Mission with Prophetic Power: The Journal of John Woolman (SRSC 12)

Chapter 8: Finishing Well (1772)

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that with a view to get riches and to provide estates for children, that they may live conformably to the customs and honors of this world, many are entangled in the spirit of oppression, and the exercise* of my soul has been such, that I could not find peace in joining in anything which I saw was against that wisdom which is pure. After this I agreed for a passage in the steerage. I lodged at William Horn’s and afterward went to Chester, where I met with Samuel Emlen, and we went on board the first of Fifth Month, 1772. As I sat alone on the deck, I felt a satisfactory evidence that my proceedings were not in my own will, but under the power of the cross of Christ. Seventh of Fifth Month.—We have had rough weather mostly since I came on board, and the passengers, James Reynolds, John Till Adams, Sarah Logan with her hired maid, and John Bispham, all seasick at times; from which sickness, through the tender mercies of my heavenly Father, I have been preserved, my afflictions now being of another kind. There appeared an openness in the minds of the master of the ship and in the cabin passengers toward me. We are often together on the deck, and sometimes in the cabin. My mind, through the merciful help of the Lord, has been preserved in a good degree watchful and quiet, for which I have great cause to be thankful. As my lodging in the steerage, now near a week, has afforded me sundry opportunities of seeing, hearing, and feeling with respect to the life and spirit of many poor sailors, an exercise* of soul has attended me in regard to placing our children and youth where The Passage to England and Reflections on Sailors (May–June 1772)