1719. chofe, but my Friends, among whom I had many Opportunities, feem'd rather pleas'd than otherwife; telling me, That they did not care if I was to stay there always, if it were my Place: And when I left Barbadoes, Friends gave me better Credentials than I thought I deferved- A Friend of mine giving me Intelligence that the Market was better at Antigua than at Barbadoes, I dispatch'd my Affairs, and took Part of our Cargoe there, and was kindly received by our Friends. We were about three Days in our Paffage, and had fine Weather therein. At Antigua I Antigua. had divers Meetings, my Bufinefs at no Time hin

dered me in my more weighty Service; for I always, through divine Help, made that give Way to my religious Duty, in which I ever found Peace and inward Satisfaction. In about five Weeks I finifhed my Business in this Ifland, having no fmall Satisfaction in coming to it; and our Veffel being now loaden, we took our folemn Leave, and with the good Wishes of many, departed for England.

Our Friends there fignified to their Brethren, that they were glad of my Company, and that I was ferviceable to them, tho' I came upon Bufinefs. My Hand, when need required, was to my Bufinefs, but my Heart was, and I hope is, and ever fhall be, freely given up to ferve the Lord, in that Work whereunto I believe he has called me. We have Liberty from God, and his dear Son, lawfully, and for Accommodation's Sake, to Work or feek for Food or Raiment; tho' that ought to be a Work of Indifferency, compar'd to the great Work of Salvation. Our Saviour faith, Labour not for the Meat which perisheth, but for that which endureth for ever,. or to eternal Life: By which we do not understand, that Chriftians muft neglect their neceffary Occafions and their outward Trades and Callings; but that their chief Labour, and greatest Concern ought to be for their future Well-being in his glorious Kingdom;

elle

elfe why did our Lord fay to his Difciples, Children, 1719. bave you any Meat? They anfwered, No; and he bid them caft their Nets into the Sea, and they drew to Land a Net full of great Fishes; and Fifhing being their Trade, no doubt but they fold them, for it was not likely they could eat 'em all themselves. Also the Apostle of Chrift fays, He that doth not take care of his Family, is worse than an Infidel: And the Apostle Paul (the great Apoftle of the Gentiles) wrought with his Hands, even while he was in his Travels, and in the Work of the Gofpel; and others tafted of the Benefit of his Labour naturally, as well as fpiritually. It is alfo written, That he that will not work, Jhall not eat. By this, and much more, which might be noted, it appears that we not only have liberty to labour in Moderation, but we are given to understand, that it is our Duty fo to do. The Farmer, the Tradesman, and the Merchant, do not understand by our Lord's Doctrine, that they must neglect their Calling, or grow idle in their Bufinefs, but muft certainly work, and be industrious in their Callings. We all ought to understand, that our Hearts and Minds ought to be out of the World, or above the Nature and Spirit of it. 'Tis good and profitable for both Soul and Body, rightly to diftinguish between earthly and heavenly Things, and to be careful how they mix the one with the other; for it is an eternal Truth, that God and Mammon cannot dwell together, or join together in the Heart. If our Love is more to God than the Creature, or to Heaven than Earth, then will he dwell in us and with us: But if our Love is more to the Creature than to Chrift, or to Earth than Heaven, then will he not dwell with us, but will leave us to ourselves; for the Lord Omnipotent will not admit of any Rival.

On the 11th of the Fourth Month 1719, we left Antigua, ftood clofe to the Wind till we again croffed the Tropick, and got into thofe Latitudes where the

1719. Winds are variable. Sailing in the great Deeps we faw the Wonders of the Lord, particularly in divers Kinds of Fish, they living upon one another in the Sea, the great Fifhes on the fmall Ones; and Mankind too much resembles them in that Respect. About the Latitude of 33 North, our Mafter, Warner Holt, seeing a Scool of Porpoifes about the Ship, tho' he was not very well, and had not been for most of the Voyage, he took his Harpin-Iron, and struck one of them, and we took him into the Veffel, out of which we got eleven Quart Bottles of Oyl; and we most of us eat heartily of this Fish, which agreed with our People very well. They fry'd his Liver for our Mess, of which I eat a large Meal, which was well-tafted, and eat more like fresh Beef than Fish. I make this Memorandum of it, that if any fhould take them when their Provifions are fcarce, they may eat freely without Danger, according to our Experience. When we had been at Sea about three Weeks, being near the Latitude of 40 North, and about the Longitude of 42, tho' it was in the midft of Summer, we saw an Inland of Ice, at which we all marvelled, and judged that there had been a fevere cold Winter, in thofe Latitudes on the Land of America. When we faw this Ifland of Ice we judged ourselves not far from the Banks of Newfoundland. Hitherto we had eafy Gales of Wind, and many Calms, which made our Paffage feem long to us. We faw two Sail of Ships about thofe Latitudes, but fpoke with neither, being willing to fhun them as it was War-time.

We had in this Voyage Weekly Meetings for worshipping the Almighty, in which the great Lord both of Sea and Land, was pleafed greatly to manifeft his Name and Truth amongst us, for which my Soul often fecretly and openly bleffed and praised his divine and glorious Name and Truth; for he bore up my drooping Spirit, fo that I could truly fay with the Royal Pfalmift (not because he spoke it only, but also

being an experimental Witness thereof) The Floods have 1719. lifted up, O Lord, the Floods have lifted up their Voice: The Floods lift up their Waves. The Lord on High is mightier than the Noice of many Waters, yea, than the mighty Waves of the Sea, Pfalm xciii. 3, 4. This the King wrote of his own Experience in a fpiritual Sense; but I may fay without boafting, I have witnessed the Rage and Noife of mighty Waves and Waters, both natural and spiritual; the one, as tho' it would swallow up my Reputation among Men, and the other, as tho' it would fwallow up my Perfon, in this my watery Peregrination: But blessed be the Name of bim that is holy and eternal, who indeed is stronger than the Noife of many Waters, or than the mighty Waves of the Sea, either inwardly or outwardly, I will through his Strength, magnify bis Name, because be is worthy: And may I do it for ever!

About the 11th Day of the Fifth Month, we faw great Flocks of Birds, which we judged came from the Azores, or Western Islands, near which we reckoned ourselves to be. The 21ft Day we faw, and came up with a French Ship, which had been fishing on the Banks of Newfoundland, and was bound for Havre de Grace, in France, the Mafter of which came on board us, and our Captain went on board them. We exchanged fome Rums and Sugars (of our SeaStores) for their French Wine and Cyder, and fome of our Provifions for fome of their Fish. The Captain was a Proteftant, and very courteous to us: The Regent of France at this Time being kind to the Proteftants, fo that they increas'd much in that Kingdom. The Frenchman feeming defirous to know what Reli gion I was of, I told him, by an Interpreter, that I was one called a Quaker, or Trembler, and that our Principle was to do Good to all Men, and not to hurt any Man, according to Chrift's Doctrine, Not to render Evil for Evil, but to overcome Evil with Good. When they went away and took Leave of us, they

defired

1719. defired me to pray for them, the which I remembred with Tenderness of Spirit, and having but little Wind, we kept Company for feveral Days; but the Wind fpringing fair, we wished them well, and went on our Way, our Veffel outfailing moft we met with; and a few Days after we met with a New-England Ship, who came out fix Days before us from Antigua. We were then in the Latitude of about 50 North, and 29 Degrees of Longitude from the Lands-End of Great-Britain. The 30th Day of the Fifth Month, we founded, and found Ground at 28 Fathom, and on the 1ft of the Sixth Month, we faw the LandsEnd of England, all our Company being in Health, and well; for which my Heart was truly thankful, to that great and infinite Being, whofe Providence is over us poor Mortals in all Parts of the World, and who reigns over Sea and Land, and is worthy of Adoration, Worship, Service, and living Praise for ever!

In a few Days we came into the English Channel, and going up the Channel there came one of the King's Yatchs, and they preffed moft of our Men; the best Hands we had they took from us, and carried them on board a Man of War, after which we came to Anchor at Folkstone, where I left the Veffel, and got a Horse to Dover, and from Dover took Coach to London. In the Coach were divers Perfons who began to talk about the Quakers, and spoke against their plain Way of Living and Cloathing, and faid, That they did not understand their unfashionble Way of Converfation; neither was it the Way to gain Profelytes. Upon which I afked them, Whether they understood Paul, the great Apoftle of the Gentiles? who faid, Be ye not conformable to the World (i. e. the Fashions of it) for this great Reafon, The World, and the Fashions thereof, paffeth away; which is a great Truth, and it is plainly feen bow fickle and changeable the World is in its vain Fashions and Customs, which, to follow, in all its foolish

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