NEGRO MEMBERSHIP IN THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS (1)

Henry Cadbury

(Part Three)

Journal of Negro History, 21, 151-213. (1936) (Pages 180-209)

This Document is on The Quaker Writings Home Page.

David Bustill, (1787 - 1866) the youngest child of Cyrus Bustill, was a plasterer by trade. In 1803 he married his cousin, Elizabeth (or Mary) Hicks, of Swedesboro, New Jersey, and had nine children. He was actively concerned for the abolition of slavery and for the protection of free Negroes suspected of being fugitive slaves. In this cause impressions are recorded "how remarkable was the unannounced appearance of the small man of color, wearing his broad-brimmed hat, which he did not remove, standing before the Judge's desk, and his stern denunciation of the injustice to the slave. (118) At his funeral Dillwyn Parrish and Edwin Coates, prominent Friends, paid high tribute to his memory." (119) That he clung resolutely to the Quaker faith of his father is attested in several ways., He did not join the Negro churches but died, regarded as a Friend. (120) A letter written by him in 1863 in answer to a request by his son Joseph for historical information gives a vivid picture of his own contacts with Quakerism and sidelights on the lack of actual Negro membership in the Society. (121)

William Boen (or Bowen) was born near Rancocas, New Jersey, about 1735. Under the influence of John Woolman he became interested in Friends and attended their meetings. He arranged at the age of twenty-eight to secure his freedom at thirty and was therefore anxious to marry a free colored woman employed at Chesterfield to whom he was engaged, named Dinah or "Dido." Though they were not Friends they wished to be married by Friends' ceremony,and John Woolman arranged a Friends' meeting for that purpose in the house of the bride's employer. The marriage certificate is preserved with the signatures of both the Quaker and the Negro witnesses. (122) About the same time William Bowen applied for membership in the Society of Friends. In spite of his other qualifications he was long refused, apparently on account of his color. Not until 1814 was he at last admitted a member. He died on June 12th, 1824, in the ninetieth year of his age. The testimony to him issued by Mount Holly Monthly Meeting, of which he was a member, speaks highly of his humility and Christian character. (123) Various stories ar told of his conscientiousness against the use of the "plural language" instead of "thou," and "thee," against the use of slave grown articles and even of refusing to accept payment for some wood that he had sold when he learned that his customer was a "hireling minister." (124) If the same William Bowen is meant, we are told that in 1811 he was living in Philadelphia and that his wife died that year, after which he went to the country to board. (125)

The following passage in the Journal of Thomas Shillitoe, who visited Mt. Holly in 1828, almost certainly refers to William Bowen and is of interest as showing the disappointment felt by John Woolman in the refusal of membership and his anticipation of divine punishment therefor. Evidently Shillitoe shared both feelings. He writes:

John Woolman, who was a member of this monthly meeting, a Friend informed me, had a sight of this dwindling that has now taken place, as the consequence of the conduct of the them members of the meeting, in the case of a man of colour of good character, who had long attended Friends' meetings and who had applied to the monthly meeting of Mount Holly to be received into membership with Friends. When his case was before the meeting, it appeared f rom the report of those appointed to visit him, he was fully convinced of the principles which our religious society hold, and his walking among men was in full unison thereunto, yet his b eing a man of colour was urged against his being received. When a minute was made objecting on these grounds, to his request granted, John Woolman stood up, saying, it appeared to be his duty to declare, that because of this partiality now manifested by this monthly meeting, in the case last concluded upon, a sense was given him that this monthly meeting would dwindle and become reduced again." (126)

Similar in spirit though quite different in detail is another story of John Woolman, not I think previously published, but again referring probably to William Bowen. It was reported in 1839 by Sarah M. Grimke on the authority of "Joseph Whitall, a valuable minister of Woodbury, New Jersey" (1771 - 1847):

In Mount Holly meeting, N.J. a committee was appointed to bring forward the names of person suitable for Elders. They met several times, but could not fix on anyone; and at length reported so to the meeting. J. Woolman was on the committee I think, but whether he was or not, he told them there was an elder in that meeting and that he ought to be acknowledged, for he was the only one prepared for that high and holy office, viz. the black man who sat behind the door. But they preferred going without an Elder, to having a coloured one. (127)

Paul Cuffer was one of the most famous of Negro Quakers. he was born January 17, 1759, on one of the Elizabeth Islands. His father, a freed slave of John Slocum, of Dartmouth, Massachusetts, had married in 1846 an Indian girl called Ruth Moses, of the same town. Paul at the age of sixteen began his of life on the sea, studied and taught navigation. He secured a small boat and began the career of ship owner and sea captain, which in time brought him considerable wealth.

In 1808 he began an interest which somewhat changed the course of life. with many white people of the period he was anxious for the religious conversion of the African natives in Sierra Leone, and the establishment of Negro settlers there from American, and he made a visit to learn the country and its conditions. His purpose developed and with approve of Friends in both England and America he made further trips to Africa carrying colonists and goods from America and stimulating the economic expansion of the colony. The War of 1812 interrupted his plans, and in 1817 he fell ill and died. But his pioneer undertaking had created great interest and contributed much impetus to the Negro colonization movement. Above all he set an example to his people of industry and integrity.

He seems to have been on excellent terms with his home community at Westport, Massachusetts. With his brother he had been active in resisting the taxation of Negroes without the rights of citizenship. His parents had been attenders of the Friends' Meeting. In 1808 Paul himself made application for membership and was received into Westport Monthly Meeting. In his later travels he made frequent contacts with Friends and was entertained by them in Philadelphia, Baltimore, Liverpool and London, and assisted by such well known leads as Elisha Tyson, James Pemberton, William Allen, Thomas Clarkson, William Rotch and Moses Brown. His behavior and sentiments were evidently from his diary much the same as those of the leading white Quakers of the time. This brief sketch cannot do justice to the interest and importance of his career. (128)

I will add two anecdotes of him. Once when attending a meeting in Philadelphia, "he left his seat, walked up into the gallery to a place at the head of the meeting and, standing there, preached a remarkably powerful sermon. At its close William Savery moved his place, and touched his arm, directing him to a seat beside himself, but Paul Cuffe made a gesture of dissent and walked back, down the aisle to his place among his own people." (129)

A story is told of Paul Cuffe's plain Quaker interview with President Madison. In shipping in and out of Norfolk harbor, Virginia, with his ship, Negro crew and cargo, he was quite unjustly refused clearance by the collector of the port because he was a Negro. He repaired for redress to Washington and when brought into the President's presence he declared, "James, I have been put to much trouble, and have been abused...I have come here for thy protections and have to ask thee to order thy Collector for the port of Norfolk to clear me out for New Bedford, Massachusetts." The request was immediately granted. (130)

The satisfaction which his example supplied to Friends is probably well represented in the express ion of Stephen Grellet in his journal in 1811:

During the time I have been at Liverpool, Paul Cuffee, a black man, owner and master of a vessel, has come into port from Sierra Leone on the coast of Africa. He is a member of our Society, and resides in New England. the whole of his crew are black also. This, together with the cleanliness of his vessel, and the excellent order prevailing on board, has excited very general attention. It has, I believe, opened the minds of many in tender feelings toward the poor suffering Africans, who, they see, are men like themselves, capable of becoming, like Paul Cuffee, valuable and useful members both of civil and religious Society. (131)

Richard Cooper was "a native of the Island of Barbados and by birth a slave. At the age of twelve or fourteen years, he was brought to this country and sold; having frequently changed owners, he at length became the property of a member of the Society of Friends; and at the time of the total emancipation by the Society of its slaves he was liberated...About this time he became convince of the efficacy of the religious principles of Friends, which he ascribed to the tender care and frequent admonitions of his mistress...He was a frequent attender of Friends meetings, and in advanced life, requested to be admitted a member of the Society and was received. This was at Little Creek Preparative Meeting in Delaware, from whose obituary testimony (132) the quotes and information are derived, He was respected by Friends: by members of his own race in the neighborhood he was often consulted as an arbiter of their differences. He died October 3rd, 1820, aged about 100 years.

Miles Lassiter, a North Carolina slave, at the time of his master's death was only a child and he by will was left to the widow, for whom he came caretaker or manager. When she died he was about sixty-five and though he was offered for sale no one would bid for him as he was too feeble for work. His wife, an industrious free colored woman, whom he had married in early life there, bid for him at a low price and thus became his lawful owner. He died at his home in Randolph County, June 22, 1850, aged about 75. For the last six years of his life he was a member of Black Creek Monthly Meeting. An account of his life and last days and an appreciation of his character was published in Friends Review. (133) The editor of that paper reports on good authority that at the time of his death Lassiter was the only colored member of the Society of Friends within the limits of North Carolina and asks why the membership has been so few. "Is the religious of Friends unsuited to the coloured race? Or are thy kept at a distance by our neglect or repulsive conduct?"

James Alford, already mentioned, was born in slavery near Rahway, New Jersey, some years before War of the Revolution. At the age of twenty-eight he wished to be free and he offered to buy his own freedom. His master refused and Hames ran away to Philadelphia. When he had saved two hundred dollars he went to the house of a Friend at Rahway, who negotiated now his freedom. He then returned to Philadelphia, were he found constant employment. For many years he was a domestic in the house of Dr. Joseph Parrish, of Philadelphia. "In the year 1838, he and his wife (he had then recently married) had charge of the shelter for coloured orphans when it was attacked by a mob. They fled for their lives, and most of their household goods were destroyed; among these were many things, the gifts of deceased Friends, which no money could restore." He died of paralysis 24th of 8th month, 1842. His character was thrifty and devout, his appearance neat, and he lived in comfort in his later years, an object of wide friendship and respect. (135) That he was officially a member of Friends is assumed by some who refer to him. But in his as in other cases definite evidence is not forthcoming.

Robert Purvis (1810 - 1898) was very likely a Friend, and certainly closely associated with Friends. His father was a white English merchant who lived in Charleston and prospered in the cotton business. His mother was daughter of a German Jew named Baron Judah, a flour merchant, and of a fine looking Moorish girl who was kidnapped at the age of twelve from Morocco and sold into slavery in America. the family moved to Philadelphia in 1819, and the next year the father died. Robert attended Amherst College, but was not graduated. At the age of twenty-two he joined with sixty others in founding the American Anti-Slavery Society. He was the last of that famous group to die, as John G. Whittier was the next to the last. He was for some years vice president of that Society as well as President of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society. He was one of the most prominent and able Negroes of Philadelphia. His first wife was Sarah, the daughter of James Forten, an equally prominent Philadelphia Negro. His second wife was a white woman, Tacy Townsend, of Byberry, a Friend. He died in his 88th year and was buried in Friends' ground at Fair Hill. Though he could have passed for a white man he identified himself with the colored race. One of the most striking traits of Robert Purvis was his eloquence. Whittier, who first met him at the Anti-Slavery Convention of 1833, describes his appearance then. "I think I have never seen a finder face and figure and his manner, words and bearing were in keeping." (137)

The largest development of Negro Quakerism was that connected with Helena in eastern Arkansas. At the request of General Buford, Post Commandant there, a group of members of Indiana Yearly Meeting were sent in 1863 to care for refugee woman and children with the Union lines for protections. Here an asylum for children and an industrial school were established in temporary quarters. A regiment of colored volunteers stationed in the neighborhood under Colonel Charles Bentzoni in 1866 bought thirty acres and built the first buildings and gave the property to the Yearly Meeting. Under the name of "asylum" and "institute," "normal institute and orphans' home," "Southland College," (after 1872) and "Southland Institute" the institution remained under the care of a Missionary Board of Indiana Yearly Meeting until 1919, when it was transferred to the Home Mission board of the Five Years Meeting and finally closed in 1925. (138)

In 1866 a religious meeting was organized consisting of seventy-one officers and students of the institution with the expressed hope that some might become qualified for membership in the Society of Friends. The following year seven applications for membership were received by Whitewater Monthly Meeting, Indiana, and others followed. A Preparative Meeting was established in 1870. In 1873 it was made a Monthly Meeting. A Preparative Meeting was established in 1876 at Hickory Ridge, twenty miles west of Southland in 1884. The house at Hickory Ridge was blown down in a cyclone in February, 1880, but rebuilt in 1883. At Beaver Bayou the leading members and ministers died or removed. (139) About 1890, the families were scattered and the meeting was not continued. In 1900 the property was reported as having been sold.

For the first twenty years of its history the membership of Southland Monthly Meeting grew continuously. Beginning in 1868, the successive reports give the totals as 7, 15, 30, 39, 37, 61, 78, 107, 142, 154, 175, 196, 206, 267, 294, 378, 390. But about 1887 the report admits that most of the members "do not live within reach of Friends' Meetings, and many of them we know little or nothing of, and some have joined other religious societies." In many cases the accessions had been due to revivals among the students. It was natural that as they left the school their names remained on the books, but they became only nominal members. Few later statistics are given in the reports, though accessions are occasionally reported, and a total of 453 in mentioned is 1893. Evidently in later times the effective membership was regarded as the local one. The report of 1914 says, "We have been able to make members of the Society of Friends only of the few who reside in the immediate neighborhood."

That the membership at Southland was always largely Negro there can be no doubt. In 1869 there were fifteen members, all Negro, in 1876, 142 members, all colored except nine. The officers were many of them Negro also. Daniel Drew was on eof the fist members. His speaking is mentioned as early as 1869. He was recommended a minister in 1871. He attended Hickory Ridge Meeting as well as Southland and became popular as an evangelist. In 1883 a visitor to Helena refers to Daniel Drew as "a coloured Friends' minister" there. (140)

In 1881 three more minsters were "recorded:" Morris Brown, Arthur L. Crump and Calivn M. Kerr. I think these were all Negroes. At any rate, in 1883 of seven minsters belong to the monthly meeting four were colored. "On 6 mo. 15, 1898," Chandler Paschall was recorded a minister by the monthly meeting. He is described in the report for 1876 as an exemplary colored member. His daughter speaks of him as having "graduated from Southland in the first graduating class," while in the same context he is spoken of as having preached at Southland in the summer of 1922. (141) Other names mentioned of Negroes engaged in pastoral work or ministry are Monroe Wilburn, George Wilburn (1896), Moses Weaver (1903). Also en elder, Thomas Pollard, is mentioned by name in 1907 as having deceased. In 1893 Joseph Coleman is named, and in 1905 "Arthur (sic) Coleman, a colored minster with a minute from Oskaloosa, Iowa Meeting spent two weeks [at Southland] in religious work." Since Iowa Yearly Meeting Minutes for the period 1900 - 1906 list Joseph Coleman as an evangelist living at Oksaloosa they may perhaps be one and the same person. In later life Joseph Coleman transferred his membership to the meeting at Des Moines. In more recent years Southland enjoyed the ministry of another Negro Quaker, Duncan Freeland. (142) Another Negro Quaker from Southland, though not a minister, was Osborn T. Taylor, recently deceased. Born in slavery, he followed a body of Union soldiers as a refugee waif to Helena, Arkansas, where he entered the Quaker institution at eight year so age and became a member of the Society of Friends. After graduating at Southland he studies some terms at Earlham College and for three years taught at Southland. In 1889 he came to Washington and was for thirty-five years a clerk in the War Department. He died June 15th, 1935, in his eighty-first year, a member of Washington Monthly Meeting. His widow also for some years after the marriage by Friends' ceremony in 1885, remained a member of the Society. (143)

There is available some slight information of Negro ministers in other sections in the Society of Friends. (144) Noah C. McLean and his wife, Cora E., were members and ministers of Ohio Yearly Meeting. That meeting lists them so in its minutes from 1897 to 1909, with an address at first in Toledo, Ohio, and later at Erie, Pennsylvania. they were evangelists and conducted revival services in Friends' Communities and attended Yearly Meetings. Further information about them could be secured probably by diligent search through the columns of the Christian Worker and the American Friend. (145)

Daniel Drew, already mentioned in connection with Southland is listed by Oregon Yearly Meeting as a minister in the years 1901 to 1907, residing in Portland. When Albert Dixon was engaged in missionary work among the freedmen in Arkansas at the close of the Civil War he made acquaintance with Drew as a promising youth and he was responsible for his coming to the Northwest. He was recognized them as an able speak and a highly esteemed character. The Oregon minutes mention him as a member of the Committee to visit Pacific college (1903) and as giving an address at Yearly Meeting (1901). The Sunnyside Monthly Meeting minutes show that in 1907 he transferred his membership to the African Methodist Episcopal Church, as did his wife in 1914. When he came to Oregon I do not know, but several others were admitted members at the same time, including his wife, Laura, their son, William, his wife, Jenny, and a child, and another Southland family named Landcaster, of which the mother, Emma Landcaster (recently deceased was a member of the first graduating class at Southland. Her husband's first name is Anderson. They had a daughter, Ruby.

William Allen was born a slave in East Tennessee (according to his own reckoning) on the 5th of 4th month, 1821. When he was about twenty-two years of age his master died, leaving by will all his slaves free, but the heirs kept them in ignorance of their right to freedom for four years, when the Friends of New Hope Monthly Meeting providentially herd that such a will had been made, secured their liberty and sent them to Howard County, Indiana.

In the year 1856 William Allen attended school for the first time at a Friends' school in West Grove, Hamilton County, Indiana. He learned to read the Bible and became very familiar with it. He was something of a natural orator, and these qualifications together with his earnest religious character drew him toward the ministry.

His first church connection was with the Methodists, among whom he served for some time as an evangelist or preacher, but in 1873 he joined the Society of Friends at Carmel Monthly Meeting in Indiana. He was recorded a minister in 1874. His membership was transferred to Oak Ridge Monthly Meeting, Indiana, and in 1878 to Mariposa Monthly Meeting in Canada. Later he removed to Ohio, but again in 1895 his membership was transferred from Milan Monthly Meeting in Ohio to Yonge Street Monthly Meeting, Ontario. In all these places he was accepted as a recommended minister, and he travelled widely as an evangelist form Vermont to Kansas. Thus in 1882 his name is found on minutes of New York meetings as a visiting minster with a minute, He died at Gowrie, Ontario, on the 21st of 5th month, 1898. Several incidents and evidences of his effective work in the minster are related of him in the Memorial published after his death. (146)

Three other conspicuous colored person may perhaps be added, who though not Friends were particularly well known in the Society. One was Frederick Douglass (c. 1817 - 1895), who escaped from slavery, became an ardent abolitionist associated with many New England abolitionists. By his oratory and his journalistic ability he promoted the cause of the slave and by his example showed the Negro's right to social equality.

A second example is Benjamin Banneker (1731 - 1809). He was one of the very first negroes in America to achieve intellectual distinction. His father was an African freedman, his mother's father an African prince who was captured, brought to Maryland and bought by an English woman who shortly after released him from slavery and married him. In spite of the most meagre schooling Benjamin Banneker educated himself by observation and by the effective use of a few books in his limited leisure. He had a turn for mechanics and at the age of twenty-two completed a wooden clock which struck the hours. This he made with no models to follow except a sundial and a borrowed watch. When in 1772 the Quaker family of Ellicotts moved from Pennsylvania into his neighborhood and established Ellicott City with its flour mills, he received encouragement and some books and instruments to study astronomy and surveying. He assisted Major Andrew Ellicott in the survey of the District of Columbia. In 1792 was published the first of the almanacs which he calculated each year for a decade. Like his clock, the remarkable ability of a Negro, shown by the mathematical skill required in these publication, drew attention to him even in Europe, while all who knew him directly appreciated his intelligence and beautiful character. He never married, neither did he join any denomination. "He finally gave a decided preference for the doctrines and forms of worship of the Society of Friends, whose meting house at Ellicott's Mill he frequently attended," (147) sitting modestly on the bench nearest the door.

The third is Sojourner Truth, a woman slave formerly called Isabella, who after a chequered career became an itinerant preacher of a remarkable kind, frequently appearing in Friends' Meetings as at other religious serves and in in anti-slavery meetings. She was, in spite of complete illiteracy, a power speaker with an extraordinary voice and figure - a veritable sibyl. Like many other Negroes, she dressed in a Quaker garb and used the Quaker language. She was born in Ulster County, New York, in 1787, and was freed when slavery was abolished in that state in 1827. She lived in her later years mainly in Battle Creek, Michigan, (148) where she died in 1883. (149) She is said to have reached the age of 110 years, but this is an error if her birth and death dates are correct as given above.

Here is an anecdote told of her by Wendell Phillips, and eyewitness, and included by Harriet Beecher Stowe in an article, "Sojourner Truth, the Libyan Sibyl": (150)

It was at a crowed public meeting in Faneuil (?) Hall, when Frederick Douglass was one of the chief speakers. Douglass had been describing the wrongs of the black race,and as he proceeded, he grew more and more excited, and finally ended by saying that they had no hope of justice from the whites, no possible hope except in their own right arms. It must come to blood; they must fight for themselves, and redeem themselves or it would never be done.

Sojourner was sitting, tall and dark, on the very front seat, facing the platform; and in the hush of deep feeling, after Douglass sat down, she spoke out in her deep, peculiar voice, heard all over the house, -

Frederick, is God dead?"

The effect was perfectly electrical, and thrilled thought the whole house, changing as by a flash the whole feeling of the audience. Not another word she said or needed to say; it was enough.

LETTER OF DAVID BUSTILL, 6 MO. 11, 1863.

My Dear Children and

Joseph in particlar I lost all sight of thy request and but for thy sisters Hester and Rebeca I should have net gratified it having forgotten all about it by having put it a way Carefully -

I will say at once David Bustill was Regularly broughth up a what the World Calls a Quaker as was his Father before him he lived in Burlington where David was bon [born] and all his Brothers and Sisters when David was a Sucking Child his Parents Moved down to Philadelphia on Arch s[t]reet a bove front upper side where they resided some years his Parents having build on third street 3 door above Cats [Coates] his Parents going constantly to the so called North Meeting situated beetween Front and Second Streets, his Father taking his two youngest Children who were boys was found a diligent attender of said meeting as long as heath permitted him to go somewhere about the 11 or 12 [year] of his age David was taken by his Foster Father David Mapps down to little Eggharobr to a place called Mulicas River between the Uper and Lower Banks wher he Remained till towards 17 years of Age when his foster Father in took him into Lower Evesham bound him to Job and Sarah Haines to learn the Trades of Cord Vaneer and Tanner and one of the most Respecable Families in the Neighbourhood both of them being Elders of the Quaker Meeting which stood only about a Mill from their own dweling to which D. Bustill went with the rest of the family every twice a week and was seldom off the place for any other purpus so strickly was he brought up, surround by by themselves and eight of their children where he continued to reside untill he was 21 year and six Monts old he came to the City went to same house he left when he was a Child and Remained in this City ever sinne goinge to the same Meeting with his Wife and Children after he became a Married Man and Contin[ued] going untill the seperation took place with the Society and Continued with that Party Calling themselves Orthodox untill the Lord Jesus Crist ordained Him a Minister in the same as he did Georg Fox or any Quaker Minister which was som time about 39 or 40 year of his age k[n]owing it to be his duty he spoke one day in Meeting on the Resurrection of the dead one of the Elders very respectfully as their manner is desired him to sit down and not disturb the Meeting after which the Elder had no further trouble with him for there was others who were so careful to maintain their good order that they sit him d[o]own or take him out into the year and try to pursuade him to [go] home and not disturb the Meetig and although he seldom said anything he seldom spoke without being interfered with until he becam so grievid with their unchristian unchristian behavour has left them years since bearing testimony against their hy[p]ocitircal wicked behavour - I notice thee has said after Mentioning several of us colored Families or not being Members of the Society - thee seems not to know none of us ever made applic[a]tion - without which we could not become Members of any Insti[tu]tion but David Mapps and Wife requested to cecome Members but thee is right with regard to thy last assertion D. and Wife were [not] received untill the Quakers of that Meeting thought they would have no children - D. and Wif are dead but wheare are their Children - your own Aunt Rachel Bowser was a Member of James Paterson's Church here hardly a square from Jacobs Whites per 30 years more or less but wheare is her Children and soofall the rest the Devellish slave power the cursed Colonozation to gether with the wicked Quaker and Ministers of all other Denominations (Except one or 2 other Denominations) with the wick[ed] Polititions every where have Conspired together to drive every Colored Person out of the United States who would not co[n]sent to [be] a servant in some Capacity or other which dreadfeull peice of Wickedness they never will be able to Complete because our Lord Jesus Crist is opposed to it and who ever supposes He will cecome a partner with them in their a bominable deeds of Darkness are much Misstaken - I continue to go out Every Morning as usual to converes with the People. I had a long conversation last 4th day with Elie Dillin who was an Apprentice to Jeremiah when I work and having quit the Busness is now keeping a handsome Drygood at the corner of green and Ridge Road and worships at the Corner of Green and Fourths streets where S. Noble led me out when I testified against A[r]ch Hy[p]ocrite Elias Hicks I [gave] him Stephen Grillets life in which he tells the Publick some of Elias Hicks Hypocracy and I have not been there since I have had 3 or 4 inter views with W. Still but we have [been] so frequently interrupted we have not been able to finish any one perticular subject the thinks he wished to vonveal [converse] with me and thinks he will have more time I have lent his G. Foxes Journal will give a body much light on the Quaker society........

PART OF A SERMON BY PAUL CUFFEE

Paul Cuffee in a meeting in Arch Street, Philadelphia, addressing the young men present expressed himself to the following effect:

He said he was afraid to dignify what he had to say, by calling it a vision, but it appeared to him something more than a dream. It occurred at at time when he was very low in his mind and much cast down, and being very disconsolate there appeared to him the form of and enquiring what ail'd him? He said he could not tell. The Form told him the disease was in his heart and he could show him. Upon his expressing permission the Form took a sharp instrument, separated his heart from his body and laid it before him. He was greatly terrified in viewing it, it being very unclean and contained all kinds of abominable things. The Form said he could never be healed till he submitted to have his heart cleansed. Then said he I fear I never shall be healed. But on the Form asking him if he was willing to have it cleansed, and he consenting he took a sharp instrument and separated all that was vile: then closed up the heart, replaced it and healed the wound. Thus he said he felt himself a changed man and a new creature and then recommended the young men to that Physician who could heal them, although their state was ever so deplorable.

Henry J. Cadbury.

Harvard University. Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Continued in:

Footnotes.