The next day we went together to Shields to a monthly meeting; which was pretty large, and very open, several Friends from Sunderland being also there.

dom, for imposing tithes, or for the recovery ny, calm and deliberate in his ministry, which of them, or any thing to the priests, under the is reaching and edifying; and I was glad to notion of dues, until the reign of king Henry see and hear him. When I was last at his VIII., when men's eyes began to be so far open-father's house, after that dispute with the ed, that many throughout the nation refused to French priest Burtell, at his uncle Thomas pay them, as may appear by the preamble of the Jordan's, he was but a boy; and I did not statutes for that end made in his reign. This know him when I saw him here. law establishes the customs on foot in favour of the priests, and no doubt, originally of their own beginning and imposing, for forty years before; which statutes being defective, they were corroborated by the second statute of Edward From hence Joseph Jordan went, on the VI., still in force. By all which it appears, third-day, westward, in order for Cumberthat this set of men never came fairly and land; and I staid at Newcastle till the fifth; equitably to the large and unreasonable share which being the day of their weekly meeting, they demand, and receive out of the property I was there, and an open time the Lord gave of others; especially of those who do not, us, to our mutual comfort. On the 15th I nay cannot, receive them, and their pretended went to Sunderland; and on the 17th, being services, as gospel ministers, and means of the first of the week, was at their meeting salvation; since the Author of religion him- forenoon and afternoon. The first was more self hath commanded his ministers, that as select, for the most part Friends; but in the freely they have received, they shall freely give.' afternoon there came in many others, and "The laws of the land therefore, upon the among the rest, three attorneys at law; whole, though they bind the property by a who, hearing that I had formerly been initiasort of national violence, yet they can never ted into that faculty, came of curiosity to bind the conscience; for which, and the Lord make their observations; and as I heard of conscience, we suffer with patience, as wit-afterwards, were well satisfied; especially nesses on earth, for him who reigneth in hea- one of them, who said, he would not have ven; until, in the course of his providence, missed that meeting. It was an open time, he appears for our relief, who is the King of and to general satisfaction. kings and Lord of lords, and doth what he will in and with the kingdoms of men."

My noble antagonist replied, and not without a little pleasantness, that he would not yet yield me the argument; though he was pleased to propose another subject, of a different tenor.

On the 22nd I went to Bishop-Auckland; where Friends of that place and of Raby met together: and though we sat long in silence, it was a profitable meeting; and I had a good time among them, both in testimony and prayer; and in the evening went home with my old friend the widow Walton. She had At this time I staid in Cumberland about been formerly waiting-woman to the countess two years, sometimes visiting Friends there- Carlisle; and convinced, in her service, whilst away, and having some meetings in new in Cumberland, by William Armstrong, and places about in the country; and was twice helped forward and confirmed by me at Lonat the yearly meeting for the north, once at don; our old and early acquaintance in the Carlisle and once at Kendal, and some meet-Truth still remaining fresh and living. ings also in Westmoreland, and the north On the 24th, being the first of the week, I parts of Lancashire; and among others, was at was at Darlington meeting, forenoon and afthe first meeting in the new meeting-house at ternoon. It is a pretty gathering of Friends. Whitehaven, on the day called Easter-day, in the year 1725. It was a large and open meeting, many, both Friends and others being there; and I heard not of any objection.

We had a tender open time in the morning; and in the afternoon several strangers came in, of divers persuasions: and an opening, convincing time it was to several, and a solid meeting.

On the 6th of the eighth month I went from Carlisle to Alston-moor, and the quarterly On the 30th I went to Whitby, and next meeting for Northumberland falling the next day, being the first of the week, was at their day at East-Allandale, I went to it; where the meeting forenoon and afternoon. The meetLord was good to us, and I had a very open ing is considerable, as to the number of time among them. On the 8th I went to Friends; and at this time open and clear; Newcastle, and on the 10th was at their meet-and several of the neighbourhood there in the ing forenoon and afternoon; which were large afternoon, very solid. On the fourth of the and open. Joseph Jordan, son of Robert Jor-week was at Scarborough meeting, a good dan of Virginia, was also there. He is a number of Friends belonging it, and we had young man, of a clean life, and solid testimo. 'a seasoning time together in the Truth; and

against the natural and common interests of the city; but in the afternoon, much larger, many rest of mankind, enslaving the conscience by of the town's people coming in, and very soforce of human laws of their own devising, ber. On the third-day evening we had anaccording to that observation of Christ to his other meeting in the great meeting-house; disciples, Do not great men hale you out of which was well filled, many people, and some the synagogues before the judgment seats,' of note being there; and things were open and the like; in all which they are influenced, and well. Fifth-day was their week.day meetand often out of their own sight, by a devour-ing. Some persons of note sent to know the ing destroying spirit, contrary to the nature of Christ; who is most gentle, wise, and beneficent, bringing forth in men his own fruits, and making them like unto himself; as antichrist renders all his children like unto him, proud, lofty angry, fierce, cruel, and unjust, bloodthirsty, arbitrary and tyrannical, without compassion and mercy, implacable and unreasonable; as is ever seen in all persecutors, whether under the pretence of national laws, or despotic and absolute rule." With some other important matters, not now to be fully collected.

time, and came; but did not behave well. They were light, and whispered, and after a while, went out; but on some consultation among themselves, came in again, were much soberer, and staid the meeting. On sixth-day there happened a burial; and to the grave. yard came many of the people, one of the aldermen, and one of his sheriffs, and some others of distinction; and I had an open time amongst them.

On the first-day following, the meeting in the morning was pretty large and open; and notice being given beforehand of one that evening in the great meeting-house, it was much crowded, many of the better sort being there, and nothing rude or indecent appeared in so great a multitude; but a decent sobriety, to the general satisfaction of Friends, as the meeting was also to the people. After that meeting I was easy to leave the place.

On the 28th, being the first of the week, we had a quiet meeting at Gainsborough in the forenoon, and another in the afternoon; both small, and few besides Friends: but not being easy to leave the place without seeing more of the people, the Friends, at my request, appointed another meeting on the second-day evening; and the people having notice, and many of the more noted sort, the house was filled, and many in the yard; and a very open satisfactory time we had on that occasion.

Near the time of their dining came in the lady Irwin, one of his daughters, then a widow, desiring to know what he would please to eat; to which he did not presently answer, but bid her sit down in the room; which she did. After a little pause, he said to her, "I could have wished you had been present, to hear what has passed between us on different subjects;" and then gave her to understand how great an esteem he had for Friends, as an honest religious people: and as we had been great sufferers on account of our principles, he had ever helped and served us to the best of his power, and ever would. All which he spake with solid gravity, as if he meant to impress in her mind a good opinion of us. And when he had finished, desired her to take me with her to dinner, for he could not go himself; which accordingly she did: but before I went out of the room, he repeated his On the 4th of tenth month we went to good opinion of Friends, and his respect for Stanford, to John Young's; and the day folmyself in particular, desiring me to call as lowing, being the first of the week, had two offen as my concerns lay that way. I went meetings in his house. The first was very to dinner accordingly, the company being only small; there being few Friends in town, or that lady, her maiden sister, his son colonel near it; but as he had contrived to lay two Howard, an old gentlewoman, and the chap-front rooms into one, and had given notice to lain; among whom I was civilly treated. the neighbours, some of whom had also been In the afternoon I returned to Malton, to an at meeting in the forenoon, we had in the evening meeting I had appointed there. The evening a large meeting, and an open time meeting was large, many of the town's peo- among the more reputable sort of both sexes, ple coming in; and a very free and open time and some military officers. The meeting was we had, the people being very sober and atten- | held and ended in sobriety. On the 6th, in tive, and the truths of the gospel were open- the evening, we had a meeting at Cliff; which ed among them. The 12th, their monthly | was pretty well filled with a low people, but meeting at that place falling in course, I staid not too mean for the grace of life; for I had and attended it, having a very open time an open time among them; though but few before we went upon the business of it. Friends were there. On the 13th I went to York, and on first-day On the 10th I went to Cambridge to John morning the meeting was not large, there Chapman's; and that day was at a meeting being but few Friends there for so large a in town; which was small: but several of the

scholars being there, were more sober than ever I observed them before. I had a very open time among them; and one of the inhabitants, a light airy person, coming to that meeting, with intent to make himself and others diversion, was much disappointed; being so touched, as he confessed he never had been before; and had no power to be rude, as he intended; but was very sober and attentive all the time, and went off solid and serious.

On the 20th I went to London, and visited the meetings there; Friends were generally glad to see me, and I also of them in the Lord; and many open, comfortable, and confirming meetings we had to our great satisfaction.

After some time I returned to Carlisle and Justice-town, visiting some neighbouring meetings, and prosecuting some affairs of my own, and did not take any journey out of the county of Cumberland till the 25th of the second month, 1728, when I set forward towards the yearly meeting at Edinburgh. On the 29th we went to the city of Edinburgh, where I lodged with William Miller, jun., and on the 30th we had a meeting of ministering Friends, and after that their yearly meeting for business began; where things were carried on with unanimity and satisfaction.

On the 1st of the third month, being the fourth of the week, we had a select meeting, at the house of our friend William Miller, where I lodged, consisting of Friends only; and that afternoon had another public meeting, at the meeting-house, at the West-Port; where came many of the inhabitants of the city, and were much more quiet and attentive than heretofore, to whom several important truths of the gospel were clearly opened: and having another meeting in the afternoon, our company increased; and a good season the Lord gave us.

9th, their usual meeting-day; and notice being given, as many of the more reputable sort of people of the city came to the room as it could contain, and more; and the Lord gave us a very clear, open, and solid time among them. On the 10th we had another meeting there, much larger; so that the next room, stairs, and yard, or lane, were crowded; not with a rude rabble, as in times past, but an intelligent people, reputable among men; and as things opened in the wisdom and power of Truth, they were received with sobriety and attention, to mutual and common satisfaction; by which, and the open flowing of Truth, I perceived the state of that people was much altered for the better since I first knew that place, and the old prejudices much worn away in many of

them.

On the 11th we had another large and open meeting, at eleven in the morning, at George Swan's; where all the room and yard, and some places adjacent, were filled; and the Lord favoured us with his good presence, and gave us good matter and utterance among them. The main points falling to my share therein, were the new covenant of light and life, and the elect Seed; Christ as the mediator and messenger of it to all that believe: of whom the sons of the first Adam, being born again, became of that Seed which never fell, and in whom also they stand and are established for ever. At this meeting were still more of the better sort, and one magistrate; and for any thing that appeared, generally satisfied. After that meeting we returned in peace the same evening to Robert Gray's, near Garthshore; where we had a very peaceable open meeting next day with a few plain and quiet people among the few Friends remaining in those parts.

On the 19th, being the first of the week, I was at Kelso both forenoon and afternoon; where came several of the neighbourhood: and as things opened clear and full, the meetings were, for any thing I could observe, very acceptable both to Friends and strangers.

On the 2nd we had two meetings in the same place; and our company and satisfaction still increasing, it gave us encouragement to appoint another on the 3rd, which was the largest and most satisfactory of all; for Truth was over all in authority and brightness, and On the 20th I went to Berwick, where there the people departed under a grave sense of a had formerly been a meeting of Friends; but degree of the virtue of it, much beyond what they are all gone except one man and a woman: I had observed in that city at any time before. so that at this time the meeting was quite lost, On the 6th, accompanied by Thomas Er- and the meeting-house being small, and I wilskine, I went to Linlithgow, and that evening ling to see as many of the people together as had a meeting there; where came a wild I could, perceiving the grace of life to remain looking sort, there being but about half a dozen in my mind towards them, the Friends with Friends remaining in that town: but we sitting under some concern and sense of the grace of God towards them, they grew more solid, and we had a good time among them, and they went away very grave and sober.

On the 7th we went to Glasgow, and lodged at George Swan's; where we staid till the

me applied to an acquaintance of theirs, a Presbyterian by profession, who furnished us next day with a ware-house, and back-yard, wherein he ordered convenient seats of deal boards, &c., and we had a large auditory. And as the Lord furnished my heart with much grace towards them, so out of that abundance,

I was enabled to say many things to them of
moment; and the necessary truths of the gos-
pel were plentifully and clearly opened that
day among them, and the solid weight of di-
vine Truth reigned over all, to general satis-
faction, and the sole glory of Him, of whom is
the
power, and whose right it is to reign, both
now and forever. Amen.

any before, and that afternoon was under some heaviness.

[Soon after, he returned to his lodgings at Carlisle, and on the 30th of the second month, 1730, again set out for the yearly meeting at Edinburgh-respecting which he says:]

On the 4th I went to Edinburgh, to William Miller's, the yearly meeting there being The meeting being thus well over, after on the first fourth-day of the month as usual. It some refreshment, I set forward towards Aln- was held in the new meeting-house, which conwick-Abbey, my old friend Samuel Robertson tained about six hundred, and was every day and his son going with me. That night we full, and many in the yard. They were not, lodged at an inn about twelve miles from Ber- for the greater part, a rude rabble, as formerly wick, and the next day went to the Abbey in that place, but generally sober, reputable with our friend John Doubleday, jun., where people; and the truths of the gospel were we were kindly received by him and his wife, plentifully opened, and with good authority. she being the eldest daughter of Robert Bar-The meeting held two days; and after it was clay, sen., of Ury, and grand-daughter of the famous and honourable Robert Barclay of the same place.

In the afternoon John Doubleday ordered notice to be given through the town of Alnwick, of a meeting at his father's house at the Abbey next day, where we lodged, and where his father had provided a meeting-house, chiefly to suit such occasions, and several of the more reputable sort of the inhabitants were there; but the quarter sessions of the peace sitting in town, occasioned the meeting to be thinner than otherwise it might; though a comfortable and very open time was given us.

On the 26th, being the first of the week, I was at Newcastle meeting; which, in the forenoon, was pretty open; but in the afternoon much shut up a long time, and the heavens seemed like brass, and the gates thereof fastened as with bars of iron but waiting in patience and in sorrow, at length in his own time, which is ever the best, the Lord came, who appeared of old, the doors being shut, and who penetrates all things when he pleases, and makes all opposition fly at the beckoning of his hand, though fortified by hell, and secured with the chains and bars of death. A little help from him altered the case, and his presence gave life and ability to utter many good things out of his treasury, to the general edification and consolation of the meeting, and to his own praise who alone deserves it.

over, I staid until the first-day following, in the mean time visiting the dean of Gild, a very sober religious person, with whom I had some discourse, chiefly concerning the bread and wine, and the substance; in which I had great satisfaction, and the rather, that he also declared his in what passed amongst us on that subject.

On the second-day following, accompanied by Thomas Erskine, I went to Glasgow, where we had a meeting the next day; which being in their new meeting-house, was much larger, than heretofore, and very quiet and open, many of the better sort being there. On the 14th had two meetings, one in the forenoon, and the other in the after. That in the forenoon was large, and in the main, quiet and open; only as there came a great company of the collegians, they were much ruder than any other of the baser sort; which gave me some heavy reflections, that these seminaries of the members, both of the national, or political, church and state, should be more peculiarly depraved than the worst of the other rabble. To see the good intentions of wellmeaning parents so cheated and eluded by the ignorance, perfidiousness and idleness of those well-paid and over-paid teachers, to whom the care of them and their education is committed, is lamentable. For, alas! what but bitter and poisonous waters can be expected from such depraved fountains.

On the 1st of the fourth month I went to In the afternoon the meeting was large, Durham, and the next day was at their meet- with sober persons of the chief rank, and ing; which was large and very open, many the truths of the gospel in a good degree clearFriends being there from Sunderland. Find-ed among them; and the meeting ended well, ing an inclination to see more of the town's and in peace. That which contributed not a people than were at that meeting, I appointed little to our outward quiet, was the care of the another next day at two in the afternoon; magistrates in sending civil officers to keep where many of them came, but were hard, dull, and drowsy; yet some of them more lively and attentive, and some good and necessary things were opened to them. But I had the least satisfaction in that meeting of

out the baser sort; which we were favoured with at every meeting; and was the first time, so far as I have heard, that ever any magistrates of that nation took any care to preserve our meetings in peace that way.