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

Chapter 4: The Ministry of Visitation to Individuals (1757–1759)

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In this Yearly Meeting 1 several weighty matters were considered, and toward the last that in relation to dealing with persons who purchase slaves. . . . Several Friends expressed their desire that a visit might be made to such Friends as kept slaves, and many others said that they believed liberty was the Black person’s* right; to which, at length, no opposition was publicly made. A minute* was made more full on that subject than any before; and the names of several Friends entered who were free to join in a visit to such as kept slaves. Eleventh of Eleventh Month, 1758.—This day I set out for Concord; the Quarterly Meeting before held there was now, by reason of a great increase of members, divided into two by the agreement of Friends at our last Yearly Meeting. After this meeting I joined with my friends, Daniel Stanton and John Scarborough, in visiting Friends who had slaves. At night we had a family meeting at William Trimble’s, many young people being there; and it was a precious, reviving opportunity. Next morning we had a comfortable sitting with a sick neighbor, and after that with the burial of the corpse of a Friend at Uwchland Meeting, at which were many people, and it was a time of divine favor, after which we visited some who had slaves. In the evening we had a family meeting at a Friend’s house, where the channel of the gospel love was opened,* and my mind was comforted after a hard day’s labor. In the beginning of Twelfth Month I joined in company with my friends John Sykes and Daniel Stanton, in visiting such as had slaves. Some whose hearts were rightly

1 The 1758 Yearly Meeting was held in Philadelphia. See the end of Chapter 3.