Chapter V (2)

We spent about three weeks in travelling through Virginia, mostly among Friends, having many large and precious meetings in several parts of the country; as at the widow Wright’s, where a great many magistrates, officers and other high people came. A most heavenly meeting we had, wherein the power of the Lord was so great, that it struck a dread upon the assembly and chained all down, and brought a reverence upon the people’s minds. Among the officers was a major, kinsman to the priest; he told me, “the priest threatened to come and oppose us.” But the Lord’s power was too strong for him, and stopped him; we were quiet and peaceable, and the people were wonderfully affected with the testimony of truth; blessed be the Lord for ever! Another very good meeting we had at CRICKATROUGH, at which many considerable people were, many of whom had never heard a Friend before; and they were greatly satisfied with the meeting, praised be the Lord! We had also a very good and serviceable meeting at John Porter’s, which consisted mostly of other people; in which the power of the Lord was gloriously seen and felt, and it brought the truth over all evil walkers and talkers; blessed be the Lord! Divers other meetings we had, and many opportunities of doing service for the Lord amongst the people where we came. The last week we stayed, we spent some time and pains among Friends, sweeping away that which was to be swept out, and working down a bad spirit that was got up in some; blessed for ever be the name of the Lord! he it is that gives victory over all.

Having finished what service lay upon us in Virginia, on the 30th we set sail in an open sloop for MARYLAND. But having a great storm, and being much wet, we were glad to get to shore before night; and, walking to a house at WILLOUGHBY POINT, we got lodging there that night. The woman of the house was a widow, and a very tender person; she had never received Friends before; but she received us very kindly, and with tears in her eyes. We returned to our boat in the morning, and hoisted up our sail, getting forward as fast as we could; but towards evening a storm rising, we had much to do to get to shore; and our boat being open the water splashed often in, and sometimes over us, so that we were completely wet. Being got to land, we made a fire in the woods, to warm and dry us, and there we lay all night, the wolves howling about us.

On the 1st of 11th month we sailed again, but the wind being against us, we made but little way, and were fain to get to shore at POINT COMFORT, where yet we found but small comfort; for the weather was so cold, that though we made a good fire in the woods to lie by, our water, that we had got for our use, was frozen near the fireside. We made to sea again next day; but the wind being strong and against us, we advanced but little, but were glad to get to land again, and travel about to find some house, where we might buy some provisions, for our store was spent. That night also we lay in the woods; and so extremely cold was the weather, the wind blowing high, and the frost and snow being great, that it was hard for some to abide it.

On the 3rd, the wind setting pretty fair, we fetched it up by sailing and rowing, and got that night to MILFORD-HAVEN, where we lay at Richard Long’s, near Quince’s Island. Next day we passed by Rappahannock River, where dwell much people; and Friends had a meeting there-aways at a justice’s house, who had formerly been at a meeting where I was. We passed over Potomac River also, the winds being high, the water very rough, our sloop open, and the weather extremely cold; and having a meeting there-aways also, some people were convinced; and when we parted thence, some of our company went amongst them. We steered our course for Patuxent River. I sat at the helm most part of the day, and some of the night. About the first hour in the morning we reached James Preston’s house on Patuxent River, which is about two hundred miles from Nancemond in VIRGINIA. We were very weary; yet the next day, being the first of the week, we went to the meeting not far from thence. The same week we went to an Indian King’s cabin, where several of the Indians were, with whom we had a good opportunity to discourse; and they carried themselves very lovingly. We went also that week to a general meeting; then about eighteen miles further to John Geary’s, where we had a very precious meeting; praised be the Lord God for ever!

After this the cold grew so exceedingly sharp, the frost and snow so extreme, beyond what was usual in that country, that we could hardly endure it. Neither was it easy or safe to stir out; yet we got, with some difficulty, six miles through the snow to John Mayor’s, where we met with some Friends come from New England, whom we had left there when we came away; and glad we were to see each other, after so long and tedious travels. By these Friends we understood, that William Edmundson, having been at Rhode Island and New England, was returned to Ireland; that Solomon Eccles, coming from Jamaica and landing at Boston in New England, was taken at a meeting there, and banished to Barbadoes; that John Stubbs and another Friend were gone into New Jersey, and several other Friends to Barbadoes, Jamaica, and the Leeward Islands. It was matter of joy to us, to understand that the work of the Lord went on and prospered, and that Friends were unwearied and diligent in the service.

On the 27th we had a very precious meeting in a tobacco-house; and next day returned to James Preston’s, about eighteen miles distant. When we came there, we found his house was burnt to the ground the night before, through the carelessness of a servant; so we lay three nights on the ground by the fire, the weather being very cold. We made an observation, which was somewhat strange, but certainly true; that one day in the midst of this cold weather, the wind turning into the South, it grew so hot that we could hardly bear it; and the next day and night, the wind changing back into the North, we could hardly endure the cold.

The 2nd of 12th month we had a glorious meeting at Patuxent; and after it, went to John Geary’s again, where we waited for a boat to carry us to the monthly meeting at the CLIFFS, and a living one it was; praised be the Lord! This was on the 6th: another meeting we had on the 9th, wherein the glory of the Lord shone over all; blessed and magnified be his holy name for ever!

On the 12th of the month we set forward in our boat; and, travelling by night, ran aground in a creek near MANOKIN RIVER. There we were fain to stay till morning, when the tide came and lifted her off. In the meantime sitting in an open boat, and the weather being bitterly cold, some of us had like to have lost the use of our hands, they were so frozen and benumbed with cold. In the morning, when the tide had set us afloat again, we got to land, and made a good fire, at which we warmed ourselves well. Then returning to our boat, we passed on about ten miles further to a Friend’s house; where next day we had a very precious meeting, at which some of the chief of the place were. I went after it to a Friend’s house, about four miles off, at the head of ANAMESSIC RIVER, where, on the day following, the judge of the country and the justice with him came to me, and were very loving, and much satisfied with Friends’ order. The next day we had a large meeting in the justice’s barn, for his house could not hold the company. There were several of the great folks of that country, and among the rest an opposer; but all was preserved quiet and well; a precious meeting it was, and the people were much affected with the truth; blessed be the Lord! We went next day to see Captain Colburn, who was also a justice, and there we had some service; then returning again, we had a very glorious meeting at the same justice’s, where we met before; to which came many people of account in the world, magistrates, officers, and others. It was large, and the power of the Lord was much felt, so that the people were generally well satisfied, and taken with the truth; and there being several merchants and masters of ships from New England, the truth was spread abroad; blessed be the Lord!

A day or two after, we travelled about sixteen miles through the woods and bogs, heading ANAMESSIC RIVER and AMOROCA RIVER, part of which last, we went over in a canoe, and came to MANOKIN, to a friendly woman’s house; where, on the 24th, we had a large meeting in a barn. The Lord’s living presence was with us, and among the people; blessed be his holy name for evermore! Friends had never had a meeting in those parts before. After this we passed over the River Wicomico, through many bad and watery swamps and marshy ways, and came to James Jones’s, a Friend, and a justice of the peace; where we had a large and very glorious meeting; praised be the Lord God. Then passing over the water in a boat, we took horse and travelled about twenty-four miles through woods and troublesome swamps, and came to another justice’s house, where we had a very large meeting, much people, and many of considerable account being present; and the living presence of the Lord was amongst us, praised for ever be his holy name! This was on the 3rd of the 1st month, 1672-3;[32] and on the 5th we had another living and heavenly meeting, at which divers of the justices, with their wives, and many other people, were; amongst whom we had very good service for the Lord; blessed be his holy name. At this meeting was a woman that lived at Anamessic, who had been many years in trouble of mind, and sometimes would sit moping near two months together, and hardly speak or mind anything. When I heard of her, I was moved of the Lord to go to her, and tell her, “that salvation was come to her house.” After I had spoken the word of life to her, and entreated the Lord for her, she mended, went up and down with us to meetings, and is since well, blessed be the Lord!

Being now clear of these parts, we left Anamessic on the 7th, and passing by water about fifty miles, came to a friendly woman’s house at HUNGER RIVER. We had very rough weather in our passage to this place, and were in great danger, for the boat had nearly been turned over; but through the good providence of God, we got safe thither; praised be his name! At this place we had a meeting; and amongst the people present, were two Papists, a man and a woman; he was very tender, and she confessed to the truth. This meeting was not so large as it would have been, if many, who had intended, could have got to it; but the weather was so foul, and the water, by reason of high winds, so rough, that it was not safe to pass over it. I had no Friend now with me but Robert Widders, the rest having dispersed themselves into several parts of the country in the service of truth.

As soon as the wind would permit, we passed hence about forty miles by water, rowing most part of the way, and came to the head of LITTLE CHOPTANK RIVER, to Dr. Winsmore’s, who was a justice, lately convinced. Here we met with some Friends, with whom we stayed a while; and then went on by land and water, and had a large meeting out of doors, for the house we were at could not receive the people. Divers of the magistrates and their wives were present, and a good meeting it was; blessed be the Lord, who is making his name known in that wilderness country! We returned thence to a Friend’s house, named William Stephens, where we met the Friends that had been travelling in other parts; and were much refreshed in the Lord together, imparting to each other the good success we had had in the Lord’s work, and the prosperity and spreading of truth in the places where we travelled. John Cartwright and another Friend had been in Virginia, where there were great desires in people after truth; and being now returned, they stayed a little with us here, and then set forward for Barbadoes. Before we left this place we had a very glorious meeting, at which were very many people; amongst others, the judge of that country, three justices, and the high-sheriff, with their wives. Of the Indians was one called their emperor, an Indian king and their speaker, who all sat very attentive, and carried themselves very lovingly. An establishing, settling meeting it was. This was on the 23rd of 1st month.

On the 24th we went by water ten miles to the Indian town where this emperor dwelt, whom I had acquainted before of my coming, and desired him to get their kings and councils together. In the morning the emperor came himself, and had me to the town; and they were generally come together, and had their speaker and other officers with them, and the old empress sat among them. They sat very grave and sober, and were all very attentive, beyond many called Christians. I had some with me that could interpret to them, and we had a very good meeting with them, and of very great service it was; for it gave them a good esteem for truth and Friends: blessed be the Lord.

After this we had many meetings in several parts of that country, one at William Stephens’s, which was a general meeting once a month; others at Tredhaven Creek, Wye, Reconow Creek, and at Thomas Taylor’s in the Island of Kent. Most of these were large, there being many people at them, divers of them of the most considerable account. The Lord’s power and living presence were with us, and plenteously manifested amongst the people; by which their hearts were tendered and opened to receive the truth, which had a good savour amongst them; blessed be the Lord God over all for ever. Being clear of that side, we passed over the bay about fourteen miles to a Friend’s house, where we met with several Friends. I sent for Thomas Thurston thither, and had a meeting with him, to bring the truth over his bad actions.

Having travelled through most parts of that country and visited most of the plantations, having sounded the alarm to all people where we came, and proclaimed the day of God’s salvation amongst them, we found our spirits began to be clear of these parts of the world, and draw towards Old England again. Yet we were desirous, and felt freedom from the Lord, to stay over the general meeting for the province of Maryland (which drew nigh) that we might see Friends generally together before we departed. Wherefore spending our time, in the interim, in visiting Friends and friendly people, in attending meetings about the Cliffs and Patuxent, and in writing answers to cavilling objections, which some of the truth’s adversaries had raised and spread abroad, to hinder people from receiving the truth, we were not idle, but laboured in the work of the Lord, until that general provincial meeting came on, which began on the 17th of the 3rd month, and lasted four days. On the first of these, the men and women had their meetings for business, wherein the affairs of the church were taken care of, and many things relating thereto were opened unto them, to their edification and comfort. The other three days were spent in public meetings for the worship of God, of which divers of considerable account of the government, and many others, were present, who were generally satisfied, and many of them reached; for it was a wonderful, glorious meeting, and the mighty presence of the Lord was seen and felt over all; blessed and praised be his holy name for ever, who over all giveth dominion!

After this meeting we took our leave of Friends, parting in great tenderness, in the sense of the heavenly life and virtuous power of the Lord, that was livingly felt amongst us; and went by water to the place where we were to take shipping, many Friends accompanying us thither and tarrying with us that night. Next day, the 21st of the 3rd month, 1673, we set sail for England; the same day Richard Covell came on board our ship, having had his own taken from him by the Dutch. We had foul weather and contrary winds, which caused us to cast anchor often, so that we were till the 31st ere we could get past the capes of Virginia and come out into the main sea. But after this we made good speed, and on the 28th of the 4th month cast anchor at King’s Road, which is the harbour for BRISTOL. We had on our passage very high winds and tempestuous weather, which made the sea exceedingly rough, the waves rising like mountains; so that the masters and sailors wondered at it, and said they never saw the like before. But though the wind was strong, it set for the most part with us, so that we sailed before it; and the great God who commands the winds, who is Lord of heaven, of earth, and the seas, and whose wonders are seen in the deep, steered our course and preserved us from many imminent dangers. The same good hand of Providence that went with us, and carried us safely over, watched over us in our return, and brought us safely back again; thanksgiving and praises be to his holy name for ever! Many sweet and precious meetings we had on board the ship during this voyage (commonly two a week,) wherein the blessed presence of the Lord did greatly refresh us, and often break in upon and tender the company.

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Footnote 26:

John Burnyeat, a fellow-labourer in the gospel with George Fox,
and who is several times named in this Journal, was born in
Cumberland about the year 1631. He was well educated, and
religiously inclined from his youth, and convinced by George Fox
when he first came into Cumberland in 1653. He became an unwearied
traveller in the gospel, both in this country and in America,
boldly proclaiming the glad tidings of salvation, for which he
fell in for his share of abuse and imprisonments. Once at Ripon,
when visiting twenty-four of his friends imprisoned there for the
testimony of Jesus, speaking a few words to them he was haled away
before the mayor, and several times knocked off his knees when at
prayer, being sent to prison to his friends, and kept there
fourteen weeks.

He married and settled in Ireland, where his service mostly lay in
his latter days. In 1683 he was imprisoned in the Marshalsea in
Dublin two months for meeting and preaching. His wife died in
1688; and he, having finished his course, and kept the faith,
departed in peace in 1690. His works, and testimonies concerning
him, with an account of his convincement, and journal of his
travels, were published in a 4to volume, to which the reader is
referred. See also _Piety Promoted_, vol. i. p. 179; and Whiting’s
_Memoirs_, p. 416-430.

Footnote 27:

The instances of heathen kindness and hospitality, experienced by
George Fox and others who have visited the Indians in a friendly
manner, contrast very favourably in comparison with the many acts
of bigoted intolerance and cruelty recorded in these volumes on
the part of those professedly civilized and Christian.

Many incidents might be related in proof of Indian kindness when
unprovoked to opposite conduct. When the Quakers were under a
cruel persecution by the magistrates of Boston, in New England,
Nicholas Upshal, “a man of unblameable conversation,” and a church
member of their communion, showed the sufferers kindness, by
giving five shillings a week to the jailer to let those confined
in prison have the sustenance necessary for life—_the magistrates
having caused the jail window to be boarded up, that none might
communicate with, or help them_. He proceeded afterwards to reason
with the magistrates, and warn them not to be found fighting
against God, for which he was fined £20, imprisoned, and then
banished; though a weakly old man, and the season the depth of
winter. In his banishment in the wilderness, he met an Indian,
who, having understood how he had been dealt with, took compassion
on him, and very kindly told him, _if he would live with him he
would make him a warm house_; and further said, “What a God have
these English, who deal so with one another about their God!”

See here the Red Indian’s kindly care
Though he the name of _savage_ bear.
Christian, more savage thou than he,
Blush for thy cruel deeds of infamy:
The Indian’s unasked cup of charity
Is larger than as mixed by thee.
The white man aged, through frost and snows,
A banish’d exile to his country goes,
Full many a welcome does he say,
To his warm house whate’er the day.
More Christian he who thus does prove
By practice kindred with a God of love.
More Christian he than they who thus pollute
Their faith, and for their God a brother persecute.

Footnote 28:

See Bowden’s _History of Friends in America_, vol. i., pp.
280-284.

Footnote 29:

This is the only mention of Christopher Holder in these volumes.
He was a great sufferer in the New England persecution. In 1657 he
and another Friend being at Salem, went to the Puritan place of
worship there, and after the priest had concluded, Christopher
Holder addressing the assembly, was not allowed to proceed; one of
the commissioners with much fury “seizing him by the hair of his
head,” and violently thrusting a glove and handkerchief into his
mouth. These two Friends were subsequently sentenced, under “the
law against Quakers,” to receive thirty lashes. The brutal manner
in which this sentence was carried out, was in accordance with the
spirit that prompted the rulers to pass the cruel law. A
three-corded knotted whip was used on the occasion; and the
executioner, to make more sure of his blows, “measured his
ground,” and then “fetched his strokes with all his might.” Thirty
strokes thus inflicted, as will be readily imagined, left the
sufferers miserably torn and lacerated; and in this state they
were conveyed to their prison cell. Here, without any bedding, or
even straw to lie on, the inhuman jailer kept them for three days
without food or drink; and, in this dismal abode, often exposed to
damp and cold, were these faithful men confined for the space of
nine weeks. We may wonder that, under such aggravated cruelties
their lives were spared; but He, for whose holy cause they thus
suffered, was near to support and console them. His ancient
promise was fulfilled in their experience, and they rejoiced in
the comforting presence of his living power.—Bowden’s _History of
Friends in America_.

Previous to this, Christopher Holder and his companion had been
banished from Rhode Island. The governor having hired an Indian to
convey them off the island, ordered the Friends to pay for the
passage themselves. But not being willing to facilitate their own
banishment, and not feeling that it was their Divine Master’s will
for them to leave the island, they declined to go, or to pay the
Indian who was hired to take them. The governor directed the
constable forcibly to obtain the requisite sum from the strangers,
and gave peremptory orders to the natives to take them away in
their canoes. The Algonquins, however, not being in any great
haste to execute the bidding of the governor, contrary to the will
of the Friends, and at a time too when the weather was stormy,
entertained them for three days with marked kindness and
hospitality. A change in the weather then taking place, and the
banished ones feeling that it was no longer required of them to
stay on the island, the Indians, at their own request, prepared to
take them across. Before leaving the island the Friends offered to
remunerate the natives for their kindness, but these poor people,
from the generous impulses of their hearts, acting more in unison
with the spirit of Christianity than those who were wont to be
their teachers, declined to receive any reward. “You are
strangers,” they replied, “and Jehovah hath taught us to love
strangers.” Such simple and feeling language from the lips of
North American Indians, was a striking rebuke to the bigotry and
intolerance which marked the conduct of their highly professing
teachers.—Bowden’s _History of Friends in America_.

Footnote 30:

This George Wilson, at whose house George Fox was entertained, is
not mentioned elsewhere in the Journal. He was originally from
Great Britain, and a great sufferer for the truth during the New
England persecution. In 1661, it appears he was amongst
twenty-seven other Friends in prison in Boston, who were liberated
that year by an order from the home government. But these faithful
messengers of the Lord, who were thus unexpectedly released from
bondage, were concerned, almost immediately on leaving the jail,
to preach to the inhabitants those truths for which they had
suffered. The magistrates, already at their wits’-end, in
fruitlessly endeavouring to arrest the spread of Quaker
principles, being impatient at this fresh manifestation of
devotedness, ordered a guard of soldiers to drive all the Friends
out of their territory into the wilderness; an order which was
speedily executed. George Wilson was among those who were thus
forcibly expelled; but, undismayed by the new law for the
application of the whip, they returned at once to their homes.
There they were quickly apprehended, and sentenced to undergo a
flogging through three towns, and to be put out of the limits of
the colony. The executioner, desirous of lending his ingenuity to
increase the severity of the sentence, provided himself with a
singularly constructed whip, or as it is called, a “cruel
instrument,” with which he “miserably tore” the bodies of the
sufferers. Such was the new and barbarous character of the weapon
used on this occasion, that Friends endeavoured, though
unsuccessfully, to obtain it to send to England, as another proof
of the malignant cruelty which actuated the rulers of
Massachusetts towards the new Society. At the conclusion of this
whipping at Boston, George Wilson, in the midst of his
persecutors, knelt in solemn supplication to the Most High.

Being on a gospel mission in Virginia, George Wilson became a
victim to the reigning intolerance, and was incarcerated in the
dungeon at James’ Town. The circumstances of his case evinced
great barbarity on the part of his persecutors. The place of his
imprisonment was an extremely loathsome one, without light or
ventilation. Here, after being cruelly scourged and heavily ironed
for a long period, he had to feel the heartlessness of a
persecuting and dominant hierarchy; until, at last, his flesh
actually rotted from his bones, and, within the cold damp walls of
the miserable dungeon of James’ Town, he laid down his life a
faithful martyr for the testimony of Jesus.

The patience and resignation with which George Wilson bore his
aggravated sufferings, and his faithfulness unto death, form a
striking instance of the inflexible adherence to conscientious
conviction, which so remarkably characterized the early Friends.
Living near to Him who is the fountain and fulness of love, his
enemies also became the objects of his solicitude; and, whilst
lingering in the wretched dungeon, his heart was lifted up in
prayer for his persecutors. “For all their cruelty,” he writes, “I
can truly say, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they
do.”—Bowden’s _History of Friends in America_.

Footnote 31:

William Coale, a Friend of Maryland, was convinced about the year
1657. He was a man of an innocent and tender spirit; and a living
and weighty minister of the gospel of Christ. He visited Friends
in Virginia with George Wilson, and was very serviceable, some
being turned to the Lord through his ministry, and many
established in the truth. He suffered cruel imprisonment for the
gospel, which injured him so much that he never recovered it. In
the time of his last illness he was cheerful, freely given up to
die, saying, “The living presence of the Lord is with me;” with
many more words of the great satisfaction he had from the Lord
concerning his peace; adding, “I bless the Lord, I have finished
my course, and I have nothing to do but to wait on the Lord and
die.” He departed very peaceably and quietly about the year 1678.

Footnote 32:

The difference implied here and elsewhere in the date is between
the old style and the new. The above may be read either, the 3d of
the 11th month, 1672; or the 3rd of the 1st month, 1673. It would
appear that an alteration in the mode of reckoning did not take
place generally till made by Act of Parliament in 1752, when the
Friends also adopted a change in the mode of reckoning the months,
which is explained at large in the _Book of Discipline_, p. 73.
ED.: 1833.