Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

1726.

6

weak, after a little Stay, went to take their Leave of
him, whom he defired to fit down, and after fome
• Time of Silence, he broke forth in Declaration in an
intelligible and lively Manner, to this Effect, faying;
• We have no continuing City here, but feek one to come,
• which bath Foundations, whofe Builder and Maker is
God: Friends, that we may all labour to be prepared
for our last and great Change, that when this earthly
Tabernacle fhall be diffolved, we may have an Habitation
with the Lord, a Building not made with Hands, eter-
nal in the Heavens, and that it might be thus, the
• Lord bath fhewed thee, O Man, what is good, viz.
To do justly, love Mercy, and walk humbly with thy God:
• I do not expect but this will be the last Night 1 shall have
• in this World, and I defire it may be remembered, as
the Words of a dying Man (which came to pass, for
he died the next Day) O that we may labour to be
• clothed upon with our Houfe that is from Heaven, fo
that when the finishing Hour comes, we may have
nothing to do, but to die. About one or two a Clock
the next Morning, he began to change, and defired
to fee me; I came to him, and found him very
fenfible, but expected his End quickly to approach;
he faying, he was waiting for his Change. My Son-
in-law, Samuel Thornton, being with me, and we
fitting by the Bed-fide, with his Nurfe, his House-
keeper, and his Man, about the fourth Hour in the
Morning he prayed fervently after this Manner :
Lord, now letteft thou thy Servant depart in Peace,
for mine Eyes have feen thy Salvation, which thou haft
prepared before the Face of all People (thou hast given
thy Son) a Light to enlighten the Gentiles, and to be
the Glory of thy People Ifrael; and now, Lord, be with
thy People and Servants, and preferve my near and
dear Relations, and keep them from the Snares and
Temptations of the Enemy, that in thy Truth they may
fear thy great Name.

[ocr errors]

.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

• After

K

After a little Time of Silence, he defired me to 1726. ⚫ remember his dear Love, in the Life of Chrift Jefus, to my dear Brother Thomas Chalkley, in Penfylvania, and to all his old Friends and Acquaintance.

[ocr errors]

About the eleventh Hour in the Morning he enquired how the Tide was, which no Body prefent • could exactly tell; fome Time after he asked again; • his Man then went out to fee; returning, he told him, it would be High-water about three a Clock in the • Afternoon; he then lay ftill a while, and after fome • Pause spoke chearfully out aloud, so that all in the • Room might hear him, I shall go off about Five; his

Man faid, Mafter how do'ft know? To which he • answered, Know, I do not know, but I believe it. After this the Apothecary, one of his Neighbours (among ⚫ whom he was well beloved) about Noon came to fee him, and asked him how he was? Father answered, that for three or four Hours in the Night he . thought he should have gone. Why, faid he, Sir, it will be no Surprise to you, I hope. No, no, faid my 'Father very chearfully. He taking Leave of Father, 'faid, The Lord be with you. To whom Father anfwered, And with thee alfo: The Doctor having or⚫dered him a comfortable Cordial to drink, he drank it willingly, and then faid, I don't think to drink any more in this World; but I hope I shall drink plentifully of the River of Life: Then drawing near his End, finding his Strength fail, there being a Cord by his Order at the Bed's Feet, he raised himfelf up thereby as long as he had any Strength left in his Hands, and when his Hands and Shoulders fail'd, and his Head, when laft lifted up, he spoke very low and faultering, yet fo as I could understand, and faid, Now I am a going, and about an Hour after, laying all the while without Sigh or Groan, de'parted this Life as in a Slumber in fweet Peace, according as he had foretold, juft as the Clock ftruck Five, in a perfect Enjoyment of that Legacy our

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

.

Saviour

1726.

Saviour left his Followers; My Peace I leave with you, &c. leaving us of the fucceeding Generation, a good Example to follow; who, as he lived, fo he died, like a Lamb, in the eighty-fourth Year of his Age, the feventh Day of the First • Month, 1725.

GEO. CHALKLEY.

To which Account I fhall add the following fhort Teftimony concerning my dear and greatly beloved Father, George Chalkley, viz.

I have a great deal in my Heart, more than I ⚫ can write concerning my dear Father's Life, it having been a wonderful Life to me from my Youth < up; his early Care of me, and Counsel to me, < when I was too thoughtless and wild, melts me in⚫ to Tears now in the Remembrance of it; and my • tender Mother was a Partner with him in the fame Exercise, and fhe died in like Peace: The laft • Words I heard her speak, were, I long to be diffolved. And as to my tender Father, I would record a little briefly in Memory of him, that he was

ift. A true and faithful Servant of Chrift.

[ocr errors]

2d. A tender and affectionate Hufband: I lived 4 at Home with my Parents about twenty Years, and I never heard (that I remember) an angry Expreffion between them, only once fomething had troubled them, and they both wept, my Father faying, I have been an indulgent Hufband unto thee, and my Mother answered, I have not been one of the worft of Wives to thee; which were the harshest Words, and the greatest Difference that I observed between them; for their Life was a Life of Peace and Love, and they were an excellent Example to us their Children. Oh! May we follow them therein to the End!

3d. He had a fatherly Care for his Children, in ⚫ tender Prayers for us, and in good Advice to us, • and

[ocr errors]

and in giving us Learning according to his Ability, 1726. and teaching us (by his Example, as well as Precept) Industry, Humility, and the true Religion of our C our bleffed Saviour, endeavouring to plant it in us betimes, and to destroy the evil Root of Sin in us, < while young.

[ocr errors]

4th. I was his Servant, as well as his Son, and I can truly fay, his Service was delightful, and his • Company pleafing and profitable to me and he was also beloved much by his other Servants.

[ocr errors]

5th. He was univerfally beloved by his Neigh<bours, and I do not remember any Difference be<tween him and them, in the many Years I lived with him; but all was Peace and Love.

6th. He was very loving to his Relations, and < true to his Friends, and a hearty Well-wisher and • Lover of his King and Country."

T. C..

Our General-meeting at Frankfort, the 30th of the Fourth Month was large, our Friend William Piggot, from London, being there (in the Course of his Vifit to Friends in America) and had close Work and good Service in this Meeting.

In the Fifth Month 1726, I vifited the Meetings of Friends at Philadelphia, German-town, and Bybury, Philadel phia. in some of which Meetings, as alfo at our own at GermanFrankfort, I had very comfortable Satisfaction: My town, &c. Testimony was pretty sharp fometimes to Tranfgref fors, and therefore fome of them hate me, as the Jews did my great Mafter: Because I was concerned to testify, that their Deeds were evil, and to excite my Friends to manifest a Christian Zeal, by openly deny-: ing ungodly Men, while they continue in their ungodly Works; but when they become truly penitent, and reform their Lives, the Arms of Chrift, and his Church, will be open to receive them.

1726.

Uwchland.

Being under fome melancholy Thoughts, becaufe fome Perfons, for whom I wifhed well, and to whom I had been of Service, were so envious and malicious as to tell falfe Stories of me, tending to defame me; as I was riding to our Meeting, it opened with Satisfaction to my Mind, The more my Enemies hate me, the more I'll love, if that can be; and I had hearty Defires to come up in the Practice of this Refolution: And I then thought I should come up with them all, for if a Man loves and prays for his Enemies, if they are gained, he is inftrumental to their Good, and fo hath Caufe of Rejoicing; and if they are not gained, he heaps Coals of Fire on their Heads; fo that every true Chriftian, by keeping under the Crofs of Chrift, and in the Practice of his Doctrine, gets the better of his Enemies.

In the Beginning of the Sixth Month, I was at the Burial of Robert Fletcher, a worthy Man, and one univerfally beloved by all Sorts of People (as far as ever I heard.) There was a large Meeting at his Funeral, wherein feveral Teftimonies, fuitable to the Occafion, were born: Some of his last Words were mentioned, which were, That he had lived according to the Measure of Grace given him. And the Doctrine of the Refurrection was maintained according to the Scripture, and the People were exhorted to prepare for their final Change. The Death of this Friend was a Lofs to the Country, to our Society, and to his Neighbours, as well as to his Family and Friends.

After Meeting I travelled towards Uwchland, had a Meeting there on First-day, and on Second-day another Meeting at Lewis Walker's, and on Third-day Haverford. was at the General-meeting at Haverford: Friends were exhorted to dwell in the Love of God, one towards another; for if they loft their Love, they would lofe their Religion, their Peace, and their God; for God is Love, and thofe that dwell in God, dwell in

Love.

My

« AnteriorContinuar »