Convinced of Friends' Principles

During this stay at Calcutta, in 1821, our father’s mind was finally settled as to remaining in the Society of Friends, where he had a birthright membership. When quite a little boy, at a Quarterly meeting held in Woodbury, during the business meeting, his heart had been touched by the Holy Spirit, and a very sweet sense of the love of God and the joys of serving Him had been impressed upon him, the recollection of which had always acted as an anchor to his soul from that moment, and had inclined him especially towards Friends. While at Calcutta at this time, or e First Day morning he attended a Baptist place of worship, and found that he could not enjoy a meeting where there was no opportunity given for silent waiting upon the Lord, and for that inward communion of the heart with Him, which was to our dear father the marrow and fatness of all worship. And he records in his Eeminiscences, that from that time he never attended any other place of worship but those of Friends. He was a staunch Friend in every particular, one of the sort that belonged to the generation now so rapidly passing away, not only loyal to the particular testimonies and doctrines of the Society, but also advocatin2; a strict adherence to all the details of “plainness of speech behaviour and apparel,” which were so characteristic of the Friends of his generation. I wish I could reproduce him, as he was in these respects, for his grandchildren, for they were hardly old enough to know this side of his character, and yet it was so essential a part of him, that no picture of our father would be corajDlete without it. To some perhaps his adherence to the peculiarities of dress and address might have seemed narrow, but there was nothing narrow in his heart. His sympathies with all forms of Christian life were very deep and warm, and after he had fully and emphatically expressed his own views on the subject, he would sympathize heartily with the Christian work of those who remained unconvinced, and would welcome them as warmly as ever to his heart and his home. His decided preference for the forms of his choice arose simply from the fact that he had found in them so much joy and comfort to his own soul, that he could not but long for others to try the paths that had led him to such blessed pastures. And there was something so genial and often quaint in his advocacy of these paths, that no one could fail to recognize the tender spirit of the man through it all, nor feel any thing but love and admiration for the whole-souled earnestness that would fain carry all before it.

It is something in this world of doubt and questioning to see anyone who is sure of the path in which he ought to walk, and this he was. The utter simp’ijity of his faith m.ade him often sure in places where others of more reasoning natures would have found great uncertainties. He believed the Lord’s promise that He would direct the steps of His people, and that they should know His voice, to be literally true, and he committed the guidance of his life to Him, expecting the Holy Spirit to show him from day to day the paths in which he ought to walk. And following this blessed Leadership, he made unusually straight paths to his feet, although naturally of an impulsive and enthusiastic character. In obedience, as he believed, to the voice of this indwelling Teacher, he was led in the early part of 1823, while still only twenty-two years old, to adopt the Friends’ peculiar style of dress and address. He thus writes conceruino; this chano-e:

“While at home, after my fifth voyage, I believed it right to adopt the plain dress and language of Friends. While under the conviction of its being right, and fearing I should lose my employment if I did so, I met with Samuel Bettle, Sr., who witiiont knowing the distressed state of my mind, told me if I was faithful to what I felt to be right, the Lord would make a way for me where there seemed no way; which indeed Pie did, giving me favor in the sight of my employers, much to my comfort. Hearing of the ship “America,’’ Captain Isaiah Ehlridge, Whitton Evans owner, as needing a chief mate, I borrowed a plain coat of my friend, .James Cox, my own not being ready, and called to see Captain Eldridge, telling him I could not ‘Mr.’ and ‘Sir’ him, as was common. To which he kindly replied that it would only be a nine days’ wonder, and at once engaged me as first mate. Thus my prayer was answered, and a way made for me where I saw no way; praised forever be the name of the Lord.”

From this time onward he believed heartily in “plain coats” and “plain bonnets,” as the standing-collar coats and the pleated silk bonnets worn by the Friends of this generation, were called. He found so much real blessing to his own soul from his obedience in wearing the coat himself, and he realized it to be such a safe-guard around his pathway, that he longed earnestly to see these peculiarities of dress adopted by every member of the Society. I believe he would have been willing to present a coat to any one who would wear it. I know he often told me after I was married, that he would pay for all my bonnets, if I would only get that kind, and for as many too as I wore out in a year, he would add, when I would object that they were delicate and easily soiled. Sometimes he would make us all laugh with the ready answers he had to our objections to these peculiarities, but argue as we might, we knew it was after all the expression on his part of a conviction that had something grand in it, since it made the very dress of His people a matter of account to their Lord, and brought His direct and personal voice of guidance into the patterns of coats and bonnets. He honestly believed that the Lord’s especial blessing attended wearing a “plain coat,” and even those who differed from him could not but admire the straight-forward honesty of his convictions, nor Ml to catch a little of the enthusiasm of his love for the quaint old-fashioned dress and ways of our forefathers. I believe I shall never see a ‘’plain coat’’ nor a “plain bonnet” to the day of my death, without a secret spring of enjoyment at the recollections and associations recalled by them, and a passing sigh that the days and the generations are so rapidly passing away, when such coats and bonnets were so often the outward token of the inward conflict and victory.

But it was not only the outward testimonies of the Society of Friends which had convinced his judgment and enlisted his heart; he was an equally earnest advocate of all their more vital and deeper views. We have seen how fully and experimentally he entered into their principles and practice as to the spirituality of true worship, and how impossible he found it to enjoy any other kind. He highly valued the privilege of attending meetings, and would never allow any thing to interfere with this, either for himself or those under his control. When in business, he made it a rule that every clerk or employee who was a member of the Society of Friends, should attend the week-day meetings, no matter how great the stress of business, and often said he felt sure no business would suffer because of taking this weekly hour and a half out of the midst of the busy days, to draw nigh unto the Lord, and to wait upon Him for His help. When he first had a cottage at Atlantic City, there was no Friends’ meeting held in the place, and he opened his parlors for the purpose on First and Fifth day mornings, content to sit down and worship the Lord in silence with only his own family and the ‘’two or three,” if no more came, but glad to welcome all who felt like joining in this mode of worship. Some of these meetings were quite largely attended by visitors on the island, both friends and others, and were very precious seasons to our father, and to many. They were kept up every summer for several years until the cottage was given up, when his dea* friend, Eliza P. Gurney, opened her house for them, and there they were continued for many years with great blessing, until finally a meeting house was built and a reu,-ular meetino; established.

He held very strongly and fully the views of Friends in reference to a free and unpaid ministry, and to a worship conducted in the liberty of the Spirit, untrammelled by forms, believing there were none prescribed in the Scriptures, but that wherever two or three were gathered together to wait on the Lord, there He would always be in their midst. He united most warmly with their grand protest against war, and oaths, and slavery, and oppression and wrong of every kind, as also with their strict principles of commercial integrity, and of honorable dealings between man and man. He sympathized deeply with all the advanced truths held by them on every subject, and fully believed that Quakerism was, as a late writer has said, ‘’nothing less than broad, unfettered, and developed Christianity,” giving it in every way his warmest support.

We cannot wonder, therefore, that this time spent in Calcutta in his twenty-second year, when he first came to a full conviction of the truth of these views, was a very memorable one to him, and that he always recalled it with much interest.

They left Calcutta on their return voyage 12th mo.,
1821, and arrived in Philadelphia 4th month, 1822.
He thus records his experiences as second mate:

“I was helped to get along with tolerable satisfaction as to captain and crew. I never perceived the least jealousy in the latter at my promotion. The fact was that on all occasions of ditBculty or danger I was on hand, ready to do my full share, and to partake of the sailor’s discomforts, whatever they might be, and to favor them whenever in my power. An aceommodating spirit is a great blessing to all around, while a captious one gives constant trouble.

“We arrived in Philadelphia 4th month, 1822, and I found all our family pretty well, excepting as before ray precious sister Ann. She had evidently faded, and was not far from her heavenly home. She was perfectly lovely.”

It will be seen that he was rapidly rising in his profession. On his return from, this voyage to Calcutta, where he had beenmade second mate, he felt best satisfied to leave the ship, and was consequently thrown out of employment, but soon received an appointment to the position of chief mate on another vessel. He thus tells the story of this:

“I felt best satisfied not to sail again in the same ship, and was therefore at home and out of employment for some time. As something to do was very important, of course the thought of remaining idle was by no means comfortable. This uncertainty continued about two months, when one morning at my father’s house, I felt drawn to pray again to God that He would find me employment; and while on my knees, a carriage drove up with a kind messenger informing me that the ship “Dorothea” needed a first mate for a voyage to China, and that I was wanted for the position. Thus my prayer was answered, reminding of Daniel: ‘At the beginning of thy supplication the commandment went forth.” I immediately went to the city, and joined the vessel as chief mate, being now in my twenty-second year.”

Among his old papers we find the following testimonial, which no doubt contributed largely to the ofler of this situation:

“To Captain Harman of the Ship” Dorothea”: The bearer of this is Mr. John Whitall, who has been for nearly six years on board my vessels. He has always been highly spoken of to me by the ditTerent commanders of my vessels, and is of a very highly respectable family in Jersey. He is a very sober young man, and I am satisfied is worthy of full confidence. During the last voyage lie has acted as second officer on board the ‘’ Benjamin Rnsh,” and Capt. Girdon was pleased with him as an officer on board that ship. ‘’With respect, Edw. Thompson.

“PhUaddphia, June lith, 1822.”

This rapid rise he himself, however, always attributed to the goodness of the Lord in answer to his prayers; and we, who know the story of his life throughout, can truly testify that the Lord whom he so trusted did indeed honor his faith by giving him “the desires of his heart” in large measure, even filling his cup of life with a great deal of earthly prosperity and earthly joy. The truth was he believed in the love of his Heavenly Father, and expected blessings from His hands, and “according to his faith” it seemed indeed to be unto him in many marvellous ways.

He sailed for his fifth voyage in the 7th month, 1822, as chief mate on board the ship ‘’ Dorothea,” and he thus writes concerning his new position:

“Before sailing I took leave of my precious sister Ann, as never expecting to see her again in this life. It was a solemn parting, for I loved her dearly. It was an increasing trial to go from home for so long a voyage, for ray heart clung to my parents and sisters.

‘’Having had much and varied experience as a seaman and navigator, and having always taken every opportunity to learn all I could of the business, I did not find the duties of first officer of an Indiaman more than I could manage, but through the mercy and help of a kind Providence succeeded in my eiibrts the voyage through, though the captain was very difficult to please, and at one time I did not know but he would attempt to whip me. The third mate made a great deal of trouble, until I was obliged to ignore him entirely. On an island in the Pacific Ocean we stopped to get water, where it was said the natives were hostile. I was put in charge, and with me were sent the poorest of the crew, the captain probably thinking if we were cut ofl’, it would not matter much. We, however, succeeded in getting a supply of water, and saw nobody to hurt us.

“We had a tedious passage of one hundred and fifty days to Canton, arriving there in 12th month, 1822. We left in 2d month, 1823, and arrived at home in one hundred and fifteen days on 5th month, 31st, 1823. This was an uncomfortable voyage, the captain and crew being all fond of intoxicating liquor, and I suffered much on account of it.”

This trial, however, seems to have been blessed to him, for it cast him more completely on his Lord for help and comfort; and it was during this voyage in the early part of 1823 that he received that marked baptism of the Holy Spirit, of which a full account is given in the fourth chapter of this book. He thus records it in his Eeminiscences:

“In the early part of 1823, during our homeward voyage from Canton, I one day sat down alone to wait ujion the Lord, and I felt such a baptizing sense of His holy presence, and so much and so strong a belief that this silent waiting was owned of the Lord, and was the way to find and know Him, that it has been my practice ever since, oftener than the returning day, to observe a season of thus waiting upon Him. And blessed be His holy name, often in seasons of trial has He helped me and lifted up the blessed light of His countenance upon me, and greatly encouraged me to wait upon, trust in, and love Him with my whole heart.”

As we have noticed before, this was a very marked experience in his life, and one to which he often referred. It seemed to introduce his soul into a conscious communion with the Lord that never failed him afterward, ilnd the joy of the Lord’s manifested presence which he realized at this time so filled and satisfied his heart, that, as he says, he continued the practice of very frequent silent waiting upon Him all the rest of his life.

He also relates a very striking instance of Divine
guidance in answer to prayer, which occurred on this
voyage. He says:

“At one time after I had been made chief mate, while our ship was in the port of Gibraltar, the second mate carelessly let the anchor chain run overboard, so that the anchor with forty-five fathoms of chain lay at the bottom of the harbor in twelve fathoms of water, or about 72 feet deep. This was a new experience. How to recover the lost anchor was a question. There was one resource with which I was pretty well acquainted, and I laid the matter before the Lord. He showed me how to find the lost anchor, and gave me an assurance that we should succeed. Having, when we anchored the ship, noted the position, which was my practice, we had no difficulty in telling where the anchor lay; and, following the directions given me by the Lord, we soon recovered our anchor and chain, greatly to my relief and joy. Praised be the Lord!”

Upon his return from this voyage he felt it would be best for him to give up his position in the ship “Dorothea,” and he thus refers to it in his Eeminiscences.

“On returning home from this voyage I found all well, but sadly missed my dear sister Ann, who deceased soon after I parted from her in 7th mo., 1822. My parents had removed to Philadelphia during my absence, and my sisters Hannah and Sally had opened a school, which a kind Providence had smiled upon, and prospered them beyond their expectations. These two precious sisters had both been born again into the heavenly kingdom, and we could all sympathize together in a religious life.

‘’On arriving in Philadelphia, the captain desired me to remain as mate in the “Dorothea”; but having suffered so much, I did not feel inclined to go through the same again, and felt best satisfied to give up my position. It was well, as the ship was lost on the next vovage.”