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A few weeks afterwards, the woman's innocence was proved by the confession of the man who committed the crime. The biographer remarks, "I have often heard Friend Hopper relate this anecdote, and he always said he could vouch for the truth of it; and for several other similar things in the ministry of his friend Arthur."

they found the company, in exactly the con- man listened with evident astonishment. When dition of the dream, and brought in the rem- the communication was finished, he said, ‘I nant alive. A gentleman present said, 'You don't know who this man is, or how he has obneed have no doubt of this; for we Californians tained information on this subject; but certain all know the facts, and the names of the fami- it is, he has repeated, word for word, a converlies brought in, who now look upon our venera-sation I supposed was known only to myself ble friend as a kind of saviour.' These names and the deceased."" he gave, and the places where they reside, and I found afterward that the California people were ready, everywhere, to second his testimony. Nothing could be more natural than for the good-hearted patriarch himself to add, that the brightest thing in his life, and that which gave him greatest joy, was his simple faith in that dream. I thought also that I could see in that joy the glimmer of a true Christian love and life, into which, unawares to himself, he had really been entered by that faith. Let any one attempt now to account for the coincidences of that dream, by mere natural causalities, and he will be glad enough to ease his labor by the acknowledgment of a supernatural Providence."

In the same work I find the substance of a remarkable revelation made to Arthur Howell, who lived in the latter part of the last century. It is more circumstantially related by Lydia Maria Child, in her Life of Isaac T. Hopper. "Arthur Howell," she says, (6 was another intimate acquaintance of Friend Hopper. He was a currier in Philadelphia, a preacher in the Society of Friends, characterized by kindly feelings, and a very tender conscience."

From the days of George Fox to the present time many supernatural revelations have been made, some of which are as well attested as · any historical facts on record. I will refer to a few of them.

Previous to the great fire in London, which, in the year 1666, consumed thirteen thousand dwelling-houses and eighty-nine church edifices, desolating four hundred streets,-the coming event was forseen and foretold by several Friends.

"George Fox, while imprisoned in Lancaster Castle the previous year, had received an evidence that a great calamity was impending over the southern part of the kingdom. Humphrey Smith, a valued minister of the Gospel, about two years before his decease, had a remarkable vision, in which he was shown the destruction by fire of a great part of the city of London. He saw her tall buildings fall, and her goodly palaces consumed, and none could quench the flames; he passed through her desolate streets and saw but few inhabitants. This vision be published as a warning to the people about six years before it was fulfilled, and his printed prophecy is still extant.*

Thomas Forster, a faithful Friend, who died in the year 1660, foresaw that a great part of the city would be destroyed, and at his request his wife and family removed to the suburbs, by which means they escaped the loss of their goods by fire.t

"One Sunday morning, he was suddenly impelled to proceed to Germantown in haste. As he approached the village he met a funeral procession. He had no knowledge whatever of the deceased; but it was suddenly revealed to him that the occupant of the coffin before him was a woman whose life had been saddened by the suspicion of a crime, which she never cominitted. The impression became very strong on his mind that she wished him to make certain statements at her funeral. Accordingly, he followed the procession, and when they arrived at the meeting house, he entered and listened to the prayer delivered by her pastor. When the customary ceremonies were finished, Arthur Howell rose and asked permission to speak. 'I did not know the deceased, even by name,' said he. But it is given me to say, that she suffered much and unjustly. Her neighbors generally suspected her of a crime which she did not commit; and in a few weeks from this time it will be made clearly manifest to the world that she was innocent. A few hours before her death, she talked on this subject with the clergyman who attended her, and who is now present; and it is given me to declare the communication she made to him on that occasion.' He then proceeded to relate the par† See Piety Promoted, 1660, and Janney's History ticulars of the interview; to which the clergy-of Friends, ii. 203, note.

Thomas Ibbit, a Friend from Huntingdonshire, came into the city two days before the fire, and alighting from his horse, with his clothes thrown loosely around him, like a person dressed in haste, ran through the streets toward Whitehall, proclaiming that the city would be laid waste by fire. On the second day after his arrival he was engaged in the same way, and some of the Friends, being apprehensive that he was deranged, or under a delusion, had a private interview with him.

The vision of Humphrey Smith which he saw concerning London-1660–61.

He told them he had a vision of the fire some time before, but delayed to come and declare it, until, as he expressed it, "the fire was felt in his own bosom." George Whitehead, one of the Friends who had the interview with T. Ibbit, states the fact in his work called Christian Progress. It is also related in George Fox's Journal and Sewel's History of Friends. I will relate one more case of Divine inter position, which I take from the Journal of John Banks. William Penn writes that he had known this Friend for forty four years, and that "he was a heavenly minister of experimental religion, of a sound judgment and pious practice, valiant for truth upon the earth, and ready to serve all in the love and peace of the Gospel." He writes as follows: "About this time, a pain struck into my shoulder, and gradually fell down into my arm and hand, so that I was wholly deprived of the use of it; the pain increased both day and night. For three months I could neither put my clothes on nor off, and my arm and hand began to wither, so that I applied to some physicians, but could get no cure by any of them. At last, as I was asleep upon my bed, in the night time, I saw in a vision that I was with dear George Fox. I thought I said to him, ' 'George, my faith is such, that if thou seest thy way to lay thy hand upon my shoulder, my arm and hand shall be whole throughout.' This remained with me two days and nights, that the thing was a true vision, and that I must go to George Fox; "ntil at last, through much exercise of mind, as a great trial of my faith, I was made willing to go to him, he being then at Swarthmore in Lancashire, where there was a meeting of Friends on the First day of the week. Sometime after the meeting, I called him aside into the hall, and gave him a relation of my dream, showing him my arm and hand; and in a little time, we walking together silently, he turned about and looked upon me, and lifting up his haud, lay it upon my shoulder, saying, The Lord strengthen thee, both within and without.'

"I went to Thomas Lower's, of Marsh Grange, that night; and when I was sat down to supper, immediately, before I was aware, my hand was lifted up to do its office, which it could not do for long before. This struck me with great admiration, and my heart was broken into tenderness before the Lord; and the next day I went home with my hand and arm restored to its former use and strength without any pain. The next time that George Fox and I met, he said, 'John, thou mended;' I answered, 'Yes, very well in a little time.'Well,' said he, 'Give God the glory;' to whom I was and still am bound in duty so to do, for that and all

other His mercies and favors. He hath all power in His own hand, and can thereby bring

to pass whatsoever seems good in his own eyes;
who by the same prepares instruments and
makes use of them as pleaseth him, who is
alone worthy of all praise, honor and glory, both
now and forevermore.
Amen."*

George Fox does not allude, in his Journal, to this case of healing, but he mentions some other cases, two of which in particular are not less remarkable. In answer to a query addressed to him in Carolina concerning a similar case of healing, he said, "We do not glory in such things, but many such things have been done by the power of Christ.”

Some other facts, equally remarkable and well sustained by testimony, may be found related in my History of the Society of Friends, and doubtless there are other sections of the Christian church whose annals contain similar evidences of Divine condescension devoted followers of the Lamb.

to the

Write injuries in dust, but kindness in marble. Lay not your faculties in the sepulchre of idleness.

THE GOODNESS OF THE SEASONABLE WORD. "A word spoken in due season, how good is it!" -Prov. xv. 23.

This is a brief declaration; and, like many others, though brief it is full of instruction. For if there is a time for everything and a season for every work under the sun, there is specially, we may believe, the right time for the right thing and the due season for the good work. Indeed, to a great extent its goodness consists, and its value lies, in its seasonableness. It is not less true in a spiritual than in a natural sense that there is a time to sow and a time to plant; and the wise laborer will watch for the time and discern the season. As, in our addresses to the Almighty, we are not heard for our much speaking, so our testimony for Him will not on that ground find acceptance, nor will our words gain an entrance into the hearts of our fellows by reason of their number; but if they find a place there and spring up and bring forth fruit, it will be because under the divine guidance they have been sown in their "due season" and graciously watered by the rain of Heaven. There is a time to plant, a time to keep silence and a time to speak. May those who labor in the Lord's vineyard and have a word from Him ever seek to know the season when the seed is not only ripe for the soil, but the soil prepared for the seed; for the preparation of the heart, as well as the answer of the tongue, is from the Lord. This is, I apprehend, a testimony upheld in an especial manner by the religious Society of Friends, as to the ministry of the Gos

* Journal of John Banks, Friends' Lib. vol. 2, p. 24. and Janney's Hist, of Friends, ii. 286.

pel; that a divine direction may be known, and should be experienced, not only as to the word to be spoken, but "the season "in which it is due. How many are there among us who can bear testimony to the truth, "a word spoken, IN DUE SEASON, how good is it!"

pression in words, to our own peace, the edification and comfort one of another, and the glory of God. How many, brethren and fathers, have been the seasons allowed to pass by, the opportunities lost, when from want of a little exercise of faith there has been no word In the hour of danger the word of warning, spoken! How many of us must be sensible of in the day of trouble the word of comfort and our shortcomings, and some how often, when counsel, of strength in the hour of temptation, we remember that it is written, not of a feelof encouragement in the hour of fainthearted-ing only, but of "a word, SPOKEN, in due seaness, of faith in the moment of weakness and son, how good is it!" doubt, of love and sympathy in the season of adversity and affliction, or in the day of prosperity the word of admonition not to forget God, in that of recreation and pleasure that we condemn not ourselves in that thing which we allow. How good under every circumstance and in every condition of life has proved the fitly spoken word; like a brook by the way to the weary and thirsty traveller; like apples of gold in pictures of silver to longing eyes and hungry souls; to the loitering and indifferent, as goads and as nails fastened by the master of assemblies! Under the power of Him who alone can touch the heart, under that guiding hand which alone can build the city, under the blessing of Him who alone can give the increase, how good has proved the faithful, seasonable word, though only a word, dropped in brokenness and simplicity. Those who gave and those who received can alike add their Amen to the declaration of the wise king, that even A WORD, spoken in due season, how good is it!"

I want to encourage my dear friends in this matter of seeking for ability to speak the word in season; I do not mean as an extraordinary occurrence or on exceptional occasions, but as among the daily duties and ordinary avocations of life, what if I say more as a private than a public service. If to this any inducement were required beyond the simple fact of its being service, to the best of ends and for the best of masters, it might be urged that "to him that hath shall be given, and from him that hath not shall be taken away even that he hath;" and again, "he that is faithful in the little shall be made ruler over more." A desire to be thus found faithful in the little will keep us near to the fountain of all strength, the source of all ability; we shall remember His words, "without Me ye can do nothing." "Abide in Me and I in you; as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can ye except ye abide in Me." And then there is the blessed reaction on our own spirits; "there is that scattereth and But, then, whilst it shall often prove that yet increaseth, and there is that withholdeth but literally a word is enough, less than that is not it tendeth to poverty." "He that soweth enough; feeling alone is insufficient, and to sparingly shall reap also sparingly, but he that make it good the word must be "spoken." soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully." How often have we been sensible of another's" The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he weakness and danger, or been dipped into sympathy with a brother, and had our service marred by its incompleteness; the word was not "spoken!" I believe that there may often be rightly a concern without the word; for there are times when silence is more eloquent than any language, as when Job's friends "sat How good? Who can tell? The inspired pendown with him upon the ground seven days man attempts not the task. It is unspeakably and seven nights, and none spake a word unto good; immeasurably good; for he who hath rehim, for they saw that his grief was very ceived becomes the giver, the listener in his great." There should never be the word turn becomes himself the speaker, he that spoken without the concern being correspond-heareth saith, "Come!" Who of us is there ingly felt. I cannot describe how much more that cannot look back, as among the many into be valued, how much more effectual is a lit-strumentalities brought to bear upon our hearts tle feeling, though unaccompanied by expres- and consciences, perhaps even more than to sion, than much expression without the feeling. Far be it from my thoughts to urge any to speak a word but under the fresh and immedi ate constrainings of the love of Christ; but I would that we admonish and encourage one another, to yield to those gentle constrainings more readily than we do; then would our feel ings, I am persuaded, more frequently find ex

that watereth shall be watered also himself." So that on their own souls' account as well as on that of others, shall those who are engaged in their Lord's work be able to set their seals to the truth, ancient but ever new, "A word spoken in due season, HOW GOOD IS IT!"

the lengthened discourse, to the simple word spoken in due season by some humble and faithful servant of the Lord, a messenger of good to our souls? How good? the day of harvest, when the angels are the reapers, alone can reveal. This is the time, ours the work, of sowing the seed. The word spoken is not an end, but a means. Christ and the eternal

life that is in Him is the end. How remark- It is undoubtedly the duty of those who see able is that expression of the Apostle, after re- these defects honestly to point them out, but is counting the feats of faith in the holy men of it wise, or is it in the spirit of self sacrifice, to old, where he tells us that " Jesus Christ, the withdraw from the enterprise because of them? same yesterday and to day and for ever," was not only the foundation of the saints' faith, but Are these defects so important as to have "the end of their conversation!" Yes, there changed entirely the character of that which is one end, whether of the simplest word of the once seemed so desirable? May we not conweakest disciple, or of the Inspired Volume tinue to labor with those who have the same itself, which, says the Apostle Johu at the close of his Gospel narrative, is "written that good object at heart, though they may differ ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the from us as to some of the means for promoting Son of God; and that believing ye might have it? But it may be asked, shall we abandon a life through his name." For this, said our Lord himself, "is life eternal, to know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." So the word spoken in due season may prove eternally good! for we cannot doubt there are those now before the throne singing the everlasting song, in the enjoyment of the full fruition of bliss, whose feet were by the word spoken in due season first turned into the path that leadeth unto life. Therefore, "In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thy hand; for thou knowest not which shall prosper, either this or that, or whether both shall be alike GOOD."

principle for the sake of unity of action? Let us first be sure that there is a principle involved, and that we are required thus to advocate it. There are tests for ascertaining this which the humble mind desirous of knowing itself can always apply.

How greatly is it to be desired that this spirit of self-sacrifice may more and more animate us, in our social intercourse, in our families and in our religious Society. It is as far removed from a time-serving subtle policy as disinterestedness is from selfishness. In its endeavors to promote the good of others, its ideal FRIENDS' INTELLIGENCER. is high, but it is content to fall short or to make

JAMES BOOrne.

PHILADELPHIA, FIRST MONTH 18, 1868.

SELF-SACRIFICE.-How imperfectly have any of us apprehended, far less attained, the spirit of self-sacrifice; and yet in its deepest, widest sense it is the true Christian spirit. We are capable at times of making sacrifices of our time, our money, our love of ease for the sake of our fellow creatures, or for that view of Truth we consider vital; but the depth of that self-abnegation manifested in that expression of the blessed Jesus, "Suffer it to be so now," how few have attained! Knowing, as he did, that the rite of water baptism had in itself no vitality, and was to pass away in the light of that dispensation he was sent to proclaim, he yet submitted to it, thus proving by this act of meekness, patience and love, his fitness for the title then conferred upon him of "The beloved

Son."

the least approach to it, trusting that others may carry it farther. If defeated for a time, it returns to the work, hoping for better success. It is patient of weaknesses and imperfections, proposes the best plans, but is willing to adopt inferior ones, so that the good work goes on.

Next to the One in whom this spirit was perfected, the apostle Paul beautifully exempli-fied it; and would that his writings were more often searched for instances of this, than for abstruse doctrines. With what patience, what tenderness, did he treat those who had just begun to have glimpses of the Truth, but were not yet fully emancipated from the errors and vices of heathenism?

We insert a communication, over the signature of R., containing strictures on the essays of T. H. S., which have recently appeared in our paper, although we have not discovered a disposition in T. H. S. to substitute anything in place of our mode of silent worship.

To apply this spirit of self-sacrifice: let us suppose a project whose object is so good, and is so obviously needed, as to have enlisted the NOTE.-Repeated instances of failure to receive interest and efforts of a large number of indimoney, represented to have been sent me by mail, viduals, but that in the attempt to carry it out, induces me to advise persons to send by check, some defects or supposed defects have crept in. | draft, or post-office money order.

E. COMLY.

DIED, from the effects of a fall, on the 27th of Twelfth month, 1867, at her residence near Smithheld, Ohio, MARY WATSON, in the 83d year of her age; a member of Short Creek Monthly Meeting.

at Glen Cove, L. I., on the 5th of First mo., 1868, HANNAH, widow of Isaac T. Hopper, aged nearly 79 years.

LECTURE FOR THE PENNSYLVANIA PEACE

SOCIETY.

Subject-"The Law of Kindness Historically Considered." On Fourth-day evening, 22d inst., at 8 o'clock, P. M., at Ninth and Spring Garden Sts., by

ROBERT DALE OWEN.

FRIENDS' SOCIAL LYCEUM.

First month 21st, 1868, at 73 o'clock, Lecture by JOHN J. WHITE. Subject, "The French Revolution."

For Friends' Intelligencer.

I have carefully read the remarks of T. H. S., in the Intelligencer of last week, and those published some time back, and am deeply impressed with the feeling that he writes without a proper appreciation of the solemnity and beauty of the worship of the Father, as practiced by the Society of Friends.

Early in life I was led to mingle a good deal with church people, so called, and gained much information as to their modes of worship, and can truly say, the more I learned of them, the deeper grew my attachment for the simple solemn worship of our people.

EUROPEAN CORRESPONDENCE.

No. 14.

MUNICH, Nov. 2d, 1867. Not far from St. Sebaldus' church is the college that Melancthon founded, and before the college the beautiful statue of Melancthon, draped in a pelisse, and in the attitude of blessing with one hand, while the other holds a book. In the square are some of the most stately houses of Nuremberg. We visited the Germanique Museum, an old convent full of antiques (Mediæval,) and containing a picture, by Kaulbach, of Otto the Great opening the tomb of Charlemagne, which is truly magnificent in design, expression, color and execution. The picture is the representation of a fact. We stayed four or five days in Nuremberg, and I would advise every European tourist to take it in his way. Its general architecture is interesting, and it is a clean, prosperous looking city, doing honor to its Protestant culture. On Sunday all the shops were shut, and the people were walking in the streets and singing in their bouses. On Monday last we left Nuremberg for Ratisbon, again travelling Franconian Switzerland as far as Schwandorf. It was an interesting looking country, and I was sorry that we could not stop and explore its grottos, where are found antediluvian fossils that are very curious, specimens of which are in collections in Nuremberg. We arrived at Ratisbon at 3 o'clock, in a great rain, and of course could do nothing on that day; but on the next day, which was very pleasant, we visited the Hotel de Ville, in which the Diet of the German Empire sat from 1648 to 1804. It is a large hall, containing a small table, at which refreshments were formerly served, and the old leather chair in which the Emperor sat while presiding over the Diet. At one end of the hall was a gallery for ladies. I seated myself in the Emperor's chair, and called on my imagination for the great assembly. A smaller hall, next to this, was called the Congress of Princes. This was ornamented with tapestries, those on one side being the fourteenth century's work, those on the other the sixteenth, some of which were very beautiful and expressive. Another room was filled with wooden models of old mansions, We want no new forms nor any exercises churches and bridges, of Ratisbon mainly, but introduced into our meetings. Individual also of other places. Among them was a model faithfulness alone is needed; were that main- of the old clock at Strasburg,so famous. The tained among us, we would indeed be a bright and shining light in the world, and as terrible to evil doers as an army with banners. It fills me with sadness to find one among us that would change our mode of worship and manner of doing business in our meetings. No body

If ever there was a mode that raised the heart above the littleness of humanity,-that brought in dread array before the mental eye the weaknesses and follies of our past lives, surely it is found in the silent sittings of a Quaker meeting.

A due reverence for, and a proper understanding of, the teachings of those who are gone, will beget an humble, trusting feeling, and not the self satisfied and self righteous one, incompatible with the proper discharge of present duty.

T. H. S. speaks of an absence of indepen dence of thought among Friends, and asks that in our religious, as in our business lives, we should think more for ourselves. To my mind, it is just because the true Quaker does think and work for himself in spiritual matters that he is strong in the battle of life.

can

rest of the party descended into the dungeons and torture-rooms, but I declined. I had seen some instruments of torture in Nuremberg, and my imagination is too vivid for such things. The woman who was showing them said, "But they will be used no more forever," as if to encourage me; but I stood at the outside door until the others came up, viewing a fresco of a tournament on the building opposite. R. It had been injured by the weather and time,

be more impressive than our Yearly Meetings, nor can any form or ceremony be devised that will add to their weight and authority.

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