yea, I am assured the mercies of the everlast- lamenting on every side, to retain me in the ing God have been so extended to many, that life and practice of the world, I would fling my this will prove an effectual call to bring them mother to the ground, run over my father, deout of the ways and customs of this corrupted spise all my kindred, and tread them under my and corrupting world; and a means for estab-feet, that I might run to Christ." Yet it is not lishing such, who hitherto have been unfaithful to what they have been already convinced of And you, my friends, whose minds have received the alarm, whose hearts have truly heard the voice of one crying in the wilderness, where you have been straying from the Lord, repent, repent! to you, in the name of the great and living God I speak, I cry, Come away, come away; ah! what do you do there? Why are you yet behind? That is not your rest: it is polluted with the sins and vanities of a perishing world. Gird up your loins one and all, eye your light, Christ Jesus, the same yesterday; to-day, and for ever; who hath enlightened every one: Follow him; he will lead you to the city of God, that has foundations, into which the wicked cannot enter. present, yet what says the man of God? "It works a far more exceeding weight of glory in the end." This has been both the faith and experience of those, who in all ages, have trusted in God, who have not fainted by the way; but, enduring, have obtained an eternal diadem. unknown, how dutiful and tender he was in those relations. Not much unlike to this, was that noble and known instance of latter times, in Galeacius Caracciolus, marquis of Vico, who abandoned his friends, estate and country, resolutely saying with Moses, "That he would rather suffer afflictions with the first reformers and Protestants, than enjoy his former plenty, favours and pleasures with his old religion." Nor is it possible for any now to quit the world and live a serious godly life in Christ, without the like suffering and persecution. There are among us also some, who have suffered the displeasure of their most dear and intimate relations and friends, and all those troubles, disgraces and reproaches, which are accustomed to attend such as decline the honours, pleasures, ambition and preferments 6. Mind not the difficulties of your march. of the world, and that choose to live an humGreat and good things were never enterprised ble, serious and self-denying life before the and accomplished without difficulty; which Lord. But they are very unequal to the joy does but render their enjoyment more plea- and recompense that follow. For though there sant and glorious in the end. Let the holy be no affliction that is not grievous for the men and women of old be your examples. Remember good old Abraham, the excellency of whose faith is set out by his obedience to the voice of God, in forsaking his father's house, kindred and country. And Moses, who might in probability have been made a king, by faith in God, leaves Egypt's glory and Pharaoh's favours, and chooses rather to sojourn and travel with the despised, afflicted, tormented Israelites in the wilderness, than to enjoy the pleasures of that great court for a season; esteeming Christ's reproaches greater riches than Egypt's treasures. But, above all, how great was the reproach, how many the sufferings, how bitter the mockings, which Jesus suffered at the hands of his enemies? Yet with what patience, meekness, forgiveness and constancy, did he in all his actions demean himself towards his bloody persecutors, "despising the shame, and enduring the cross, for the joy that was set before him? He hath left O Lord God! Thou lovest holiness, and · us this glorious example, that we should follow purity is thy delight in the earth. Wherefore, his steps;" which hath in almost every age I pray thee, make an end of sin, and finish been imitated by some. The apostles sealed transgression, and bring in thy everlasting their testimonies with their blood, and multi- righteousness to the souls of men, that thy tudes followed the example of their constancy; poor creation may be delivered from the bonesteeming it the greatest honour, as it was dage it groans under, and the earth enjoy her always attended with the most signal demon- sabbath again: That thy great name may be strations of the Divine presence. How mem-lifted up in all nations, and thy salvation reorable was that of Origen? "If my father nowned to the ends of the world. For thine were weeping upon his knees before me, and is the kingdom, the power, and the glory for my mother hanging about my neck behind ever. Amen. me, and all my brethren, sisters and kinsfolk Wherefore, since we are compassed about with so "great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and burden, and the sin and vanities which so easily beset us;" and with a constant, holy patience run our race, having our eyes fixed upon Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, not minding what is behind; so shall we be delivered from every snare. No temptations shall gain us, no frowns shall scare us from Christ's cross and our blessed self-denial: And honour, glory, immortality, and a crown of eternal life, shall recompense all our sufferings in the end. THE END. A JOURNAL OF THE LIFE, TRAVELS AND RELIGIOUS LABOURS OF WILLIAM SAVERY, A MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST, IN THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS, LATE OF PHILADELPHIA. COMPILED FROM HIS ORIGINAL MEMORANDA, PREFACE. ing to many readers, and render the work more acceptable to them. In perusing so interesting a narrative as is presented in the account of the Christian labours of this worthy minister of the Gos- I was intimately acquainted with William pel, the inquiry may arise, why it has been Savery, and esteemed him as a brother bepermitted to lie so long unprepared for the loved. His affable disposition, his catholic public eye? In reply to this it may be re- spirit, and his truly Christian principles, enmarked, that some of his papers were for a deared him to those who knew him, and peculong time mislaid, and when collected, they liarly qualified him as an instrument in the were placed in the hands of several persons Divine hand to draw others into the love of to examine and arrange, neither of whom truth, and into an obedience to the convictions made an essay for accomplishing the task. of the Holy Spirit. His ministry was geneThey were voluminous, and a variety of en- rally more of a doctrinal nature, than that of gagements arising out of the peculiar state many other Friends, accompanied with a ferinto which the religious Society of Friends vent engagement that his audience might be here, has been thrown within the last fifteen brought to an heartfelt experience of the unyears, seemed then to preclude the practica- speakable love of God, in sending his dear Son, bility of undertaking the work. But from the our Lord Jesus Christ, into the world to save conviction that there was much in the papers sinners; of the efficacy of his propitiatory to interest and instruct the seeking, religious sacrifice and the sanctifying power of his mind, I was induced to transcribe those parts, Holy Spirit, who hath by his own blood oband to endeavour to arrange the whole so as tained eternal redemption for all that come to form a regular account of his life and unto Him in true faith at times declaring labours, as far as materials could be obtained. with much solemnity and reverence, that he In the course of his travels, he was much would rather lose all he had in the world, than more particular in the memoranda he made, be robbed of his faith in the divinity of Christ. than has been customary for Friends in his His submission to the power of divine love station; giving a cursory description of the in his own heart, by which he was brought country, its produce, the value of it, and the out of sin and corruption, and his indefatigahabits of the people where he travelled. This ble devotion to the cause of Christ, present an peculiarity is accounted for by the fact, that instructive example, calculated to invite old his notes were made for the information and and young to diligence and faithfulness in the gratification of his near connections; and it path of manifested duty, that they may become would seem, without any prospect of their lights in the world, and through Divine mercy, publication. Some of those details, which may be partakers of that salvation which is only be found in other works, have been abridged, obtained through our Lord Jesus Christ. though there is more of this description still JONATHAN EVANS. retained than is common in most journals of Friends, but which will probably be interest- Philadelphia, seventh month, 1837. : TESTIMONY of the Monthly Meeting of Friends of Philadelphia for the Northern District, concerning William Savery. charged his religious duty in those parts, he returned to his family and friends in the tenth month, 1798. He laboured diligently in his temporal busiIt appears that he was born in the city of ness for the support of his family, as well as Philadelphia, in the year 1750, and educated for the relief of the poor and distressed, to in the principles of the Christian religion as whose wants his liberal mind was ever ready professed by us; and was placed with a Friend to administer according to his ability; yet this in the country, to learn the trade of a tanner. did not interrupt his steady attention to other On his return to the city in 1771, being natu- religious duties, being diligent in the atten rally of a lively and social disposition, he dance of meetings, and in various services soon joined with those who, being themselves to which he was called and appointed, for the votaries of folly and vanity, encouraged the benefit of society and the promotion of him in a departure from the simplicity of the cause of truth and righteousness. truth; which, aided by his own propensities, In 1802, the neighbourhood in which he drew him into many deviations from the reli-lived was visited with a pestilential disease, gious principles of his education. In this situation he was arrested by the powerfully convictive evidence of the Spirit of truth; and in the year 1778, at a meeting held at Merion after an interment, was much affected, and lasting impressions were made on his mind by that solemn scene, and the testimonies then delivered. In the autumn of that year, he married in Chester county, and settled within the limits of our Monthly Meeting-spent much of his time in retirement at home, and in the thirtieth year of his age, first opened his mouth in a public testimony; and dwelling inward with those gifts and qualifications with which he was favoured, he became an able advocate for the cause in which he had embarked; and by faithful attention thereto, his labours were blessed to the benefit of numbers, especially amongst the youth, to many of whom he was an eminent instrument of good. He was engaged to travel much on this Continent in the service of Truth, being several months in each year, from 1789 to 1795 inclusive, absent from home on Gospel errands; and by accounts received, his labours of love were to the satisfaction of those among whom his lot was cast. which carried many off in a short time. Not being easy to leave this scene of woe and misery, he voluntarily resigned himself to visit those in distress, both Friends and others, with advice and counsel, in the love of the Gospel, to the great consolation and comfort of many. A like affliction befalling that and other parts of the city and neighbourhood, in the following year, he was again engaged in the same manner, freely devoting himself, both night and day, to relieve the distresses of others, with which his feeling mind was deeply af fected. In the early part of his sickness he was borne up above complaining, or admitting that he was much out of health, until the disease, which proved to be a dropsy, had made such progress, that it was visible to his friends. He continued to attend to his outward concerns and religious duties; and in some of the meetings which he last attended, was led to open a prospect that his time here would not be long; but, in an animating view of a blessed immortality, signified it was no matter how short, provided this were attained. He was remarkable for punctuality and uprightness in his dealings; and not long before his decease, said to a friend who often visited Having had his mind drawn into near sym- him, "It is necessary to look to our outward pathy with the Friends at Pyrmont in Ger- concerns, there are so many reproachful failmany-with the entire unity of his brethren ures;" and appeared desirous once more to at home, on the 18th of the fifth month, get to meeting, that he might have an oppor 1796, he embarked for Liverpool, and thence tunity to warn such of the elderly part of sosoon proceeded to London, and then to Pyr-ciety who had got into the earth, and of the mont. After paying an acceptable visit to youth who had got into the air. "I thought, the comfort and strengthening of Friends said he, I was once strong for the work, but there, and in some other parts of Germany, now I am a child, brought back to my hornhe went to Nismes in the South of France, visiting a small company of such as professed with us, in that neighbourhood, much to his own comfort and peace. Then returning to England, he visited many of the principal towns and places in that nation, Ireland and Scotland, and had large public meetings with those not of our Society. Having thus dis book, and have nothing to trust to but the mercy of God through Christ my Saviour." Thus reverently depending, he was preserved to the last in great resignation and composure of mind. He was mostly confined from the 26th of the third month, except frequently riding out for the benefit of air and exercise, till the 18th day of the sixth month, 1804, in the evening life in the fifty-fourth year of his age. On the of which he was considerably worse, contin- following day, his corpse, attended by a great ued ill through the night, and on the 19th in number of his friends and neighbours, was the morning, about six o'clock, closed his useful interred in Friends' burial-ground in this city. THE JOURNAL OF WILLIAM SAVERY. He was born in the city of Philadelphia, in | is in holiness, but fearful of incurring the scoff the year 1750; received an education in the and scorn of the world's deluded votaries principles of the Christian religion, and was should I turn my back upon it. Activity of placed with a Friend in the country to learn spirits, loose discourse and noisy mirth, were the tanning business. Returning to the city my sad refuge to drown serious reflection: yet after the expiration of his apprenticeship, he the worm that never dieth, a wounded conassociated with those, who, like himself, were science, often embittered my sweetest draughts much inclined to vanity and folly; and seeking of pleasure. In this state I was inclined somethe enjoyment of ease and pleasure in a course times in a serious hour to read a pious author, of life far remote from true happiness, he be- which, I think, by the assistance of the gra came less susceptible of tender impressions, cious Helper, was made serviceable to me, and gradually much estranged to the voice being roused to more serious thought than and heavenly care of the great Shepherd of ever before. the sheep. In this situation it pleased Divine | "I now saw the iniquity of mispending my Goodness, by the powerful reproofs of his precious time, and refrained from frequenting Spirit, so to break in upon his wandering taverns and places of diversion. I struggled mind, as frequently to bring him to an awful hard to break myself off from my fondness sense of the bondage of corruption wherein for much company, seeing the snare there was he was held, to some glimpse of the peace in it; being apt to relate adventures and tales and comfort consequent upon a life of piety to provoke mirth, and often for the embellishand virtue, and the necessity of labouring to ment of them to strain beyond the truth-I become a participant in that redemption which, was much concerned to watch over myself in through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, this, which is both dishonourable and sinful. is graciously extended to the sincere penitent Oh the folly of thus mispending our precious of every name and nation. time! how watchful! how careful ought we In a review of the benighted condition in to be of our words and actions; always rewhich he had been involved, and of the exten-membering, that the sacred eye of an all-seeing sion of Divine mercy in plucking him as a God pervades the most secret chambers we can brand out of the burning, he says,— "I may acknowledge, that notwithstanding my revolt and turning aside from the paths of purity and peace, the Lord has been graciously near me all my life long, and has watched over me as a tender Father for good, smitten me by his Spirit when I have been rebelling against his holy law written in my heart, making merry over the Divine witness there; and has reached to me and tendered me in the midst of mirth and jollity. He often followed me to my chamber, and upon my pillow has drawn tears of sorrow and contrition from me, when none have been privy to it but his Allseeing Eye: so that my days of joy and laughter have often produced nights of sorrow and weeping. Still I continued sinning and repenting and turning the grace of God into wantonness for a number of years, being at times favoured to see in part, the beauty there retire to, and His ear is ever open to hear both the evil and the good. Yea, many of the present day have known, when the terrors of the Lord have overtaken them for sin, and they have had to taste of the spirit of judgment and of burning, that every secret thing has been brought to light, and all the hidden works of darkness have been made manifest; that even for idle words they have had to render an account. "When we have long wandered, and got far and wide from the pure path, in which the Lord's ransomed children have to walk, though it may seem to have been in small things, yet they make close trying work for us; and many deep baptisms we have to pass through, before we can witness our sins to be wiped away and cast, as it were, into the depth of the sea. When this is experienced, such have indeed cause to acknowledge with great hu mility of soul, that it is of the mere mercy left me no room to doubt its being divinely of Him whose mercies are, (blessed be his intended for my good. My eyes became more great name,) over all his works. Some, who clearly opened to discern where I was, and with myself, have been rescued as from the that all the righteousness of my own putting very jaws of the devourer, can praise his holy on, was as filthy rags, of which I must be name with songs of gratitude and joy, know-stript, before I could experience a putting on ing, that in the midst of judgment he does still of that purity and righteousness, which is the remember mercy." In the year 1778, attending a meeting at | Merion, held after an interment, he was on that solemn occasion, deeply impressed with serious thoughtfulness. Being married that year, he settled in business in Philadelphia. The state of his mind about this time is described by himself nearly as follows: fine linen of the saints. In great distress and anxiety I saw nothing for me to lean upon, but to dwell alone and keep my eye open and my spiritual ear attentive to Him, who is the unchangeable High Priest of his people, and with whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, who knows the states of all his children, and when and where he leads them, graciously affords ability to follow, to the praise of his ever adorable name. ious that I might know an establishment upon the Rock immoveable. Thus I continued, but was still preserved desirous to know the Master's will, and in measure made willing to obey, though under the cross; yet the way to the kingdom was for some months much darkened, and a sense of my sinful conduct often brought me almost to despair of ever finding forgiveness with an offended God: and my burden in meetings was almost insupportable. "I had been employed in bringing myself to a more circumspect life, being pretty careful in my conduct and conversation, and just “It pleased Him to lead me as into the wil. in my dealings among men, and was willing derness, and to give me a sight of my forto believe I had attained to great matters, and mer disobedience and folly. Oh! the bitthat I might now take up my rest; for by terness and distress that covered me when I my own strength, abilities and contrivance, was alone or in meetings. I experienced but I could not only keep up a fair upright cha- few pleasant draughts of his love, my meat racter among men, and make my life happy was gall and wormwood, and my drink of the and myself respected; but also, (Oh, the de-bitter waters of Marah. This was not unfelt ceitful workings of satan! Oh, the mystery by some sympathising Friends, who were anxof iniquity!) that it would at the close of time here, gain me an inheritance in the regions of purity and peace, among all those that are sanctified. But, how can I sufficiently adore my great and good Master, for his continued regard and care over me, in that he did not suffer me to remain long in this state of delusion and error. He disturbed my false rest, and made me at times exceedingly uneasy with it, and gave me at length to see, that notwithstanding my regularity of behaviour "Oh! these were times of baptism never to be and all my boasted attainments, I fell far forgotten in mutability. One evening, sitting short of that purity, which all the vessels in in my house alone, great horror and trouble the Lord's house must come to; and that I seized me-I wept aloud, and after a short was yet under the law, which cannot make time went to bed; but my distress was so the comers thereunto perfect, not having pass- | great, that it almost overcame me, and I ed under the flaming sword, nor felt the day thought I tasted of the misery of fallen spi of the Lord to be come, which burns as an oven. rits. Not being able to contain myself, I arose "This brought great distress and anxiety and walked the room. My spirits at length beof mind over me, and sometimes I was rea-ing nearly exhausted, I threw myself on the dy to doubt the truth of these divine revela- bed again, but had not lain long, before I grew tions; and was exceedingly desirous to find, cold like one near death, a clammy sweat if possible, an easier way to peace and hap-covered me, and I was to appearance stupid. piness, than by submitting myself to the In this state I was, through adorable mercy, cross, of which I had as yet experienced released from the horror that before surbut little. I was much tossed and distressed, rounded me, and was comforted with a sight as one who was in a dark and howling wilder- and feeling of a state of inexpressible happiness, where I could see no way out, either to | ness and joy; and when so far come to my the right hand or to the left. But at length, self as to have utterance given me, I cried the Lord, who indeed watched over me con- | aloud on this wise, Oh! now I know that my tinually for good, blessed and praised for ever Redeemer liveth. be his name, brought me into some degree of composure. The strong impression then made on my mind, its application to the state. I was in, and the instruction it conveyed to me, ، Oh! the sweetness I then felt, in being favoured with such an evidence of the goodness and mercy of God: It far surpassed every thing I had ever before experienced, and was |