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

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Mission with Prophetic Power: The Journal of John Woolman

against fighting, and I had some satisfactory conversation with him concerning it. Then I went to the Swamp Meeting, and to Wayanoke Meeting, and then crossed James River, and lodged near Burleigh. From the time of my entering Maryland I have been much under sorrow, which of late so increased upon me that my mind was almost overwhelmed, and I may say with the psalmist, “In my distress I called upon the Lord; to my God I cried for help” (Ps 18:6) who, in infinite goodness, looked upon my affliction, and in my private retirement sent the Comforter for my relief, for which I humbly bless His holy name. The sense I had of the state of the churches brought a weight of distress upon me. The gold to me appeared dim, and the fine gold changed, 3 and though this is the case too generally, yet the sense of it in these parts has in a particular manner borne heavy upon me. It appeared to me that, through the prevailing of the spirit of this world, the minds of many were brought to an inward desolation, and instead of the spirit of meekness, gentleness, and heavenly wisdom, which are the necessary companions of the true sheep of Christ, a spirit of fierceness and the love of dominion too generally prevailed. From small beginnings in error great buildings by degrees are raised, and from one age to another are more and more strengthened by the general concurrence of the people; and as men obtain reputation by their profession of the truth, their virtues are mentioned as arguments in favor of general error; and those of less note, to justify themselves, say, such and such good men did the like. By what other steps could the people of Judah arise to 3 Exodus 25–27 and 36–39 describe elements for use in the worship of God, many of them overlayed with gold and fine gold. Woolman uses this image to illustrate metaphorically his sense of the condition of the churches he visited.