"LORD BALTIMORE and his lady, with their retinue, attended a meeting for worship at Treddhaven in Maryland, in the year 1700, to which, being the yearly meeting, William Penn accompanied them; but it being late when they came, and the strength and glory of the heavenly power of the Lord going off from the meeting, the lady was much disappointed, and told William Penn, she did not want to hear him, and such as he, for he was a scholar and a wise man, and she did not question but he could preach; but she wanted to hear some of our mechanics preach, as husbandmen, shoemakers, and such like rustics; for she thought they could not preach to any purpose. William told her, some of them were rather the best preachers we had amongst us.

The following narrative occurring in JOHN RICHARDSON'S Journal, whilst it plainly bespeaks such earnest engagement of soul as is worthy a true minister of the gospel, conveys also towards the conclusion some idea of that precious peace, which the prophet Isaiah speaks of as follows: "Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldst go. O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea." Isaiah xlviii. 17. 18.

"Having it on my mind to visit a meeting up the river called Perquimus, on the west side of the river Choptank, and being [myself] on the east side, Henry

Hosier and some more friends set forward with me in a small boat, not in good condition but crazy, with only one small sail. We sat out, as we thought, in good time to reach our desired port, but when we where upon the great river, (as I remember, it is ten miles over the shortest way, but the manner of our crossing it made it more,) the wind veered much against us, being then within about four points of our course, it rained hard also, and was so dark, that we could scarcely see one another; and the water broke into the boat, so that it was nearly one man's work to heave it out, and all our company were discouraged, most of them being very sea-sick. Henry Hosier, of whom I had the most hopes for help, said, that he could not steer the boat any longer. What by the extreme darkness, the roughness of the waves, boisterousness of the wind, and hard rain, I, unwell as I was, was obliged to undertake the steering of the boat, and not without some conflicts of mind, not having any certainty from any outward rule what way we went; having no fire, and the boat being open, we could not have any light to see our compass: but my faith was in the Lord, that he would bring us to shore; and I kept as near the wind as she would sail, and told my poor sick and helpless company, I believed that we should not perish, althought we might miss of our port. But the like imminent danger I think I was never in before upon any water; yet, renowned over all be the great name of the Lord for ever, we put into the mouth. of our desired river Perquimus, as though we had seen it in the day, or steered by a compass, neither of which we had the benefit of for several hours. Here we went ashore, and made a great fire under the river's cliff, and

about midnight the moon rose, and it cleared up and froze, and was very cold. My companions falling asleep, I turned them over, pulling them from the fire as it increased, and putting them nearer as it failed, but could not keep them awake; I sought logs of wood, and carried them to and minded the fire, which was work enough for the remaining part of the night; but, morning being come, we got in our cold icy boat, and sailed away towards the meeting. When we were come among Friends, notice was given of a stranger being there; and a heavenly and sweet meeting it was, so that we thought we had a good reward for all our trouble, blessed be the name of the Lord now and for ever, for He is worthy: although he may see good to try us, sometimes one way and sometimes another,— how should we know that we have any faith, if it be not tried? How shall we know that we have any true love to God, if it never be proved? The trial of the true believer's faith is more precious than gold. The excellent sayings of Job came into my mind, 'Behold, I go 'forward, but He is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him on the left hand, where he doth 'work, but I cannot behold him : he hideth himself on 'the right hand, that I cannot see him.' Job xxiii. 8. And then like a man in the true faith, saith, 'The 'Lord knoweth the way that I take: when he hath ' tried me, I shall come forth as gold.' ver. 9. I have often thought of Moses, how far he went for the saving of Israel, and how far Paul went for the saving of his kinsfolk after the flesh; it was a great demonstration that these great and good men had great faith and interest in the Lord, and also a very great love to

his people. And such whose eyes are truly opened, cannot but see it is the love of God, and love to the souls of men, that constrains us thus to take our lives as in our hands, and labour under many weary steps, and many perils by sea and by land, and in the wilderness, cold, and sometimes in tumults and noises, sometimes in watchings and fastings, that we have been sometimes spectacles to men; but the Lord hath given us faith and patience to bear and overcome all, as we have singly stood in his heavenly counsel, and been truly devoted to his will in all things."

FAITHFULNESS UNDER PERSECUTION.

The same gospel labourer, when a youth, was left by the decease of his father to the charge of a cruel step-father, whom his mother married when he was about eighteen years old. He had attended Friends' meetings with diligence for some time, and knew well the value of them, and of the testimonies which we as a people are called upon to bear; having previously passed through many of those conflicts, which more or less are permitted to assail the awakened soul. His stepfather soon became much displeased with him, on account of his going to meetings, and though he worked very hard for him in his business, it being almost incredible what his poor weak body went through, yet all would not gain his love. On his return from meetings, although as seasonably as his strength would admit, he met with many an unkind look and word; and his father usually sending him on first-day mornings into the fields a mile or two on foot, and as far upon a com

mon to look at beasts, horses and sheep, seemingly on purpose to render him incapable of going to meetings. he was obliged to walk fast, and sometimes ran with his shoes under his arm for want of time; which affected many Friends, so that they could not forbear weeping, to see him come into the meeting very much heated, having come two, three, four, and sometimes six miles.

"The Lord's mighty power bore me up," says J. R., "and he gave me as it were hind's feet, and enabled me to go through these exercises, and to bear the burden in the heat of the day of my trials, inwardly and outwardly, which were many and various."

After other stratagems used to binder his going to Friends' meetings, and when he saw that neither frowns, threats, hardships, nor great promises of kindness could prevail, his father told him bluntly and roughly, he should stay no longer, in his house, to which John innocently replied, he could not help it if it must be so, as all he could do would not give him content, without hurting his conscience and the peace of his mind,,which, he said, he valued above all mutable things of this world.

J. R. proceeds thus in his narrative: "Notwithstanding I pleaded with my father to let me stay until I could hear of a place, he would not, though I was scarce fit for service, being [so reduced] that most who knew me said, I should pine away in a consumption; but turn out I must, and did, though weak, poor and low, in body, mind, pocket and clothes, having then but twelve pence in my pocket, and very ordinary clothes on my