was the moving cause which
JET. 47.
IN REPLY TO THE BEACON.
43
gathered our forefathers in the truth ; and that it is the root of our peculiar Christian testimonies. Here, however, I must observe in passing, that our early Friends were not led into their spiritual views of the Gospel, independently of Scripture, but in connexion with the diligent searching of that blessed book. While they renounced all dependence on human wisdom and learning, it was their privilege to main- tain a firm, unshaken hold on scriptural Christianity. The Bible, in their view, was not one of the "appendages" of religion; much less did they regard it as "the letter" which " veiled the mysteries of the kingdom." On the contrary they hailed it as the divine record by which these mysteries are plainly declared to us ; it was their treasury of knowledge, their storehouse of materials for the Redeemer's service.
It is by no means my intention, in making these remarks, to convey a notion that the special influences of the Spirit are necessarily confined to those persons who arc acquainted with the Gospel. Had such a notion been true, the Scriptures themselves could never have been written ; and Paul the Pharisee could never have become a preacher of Christianity. There are few of us perhaps who cannot look back to visita- tions of the Holy Spirit, in the day of our comparative ignorance, which were productive of very tender feelings, and were, in a great degree, independent of external circumstances. May these visitations, so justly comparable to the wind blow- ing where it listcth, ever be precious in the view of our Society ! May we be preserved from ascribing any unauthorized limits to the work of an omnipotent Agent ! * * *
It may probably be owing to thy not having sufficiently •marked the distinction, in point of degree, between the in- fluence of the Spirit in "immediate revelation," and the light universally bestowed on mankind, that many passages of Scripture are adduced in the " Defence" in support of the latter point, which can scarcely be regarded as applying to the subject. Surely, my dear friend, when the Apostle Peter speaks of the "incorruptible seed" by which the converts to Christianity had been regenerated, and the Apostle James of the "engrafted word" which was "able to save their souls,"
41
TO THE AUTHOR OF THE DEFENCE.
1835.
they must bo understood as referring to that especial influence of the Spirit, in connexion with a knowledge of the Gospel, by which these believers in Jesus had been delivered from the power of darkness, and translated into the kingdom of the dear Son of God. A similar remark applies, as I con- ceive, to several of our Lord's parables. He has himself explained the parable of the sower, as relating to the word preached, which withers or flourishes in the hearts of those who hear it, according to their respective characters and conditions. (Matt, xiii, IS — 23.) The parables of the grain of mustard seed which became a great tree, and of the little leaven by which the whole lump was leavened, appear to me to be applicable to that double sense in which the kingdom of God is mentioned in the New Testament. Thus they may be regarded as indicating first the growth of Christianity in the world, and secondly, the growth in grace of the individual Christian. To both these points the figures in question are beautifully apposite, but where is the evidence of their being here employed to describe a universal light ?
Much disadvantage accrues to a good cause, when we attempt to support it by evidence which will not bear the test of calm investigation. Nothing is more easy, on such oc- casions, than so to add our X to our C, as to turn our hun- dred into ninety. But this result is by no means the worst consequence of such a method of treating the subject of a universal inward light. If we confuse the measure of light bestowed even on the heathen, with the higher influences of the Holy Spirit, if we apply to it those passages of the Scrip- ture which relate to the work of grace, in connexion with revealed religion, we are in danger of losing our sense of the unutterable value of the Gospel of Christ, as the grand instrument of the Spirit in the salvation of sinners. We soon imagine that the heathen may fare as well without a knowledge of Christianity, as with it; and this notion reacts upon ourselves, and undermines our faith in the crucified Lmnanuel, as our only hope of everlasting glory. No one can examine the history of the late schism in America, or fairly peruse the discourses of Elias Hicks, without perceiving
JET. 47.
IN REPLY TO THE BEACON".
45
that a disproportioncd ami exaggerated view of this precious truth, was the stepping stone from which lie and his followers plunged into infidelity. While we humbly endeavour to hold fast the truth in question, may we ever set a careful watch against this tremendous danger ! * * *
I can readily believe that the author of the Defence does not really intend to insinuate the doctrine, often unjustly ascribed to Friends, that there is in man a native tendency to good as well as to evil. Such a doctrine is utterly opposed to the declarations of Scripture, that " the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked," that we are "by nature the children of wrath," that in us, that is, in our flesh, "there dwelleth no good thing." Any departure from the truth, as it regards this primary article of Christianity, like a wrong figure in the early part of a sum in arithmetic, is sure to produce a train of error. It inevitably leads, as I conceive, to the substitution of another gospel for the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Believe me, that I give the author of the Defence credit for a willing concurrence with the strong language in which our early Friends were accustomed to express themselves respecting any such substitution. For we do firmly believe that there is no other gospel or doctrine to be preached but that which hath been already preached by the apostles ; and do freely sub- scribe to that saying, " Let him that preacheth any other Gospel than that which hath been already preached by the Apostles, and according to the Scriptures, be accursed." Barclay's Apology, prop. Ill, § 9.
I must now. advert to another point, of a most fundamental character, respecting which I would on no account ascribe unsound views to the Author of the Defence. Yet I cannot but express my regret at the manner in which he has touched on the subject. * * *• *
Our [early] Friends frequently declared their belief, first that " There are three who bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit;" and secondly, "that these Three are One."
"We believe," said George Fox, "concerning God, the
46
TO THE AUTHOR OF THE DEFENCE.
1835.
Father, the Son, and the Spirit, according to the testimony of the Holy Scripture which we receive and embrace as the most authentic and perfect declaration of Christian faith, being indited by the Holy Spirit of God that never errs ; first, that there is one God and Father, of whom are all things ; secondly, that there is one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom all things were made, who was glorified with the Father before the world began, who is God over all, blessed for ever ; thirdly, that there is one Holy Spirit, the promise of the Father and the Son, and leader, and sanctifier, and comforter, of his people. And we further believe, as the Holy Scriptures soundly and sufficiently express, that these three are One, even the Father, the Word, and the Spirit." — Ansivcr to all such as falsely say the Quakers are not Christians, p. 27, 1682.
I cannot but compare the mode in which this subject is defined in the Defence, [p. 38,] with the corresponding asser- tion (in p. 7,) that the term "distinctive offices," as applied to the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, is " altogether unscriptural." I can easily believe that this remark was intended for the purpose of warning some of us against a too precise and systematic method of defining Christian doctrine ; and, as an individual, I gratefully accept the caution, and confess that in these matters simplicity becomes us as well as clearness. Yet I must assert that although the term in question is not to be found in the Bible, the doctrine which it obviously conveys, is not only clearly scriptural, but absolutely essential as an article of faith. True indeed it is, that a perfect unity of counsel and operation as well as nature are ascribed in Scrip- ture to the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Yet it cannot surely be denied, that, in the economy of grace and redemption, certain acts are ascribed distinctively to the Father, certain others distinctively to the Son, and certain others distinctively to the Spirit. For example it is declared of the Father only that he sent his beloved Son into the world for the salvation of sinners ; of the Son only that he died on the cross, as a sacrifice for the sins of mankind ; and of the Spirit only that he should be sent of the Father and of the Son, to " testify of Christ," that he should take of the things of Christ, and
jet. 47.
IN REPLY TO THE BEACON.
47
show thein to the believer ; that he should bear witness with our spirits, that we are the children of God. " The holy Scrip- ture Trinity, or three thereby meant," says George Whitehead, "we never questioned but believed; as also the unity of essence ; that they are one substance, one divine infinite being ; and also we question not, but sincerely believe the relative properties of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, according to Holy Scripture testimony, and that these three arc ONE." — Works, p. 195.
Allow me to suggest, that there is infinitely more danger in confounding these relative properties than in simply main- taining them, as they are declared in Scripture. Dost thou think it is quite desirable to say, " To acknowledge Christ as Saviour is one thing, to feel and know him to be the actuating Spirit, is. another," — (Defence, p. 61.) What is intended by the " Spirit in the Comforter," (p. 57,) and when Christ, the eternal Word, is described as the " sword (or sharp instrument) of the Spirit ?" (p. 97.)
Believe me, that I am as jealous as thou canst be, for our upholding, with all faithfulness and decision the glorious one- ness of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit ; and I have pleasure in concluding my remarks on this subject with a few words written by our late dear friend Jonathan Hutchinson. " While the Christian rejoices in the distinct characters and offices of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, so graciously revealed to us for our instruction and edification, he probably never finds his soul bowed down with so deep a reverence, or filled with so pure a delight, as when he contemplates the Almighty as an ineffable glory, an incommunicable name, an infinite and incomprehensible UNITY."
Thus faithfully did Joseph John Gurney labour in private to correct the misapprehensions that appeared to exist on both sides of the controversy.
He now entered upon the more public service allotted him in Lancashire, as one of the Committee
48
FIRST VISIT TO LANCASHIRE.
1835.
appointed by the late Yearly Meeting. Referring to this engagement in his Autobiography, he writes : —
" Our committee consisted of thirteen individuals, viz : — William Allen, Peter Bedford, Edward Pease, Joseph Tat- ham, Barnard Dickinson, William Forster, Josiah Forster, George Richardson, Samuel Take, Edward Ash, Joseph Marriage, myself, and George Stacey, who acted as clerk, I may truly say, with great ability. Manchester was the place of peculiar difficulty ; and after some conferences with the ministers and elders of that meeting, the committee pro- ceeded with a scriptural examination of the Beacon. In this work I was closely engaged ; it was indeed, no common labour ; but it was the means of bringing the members of the Committee into very intimate communication one with another ; a free interchange of sentiment, in a high degree instructive and profitable. Our strictures have since been printed, and, whatever any objectors may think of them, three points are undeniable ; first, that they try the Beacon by no test whatever but simple Scripture ; secondly, that they fully support all the cardinal features of evangelical truth ; and thirdly, that they are written in the spirit of true love and kindness towards our dissentient brother, who was the object of our solicitude. We left them in his hands for his calm consideration ; and, after the rest of the committee had departed, I gave up two or three days to the further expla- nation of our views to him in private ; and I remember leaving him in tears after a highly favoured meeting one fifth day morning.
My dear wife was my companion during this first visit to Manchester. On leaving that place (7th month, 2nd) we proceeded to Matlock, where we had the delight of meeting my sister Rachel Fowler with my children. Happy, yet very touching is the recollection of this, the last journey which we took together through Derbyshire and North Wales. I held a certificate for convening public meetings as the way
JET. 47.
OF THE YEARLY MEETING'S COMMITTEE.
49
might open, and many very interesting ones were held at Matlock, Bakewell, Castlcton, Llangollen, Conway, Caernar- von, Barmouth, Dolgelly, and some other places. Perhaps the most remarkable was that held at Castleton in the Peak Cavern ; a great part of the population of the town, and many from the neighbouring villages assembled on the occasion, and the Great Head of the church graciously condescended to bestow his presence upon us in that noble natural temple. Others of the meetings were held in the open air, which appeared to answer a good purpose. I believe we all felt that the pleasure of the journey was greatly increased by the engagements of a higher nature which devolved upon us from time to time as we proceeded. The contemplation of the sublimity and beauty of nature is in true harmony with such services ; and nothing is more salutary than to bear in mind that the God of nature is also the God of grace ; that the Lord of the heavenly host, (even of the stars that deck the firmament) is the Holy One of Israel.
Whilst on this journey he had much pleasure in making the acquaintance, at Barmouth, of the late Dr. Olinthus Gregory, "a most agreeable and in- structive companion."
In his Journal he writes : —
1th mo., 20th. Morning spent at Barmouth. Fourteen Cambridge students to meet the Gregorys at dinner ; instruc- tive conversation till six o'clock, when we drove off, along that beautiful estuary, to Dolgelly, having parted from our friends, old and young, in much friendship and love. Dr. Gregory gave us an interesting account of Ilutton and Bonnycastle, his two predecessors in the mathematical chair at Woolwich; awful instances, especially the latter, of the danger of permitting science to exclude religion.
They returned home by way of Coalbrookdale, Vol. II. — 4
50
RELIGIOUS MEETINGS.
1835.
where a large meeting was held with the work l)eople of the Iron Factory, about 2000 being assembled on the occasion ; " a blessed meeting, I humbly trust," he remarks in his Journal, "and greatly to the relief of my own mind." On his return he writes: —
Sth mo., 2>rd. Seven weeks have sped their rapid, interest- ing course, since my last entry in this journal. During those ■weeks, the catalogue of deaths has heen affectingly increased by the decease of my truly dear friend, Lord Suffield, in con- secpience of a fall from his horse. It has been a great blow to me, and a very painful loss, both public and private ; a sad loss as it relates to the poor blacks in our colonies, of •whose sufferings under the apprenticeship system, we hear grievous, heart-rending accounts. Lord Suffield died in the faith of a Christian, in humble reliance on the atonement of Christ. He spoke to Sir B. Brodie of the blessing which had mercifully rested on my feeble labours with him, in a religious point of view, which has been a comfort to me. Our dear cousin, G. Allen,* has also escaped from the infirmities of mortality. The sudden death of John Shelly, of Yarmouth, a highly useful character, after attending a Parliamentary Committee, leaving a large family, has excited much feeling. The good do indeed seem to be remarkably taken away ! The cry has been afresh raised in my heart, " 0 that I may die the death of the righteous," and a sweet hope, and even belief, has been graciously given, that the death of the Christian believer will be mine. Yesterday such a precious assurance of divine favour was permitted, as I have not of late often ex- perienced. ^Yhat a mercy to be brought at times to a living sense of the rule of Christ over all !
Whilst at Conway he had been much interested with several persons in comparatively humble cir-
* The wife of his friend William Allen.
iETi 47-48.
CONWAY.
51
cumstances, whose minds appeared remarkably open to the spirituality of the Gospel. To one of these he subsequently wrote the following letter. The individual to whom it was addressed, on being called upon, fifteen years afterwards, by a relation of Joseph John Gurney's, alluded to his visit with tears.
Earlham, Oth mo., 1835.
It was pleasant to us to hear from thee, and we are glad
that thou and our friend are pleased with the present
of books.
The Observations on our Distinguishing Views would give thee some idea of the various particulars which Friends have seen in a more spiritual light than many of their fellow Christians. I thought when I was at Conway that we were not much disagreed upon these subjects. It is a very blessed thing to know something of the immediate teaching and guidance of the Holy Spirit so graciously bestowed upon us by our dear Redeemer. " The anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you, but as this same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth and no lie, and even as it hath taught you ye shall abide in him." (1 John ii, 27.)
I feel a strong desire that thou mayest be enabled to obey the teaching of this divine " anointing," although it may and will lead thee in the way of the cross. " Except a man take up his cross and follow me he cannot be my disciple," said the best and holiest of masters. As thou " followest on" to know and serve the Lord who bought thee with his blood, the truth will be more and more unfolded to thee in its beauty and purity, and thou wilt be led, I believe, out of all those things, even of a religious character which are in the will of man, and brought to a more simple and unreserved dependence on the wisdom, power, and goodness of God. What a blessed thing would the worship of Christians be, were there less in it of the mere activity of the human mind, and more of patient reverent waiting upon the Lord, in the silence of all flesh !
52
LETTERS.
1835.
And how sweet and enlivening would be the ministry of the Gospel were it exercised under the immediate influence of the Spirit of Christ ! Then would the great Head of the church enable his servants livingly to baptize their hearers " into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."
I am pleased to find that thou art prepared to agree with my view of plainness. The plain and simple mode of address as well as attire, which Friends have thought it right to adopt, sometimes exposes them to ridicule ; but a little con- sideration may suffice to show that it is quite consistent with the principles and precepts of the New Testament. I hope thou wilt be enabled to be faithful even in these matters ; and that thy light will, in all things, shine before men to the glory of God the Father.
Seek daily, and more often than the day, for retirement before the Lord ; and pour out thy heart to him in fervent prayer. Take care never to neglect the deliberate reading of the Holy Scriptures, both in private and in thy family circle, and may thy wife be of one mind with thee in following and serving the Lord !
TO PRISCILLA JOHNSTON.
Earlham, 8th mo., 8th, 1835.
* * * I have been much interested by reading Lord Brougham's Discourse on Natural Theology. He has some strong points on the right side, and is a noble defender, not only of the wisdom and goodness of God, as revealed in created things, but also of the immateriality, independent existence, and immortality of the soul. But he nevertheless treats his subject like a man who has but little knowledge of scriptural religion. I am quite aware that natural theology has its own proper department, and I own I have a great delight in it, and would have it kept distinct. Yet no man can ever truly unfold it, who does not know and love Christianity. It is just here that one perceives the difference between Brougham and Butler.
I leave home again under some difficulty, but the object is of so much importance that it must be no common bond that
«t. 48.
RETURN TO MANCHESTER.
53
would retain rac there. I have often thought of thy hint about Manchester, referring us to the Lord as the lover of even balances. This remark exactly applies to our need in this case. May he graciously bestow and preserve amongst us that evenness of balance which he so justly loves.
The illness of his beloved daughter, who since their return to Earlham, had been seized with typhus fever, occasioned Joseph John Gurney much anxiety, especially in the prospect of again resuming his labours at Manchester, where the committee had appointed to meet on the 10th of the 8th month.
"The work, however," he writes in his Autobiography, " was too important to be neglected, and, hard as was the struggle, yet, with the sanction of our medical attendant, I pursued what appeared to be the path of duty. Our meeting was an important one. Isaac Crewdson's answer to our Strictures was before us, and contained much that seemed, to evince his continued attachment to the views of Friends. In a private conference he made some further declarations, which were satisfactory to the committee ; and these, through my earnest persuasion, were at last reduced by him to writing, handed to the committee, and recorded in our minutes. They were read to Friends in the committee of the Quarterly Meeting, and afforded, on the whole, so good a hope of reconciliation, that we resolved to cpuit the scene of action for several months, trusting that, with the Lord's blessing, the swelling billows on all sides would subside into quietness, and the mischief produced by the controversy die out and cease. In this glad hope I returned home, and had the happiness to find my daughter recovering."
But he was now once more permitted to be plunged into deep affliction. It was an unlooked
54 ILLNESS AND DEATH. 1835.
for stroke. His beloved wife, whose health had, of late years, much improved, had been unremitting in her attentions to his daughter during her late illness, without apparently suffering in consequence. The disease was, however, lurking in her constitution, and after some time made its appearance. The fever gradually gained ground, and she sank under it on the 29th of the 9th month.
""When we became aware of the nature of her complaint," ho writes in his Autobiography, " it appeared of so mild a character that we were by no means very anxious. A decided prevalence of hope cheered us as the disease advanced to its crisis ; and it was no small happiness to wait upon the beloved object of our care, and observe her quiet, comfortable, and even lively condition. Precious were the religious oppor- tunities which we enjoyed together from day to day. At length, however, delirium came on; weakness rapidly increased, and I was brought to the inexpressibly afflicting point of surrendering my dearest earthly treasure. For almost thirty hours before her end, she lay in a state of insensibility, after which, though speechless, she suddenly recovered her powers of perception, recognized us one after another, and expressed her joy and happiness, by the most radiant smiles. It was like the bursting forth of the setting sun from under the dark clouds. Cordial was her response to the remark that "Jesus Christ is all in all;" and her answer to the question "Whether she was comfortable," was the most remarkable exhibition of delight which could be given by mere motion and expression. I am not aware that I ever witnessed such an appearance of ecstatic pleasure. I say so with reverent thankfulness to the Author of all our mercies. From this state of bright effulgence, she sank into a gentle calm, and in a few minutes without the least struggle, breathed her last. I knelt down and returned heartfelt thanksgiving for her deliverance in Christ, from every trouble."
MT. 48.
OF HIS WIFE.
55
TO A NEAR RELATIVE.
Eariham, 10th mo., 2nd, 1835. '
* * I begin in some degree to understand where I am, which, during the first two days after the awful and unex- pected stroke, I found to be difficult. The " inbrcathings" of the Holy Spirit to which thy letter alludes, are my support and comfort under this truly bitter sorrow. My own secret infirmity of mind almost passes conception, but I am per- mitted to feel and know assuredly that there is an influence from above, which restrains the buffctings of Satan, brings all into soundness, sweetness, and calmness, and enables me to rejoice in her happiness, and even on my own account to give thanks.
Never have I known such a combination as I found in her of a strong and lucid intellect, a sound judgment, great amiability and generosity, and deep abiding piety. Her views of religious truth were of a very comprehensive and well balanced kind, and it was her joy and strength to abide under the teaching of the Lord's "anointing." This, in fact, was the grand secret of her excellence, connected as it was with a daily and diligent study of the Holy Scripture. She was admirably versed in the Greek Testament, and used to read it to mc with a fluency and beauty of pronunciation, and with a nice spiritual and critical discernment of its meaning which I have seldom known equalled. A more adapted companion it was impossible for any man to have found, and the blank and loss must be in proportion. I am, however, most thankful for having enjoyed her society during more than eight years, and undue sorrow is precluded by some living sense of the fulness which is in Christ.
The following stanzas written by Joseph John Gurney after her decease, and subsequently pub- lished by him as part of the Christian's Race, beautifully describe her character.
5G
HER CHARACTER.
1835.
Iler's was the tultur'd and the lucid mind,
The generous heart, the conduct ever kind,
The temper sensitive, yet always mild,
The frank simplicity of nature's child —
Nature unspoiled by fashion or by pride,
And yet subdued by grace, and sanctified ;
The cheerfulness, devoid of base alloy,
That bade her speed her even course with joy,
Yet left full scope thro' her revolving years,
For love's fond grief and pity's softest tears ;
The abstinence from self — an humble view
Of all she said, and did, and thought, and knew;
The elder's judgment in the youthful frame,
And love to God and man, a deathless flame.
* % Her early covenant not vainly made, Like some fair flower, she blossom'd in the shade, Till with advancing years aflliction came, And wan disease oppressed her slender frame.
^ ^ ^ y~
Her virtues grew in sorrow's lingering hour, Her faith was deepen'd by the Saviour's power, She rose, replenished with abundant grace, For larger duties, in a wider space. Blest was our union ; all that life endears Brightened the current of those rapid years, Brightened and swelled ; — around her bounty flowed, Her soul, enlarging, with fresh fervour glowed j Her views of truth extending more and more, As Scripture, daily studied, spread its store. 'Twas hers each rougher wave of life to smooth, To advise and comfort, elevate and soothe. Fondly we hoped, when, with no faltering voice She bade her friends in Jesus Christ rejoice, Fondly we hoped, her gifts with years would grow To enlarge, improve, the struggling churcb below; But God ordained a higher walk of love, In boundless regions, witb the blest above ; The summons came, the accepted hour was given, Her sainted spirit smiled and sprang to heaven.
JET. 48.
LETTERS.
57
More than a hundred letters which have been preserved amongst his papers manifest the deep feeling which the event awakened in the circle of his numerous friends. From these a very brief selection only can be here given.
FROM ELIZABETH DUDLEY. L Peckham, 9th mo., 30th, 1835.
What can I say to thee, my beloved friend and brother, in this the day of thy calamity, that is not likely to be said by other nearly interested, sympathizing friends, and suggested immediately to thy own mind, as a source of encouragement and comfort ? Happily, thou knowest where to look for availing succor, and hast proved the faithfulness of him, who, whilst he sees meet to afflict and wound, sustains by his own almighty arm, and pours the balm of heavenly consola- tion upon the sorrowful and bleeding heart. In the darkest dispensations of his providence, the eye of faith perceives a bright spot whereon to rest ; though joy may be far from the dwelling, and for a season, sadness and mourning be not only allowed, but called for and sanctioned. She whom we have lost was lovely and justly beloved in an extensive circle of relatives and friends. Her endearing cpialities and sincere piety awakened respect and affection where the acquaintance was but slight; while with intimate knowledge, nearness of regard and union seemed increased by every fresh interview, and her capacity for usefulness in various ways more and more developed. I was peculiarly sensible of these feelings when we were last together; and my heart became bound to her, in tender and religious fellowship, to a degree which was surprising to myself, and made the parting painful, though attended with sweetness.
I trust thou wilt be kept in calmness and resignation, knowing "that it is the Lord." He will be mercifully with thee in the furnace, and in his own time bring thee out uninjured, with fresh capacity to serve and praise him.
58
LETTERS ON THE DECEASE
1835.
FROM THE BISHOP OF NORWICH, (then in bis 91st year.)
London, October 3rd, 1S35.
My very dear Friend,
Taught by severe experience, no one can know better than I do how to estimate ' your loss; a loss for which you Avant no Bishop to remind you that there is only one remedy.
Yours ever most sincerely and affectionately,
Henry Norwich.
from dr. olinthus gregory.
Woolwich, 10th October, 1S35.
* * "What a mercy, that in the midst of the darkness and desolation, the grief and the agony, in which so heavy a stroke leaves an affectionate spirit, you are not without " strong consolation." You have lost her whom your soul loved, but blessed be God, only for a season. A few more years of active exertion in promoting the glory of God, and the salva- tion of souls, and then you, dear friend, will be called to your reward, and she and you will again meet to separate no more for ever. * * Doubtless you are often called back in your mournful meditations to think how happy your dear wife was, and how happy she made others ; yet you will, I trust, by the merciful supply of grace and consolation, be enabled to point your meditations in the opposite direction and think how happy she is — how everything now, without the slightest draw- back, augments her bliss. 0 ! the ineffable delights of that state, in which there is a perpetual increase of knowledge without any mixture of error; a glorious measure of holiness without the least degree of sin ; constant peace and joy without the slightest intermixture of solicitude, sorrow, weariness, or pain ; the most pleasing, refreshing, unwearying society, in which no misconception of motive, sentiment, or principle can enter ; the uninterrupted exercise of the purest love ; " the spirits of the just made perfect inter-
mv. 48.
or HIS 'WIFE.
.59
mingling their energies and their excellencies in an ever augmenting, ever flowing stream. All rests upon the rock of the Divine veracity, binding upon our hearts and confirming to our faith, the deep conviction that all the ineffable delights, all the high prerogatives " of the saints in light," are stamped with the seal of eternity. How do we read again, and again, and again, of "everlasting life," "eternal glory," "the everlasting kingdom," going "no more out for ever," "an enduring substance," "pleasures for evermore," "an incorruptible crown," "a kingdom which cannot be moved," "a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." And why is this placed before us in so rich a variety of forms ? but that we may trust the record even when we cannot trace the hand, and cherish the persuasion that when our Heavenly Father removes from us our dearest delights, he takes what is his more than ours, and transplants them to a higher region, his providence concurring with his grace in saying " Come up hither."
From his sister Elizabeth Fry, who had been with him on the occasion of the funeral, he received the following : —
Upton Lane, 10th mo., 14tla, 1335.
I have exceedingly missed your dear sorrowful party, and felt a certain painful lowness in being out of the sweet, solemn, holy atmosphere, that surely we appeared to live in from day to day. Sorrow passes through many variations of feeling. On coming to the stripped,, low, and at times tossed estate, when simple faith, and not present consolation, must be our stay, there is need to possess the soul in patience ; and thus to wait for the fresh opening of the springs of hope and consola- tion. When I wake at night and in the morning, I think of thee in thy lonely condition ; but I rest confidently assured that thy Lord will be thy stay, and, howevei; high at times the waves may appear to arise, they never shall overflow thee.
I have had several sweet glances at the kingdom where all is rest, peace, joy, and full satisfaction ; but when a prospect
GO
OX THE DECEASE OF HIS WIFE.
1835.
of this state is permitted, then the fear enters lest those we love, and perhaps ourselves at last, should fall short of it, — there are so many hindrances here, — and then again some joy is felt over the beloved departed ; the warfare accomplished, — what a consideration ! May we continue in faith, patience, humility, and dedication, to fight the good fight, until we come to the same blessed end. The time is short, therefore, we must go on, nothing doubting, remembering that " faithful is he that calleth us who also will do it," and in him we must wholly trust.
I am truly thy most loving and sympathizing sister,
E. Fey.
P. S. Jonathan Hutchinson once said to me, "school- masters give apt scholars hard lessons." So with our Master ; this thou mayest take home.
"The present stage of my grief," writes Joseph John Gurney, to a near relative, a few weeks after his bereavement, "is one marked by some pecu- liarly trying and sorrowful feelings, and much conflict has been occasionally my portion. But I believe that nothing will do but patient bearing, and waiting in hope for brighter and better things. This I strive after, and can gratefully acknowledge that I am surrounded with many precious allevia- tions, and am not forsaken by the God of all hope and comfort."
mi. 48.
LETTER.
Gl
CHAPTER XXIX. 1835—1837. 2et. 48—49.
third and fourth visits to manchester; extracts from journal; yearly meeting; conclusion of the labours of the committee; journey in scotland and the north of england; prospect of visit to north america; letters ; granting of certificates.
Amidst this deep sorrow, Joseph John Gurney was again called to his painful duties in Lancashire. The Yearly Meeting's committee had appointed to meet at Manchester, in the twelfth month. " May the Lord open my way in the path of duty," he writes in his Journal, " and provide for all my need by the riches which are in Christ !"
FROM WILLIAM FORSTER.
Bradpole, 10th mo., 27th, 1835.
* * I have often •wished that I could write and tell thee with what fulness of sympathy I was bearing thee in constant remembrance. It was much more of an effort to me than I was willing any of you should know, to turn my back on Earlham, but most of all to break away from thee. I had been so entirely at home with thee, and thou hadst been so much to me — every thing that a friend could be — and I had partaken so largely with you of the peace, and joy, and hope, with which you had been sustained, that it required as much resolution as I could command, to pursue the course it seemed best for me to adopt ; and it was long before I could feel that I had actually left you. Throughout the clay I had such a sense of thy affliction, and thy conflict of mind, and such
62
THIRD VISIT OF THE COMMITTEE.
1835.
assurance of our Saviour's love and care towards thee, that I was glad to be left very much to myself, and did not wish for the best of conversation to divert my attention from that which had such full possession of my mind and feelings. I had books enough, but I had not much inclination to read them, for I had enough to do to think where I had been, and what I had witnessed ; and I dwelt upon that which I had seen of the power of the grace of God, much to my instruction and to the confirmation of my faith. * * *
I look forwards with much comfort to our impending journey together into the north. Friends seem as if they could not give up the hope of having thee there.
In what I have written, I have told thee but little of my feeling of the past, the present, and the future, as it relates to thee, and all the hope and confidence I have for thee. What a pleasure will it be if in any way I should be of the least use or comfort to thee.
The following are from Joseph. John Gurney's Journal : —
11th mo., 8th. The last week has passed very smoothly ; our dear little home party uninterrupted, and our course of study pursued diligently ; but the tone of my own mind has been very low, and the conflict occasionally severe. I believe that, through infinite mercy, I have not murmured; but indeed I have nothing to look to, nothing to depend upon, except the one great source of hope and consolation, the infinite and unmerited mercy of God in Christ Jesus.
11th mo., 10th. I feel this morning, in some degree willing and desirous to leave, (forget I cannot,) that which is behind, and press forward in hope. Yet there is a holy forgetfulness of that which is behind, at which the Christian pilgrim must aim, and to which he is sometimes enabled to attain in the name of the Lord.
12th mo., 9th. I have completed my evidence on the Beacon, &c, and, after some inexpressible conflict, find myself
2ET. 48.
TO LANCASHIRE.
63
ready for our journey to Manchester. We hope to set off to- morrow morning.
In allusion to this visit he writes : —
1st mo., 8th, 1836. All the committee, except two, met on seventh day morning, the 12th nit. It was a great favour that I found an opportunity during this first morning of our lahours, to read to the committee the whole of my strictures on various demi-unsound pamphlets, which laid a clear foundation for further arduous service in the working of our business.
The committee concluded its operations, for the present, on seventh day evening, the 2nd instant, at Manchester. Such a fortnight it has never been my lot to pass before. The engagement of mind; the intensity of thought and feeling; the strong and clear expositions of sentiment ; the singular turns of Providence ; and, above all, the gentle, unseen, resist- less influence of the "anointing," and the grace and goodness of our ever present Caretaker and Holy Head, were, during this period, most remarkably displayed.
During the whole time, though not unfrcquently finding relief in tears, I was mercifully sustained in quiet peacefulness, not without an occasional flow of natural pleasure, and I be- lieve of joy in the Holy Ghost. I have repeatedly said, that the inexpressible sufferings through which I had previously been passing, seemed to me but an adequate preparation for the peculiar, new, and difficult duties which devolved upon me, a poor, weak, and blind one, during this memorable and important time. * * *
" It was a time," he writes in his Autobiography, " of great pressure upon us, for strong were the currents setting in from opposite quarters, both of which required to be stemmed. When I was on the scene of action, my private conflicts dis- appeared, and I was graciously strengthened, from day to day, for the extremely difficult path in which I believed it my duty to tread. Of one thing I think I am sure, that, both in public and private I was enabled to bear an unflinching tes-
64
THIRD VISIT OF THE COMMITTEE 1835-1836.
timony to the truth, as it is in Jesus Christ our Saviour : the Lord alone be praised for it.
The result of the visit was, first the decision of the com- mittee, (reported to the Monthly Meeting,) not to recommend disciplinary proceedings on the doctrinal question of the Beacon ; and secondly, to hand Isaac Crewdson their private advice to withdraw for a time, from public ministry, and from attending the meetings of ministers and elders. The two conclusions, in my opinion, were not inconsistent with each other ; both arising, by a kind of necessity, from the circum- stances of the case. But, indeed, some of us on that- occasion, were called on to endure a ' fight of afflictions.'
Whilst I had no unity with the spirit of disaffection and restlessness which marked the course of our dissentient Friends, I found it my place in the whole affair, to set a strong guard against opposite dangers ; and these I had from time to time to press upon the attention of my brethren. The committee adjourned to the fourth month (1836,) and I spent much of the intermediate time in drawing up my Remarks on the Defence, (written in reply to the Beacon,) which have been printed for private use, but not published ; also in extracting from several other modern publications of Friends, (wholly unauthorized by the Society,) passages which appeared to me to be erroneous and dangerous, tending (Avithout the smallest intention on the part of the writers,) to the weakening of the true faith of the Christian. Fully and faithfully did I lay the subject before my brethren on my return to Manchester ; and, the author of the Defence having removed out of the scope of the committee's labours, I spent a morning in company with Josiah and William Forstcr, and another member of the committee, in reading my remarks on his work to the men elders of the meeting, of which he had before been a member. They were also sent to the author himself, who, I may add, is a truly amiable and pious individual.
Isaac Crewdson having substantially complied with the advice of the committee respecting his ministry, nothing further was done in his case, in the fourth month. Some other features in the general question of disunity among
JET. 48.
TO LANCASHIRE.
65
Friends, were, however, closely attended to ; and we again left Manchester in peace. ( >n my return home, I continued to pursue the object to which I have already alluded, and wrote the Strictures on 'Truth Vindicated.' This publication, teeming as it does with the kind of error I am speaking of. was written by an anonymous author in Wales, once, but not now, a member of our body. It is a work of no small ability, and had been (through carelessness, I trust,) circulated and patronized by many Friends. Under these circumstances, some check was essential. When the Strictures were finished, I laid them before the Morning Meeting, which, of course, did not commit itself to the controversy ; but, after some discussion, set me at liberty to publish them, giving an explicit verdict that no sentiment was advanced in my pam- phlet at variance with the principles of the Society of Friends. Two thousand copies were rapidly sold ; and I look back on this little service in the cool of the present hour, with much satisfaction and thankfulness.
The followincr are from his Journal of this period : —
2nd mo., 21st. I feel thankful that I have not been moved by any thing which has occurred, from my own position in the Society. A little hope yet lives that a remnant will be preserved alive in the truth, and enabled steadily to maintain it in its ivholcness. That hope is simply and solely in Christ ; for in these days, the wisdom of man is more than ever fool- ishness. 0 most gracious Lord God, who didst, as I reverently believe, raise us up to be a people, graciously con- descend to show forth thy matchless power for our deliverance from all the snares of Satan ; and be pleased according to thy wonted loving kindness, to guide me, thy poor unworthy servant, in the path of simple duty, and show me from day to day wherein thou wouldst have me and my children to serve thee, 0 Lord, my God ! Suffer not one, who has preached to others, to become himself a castaway. Anoint me with abundance of the fresh oil of thy kingdom ; prepare and
Vol. II. — 5
66
STRICTURES ON TRUTH VINDICATED.
183G.
direct my work ; and enable me, I earnestly beseech thee, with a single eye, to seek thine honour and glory, -who alone art worthy, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
2nd mo., 23rd. Yesterday I took my Strictures on Truth Vindicated, to the press, to my own satisfaction and relief of mind. I have now to work on the Scripture Essay. I also settled my accounts, and closed another year of pecuniary prosperity with thankfulness, and with a desire to be a faithful steward.
TO HIS SISTER ELIZABETH FRY.
Norwich, 1st mo., 19th, 1S3G.
I have a surplus fund which I think I ought to dispose of at the winding up of the year 1835, and had been thinking of sending thee a portion of it, to which thou art perfectly wel- come. I order Barclay and Co. to pay thy draft for the amount. Pray do not allow thyself any compunction or hesitation on this point. I shall always depend on thy being perfectly free in mentioning thy needs to me. In fact, it is a kindness, as I do not consider that my circumstances justify much, if any accumulation.
4th month, ord. [Referring to his labours in connexion with some controversial pamphlets.] As far as I can judge, it is the present line of duty ; [though] in various respects uphill and arduous, and one in which I may expect rebuke and suffering. But "if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence towards God." And in the presence of the Most High, and under some precious feeling of it, I think I can say with truth, that my heart does not condemn me for being thus engaged. 0 that I may be yet more delivered from the fear of man ! more clothed with holy boldness as well as meekness ! 0 that I may, in the conduct of this warfare, take every step under the authority of the Lord's anointing, and not one step without that authority !
As a general principle, I must surely be right in pleading for simple, unalloyed, scriptural truth. May the great Ruler and Head of the church graciously condescend to endue me
t
JET. 48.
LETTER OX GEOLOGY.
67
with wisdom, love and strength, that I may he preserved from doing the least harm, and that the pleasure of the Lord may prosper in my hands ! While these desires have been much awakened, I feel the necessity of rising above the turmoils of the day, and of knowing my soul to be really fixed on a better and holier world.
Most merciful Lord God ! Be pleased, I humbly beseech thee, to obliterate all my past sins in the blood of Jesus, and plenteously to endue me with wisdom and strength, by the power of the Holy Ghost ; that I may be enabled to stand and advance in my rank of righteousness, according to thy blessed will, for the benefit of thy church, and for a purpose of thy glory, Amen and Amen.
Amidst Joseph John Gurney's other, and very different engagements at this period, he found time to write a short tract on a subject in which he had been long interested. This he published in the spring of this year, under the title of A Letter to a Clerical Friend on the accordance of Geological Discovery with Natural and Revealed Religion.* Deeply as he was convinced of the inspiration of Holy Scripture, and steadily as he was opposed to any theory of the creation not reconcileable with the inspired record, he was well assured that the investigations of an enlightened science, when con- ducted in a proper spirit, can, in the end, serve only the more completely to illustrate the harmony of the Divine mind as. manifested for purposes distinct, yet not contradictory, in the book of nature and the book of grace. " Let Geology," he writes in one of his letters, "have her full scope in discovering the ancient secrets of the crust of the earth — she will wonderfully elucidate natural theology, and inflict
*This tract is reprinted in the Minor Works, vol. ii, p. 201.
68
THE YEARLY MEETING.
1836.
no wound on the religion of the Bible." To illustrate this view is the object of this little tract, which may still be read with interest, notwithstanding the increased light that further research has thrown upon the subject.
In the fifth month, as usual, he attended the Yearly Meeting. Referring to it in the Auto- biography, he says : —
The yearly meeting of 1836 was a time of no small interest and importance. Although considerable excitement was produced by the unexpected visit to this country of Elisha Bates, without any certificate from his Monthly Meeting, yet on the whole, the prospect of an increased degree of good fellowship seemed to brighten upon us. In consecpience of the unfair questioning which had arisen on the Society's views of the Holy Scriptures, it was agreed to issue a declaration on that subject. I ventured to state to the Yearly Meeting what I apprehended ought to be the substance of it. These suggestions were afterwards adopted ; the declaration was brought in and passed, with the warm concurrence of the body at large. It formed a part of the general epistle, which was carefully drawn up by a judicious committee, and which I believe to be as clear and important a document, considered as a confession of faith, as was ever put forth by a body of profes- sing Christians ; and it certainly ought to be received as a sufficient reply to all doubters and cavillers on the subject of the Christian belief of the Society of Friends.* This issue of the Yearly Meeting afforded to my own mind a most acceptable relief.
* The portion of the Yearly Meeting's epistle here alluded to, is as follows : —
" Often as our religious Society has declared its belief in the divine authority of the Holy Scriptures, and upheld the sacred volume as the only divinely authorized record of the doctrines of true religion, we believe it right at this time to revive some important declarations
J3T. 48. DECLARATION ON THE HOLY SCRIPTURES.
69
Earlliam 7th mo., 10th. Some missionaries of the London Missionary Society came to us on fourth day morning. Williams's account of the South Seas highly interesting and instructive ; about 250,000 nominal Christians now in the islands of the Pacific, with rather a larger proportion, as he thinks, of real Christians, than in this country. The history of Rara tonga, discovered and christianized by his own instru- mentality, very striking. In itself worth living for !
of Scripture itself, on the subject. It is expressly declared by the Apostle Peter, that, "the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man ; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost :" 2 Pet. i, 21. The Apostle John declares respecting the gospel which he wrote, " These are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God ; and that believing, ye might have life through his name:" John xx, 31. Very per- tinent and comprehensive is the language which the Apostle Paul addressed to Timothy; "From a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness ; that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works ;" 2 Tim. iii, 15 — 17. Again the Apostle says, " Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope;" Rom. xv, 4. -Finally, our blessed Lord in reference to those divine writings, of which the grand object, in accordance with his own declaration, was to testify of himself, emphatically declares " the Scripture cannot be broken :" John x, 35.
'• Although most of these passages relate to the Old Testament, our Society has always freely acknowledged that the principles developed in them, arc equally applicable to the writings of the Evangelists and Apostles. In conformity with these principles, it has ever been, and still is, the belief of the Society of Friends, that the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament were given by inspiration of God; that, therefore, the declarations contained in them, rest on the authority of God himself; and there can be no appeal from them to any other authority whatsoever : that they are able to make us wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus, being the appointed means of making known to us the blessed
70
LETTER.
1836
TO ANNA GURNEY AND SARAH M. BUXTON; (then on an extended tour on the Continent of Europe.)
Earlham, 7th mo., 1st, 1S36.
I am quite pleased to be invited by Priscilla Johnston to contribute to a parcel of letters for the "Ambassador's bag," for I assure you that though so far out of sight, you are anything but out of mind to me.
I suppose that you are, as far as you can be, missionaries ; and that wherever you arc, you do not forget the blessedness of divine truth, either for yourselves or others. * * *
We are settled again at our delightful home. I am surrounded with many comforts, and my dear sister Rachel Fowler's being now fairly settled with us, is a satisfaction to us all. The Yearly Meeting was a good one, and served some important purposes. "We put forth a noble declaration respecting the Scriptures, and on some points of doctrine, in our General Epistle. I hope it will settle some who had before been very restless. But my path in these matters is still somewhat thorny and anxious. Indeed we have " need of patience," that after we "have done the will of God" we may "receive the promise."
truths of Christianity : that they are the only divinely authorized record of the doctrines which we are bound as Christians to believe, and of the moral principles which are to regulate our actions : that no doctrine which is not contained in them can be required of any one to be believed as an article of faith : that whatsoever any man says or does which is contrary to the Scriptures, though under pro- fession of the immediate guidance of the Spirit, must be reckoned and accounted a mere delusion.
" We trust, however, that none of our members will content themselves with merely entertaining a sound view on this subject ; but that they will remember that the Holy Scriptures are given to us that they may be diligently used, and that we may obtain a right understanding of them in the fear of the Lord. Let us never forget that their main purpose is, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, to bring us to our Lord Jesus Christ, that by a living operative faith in him, we may obtain reconciliation with the Father, and be made partakers of everlasting life."
jET. 48.
RELIGIOUS ENGAGEMENTS IN NORFOLK.
71
In the course of the summer he was occupied in various religious engagements amongst Friends and Dthers, principally in his own county.
"It was a time," he writes in his autobiography, "during which I had much to suffer, not only from missing my dearest earthly companion, hut from the weakness of my nervous system ; yet in the blessed influence of the Spirit, the Comforter, and in the exercise of ministerial labour, I found, from time to time, the requisite relief. This was particularly the case in two of the visits, one to Lowestoft and Pakefield, where my dear sister Richenda Cunningham was a special helper ; and the other to "Wells and Holkham. In the latter I had some rather intimate communication with Lady Anne Coke, for whom I have long entertained a sincere friendship : and, at night, read the Scriptures and ministered to the whole family, guests and household, from 70 to 80 in number. It was a time of much solemnity, and reminded me of the visit to Knowsly, already recorded in this Memoir. Thomas William Coke,* is the prince of British commoners, now a very old man, a complete gentleman of the old school, eminently courteous, and remarkable for a frank, honest demeanour. I was with him some time since, at his one hundred and first . half-yearly audit, when 110 tenants came to dine with him and pay their rents. On the evening which I have just mentioned, both he and his lady appeared to feel a good deal ; and I have no doubt of the sincerity of their religious principles."
In the autumn of this year he was again closely engaged with the other members of the Yearly Meeting's committee in Lancashire, and was also much occupied in a somewhat extended course of religious labour in the North of England and in
* Afterwards Earl of Leicester.
72
FURTHER LABOURS AT MANCHESTER.
1836.
Scotland. Of these engagements lie has preserved the following record in the Autobiography: —
When the committee met at Manchester, in the 9th month, 1830, we soon learned that, since the Yearly Meet- ing, our friend Isaac Crewdson had re-coinmenced and continued his ministerial functions without reserve ; and at the same time it was evident, that so far was unity from heing restored, that the breach had become wider than ever ; so much so as to render it increasingly clear, that principles were at work, on either side, which operated to make the distance between Friends and the dissentients greater and greater.
This was indicated by a variety of circumstances ; but more especially by certain devotional meetings held by the dissen- tients, on first day evenings, and conducted on principles of worship, essentially different from ours. Was it right that under these circumstances, our still valued friend, the author of the Beacon, should continue to act as a minister in our meetings, notwithstanding the advice of the committee, that he should for a time withdraw from the service ? Was it possible for us, as faithful servants of the Yearly Meeting, to leave this difficult case without further care, and just in this position ? Constrained, as we were, to answer these questions in the negative, what course remained for us to follow ? None, as I conceive, but that which we adopted ; namely, that of taking no further responsibility on ourselves, and of simply reporting the actual state of the case to the church, in which, by our discipline, reside, in all such cases, both the authority and responsibility, under its holy Head., We therefore went to the Monthly Meeting with a simple report of the fact, (already published to the world by Isaac Crewd- son's friends,) that the committee had advised him to desist for a time, from his public ministry, and of the further well known circumstance, that this advice had been disregarded.
No sooner was this report read to the Monthly Meeting, than I*;iae Crewdson's friends demanded of us a clear decla- ration of the grounds on which the advice in question had
JET. 48. ENGAGEMENTS IN THE NORTH OF ENGLAND.
73
been given. The meeting agreed to request the committee to answer the inquiry. We accordingly withdrew to consider our reply ; and then it was that I felt it my clear duty, decidedly to stand forth in defence of our well-known principles. I therefore voluntarily undertook to give the answer to the Monthly Meeting. Friends freely accepted the offer. We returned to the meeting ; and, under a measure of holy anointing, graciously afforded, as I believe, for the occasion, I was enabled quietly, and with sufficient clearness, to state the grounds of our advice. Nothing of importance was said in reply ; the question was drawing to its inevitable settlement ; and, after a long and painful discussion, in which the committee refrained from taking any side, (as to the yea or nay,) the meeting came to a solid conclusion, to confirm the advice of the committee. * * * *
We now left Manchester, agreeing to meet again in about five weeks ; an interval of no small value and relief to myself, though filled up by labour as well as pleasure. Be it ever remembered, that, in the cause of Christ, labour is pleasure ! It was on a seventh day, that I went from Manchester to York, where I met my children and their aunt Rachel Fowler. The sabbath was spent at York, and a large public meeting held in the evening. On the following morning, a meeting of peculiar solemnity took place, greatly to the comfort of my own mind. It was with the patients in the "Retreat;" and afforded me renewed evidence of a fact of which I had been before convinced, that insanity in its more moderate degrees, by no means prevents the worship of Almighty God ; and further, that the public acts of worship are highly soothing to persons afflicted with that worst of natural maladies. On the occasion now mentioned, many of the poor sufferers found relief in abundant tears, and I trust some ability was afforded us, even to rejoice together in the Lord our Redeemer.
From York we proceeded to Darlington, where we spent a few interesting days. It was a great pleasure to find our- selves under the roof of our cousins Jonathan and Hannah C. Backhouse. They had been travelling for some years in
74
ENGAGEMENTS IX SCOTLAND.
183G.
America, and great was the comfort of their friends in their restoration to their home and family.
Whilst at Darlington I felt much interested in the religious welfare of the coal-pit men in that neighbourhood ; there being too much reason to believe that infidel, and even atheistic publications had been extensively circulated amongst them. A meeting of them "was convened one first day after- noon, at a pit's mouth, near Bishop Auckland, a temporary awning having been erected for the purpose. A very large company assembled, (from 1500 to 2000,) and I trust it was a time in which the truth was permitted to triumph over all doubts and cavils. I afterwards held a similar meeting near Newcastle. Here my sister Rachel Fowler and Anna met us, and after some good service, (as I trust) especially in two meetings for young people, we pursued our course into Scotland. There we visited Hawick and Jedburgh, (where I held a good public meeting,) Melrose, &c, and so passed on to Edinburgh. Lively and pleasant indeed was our short sojourn in that place. It gave us the opportunity of enlarging the circle of our friends. More particularly was I pleased to form a friendship with Dr. Abercrombie, the author of those able works, so generally esteemed, on the Intellectual Powers, and Moral Feelings. No man, perhaps, has written more ably on the subject of the moral principle, universally com- municated to mankind. He came to dine with us at our hotel, and I took the opportunity of explaining to him the views of Friends on this subject, namely, that the light which enables the conscience to perceive the great dictates of the divine law, even independently of an outward revelation, is a measure of the influence of the Spirit, graciously bestowed on all men through Jesus Christ our Lord. He made no objection to these views, and I have seldom found them otherwise than acceptable to evangelical Christians. Dr. Abercrombie is considered the first physician in Edinburgh. His works display a mind of a very lucid and acute character; a combination of sound philosophy and evangelical piety, which renders them invaluable. We enjoyed some true communion in spirit before we parted ; and I trust we shall
JET. 49.
LABOURS OF THE COMMITTEE.
75
always remember each other in love. Dr. Chalmers with his family we found at Burntisland, a sea bathing place in the north of the Forth. Very much was it to our mutual enjoyment to meet again. His conversation was luminous as usual, and he received my strong words of warning against hio-h-churchism with great good feeling. In a parting opportunity we were brought into that unity of spirit which overflows all sectarian distinctions.
From Burntisland wre proceeded to Wemyss Castle, a fine old baronial residence on the rocky coast of Fifeshire, where our friend Captain Wemyss treated us with characteristic hospitality ; thence to Benny Hill, the comfortable little lairdship of the Johnstons, where two days, passed with my niece Priscilla and her husband, were to our mutual comfort, and so across the country by Stirling to Glasgow. At a large public meeting there, I had to insist, in an especial manner, on the influence of the Holy Spirit, reviewing the subject after the manner of Friends. I afterwards found that Dr. Wardlaw, who had published a book on the Beacon side of the controversy, was present with a great number of his people. At his request we went to breakfast with him at his cottage on the banks of the Clyde, when I had a full oppor- tunity of more explicitly informing him of our true views of spiritual influence, and of correcting his misapprehensions respecting us. He received the communication with great attention and respect, and I trust it served a good purpose. We parted in much love, after fervent prayer had been offered for him and his interesting family.*
After holding many meetings in Cumberland, especially in the coal and lead mining districts, where there appeared a great openness among the people towards Friends and their doctrines, I returned to Manchester. Great were the diffi- culty and conflict which awaited us there; nevertheless I believed it to be my duty to support Friends, in promoting a
* Joseph John Gurney afterwards addressed to Dr. Wardlaw several letters on these subjects; which he subsequently published. See Friendly Letters to Dr. Wardlaw, Norwich, 1836.
70
LABOURS OF THE COMMITTEE.
1836.
total change in the " overseers," and in discouraging the irregular meetings for worship, which the dissatisfied party had instituted. The difference of principle between that party and the society had become so obvious, that no other line of conduct could be pursued by me consistently with my own views. The crisis was now come ; the Monthly Meeting appointed new overseers ; and, within a very short time, our long-valued Friends, Isaac Crcwdson, William Boulton, and many others — in all, about fifty — resigned their membership in the society.
Most sincerely do I love these Friends, and heartily do I desire their welfare ; but we arc separated, not merely by a diversity of practice, but by the difference of principle on which that diversity is grounded. We must, therefore, agree to differ — in the humble hope that, through a reverent, abiding trust in our Lord Jesus Christ, we may meet at last where differences will exist no longer, and where all misconceptions of one another's conduct, will for ever cease.
Thus terminated the proceedings of the committee at Manchester. The Friends, who then resigned their membership, at first established a separate meeting, which was, however, discontinued in the course of a few years, as its supporters found that there was little to distinguish them from some other communities of professing Christians. Those who withdrew from Friends in other places about the same period, gradually became, in like manner, united to other Christian societies. No distinct body now survives to preserve a memorial of this secession. But though the loss of so many who might have been valuable members cannot but be greatly deplored, it may be thankfully acknow- ledged that, whilst not insensible of its weakness, the Society of Friends, in England, has been mer- cifully permitted to emerge from these difficulties,
jst. 49.
DEATH OF LOUISA HOAIIE.
77
more than ever united in its attachment to the essential spirituality of the Christian religion, in its inseparable connexion with pure evangelical truth.
"In reviewing my conduct," adds Joseph John Gurney towards the conclusion of the foregoing account, " I am very ready to acknowledge that, under the difficulties of the case, I may have been betrayed into some minor errors in expression, &c. ; but on calm and deliberate reflection, I am not aware that, in any respect of importance, I could have acted differently. In reference to these painful affairs, in all their various stages, I can say with the apostle, ' I trust I have a good conscience.' "
During Joseph John Gurney's absence on this journey, he received the sorrowful tidings of the decease, after a rather lingering illness, of his sister Louisa Hoare, the wife of the late Samuel Hoare, of Hampstead. With the warmth of brotherly affection, he thus traces her character in the Autobiography.
" What a sister and friend has Louisa been to me ; and how glowing is the picture of her that memory is often painting for me ! Perhaps I should not be far wrong in estimating her as superior, in point of talent, to any other of my father's eleven children. She was a calm, deep thinker, and applied her well wrought out views and principles to action with a perseverance and exactness which were very uncommon. No small sense had she of the true bearing and value of the views of Friends ; but her circumstances in married life strongly led in another direction. Education was her great forte. Her work on Nursery Discipline, or the Early Education of Children, is replete with wise thoughts, well expressed, and has met with a widely-extended circulation. A little book on the same subject, for the use of the poor, is also of much
78
PREPARATION FOR
183G-1837.
value, as is her interesting Memoir of a Workhouse Boy. She had a larger and yet more important work on hand, being a collection of contrasts between the effects of religion and irreligion, afforded by the lives and deaths of the godly and ungodly, the believing and unbelieving, the righteous and the Wicked. I never could persuade her to prepare it for the press : but I still hope it may in time see the light. The decease of her eldest son inflicted a wound on her sensitive constitution from which she never recovered. Her sufferings were peculiarly affecting ; but she struggled against them with a well-principled steadiness which afforded us much instruction ; and her hold on the truth, and on its blessed promises, was never shaken.
The winter was spent by Joseph John Gurney mostly at home, in the enjoyment of the company of his children. During this recess from more active labours, a prospect of extensive service in a distant land gradually opened before him with increasing clearness. The following extracts will enable the reader to trace the course of his mind in relation to this important subject.
After a short visit to London where he was detained a few days by a heavy fall of snow at the house of his brother Samuel Gurney, he writes : —
1st mo., 5th, 1837. The commencement of the new year was felt with a sort of melancholy solemnity ; but the Lord afterwards seemed very graciously to lift up the light of his countenance upon me. My situation just now in the church is one of considerable humiliation ; which I think I am content to bear, if so be the precious cause of eternal truth may not suffer through me. A calming influence is cheeringly spread over my own mind this morning, in the humble belief that the Lord will provide.
1st mo., 11th. I could hardly have believed it possible that four or five days should have witnessed so remarkable a
JET. 49.
MORE EXTENDED LABOURS.
79
change in my condition of mind, prospects, intentions, feelings, &c, as has been the case since my last entry. For several months past, I have been suffering from time to time under a state of conflict, and a weight of sorrow, for which I was wholly unable to account ; though at no time, that I remember, have I quite lost either faith, hope, or patience ; or quite slipped from my footing on the rock — Christ Jesus. It seems to have been permitted for my humiliation ; for the breaking of me down — yea, for the grinding of me into dust — before the Lord ; and a thick vail of darkness was spread over the future, which it was impossible to penetrate. I often seemed to myself as one cast out and trodden on, who could be of little farther use in the church of my Redeemer.
During the continuance of this condition, I may gratefully acknowledge that the anointing of God's Holy Spirit was from season to season bestowed in a measure for my refresh- ment ; especially through the exercise of the ministry. But if the cloud broke away for a time, that time was but very short ; and the hand of the Lord still appeared to be very heavy upon me. Seldom, if ever, have I suffered more in this way, than during last first day night ; a time of tempest- tossing indeed ! Notwithstanding some relief in the morning
o o o
of second day, I went heavy laden and broken to call on .
A few words of ministry, which were then addressed to me, seem to have been the appointed means of breaking the spell ; and as I was afterwards riding to Thickthorn, my conflict fled away, and I was left in a calm, but decided possession of the most important religious prospect which has yet fallen to my lot — a prospect which has been floating before me for about twenty years, and now seems to be quickly gathering to its focus. Delightful tranquillity was my portion during the remainder of the day and the whole of the next day.
TO HIS BROTHER SAMUEL GURNEY.
Fakcnham, 1st mo., 20th, JS37.
I believe that I ought not longer to delay informing thee of my present condition of mind in reference to religious scr-
80
PROSPECT OF VISIT
1837.
vice. Our dear sister Fry is more aware than you are, of the remarkable measure of mental conflict under -which I have suffered for several months past.
About ten days ago, this conflict was wonderfully removed in the view of quietly submitting without much further delay, to a prospect which has been more or less floating before me for nearly twenty years, of no less magnitude than that of crossing the Atlantic, and visiting Friends and others in America.
Ever since something like a surrender at discretion on this subject, I have, with few intermissions, felt much more at ease in mind, cheerful, and happy, and preserved from anxiety about the future ; though at times, of course, a tide of fears and doubts sets in upon me ; but it is my increasing appre- hension, that the Lord is condescending to require the sacrifice of me.
Until within a short time, I permitted myself to believe, that some future year would prove to be the right time. My present apprehension is, that there ought not to be any delay beyond the present year ; and that, if nothing providential forbids, it may probably devolve upon me to mention the sub- ject at our ensuing Monthly Meeting, that is, on fifth day, the 9th of next month.
Still my mind is by no means fully settled on that point ; and I am, of course, open to your counsel. I know I shall have your fervent petitions on my account, and your tenderest sympathy.
I am quite tranquil, and feel a hope that if this matter is required, the Lord will not be wanting in giving me the double evidence which such a service seems to demand.
TO TIIOMAS FOWELL BUXTON.
Earlham, 1st mo., 2Sth, 1837.
My dearest Buxton,
Thanks for thy verbal advice on the subject of America, and still more thanks for thy letter, which I am able to digest with quietness to-day under a peculiar feeling
JET. 4'J.
TO AMERICA.
SI
of rest and relief. I very much accord with thee in thy view of the principles on which it must he settled. "Do the will of God, whatsoever sacrifice it may bring in its train, but take care not to involve yourself in the sacrifice until you are quite sure that it is his will."
To both these positions I say, "Amen;" but I wish to be preserved from exaggerating cither the sacrifice itself, or the kind and measure of evidence it requires. On both these points I desire to be as simple as a child. First, with respect to the sacrifice, I feel and acknowledge it to be great, and by far the greatest I have ever been called upon to make in my Christian course. Yet I do not consider that absence in a distant land during two or even three years, involves the per- manent surrender either of my home privileges or home duties. It is what most men would submit to without much hesitation in the pursuit of health. I have no idea that the personal difficulties or deprivation of outward comfort, which would attend the execution of such a purpose, would be to any great or overwhelming extent. With respect to my darling children, and all over whom I am here permitted to exercise some beneficial influence, my mind is stayed upon two grand considerations. First, that the influence of Christian love, and even of Christian authority when grounded in love, is by no means extinguished, but, in some respects increased, by the absence of the party who exerts it ; and it may by the very discipline which a temporary separa- tion involves, be prepared for a yet more vigorous and decided exercise in future. And secondly, and more especially, that if my absence is ordered of the Lord, it is far safer for my children as avcII as for myself, that I should be absent than present ; for there is no example which I could set before them with so little advantage as that of disobedience to the glorious Saviour to whose service I wish them to be devoted. In the mean time I feel a humble confidence that so long as I am conformed to his will, he who protects the fatherless, will graciously protect them and supply all their need, temporally Vol. II. — 6
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PROSrECT OF VISIT
1837.
and spiritually, unspeakably better than I could do by any planning of mine in a direction contrary to the divine counsels.
These remarks bring me to my second head — the point of evidence. I am free to confess, that for evidence I expect only a quiet, deliberate, settled sense of duty, in connexion ■with my general call to the ministry ; such a sense of duty as I cannot possibly bring upon myself; which lives through times of appalling cloudiness; and which ever and anon, at happier seasons, bursts forth with a brightness all its own, rises into authority by its native power, and brings me, in spite of all discouragements, into a happy and easy tranquillity, if I am but submissive to it.
Thou wilt perceive that my views and experience on this subject are connected with my general call to the work of the ministry. With regard to that general call itself, I suppose that Christians of every denomination who have entered on so sacred a function with the seriousness which it demands, Would acknowledge a similar experience, and would cast themselves, in this awful affair between God and their souls, on the same description of evidence. Here, perhaps, many would leave it ; and, for the location and peculiar direction of the work, would look for nothing more than that providential guidance which is marked by outward circumstances. But it has been for the last quarter of a century my settled belief that the same description of evidence may be looked for and ought to be followed with respect to what may be called the secondary parts of a call to this service. " Thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak." It is upon this principle that I have endeavoured to act ever since I was first so engaged ; and, though I am very sensible of the infirmity of the earthen vessel, I may truly say that I have found my Lord and Master to be a most sure and sufficient guide ; and that my security and success in the work, have ever been found to depend on a simple, faithful following of the Lord's "anointing." This is a clue that I dare not forsake or neglect or refuse to follow. I have the belief impressed upon
El, 49.
TO AMERICA.
83
me, that if I did so, it would be to the peril of my soul. And yet I humbly trust that the constraining principle which binds me to the service is love rather than fear.
I am far from confining this view of the immediate guidance of the Holy Spirit to the work of the ministry. I apply it generally to our whole course of duty, and even to temporal avocations, which are more or less connected with our own religious interests and those of others. I think thy own experience with respect to parliament and parliamentary duties has, in an eminent degree, tallied with this remark. But I nevertheless conceive that the application of this doctrine to the ministry of the Gospel is marked with pre- eminent clearness, and operates with peculiar force.
With regard to my prospect of parliamentary duty some years ago, to which thou hast alluded ; certain it is that I was led to the consideration of it under feelings which appeared to me to be of a sacred character ; but never was I brought to the point of concluding that the thing was right ; and after some trial of patience, I was delivered from all bonds on the subject, without any human instrumentality, and without any aid from circumstances.*
With respect to America, after all that can be said on every hand, my only course is to go to my Lord and Master, in simple faith and fervent prayer, with the question — "Is it of myself, or is it of thee V or, in other words, " Is it wrong or is it right?" the two questions being perfectly equivalent.
I will not say that I am yet in possession of that full and clear affirmative answer to this question, on which it is safe for me to act. And most heartily do I desire that, in weighing the subject, I may be preserved from presumption. But honesty compels me to acknowledge that the conviction that this is actually the path which he sees fit to point out to me is not decreasing. In the mean time I am mercifully favoured with some quietness, and I hope sobriety of mind. My hum- ble hope and belief is, that if this thing be not required of me, he will either providentially or spiritually, cast a bond
* See supra, Vol. I, p. 493.
84
FROSPECT OP VISIT
1837.
upon me which will detain me here ; and that if it be required, you -will all he able, in due season, to adopt the language, " Loose him, and let him go."
TO HIS SISTER ELIZABETH FRY.
Norwich, 1st mo., 31st, 1S37.
I am glad to report comfortably of myself to-day, as I am far better in body ; and in mind tranquil and at ease, in unreserved submission to the prospect already mentioned to thee. I feel increasingly bound to it, and cannot believe that the voice which leads me into it, and which during the last few days has been very distinct, is the voice of a stranger, or any other than that of the true Shepherd. "With regard to time, though I felt pretty well satisfied with the view taken by thee of it when we were together, it is now evident to me, that the peculiarly close conflict which has been allotted me for many months, was, (though unknown to myself,) preparing me for an earlier surrender to the service. My natural judgment also coincides with this, for when such a burden is decidedly laid upon the mind, there is nothing like throwing it off without unnecessary delay. Otherwise one is crippled and spoiled for everything else. So also with respect to the Monthly Meeting, I believe it best to give Friends their full time, though an early beginning of it may be the consequence. I have endeavoured just to tread on the "stepping stones" as they have appeared, and in this way have now mentioned the subject to all my brothers and sisters, and to all my partners in the Norwich bank. The result is, less difficulty and obstruction than might have been anticipated. But I have had my low seasons, and may have them again before I go further.
1st mo., 2Ath. We had an excellent meeting last fifth day morning ; William Forster's ministry most delightful ; on being brought through the fire. Dearest Catherine, Rachel, my aunt, and my own children, have now been informed of my condition of mind, and I have written to my brother Samuel, &c. Under the trial necessarily occasioned by this develop- ment, I feel wonderfully tranquil and quiet ; and, in some degree of the breaking down of my own will before the Lord,
JET. 49.
TO AMERICA.
85
only desire to be favoured, on a calm and deliberate view of the case, with sufficiently clear evidence as to the real path of duty. I feel, in the meantime, happily able to attend to the calls, and even the pleasures of the day.
2nd mo., 5th. [Referring to a visit from two of his brothers.] I believe they have both left me with the feeling, that this sacrifice, alfecting as it evidently is to them and all the family, as well as to myself, must, unless providentially impeded, be quietly submitted to. I have been favoured with unbroken tranquillity ; although, at times, lowness, as well as some anxiety about my bodily state, have been my portion. On the whole, it is impossible not to perceive, that the way towards this prospect has been so far wonderfully made for me. Oh ! that I may continue under the constant and settled impression that I can do nothing well of myself, and that so far as I am enabled to go forward steadily in the path of apprehended duty, it is entirely of the grace and goodness of the Lord !
According to the Christian order which has been long established in the Society of Friends, it was necessary, before Joseph John Gurney could go forth in the extensive service now before him, that he should obtain not only the concurrence of the Friends of his own neighbourhood and county, testified by the "certificates" of the Monthly and Quarterly Meetings, of which he was a member; but also that of the Yearly Meeting of ministers and elders, consisting of representatives and others from the various meetings of Friends in those stations in Great Britain and Ireland. On the morning of the day on which he was about to lay the subject before the Friends of his own Monthly Meeting, he received the unlooked for intelligence of the death of his sister-in-law Lady Harriet Gurney.
86
CERTIFICATES GRANTED BY HIS MONTHLY
1837.
lie afterwards writes : —
2nd mo., 1-itJi. Third day. Oh ! the importance, and, in some respects, awfulness of the past week ! During the former part, my mind continued tranquil, but fixed without change on the prospect before me. At my request, our visitors left us on fourth day morning, that I might have that day quietly to myself at home, in order afresh to ponder all my ways. Our little home circle was calm, and, on the whole, happy; the night easy to me. But, alas ! while I was dressing on fifth day morning, a special messenger from Runcton was ushered into my chamber, with the appalling intelligence that our dearest sister Harriet had been prematurely confined, and was dead. I was favoured with much quietness of spirit on receiving these heavy tidings ; broke them to dear Catherine,
and rode to Norwich to inform C W , who, with
Lady J , and Catherine, were requested to come to Runc- ton at once ; then returned to Earlhara to see Catherine before her departure ; and afterwards went to our solemn, most important meeting. The meeting for worship was refreshing, and yet deeply searching. Frances Page spoke excellently on the case of Elijah at Mount Horeb ; and I was led to vindicate the certainty of the divine guidance by the voice of the Spirit; obedience to it being the only safe j>ath either for time or eternity. The women were requested to keep their seats for the Monthly Meeting; and, after a solemn pause, I fully unfolded my weighty concern for America, not feeling that the duty of so doing was in the least degree affected by the trial of the morning. The subject was well considered, under 'deep solemnity, and very full unity and sympathy were expressed by large numbers, so that a certificate was ordered. Dear Frances Page thought that a ram might possibly still be caught in the thicket ; if so, how entirely willing shall I be to accept it ; but if not, may I have grace to go simply forward ! Early the next morning, I went off with Anna to Runcton. There I passed sixth, seventh, and first days ; a time of deep mourning indeed, especially sixth day. Afterwards we were
SET. 49.
AND QUARTERLY MKKTIXCS.
87
more tranquil. My dear brother is •wonderfully calm, and supported, though broken, and sorely tried. I read with the household and others twice on first day ; and we were, I trust, favoured with the gracious influences of the Holy Spirit, accompanied by a sweet apprehension of her perfect happiness.
3rd 7)io., 10th. Yesterday our Monthly Meeting was largely attended. We had a solemn meeting for worship, in which it was given to me to speak of the quietness of those in whom Christ governs ; its foundation and characteristics. Afterwards my certificate was read and signed, under feelings of great solemnity. It was to me inexpressibly affecting.
4th mo., 4th. The Quarterly Meeting, on fifth day last, was well attended, and a very solemn season. In the consideration of my certificate much unity was expressed, and, I believe, felt generally ; and the certificate of the Monthly Meeting was finally completed by an excellent endorsement.
4th mo., 10th. Peace of mind — the result of an arrange- ment with my partners, respecting my profits from business. I give up one-third of my own share of profits to those who stay at home and do the work. My partners have been very kind and considerate, and the arrangement is made from my own sense of propriety and duty. I have looked closely at the question of renouncing a considerable proportion of my income, which, had I continued at home, might have been ex- pended for the good of others ; but it is done in apprehended obedience to a higher call ; and with, at least, a sincere desire to promote the kingdom and glory of my Redeemer. As America opens before me, and the way to that vast field of service seems gradually clearing, my soul is bowed in reverent •prostration before the Lord, with the earnest desire, that he may be pleased to preserve me and my darling children, whom I am to leave behind, from falling into any of the snares of the enemy ; and that we may meet again in peace, if it may be, on this earth ; but, above all, and far beyond every other consideration, before his mercy-seat, in glory : there to unite, with many tenderly beloved ones, in endless songs of thanks- giving and praise to the Lord God, and to the Lamb.
S8
DUBLIN YEARLY MEETING.
1837.
Previously to the Yearly Meeting in London, he this year also attended the Yearly Meeting of Friends in Ireland. On his return from these engagements he writes: —
6th mo., 11th. Returned home last evening, with my sister Rachel [Fowler] and Anna, from Upton, after nearly seven ■weeks' absence ; a period of deep interest and importance, in the retrospect of which I can feel my own weakness and unworthiness, and praise the Lord for his great and unmerited goodness.
The first point of our journey was Birmingham ; where I examined the school, attended the Quarterly Meeting, and held a young people's meeting. Thence with our cousin, B. Dickenson, to Coalbrookdale, where we paid a precious fare- well visit ; reached Holyhead on sixth day night, and arrived at Dublin early the next morning. The Yearly meeting there was a good one. I trust I was enabled to preach the glorious Gospel with power. Friends abounded in kindness towards me and my dear children.
On second day morning, in our third week, my children and I set off for Limerick, on our way to Killarney ; which latter place we reached, after some little difficulties, the following evening. The weather was delightful ; and the evening of our arrival, and the following day, were pleasantly spent in surveying the magnificent beauty of the scenery. Thence to Cork, where we were kindly entertained by A. Beale, and sailed the next morning for Bristol ; which place, after a voyage of twenty-eight hours, we reached in safety on seventh day, and found a peaceful home at Sarah Allen's. A very exercising Sabbath followed, in which I had to plead earnestly for the principles of the Society ; and a public meeting was held in the evening.
Our fifth week commenced with a first day morning at Stoke Newington, which was very satisfactory. The two following days were occupied by the Yearly Meeting of minis- ters and elders. On third day morning I brought forward my
.ET. 49.
YEARLY MEETING IN LONDON.
89
American prospect; it was most carefully sifted, and de- liberated on, and ended with a clear decision for my liberation. The principal question raised had respect to time. That the concern itself was of the Lord, and that the present is the right time, may bo said to have been the conclusion of the meeting ; though perhaps some on both sides might fairly be considered to be in opposition to the prospect. I have not regretted the shape which the matter thus assumed, and though the ordeal was exercising, I was well satisfied with the meeting. At the adjournment, the certificate, drawn up to my entire satisfaction, was passed and signed without altera- tion.*
* The following copy of the document furnished to Joseph John Gurney on this occasion will not be without its interest to the general reader : —
to friends in north america.
Dear Friends,
Our beloved friend Joseph John Gurney, a minister in unity, and well approved amongst us, has, with much weight, informed us of an apprehension of religious duty, which for some years, at times, has impressed his mind, to pay a visit in the love of the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, to Friends in North America; he also informed us that he had a prospect of holding meetings with the people at large, in some places, in the course of his travels, and that he has an apprehension that he may find it laid upon him, to visit one or more of the West India Islands, on his return home. He has produced a certificate from his Monthly Meeting, endorsed by his Quarterly Meeting expressive of their unity with him in his concern, and we think it right to add our testimony to theirs, that his life and conversation are consistent with his Christian profession.
This important and extensive concern has obtained our very serious and patient deliberation ; after the expression of much unity and sympathy, this meeting concurs with his prospect and liberates him for the service before him. In granting him our certificate we commend our dear friend to the tender care of our Almighty Father in heaven. We feel a very strong desire that he may be kept in a state of humble, reverent watchfulness before the Lord, relying day by day, with holy faith and childlike simplicity, on the all-
00
LETTER.
1837.
FROM WILLIAM ALLEN.
Cth of the 7th mo., 1837.
My dear Friend,
The love and sympathy I feel for and with thee, would have brought me to Liverpool instead of this letter, if circumstances had not been too adverse to the undertaking. May the sacrifice of all, which I believe thou hast made, be accepted by our divine Master ; and may he condescend to hear and to answer the ardent prayers, which thy follow ser- vants are pouring out before him, for thy preservation, and for a blessing upon thy labours in his cause ! May he preserve thee humble, and ever depending upon himself, in all thy movements and undertakings ; and then, whatever may be the permission of his providence, in life or in death, thou wilt be sweetly and eternally his own, and he will give thee to feel that it is so. Remember those precious words, " I know my sheep, and am known of mine." I wished to have said something to thee about encouraging the prosecution of our agricultural plans for the benefit of the people of colour, but this may become the subject of future correspondence. My feelings are too solemn, at present, to admit of more than farewell in the Lord, my beloved brother, and may he be with thee in every extremity. So prays thy affectionate
William Allen.
sufficiency of his grace; then should the enemy be permitted sorel}- to buffet him, we trust that neither in heights nor depths, will any- thing be permitted to harm him ; but that wherever he may be led in the service of his Lord, he may both in public and in private out of a good conversation, shew forth his works with the meekness of wisdom. Desiring that it may please the great Head of the church to prosper his labours among you, and at their conclusion grant him a safe and peaceful return to his family and friends, and that he may obtain your kind and tender sympathy,
With the salutation of Christian love,
We are your friends. Signed by desire and on behalf of the Yearly Meeting") of Ministers and Elders held in London by adjournments J »> ILLIAM ALLEN, the 22nd and 23rd of the 5th and the 3rd of the 6th [ CLERK month, 1S37. J
JET. 49.
SABBATICAL VERSES.
01
Before leaving England, Joseph John Gurney printed a few Essays in poetry, under the title of Sabbatical Verses. Composed during a period of much affliction, they had helped to sooth some of his solitary hours of sorrow ; and deserve the atten- tion of the reader, both from their intrinsic merit, and from the interest attaching to the circumstances under which they were written and first presented to the Christian public, " as a farewell token of affectionate respect and regard."*
6th mo., 20th. I have to record with humble gratitude, that though it has been through considerable conflict, we are much advanced towards a quiet and satisfactory settlement of the various points, connected with the Earlham arrangements in my absence. I have not been very well or strong, and some- times a little oppressed in spirits; but, through all, I have been mercifully favoured with great calmness ; and no doubts or misgivings respecting the main object before me have been permitted to intercept my path, even with the alternative before me, that it may be either for life or for death. My brother Samuel has been most acceptably with us for a few days; and William Forster, my most effective friend and helper in the needful hour.
7th mo., Uth. I leave home to-day in much cpiietness and peace. We had a very interesting leave-taking with my Norwich friends and associates on first day evening. I have been favoured to clear away all matters of business, and to leave things in such order, that if my life should drop, no one would be put to any difficulty about my affairs. Quietness and peace are permitted to reign over my mind. We had a solemn time with the servants this morning after reading. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be abundantly with us all!
*They will be found iu Joseph John Gurney's Minor Works; vol. ii. pp, 251—294.
92
DEPARTURE FROM LIVERPOOL.
1837.
CHAPTER XXX. 1837. mt. 49—50.
VOYAGE TO AMERICA; WHITES HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY J ARRIVAL AT PHILADELPHIA ) JOURNEY TO OHIO, INDIANA, AND NORTH CARO- LINA ; ATTENDANCE OF YEARLY MEETINGS J EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS AND JOURNAL.
Joseph John" Gtjrney embarked from Liverpool in the Philadelphia packet, Monongahela, Captain Miercken, on the 8th of the 7th mo., 1837. Owing to a succession of head winds, and occasional calms, the voyage occupied seven weeks.
1th mo., 8th. On board the Monongahela, seventh day night. My circumstances are so new, so strange to my natural feelings, that it is no wonder that I can as yet hardly understand myself. But I can understand, that the Lord has condescended, in an astonishing manner, to hear the broken and feeble petitions of one of the very weakest of his children ; so that, through infinite mercy, even I am not a castaway, but graciously protected by the wing of his love, and sent forth, under a measure of his own anointing, for his own ser- vice. Our parting from the little circle at Earlham last third day, our journey to Liverpool, our short sojourn there at the pleasant abode of our dear hospitable friends, I. and T. Had- wen, the precious meetings which we have enjoyed in that dearly beloved family party, have all bespoken the loving- kindness and tender mercy of the Lord ; and, not least, our parting religious opportunity on board the vessel, when my
jei. 49.
VOYAGE.
93
dear sister Fry once more raised her voice in solemn supplica- tion. What am I, that the Lord should permit so many of his servants to be my helpers, and to utter blessed words for my encouragement — words full of hope and confidence, and flowing with a Saviour's love ? Bow, 0 my soul, in reverent gratitude before the God of thy life, who has so richly pro- vided for thy needs, cleared away every obstruction, and is now making a path for his servant through the mighty deep. The feeling of being on the bosom of the ocean for so long a voyage, is touching and sublime ; and might lay painful hold of my nervous nature, were it not for some happy sense of the sustaining and protecting arm of omnipotent love. William Forster's last words in ministry to me, were for the purpose of reminding me of our blessed Saviour's declaration, " Behold I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." Here is my security, here is my comfort, here let me take my rest on the bosom of the mighty deep.
1th mo., 10th. We have enjoyed a noble day's sail ; a fine view of the Tuskar Lighthouse, on the coast of Wexford, about seven o'clock this morning ; and soon afterwards we were clear of the narrows of St. George's Channel. We have been since bearing to the south of west, in order to be clear of the Irish coast, and of Cape Clear, at its south- western extremity, without being liable to the necessity of tacking. The entrance on the vast Atlantic was peculiarly sublime, from the various considerations with which it is connected, in addition to the great beauty and glory of the ocean scene, ruffled by a gentle breeze, and sparkling, under the sunshine, with innumerable living diamonds. I have seldom experienced a more thrilling and pleasurable sensation than on this occasion. During the day, some little squeamish- ness, from the increased motion of the ship, has been my lot ; but I have read a good deal, and have felt in comfortable spirits, favoured with some ability to trust in the Lord, and to commune with him.
The intervals of leisure afforded by the voyage were employed by Joseph John Gurney in several
94
VOYAGE.
1837.
minor literary undertakings. Besides the Tribute to the memory of Jonathan Hutchinson, sub- sequently published, it was now that he wrote, at the request of one of his nephews, the little volume of Autobiography, of which so many extracts have been laid before the reader. Meanwhile his fellow passengers were not forgotten.
1th mo., 16th. The wind is clean contrary, -which is some- what of a trial to ray easily discouraged mind ; but I am thankful to have a little faith given me according to my need. "We have enjoyed two very solemn meetings, in the cabin and on the deck, attended by about fifty, the captain, passengers, sailors, &c. I trust the glorious gospel was not preached in vain ; the sailors, especially, appearing very thoughtful and attentive.
Seventh clay. This day completes our fortnight at sea, and although our progress through the waters has not been very great, yet, on the review of this time of novel experience, I feel that I have much for which to be very thankful. We have been preserved in safety, and although conflict of mind has at times been my portion, I may commemorate frequent occasions of peculiar favour and peace. We have had adverse winds ; dead calm ; fair wind for a season, and now somewhat the contrary again. How incontrollable is this moving power by any human being ; how consoling the remembrance, that our Heavenly Father holdeth " the winds in his fist." We are in lat. about 47 deg., in long. 23 deg. Nothing could well be more solemn to my feelings, than the calm which pre- vailed on fifth day, late in the evening ; scarcely a breath of air playing with the sails, the ship motionless, in the midst of a mighty ocean. My condition was one of much lowness, for the enemy had been beating against me within, with many a stormy, restless wave ; so that the suggestion arose, am I a Jonah, to stay the vessel on its course ? This temptation, however, left me, after a very interesting meeting in the large dark hold of the vessel, with the steerage passengers before
m. 49-50.
TO AMERICA.
95
they retired to rest ; many of them, indeed, being in their beds. The voice of prayer and praise arose vocally, I humbly trust with acceptance through the Saviour.
1th mo., 27th. I had much satisfaction last evening, in lecturing a third time, to most of our party, on the Evidence for religion derived from Science.
Sixth day morning, lat. 47 dec/., long. 45. We have been in the midst of a great fog since yesterday morning ; and the bell at the head of the vessel was ringing ever and anon during the night, to warn any wandering vessel of our near approach. This sort of weather is very common in the neighbourhood of the banks of Newfoundland, and seems rather trying to the captain and most on board. It is calcu- lated to make us especially feel the value of the guiding eye as well as the protecting arm of our God. The solemn sound of the bell during the night kept me awake for many hours. I felt both the singularity and the seriousness of my position, but, I trust, I was not mistaken in the belief, that the Master whose I am, and whom I desire to serve, quieted me with the gentle voice of his Spirit ; giving me to believe, that as I had borne testimony to him, in the cities of my native land, so I shall have to do the same at Philadelphia. May I be bold, discreet, and faithful therein, seeking to be wise as the serpent, and harmless as the dove ; above all seeking after the stead- fastness and integrity which are in Christ.
8th mo., 10th. We have gone through some tedious navigation lately, having been compelled to make two long south-eastern tacks, in order to get clear of Newfoundland, and the fatal Virgin rocks. Notwithstanding these efforts, rather an awful degree of anxiety prevailed last night, lest our course, after all, might not be clear of them. However, a nearly fair wind carried us swiftly forward ; we found our- selves past the danger this morning, and are now about 1000 miles from Cape Henlopen. Thus have we renewed cause for thankfulness to the Author of our being, and I retire to rest with a quiet and hopeful mind.
Next morning. What rapid changes are we exposed to on this restless ocean ! Soon after I made the above entry, the
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ARKIVAL AT PHILADELPHIA.
1837.
weather became stormy, the wind roaring, the night exces- sively dark, the lightning flashing, sails furled, the vessel drifting, the captain and his men all night in action and vociferation. My own mind was mercifully preserved in con- siderable quietness. This morning we have nothing left to alarm ; though our portion is a head wind, with rain and fog. But Oh ! the. goodness of the Lord, in permitting a gale as from Araby the blessed for the cheering of our spirits. Solemn and sweet has been the meeting which we have just been holding in the cabin.
8th mo., 12th. We have now been five weeks on board this vessel. I had too readily given way to an impression, that this day would see us in port. May I be instructed by the disappointed hope ! As it is, I prefer having a few more days at sea, that I may finish a little essay at Autobiography.
Evening. The day has been favourable and ends in peace. I have been enabled to take a calm view of home, and of the members of our family circle, with a degree of quietness and comfort.
8th mo., 22nd. At the Capes, and in harbour within Delaware breakwater. To Philadelphia we cannot go at present, the wind being adverse and strong ; and no steamboat having come to our help. The entrance through the Capes this morning was very sublime ; and in being in harbour in America, I have felt true quietness and peace, with much solemnity of feeling.
8th mo., 25th. We reached Philadelphia last night, at nine o'clock, after an interesting voyage up the bay and river of the Delaware. The first introduction to America has been fraught with lively interest ; and my arrival at my peaceful abode, at John and Hannah Paul's, was marked by much comfort and tranquillity: my dear friend, Stephen Grellct, bein<i here to receive me.
8th mo., 21th, first day afternoon. It is more interesting to me than I know how to set forth, to be at length engaged in the work in this land. My way has been rather remark- ably made so far ; and a general meeting for Friends is ap- pointed for this evening at Arch-street Meeting House. The
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meeting of the northern district attended this morning, was large, and favoured with much solemnity. I trust some hearts were touched. After meeting "a hrook by the way" was most graciously bestowed at Samuel and Jane Bettle's. Oh ! the privilege of living gospel fellowship with the Lord's children. I cannot express how thankful I am to find that, after all my conflicts and temptations, it is yet mine. Lord, what can I render ?
After three days spent in Philadelphia, Joseph John Gurney's course was directed to Ohio and Indiana, where he was desirous of attending the ensuing Yearly Meetings of Friends in those parts.
TO HIS CHILDREN.
On board the canal boat, on the Pennsylvania canal,
between Philadelphia and Pittsburg, Sth mo., 29th, 1S37.
My dearest John Henry and Anna — My last letter would bring you up to my first Sabbath at Philadelphia. It was a very good day, and I hope worth the preparatory discipline attending our long voyage. Strange was it to me, to begin my service in this land, and I cannot imagine any place more interesting for such service, than Phila- delphia ; the society large, and so many interesting things and persons amongst them. I attended one large meeting in the morning ; a second in the afternoon ; and in the evening a general assemblage of the Friends met mc at Arch-street meeting house, about two thousand present ; I believe the largest assembly of Friends that has been known there since the Hicksite separation. It was a noble sight, and proved a satisfactory meeting. It was particularly laid upon me to defend the character of the early Friends, with some reference to the original formation of the society here : " The memory of the just is blessed," it will not decay; but, in connexion with this subject, ample was the scope afforded for the plain declaration of the great truths of the gospel. Thus the day
Vol. II. — 7
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JOURNEY.
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ended well ; the ice was fairly broken at Philadelphia ; and at five o'clock yesterday morning, (second day,) I set off with an easy mind, with my kind friend John Paul for my companion, towards the next object, Ohio Yearly Meeting. The route lies through Pittsburg, which is about three hundred miles from Philadelphia. We travelled about one hundred miles to Ilarrisburg, (the seat of the Pennsylvania govern- ment,) by railroad, comfortably enough, passing through a well-wooded, fairly cultivated country, adorned with neat looking villages, farm-houses, and barns ; not unlike the scenery of England, but on a larger scale ; palings too, instead of hedges ; the grain harvest quite finished, but the Indian corn still growing, in large quantities, and of a great height. Its appearance is beautiful. At Ilarrisburg we got into the canal boat, which last evening was much crowded, and at night we were bundled together, strangely enough to an Englishman. However, every one found some kind of berth to lie in. The canal passes through a delightful country, alongside part of the Susquehannah, then of the Juniatta. Both these rivers are highly picturesque ; lofty and well-wooded hills rising from them, and the trees on the banks, rich and varied. The scenery is amongst the finest I have anywhere seen ; but peculiar, not very like anything in England. As to natural history, I have observed the bald eagle quietly seated on a tall tree ; the osprey floating over the river ; abundance of small black and white woodpeckers with red heads; the "yellow bird,"' a tiny active creature, of bright yellow and black ; the large green bull frog, (good to eat,) and the water snake of a muddy green ; also a variety of beautiful wild plants ; splendid specimens of lobelia, blue and crimson, Oenothera, convolvulus, calceolaria, wild sun- flower, &c.
"We have a fine company of Americans, crowded together, and eating heartily at a long table, three times a day. The four judges of the supreme court of Pennsylvania are of the number ; but appear to claim little supereminence. All are equal here, with the single exception of the coloured. The chief justice Gibson tells me that small crimes decrease, but that
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99
heavy ones fearfully increase ; •which he ascribes to the deter- mination prevailing amongst Americans, to do what they please; in short, to ultra-radicalism. Yet I am not unfavour- ably impressed by what I have seen of their temper, demeanour, manners, &c. ; quite the contrary. There is more of a gentle- manlike civility, and less of that barbarous spitting than I expected. Every body seems good tempered, as if the degree of roughness which they undergo had rubbed off their corners. The American aspect is very much marked ; persons slim and active ; countenances thin, eager, and intelligent ; with a peculiar air of independence. This independence, this practical oblivion of all distinctions of class, is less offensive than I should have expected ; as there is no want of polish in those whom we should consider as constituting the upper class. These four judges are decidedly agreeable, especially chief justice Gibson, and judge Dallas ; cultivated and intellectual men. They tell me that the English common law is maintained here, with the exception of a few changes introduced by American statute. These judges belong to the supreme court of Pennsylvania, in which law and equity arc united ; and which exercises an appellate jurisdiction over the local and inferior courts. Gibson seems to me, in point of information and mental force, very much on a level with our judge Alderson, of whom he has reminded me ; but is paid only about ,£600 per annum, instead of £5000 as in England. It is, in my opinion, far below the mark.
Yesterday we passed over the Alleghany range of mountains, by a wondrous railroad, consisting of a series of levels and inclined planes, rising in all about 1400 feet from the first level. Along the levels we were drawn by horses ; up the inclined planes by ropes and pullies and steam power ; and are let down by similar ropes in the descent- It is a vast triumph of human art and enterprize. At Johnstown, on the western side of the Alleghanies, we again took the canal, and are now upon it, on our way to Pittsburgh, which we hope to reach this afternoon. The canal, on both sides of the Alleghany mountains, goes alongside of picturesque and beautiful rivers; in the ascent, our companions
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ARRIVAL AT MOUNT PLEASANT.
1837,
(as before mentioned) were the Susquehanna and Juniatta ; and now, in the descent, first the Conemaugh, now the Kiskiminitas, and we expect soon to reach the Alleghany. Sometimes we get on to the rivers themselves in our course ; and, when this is the case, we are treated with magnificent scenery. 0 ! could you have seen the interior of our boat last night ; judges, merchants, mechanics, gospel ministers crowded together on the floor, the seats, &c. ; very little air allowed. There was to me some suffering in it, and I was on the verge of real illness ; but my mind was calm and quiet. This morning we are comparatively comfortable, though the more than four thousand miles, which now divide us, sometimes hang heavy on my heart. Ups and downs in feeling, I must expect ; but, on the whole, substantial happiness is my portion, and I humbly trust yours also. We hope to be able to take the Ohio river at Pittsburgh, and to pass by steam-boat to Wheeling or Steubenville ; we shall then be within a drive of two hours of Mount Pleasant, where the Yearly Meeting is to commence next seventh day. I have long looked forward to this service, and trust I may, through adorable mercy, be favoured with ability to accomplish it. May I be clothed with the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left.
At Mount Pleasant, he writes in his Journal : —
First day evening, Vth mo., Zrd. After a voyage of uncom- mon interest, as to the grandeur of the scenery, but rendered trying by a variety of accidents and detentions, we arrived at Wheeling by a row-boat, (in the dark the last four miles,) about eleven o'clock on sixth day night ; and, by a romantic road through the forest, came to this place while the meeting of ministers and elders was sitting. We entered while our beloved friend Stephen Grellet was engaged in prayer. I felt much sweet peace in the arrival, and met a warm reception from Friends. The meeting this morning was, to the view of an Englishman, very large ; a very mixed company ; the scene highly novel and interesting ; carriages of various kinds, and numerous horses thronging, first to, and afterwards round
JET. 50.
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the meeting-house. It was an exercising and very solemn time.
A public meeting in the large house is appointed for the evening. The Lord has wonderfully condescended to me in the work, for which I trust I can bow in reverent thankfulness. May he pour forth his Spirit on the present occasion !
Second day morning. I am thankful to say, that this desire was remarkably fulfilled. We had a blessed meeting last evening, in which baptism into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, was, I trust, unfolded. It is pleasant to be in good unity with Friends : but peculiarly needful to dwell deep.
Smithfield, Ohio, 9th mo., 9th. Yesterday, Friends gave me their return certificate, couched in full terms of approbation and unity ; the current of feeling and expression was as full as on any occasion I ever witnessed. Very interesting conference in company with my beloved Stephen Grellet, who has been throughout a kind friend and father to me.
This morning we had a good concluding sitting ; men and women being together ; a weighty and dignified close. Surely the Lord in his infinite compassion has been eminently with us ! In coming forward to this sweet spot this evening, I have much peace, being comfortably housed in my " prophet's chamber," at Benjamin W. Ladd's, the window overlooking a lovely scene.
TO HIS SISTER ELIZABETH FRY.
Zanesville, Ohio, 9th mo., 24th, 1837.
It certainly has been very relieving and sweet to me to find myself in full unity with Friends in this part, whose returning certificate was all that I could desire. Since the Yearly Meeting I have held numerous meetings in country places, which have been large and exercising, many " Hicksites" attending; and much service towards them. Considerable impression appears to have been made in some instances. John Paul was my agreeable companion, until after the Yearly Meeting in Ohio. Since then, Benjamin W. Ladd has taken me under his care, and is now driving me to Indiana.
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OHIO.
1837.
I am greatly interested in the country. It is one of large scope every way. It is highly satisfactory to observe how the population is overtaken by the means of religious instruction and worship — greatly the better, as I believe, for the absence of the incumbency of an establishment. This town of seven thousand inhabitants, is a specimen — seven or eight com- modious places of worship in it, and I hope, a considerable prevalence of serious religion. At the same time, I am too young in the country to form an accurate estimate at present. * *
" The country over which I travelled in Ohio," he writes in another letter "(chiefly in Jefferson county,) is very much of one character — a heautiful wooded wilderness of hill and dale, gradually coming under more and more cultivation — about half of it now cleared from Avood, and very productive. Plentifulness and ease, on the sole condition of industry, appeared to be the universal order of things. At a cottage one morning, after a neighbouring meeting had been concluded, such a cottage as an English peasant might not unsuitably occupy, we were hospitably received by a small farmer and mechanic. There was no strong drink on his table, but the abundance and variety of the articles produced at dinner, all served up in the most simple manner, really astonished me. No servants, of course, in any such house. All people do all things for themselves. I heartily wished as I went %Iong, that I might myself become imbued with some measure of this hardy independence. * * *
It is greatly to be regretted that the black and coloured people of this state are far from being on ecpual terms, in point of civil right, with the white population ; and, by a late law, their condition, in this respect, has become even worse than before. Repeated appeals to the legislature have been made in their favour, by the Society of Friends. In the meantime, they have more appearance of respectability, and even ease here, than in some others of the free states of the union. I remember meeting three negroes one day on horseback. One of them was a farming man who had realized a little property; another a minister of the gospel, on his way to his con-
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gvcgation ; the third a female respectably attired, the wife of one of them. How happy will be the day when such scenes shall become general on the other side of the river, in the states of Virginia and Kentucky !
To return to the Journal : —
Jackstown, 22 miles tvest of Zanesville. We are stopping here for the noon meal, dinner for ourselves and horses. The meeting last evening at Zanesville was much favoured; evangelical and spiritual Christianity was, I humbly trust, set forth with some clearness, under the renewed gracious influence of our Holy Head ; the assembly was large, and the quietness and attention great. Notwithstanding this favour, I was brought very low this morning, by the recollection of this time two years, when my dearest wife was in the depth of her fatal fever ; and a stranger in a strange land, must not expect to be in high spirits. However, I am, I believe, content. I wish to be no where else, and a little enlivening hope dwells with me, that this pilgrimage is on my way to a better country.
May it be so, through the tender mercies of my God, in Christ Jesus !
Richmond, Indiana, 10th mo., 2nd. The Yearly Meeting, in its larger assembly, meets this morning. A week has passed since I made the last entry, and I am still well and in peace. The journey hither from Zanesville very interesting in parts; the great Western road, almost crowded with movers in that direction. Immigration seems the order of th'e day. The country wooded and flat, interspersed with natural prairies. At Columbus, the seat of government for Ohio, we held meetings with 370 prisoners at the state prison, and at the Lunatic Asylum, on the building of which 100 of them were at work. The silent discipline at the prison appeared carried to its highest pitch. I doubt its effects, though in some respects it is very good ; the employments capitally arranged. Public meetings on the road at Jefferson, and Springfield, at which last place we were kindly entertained by Jeremiah Warder and family. We arrived here at the peaceful abode of
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INDIANA YEARLY MEETING.
1837.
Elijah Coffin, on sixth day. On seventh day, the meeting of ministers and elders was large. The committee on Indian affairs, in the afternoon, very interesting. Yesterday, after deep and searching exercise of mind in private, was a day highly favoured of the Lord. We had a vast assembly in the morning, and a public meeting, by my appointment, in the evening. I humbly trust, a good impression was made. It is a comfort indeed to be again with my beloved friend S. Grellet.
10th mo., 5th. I am thankful in feeling quiet and calm this morning. Oh ! how graciously condescending is my dear Lord and Master to tuy great natural weakness. I cannot be grateful enough to him ; and may I patiently wait and quietly hope for the clearing away of clouds and difficulties, in the hour of his own appointment ! In the meantime, watchfulness, faithfulness, meekness, may they be mine ! And may the Lord in his tender mercy grant, that whatever provocation to nature may fall to my lot, I may be so preserved in the meekness of wisdom, yea, in the very truth, and in the life and innocency thereof, as not to offend one of the little ones. I preach to others rather loudly of the necessity of getting rid of the idolatry of self, may I do it myself! Lord help me in this work, I reverently beseech thee.
10th mo., 1th. All difficulties and clouds cleared away, and the Yearly Meeting ended with great solemnity, a time of unusual favour ; solemn fervent prayer fell to my lot at the close. Friends have given me a good minute of acknowledg- ment. Thus I have abundant cause to set up my Ebenezer, to praise the Lord for his goodness, and to trust in him for the future.
After noticing a, round of meetings in a district where some controversy had lately arisen on the subject of the Resurrection, he continues : —
Springborough, 10th mo., 15th. The time past at Duck Creek was closely exercising. "VVe had a large and good meeting in the morning, in which the truth was, I trust,
MT. 50.
JOURNEY TO NORTH CAROLINA.
105
plainly preached ; and towards the conclusion, I had to advert to the true scriptural view of the resurrection, first from dead works, and afterwards from the grave. In the afternoon, I held a select meeting with the dissentients, and spoke kindly and plainly to them, ending with prayer ; it was a good time, and they appeared tender. The next morning a harder meeting at Clear Spring, in which the last great day of account was awfully before me. It ended with great solemnity, and after parting from Friends in love, we arrived, after night- fall, at the house of Joseph Cox, in the woods near Dublin. He is an honourable elder of a superior mind, and our visit to him and his family was very interesting to us. The next morning, a long drive of about twenty miles over bad roads brought us to Elijah Coffin's, at Richmond, and I devoted most of the evening to writing an epistle to Friends of Spice- land Monthly Meeting, in which the Scripture doctrines of the immortality of the soul, the new birth, the resurrection of the spiritual body, and the great day of judgment, are simply stated with an exhortation to peace, cpuietness, &c. I have left it for the judgment of the Committee of the Quarterly Meeting, and feel peace in having taken the step.
From Indiana, Joseph John Gurney proceeded to North Carolina ; an arduous journey of six hundred miles across a region in parts but little settled or cultivated. It appeared at first, difficult to obtain a conveyance suitable for such a journey. "It so happened, however," he writes in one of his letters, " that a worthy member of the Society, was employed to drive me to a neighbouring meeting, with a pair of horses which he used in his business, and in a carriage borrowed from one of his neighbours. The animals were diverse in colour, but admirably matched in pace and quality ; doubtless it was because of their suitability to each other that they bore the names of David and Jonathan. I soon
106
JOURNEY TO
1837,
perceived that this was the man, and these the horses, which were to convey me from Indiana to Carolina; and had afterwards much reason to acknowledge that this was one of the many instances of a kind providence, by which my course in America was wonderfully facilitated. My friend and his horses suited me exactly, and continued to be my helpers through a much greater extent of country, than I then contemplated. I bought a humble, but convenient waggon, on wooden springs ; an active young man accompanied us on horseback as our guide ; and, our party being joined by three other Friends bound in the same direction, we set off on our journey in good health and spirits, at the rate of about four miles an hour, a rate which, though a slow one, was often exchanged for one still slower."
GalUpolis, on the Ohio, 10th n:o., 20th. My mind has undergone a good deal of conflict, but is much at peace after the meeting this evening ; the close of my labours at present on the -western side of the Ohio. They have been numerous and arduous, but the Lord has been wonderfully condescending and gracious to me, and abundant cause for thankfulness have I for the help vouchsafed in the needful hour. We expect to cross the Ohio into Virginia to-morrow morning. May my gracious Lord and Master go with us to preserve us in perfect safety, both of body and soul !
"We left Gallipolis early in the morning," he writes in one of his letters, " and having crossed the Ohio, we entered at once on the Virginian forest. Our journey was adventurous and difficult, the road winding through apparently interminable woods ; in some parts rocky and- hilly ; in others deep with mud. As night approached, and night in these regions comes on with little notice of twilight, we were pursuing our journey
jet. 50.
NORTH CAROLINA.
107
through the forest over a very high hill. By an almost precipitous descent, we arrived, just before total darkness, at a little farm house, where we earnestly hoped that we should find a lodging. But no such accommodation was there. We were instructed to go half a mile further to a more likely tenement. In the course of this half-mile, we were in great danger of being overturned in descending the steep bank of a stream which it was necessary to cross, though all was then darkness. I shall not forget the comfort of at length finding ourselves in shelter and safety beside a blazing log fire, though with rough fare, and in a very humble dwelling. Of the two little beds in the kitchen, one was occupied by an elderly friend of our company and his wife ; the other was kindly reserved for myself. The rest of our company were lodged in a small garret. Want of cleanliness is the only real pain on such occasions."
Their journey through Virginia was continued for several days along the romantic banks of the Kenhawa.
"It is a curious circumstance," writes Joseph John Gurney, " that numerous fountains of brine are found within a few yards of the river. We were told that they bored for it, to the amazing depth of 6, 7, or 800 feet. The salt produced is excellent. The Americans are wonderfully eager and enterprising ; but alas for the slaves, who are employed in these works !"
"We arrived at night-fall," he continues, "at a comfortable house of entertainment, kept by a notorious hunter, who, amidst the wild mountains and forests of this neighbourhood, had succeeded in destroying an amazing number of panthers, wolves, and bears. These animals are still frecpient in a dis- trict which, with the exception of the narrow and fertile valley through which the river runs, defies all attempts at squatting or settling. Wild cats are also numerous here, and the deer abound. Not long previously, our landlord had killed two bears and three deer one morning before breakfast ; at another
108
the hawk's nest.
1837.
time, a panther which, from the tip of its tail to that of its nose, measured 10 feet 10 inches. The young panthers are spotted ; the old ones of a light brown. One day when on horseback, he was carrying a dead deer across his saddle through the forest, and suddenly found himself surrounded by seven wolves. The foremost aggressor, on a rising ground, was ready to make his spring ; but the hunter shot him at once, and the others immediately fled.
In the course of the following day, we left the romantic river, and wound our way at a slow pace into the high country, this being the course which the new Turnpike takes. As we were pursuing our journey in an uninteresting part of the road, and along-side of the forest, we observed on our right hand a small path running up a hill, through the wood. We had been advised to watch for it, and when found, to examine it for ourselves. We accordingly left our carriages, and after pursuing this sequestered path, on foot, not much more than fifty yards, we found ourselves, unexpectedly, on the flat top of a perpendicular rock, many hundred feet high. This was the celebrated " Hawk's Nest." We laid hold for safety on the bare boughs of a little cedar on the edge of the precipice, and willingly gave ourselves up to the silent contemplation of one of the most magnificent prospects to be found in North America. The New River, which afterwards, with another stream, forms the Kenhawa, is here seen winding its course first through a romantic dell, and afterwards along an open plain at the foot of a glorious chain of mountains covered with forest, amongst which it appears at last to lose itself. The beauty of the scene was much enhanced by the rich woods which lay im- mediately below the precipice, and covered most of the plain through which the river was flowing.
To be travelling through a population, a large proportion of which is in a state of slavery, was a circumstance very affecting to Joseph John Gurney's feelings. But he was desirous to form no hasty judgment of the state of things around him.
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SLAVERY.
100
"It is impossible," he writes, "for a casual traveller to form an exact estimate of the real condition of the slaves in America. One thing is certain, that they are systematically excluded by law from all school instruction ; and though, un- doubtedly, there are many humane slave-holders, it follows from the very nature of the case, that great cruelties must often be perpetrated. I well remember that an ingenuous white lad who guided me, one day, to a bathing place on the banks of the Kenhawa, gave me an affecting account of the whippings with the cow-hide, (sometimes amounting to 200 lashes.) which are still often inflicted on these children of op- pression. The best aspect under which I saw American slavery, was at the public meetings for worship, which were held, in the course of this journey, in numerous towns and vill ages of Virginia and North Carolina. The slaves often attended in considerable numbers, and generally occupied the gallery, while the body of the house was filled by the white inhabitants. I was glad to find that this liberty was allowed them in many places, though the practice is not universal. I felt it to be a privilege on these occcasions, freely to proclaim those grand principles of Christian truth, which are of equal application to bond and free ; but which, nevertheless, when truly received and acted on, cannot fail to undermine the system of slavery. Although, of course, the subject of slavery itself could not, with propriety, be adverted to on such occasions, I was often surprised by observing that a close prac- tical application of the principles of the gospel, was not only patiently borne, but even received with apparent cordiality.
Having arrived in North Carolina, he writes in his Journal : —
11th mo., 2nd. We have journeyed along quietly to-day forty-five miles, and are come this evening to a very com- fortable house. My mind is graciously kept in a state of much quietness ; and in the review of this interesting journey of nearly 600 miles, I can indeed gratefully acknowledge the goodness and loving-kindness of the Lord. Some trials of
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NATHAN HUNT.
1837.
faith and patience have fallen to my lot ; but I know not that the three weeks which the transit has occupied, could have been more desirably spent elsewhere. I feel the prospect of the Yearly Meeting for North Carolina, but humbly trust I may again be mercifully helped in the hour of need.
TO HIS CHILDREN. New Garden, North Carolina, 11th mo., 8th, 1S37.
It is an inexpressible pleasure to me thus to communicate with you, my tenderly beloved children ; need I say, that you are the perpetual subject of my thoughts and prayers ; my fervent desire being, that you may have abundant grace given you to serve the Lord in the beauty of holiness. * * *
You have heard of Nathan Hunt. He is now in his 80th year, brought up in humble life as a blacksmith, I believe, but a thorough gentleman in his manners, and his face shining with the "heavenly oil." It is delightful to be with the dear old man, to receive his unqualified tokens of hearty unity, and to hear his outpourings in the ministry. Perhaps about the best meeting I ever attended, was a public one held by appointment of the Yearly Meeting yesterday. I had been prepared for my share of it, by much lowness and trial of mind, and have seldom felt the same power in preaching the glorious gospel. Nathan Hunt's prayer at the close of the meeting, was an extraordinary effusion indeed.
I am staying at the boarding-school, an institution which promises well for the Society in these parts. It is under the * superintendence of two valuable ministers ; Nathan Hunt's daughter Asenath, and her husband Dougan Clarke. The house is lately built in a very picturesque situation in the forest, near the old Meeting-house. This latter is simplicity itself, and looks like a large old barn, but the woods around it are highly beautiful. The trees are more spreading here than in the far west, where they grow to a very great height, and have insignificant tops. The burial ground is quite beautiful. A vast spreading oak adorns its centre. Here rest the remains of many poor British soldiers, who died of
.et. 50.
XORTII CAROLIXA.
Ill
their wounds after Lord Cornwallis's victory at Guilford, in the first American war ; the meeting-house having then served as an hospital. It is a real pleasure and satisfaction to be among Friends in these parts ; and I think it probable that I may have to visit the subordinate meetings of this state, before I attempt returning to Philadelphia. If so, I shall be journeying about in my humble, but comfortable, conveyance for some weeks. I wish you could take a peep at me and my carriage, driven by my honest, serious companion, William Kcnworthy, and drawn by those homely, lively, faithful "creatures," David and Jonathan, the former bay, the latter white. I cannot imagine a more suitable set out. Elizabeth Co^cshall, who visited England many years ago, is here, to