spirit earnestly travels for the welfare of Zion, and the peace and prosperity of all those who love, fear, and serve God, and believe in his Son. On the 6th day of the eighth month, it pleased God to give me another son, whom I named George, after my father, brother, nephew, and king; and though this name is now a great name among men, I considered that no name can preserve life, so I gave him up to the will of Him who gave him to me, and desire, if I have no name through children to posterity, I may have a name in the Lamb's book of life, which I have ever esteemed far above a name amongst men. Second, "Faith is the gift of God." Seventh, "Ye believe" or have faith "in The author to the Hebrews speaks excellently concerning the power of faith, and the mighty wonders wrought by it. This living, saving, true and divine faith, must be in the heart, through and in Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, who is, and always will be, the author and finisher of it in every true believer. After my removal to this place I was not idle, but visited neighbouring meetings, and After I came from Shrewsbury, I visited in the eighth month I went to Shrewsbury neighbouring meetings, and in Chester county, general meeting, where there were many hun- where I had meetings for nine days succesdreds of people, and the truth declared had sively, some of which were very large, pargood impression upon the minds of many; ticularly at Providence and Goshen; in which some after meeting, who were not of our So-I was opened to exhort them to keep to that ciety, acknowledged to it, and that they were plain, honest way of life and conversation glad they were there. In this meeting I was which our fathers and elders were found in, concerned for the welfare of mankind, and the exaltation of the holy name of the Almighty, to declare the universal love of God to man, from several texts of holy Scripture, as that passage of Jacob and Esau, and Peter and Cornelius, and something concerning the objection made against us, the people called Quakers, that we do not acknowledge the holy Scriptures to be the word of God; for though we believe that the Scriptures came by divine inspiration, yet we are clearly convinced by their testimony, and by the spirit of truth in our hearts, that Christ is the eternal Word of God, by whom all things were made and created, and do still exist. and to remind them of the sufferings they endured for their testimony to the blessed truth, in the first breaking forth thereof in the last age. I was also concerned to show them, that the Almighty, who had blessed us with plenty of temporal blessings, would continue the same to us, if we were careful to live in his fear; but that otherwise, we might expect his judgments for disobedience. And after my return, I continued about home for some time, it being the winter season and bad travelling, and I not so capable of travelling as formerly; but I had great peace and tranquillity of mind, in that I had freely given up my youthful days to serve my CreaFrom Shrewsbury, with divers other Friends, tor, and the same love and zeal was yet fresh I rode to Crosswicks, where, on the fifth-day, and warm in my heart, for the glory of his we had a very comfortable meeting, in which great name; and I still have a full resolution the ancient love and goodness of our heavenly through his strength and grace to serve him, Father was with us, tendering our hearts into the great Lord of all, during the remainder tears of joy, some of us being likewise affected of my days, according to the light and in remembrance of the goodness of the Al-strength given to me. mighty to us, in the meeting we had in this Our yearly meeting at Philadelphia this place under the trees, about twenty-five years since. The great subject of faith and works was spokon to; as, that the Roman Catholics seemed to lay too much stress on works, and the Lutherans, Calvinists, and others, too little: but our principles led us to join both together; the Almighty having joined them together, none ought to separate them. This subject of faith and works having been much in debate amongst professed Christians, it is on my mind here to mention a few things deduced from the best authority: The first is, "Without faith, it is impossible to please God." year, was large, in which our friend Benjamin Kid, from England, being with us, had good service. I cannot forget a concern which was upon me at this meeting, that the universal love of God, through Christ, might prevail amongst mankind, and to press Friends to manifest to all people the influence thereof, by their exemplary lives and conversation. In the second month, 1724, I went into New-Jersey, as far as Shrewsbury, where, on on a first-day, we had a large meeting to general satisfaction; and the next day we had another, wherein the love and good will of God, through Christ, was opened freely to the tuous and loving wife, that since we were married, she never hindered me in the service my great Master called me to, in all the time of our living together; we always parted for the sake of the gospel of Christ, in pure love, and in the same love met again. Soon after this time I met with several great losses by sea and land, and myself and my daughter were dangerously sick, so that our recovery seemed doubtful; yet, through the mercy of God, we both recovered, for which I praise his name. people, and our duty to forgive one another, And this testimony I think proper, for several was largely treated of; and it was plainly solid reasons, to leave behind me, of my virshown, that without forgiving others, we could not be forgiven of God, as Christ saith, "If ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your heavenly Father forgive your trespasses." Much more was said to the same effect on that subject; as also Christ's answer to Peter, who asked, how often a man should forgive his brother if he trespassed against him? Peter says, till seven times: our Lord Jesus answers, "I say not unto thee, until seven times, but until seventy times seven." And again, Christ says, "If thy brother trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again unto thee, saying, I repent, thou shalt forgive him." Which hard hearted people think a great hardship, but Christ's cross must be taken up and borne daily, if we will be his disciples and followers in deed and in truth, as well as in profession. After some stay at home, I was moved in the love of Christ, to visit the general meetings of Duck creek and Salem. At Duck creek we had a large and satisfactory meeting, and I appointed one at George's creek, which was a good meeting. The next morning we went over to Elsinburgh, and so on to Cohansie, where I met with two of my fellow labourers in the work of Christ, Thomas After we had reconciled some differences at Lightfoot and Benjamin Kid. We had a Shrewsbury, we went to a place called Manes- meeting together at Cohansie, in which the quan, and had a good, open meeting, and most people were exhorted to sobriety and just of the people of that place were there. It dealing. The contrary of both is too obvious was a good time, and I hope the opportunity at such times as fairs; there being divers peowill not soon be forgotten by divers. From ple there from the fair, as well as others: the this place we travelled to Crosswicks, and had nature of Christ's work in the heart was a good meeting, after which, a Friend told me somewhat spoken to, but it was not so open a some would say, "I spoke by information, meeting as some others, the people thereaway because I had opened some matters which being too slack and dull as to religion. Next were exactly to the state of some there." But day we had a meeting at Alloway's creek, I knew nothing of their condition, otherwise where we all three had some pretty close than as it was then immediately opened in my work; and from thence we went to the genemind; neither had I been told any thing con- ral meeting at Salem, which was larger than cerning them directly or indirectly. From common, on account of the said Friend Benthence we travelled to Burlington, where the jamin Kid being there: who, in the love of monthly meeting of Friends had desired that Christ, came from England to visit the churchI would assist in ending a difference which es in this part of the world. There were so had happened through mistake, and continued many Friends and others here at this time, for about seven years. Through divine assist- that some houses were so filled, there was ance, our hearts being filled with the love of not room for all who came to lodge. After Christ, we so prevailed upon the differing per-this meeting I returned home, and in a few sons, that they gave each other satisfaction, days went into Chester county, and travelled with hopes that they should live in love for about a hundred miles; and when I came the future; and Friends of the place greatly home, I understood that some for want of a rejoiced at the end of that difference. As I true sense of the work of Christ, had been went along this town, some Friends told me censuring me for my much travelling and of a religious people a few miles distant, with hard labour in the work of the ministry of whom they desired I would have a meet- the gospel of Christ; though by the same rule ing. I requested them to see if it would be of judging, the apostles of Christ and our angranted, and let me know; which was done, cient Friends, who travelled much, cannot and we had a meeting, and were kindly re-escape their censure; for in all my travels, I ceived, and the divine nature of the gospel of have had an especial regard to the unity of Christ was freely opened to them, and in great the brethren, and never knowingly went abroad love we parted from one another. I travelled in this journey, about two hundred miles; and when I came home, my dear wife and family gladly received me with hearts full of love. VOL. VI.-No. 2. without it. Let this caution be recorded for the instruction of all such forward judges; let them be careful of judging Christ's servants, lest their words become their burden: "Judge 6 not that ye be not judged," saith our great Lord, for with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged." Soon after my return from Chester county, I was at a marriage at Abington, which was one of the most solemn I have been at; and on the 15th of the third month, attended the youths' meeting at Germantown, to my great satisfaction. On the 23d of the same month, I went to the general meeting of ministers and elders at Burlington; at which meeting several things relating to the gospel ministry were declared; as its being a free, a clear, and a powerful ministry, reaching to the conscience, and convincing of the danger of continuing in sin and divine charity was much recommended, without which, all ministry is but as sounding brass, &c. From this meeting I went with Walter Herbert into Bucks county, and at Neshaminy we had an open, tender meeting. From thence I went to Buckingham, and was at a marriage of a son and daughter-in-law of Thomas Canby. The meeting was large, and Friends well satisfied; and it was observable, though I was very hoarse, through a cold I had taken, and could hardly speak in common conversation, yet it was much taken away in my ministry, so that I was carried through the service to our admiration, for which I was truly thankful. After this meeting I returned home with true satisfaction, such as is much more valuable than silver and gold, two mighty idols in the world. of Christ. After we had been some time with our said sick friend, we went to a meeting appointed for us several days before, which was large and satisfactory, for which favourable visitation we blessed the great name of the Almighty, and parted tenderly in Christian love and good will. The Friend we went to visit, died the next day. He was a helper of the poor, and a maker of peace in the neighbourhood; of such, Christ said, "Blessed are the peace makers, for they shall be called the children of God." On the 10th of the fourth month, 1724, I had a concern to write the following epistle to Friends in the island of Barbadoes. "Frankford, 10th of Fourth month, 1724. "Dear Friends, "In the tender love of God, our heavenly Father, and of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, do I, your brother, at this time greet you, and wish you health and salvation. Understanding by a concerned Friend, that of late, several of our friends are taken away from you by death, a concern came on me to put you in remembrance of your latter end, and of the cause of Christ; and also of the prosperity of his blessed light and truth in your (in that respect poor, though in some others, rich and luxurious) island. The posterity of many who have been taken away there, as well as in divers other places, having gone astray; let a weighty concern come upon you, that it may not be so with those who are left behind. Oh! dear Friends! let your practices and expressions manifest to the rising generation, that the welfare of their souls, more than of their bodies, is at heart with you; and do not indulge them in that which you were convinced to be of an evil tendency, when your hearts were first reached by the power of truth. How many youths have been lost, through the looseness of the example of their elders, and through an undue indulgence of them in vanity, folly, pride, and idleness! woful experience doth but too much declare that they are many. Oh! they are many indeed, who have been lost by so doing! wherefore, On the 4th day of the fourth month, intend- dear Friends, clear yourselves of your chil ing soon to take a journey to Long island, and dren; and if they will obstinately go astray, considering the uncertainty of life, I thought faithfully bear your testimony against them, it a proper time to alter my will, as I had kept in life, doctrine, expressions and conversaone by me for divers years before. On the tion, which will witness for you when you are 5th of the fourth month, I went to Merion to dead and gone, and your heads laid in the visit an ancient Friend, John Roberts, who silent grave. Thus will your youth, through was sick near unto death, where I again met the blessing of God and your endeavours, with John Salkeld. The Friend expressed come up in your places, or at least you will his satisfaction in this visit, and we had a be clear, and their blood will be upon their reward of peace in the exercise of that Chris-own heads. A pure, strict watch is required tian duty of visiting the sick, which is recom- of you in conversation, in all those relations. mended by the apostle to the primitive churches | First, that God may be glorified. Secondly, After a little stay at home I went on a firstday to North Wales, or Gwynnedd, where was a pretty large meeting and many young people, to whom I was concerned to show that Christ is the way by which we must come into the true church, through regeneration, and that all who invent other ways, are thieves and robbers. I rode twenty-five miles that day, and the next day came to Frankford, and was at the burial of an ancient Friend, Joan Orpwood, at which was our friend John Salkeld, with whom I was the next day at Philadelphia, at our third-day meeting, which was a good one. that your children may be exampled. Thirdly, that your neighbours may be edified, or built up in pure religion. And fourthly, that you may die in peace with Him that created you and died for you; remembering the blessed doctrine of Christ Jesus, 'Let your light so shine before men, that others seeing your good works, may glorify your Father which is in heaven.' And again; Ye are as a city set on a hill, which cannot be hid.' As you thus train up your children in the way which they should go, when they are young, you may have reason to hope they will not depart from it when they are old; for many have been convinced of the truth, as it is in Jesus Christ, through the good conversation of his followers. And how can we expect to die well, if we do not live well? Or can we expect the answer of 'Well done,' if we are not in the practice of doing well? "I do desire and earnestly exhort Friends to read the holy Scriptures, and wait to feel the power from which they sprung, through the holy writers; and also to teach them to their children. And dear Friends, let me prevail with you in the love of God, and his dear Son, to keep close to your meetings for the worship of Almighty God, and for the well ordering of your Society; and do it in the meek spirit, for that is of great price with the Lord; and when in your meetings, get into a religious exercise and lively concern for God's glory, and your soul's peace and prosperity. I pray the holy Lord of sabbath, to open your hearts to him in the reading of this epistle, as mine is open to you, my beloved friends, that you and I may be edified, though outwardly separated, as we were when together; and if we should never meet more in this world, that we may meet in the kingdom of God, where we may never part more. Amen. Hallelujah, saith my soul! "I desire this may be copied and read at the close of one of each of your particular meetings, and if it could be readily, in every family of Friends; to all of whom is my very dear love in Jesus Christ, whose servant I am, and hope to be to the end, and I am an entire lover of souls, and a well wisher of Sion's prosperity. "THOMAS CHALKLEY." On the 11th of the fourth month, I left home on a journey to Long island, in order to visit Friends' meetings, and also to negociate some business I had there. The first meeting I had was at Burlington, where I had occasion to advise them to keep in remembrance that ancient love which first united our Society together, and in which, in times of cruel persecution, some freely offered to suffer the imprisonment of their bodies, to obtain the liberty of their friends in confinement. From thence we travelled to Amboy, and over to Staten island. The day being very hot, and the evening cold, I got a severe cold, which I did not get clear of for about two weeks, notwithstanding which, I went to meetings, though ill in body. The first meeting I had on Long island, was at Flushing, on a first-day, and a comfortable meeting it was; in which was closely pressed, the taking up the cross of Christ, by all who desire to be his disciples, and that without it we could not be true Christians. From Flushing we went to Mosquetto cove, and had a meeting there on third-day, which was large, and to general satisfaction, and some were there who were newly convinced. I seeing the openness of the meeting, advised Friends to build a meeting house there, of which they approved. On fourthday we had a meeting at Westbury, and fifthday, at Cow-neck. From Cow-neck I went to the south side of the island, and had a meeting at Captain Hicks'. The neighbours who were not of our Society came generally to this meeting, and were pressingly exhorted to come to Christ, and the way opened unto them. It was a good time, and I thought a day of love to us all. Before the meeting I was exceedingly shut up in myself, so that it was very beneficial to me, among the rest, to see how the Lord could work by his power, and unlock his treasury, as in a moment, as he did for my poor soul at times. Oh! may I, with Christ's followers and ministers, ever depend upon him, is my petition! From Rockaway, for so is the place called, we went to Westbury, and had a very large meeting on a first-day; and, as I was informed, some were convinced. From hence I went to a place called Foster's Meadows, where we had a large meeting in a barn. After this I went over to the main land, and had a meeting at a place called Westchester. From thence we went to Flushing, and had a large meeting on a fifth-day of the week, in which the right training up of children, and careful education of youth, was zealously recommended. From Flushing I went to Huntington, where some were lately convinced of the principle of truth as it is in Christ Jesus, some of whom were excommunicated by the Presbyterians, with whom they had formerly joined. We had a pretty large meeting in a Friend's barn, where a priest opposed me, as he also had my friend Benjamin Kid, some time be fore, of which I gave an account by letter, to my dear friends Thomas Lightfoot and Benjamin Kid, desiring them, in their return from New-England, to have an evening meeting there. The ground of this priest's cavilling, or dispute, was my declaring, that it is the light of Christ, or his spirit, which convinceth the world of sin, and not a natural light, or the light of a natural conscience; from whence he took occasion to charge me with denying a natural conscience, the falsehood of which I charged upon him before the auditory, and desired him, if he had any thing on his mind, to write to me, to which I promised to return him an answer. who was upwards of eighty years of age, and had suffered much for his profession of the truth in his younger years, where they dressed my wounded eye. I was truly thankful to the Lord for his providence towards me in this deliverance, among many others, which he in his goodness hath vouchsafed to me. I staid at the Friend's house three nights and mended apace, and he accompanied me to my house at Frankford, where my loving wife, with some surprise, received me very affectionately; and through her care, I recovered so that I could see pretty well with spectacles, which I was obliged to use for some months. Such accidents plainly show us the necessity of preparing for sudden death, as we know not when, or how, we may go off the stage of this life. On the 25th of the fifth month, I received a letter from a person in the county of Burlington, relating to water baptism, to which I made answer as follows: From Huntington I went to the general meeting of Friends held at Newtown, which was so large that the meeting house could not contain the people, and the weather being extremely hot, some of the people without doors were uneasy, and went to and fro; but those that were in the house, and so near that they could hear, were very attentive, and as far as I could learn, generally satisfied. Our next meeting was at New-York, which was the quietest meeting I ever had there; and the few Friends at New-York, and some that were there from Long island, parted with us in the love of Christ, and in the fellowship of his blessed gospel. I travelled homewards, having good satisfaction in visiting my friends; and when I came there, found my dear wife and children in health, for which I bless God. After this journey I kept to meetings at and about home as usual, and was at the fifth-day "First, then, we are near in sentiment to meeting in Philadelphia, when Samuel Preston each other, in the grand Christian principle of was married to Margaret Langdale, the widow saving religion, which is the work of the of my dear friend and fellow traveller, Josiah | holy Spirit of Christ upon the soul, for that is Langdale. The meeting was large, and the parable of the virgins and the bridegroom coming at midnight, was opened, with an exhortation to the people to be ready against that hour, and that they should take care to have the holy oil of divine grace in their hearts. "Thy lines I received last night, in perusing of which, there was a Christian love in my heart towards thee, though unknown by face, and I have much freedom of mind to answer thine, according to thy request, and my small ability. the baptism which is Christ's, and is truly saving, and absolutely necessary to salvation. Christ's baptism is but one, which is with the Holy Ghost, and with spiritual fire or water; John's being the element, or figure; and Christ's being the spirit, power, and divine substance, is to be with the church of Christ, and with his true ministers, to the end of the world. 66 After this meeting I had some affairs which called me into Chester county, and on the road my horse gave a sudden and violent Secondly, in answer to thy query, Was start out of the path, and threw me down, not water baptism, that is, the element, comand before I could get up again, he struck my manded by Christ himself, in Mat. xxviii. 19? face, and trod on my right eye with his foot, I answer, I believe not. My reason is this, being newly shod, which stunned me for the because the Holy Ghost, or spirit, is mentioned present. As soon as I opened the eye which in the text, in express words, and water is not; was unhurt, I perceived that I lay on my and therefore we omit going into outward waback, under my horse's belly, with my head ter, and for other reasons as follow: between his fore feet. He stood still, and I "Thirdly, that water baptism, which was got on my hands and knees, the blood stream-John's, was practised by the apostles, is true; ing out of my nose and right eye, and while but it was not practised by Christ, who, no I was bleeding, a man and woman came by, doubt, would have done it, if it had been aband staid till I was done bleeding, and saw solutely necessary; for he disdained not to me mounted on my horse again. I went for- wash his disciples feet, a much more despicaward about two miles, to the house I intended ble office, than that of the baptismal ceremoto go to, and after riding about a mile, I met ny: so because Christ did not himself practise with a Friend who knew me, and was sur-it, nor, as we conceive, commanded us to go prised to see me so bloody, and went with me into material water, we therefore, forbear it. to Randal Malin's, a faithful, honest Friend, Fourthly, that the apostles did baptize |