Newcastle, Shields and a Farewell

On the 2nd of August, I embarked on board a steamer for London: there were a great many passengers on board; several of whom were from very widely distant parts of the earth. Some of the passengers requested me to preach to them, and the captain having given permission, we ascended the poop, and there held our meeting, which many persons seemed much interested. One gentleman afterwards came and inquired my name, saying that he was about to write to his wife, and wished to give her an account of a meeting so interesting and so novel to the crew of a steam-ship. I arrived in London about six o’clock in the evening very much fatigued. On going to my friend’s, Mr. T., I found Mrs. T. was absent from home. I lodged that night at Mrs. F—’s; and the day following, I went to my former lodgings in Princes-square. My mind was somewhat cast down by these matters; for, notwithstanding the extensive exercises my faith has experienced, I am often too much a mere creature of circumstances.

On the 7th I went to Great Queen-street chapel to hear Bishop Soul from America, and was very much fatigued with the length of the walk. My mind was at this time very cloudy and dark; and I formed the resolution to call upon and have an interview with the Bishop; but as I began to get myself ready for the visit, I was seized with a fearful tremour and loss of strength. I sunk down upon a chair, and pondered within myself the reason of this visitation, and it occurred to me, that my design of going to the Bishop was taken without the permission of God being first obtained. I therefore abandoned this project, and the cloud on my spirit soon disappeared, and my peace was restored. Shortly afterwards, Mr. D—y came and engaged me to preach in Crosby Row chapel, Borough; Mr. G. engaged me to preach in his chapel, I also made an engagement to preach for Mr. P. and another to preach for Mr. O. in Whites-row chapel. I also preached in Timothy chapel, Ratcliff Highway, for Mr. B. and for many other ministers and congregations in other chapels, after fulfilling a host of engagements; and a variety of labour, I receiving an invitation from the north of England; and on the 27th of November I went on board a vessel for Berwick-upon-Tweed. We had a very boisterous passage; and, in the night, a gale of wind laid the vessel completely on her side. The passengers all concluded that we should soon be overwhelmed in a watery grave; but the Lord held our lives in His preserving care, and the vessel was got upright again. At eleven o’clock on the night of the 30th, we came to anchor in the port of Berwick. I went ashore, the same night, to Mr. J. R—’s, the superintendent, who very kindly received me; and thence retired to Mr. G—s. Many persons were converted to God under my ministry in this town; among the number of whom, was Miss A. G.; she had been to chapel with me, and, on our return, several of the preachers accompanied us; before we parted, we kneeled down in prayer together, and the Lord then and there gave her the knowledge of salvation by the remission of sins. The town of Berwick is one of great antiquity: the people pointed out the remains of an old castle, which is said to have priority over the Christian era; also, the ruins of an old abbey of remote antiquity. The streets of Berwick, I was informed, have been drenched with human blood. There are several places of worship in the town belonging to different denominations; and the pasture fields in the vicinity are very beautiful and green. There is also an elegant pier, which is a convenient promenade for the townspeople, and an extensive fishery. From this place, I went over to Holy Island, and preached to the fishermen, and enjoyed some very blessed meetings among them. This is a place of great antiquity, and was formerly inhabited by a great number of monks. On my return to Berwick, Mr. R. conducted me to Newcastle-upon-Tyne. I went from thence to Shields on the 25th of December, and reached there late in the evening; but my Heavenly Father had been there before me, and prepared the way. A comfortable home was provided, and generous open hearts to receive the stranger at Mrs. T—s. When I arrived at her house, I was not aware that it had been arranged for me to lodge there. I therefore sat waiting to go I knew not whither. Mrs. T. bade me take off my out-doors apparel, at which I inquired if I was to stay there? and she replied, “Yes, this is your house as long as you stay in these parts; and we shall receive our reward in heaven.” She then related how her mind had been exercised, until she came to the resolution to receive me under her roof. The Lord grant to this dear lady an hundred-fold more in this present time, and in the world to come, everlasting life. My labours here commenced on the 25th, in the new chapel. Mr. R. of Berwick, preached in the morning and evening, and myself in the afternoon: it was an auspicious commencement. On Monday, I attended a tea-meeting, which proved a very interesting time; and many excellent addresses were delivered by the speakers. After this, I went and preached at Newcastle, and returned again to South Shields. The sphere of effort was enlarged before me, and in labours I became more abundant. In heat and cold, through wet and dry weather, by night and day, I laboured in that part of God’s vineyard, preaching the gospel of Christ incessantly, wherever opportunity was afforded me. One of the seals to my ministry here, was a descendant of Abraham, according to the flesh—a Jew outwardly, who; believing in the Lord with the heart unto righteousness, became a Jew inwardly also.

The success of my ministry, in Shields, was very gratifying; but here as in many other places, I endured a considerable share of persecution from the opponents of female preaching; some opposing my ministry of mere caprice, and others from mistaken convictions. Satan never fails to find a pretext by which to inspire his agents with opposition against that ministry which is of God. While in this neighbourhood, I was sent for to visit a young man confined to his bed with mortal disease: though favoured with Christian parents, it appeared that when in health, he had indulged in sentiments very inimical to revealed religion: subdued however by a sickness which exhausted his spirits and secluded him from the accustomed gaieties of life, he became susceptible of more serious impressions and of juster views. On my first visit to him, he was not only very weak in body, but very dark as to his perceptions of spiritual things. As I read the Scriptures, conversed with and opened to him the way of salvation, he was led to a discernment of the great atonement for sin in the cross of Jesus, and cried to the Lord for mercy: the Lord heard our united prayers, and spoke peace to his soul. He took refuge in the propitiation set forth by the Most High, became justified by faith, and believing, found peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. His surviving days were employed in the praises of Him who had called him out of darkness into His marvellous light; and he rejoiced in hope of the glory of God: the love of God was richly shed abroad in his heart by the Holy Ghost; and after languishing a few weeks more in the flesh, he found the rest which he sought; departing to be with Jesus, which is far better than a protracted abode among the ills of mortality.

On the 28th of January, 1844, I preached again at Newcastle, on the opening of a chapel that had been long closed: but was now taken by the Ebenezer society for the cause of the Lord: the meetings were well attended; and I had the pleasure of knowing that some persons were converted to God therein. I generally found Newcastle a very barren and rocky soil to work upon; for the wickedness of the people is very great; and the cry of it, like the cry of Sodom, must ere long reach unto heaven; but nevertheless God hath a chosen remnant even there, whom He delights to bless; and I might enumerate many names here dear to me, whom I love for the truth’s sake which dwelleth in them.

On the 8th of September, I went to Rainton Hall; and preached on the following Lord’s day to a numerous congregation in Middle Rainton; the place was filled with the glory of the Lord, and the people with the Holy Ghost; the next day we had a delightful tea meeting. On the 12th, I visited Colliery-road; passed the day at Mrs. L——s, took breakfast at Mr. R——s, and returned to preach at Rainton. Just before I went into the meeting, I was called in to see a sick woman, who related to me a remarkable vision which she had seen. On the 14th; I preached at Pittenton to a very large audience; and the meeting was attended with much power and spiritual assurance; after the service the friends presented me with a small sum of money for which I was thankful to my Heavenly Father. On the 15th, I went to New Lampton, and was cordially received by Mr J. H——n: on the 15th, I preached to a large assembly, and on the next Lord’s day I preached again to a dense mass of people, and held a prayer meeting after preaching. On retiring from that meeting, I was filled with the love of God too full to conceal my emotion, and I seemed to hear a concert of angelic voices singing the hymns of God in the air over my head.

On the 19th, I went to Lumley, and preached in the new connexion chapel to a large and listening audience. It was a very solemn season; there being a very fatal distemper raging in the town at the time, which had prostrated many persons in death, and rendered their surviving relatives and friends so many bereaved mourners: the next day I returned to New Lampton, greatly exhausted by much travelling and preaching. On the 23rd, I went to Hettingly hole, and visited a young woman then dying, whose death occurred a few hours after. On the 24th, I preached in the Seceders Chapel to an immense throng of people; the vapours which arose from so compacted a concourse, as it condensed, ran down the walls in streams of water; and I caught a severe cold on this occasion. On the 27th, I preached there again to another multitude: the day following I spent the afternoon at Mr. W——s, whose daughter, a widow, was dying: we bowed the knee in prayer to God for her; and I received the assurance that our petitions were granted: she spoke not, but when I arose, she took my hand, and looked at me with an affectionately languishing smile. On the 30th, I went to Colliery row, being in very bad health. I preached three sermons there, and likewise held a love feast; and taking a last farewell of my dear friends, I returned on the 4th of October to New Lampton, and on the 5th, preached at Newbottle, in the Wesleyan chapel; the friends connected with which expressed themselves greatly edified, invited me to preach there again on the following Lord’s day, and gave me a ticket for their tea meeting of Monday. One of the brethren engaged early to inform me by note on what part of the Lord’s-day I should occupy their pulpit; however, I received no note from him, and therefore I went not. On the Monday, having a ticket for their tea meeting; I went with several of my friends; but could not obtain admittance; for the interval from Saturday was too great for their memories: they had all forgotten me; nor was there one who was able to recognise the preacher who had so delighted them the previous week, they had probably received a philippic from some petty Authority against female preachers, which had blotted me out altogether from their thought and feeling. On my return in the evening, I was attacked with a very severe fit of illness, which confined me to my bed for five months; but my Heavenly Father was graciously pleased to make my consolations abound throughout this period of affliction; that dear lady Elizabeth Gardiner, was unremitting in her kind attentions to me, and with great benevolence administered to my necessities. Mr. A. gave proof of the constancy of his kindness, and sustained the burden of my sickness without prospect or desire of remuneration; the kind friends loved not in word only, but in deed and in truth: my medical attendant also was very assidious and kind.

I have felt much gratitude to the Lord for enkindling so great a friendship for me in the bosoms of many persons in England; many of my English acquaintance possess a large share of my affections; and an imperishable image in my memory; but I know by experience the heart of a stranger; many and deep and raging have been the billows of affliction which have rolled over my soul since I crossed the Atlantic Ocean. My reader may perceive that I have not been an idle spectator in my Heavenly Master’s cause. During my sojourn in England, I have preached considerably more than a thousand sermons. I have expended all my means in travels of no little extent and duration; devoted my time, employed the energies of my spirit, spent my strength and exhausted my constitution in the cause of Jesus; and received of pecuniary supplies and temporal remunerations in comparison with my time and labours a mere pittance, altogether inadequate to shield me from a thousand privations, hardships, target-fires, vexatious anxieties and deep afflictions, to which my previous life was an utter stranger.

After an absence of six months, on my recovery, I returned to my kind friends in Shields, and the next day went to fulfil an engagement I had entered into when I was last there. As I proceeded to the place, I did not expect to return again alive, my exhaustion and debility was so extreme; but the Lord sustained me; and my strength was equal to my day. I preached four sermons in the space of three days, and returned more convalescent than I went. In a few months’ time, I became fully occupied again in the work of the Lord, and continued my labours in Shields, Newcastle and Sunderland until the month of July, 1844, when I bade my kind friends a final farewell, to see them no more until we meet in the kingdom of God. My last address to the dear friends in Shields was attended with a great sensation among the people, and was a very affecting season. On the 31st of July I left Shields, embarking at seven o’clock that evening on board a steam vessel for London. On my arrival in the port of London, I was met at the water side by my very kind friends, Mr. and Mrs. B.T. My soul truly rejoiced to meet my dear brethren and sisters in Christ of this metropolis once more in this vale of tears; and the Lord soon made my way clear on this my third visit to this great city. I have enjoyed much of the divine life in my soul since I have been here; my first residence was in Solomon’s terrace, Back Road, St. George in the East; but I was obliged to leave it on account of the intemperate habits of one of its inmates. Drunkenness is an awful vice, and though debasing to both sexes, seems yet more unbecoming in a woman; it is a prolific parent of crime, being the origin of a thousand other evils. The Most High has strikingly reprobated this sin, by attaching to it the capital punishment of banishment from the kingdom of heaven. About the commencement of the present year, 1845, I removed to the residence of Mr. T. Dudley, 19, Charter-house-lane, where I enjoy a comfortable home. I soon after visited Jewin-street chapel; and have cause for thanksgivings to God for directing me to that place of worship. My first visit to this chapel was on the watch night of the evening of December 31, 1844: I also attended at another meeting, commonly known among the Wesleyans as a covenant meeting, the object of which is a renewed dedication of our entire selves to the kingdom, service and glory of Christ. In a few evenings afterwards I joined Mr. Self’s class; he is an able and experienced leader; I much enjoy and highly prize his judicious Christian counsel as a class leader: and feel a great attachment to each member of the class; I think the friends are growing in grace, in the knowledge of the truth, and increasing with the increase of the life of God. I esteem class meetings as a most wise and benevolent provision for the spiritual necessities of the saints; they appear somewhat to resemble the ancient church meetings of the primitive Christians which were instituted by the apostles; and might easily be vested with yet closer approximation to them, and increased powers of edification: such meetings greatly tend to preserve the purity and transparency of the renewed heart; there the weary soul is invigorated, the doubting mind confirmed, the dismayed heart encouraged: the tempted are instructed, the heedless are admonished, and the lukewarm stimulated; the class-meeting is the place where the saints compare notes; and behold in each other’s experience their own lineaments and image.

Let me exhort my dear Christian friends of every name and denomination, by no means to omit any possible attendance on the means of grace, which are intended for their growth in the divine life and image; that they may not only hold fast where to they have attained, but become filled with the life and power, and display the perfection of the Christian religion; being the children of the resurrection, the sons of God, and receive an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Slumbering virgins, the Bridegroom cometh! Rouse timely to the midnight cry. I exhort all Christians, believing that there is but one church of Jesus Christ in this wilderness; and I trust she will soon come forth as the morning, leaning on her beloved, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as a bannered army. May all who are of the household of faith stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made them free. Dear brethren, the time is short, it is ominous, and it is perilous: be steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. Be not carried about with every wind of doctrine; at the same time, reject not, nor fight against any statement of the Scriptures of truth, but with all confidence, aptitude and simplicity, as little children, receive and adopt all their inspired instructions. Mark, I beseech you, the signs of the times; they are awfully portentous: Christ’s words are every where fulfilling, “Because iniquity shall abound the love of many shall wax cold. Perilous times are verging upon us: He has asked the question, when the Son of man cometh will He find faith on the earth?” Alas, of outward profession there is abundance; but of true faith, a melancholy dearth. May we be prepared to answer this question for ourselves, by keeping our faith in continual exercise.

I have now furnished my readers with an outline of my religious experience, ministerial labours and travels, together with some of the attendant results, both on the continent of America and in England: these humble memoirs will doubtless continue to be read long after I shall have ceased from my earthly labours and existence. I submit them, dear Christian reader, to thy attentive consideration, and commend this little volume and each of its readers to the blessing of the adorable God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.