1 
 
 i 
 
 H 
 
 1 
 
 ■ 
 
 i ' i 
 
 
 II 
 
 II 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 *' ': 
 
 i 
 i 
 
 
 • 1 
 
 
 
 
 bun 
 
. 
 
<W|*r 
 
BRIEF MEMOIR 
 
 OF 
 
 JOHN JACKSON. 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 1/ 
 
 H 
 
 " The humble, meek, merciful, just, pious and devout souls, are 
 every where of one. religion, and when Death has taken off the 
 mask, they will know one another, though the diverse* liveries 
 thpy wear here make them strangers." — Penn's Maxims." 
 
 philadelMi 
 
 MERRIHEW & T H MP« P R 
 
 Lodge St. North side Pennsylvania Bank 
 1856. 
 
rtf 
 
 5" 
 
 13^ • A 
 
 -S** 
 
 ^ 
 
PREFACE 
 
 The following memoir appeared originally in 
 " Friends' Intelligencer," and had its origin in the close 
 friendship which existed from early life between its 
 beloved subject and A. A. Townsend, who in her sub- 
 sequent visits to the widow and the fatherless, became 
 interested in his manuscripts, and was prompted to en- 
 deavor to embrace the beautiful truths contained in 
 tli em in a simple memoir. They appeared to her as 
 " goodly pearls," which should be shared with many 
 scattered members of our flock and family, who love 
 the principle we profess, and who are prepared to ap- 
 preciate the manifestations of its power in the dedicated 
 mind. That periodical seemed to be a proper medium 
 through which they should be desseminated, and 
 with this limited view the work was commenced. 
 What at first opened as a labor of love, soon became a 
 matter of duty, from which she felt she had no right 
 
IV. PREFACE. 
 
 to turn, and which she has faithfully fulfilled. It is 
 now reprinted in this form, because a wider circula- 
 tion of it is desired by many. The time may come 
 when the hope will be realized, as expressed in the 
 memoir, "that the vast amount of labor upon scienti- 
 fic subjects which he has left in manuscript will be 
 placed in a form to benefit others." 
 
 May that glorious Light 1 which he so fully recog- 
 nised, become the guiding star of all, leading us on- 
 ward toward that state in which we may become as 
 ' : pillars in the Lord's house, that shall go no more 
 out." 
 
 R. T. JACKSON, 
 
 Sharon, Umo. Utk, 1856. 
 
MEMOIR OF JOHN JACKSON. 
 
 " To obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken, 
 than the fat of rams." 
 
 It is not for the purpose of eulogising the 
 departed, that we are concerned to attempt a 
 memoir of our friend, John Jackson, deceased, 
 but as "the memory of the just is blessed/' we 
 believe a brief record of his life and religious 
 experience may not only be interesting, but 
 instructive to our readers ; particularly to those 
 among the younger class of them, who have been 
 transient members of his family, and hold him 
 in near and dear remembrance — and should it 
 be the means of strengthening any in the good 
 resolution to " buy the truth and sell it not/' 
 surely our labor of love will not have been in 
 vain. 
 
MEMOIR OF 
 
 He was the son of Halllday and Jane 
 Jackson, of Darby, Pa., where he was born on 
 the 25th of 9th mo., 1809. To the religious 
 eare of his beloved parents, he often alluded in 
 terms of gratitude. Having themselves tasted 
 of the excellency of the pure gift of grace in the 
 secret of the soul, it was their concern to direct 
 the attention of their children, even in early life, 
 to this internal and heavenly Teacher. The 
 effects of their precepts and consistent example 
 upon the minds of their offspring, ten in num- 
 ber, were of lasting benefit. The love of John 
 for his mother was manifested when very young, 
 by his little kind attentions, and she was often 
 relieved by the care he took of the younger 
 children. He loved the sports and pastimes of 
 childhood, yet, when scarcely old enough to 
 nurse his little twin brother and sister, he 
 would sit by the hour and rock the cradle, or 
 take them upon his lap and repeat some poetry 
 he had learned, or in child-like simplicity " make 
 up " some rhyme for their amusement. When 
 only ten years old, he would often, of an even- 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 7 
 
 ing, leave the other children at play, and retire 
 alone to read William Penn's Works, or Sew- 
 ell's History. He had much to overcome in his 
 natural temperament, which was impetuous and 
 ardent. He was also energetic and persevering, 
 and applied himself with unusual diligence in 
 the labor of the farm ; whereby he not only 
 soon became useful, but very important to his 
 father. The time in going to and returning 
 from market was employed very frequently in 
 reading, and often after leaving the harvest- 
 field or plough, he would seek some shady spot, 
 either to read or contemplate upon the beauties 
 of nature. 
 
 In that day it was customary among Friends 
 and others to use spirituous liquors in the 
 harvest-field. His father being much con- 
 cerned on account of this pernicious practice, 
 assembled his neighbors to devise some way to 
 abandon it, — this was the first temperance move- 
 ment in that place. John was also deeply inter- 
 ested in the subject, and a few years afterwards, 
 " when still a boy," said our informant, " wear- 
 
g MEMOIR OF 
 
 ing a round-about jacket, he surprised the old 
 and the young by speaking at length in one of 
 these meetings, on the evils of intemperance." 
 He was greatly distressed on account of some of 
 his youthful acquaintances having given way to 
 intemperate habits. 
 
 In a week-day meeting, a year or two before 
 his death, while addressing the little boys, and 
 encouraging them to listen and give heed to the 
 restraints and teachings of the " still small voice" 
 within them, he told them of the joy he had felt 
 when a very little boy, sitting with the other 
 school- children where they then sat, and wetting 
 with his tears the floor at his feet, while his full 
 heart was lifted up in praises to his heavenly 
 Father for His goodness in preserving him in 
 the hour of temptation. At the age of sixteen 
 years, beside being well read upon many other 
 subjects, he had perused most of the promi- 
 nent works of ancient Friends. 
 
 His inquiring mind was led.to reflect upon the 
 doctrines upheld by our forefathers, and he was 
 convinced by the immediate operations of the 
 spirit of truth, that the path of obedience is the 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 9 
 
 way of life ; that, " As many as are led by the 
 spirit of God, are the sons of God," and " joint 
 heirs with Christ." But the unhappy differen- 
 ces that about this time were agitating our Soci- 
 ety, and which afterwards rent it in twain, intro- 
 duced him into a state of doubt in regard to the 
 all-sufficiency of that light, which he had viewed 
 as the guide u into truth/' and consequently 
 out of error. Inconsistencies, which he could 
 not reconcile with the pure teachings of this 
 holy Word, were apparent among some of those 
 upon whom he had looked as being established 
 upon the Rock which could not be shaken. The 
 freedom with which he wrote to one of a conge- 
 nial mind, furnished evidence of the baptisms 
 through which he passed, ere he again enjoyed the 
 liberty of the children of the light and of the 
 day. 
 
 In the winter of 1832, he accompanied a 
 Friend, whose labors had in a measure, been 
 instrumental in dispelling the mists by which he 
 had been painfully enveloped, on a religious visit 
 
 to the southern part of Jersey. During the seve- 
 1* 
 
10 MEMOIR OF 
 
 ral weeks he was thus engaged, his faith was 
 strengthened and his former trust renewed; inso- 
 much, that he could acknowledge that although 
 he (i had known what it was to weep by the way- 
 side, and strew his tears in solitary places ; yet, 
 now, faith, like the beams of the morning, 
 caused the darkness to be dispelled, and unfolded 
 the pathway to tranquillity/' This friend at that 
 time expressed the belief that if her youthful com- 
 panion was faithful to the openings of the visions 
 of light, he would have in an eminent manner 
 to declare upon the house-top that which was 
 revealed in secret. As he left no written 
 record of his daily life, we are indebted chiefly 
 to his letters for an account of the various exer- 
 cises which attended his pathway. "We shall, 
 therefore, take copious extracts from them in the 
 delineation of the operations of divine grace 
 upon his spirit by which in his very youth he 
 attained to the stature of a man in Christ ; veri- 
 fying the scripture testimony that u grey hairs 
 are not wisdom, neither is length of days under- 
 standing. " In relation to him this language seems 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 11 
 
 appropriate : " I applied mine heart to know, and 
 to search, and to seek out wisdom, and the rea- 
 son of things, and to know the wickedness of 
 folly." — " Then I saw that wisdom excelleth 
 folly, as far as light excelleth darkness." 
 
 The following extracts are expressive of his 
 gratitude for preservation during the trying dis- 
 pensation before alluded to, and, also, of a season 
 of deep religious exercise which followed it, in 
 view of the nature of the service which was 
 gradually unfolding before him. 
 
 " 1834. — My soul bows within me when I con- 
 template the goodness and mercy of my heavenly 
 Father, for while I have been a wanderer upon 
 the barren mountains of an empty profession, 
 nay, almost lost in the gloomy labyrinths of infi- 
 delity, I have known his visitations of love to 
 descend like the dews of heaven, and the dews 
 that descended upon the mountains of Zion ; 
 bringing all within me to bow before the throne 
 of mercy, to approach the sanctuary of faith, 
 and to feel my spirit touched with a live coal 
 from off his holy altar, by which I have been 
 
12 MEMOIR OF 
 
 made to acknowledge his u goodness , beyond 
 thought and power divine" 
 
 " 2d mo., 1834. — In early life it pleased my 
 heavenly Father, through dispensations that are 
 not to be forgotten, to open in my heart, desires 
 after the way of truth, and to teach me to rely 
 with more confidence upon Him, than upcn any- 
 thing connected with the uncertain enjoyments 
 of a probationary scene. 
 
 " But prone to err in the path of self-gratifica- 
 tion, as thou knowest the youthful mind is, when 
 surrounded with the fascinating allurements of 
 the world, and for want of greater faithfulness 
 in maintaining the integrity of a self-denying 
 follower of the cross, I have, too often, disre- 
 garded the teachings of this heavenly monitor, 
 and thereby retarded my progress in the highway 
 of holiness. However, I have an unshaken 
 belief that if we act in conformity to the will of 
 God, by following Jhe teachings of this light 
 made manifest within, we shall look back upon 
 the past with satisfaction and delight, and to the 
 future with prospects of continued peace and 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 13 
 
 sweet enjoyment : and, also, that whatever dis- 
 appointments may occur, (and they enter more 
 or less into the history of every one's experience) 
 they would then have but little influence upon 
 the tranquillity of our spirits ) for a mind thus 
 regulated by the principles of truth in all its 
 movements, would not be agitated by them ; its 
 serenity would not be impaired, for it possesses 
 a holy confidence in the immutable character of 
 the principle by which it hopes to be sustained 
 under all the circumstances of trial that it may 
 have to encounter in its passage through this 
 probationary scene. 
 
 " Though I feel myself as one of the least of 
 the family, and oftentimes surrounded with the 
 weaknesses of human nature, that require the 
 strengthening influence of faith and greater dedi- 
 cation to manifested duties to overcome, yet, 
 when the desire of my heart is unto Him who 
 commands the guardian angel of his presence to 
 become the medium of our preservation, I hail 
 the possession of an inheritance among the faith- 
 ful and dedicated children, as a state attainable 
 
14 MEMOIR OF 
 
 through diligence and an attention to the gift 
 within. Oh ! how often do I desire to exalt the 
 testimonies of truth, and fulfil all my duties with 
 greater dedication of heart, with livelier faith, 
 and with a deeper dependence upon the Father 
 of spirits, for the guidance of his wisdom and 
 power, by which, alone, a qualification is expe- 
 rienced to do his work. I have feared the cus- 
 toms, the maxims, and the artificial refinements 
 of the world, are making unhappy innovations 
 upon the simple testimonies professedly held by 
 the Society of Friends. Can we counteract these 
 influences in any other way than by individually 
 minding the vocations wherewith we are called, 
 being conformed to all the requisitions of the 
 divine mind ? Then may we know ourselves 
 established in the way and work of righteousness, 
 and be prepared to own Christ before men. 
 When I take a view of the deficiencies that exist 
 among us as a religious society, I am made to 
 mourn because the altars of the Lord are thrown 
 down, and the image of Baal is worshipped in 
 the groves of Midian. How loudly do these 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 15 
 
 things call for faithfulness and dedication. And, 
 ought not we who have felt the powerful visita- 
 tions of divine love, to stand in a state of entire 
 obedience to the divine law, that we may thereby 
 be brought to the happy enjoyment and precious 
 experience of the love of God, and know its hea- 
 venly influences to be such around our spirits, 
 as to unite us with the faithful in the unchange- 
 able fellowship of Christ ? Then, indeed, shall 
 " Our light so shine in the world/' that others 
 seeing our good fruits will be led to look upon 
 Zion, the city of the saints' 'solemnities/ 
 and desire to partake of the salvation that is 
 found within her gates — and when our morning 
 sacrifice shall be e offered in righteousness ' upon 
 the altar of dedication, we shall know Jerusalem 
 spiritually to become " the perfection of beauty 
 and the joy of all the earth." 
 
 u 1834. — "When I contemplate the boundless 
 theme of an immortal existence, and with the 
 eye of faith and hope behold the wide field of 
 enjoyment in which candidates for immortality 
 and eternal life are designed to move, my spirit 
 
16 MEMOIR OP 
 
 takes its flight beyond the momentary scenes of 
 a fading world 5 and delights to dwell upon the 
 hopes and feelings that stand connected with a 
 loftier state of being; and though these may 
 remain like visions of the soul until the tomb, 
 thick clouds and darkness shall no longer hide 
 eternity from human eyes, yet, I firmly believe 
 that the Eternal One will reveal himself to those 
 who love him, by those things that eyes have not 
 seen — ears never heard — and of the excellency 
 and glory of which it hath not entered into the 
 unregenerate heart to conceive. When my heart 
 has been replenished with the unspeakable joys 
 of divine love, by which the deep things of God 
 are manifested in the clearness, and visions of 
 heavenly light, burst forth upon the soul, oh ! 
 how I have desired that I might be obedient to 
 the calls of the spirit — the office of which is to 
 turn from darkness to light, and to bring from 
 under the dominion of transgression to the pos- 
 session of an inheritance in the kingdom of 
 Christ." 
 
 Although the mind of our friend was thus early 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 17 
 
 turned to the heavenly Teacher, and a desire 
 manifested for those joys that are eternal in their 
 duration, yet the vivacity of youth and his cheer- 
 ful disposition ever made him a welcome guest 
 among his youthful associates. He was particularly 
 fond of female society, believing the influence of 
 woman is calculated to refine and elevate the mind 
 of man. It would appear, from the following ex- 
 tracts, that as he approached the period when he 
 was to enter into business on his own account, he 
 felt the circumscribing limits of Truth in relation 
 to laying up earthly treasure. His reflections, too. 
 upon the course often pursued by the ambitious 
 adventurer, we deem worthy of serious attention. 
 " I am not ambitious to acquire much beyond 
 what is really essential to the wants and comforts 
 of life, and in pursuit of them I anxiously hope 
 and confidently expect to avoid the perplexities 
 and steer clear of the vicissitudes that too often 
 enter into the experience of those who follow 
 the things of this world, with views of happiness 
 founded solely upon the acquisition of its trea- 
 sures. 
 
 2 
 
18 MEMOIR OF 
 
 " I have, for a loog time, believed that it is 
 theduty of every man, previously to his entering 
 upon the stage of active life, seriously to reflect 
 upon the course he designs to pursue; by so 
 doing, he might avoid many of the dangers that 
 lie concealed in the turbulent sea of an unstable 
 world. I have seen the ambitious youth, eager 
 to accumulate much of this world's riches, start 
 upon a career of life apparently without reflec- 
 tion ; his desire to indulge in the gratification of 
 sensual delights, kept him intoxicated with the 
 delirium of absurd pursuits, 'till he lost an 
 honorable standing in society, and passed away, 
 leaving in the train of his existence the fruits of 
 his folly, and proving the declaration of Scrip- 
 ture to be true, that ( pride gocth before destruc- 
 tion;' and as he was actuated by a i haughty 
 spirit/ it terminated in l a fall/ Prudence dic- 
 tates that I should shun the path that lie trod. 
 How many endowed with talents, blessed with 
 health, fortune, and friends, have, for want of 
 due reflection, wrecked their all upon the rocks of 
 imprudence and folly, and left themselves a prey 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 19 
 
 to corroding griefs, often sharpened by the remem- 
 brance of better days ! By observations upon 
 the conduct of others, I have often been taught 
 instructive lessons, and have thereby arrived at 
 the conclusion, that true happiness and enjoy- 
 ment are not to be experienced by following the 
 world with views solely founded on the acquisi- 
 tion of its treasures ; but that other duties com- 
 mand our attention than those necessary to be 
 discharged in the temporal concerns of life. 
 To fulfil the one, habits of industry, frugality, 
 and economy , are indispensably requisite; and if 
 these are properly attended to, it would leave 
 time for the performance of those higher duties 
 which we owe to ourselves, to one another, and 
 above all, to the Author of our being — these con- 
 sist in acts of benevolence and charity, the im- 
 provement of the mental faculties, the promotion 
 of piety, and the constant practice of virtue. 
 
 "1834. There is a felicity that we enjoyinthe 
 calmness of solitude, of a more refined character 
 than anything to be found in the trifling amuse- 
 ments of the world— -in that reiterated round of 
 
20 MEMOIR OF 
 
 pleasure that delights the thoughtlessness of 
 youth, and spreads a thousand snares in the 
 path of the inexperienced. Under all the cir- 
 cumstances of life, it is therefore profitable and 
 instructive, at times, to retreat from the busy 
 hum of society, that we may, by silent reflection, 
 exercise and strengthen the powers of our minds 
 and be enabled to discover with satisfactory 
 clearness, the way in which we should go. By 
 so doing, the asperities which render our path 
 difficult would disappear, and we should return 
 to social life with more cheerfulness and content. 
 We are taught many instructive truths in the 
 hour of retirement, because, then, those avenues 
 are opened that lead to the temple of happiness; 
 the sphere of our understanding becomes en- 
 larged, we are endowed with better judgment, 
 and are enabled to act with firmer principles in 
 our intercourse with the world. We preserve 
 the serenity of our minds unimpaired in the 
 midst of commotions in a degree proportioned to 
 the preparations we have made for them in the 
 hour of retirement, because we enjoy a serenity 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 21 
 
 then, that the world cannot impair. We learn 
 by degrees, to forsake those things which we have 
 hitherto pursued as pleasures, that we now find 
 leave only a mortifying remembrance behind them; 
 and if, in our retreat, we are only accompanied by 
 the angel of virtue, we shall feel our hearts in- 
 spired with the noblest emotions of gratitude 
 and love ; for when we look abroad over the 
 fair face of creation; and behold everything so 
 harmoniously blended as to contribute to our 
 happiness, to supply our wants ; to gratify our 
 desires and to gladden our hearts, it ought to 
 inspire the emotions that prompt us to love 
 and adore the Giver of so many perfect gifts. 
 When I speak of myself, I have only to say, 
 that I possess but little of what the world calls 
 wealth — neither do I desire a great deal. I have 
 learned to be content with the portion that has 
 fallen to my lot, and having been educated to 
 habits of industry through affectionate parental 
 care, I prize them much higher than all the 
 riches that could be conferred upon me. 
 
 "Those in whose bosoms ambition is contin- 
 2* 
 
22 MEMOIR OF 
 
 ually panting for boundless empire, whose great- 
 est zeal is to pursue some cherished aim of pride 
 or profit, who remain slaves to the world and its 
 foibles, may have their modes of enjoyments in 
 their particular pursuits ; but in my view, happi- 
 ness is acquired just in proportion as we attain 
 to the standard of moral excellence, and does 
 not consist chiefly in the accumulation of riches 
 which perish with the using. Indeed, I think, 
 if our ambition was chiefly to promote virtue 
 and piety, instead of acquiring worldly honor or 
 distinction, the condition of man would be ele- 
 vated far above everything connected with the 
 lower enjoyments of time. I have sometimes 
 feared that many in their eagerness to add 
 1 house to house, or field to field/ have sacri- 
 ficed many of the real enjoyments of this life, 
 and perhaps, too, the hopes and feelings that 
 stand connected with an eternal world. 
 
 " Let us diligently inquire what is our duty 
 and what part we are required to act, that we 
 may advance the interest of the kingdom of 
 Christ ? For, it is the good pleasure of our 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 23 
 
 heavenly Father, that his children should grow 
 in grace and in the knowledge of the things 
 that pertain to eternal life. If we humbly wait 
 upon Him with fervent desires to be led by that 
 1 wisdom which is from above/ we shall be di- 
 rected in the path of safety, and in the opening 
 visions of light be prepared to walk therein, 
 having the evidence of divine approbation within 
 ourselves. I may acknowledge, although my 
 deviations from the path of conscious rectitude 
 have been multiplied like the drops of the morn- 
 ing, yet my faith in the inward teachings of 
 this wisdom is such, that I believe it to be 
 vastly important to us in all things to stand 
 humbly conformed to its holy requisitions, that 
 we may walk worthy of the vocation wherewith 
 we are called, filling up our ranks in righteous- 
 ness, and moving continually in the sphere al- 
 lotted to us. These convictions of mind are 
 the result of experience, purchased at the 
 price of deep suffering, in consequence of 
 my disobedience to the plain manifestations of 
 truth." 
 
24 MEMOIR OP 
 
 In the 2d month of 1835 his father was re- 
 moved by death, having committed to John the 
 guardianship of the younger children. Thus, 
 as he was just entering manhood, ere the dew 
 of youth had left his brow, a deep responsibility 
 was thrown upon him ; but the exercises of his 
 soul were known unto Him who searcheth the 
 heart, and in the furnace of affliction he was 
 purified and prepared for that mission which he 
 so beautifully fulfilled. He had won their affec- 
 tion in their infancy by his kindness and atten- 
 tion, and they were now prepared to receive his 
 counsel and advice; "for," said his sister, "he 
 seemed unto the end as a father over the flock, 
 and faithfully did he discharge his duty toward 
 those who were in the spring time of life bereft 
 of parental care." At the bedside of his dying pa- 
 rent, his voice was uplifted in prayer ; and again, 
 on the occasion of the interment, he engaged in 
 solemn supplication on behalf of himself and 
 others. This was his first public ministerial ap- 
 pearance. 
 
 His mother had finished her course "in hope 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 25 
 
 and in joy," several years previously. When near 
 her close, her testimony was, " dear John, the 
 Lord is with thee." 
 
 In reference to the loss of his father, he thus 
 writes : — 
 
 "2d mo., 1835. When I last wrote to thee I 
 had very sanguine hopes of my dear father's re- 
 covery ; but it has been otherwise ordered in the 
 providence of an Almighty Father. He who 
 seeth the end as well as the beginning of things, 
 and whose dispensations are all in inscrutable 
 wisdom, saw meet to loose the chord and take 
 unto himself the kind and tender father and 
 faithful friend. This is a close trial, a season 
 of deep spiritual baptism. It seems to be our 
 privilege to weep and mourn. Jesus wept at the 
 tomb of Lazarus, and the Jews said, 'behold, 
 how he loved him !' yet I must weep no more 
 for the spirit of the departed, because in connec- 
 tion with his present state the language arises : 
 ' Weep not for me, ye sons and daughters of 
 Jerusalem, but weep for yourselves; for, in 
 Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, deliverance is 
 
26 MEMOIR OF 
 
 given unto the remnant, whom the Lord doth 
 call/ While these scenes of trial have a ten- 
 dency to lead the soul to a conviction, that it 
 has 'no continuing city here;' they should lead 
 it also to look unto God, its glorious author, for 
 consolation andj comfort. As our desires are 
 thus directed to the fountain of divine consola- 
 tion, which is set open for all the inhabitants of 
 Jerusalem and Jordan to wash and bathe in, our 
 affections and our hopes will become more and 
 more centred upon God, and a glorious inherit- 
 ance will be attained to, in that kingdom, of the 
 increase, blessed government and peace of which 
 there shall never be an end/ 7 
 
 u I have felt like the two disciples who were 
 journeying from Jerusalem to Emmaus, who, as 
 they walked by the way, were discouraged, were 
 cast down ; they were sad — for they had been 
 looking to the loss they had sustained by the 
 1 things that had been done in Jerusalem/ But 
 I have been permitted to experience a degree of 
 the joy they felt, when the divine Master mani- 
 fested himself among them by the hreaking of 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 27 
 
 bread. I can say from a degree of experience 
 that will warrant the expression, the oil of joy has 
 been given for mourning, and the garment of 
 praise for the spirit of heaviness. When the 
 soul resigns itself to its own reflections, and the 
 influences produced by external circumstances 
 lead it to a sense of its dependance upon the 
 author of its being, it is an unspeakable favor 
 to be possessed of an evidence, that He who has 
 a right to the government of our spirits is 
 pleased to work in us, ' both to will, and to do 
 his own good pleasure/ and there is, in the 
 blessed enjoyment of communion with God, a 
 calmness and serenity of mind which is not to 
 be found in the experience of the world, be- 
 cause it is only enjoyed by entering into the 
 closet of the heart, and there offering up the 
 aspirations of the soul to Him c who seeth in 
 secret' — then it is that we are taught in sincerity 
 to say, 6 Our Father who art in Heaven/ and to 
 adore in the silence of every thought his hallowed 
 name. In this communion with the Father of 
 Spirits, He becomes the medium of light and 
 
28 MEMOIR OF 
 
 life to us, and we walk no longer in darkness, 
 but come to experience the day of salvation to 
 dawn, and the day star of righteousness to arise 
 in our hearts, elevating the soul from the gross- 
 ness of the fallen nature, to an establishment in 
 the glorious liberty of the children of God. And 
 we know that, as we walk in this light, we have 
 fellowship one with another, and the blood of 
 Christ cleanseth us from all sin. Then we are 
 made to know experimentally the resurrection of 
 that'life which is ' hid with Christ in God/ which 
 consists in all purity, innocence, devotion, and 
 dedication of soul. This blessed life stands in 
 the jjoice?* and operation of the spirit of truth, 
 and in order that we may attain unto it, there 
 is an emanation of light from the Father of 
 lights, diffused throughout the whole spiritual 
 creation, unconfined and unlimited as his own 
 divine being. The primitive sons of the morn- 
 ing, who had realized in their own experience 
 the heavenly influences of the love of the Father, 
 could bear this ever memorable testimony. " This 
 then, is the message which we have heard of 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 29 
 
 him, and declare unto you, l God is light, and 
 in him is no darkness at all;' and a manifesta- 
 tion of this light is given to every rational soul, 
 and becomes the sustaining evidence of its im- 
 mortality, the foundation of its hopes, its com- 
 fort, consolation and happiness. I am abun- 
 dantly confirmed in the belief, that the divine 
 arm of power is still stretched out for the gather- 
 ing of his children into the true fold, and that 
 there is cause for us to mind the exhortation of 
 the experienced Apostle, to e rejoice evermore, 
 pray without ceasing, and in all things give 
 thanks.' " 
 
 The following extracts are from letters ad- 
 dressed to a very dear friend : 
 
 "3d mo., 1835. For want of being guided by 
 the spirit of truth in all the important relations 
 of life, how many embark, as it were, on an un- 
 certain ocean, without a pilot to guide them 
 among the perilous rocks and shoals that lie 
 concealed from human foresight in its turbulent 
 bosom. I have seen the loveliness of youth fade 
 
 away like the flower, and wither like the grass 
 3 
 
30 MEMOIR OF 
 
 of the field ; the fond hopes of parents blasted 
 forever, and the feelings of fraternal affection 
 inflicted with the deep wounds of sorrow ; the 
 wife neglected, and children left without the 
 guardianship of parental tenderness and care ; 
 and yet, there has been no lack of talents, no 
 want of comforts, which, to the outward, make 
 life a desirable thing. When I have beheld and 
 mused upon these things, my heart has often 
 been made sad, and I have strewn my tears in 
 solitary places, while I revolved in my mind the 
 weakness of humanity and the folly of a course 
 of life that was pursued without the restraints 
 of our holy religion, and the salutary discipline 
 of the cross of Christ. In earlier days these 
 things have led me in artless simplicity to 
 put up my feeble prayers to the throne of grace, 
 that I might tread through the slippery paths of 
 youth with safety, and be preserved from falling 
 into the snares of vice and the power of tempta- 
 tion. When I look back and remember the 
 days wherein I knew not God, because I had 
 forsaken Him, the fountain of living waters, 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 31 
 
 when I desired to enter into covenant with other 
 beloveds, than the Beloved of Souls — oh ! when 
 I contemplate the darkness and gloominess of 
 spirit that shrouded from my spiritual vision 
 the good things which He hath in store for them 
 that love him— how I rejoice in the renewed 
 conviction, that He has been my friend, and by 
 the frequent visitations of heavenly light and 
 love, has been seeking to turn me from the error 
 of my ways, and bring my soul into the glorious 
 light and liberty of the gospel of Christ. Why 
 should any earthly consideration retard our pro- 
 gress in the highway of holiness ? Need we be 
 ashamed to acknowledge ourselves passive sub- 
 jects to the government of Christ, or need we be 
 looking back upon the past mis-carriages of our 
 lives ? No, verily ; but ]et us own him and his 
 testimonies — let us leave, yes, let us leave the 
 things that are behind, and c press forward to- 
 wards the mark for the prize of the high calling 
 of God in Christ Jesus' — and may neither heights 
 nor depths, principalities nor powers, things pre- 
 sent, nor things to come, ever be able to separate 
 
32 MEMOIR OF 
 
 us from that love unto God and to all -his flock 
 and family, which gives us a hope of the fellow- 
 ship of the Gospel in this life, which sanctifies 
 our spirits and prepares them for the full con- 
 summation of glory in the world to come." 
 
 "4th mo., 1835. I find it required of me some- 
 times to open my mouth in the assemblies of 
 the people. Truly I feel as a child in the 
 obedience of the cross of Christ; but I have 
 known my heavenly Father to be near unto me, 
 aiding me by his blessed spirit to perform every 
 required duty ; and though I have often been a 
 child of disobedience in this respect, yet I am 
 not ashamed to acknowledge myself a believer 
 in the inward testimony of the spirit, because I 
 have known it to seal upon my mind an evidence 
 that c God is light, and in him there is no dark- 
 ness at all -/ and when the aspirations of my 
 soul are unto Him who seeth in secret, craving 
 strength, to aid me on my spiritual journey, I 
 remember thee, and desire for thee as for myself, 
 that the mantle of heavenly light and gospel 
 authority may rest upon thy spirit, and dignify 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 33 
 
 thee with a gift that shall ever be occupied in 
 the service of thy God. 
 
 "Oh, my friend, how earnestly and affec- 
 tionately has my heart desired, that thou mayst 
 not be too much cast down and discouraged un- 
 der the pressure of the hand that may lay heavily 
 upon thee. Thou hast had many seasons of sweet 
 communion with thy heavenly Father — thou hast 
 known his banner over thee to be love, and the 
 fervent prayer of my spirit is, that he may yet 
 more and more abundantly open unto thee the 
 deep things of his heavenly kingdom, and estab- 
 lish thee in a pure and spiritual faith in his 
 divine arm of power — even that faith, which is 
 able to preserve thee and keep thee from falling, 
 and will finally present thee before the presence 
 of his glory with exceeding joy. For myself, I 
 desire to be found in the fellowship of this 'holy 
 faith/ that I, too, may be worthy a name among 
 the children of that new and spiritual covenant 
 which God hath made, and not man. 
 
 " May we ever keep in that blessed humility 
 
 which will shew unto the world that we desire 
 3* 
 
84 MEMOIR OF 
 
 to walk in the path of self-denial, and to bear 
 the cross with all the patience and dignity which 
 becomes the follower of Christ — then, whatever 
 may be the baptisms of soul, whatever may be 
 the conflicts of spirit, we shall, most certainly, 
 know our peace to flow as a river, and our 
 righteousness as the waves of the sea. And what- 
 ever diversity of scene may enter into the history 
 of our experience, whether we partake largely 
 of the cup of consolation, or whether we drink 
 deeply at the stream of adversity and affliction, 
 let us ever remember that the purposes of Jehovah 
 are answered by the means he appoints for our 
 sanctification; and let the fervent aspirations of 
 our souls unitedly be, ' Thy throne, God ! is for- 
 ever and ever, a sceptre of righteousness, is the 
 sceptre of thy kingdom — thou art God, our 
 hope, our strength, our Saviour, and there is 
 none like unto thee; therefore we give thee 
 thanks in all things, because thou hast, by the 
 glorious word of thy power, reigned in our spirits, 
 and brought them to act in unison with thy 
 adorable will. We will dedicate our lives to 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 35 
 
 thee, and give the first fruits of all as an offer- 
 ing to thy eternal majesty. Thou shalt be our 
 God even unto the end of time, and we will 
 serve and worship thee, and hope that eternity 
 will open unto us still more of the glories of 
 thy heavenly kingdom/ " 
 
 A Letter to a Friend. 
 
 " Darby, 7th rao. 30th, 1835. 
 " Obedience is better than sacrifice, and to 
 hearken to the voice of the Lord than the fat of 
 rams or of burnt offerings — entire obedience, 
 yielding ourselves unto Him, who sanctifieth the 
 heart that it may be fitted to do his work, and 
 who leadeth bis obedient children in paths that 
 they had not known ; and herein is manifested 
 his goodness and mercy, in being c strength and 
 wisdom, tongue and utterance/ to all who con- 
 fidently rely upon his ' arm of power/ He will 
 open unto all these a pure fountain, from which 
 shall issue the waters of life, by which the spir- 
 itual growth is promoted and the whole heritage 
 of God refreshed. In my little experience con- 
 
36 MEMOIR OF 
 
 cerning the c deep things of God/ I have often 
 been, as thou knowest, a sufferer from disobedi- 
 ence, but I have also known the sweet i peace 
 that passeth the understanding/ to flow as a 
 river in my soul when I have yielded obedience 
 to the impressions of divine grace that have been 
 made upon my mind ; hence, I can understand 
 the language i obedience is better than sacrifice/ 
 &c. And because of this peace my confidence is 
 increased, my strength is renewed in the 
 power of the heavenly gift, by which the path of 
 divine appointment is opened in the visions of 
 light with so much clearness as to'leave no doubt 
 that the call is of a heavenly character. May 
 we often return thanks unto God for this 
 ' unspeakable gift/ and in deep prostration of 
 soul acknowledge him alone to be our i strength, 
 and the rock of our salvation/ And were we 
 sufficiently humble, ever careful to attend to the 
 visitations of divine love, to follow him whither- 
 soever he is pleased to lead us, we could en- 
 dure all tribulation, knowing that it worketh out 
 for us c a far more exceeding and eternal weight 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 37 
 
 of glory/ We should then be prepared to adopt 
 the language of the prophet/ 'Although the 
 fig-tree shall not blossom, and there shall be no 
 fruit in the vines, though the labor of the olive 
 shall fail, the fields shall yield no meat, though 
 the flocks shall be cut off from the fold and there 
 shall be no herd in the stalls, yet will I rejoice 
 in the Lord, and joy in the God of my salvation/ 
 Yes, there is always peace in obedience. And 
 the openings of the { unspeakable gift ; in the 
 soul that becomes devoted to God will lead more 
 and more from every outward dependence, to the 
 inward and spiritual dispensation of the new 
 covenant ; and sometimes when I have been a dis- 
 obedient child, so deep have been my spiritual 
 sorrows that I have felt myself in the situation 
 of one of old when he declared i the Lord 
 answereth no more, neither by vision nor by 
 prophecy ;' but I know his tender mercies are 
 over all his works ; he giveth liberally still from 
 the treasury of his love, and causes life to rise 
 into dominion whereby we gain a victory in the 
 truth. In our meeting on First day last, the de- 
 
38 MEMOIR OF 
 
 clarations of the divine Master were so forcibly 
 impressed upon my mind, l If any man will be my 
 disciple he must deny himself, take up his cross 
 daily and follow me ; ; 'But whosoever shall be 
 ashamed of me and of my word before a wicked 
 and adulterous generation, the same also shall 
 the Son of Man be ashamed of when he cometh 
 in the glory of his Father with the holy angels/ 
 that I thought it right to utter them, and to 
 open a little the views that were presented in 
 connection therewith ) for it appeared to me that 
 it was the duty of all who profess to be his fol- 
 lowers to conform to his precepts and to imitate 
 his heavenly example. I assure thee, my dear, 
 that I felt great peace of mind for having yielded 
 to this manifestation of duty. I believe it was 
 among the divine requirings. Oh how I need the 
 aid of thy spirit on such occasions. I feel that 
 I require thy presence then ; and is it not because 
 our souls have known sweet communion with 
 each other, because we have been baptised 
 together into the same holy flow, because we are 
 united in the best of bonds, a fellowship that is 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 39 
 
 not of this world ? Yes, we know that our fellow- 
 ship of soul is not earthly. 
 
 "First day Morning. — And may I not yield 
 thee in the freshness of feeling the Sabbath 
 morning tribute, the token that thou art remem- 
 bered even while in the calmness and tranquillity 
 which this still morning affords me, my spirit 
 walks in the courts of devotion and there holds 
 silent communion with its eternal Father ? If 
 there is anything which in this life should in- 
 spire the feeling of gratitude to the c Giver of 
 every good and perfect gift/ it is most certainly 
 this blessed privilege of enjoying the sensible 
 evidence of his divine presence, aiding the soul 
 to lift its feeble aspirations unto him, to continue 
 his goodness and mercy, to forget all our mani- 
 fold transgressions and remember them against 
 us no more, — to enable us to walk before him 
 in the spirit of humility, and to triumph over all 
 the temptations and trials connected with this 
 visible world, in the conscious hope that our re- 
 ward for well doing will be ' peace of mind/ 
 while here, and the fruition of joy when time to 
 
40 MEMOIR OF 
 
 us stall be no more. While the morning orisons 
 ascend from the altar of my heart, I love to medi- 
 tate on all the works of the divine hand, to con- 
 template his goodness to the children of men ; 
 and while the reflection passes through my mind 
 that I am but dust, and that the tabernacle of the 
 spirit must go to decay, to feel the glorious con- 
 viction of the presence of God in my soul, filling 
 its temple, like the outward edifice in the days of 
 Solomon when there was no room for the priests 
 to minister; to feel that He who 'dwelleth not 
 in temples made with hands,' He whom 
 i the heaven of heavens can not contain/ is 
 pleased to be with us in our journey through the 
 wilderness of this world, as a i pillar of cloud by 
 day and a pillar of fire by night/ and that if we 
 follow the teachings of his spirit it will lead us 
 to the promised Canaan of rest, even to a land 
 ever flowing with the milk of joy and with the 
 sweets of peace, happiness, and prosperity. And 
 although we may have to encounter dangers, 
 though we may have to conquer giants like the 
 sons of the x\nakims, though we may have to 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 41 
 
 drive out the enemies of the Lord and of our own 
 souls 'little by little/ before we can inhabit 
 this goodly land, yet we shall most assuredly be- 
 come the possessors, thereof as we walk by the 
 same rule and mind the same Roch that followed 
 Israel of old, for that rock is Christ the l wisdom 
 of God and the power of God, to all them who 
 believe. ' 
 
 " It remains to be an undeniable as well as an 
 unchangeable truth to the present time, that i all 
 the Lord's children are taught of the Lord, and 
 great is the peace of his children ; in righteous- 
 ness they come to be established ; they are far from 
 oppression and fear, because it doth not come 
 near them / and it is equally certain that as 
 many as are < led by the spirit of God they are 
 the sons and daughters of God/ heirs of God 
 and joint-heirs with Christ in his eternal king- 
 dom. And all who become of this happy number 
 must know all things to become new, and all 
 things of God. Well, then, what might we not ex- 
 pect to take place before this great change could 
 be effected in the soul ? Need we marvel that 
 4 
 
42 MEMOIR OP 
 
 the false heavens and the earth should be shaken 
 and pass away — ttfat a i new heaven and a new 
 earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness/ might 
 become established, and the fruits of the spirit be 
 converted into instruments by which we might 
 cultivate a different soil, even to promote the 
 growth of the tree of life, that we might be able 
 to partake of the fruit thereof and live continu- 
 ally in the presence and enjoyment of our glori- 
 ous Creator ? Oh ! what is tribulation, when it 
 worketh out for us this l exceeding weight of 
 glory/ when it brings us to a deep sense of our 
 dependence upon God our father, shows us the 
 frailty of our nature and the uncertainty of all 
 human prospects and delights, and teaches us to 
 build the foundation of our hopes of happiness on 
 something firmer than the transitory things of 
 time. I sometimes think it is a message of 
 love sent in disguise ; hence we ought to be re- 
 signed to all the dispensations of affliction, and 
 cultivate an acquiescence with all our Father's 
 will, for surely he would not afflict us without 
 some good purpose." 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 43 
 
 A t the age of twenty-six, John Jackson entered 
 into the marriage covenant with Eachel T. 
 daughter of Isaac Tyson, of Baltimore. No 
 where, perhaps, did the Christian virtues which 
 adorned his character shine forth more conspicu- 
 ously than in the domestic circle. His circum- 
 spect bearing, combined with a freedom and 
 gentleness of manner, won for him not only the 
 respect, but the affection of those with whom he 
 was thus associated. The mutual interest which 
 he and his wife felt in the welfare of the youth, 
 induced them, in the year of 1837, to open a 
 boarding school for girls. This was not com- 
 menced without due consideration. The follow- 
 ing extract embraces some of his views on the 
 subject of education, and expresses his conviction 
 of success in their important undertaking. 
 
 w 11th mo., 1837. The religious education 
 of children has often been to my mind a subject 
 of deep interest and concern. To direct the in- 
 fant mind to the influences of those principles of 
 action which should regulate the whole course of 
 human conduct, is, in my view, one of the most 
 
44 MEMOIR OF 
 
 effectual and powerful means under the divine 
 blessing of preserving them from the temptations 
 of the world ; and the improper indulgence of 
 those feelings and propensities which are invaria- 
 bly followed by misery and unhappiness. The 
 command that was given to the Israelites to 
 teach diligently to their children the law which 
 God had given them, is no doubt a perpetual ob- 
 ligation, binding upon all generations of men. 
 But a religious education does not consist in 
 teaching children those abstract opinions and 
 speculations of men which have given rise to un- 
 profitable disputations ; nor in directing them to 
 creeds and confessions of faith which man has 
 set up for a standard of religion, because such 
 a course is calculated to darken the spiritual un- 
 derstanding and oppose the full development of 
 the spiritual nature which Christianity is in- 
 tended to produce. The minds of children should 
 be directed to principles, not opinions ; to the 
 heavenly operations of truth, and not to words 
 and theories about them. The truths of religion 
 are all plain and simple, easy to be understood, 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 45 
 
 as the soul by obedience advances in righteous- 
 ness and is prepared to receive and obey new dis- 
 closures of the divine will. As the minds of 
 children are directed to these important truths, 
 they learn to cultivate an acquaintance with 
 themselves, and understand their relation as ac- 
 countable creatures to the Author of their being. 
 
 i( The more I look upon the important concern 
 in which we contemplate engaging, the more I 
 am satisfied it is our calling, one in which we 
 shall be able to succeed with satisfaction to our- 
 selves, and at the same time be useful to others, 
 by filling up our duoy to them, the consequence 
 of which must be the reward of peace." 
 
 Thus under a feeling of religious concern for 
 
 the promotion of truth in the guarded education 
 
 of the youth, " Sharon Boarding School" was 
 
 established, and the result proved our friend had 
 
 not mistaken " his calling." It was his aim not 
 
 only to cultivate and expand the intellect, but 
 
 also to imbue the tender minds of the children 
 
 with the necessity of a life of daily self-denial, 
 
 in order to enjoy that peace which the world can 
 4* 
 
46 MEMOIR OF 
 
 neither give nor destroy. The relation which 
 existed between the preceptor and pupils was in- 
 teresting even to the casual beholder. Many 
 who have shared his instructive counsel, date 
 their awakened interest in their spiritual welfare 
 from that time. One of the pupils who went 
 there at the age of sixteen, and remained several 
 years, was asked by a friend " how long has this 
 been thy home V She replied, " I began to live 
 here." She spoke out in those few words the ful- 
 ness of her spirit, realizing that the inner life is 
 the true being. We will give an extract from 
 a letter of another, which might seem too 
 panegyrical, were it not that it is as the voice of 
 a multitude, so much is it in unison with the tes- 
 timony of many, who felt that he possessed a 
 peculiar influence in leading their young minds 
 to love and admire virtue for virtue's sake. 
 
 " I can never tell what I owe to his instruc- 
 tion. A life chaste, earnest, humble, ever faithful 
 to the admonitions of right, ever recognizing the 
 divine law of progress, by which the soul ap- 
 proaches its Maker, manifesting in word and 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 47 
 
 deed, kindness and love to the great brotherhood 
 of man — such a life might be somewhat of an 
 acknowledgment of what the pupil owes to a 
 teacher like him. How many and what pleasant 
 memories come with his name ! I remember one 
 morning, when standing in the cabinet with one 
 of my class-mates, looking at the fossil impres- 
 sions which rain drops had made upon the frag- 
 ment of one of the oldest geological formations, 
 he came in, with that benign smile so character- 
 istic of him, took one of the Bridgewater trea- 
 tises, and read from it the scientific history of 
 what we had been examining. We had won- 
 dered before ; now we were filled with awe, not 
 from terror, but from the sublimity of the truth, 
 which his few words and the short extract which 
 he read, revealed to us. I felt then it was no 
 ordinary privilege thus to be taught. Yet so it 
 was ever. I never went with a question without 
 having it answered plainly, fully; there was always 
 time, there was always a smile with which to 
 satisfy every inquiry. And now I can not look 
 at a pebble, or go in imagination to the farthest 
 
48 MEMOIR OF 
 
 extremity of the universe, but I feel that he has 
 led the way, and I follow dimly and afar off where 
 he has gone shedding light upon mystery. Truly 
 can I say that I always felt in those Sharon days, 
 that worship was exalted when he mingled in it ; 
 social life was purified when in his presence; and 
 that as a teacher, he led and guided us by a 
 measure of the same love and care with which 
 the infinite Father guides and instructs his 
 children." 
 
 It was his practice to have read aloud daily 
 in his family a portion of the Scriptures or some 
 other good book ; and on First day evening all his 
 household were gathered for the purpose of social 
 worship. Not unfrequently the silence of these 
 meetings remained unbroken; while at other 
 times, exhortation and counsel were extended, 
 or in humility of spirit, the knee was bent in 
 vocal prayer for the preservation of his precious 
 charge from the many evils which are in the 
 world. 
 
 As he had been led by the love of his heavenly 
 Father to adore his works and to investigate 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 49 
 
 those natural laws by which He ordained that 
 matter should be governed, he pursued his scien- 
 tific researches with a devotional spirit, and this 
 doubtless had an effect to impress the minds of 
 those under his tuition with a degree of the same 
 reverence for that Almighty Being who had not 
 only brought into existence our own, but myriads 
 of similar globes, dispersed throughout the 
 illimitable tracts of creation, all of which are 
 sustained by the invisible hand of Him who sits 
 on the throne of the universe, u whose kingdom 
 ruleth over all, and before whom all nations are 
 counted as less than nothing and vanity." 
 
 To use his own language, " every page of the 
 great volume of nature is full of living and in- 
 structive truth. There is a beautiful relation 
 between mind and matter, between the works of 
 God, and our capacity to contemplate them. Our 
 intellectual nature is as much a gift of God, as 
 the gift of grace, and we are as responsible for 
 the culture and improvement of the one, as of 
 the other. I have no idea that so noble a talent 
 is to be buried in the earth, that it is to be em- 
 
50 MEMOIR OF 
 
 ployed merely in procuring food and raiment 
 for these frail temples, which are soon to mould- 
 er in the dust. Far otherwise ! Placed in the 
 midst of a beautiful creation, we are invited to 
 meditate on the workmanship of its Author. Such 
 an exercise of the intellect is profitable to us, for 
 it leads to humility, and while it makes manifest 
 the feebleness of man and our comparative 
 nothingness amidst the immensity of creation, it 
 exalts our views of the wisdom, goodness, and 
 power of the Creator." 
 
 His scholars were provided with numerous fa- 
 cilities for prosecuting their studies. An unusually 
 rich cabinet was open to their inspection, and a 
 well selected library was at their command. 
 Great expense was also incurred in procuring the 
 most approved apparatus for illustrating the 
 lectures on scientific subjects, delivered by their 
 preceptor. Their home was made more attrac- 
 tive by the care bestowed upon its grounds, 
 which were beautified by both native and exotic 
 plants. This may seem a trivial matter to no- 
 tice, but we would query, whether to the youthful 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 51 
 
 mind this kind of care is not beneficial in re- 
 fining the taste and exciting a love for the beau- 
 tiful works so profusely spread out before us by 
 Him who hath created nought in vain ? The 
 smallest flower that opens its petals to the morn- 
 ing light, or the humblest specimen of animated 
 life, cannot be regarded with indifference by a 
 mind which has been taught to " look through 
 nature up to nature's God." 
 
 The hospitalities of his house were shared by 
 both friends and strangers. His feelings went forth 
 in love to all men. He felt an abiding concern 
 for the oppressed everywhere, and he was often 
 made the instrument of relief to these, even as 
 the good Samaritan was to him who had fallen 
 among thieves, and was found wounded by the 
 way-side. Many a homeless fugitive from bond- 
 age was made glad and sent on his way rejoic- 
 ing, because of the kind words and good cheer 
 extended to him in the time of need, whether 
 this was at the midnight hour or at noon day. 
 Several times he visited the Indians in their 
 forest home, and with other friends met them in 
 
52 MEMOIR OF 
 
 Couucil, and making their case his own, accom- 
 panied them to "Washington, in order more effect- 
 ually to plead their cause and present their 
 grievances to our Government. The poor of his 
 own neighborhood were not forgotten, but, irre- 
 spective of color, they partook alike of his friend- 
 ly aid and assistance ; and so unostentatious were 
 his charities, that oft-times they were unknown 
 to any but himself and the objects of them. 
 For instance, one of his tenants was left a widow 
 soon after our friend had been gathered to his 
 eternal home. In a settlement of accounts with 
 her, it was discovered that for the last two years 
 the rent of her tenement had been given them; 
 and when asked how she would get fuel, she re- 
 plied, u Oh, Mr. Jackson had supplied us with 
 enough to last through the coming winter." As 
 incidents of this kind are brought to mind, we 
 remember the scripture passages, "Even a child 
 is known by his doings, whether his work be pure 
 and whether it be right." u A tree is known by 
 its fruit." " Men do not gather grapes of thorns, 
 nor figs of thistles." 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 53 
 
 He became a member of the Delaware County 
 Institute of Science, in 1834, a few months after 
 its formation, and did much toward establishing 
 it upon a firm basis. This Institute is still in a 
 flourishing condition, and numbers among its 
 members many of the most intelligent citizens 
 of their Borough. In the 6th month last, a trib- 
 ute to the memory of our departed friend, setting 
 forth his Christian virtues and philanthropic 
 spirit, as well as his scientific attainments, was 
 read before the Society, and directed to be 
 printed. 
 
 His gift in the ministry enlarged, and was ac- 
 knowledged by his Monthly Meeting in 1837. 
 It was remarkably clear, and unconnected with 
 the " traditions of men." His manner was 
 solemn and impressive, conveying to his hearers 
 the evidence that he spoke to them of what 
 he himself had seen, and what he had known of 
 the good word of life. His mission appeared to 
 be, to call his fellow beings from every outward 
 dependence; to endeavor to prove to them that 
 the Christian religion stands not in meats and 
 
54 MEMOIR OF 
 
 drinks, divers washings and carnal ordinances, 
 but in righteousness, peace, and joy in a holy 
 spirit j and to direct their attention to Christ 
 within, as the means of redemption, and to that 
 oUedience to the teachings of the Spirit of Truth 
 which constitutes, in every age, the uniform 
 ground of acceptance with " the Father/' of all 
 those who fear him and work righteousness. 
 
 The following extract is expressive of his con- 
 fidence in the Apostolic doctrine of the light 
 within, the unction from the Holy One, to which 
 George Fox felt called upon to admonish the 
 people in his day to take heed, even as to a 
 " light which shineth in a dark place. " 
 
 " In proportion as I have been obedient to the 
 teachings of this Divine light in my own soul, I 
 have experienced the l beauty of holiness ' to be 
 far more unspeakably joyous, than anything con- 
 nected with this visible world. And as I do know 
 what has produced this experience in my own 
 mind, I believe it my duty to call the attention 
 of others to the same light of Christ in them- 
 selves : believing this to be an i unction from the 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 55 
 
 Holy One' spoken of by that experienced believer 
 in the spirituality of the religion of Christ, the 
 apostle John, i Ye have an unction from the Holy 
 One, ( and ye know all things/ and i the anointing 
 which ye have received of him abideth in you, 
 and ye need not that any man teach you; but as 
 the same anointing teachethyouof all things, and 
 is truth and is no lie/ Also believing this to be 
 the ground taken by our early Friends when they 
 were called out of the powerless forms and cere- 
 monies of the religion of their day, to be an in- 
 ward and spiritually-minded people, led and 
 guided by this 'unction from the Holy One/ which 
 they believed was given to every man to profit 
 withal. Their fundamental doctrine was, that 
 the light of Christ in the soul of man was the 
 primary rule of faith and practice, the sure guide 
 to salvation. Because this light enables man to 
 see clearly everything that hinders him from 
 the enjoyment of the presence of his merciful 
 Creator, shows him that the consequence of his 
 disobedience is the loss of the paradisical state, 
 a separation from the Divine harmony. And as 
 
56 
 
 MEMOIR OF 
 
 the manifestation of this light, that is, the cer- 
 tainty of it ; is given to every man for the blessed 
 purpose of enabling him to change the condition 
 of his being, from the image of the earthly to 
 the image of the heavenly nature, so as man be- 
 comes obedient to the inward monitor, it will lead 
 him to forsake all iniquity, and walk in holiness, 
 without which no man can see the Lord. This 
 is that comforter and inward teacher to which 
 Jesus alluded when he told his disciples that it 
 was expedient his outward appearance as to that 
 body of flesh and blood, which had been prepared 
 for him, should pass away, that they might no 
 longer be looking to the outward, but that their 
 attention might be turned to an inward and 
 spiritual Saviour. 'It is expedient that I go away, 
 for if I go not away the comforter will not come 
 unto you/ ( I will pray the Father, and he shall 
 give you another comforter, that he may abide 
 with you forever; even the spirit of truth, whom 
 the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, 
 neither knoweth him; but ye know him, for he 
 dwelleth with you and shall be in you.' 'The 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 57 
 
 comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the 
 Father will send in my name, he shall teach you 
 all things, and bring all things to your remem- 
 brance whatsoever I have said unto you/ 
 
 " Now as this spirit of truth is suffered to 
 work in us to will and to do of the good pleasure 
 of our heavenly Father, it will so sanctify our 
 hearts, so regulate our actions, as to place us in 
 the high condition of 'heirs of God and joint heirs 
 with Christ/ in agreement with the declaration 
 of the blessed Jesus, 'Whosoever doeth the will of 
 my Father which is in heaven, the same is my 
 brother, my sister, and my mother/ And do not 
 the Scriptures abundantly confirm a belief in the 
 sufficiency of this inward light, to lead us to a 
 state of acceptance with the Father? For they 
 declare that t as many as are led by the spirit 
 of God, are the sons of God/ And what is this 
 c spirit of God' which is to lead us to the high 
 and acceptable state of the 'Lord's children who 
 are taught of the Lord/ but the light of Christ 
 in the soul, the Divinity speaking in man ? 'For 
 
 whatsoever is to be known of God is manifest in 
 5* 
 
58 MEMOIR OF 
 
 man/ and there only can man look for the evi- 
 dence that he stands approved in the Divine 
 sight." 
 
 Extract of a letter to G. T. 
 
 llth mo. 1836. 
 " In my own experience of latter time, I have 
 felt more closely bound to the law and to the 
 testimony, feeling the precious truth dear to my 
 best life, and the exaltation of the standard of 
 righteousness the chief delight of my soul ; there 
 are seasons when the depths of affliction await 
 me, there are moments when my soul mourns 
 over the desolate places of our Zion, yes and there 
 arc moments, too, when all the sympathies of my 
 soul are enlisted on behalf of wandering prodigals, 
 who have left the Father's house, and gone into 
 a far country, to spend their substance in 
 riotous living, to spend the energies of their souls 
 upon things that will never add one solitary joy 
 to the sum of human happiness. And now in the 
 morning of life, when I have been snatched as a 
 brand from the burning, and through the adorable 
 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 59 
 
 goodness of a gracious God been permitted to 
 look beyond earth's transitory joys, to an inheri- 
 tance in the kingdom of Christ, if I could be 
 instrumental in awakening in any of these the 
 conviction that in the Father's house there is 
 bread enough and to spare, I could count neither 
 baptism nor trial anything, did it tend to my 
 sanctification and preparation for a work I de- 
 sire may not exalt the creature, but honor the 
 Creator, and exalt his name in the earth." 
 
 Beside frequent visits to neighboring meetings 
 of Friends, where there were ever found many to 
 welcome him, he was often engaged in laboring 
 among the " highways and hedges," extending 
 the invitation to " the marriage supper of the 
 Lamb," to which all are bidden ; and may not 
 the silent wrapt attention with which the mul- 
 titude listened to the call, be accepted as an 
 earnest, that the seed thus sown would spring 
 up and bear fruit, " some thirty, some sixty, and 
 some a hundred fold" ? — in how many hearts is 
 known only to Him who hath declared his 
 
60 MEMOIR OF 
 
 i( word shall not return void, but it shall accom- 
 plish that which I please, and it shall prosper in 
 the thing whereto I sent it V But few extensive 
 journeys were taken by our friend, though parts 
 of several Yearly Meetings, were at different 
 times visited in Gospel love. With the appro- 
 bation of his friends at home, he, in company 
 with George Truman and T. B. Longstreth, of 
 Philadelphia, made a religious visit to some of 
 the West India Islands, in the year 1840. They 
 were absent several months. After their return, 
 at the request of their friends, they published a 
 brief account of their travels. As the work was 
 designed more particularly for their personal 
 friends, we believe its circulation was limited. 
 It may therefore not be out of place to make 
 some extracts from it, and embody them in this 
 memoir. But a faint idea can be thus conveyed 
 of the difficulties and trials through which they 
 passed in the performance of their apprehended 
 duty, nor of the secret enjoyments, as the reward 
 of obedience, which at times flowed in upon the 
 spirit, even as a river in which they could bathe 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 61 
 
 and be refreshed. We subjoin a letter addressed 
 to his father-in-law, I. Tyson, in reference to the 
 prospect of this service. 
 
 Sharon, 4th mo. 21st, 1840. 
 Dear Father, — When sister Mary left here 
 yesterday, for home, I expected to have writ- 
 ten to thee on a subject which has for some 
 time past occupied my mind, and I have no 
 doubt at all, but it will be a matter of some sur- 
 prise to thee, as it has been a subject of wonder 
 to myself, that I should be called unto so wide 
 a field of labor. The prospect of paying a re- 
 ligious visit to some of the West India Islands 
 has been before me for more than nine months 
 past. It has been the companion of my thoughts 
 from time to time, and as often have I endeavor- 
 ed to put it by ; silently have I borne the deep 
 baptisms and exercise consequent upon the pre- 
 sentation of such a service, and often exclaimed 
 in secret, * who is sufficient for these things ? ' 
 And like one formerly I have reasoned ' my 
 family is poor in Manassah, and I am the least 
 
62 MEMOIR OF 
 
 in my father's house/ I have looked on the 
 one hand at the temporal and social sacrifices I 
 should have to make, and on the other, to the 
 weight of responsibility that attaches itself to a 
 gospel mission among strangers in a strange land; 
 these have been important and momentous con- 
 siderations. But with a firm reliance on the 
 protection and guidance of Divine Providence, I 
 have felt that true prosperity and peace of mind 
 can only be procured at the price of an entire 
 surrender of the will to his requirings, that 
 nothing short of leaving all for Christ's sake 
 and the Gospel's, will answer when the solemn 
 query shall be made to the believer, 'how much 
 owest thou to thy Lord ? ' or how much hast 
 thou done to promote the universal establishment 
 of the Redeemer's kingdom in the earth ? To 
 some, it may seem strange that a field of labor 
 is opened in the parts I have in view ; but to me 
 it has appeared that there the harvest is plen- 
 teous; and I have prayed that other laborers 
 may also be sent into that part of the vineyard. 
 The testimonies, and more especially the princi- 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 63 
 
 pies professed by the Society of Friends, are not 
 to be ' hid under a bushel.' They are applica- 
 ble to all classes and conditions of men, in every 
 nation, and of every clime, and the reason why 
 they are thus applicable, is because they teach 
 men to i fear God, and work righteousness as the 
 only ground of salvation, and acceptance with 
 him.' If, then, it be consistent with the Divine 
 will to make use of ' the weak things of this 
 world/ to bring about the period when the 
 knowledge of God shall cover the earth, as the 
 waters cover the sea; if it please him to make 
 use of any of his creatures to publish the glad 
 tidings of the Gospel of Christ, shall the creature 
 say, wherefore doest thou? From all the ra- 
 tional views I entertain in relation to the great 
 business of this life, I have been led into a 
 clear and unshaken conviction, that man's high- 
 est, as well as temporal interest, is best promoted 
 by his obedience to the Divine will. To seek 
 daily for a spirit of discernment, to discover 
 what is the Divine will concerning his individual 
 creatures capable of spiritual illumination, is 
 
64 MEMOIR OE 
 
 certainly a duty of no small importance, inas- 
 much as there is a danger of ( erring in judgment 
 and straying in vision/ 
 
 To-day was our Monthly meeting, and I found 
 no other way for me, than to inform my friends 
 of the prospect I had in view. It was unexpect- 
 ed, as not an individual of the meeting, (except 
 my dear E.) had any previous intimation of it. 
 The meeting took the subject into serious con- 
 sideration, which resulted in the full expression 
 of unity with me in the concern. A minute was 
 accordingly made to that effect. The subject 
 will necessarily be laid before our Quarterly 
 Meeting, and the Yearly Meeting for ministers 
 and elders; and it is not until the approbation 
 of both of these meetings is obtained, that I can, 
 in the order of our Society, be at liberty to enter 
 further in the concern. I have now left it with 
 my friends, and if they are not prepared to set 
 me at liberty, the responsibility will rest upon 
 them, and the work will not be required at my 
 hands. Thou wilt know that my dear R. will 
 feel a separation of several months, in no small 
 degree, and I should not, at this time ; have gODe 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 65 
 
 so far as to have opened the subject in meeting, 
 had she not paved the way, by a resignation 
 to what appears to me to be a duty, which if not 
 yielded to, would have marred mine, as well as 
 her own peace; and I doubt not, but the same 
 hand that was underneath to support her, when 
 of late the prospect of a final separation* rested 
 as a cloud upon her spirit, will still be extended, 
 and like a guardian angel will protect and pre- 
 serve her, should it be my lot to leave the en- 
 dearments of home, in the service of the Divine 
 Master. As regards our temporal prospects, I 
 have confidence to believe that in these things we 
 shall prosper ; that the " cruse of oil " will not 
 fail, but as we endeavor to live and walk worthy 
 of the vocation, wherewith we are called ; peace 
 will still be found within our walls, and pros- 
 perity within our borders. 
 
 In near affection, I remain thy son, 
 
 John Jackson. 
 
 To I. Tyson, Baltimore. 
 
 * During an attack of severe illness, from which he 
 had just recovered, 
 
 6 
 
66 MEMOIR OF 
 
 The following certificates were furnished him 
 by the Monthly, Quarterly, and Yearly Meetings, 
 of which be was a member. 
 
 u To the Inhabitants of the West Indies, where 
 these may come. 
 
 Our beloved friend Jobn Jackson, a minister 
 in unity witb us, in a feeling manner opened in 
 this meeting a concern wbichhad for some time 
 past rested with much weight upon his mind, 
 to pay a religious visit in Gospel love to the in- 
 habitants of some parts of the West Indies. 
 This meeting being introduced into a deep feel- 
 ing of sympathy and unity with him in his con- 
 cern, leaves him at liberty to pursue his prospect 
 as truth may open the way, with fervent desires 
 that when his labors of love shall be accomplish- 
 ed, he may be favored to return to his family and 
 friends with the reward of peace. 
 
 Extracted from the minutes of Darby Month- 
 ly Meeting of Friends, held at Darby, in the 
 County of Delaware, and State of Pennsylvania, 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 67 
 
 in North America, the 21st day of 4th mo. A. D. 
 1840, and signed on behalf thereof, by 
 
 John H. Andrews,]™ fc 
 Naomi Passmore, j 
 
 Signed also by 42 members of Darby Month- 
 ly Meeting." 
 
 u To the Inhabitants of the West Indies, where 
 these may come. 
 Our beloved friend, John Jackson, a minister 
 in unity with us, opened in this meeting a con- 
 cern, which has caused much weight of exercise 
 to his mind, to pay a religious visit in Gospel 
 love to the inhabitants of some parts of the West 
 Indies. And he producing a minute from Darby 
 Monthly Meeting, expressive of their unity with 
 him therein ; this meeting being brought into a 
 deep feeling of sympathy with him in the con- 
 cern, it was on solid deliberation united with, to 
 set him at liberty to pursue his prospect as truth 
 may direct. 
 
 Extracted from the minutes of Concord Quar- 
 terly Meeting of Friends, held at Wilmington, 
 
68 MEMOIR OP 
 
 in the State of Delaware, the 28th of 4th mo. 
 A. D. 1840, and signed on behalf thereof, by 
 
 John H. Andrews, 1 pi lra » 
 Lydia Pusey, J Uerks * 
 
 u To all to whom these may come: — 
 
 Our beloved friend, John Jackson, a minister 
 of the Gospel, in full unity with us, laid before 
 this meeting a concern, which had impressed 
 his mind as a religious duty, to visit in Gospel 
 love the inhabitants of some of the West India 
 Islands. 
 
 The importance of the undertaking obtained 
 our serious and deliberate consideration, and the 
 sympathy and unity of the meeting were express- 
 ed with his prospect. 
 
 We therefore recommend him to the friendly 
 notice of all to whom this certificate may come, 
 desiring that he may be enabled to perform his 
 religious visit under the Divine guidance, and to 
 edification; and after having accomplished his 
 mission of love, that he may return to his family 
 and friends, with the reward of a peaceful mind. 
 
JOHN JACKSON, 69 
 
 Signed on behalf and by direction of the 
 Yearly Meeting of Ministers and Elders of the 
 Religious Society of Friends, held at Philadel- 
 phia, in the State of Pennsylvania, and United 
 States of America, the 9th day of the 5th month, 
 1840. Isaac Townsend, Clerk/' 
 
 In relation to his feelings at this time, we find 
 the following record : — "In commencing a jour- 
 nal of my visit to the West Indies, it may not 
 be improper to refer to the object for which the 
 visit was undertaken. By a reference to the 
 minutes which I have obtained from the Monthly, 
 Quarterly, and Yearly Meetings, of which I am 
 a member, it will be found to be from a convic- 
 tion that religious duty requires me to visit in 
 the love of the Gospel of Christ the inhabitants 
 of some of the West India Islands. The deep 
 exercises and baptisms of spirit into which I 
 have been brought in having this service opened 
 before me, while they have been such as no flesh 
 could glory in, will, I humbly trust, tend to pre- 
 pare me for the work which the Divine Master 
 6* 
 
70 MEMOIR OF 
 
 may allot for me in this part of his vineyard. 
 From a sense of my great weakness, I have been 
 brought to see that, without his holy aid and as- 
 sistance, I shall be incompetent to the service he 
 may require at my hands, knowing that the ser- 
 vant of Christ must not depend upon human 
 wisdom for direction, but on the teaching of the 
 Holy Spirit, which will be mouth and wisdom, 
 tongue and utterance to all his dedicated follow- 
 ers, who place their confidence in Him, and wait 
 for the power which He will give them, to accom- 
 plish his work. To these, his command remains 
 to be as formerly, i Tarry at Jerusalem until ye 
 are endued with power from on high.' 
 
 After having been brought into a willingness 
 to resign myself to the work and service of my 
 Divine Master, and having made the proper ar- 
 rangement of my temporal affairs, I parted with 
 my beloved wife and family, on the 14th of 11th 
 mo. 1840, with a view to embark from New ' 
 York. 
 
 In company with Thomas B. Longstreth, who 
 had felt it his duty to engage with me in this 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 71 
 
 service, as companion, and George Truman, who 
 had also felt himself called to make a similar 
 visit to these Islands, I left Philadelphia for 
 New York, on the evening of 7th day. A 
 large number of our dear friends had called to 
 witness our departure, whose farewell salutations 
 manifested to us their sincere desires for our 
 preservation and safe return. On 1st day we 
 attended the meetings of Friends in New York, 
 to our edification and comfort. 
 
 In consequence of unfavorable winds, and 
 some other causes, we were detained in the City 
 of New York till 5th day, the 19th of 11th mo. 
 This detention was a disappointment which we 
 did not expect. The kind attention of our friends 
 while in New York, not only tended to lessen 
 our disappointment, but it manifested an interest 
 in our proposed visit, which furnished renewed 
 encouragement to us to go on our way rejoic- 
 ing" 
 
72 MEMOIR OF 
 
 Extracts from a " Visit to the West Indies." 
 " We embarked at New York, on board the ship 
 Southerner, bound to Santa Cruz, St. Thomas 
 and Jamaica, on the morning of llmo. 19th, 
 1840. We had about twenty-five passengers in 
 company, most of whom were invalids, seeking 
 a climate where they might escape the severities 
 of a North American winter. The parting of 
 them from their friends and relatives produced 
 some saddening sensations. On First day, the 
 22d, we had passed the Gulf Stream, the ocean 
 became calm and the weather was mild and plea- 
 sant as a summer morning. At our request, a 
 meeting for Divine worship was held, which was 
 attended by all the passengers who had sufficient- 
 ly recovered from sea-sickness. Isolated as 
 we were upon the ocean, the occasion seemed to 
 demand that we should forget those sectional 
 prejudices and feelings which form the barriers 
 between different professors of religion, and have 
 a tendency to separate from the love of God, and 
 endeavor to realize the truth of the Scripture 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 73 
 
 declaration, ( One is your master, even Christ, 
 and all ye are brethren/ We were favored to 
 enjoy a comfortable meeting together, and a 
 word of encouragement was given to some, whose 
 declining health warned them that the period of 
 their dissolution was drawing nigh. 
 
 " On the 23d, we encountered a heavy gale. 
 The waves rose high, occasionally sweeping over 
 the deck of the vessel, thus rendering any posi- 
 tion unsafe without a rope or something to which 
 we could cling for security. The storm and tem- 
 pest have their appointed office, and their bounds, 
 in the economy of the universe : without the 
 agitation they produce, the waters of the ocean 
 would soon become stagnant, and rendered unfit 
 for the habitation of myriads of living creatures 
 which enjoy existence therein. A sufficient quan- 
 tity of vapor would not be carried from the sea to 
 refresh and fertilize the land, which, in conse- 
 quence, would soon become barren and desolate, 
 unfit for the abode of man, and the subordinate 
 creatures over which he has dominion. 
 
 " While, therefore, we viewed the amazing 
 
74 MEMOIR OF 
 
 spectacle before us, with mingled feelings of plea- 
 sure and of awe, we were sensible that such sub- 
 lime operations of the elements tend either direct- 
 ly or remotely to beautify the earth with vegeta- 
 tion, and to inspire the mind with a conviction 
 that He who controls the winds and waves is 
 1 wonderful in counsel and excellent in working/ 
 Having adapted external nature to the constitu- 
 tion of the various creatures he has made for 
 enjoyment, the elements become subservient to 
 the most excellent ends; such reflections have a 
 tendency to remove apprehensions of danger, and 
 make the scene one of admiration and wonder. 
 u On Fourth day, the 25th, the storm had 
 entirely abated. It was proposed by one of the 
 passengers to hold a meeting for Divine worship 
 according to our custom, in the middle of the 
 week. This being responded to, preparations 
 were made to hold it on the deck of the vessel. 
 Nearly all the ship's crew and passengers seated 
 themselves, and during the opportunity, we 
 deemed it right to present to view some of the 
 
john Jackson. 75 
 
 testimonies and principles of truth as professed 
 by our religious society. 
 
 " On First day the 29th, it was again proposed 
 to hold a meeting. The captain and passengers 
 having manifested a desire for it, we collected 
 together on the deck of the vessel, where, amidst 
 the roaring of the ocean, and the sound of the 
 wind among the rigging of the ship, we endea- 
 vored to draw near to Him whose voice may be 
 heard even amidst the noise of many waters, and 
 were permitted to realize the truth of the declara- 
 tion, ' where two or three are met together in 
 my name there am I in the midst of them/ 
 
 " Early on the morning of 12th month 1st, 
 the Captain told us if his reckoning was right 
 we should see land by 9 o'clock. A man was 
 sent to the mast head, and about a quarter past 
 9 we heard the cry * land to leeward.' By ten 
 o'clock we had neared sufficiently to make it 
 visible from the deck of the ship. It proved 
 to be the hills of Virgin Gorda. During the day 
 we passed in sight of Tortoia, St. Johns, and St- 
 Thomas, and by 5 o'clock were in sight of Santa 
 
ib MEMOIR OF 
 
 Cruz. Owing to a heavy rain and the darkness 
 of the evening, the Captain deemed it prudent 
 to c lay to ' for the night, that we might have 
 daylight to approach the Island. The next 
 morning a gentle breeze wafted us along the 
 north side of the Island, where we had a full 
 view of its mountains, some of which are culti- 
 vated to their summits. The cane-fields, boiling 
 houses, mansions of planters and the tenements 
 of the slaves, clustered together, presenting the 
 appearance of small villages, the lofty cocoa-nut, 
 the banana, and other beautiful trees growing 
 around the dwellings, all added to the novelty 
 and interest of the scene. We arrived at West 
 End by 6 o'clock, P. M., being 13 days 6 hours 
 since we weighed anchor in the harbor of New 
 York/' 
 
 Santa Cruz. 
 12mo. 3d. " This morning we came on shore 
 and found excellent accommodations. After par- 
 taking of some of the fine fruits our kind hostess 
 had procured for us, we walked through the 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 77 
 
 town and its environs, our admiration being ex- 
 cited by many objects that were continually pre- 
 sented to our view. Visiting the tropics at this 
 season is like going to a new world. When we 
 left New York, the weather was very cold, the 
 ground was covered with snow, and vegetation 
 was taking its annual repose. Here, we are en- 
 joying a climate as warm as the summers of Penn- 
 sylvania, and surrounded by the luxuriant pro- 
 ducts of the earth growing in the richest profu- 
 sion. The lofty cocoa-nut and mountain cabbage, 
 whose stately trunks appear like the pillars of a 
 temple, the curious silk cotton tree, the orange 
 with its blossoms, its green and ripe fruit, nu- 
 merous flowers of great beauty, and mostly dif- 
 ferent from those well known to us, could not 
 fail to be interesting to a stranger. 
 
 "It is highly gratifying to notice that under 
 the despotic Danish government, the condition 
 of the slaves is greatly in advance of the slave 
 population of other countries. On this island 
 they have opportunities, by the cultivation of the 
 grounds allowed them, and the raising of swine 
 7 
 
78 MEMOIR OF 
 
 and poultry, to acquire and possess sums of 
 money, and when they consider themselves pre- 
 pared and are desirous to obtain their liberty, 
 they can demand an appraisement hy disinterested 
 persons of the value of their services, to which 
 the master is obliged to submit, and sell them 
 accordingly. 
 
 u They are further protected from the unbridled 
 impulses of passion of the owner or his overseer, 
 they not being permitted to use very harsh mea- 
 sures to enforce obedience. 
 
 "The government is preparing to introduce a 
 system of school education for the children of 
 both the free and the slave population. Stone 
 houses of ample dimensions and neat construc- 
 tion are being erected throughout the Island, and 
 properly furnished with apparatus, to carry out 
 this benevolent design. The English language 
 will be taught. 
 
 " It is expected these schools will go into 
 operation in a short time, and that children from 
 all the estates will be sent to them/' " The 
 education of the children will be of great advan- 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 79 
 
 tage ; and we hope it will eventuate in the fur- 
 ther melioration of the condition of the slave, 
 and be the means of the final breaking of the 
 odious bond that binds him to his fellow man as 
 his property. Many proprietors appear ready to 
 emancipate their slaves. They believe advan- 
 tages will result to all parties by so doing; but 
 they ask remuneration, referring to the example 
 of Great Britain towards her Colonies. The 
 Danish government is said to be too poor to pro- 
 mote this view, and there is little probability 
 such a plan will be carried into effect. It is 
 looking, however, towards emancipation, and the 
 school system now under arrangement is a pre- 
 liminary step towards it. 
 
 " It was our wish to hold some religious meet- 
 ings with the people of the Island ; and for this 
 purpose we called on several influential men, who 
 seemed desirous to promote the object of our 
 visit, but on making application to the Governor 
 for his permission, he refused to grant it, in a 
 formal note addressed to the Judge. 
 
 " The fear of our making remarks upon the 
 
80 MEMOIR OF 
 
 subject of slavery, was supposed to have operated 
 upon his mind to produce this order, so contrary 
 to the principles of enlightened Christianity. 
 
 "Finding no opportunity to hold meetings 
 with the people, we felt willing to leave, after 
 circulating some books, and writing an address 
 to the inhabitants, in which we explained the ob- 
 ject of our visit, and expressed our conviction 
 that the exercise of human authority over the 
 consciences of men, is utterly at variance with 
 the benign influence of the gospel and the 
 spirit of the age in which we live. This was 
 subsequently printed and circulated in the Danish 
 Colonies." 
 
 St. TJiomas. 
 
 12mo. 9th. " We took passage yesterday 
 from West End, at 10 o'clock, with the expec- 
 tation of reaching this Island in seven or eight 
 hours. But owing to contrary winds our little 
 schooner did not land us till about 9 o'clock this 
 morning, consequently we had to spend the 
 night on board, with very poor accommodations 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 81 
 
 and scanty fare. We were kindly received by 
 our friend Edward Simmons, who introduced us 
 to several of the merchants, and also to the 
 Governor, Oxholm, with whom we desired to 
 have an interview, hoping it might open the 
 way for holding some religious meetings on the 
 Island. The Governor appeared disposed to 
 grant us this liberty, but upon being informed 
 that the Governor General of the Danish Colonies, 
 at Santa Cruz, had prohibited the holding of 
 such meetings there, he did not think he had 
 sufficient authority to grant our request without 
 first obtaining his consent. This we thought 
 could not be procured, and we declined making 
 the attempt. But a small portion of this Island 
 is under cultivation. Most of the inhabitants 
 are congregated in the principal sea-port, the 
 town of St. Thomas. This town is handsomely 
 situated on three hills, on the summits of which 
 most of the finest dwellings are built, and many 
 of them so situated as to command a view of the 
 whole town and harbor. Being a free port, it is 
 a place of great business. Commerce with many 
 7* 
 
82 MEMOIR OF 
 
 nations is carried on there, and their language is 
 heard in its streets, whilst in its excellent harbor 
 many vessels from various parts of the world 
 were then riding. Amidst the hurry and bustle 
 which the extensive business of this place pro- 
 duces, it is to be feared that too little time is 
 devoted to that rational and serious reflection, 
 which redeems from the spirit of the world, and 
 leads man to commune with his Maker. From 
 observations we were able to make, we should 
 judge the standard of morality was very low 
 among the colored people, and we were sorry to 
 find, upon inquiry, that but a small amount of 
 care is bestowed by the religious sects tolerated 
 by the government, towards elevating their con- 
 dition, and it is probable but little pains will be 
 taken in this respect, whilst they remain in the 
 condition of slaves. The Moravians have an es- 
 tablishment near this town, and we understand 
 that a degree of kindness was excited by these 
 brethren towards the slave population. This we 
 should naturally expect to find among a people 
 noted for their general benevolence. 
 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 83 
 
 u Being ready to pursue our journey, we con- 
 cluded to go first to Tortola, and engaged a 
 colored man to take us to that island, in a small 
 vessel not much larger than the long boat of a 
 merchantman. 
 
 u Night came on as we approached Tortola, 
 but it was a night of uncommon beauty. We 
 were glad when the curtain was drawn between 
 us and the scorching rays of a tropical sun ; the 
 air was exceedingly mild; Venus shone with suf- 
 ficent brightness to cast a distinct shadow, and to 
 illuminate our watery path, as we beat from shore 
 to shore, in attempting to make progress between 
 St. John's and Tortola. About 9 o'clock, the full 
 moon rose, and gave us an opportunity to witness 
 the beautiful scenery of the neighboring hills, 
 
 " Just about the dawn of day, we landed at 
 Roadstown, and were glad to relieve ourselves 
 from the fatigue which a wearisome day and 
 night in an uncomfortable open vessel had occa- 
 sioned, by calling up the inmates of a hotel close 
 by the sea side, and requesting a bed. 
 
 11 The owner of the house, an old colored wo- 
 
84 MEMOIR OF 
 
 man, soon furnished us with the best accommo- 
 dations she could afford, and after we had re- 
 freshed ourselves with an hour or two of sleep, 
 and had time to look around the town, we found 
 we had taken lodgings at the only public house 
 in the place." 
 
 Tor tola. 
 
 12th mo. 12t7i. " Our letters procured for us a 
 welcome reception from William R. Isaac and 
 James D. Rogers, two of the principal proprietors 
 and attorneys upon the Island. They expressed 
 a willingness to afford us all the assistance in 
 their power to further the object of our mission, 
 and, accordingly, arrangements were made to 
 hold several meetings with the people. 
 
 " We noticed upon this Island, as well as St. 
 Thomas, many sad memorials of those violent 
 tornadoes which so frequently visit these tropical 
 regions. In 1819 and 1837, most of the build- 
 ings of Roadstown were demolished, the ruins of 
 which are still left, showing they were once com- 
 modious and comfortable habitations. The de- 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 85 
 
 structioa by these hurricanes is often so com- 
 plete that the owners of property are unable to 
 repair the desolation which they occasion. 
 
 "We had several meetings in and about 
 Koadstown. 
 
 u The first we attended was held in a Metho- 
 dist meeting-house, which had been kindly 
 offered to us for the purpose ; this was held on 
 First-day morning. There were about eight hun- 
 dred persons present j a larger number, we un- 
 derstood, frequently attended, but, owing to the 
 heavy rains which occurred in the morning, 
 many were prevented from coming. 
 
 " Here we had an opportunity of seeing a con- 
 gregation of people, most of whom had but late- 
 ly been released from slavery. All grades of 
 complexion, from the fairest European to the 
 darkest Negro skin, were indiscriminately mixed 
 throughout the house. 
 
 " One thing we had not before witnessed, was 
 very apparent here, it was the very neat appear- 
 ance of the people assembled; their dress would 
 have been considered an evidence of refinement 
 
86 MEMOIR OF 
 
 in an American city. When we entered, they 
 were engaged in their usual devotions, in which 
 we thought they manifested great sincerity. Al- 
 though their form of worship was very differ- 
 ent from ours, we could not doubt but many of 
 their humble offerings were accepted of Him who 
 looketh at the heart. Such were our feelings 
 as we were led to declare arrong them our con- 
 viction of the truth of Peter's declaration at the 
 house of Cornelius, c I perceive that God is no 
 respecter of persons, but in every nation, he 
 that feareth him and worketh righteousness is 
 accepted with him/ The whole company sat 
 in great solemnity, being evidently interested. 
 
 cc In the afternoon we had an appointment at 
 Kingston, a settlement of colored people, most- 
 ly native Africans, liberated from the slave ships 
 by British interference. The distance from 
 Roadstown is about three miles across an arm of 
 the sea. It being a pleasant day, we walked to 
 the place of meeting by a circuitous path along 
 the sea shore, making the distance nearly five 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 8/ 
 
 miles. When we reached there, we found about 
 five hundred men, women and children, collect- 
 ed near the beach, who soon gathered around us, 
 and we held a meeting under the dense foliage 
 of a cluster of tamarind trees. TTe remembered 
 the days when our fore-fathers first landed on 
 these shores, and collected the long-neglected 
 xlfrican slaves around them, not for the love of 
 silver or gold, but because they felt them to be 
 their brethren, to whom they were sent to pub- 
 lish the glad tidings of the gospel of peace. They 
 seemed fully to appreciate our labors among them, 
 and when we saw the tears flowing from the 
 youth, and from the hoary headed, whose term 
 of probation had nearly approached its close, we 
 felt thankful that our lot had been cast among 
 them, and that we had been able to give a word 
 of encouragement to these poor but good-hearted 
 people. 
 
 u As we were about closing the opportunity. 
 an aged man collected three stools, and placing 
 one before each of us, said, with the greatest ap- 
 parent sincerity, ( Now Massa, you all pray for 
 
88 MEMOIR OF 
 
 us before you go/ 'After explaining our views 
 for not complying with his request, we gave them 
 an assurance of our earnest desires for their pre- 
 sent and future welfare, and encouraging them 
 to live in a state of daily watchfulness against 
 sin, which would secure to them the favor of 
 heaven, we bid them farewell. When the meet- 
 ing closed, they seemed unwilling to part until 
 we had taken nearly every one by the hand; 
 neither would they consent to our walking back, 
 but launching one of their boats, two of their 
 sturdy oarsmen soon landed us at Roadstown, 
 in time to attend a meeting appointed for us 
 there in the Methodist Chapel." 
 
 12th mo, 1-kth. " Being furnished with horses 
 and accompanied by our friend W. R. Isaac, we 
 visited his estate at Pleasant Valley, where he 
 invited us to hold a meeting with the resident 
 laborers. We walked into his cane-fields where 
 both men and women were busily engaged pre- 
 paring the soil for planting. We could not but 
 remark how cheerfully and earnestly they per- 
 formed their labors-— very differently from the 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 89 
 
 slow motions of the slaves of Santa Cruz — the rea- 
 son was obvious; here they were stimulated by a 
 reward for their toils. The sound of the conch 
 shell was a signal for all hands to quit their 
 work and attend the meeting. 
 
 " While the work-people were preparing them- 
 selves, we visited the" plantation schools ; 53 
 children were present, 60 being the number on 
 their list. "We were exceedingly gratified with 
 the manner in which the children performed their 
 various exercises. This school had only been 
 opened about four months, and most of the 
 scholars, at the commencement, knew nothing 
 of letters ) some of these now read to us with 
 clearness and precision. The scholars furnished 
 ample evidence of a capacity to receive instruc- 
 tion. Their teacher is a young colored man of 
 intelligence. Several of the neighboring planters 
 and their families joined us in the meeting; 
 about one hundred and fifty laborers were pre- 
 sent. The opportunity was satisfactory to us, 
 and those present appeared to appreciate our 
 labors among them. 
 
90 MEMOIR OF 
 
 " Desiring to make a visit to the President, 
 Hay Drummond, whose residence was upon the 
 opposite side of the Island, we left our kind 
 friends at the plantation, accompanied by the 
 manager as our guide. The road was difficult, 
 being at first a zig-zag path up the steep side of 
 a mountain, and in many places along the edge 
 of great precipices, where we would have thought 
 it dangerous to travel, had not our friends and 
 guide assured us that our horses were sure foot- 
 ed. Soon after we had commenced' the ascent, 
 and while commanding a delightful view of the 
 plantation, the little children we had just left 
 broke forth in concert, singing one of their in- 
 fantile hymns. The sweet sound rose upon the 
 breeze as it fanned us in our upward journey, 
 and looking down we could perceive these poor, 
 hard working but affectionate people endeavor- 
 ing to obtain a last look. We ascended about 
 1000 feet, and from one of the elevations nearly 
 all the Virgin Islands could be distinctly seen. 
 
 " We were very kindly received by the Presi- 
 dent, and after opening to him the object of our 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 91 
 
 visit to these Islands, he said he would gladly 
 offer us any assistance in his power to aid us in 
 our mission. When we proposed going, the 
 President ordered his horse, and said he would 
 accompany us five or six miles on our way back 
 to Roadstown. Passing a plantation where a 
 large number of laborers were working near the 
 road side, he remarked, that he did not suppose 
 the condition of that company could be much 
 bettered by emancipation, as many of them were 
 old and infirm, and had always been kindly pro- 
 vided for by their former master, but now were 
 under the necessity of providing for themselves, 
 and proposed we should query of them how they 
 liked freedom. To this query an aged man re- 
 plied, i 0, very well, massa/ But, says the 
 President, did not your former master give you 
 plenty to eat and drink, and was he not always 
 very kind to you; what more do you get now? 
 The same person again replied, i That is all true, 
 our massa was kind enough to us, he always 
 gave us plenty to eat ; but then while we were 
 in slavery we had to eat it with a sorry heart V 
 
92 MEMOIR OF 
 
 We thought this declaration of the old man went 
 to prove that liberty is dear to every man, and 
 that wherever there is a ray of intellectual light, a 
 desire is felt to enjoy this free gift of heaven." 
 
 12th mo. 15th. " Having been furnished with 
 an excellent barge by our kind friend T. B— — ,* 
 the Methodist Missionary, we employed four 
 athletic oarsmen, and left Roadstown early this 
 morning for Spanish Town, or Virgin Gorda, an 
 Island about twentymiles distant. The sea being 
 calm we had a pleasant voyage, stopping for a 
 short time upon one of the Keys. We had sent 
 to invite the inhabitants to a meeting, and find- 
 ing, upon our arrival, that it would not be held 
 till evening, we walked over to Mine-hill, to view 
 the preparations making to re-open a copper 
 mine, which had been worked about a century 
 ago. 
 
 " Charles O'Neal, a young colored man, and 
 one of the head carpenters at the mine, gave us 
 much information in respect to the condition of 
 the people. During our stay upon the Island, 
 he provided for us the best his house could afford 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 93 
 
 without reward, desiring no other than our prayers 
 for his preservation. The remembrance of Charles 
 and his careful attentions will remain with us 
 when far separated from him. 
 
 " We also visited a natural curiosity by the 
 sea shore, called the t Baths/ It is a collection 
 of immense boulders, piled upon each other in 
 such a manner, that entering among them by 
 narrow and precipitous places, we were intro- 
 duced into large openings like rooms, surrounded 
 by rude and rocky walls. In the interior are 
 two places into which the water flows from the 
 sea, which, being completely secured from the 
 sun, furnish excellent and cool bathing places. 
 In one of the apartments we entered, we found 
 ourselves directly under a collection of smaller 
 rocks, covered partly with earth, out of which 
 trees of considerable size were growing, whose 
 roots were hanging around us on every side, like 
 ropes suspended from a ceiling. 
 
 " In the evening we had a large meeting with 
 
 the inhabitants. A great number of all classes 
 
 of the people were present, and it has seldom 
 8* 
 
94 memoir or 
 
 been our lot to see a more attentive audience. 
 The distinction of sect, caste or complexion, 
 seemed to be lost sight of. In the gospel rela- 
 tion these must ever vanish ; man must recog- 
 nize all as his fellows, before he can say, ( One 
 is our Master, even Christ,>and all we are breth- 
 ren !' We were led to open to these people 
 some of the simple truths of the Christian re- 
 ligion, showing them that it stood not in l meats 
 and drinks, divers washings, and carnal ordi- 
 nances/ but in righteousness, peace and joy in 
 a holy spirit. 
 
 " These views appeared to comfort many. A 
 poor woman who had brought her sick infant to 
 us, and implored us to perform the ceremony of 
 baptism, saying, that as there was no resident 
 clergyman on the Island, and the circuit preacher 
 would not be among them for a fortnight, she 
 feared the child would die, and without baptism 
 she had been taught to believe it would not be 
 saved — seemed greatly comforted on finding we 
 considered water baptism of no importance. 
 
 " After the company had dispersed we partook 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 95 
 
 of some refreshments, and lying down on the floor 
 of the house In which we held the meeting, we 
 enjoyed a sweet rest from the fatigue occasioned 
 by this day's journey and labor. " 
 
 12th mo. lQlh. " We rose before it was light and 
 made our way to the beach, where we found our 
 our boatmen ready to take us back to Tortola. We 
 were soon out of view of the singular and pictur- 
 esque shore of Virgin Gorda, its rocky beach 
 exhibiting from the distance the appearance of a 
 ruined city, with its dilapidated towers and castles. 
 In a few hours we reached Fathog Bay, an inlet 
 on the S. E. side of Tortola, at which place we 
 landed, and taking a little girl for a guide, we 
 setoff through a dense thicket to Long Look, the 
 ancient home of Samuel and Mary Nottingham, 
 Friends of Bristol, England. About 60 years 
 ago, these enlightened and benevolent Friends, 
 who owned and occupied this estate, returned 
 to England after having manumitted their slaves, 
 and made them a deed for the property as a com- 
 pensation for their services. They also furnish- 
 ed them with a letter of advice suited to their 
 
96 MEMOIR OF 
 
 new condition; which we were glad to discover 
 had been very carefully attended to. This letter 
 is considered by the present occupants as one of 
 their choicest treasures, and was handed to us 
 soon after our arrival at the house of one of the 
 oldest members of this little community. 
 
 " From what we could learn in relation to 
 these people, they have never abused their free- 
 dom. Some of the oldest of them retain an 
 affectionate remembrance of Friends ; one aged 
 man, now quite blind, informed us that he fre- 
 quently had been with his master at Quaker 
 meetings in New York and Philadelphia. 
 
 " We had a very interesting religious oppor- 
 tunity with them, and after bidding them fare- 
 well, some of their young men conducted us by 
 a circuitous path through a dense thicket, about 
 a mile distant, to the spot where Friends once 
 had a meeting house, in which they assembled 
 for social spiritual worship. This was a place of 
 interest to us, for here are buried the remains of 
 several of our valued ministers from Pennsylva- 
 nia and New Jersey, who visited this Island about 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 97 
 
 a century ago, from a sense of gospel love. The 
 stone foundation of the meeting house was still 
 remaining ; near it five tombs had been erected 
 according to the ancient custom of the Island. 
 They were built of brick about three feet above 
 the ground, and covered over neatly with mortar. 
 Time had made its ravages "upon these mansions 
 of the dead. The acacia spread thickly its 
 thorny branches over them, and near them the 
 century blooming aloe was luxuriantly growing. 
 Although no eulogy was engraven upon them, 
 yet the tradition of the place is, that they were 
 erected to mark the resting place of strangers, 
 who had visited the Island and died there. After 
 taking a brief survey of these mansions of the 
 dead, we returned to the beach, and in a few 
 hours were safely landed at Eoadstown. 
 
 " Our next visit was to Mount Healthy, a 
 beautiful spot overlooking the sea, but is now no 
 longer the residence of the proprietor. This is 
 the case with many of the estates. Notice had 
 been given that we intended to hold a meeting 
 at this place; previous to its commencement, we 
 
98 MEMOIR OF 
 
 walked to an elevation near the house, which 
 commanded a view of the hills and valleys that 
 compose several adjacent estates ; most of the 
 laborers on which had quit their work and were 
 coming to the meeting; groups of them could be 
 seen in various directions, carrying on their heads 
 their three legged stools, on which they were to 
 sit, or a bench, which two or three might occupy, 
 was occasionally borne along. When they had 
 assembled, the simple truths of the gospel were 
 spread before them, which they seemed to com- 
 prehend, and they were directed to the spirit 
 of God within them, which would make wise in 
 things pertaining to eternal life. The more we 
 mingle and become acquainted with these poor, 
 but hitherto neglected people, the more decided 
 is the conviction that all they need is proper 
 instruction and kind treatment, to elevate them 
 to an equal rank with any other laboring class." 
 12th mo. ISth. " To-day we made an inter- 
 esting visit to Albion, the estate of R. V. Shew, 
 he having kindly invited us to make his people 
 a visit, and hold a religious meeting with them 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 99 
 
 and others whom he had invited from the neigh- 
 boring estates. " 
 
 u We held our meeting beneath the shade of 
 a large sand box tree, so called from the pecu- 
 liar form of its seed vessel, which resembles, and 
 is frequently used as a sand box. 
 
 " We could not but notice how neatly these 
 people were attired, and with what attention 
 they appeared to listen to what we had to com- 
 municate among them, which being a word of 
 encouragement, seemed like a proclamation of 
 spiritual liberty to the captive, and the open- 
 ing of the prison doors to them that are bound." 
 
 St. Christophers. 
 
 " We left Tortola on the morning of the 19 th 
 in a small sloop, and after a tedious beat to wind- 
 ward we landed at Basse-Terra about 4 o'clock 
 P. M. on the 22d. A protracted voyage of 
 nearly three and a half days, in an uncomfort- 
 able vessel, left us weak from fatigue. It was 
 not, however, without some objects of interest." 
 
 " We had letters of introduction to several 
 
100 MEMOIR or 
 
 persons of this place ; one of which procured us 
 a welcome reception from T. S. TVigley, who 
 kindly offered his assistance to promote the ob- 
 ject of our visit. He introduced us to the 
 Governor, Charles Cunningham, and obtained his 
 permission for the use of the Court House, in 
 which we desired to have a religious meeting. 
 He also accompanied us on a visit to the jail, in 
 which we found twenty-four men and five women 
 were confined ; most of them for small offences : 
 none were sentenced for a longer term than sis 
 months. The keeper of the jail informed us 
 that crimes had very much diminished since the 
 act of emancipation.^ 
 
 12th mo. 21th. " This morning being the 
 first day of the week, we walked out to Stone's 
 Fort, an estate managed by R. Higgins. We 
 were kindly received, and as a previous arrange- 
 ment had been made for a meeting to be held in 
 the mansion house, it was well attended by the 
 resident laborers, and a number of others from 
 the adjacent plantations. They were encouraged 
 to observe the command of Jesus, i seek first the 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 101 
 
 kingdom of God and his righteousness, and 
 all these things shall be added unto you. J 
 In the afternoon we had a meeting at the 
 house of John Challenger, an officer of the cus- 
 toms in Basse Terra. John is a man of color, 
 and has an interesting family. In the evening 
 we walked home with Richard Challenger, a 
 cousin of John's, whose residence is in the town 
 of Old Eoad, and attended a large meeting in a 
 Methodist Meeting House. We reached the 
 house of our friend just as his family were pre- 
 paring to go to their usual meeting, and it was 
 proposed that we should accompany them ; to 
 this we had no objection. As we walked up 
 the aisle and took our seats, the eyes of the min- 
 ister and congregation were upon us. The cus- 
 tomary exercises of the evening which had been 
 commenced before we entered, were dispensed 
 with, and the minister, after inquiring of our 
 friend if the object of our visit was a religious 
 one, kindly offered us the opportunity to hold a 
 meeting after our manner of worship; and 
 although the opportunity was unexpected to us, 
 9 
 
t 
 
 102 JOHN JACKSON. 
 
 we believed it was felt by many to be a season of 
 divine favor; and the simple truths we had to 
 deliver among them were listened to with marked 
 attention." 
 
 Antigua. 
 
 12th mo. 30th. "After about thirty-six hours' 
 comfortless tossing, we were landed at St. Johns, 
 the principal seaport and capital of Antigua. St. 
 Johns is an ancient looking town, with a popula- 
 tion of about 5000. The Episcopalians; Mora- 
 vians and Methodists have large houses for wor- 
 ship, with numerous congregations. i The 
 Moravians are about one-third of the whole popu- 
 lation of the Island. This sect commenced their 
 operations in Antigua in 1756, and entered on 
 the instruction of the slaves in this and other 
 West Indian settlements. Though forced to en- 
 dure many difficulties and severe privations in 
 the prosecution of their pious undertaking, yet 
 by a quiet perseverance and conciliatory deport- 
 ment, they were successful in effecting great good 
 by disseminating knowledge among the slave 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 103 
 
 population. The management of the eman- 
 cipated laborers is well understood upon this 
 Island. Antigua and Bermuda stand nobly as 
 the pioneers of freedom.'" 
 
 " The different sects appear to be exerting 
 their benevolent efforts to elevate and train the 
 youth for the improved station they must occupy 
 in the world. Schools have been established, 
 and parents are careful to send their children to 
 them. The library and reading rooms of St. 
 Johns is an institution of considerable impor- 
 tance, containing about five thousand volumes. 
 The English, American and Colonial newspapers 
 are to be seen upon their tables ; an intelligent 
 colored man acts as librarian." 
 
 First month 3d, " To-day we held a religious 
 meeting in St. Johns; for this purpose, we pro- 
 cured the use of a large room in our boarding 
 house, which proved much too small to accom- 
 modate those who seemed desirous to attend. 
 The minds of many of the different professors of 
 religion in this place had been prejudiced against 
 us, before our arrival ; so much so, that we met 
 
104 MEMOIR OF 
 
 with great opposition in our attempts to obtain 
 a house suitable for the purpose of a public reli- 
 gious meeting. A large number of the respec- 
 table inhabitants were present on the occasion 
 to-day. The meeting proved to be one of divine 
 favor; and although many came there with the 
 expectation of hearing, as they said, c the truths 
 of Christianity controverted/ they were well 
 satisfied with the opportunity, and acknowledged 
 their unity with us and our labors among them. 
 Their minds were disabused of the prejudices 
 they had fostered against us ; very many offered 
 their services to assist in obtaining religious op- 
 portunities with the people, and from this time 
 we found no difficulty in obtaining meetings in 
 the town of St. Johns and other parts of the 
 Island/ 1 
 
 " Visited John Miller, the intelligent superin- 
 tendent of the Mico Schools. He gave us some 
 very interesting information relative to these es- 
 tablishments. A benevolent woman by the name 
 of Mico, about two hundred years ago, left a 
 large sum of money for the ransom of Algerine 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 105 
 
 captives. The money not being used for that 
 purpose, the interest has since been appropriated 
 to the establishment of schools in several of the 
 British Colonies. The number of children on 
 the different islands who are now receiving the 
 benefit of this fund, is estimated at 10,000. The 
 interest annually disbursed, is about $70,000, 
 this has been increased by additional funds from 
 government. So far as we could learn, these 
 schools are conducted very much as the public 
 schools in Philadelphia." 
 
 "We had an interesting meeting in the town 
 of Falmouth about two and a half miles distance 
 from English Harbor. The people of this place 
 manifested at first an unwillingness to attend a 
 meeting, which we could not account for. They 
 finally told us that the demands of the clergy for 
 money were so frequent, that they avoided reli- 
 gious opportunities on that account. On being 
 informed that we were not of the class who 
 1 preach for hire or divine for money/ they soon 
 gave the necessary information, and in a few 
 9* 
 
106 MEMOIR OF 
 
 hours a very large company assembled in a suit- 
 able house procured for the purpose/' 
 
 " After a meeting which we held at the village 
 of Parharn, we had an interesting conversation 
 with several intelligent young colored people on 
 the subject of a hireling ministry and women's 
 preaching. It was something new to them to 
 hear of a people who bore a testimony against 
 the practice of paying ministers for preaching, 
 and who considered women could be equally 
 qualified with men, for the work of the ministry. 
 They had been taught to believe that a main- 
 tenance of the clergy was a duty which the gos- 
 pel imposed upon their hearers, and that the ex- 
 clusion of women from the exercise of the 
 ministerial office was based upon the commands 
 of the Apostle, when he cautioned some 
 troublesome Corinthian women against ask- 
 ing questions in the churches. They appeared 
 well satisfied, after an exposition of our views 
 upon these subjects; one of the young women 
 remarking, that she saw no good reason why 
 their sex should not be permitted to preach, and 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 107 
 
 as an evidence that they did not lack the neces- 
 sary qualification for the service, she informed 
 us that one of their ministers was in the habit of 
 employing a female friend of hers to prepare and 
 write out his sermons." 
 
 First month 20th. u Having made arrange- 
 ments to sail for Barbadoes, we bid farewell to 
 our worthy landlady and her household, who 
 loaded us with their kind wishes and blessings. 
 Several of our friends took boat with us for the 
 vessel, which lay at anchor some distance from 
 the shore. Among the number was a little 
 colored lad, a son of R. Higgins of Stone's Fort. 
 He is nine years of age ; the little fellow would 
 not leave us till the last minute. We were quite 
 surprised to find him in the boat. He had se- 
 cured a seat without our perceiving it. He had 
 a great deal of cautiousness, but his love appeared 
 to have overcome it. The schooner lay more 
 than a mile from the wharff but the little boy 
 concluded, although he had never been in a boat 
 before, he would go now. We could scarcely 
 account for this strong attachment of the lad, 
 
108 MEMOIR OF 
 
 every morning he came to see us, after he knew 
 of our being in town, frequently took breakfast 
 with us, and spent the time before school." 
 
 Barbadoes. 
 
 u Our voyage occupied nearly five and a half 
 days from Antigua to Barbadoes; the Captain 
 being an agreeable young man, made our tedious 
 beating to the windward much more pleasant 
 than it otherwise would have been." 
 
 " Bridgetown is a busy place, containing about 
 30,000 inhabitants; the streets are generally 
 narrow and crooked, but kept remarkably clean. 
 They are all macadamized, and covered with a 
 kind of disintegrated coral rock, resembling a 
 mortar cement, which, filling up the interstices 
 between the stones, forms a smooth, compact 
 surface. There are no side walks, the carriage 
 ways, in most places, extending to the walls of 
 the house's. The evidences of commercial busi- 
 ness are much greater than in any town we have 
 yet visited. This Island is about twenty-two 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 109 
 
 miles long by fourteen broad, and contains a 
 population of one hundred and twenty thousand/' 
 
 " The principal religious denominations are 
 the Church of England, the Moravians, and the 
 Methodists. The Moravians have attached to 
 them in several congregations about six thousand 
 members. We had several interesting meetings 
 among them. From John Ellis, the Moravian 
 missionary, and Elizabeth his wife, we received 
 the kindest attention. Their large and com- 
 modious place of worship was freely offered to 
 us during our stay here. The Methodists have 
 about fifteen hundred members. They have 
 been a persecuted people on account of their op- 
 position to slavery. Some years previous to the 
 emancipation, the popular feeling was so much 
 against them, that their chapel was totally de- 
 molished by a mob, and their preachers driven 
 from the Island. They have since erected 
 several houses of worship, and all classes would 
 be glad now to blot out of remembrance those 
 shameful proceedings. " 
 
 1st mo. 30th. " This afternoon we took pas- 
 
110 MEMOIR OF 
 
 sage in a large sail boat, used as a lighter for 
 the conveyance of sugar, &c, for Speightstown, 
 which is about twelve miles from Bridgetown. 
 "We were furnished with rooms by Richard Mapp, 
 a very worthy young colored man, a provision 
 dealer. The use of his parlor was subsequently 
 offered for our holding a meeting, which we ac- 
 cepted, and had a large and satisfactory oppor- 
 tunity. We also had an interesting meeting on 
 the evening of First day, in the Methodist chapel, 
 at which most of the adult citizens were pre- 
 sent. 
 
 " Some interesting relics of the Society of 
 Friends exist near this town. They once had 
 a meeting house here, but no traces are now to 
 be seen. The ancient place of burial is still 
 called i Quaker Meeting/ It contains about 
 three-fourths of an acre, and is enclosed by a 
 substantial wall of coral rock, still in a good 
 state of preservation. We walked out to this 
 place, and spent an hour in endeavoring to de- 
 cypher some of the memorials of the dead, being 
 a number of simple stones, on which were en- 
 
JOHN JACKSON. Ill 
 
 graved the names of the deceased, and a short 
 eulogy in prose. On one of these ancient monu- 
 ments, a very long epitaph was engraven, but 
 time had so nearly effaced it, that we were only 
 able to read the conclusion ; it was as follows : 
 1 which he knew to be the guide, light, and 
 truth, which leads to salvation. Died Ninth 
 month 17th, 1673, aged 54 years/ This was 
 the only ancient date we could distinctly read, 
 We were informed that the Lord Bishop was 
 trying to get this ground and other burial places 
 of Friends, on this Island, in his possession, that 
 they might be consecrated, after which his min- 
 isters could perform funeral service in them." 
 
 " Friends formerly had five meeting houses on 
 this Island ; the members attached to the Society 
 were at one time very numerous. "When George 
 Fox visited this colony in 1681, he publicly and 
 privately labored in the cause of suffering hu- 
 manity • and urged upon those who held slaves, 
 that it was their duty to treat them with kind- 
 ness and mercy, and to give them their freedom 
 in due time, declaring that they were the common 
 
112 MEMOIR OF 
 
 objects of salvation, and should be treated as the 
 offspring of one universal Father. With such 
 considerations as these, he taught that moral and 
 religious instruction should be equally extended 
 to the slave, as to the master. His is the praise 
 of having first attempted, amidst obloquy and 
 suffering, to preach the gospel in this Island to 
 the poor African slave. Instead of listening to 
 these harmless suggestions, and permitting the 
 operation of Christian principles to effect a cure 
 for the increasing evils of slavery, the advocates 
 of the system raised a torrent of opposition against 
 him and his friends, charging them with exciting 
 the slaves to insurrection, and sowing the seeds 
 of dissatisfaction and distrust. In a letter ad- 
 dressed to the Governor of the Island, George 
 Fox calls those charges a l wicked slander' on the 
 Society. Well satisfied that the inculcation of 
 sound religious principles, with the restoration of 
 legitimate rights, was not only a duty, but con- 
 stituted the greatest safeguard of the peace and 
 happiness of the colony, these early pioneers in 
 the work of emancipation arduously labored 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 113 
 
 to meliorate the condition of their fellow men, 
 who were suffering under cruel bondage. The 
 opposition to their measures was so strong, that 
 it led to repeated prohibitory laws, some of which 
 possess the harshest features of persecution. By 
 an examination of the Colonial Records, we dis- 
 covered that, in 1676, a law was passed forbid- 
 ding Friends taking the colored people to places 
 of public worship; and in 1678, a law was passed 
 making it a penal offence for a member of our 
 Society to preach at a public meeting. The pre- 
 ambles to these enactments go to show, that the 
 free spirit of Quakerism was inimical to the 
 system of slavery, and that both could not be 
 tolerated in the same community. Such was the 
 current of opposition against which our unoffend- 
 ing forefathers had to contend. The efforts of 
 the different sects, who attempted to prove that 
 the African mind was susceptible of religious 
 and moral refinement, were long and openly op- 
 posed, and their benevolent exertions were 
 narrowed down to a very limited sphere until the 
 
 act of emancipation in 1836. Happily, a better 
 10 
 
114 MEMOIR OF 
 
 day has dawned upon this people. Efforts are 
 now being made to educate them, and to open a 
 path for them to a higher rank and station among 
 their fellow men." 
 
 Second mo. 5t7i. u Visited another of the 
 Mico schools, in Bridgetown, at which one hun- 
 dred and forty children were receiving the rudi- 
 ments of an education." 
 
 " This evening we had a meeting at Green 
 Park, where a large company of people assembled. 
 It was held at an unfinished dwelling house 
 which was offered for the purpose. The greater 
 part of the congregation were obliged to remain 
 outside, but within hearing. The more we mingle 
 with the poor and illiterate people of these 
 Islands, (and many of our meetings have been 
 chiefly composed of them,) we are made thank- 
 ful that our lot has been cast among them. The 
 deep attention they manifest on all occasions, and 
 their continual expressions of gratitude, that we 
 had been led among them to labor in the love of 
 the gospel, give evidence that our visit has been 
 appreciated." 
 
JOHN JACKSOX. 115 
 
 u We had numerous meetings in and around 
 Bridgetown, and one at Sharon, a Moravian 
 settlement about five miles distant. With all 
 these opportunities we felt well satisfied. Our 
 reward was the reward of peace; the conscious- 
 ness of having discharged our duty, and in so 
 doing, to feel that our labors had the salutary 
 effect to encourage the honest inquirer after 
 truth, in the way of well-doing. Having con- 
 cluded our services, we made an arrangement 
 with the Captain of a small schooner to convey 
 us to Trinidad, Went on board about 2 o'clock 
 P. M., and having a pleasant breeze, were soon 
 leaving Barbadoes." 
 
 Trinidad. 
 u On first day morning the 14th of Second 
 month, we landed in Port of Spain. This is one 
 of the finest towns in the West Indies, the streets 
 are laid off at right angles, having good side-walks 
 and many of them beautifully shaded with trees ; 
 a delightful avenue of large trees near the bay 
 is fenced in and is used as a promenade by the 
 
116 MEMOIR OF 
 
 citizens. The town is nearly surrounded by 
 very high hills covered with a wilderness of per- 
 petual verdure. At a meeting we held in the 
 evening, a large number of American emigrants 
 were present ; they had heard of our arrival, and 
 seemed delighted to see us. The merchants and 
 planters seem ready to promote the object of our 
 visit." 
 
 t€ A ride to Savannah Grande, to the locations 
 of American emigrants was peculiarly pleasant. 
 The grandeur of a tropical forest is witnessed on 
 this route. Trees of immense magnitude are 
 seen with trunks covered with parasitic verdure ; 
 many of these singular plants shooting out clus- 
 ters of beautiful flowers. Vines dropping from 
 towering branches stand around these trunks, 
 which appear like planted columns, without a 
 branch, for 70 or 80 feet in height, and from ten 
 to twelve inches in diameter. Palms of various 
 kinds grow luxuriantly, and amidst the rich as- 
 semblage, the Bois Immortelle, with its clusters 
 of orange colored blossoms, stands unrivalled. 
 This is also called l Les Marie Caco', — the 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 117 
 
 mother of the coaco. In all the coaco planta- 
 tions, this beautiful tree is planted for its shade, 
 as the coaco needs security from the strength of 
 the sun's rays. The nest of the ingenious corn- 
 bird hung pendant from many branches, secure 
 from the marauding monkey which abounds in 
 these forests. On some estates a hunter is almost 
 constantly employed to protect the canes from 
 the depredations of monkeys and other animals. 
 The Lappo, a species of hare, are numerous, as 
 also the Peccary or wild hog, which is taken in 
 abundance. The Tiger-cat is a native, as is also 
 the Boa Constrictor, which, with other serpents, 
 is considered harmless. Parrots are numerous. 
 The mountain cabbage, the prince among trees, 
 it was a pleasure to perceive, had been generally 
 spared by the wood-cutter. Many were seen 
 raising their noble columnar trunks of feathery 
 crowns in almost every field. One of immense 
 height attracts attention on the approach to 
 Phillipine, (an estate of Dr. St. Louis Philips, 
 an educated and intelligent colored man, who 
 had been taught in the best schools of Scotland, 
 10* 
 
118 MEMOIR OF 
 
 and graduated at the Medical College of Edin- 
 burgh.) It may been seen at the distance of 
 several miles. It rises near the mansion with a 
 slender column to the height of one hundred and 
 fifty feet ; one hundred and thirty of which is a 
 smooth surface/' 
 
 Third mo. 1st. " On this Island as on others 
 we have visited, our openings for meetings in- 
 crease, the longer we tarry. The people are 
 anxious for us to delay our departure, desiring 
 other religious opportunities. We felt, however, 
 that our services here were drawing to a close. 
 We had a parting meeting in Port of Spain this 
 evening, which was a season of divine favor, and 
 in which we were enabled to encourage those as- 
 sembled to individual faithfulness to the teach- 
 ings of the Holy Spirit, that by love and good 
 works they might show themselves believers in 
 the gospel of Christ, for the love of which we 
 have been constrained to visit them, and in which 
 we could bid them an affectionate farewell." 
 
 Third mo. 2d. " Having closed our religious 
 services upon this Island, we made arrangements 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 119 
 
 to sail to-day for St. Thomas. Many of our 
 friends called to bid us farewell, whose parting 
 salutations seemed to be the expression of a warm 
 and affectionate interest in our welfare, and a 
 sincere desire that we might, when our mission 
 was completed, return in peace to our homes. 
 Among others who came to see us this morning 
 was a Mahometan priest, named Emir Samba 
 Makumba, with whom we had an interesting in- 
 terview, and obtained from him a brief history 
 of himself and his people now resident upon this 
 Island, where they continued to worship after 
 . the manner of their fathers according to the 
 precepts of the Koran. He is about sixty-six 
 years old, his hair and beard, which he has 
 allowed to grow long, are white. He wore the 
 habit of his order, a flowing white tunic. Samba 
 could speak several languages ; he addressed us 
 in Arabic, pronouncing the benediction of the 
 Mahometans on those they esteem as people of 
 God~ Afterwards he conversed in French, and 
 our friend H. L. Jobity interpreted for us. His 
 countenance was remarkably serene, and although 
 
120 MEMOIR or 
 
 he bad been a man of sorrow and acquainted with 
 grief, yet bis face was lighted with a smile. He 
 was by descent a chief and a priest among the 
 Mandingoes in Africa, but in early life he was 
 taken captive in one of those intestine wars 
 which are unhappily occasioned among the native 
 tribes in Africa by the slave trade. He belonged 
 to the tribe Fullah Tauro, which engaged in a 
 war with six other tribes to prevent them, as he 
 said, from carrying on the slave trade. The 
 Mahometans are forbidden to make slaves of 
 those of their own faith, and when any of their 
 people are concerned in this traffic they believe 
 their religion requires them to put a stop to it 
 by force. It was for this purpose a war was com- 
 menced by the Fullahs against these others tribes, 
 and in this war Samba was taken prisoner and 
 sold as a slave. He was brought to this Island 
 at the age of twenty-one years, and was pur- 
 chased from a slave ship by a French planter, 
 who gave him the name of Simon Boissere. 
 Possessing a superior mind, he was soon placed 
 by his master as superintendent of his planta- 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 121 
 
 tion. Laboring faithfully, and opportunities 
 being afforded him, he soon earned a sufficient 
 sum of money to purchase his freedom. Insti- 
 gated by his example and advice, others of his 
 countrymen also succeeded in securing their free- 
 dom. They then formed themselves into an as- 
 sociation to maintain their religious profession, 
 Samba acting as their priest. Their next effort 
 was to purchase small tracts of land, upon which 
 they erected habitations, and were thus enabled, 
 by the produce of their gardens, &c, to support 
 themselves respectably. Having secured com- 
 fortable homes, they turned their attention to 
 their suffering brethren in captivity. Liberal 
 subscriptions were made among them for this 
 benevolent object, and when a slave ship arrived 
 at the colony, Samba and his friends were the 
 first on board to inquire for Mandingoes, and if 
 there were any among the captives, they ransomed 
 them immediately. Up to the time of the de- 
 claration of freedom, they had released from bond- 
 age upwards of five hundred in Trinidad alone. 
 Their operations were also extended to other 
 
122 MEMOIR or 
 
 islands. There are several hundreds of them at 
 present on this island, and although they con- 
 tinue their form of faith and worship, they are 
 noticed for their habits of temperance and ex- 
 emplary deportment. In this respect they have 
 been as lights to their professing Christian 
 neighbors. The old man said he mourned over 
 the condition of the Christian world j he regretted 
 that their youth were in danger of being drawn 
 away by the evil practices of the Christians. He 
 thought it safe to judge people by their actions, 
 and when he saw the Christians holding those of 
 their own faith in slavery, engaging in wars with 
 members of their own church, and addicted to 
 habits of intemperance, all of which the Koran 
 forbids, he thought it was sufficient evidence that 
 the religion of Mahomet was superior to the reli- 
 gion of Anna Bissa, (Jesus Christ.) We told 
 him we understood the religion of Jesus as for- 
 bidding all these practices, but that the pro- 
 fessors of the religion of Christ did not live up 
 to his precepts. He inquired, c have you any 
 slaves in your country V to which we replied, 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 123 
 
 nearly three millions. At this information he 
 gave a look of astonishment and indignation. 
 We asked him if he believed the great God who 
 made all things had placed a witness of himself 
 in the hearts of all men to teach them what is 
 right and what is wrong; to which he replied, 
 1 Yes, certainly; God has placed his spirit in man 
 to show him good and evil, and man ought to 
 obey it, for by so doing he would please his 
 Maker, and be accepted of him/ He further 
 remarked, ( It is by listening to evil suggestions 
 that he becomes very wicked/ He thought the 
 Christians degraded themselves by selling the 
 Bible, which they consider a standard of reli- 
 gious faith. 6 You ought not to sell your religion/ 
 meaning the Bible, i or take pay for expounding 
 it/ meaning for preaching. We told him we did 
 not do it; we came out of love and good will to see 
 the people of these islands, that we might en- 
 courage them to love and good works. ' Then/ 
 said he, ( you are men of God, and I hope the 
 Lord will bless your labors, and make you useful 
 
124 MEMOIR OF 
 
 in spreading his truth in the world/* It was a 
 pleasure to be with this benevolent individual, 
 who may be looked upon as one of the brightest 
 philanthropists of the age. When we consider 
 the humble sphere in which he has moved, and 
 the limited means at his command for accom- 
 plishing a benevolent scheme which had for its 
 object the emancipation of all his countrymen in 
 captivity, (the Mandingo slaves,) and contem- 
 plate the success which has attended the labors 
 of Samba and his co-adjutors, this brief account 
 of him will be esteemed worthy of record." 
 
 St. Thomas. 
 Third mo. 7th. " A voyage of more than five 
 hundred miles across the Caribbean Sea brought 
 
 * We have been told by a person who was present at 
 this interview, that when Samba was interrogated re- 
 specting his idea of the grace of God or ' light within/ 
 he gave this simple figure in illustration. That God 
 created man good and upright, and covered his heart 
 with a paste, which, while he is obedient, remains soft 
 and receives readily the impressions of the divine 
 finger, but when he becomes disobedient it grows hard 
 and cannot be so easily written upon. 
 
JOHN JACKSOX, 125 
 
 us again to this Island. No way opened for us 
 to hold religious meetings here, in consequence 
 of the Governor General of the Danish Islands 
 having issued his proclamation against us. We 
 found, however, that the general sentiment of 
 the inhabitants, to whom the object of our visit 
 became known, was in our favor ; they express- 
 ing a wish that we might have religious oppor- 
 tunities with the people. Although such privi- 
 leges were not allowed us, we have reason to be- 
 lieve that our visit to the Danish Islands was 
 attended with some good, and the very circum- 
 stance of our having been denied this liberty, 
 led many into an inquiry on the subject of reli- 
 gious toleration, which will no doubt lead to 
 beneficial results, and may possibly hasten the 
 period, when every gospel messenger will be 
 welcomed to their shores, and permitted 'freely* 
 to declare that which they have l freely re- 
 ceived/ The kind attentions of our friend E. 
 Simmons contributed to make our visit at this 
 time a pleasant one. We remained here several 
 days waiting for the steamer to Jamaica, which 
 
126 MEMOIR OF 
 
 enabled us to recruit from the sea sickness and 
 fatigue occasioned by our voyage from Trinidad 
 in an uncomfortable vessel. We have cause to 
 feel thankful that our health has been preserved 
 through all the exposures to which we have been 
 ubjected, and acknowledging the hand of the 
 Heavenly Shepherd in preserving us from many 
 dangers, we are encouraged to go forward trust- 
 ing in Him." 
 
 Jamaica. 
 
 u We had letters to several persons in Kings- 
 ton, who received us kindly, with offers to pro- 
 mote the object of our visit. Kingston is an 
 old fashioned town, hot and dusty. The number 
 of inhabitants is supposed to be about 40,000. 
 It covers a large area, very many of the finer 
 houses being surrounded by gardens. 
 
 " We held a meeting in the suburbs of the 
 city, which was large and satisfactory ; great 
 solemnity and order prevailed. 
 
 Believing our religious labors were about draw- 
 ing to a close in these parts, and a vessel being in 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 127 
 
 port about to sail for New York, we felt at liberty 
 to engage our passage home. Previous to our de- 
 parture, we held a meeting in the Scotch Presby- 
 terian meeting house, which had been freely 
 offered us to hold meetings in while in Kingston. 
 This meeting was held on the afternoon of First 
 day, and was attended by a large concourse of 
 people. We were enabled to declare our belief in 
 the practical operation of the t gospel of Christ' 
 as the < power of God,' in changing the condi- 
 tion of man from the image of the earthly to the 
 image of the heavenly nature, even to the es- 
 tablishment of a glorious kingdom in the hearts 
 of men. In which the angelic anthem can be 
 proclaimed, c Glory to God in the highest, on 
 earth peace and good will to men/ This was our 
 last religious meeting in the West Indies. Our 
 stay in this Island was but of short duration, yet 
 we were kindly received. Those among whom 
 our lot was cast, manifested a deep interest in 
 the object of our visit, and we felt when the time 
 arrived for us to separate, that we could part 
 
128 MEMOIR OF 
 
 with them under the influence of mutual 
 brotherly affection and regard/' . 
 
 Third mo. 22d. " After bidding farewell to 
 a number of our friends, who called to see us, 
 we went on board the vessel, and arranged our- 
 selves for the voyage. We dropped down to Port 
 Royal before night, where we were obliged to 
 remain till next morning, it being considered 
 unsafe to go out of the harbor at night. About 
 fifty years ago a portion of this town was sunk 
 by an earthquake, parts of the houses and the 
 walls of the fort are yet to be seen in about 
 fifteen or twenty feet of water. Early in the 
 morning of the 23d we were visited by the 
 officer on duty, from whom we received a clear 
 ance, when we weighed anchor and stood out to 
 sea under a light breeze. Our voyage was some- 
 what tedious occupying twenty-five days, and 
 part of the time it was exceedingly boisterous. 
 During the fore part of it we suffered much 
 from the excessive heat of the sun, as we were 
 becalmed frequently before we passed the Gulf. 
 As we reached a higher latitude and neared the 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 129 
 
 coast of America, the cold became very intense. 
 But we made land in safety and arrived in New 
 York on the evening of Fourth month 17th, 
 1841, and reached our homes on the following 
 day, to the consolation and joy of ourselves and 
 families." 
 
 If there be those who think the foregoing 
 extracts too extended, our apology to such must 
 be, our own interest in them. We did not sup-' 
 pose in the commencement, they would be half 
 their present length, but it appeared difficult to 
 find a stopping place without omitting matter 
 well worthy of note. In the reperusal of the 
 little book from which they were taken, living 
 desires were kindled upon the altar of holy affec- 
 tion that the labor bestowed upon these isles of the 
 sea might not be lost; and that there might still 
 be found faithful workmen who would be willing 
 to leave the endearments and comforts of home, 
 if it should please the great Husbandman that 
 this part of his vineyard, should be again visited 
 by his servants, with a renewed call to a pure 
 and holy life. 
 
 11* 
 
130 MEMOIR OF 
 
 From J. Ja:-kson's unpublished notes of this 
 journey we make some selections. 
 
 Among their fellow passengers from New 
 York to Santa Cruz were several invalids, who 
 had left their friends for the recovery of that 
 invaluable blessing, health, but whose wasted 
 forms and feeble footsteps gave but little promise 
 that their hopes would be realized. Their situa- 
 tion appears to have enlisted the sympathy of J. 
 J. and induced the following reflections. 
 
 " While I have entered truly into sympathy with 
 these afflicted ones, from whom the bloom of 
 heal th has so early departed, who have little to hope 
 for as regards length of days, I have been led 
 to indulge in reflections upon some of the causes 
 which are annually bringing thousands in my 
 native land to an untimely grave. I am well 
 satisfied that the corrupt customs, and absurd 
 fashions of society, are the main causes which 
 are operating so powerfully in this vast destruc- 
 tion of health, happiness, and human life. 
 
 " Many lovely and promising females, blinded 
 by the follies of the age, have become the votaries 
 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 131 
 
 of fashion, which will suffer nothing by a com- 
 parison to the barbarous customs of the ignorant 
 heathens. Not satisfied with the form which 
 the Creator has given them, they attempted to 
 alter or mend his workmanship ; and in this 
 foolish attempt, they have prevented the free 
 operations of the animal economy so beautifully 
 and wonderfully made for the enjoyment of 
 health, have prostrated the energies of their 
 physical constitutions, and brought themselves 
 prematurely to the e house appointed for the 
 living.' I am astonished when I contemplate 
 the prevalence of this and other customs of so- 
 ciety, contributing as they do, to the destruction 
 of human life, and wonder why they should be 
 tolerated by any people having the least preten- 
 sions to intelligence, civilization, or refinement. 
 If such practices were prevalent among heathens 
 they would receive the merited condemnation of 
 every sensible mind. But, the voice of fashion 
 is louder than the dictates of reason, its votaries 
 despise the ( reproofs of instruction/ they trample 
 under foot the teachings of philosophy, and reck- 
 
132 MEMOIR OF 
 
 less of the consequences, even attempt to alter 
 what God has made perfect, and thus frustrate 
 his purposes in furnishing them with a temporary 
 habitation for the immortal soul. If my young 
 female friends esteem health a blessing, let them 
 not trifle with the wise provisions of their Creator, 
 by conforming to absurd and ridiculous customs 
 which at best can only show them to be the 
 votaries of fashion, and can in no point of view 
 be an indication of a dignified and intelligent 
 mind. Let parents beware how in early life they 
 suffer their offspring to take the c wings of the 
 morning/ and become ranked among the followers 
 of fashions so injurious, by which they early lay 
 the foundation for premature decline ; and the 
 instances, I fully believe, would be much fewer, 
 wherein they would have to mourn the loss of a 
 lovely daughter just as she was beginning to be 
 the support and consolation of their declining 
 years. I know not that these remarks may ever 
 come under the notice of any to whom they are 
 applicable ; but if they should, I sincerely desire 
 they may look upon them as the c reproofs of in- 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 133 
 
 struction/ and not cast an unfriendly censure 
 upon me for venturing so boldly to condemn that 
 which none can be in the practice of without 
 putting their health and lives in jeopardy. And 
 if in the face of reason and the teachings of 
 philosophy, they will continue in a custom so 
 fraught with danger, and thereby lay the founda- 
 tion of disease, let them not charge to God's ac- 
 count that which they have brought upon them- 
 selves, by torturing existence with abuse and 
 folly." 
 
 Extract from memoranda dated u 2d mo 7th, 
 1841. 'Day unto day uttereth speech and 
 night unto night showeth knowledge/ This 
 language of the inspired writer has been brought 
 into remembrance as I have looked back upon 
 the experience of the past, since I have been 
 engaged in this visit to the inhabitants of these 
 Islands; how often a way has been made for me 
 when there appeared to be no way, how often 
 the work to be done has been opened before me, 
 and how often strength has been given, even in 
 weakness, when I have been ready to exclaim my 
 
134 MEMOIR OF 
 
 weakness ; my weakness ! ( Iam pained at my 
 very heart because thou hast heard, my soul 5 
 the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war !' 
 These things have renewedly inspired my mind 
 with confidence, and taught me not to be faith- 
 less, but believing. The follower of Christ should 
 not be dismayed because to human vision the 
 path of duty may be hid for a season ; he should 
 not be faithless, because there may be, at times, 
 discouragements on the right hand and on the 
 left; for God who worketh by means that human 
 eyes see not, will ever go before his faithful and 
 dependent children ; he will be to them i strength 
 in weakness, riches in poverty, and a present help 
 in every needful time/ Retire then, my soul, 
 within thy spirit's chamber — there be thou ab- 
 stracted from the world, turn to Jerusalem, the 
 quiet habitation, the city of the saints' solemnity, 
 and thou shalt not only behold the King in his 
 beauty, but he will shew unto thee the way in 
 which thou should go. Then thou shalt know the 
 coming of the gospel day, in which shall be 
 fulfilled the declaration of the Lord's prophet 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 135 
 
 c The sun shall be no more thy light by day, 
 neither for brightness shall the moon give light 
 unto thee, but the Lord shall be unto thee an 
 everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning 
 shall be ended.'" 
 
 * A qualification for the gospel ministry can- 
 not be purchased with gold or silver ; it cannot 
 be received from men or the teachings of men ; 
 but it must be ' taught by the revelation of Jesus 
 Christ/ as the apostle received it, who, when he 
 had received it, said, c I did not go up to Jerusa- 
 lem to them that were apostles before me :' but 
 he went on the gospel mission to which he had 
 been called, ( to testify the gospel of the grace of 
 God. ; The nature of the gospel ministry has 
 not changed ; the servant of Christ, even now, 
 must wait for the anointing of the Lord's spirit 
 to rest upon him ; he cannot pray or preach when 
 he pleases, or in his own will or time ; for if 
 his prayers be performed in his own will, he 
 knows not what to pray for; hence the apostles 
 waited till the spirit helped their innrmites 'with 
 groanings that eould not be uttered/ And in 
 
136 MEMOIR OF 
 
 relation to the ministry, if we were to preach 
 in our own will or time, we might preach our own 
 gospel and not the saving truths of the gospel of 
 Christ. A living ministry that is accompanied 
 with power to baptize the soul, does not consist in 
 preaching the experience of other men, but in 
 testifying to those things which our eyes have 
 seen and our hands have handled of the good 
 word of life and of the powers of the world to 
 come. 
 
 "In the exercise of the ministerial gift I think 
 there is often more danger of saying too much 
 than too little, and I find it very needful for me 
 to be careful in this respect, lest I might encom- 
 pass myself about with sparks of my own kind- 
 ling and thereby dishonor Christ. But I believe 
 as the eye is kept single to Him, he will open 
 with clearness what he requires his servants and 
 handmaids to do, and what they shall leave un- 
 done. that I may ever seek for this spirit of 
 true discernment with a prayerful spirit and a 
 willing mind." 
 
 u I can set my testimony to the truth of the 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 137 
 
 declaration, l my yoke is easy and my burden is 
 light.' But to attain this experience, the Chris- 
 tian believer must cast down c every crown' and 
 walk in the paths of humility and self-denial • 
 because humility is the proper station of man 
 and Christ will only be the leader of such as are 
 willing to follow him in this path, for he is 
 i meek and lowly of heart/ Come then, my 
 soul, and be conformed to the image of thy Re- 
 deemer. He hath called thee by the gentle ex- 
 tendings of his love, i Come with me from Leb- 
 anon, my spouse, with me from Lebanon ; look 
 from the top of Amana, from the top of Shenir 
 and Hermon, from the lion's den, from the 
 mountains of the leopards/ Then will Christ 
 continue to give thee light. He will be thy Alpha 
 and Omega, and all the various probations and 
 baptisms through which thou may have to pass; 
 shall be for thy sanctification and refinement. 
 The Christian's journey is one of continual pro- 
 gression ; we must advance daily step by step, 
 adding to our faith, virtue, which is the resist- 
 ance of temptation ; to virtue the increase of di- 
 12 
 
188 MEMOIR OF 
 
 vine knowledge, which is the bread of life ) to 
 knowledge, patience, which is abundantly need* 
 fill to the believer, who is not to live by bread 
 alone but by every word that proceedeth out of 
 the mouth of God ; to patience, temperance ; to 
 temperance, godliness; to godliness, brotherly 
 kindness, and to brotherly kindness, charity, 
 which is the love of God. Thus by a continual 
 progression of the c truth as it is in Jesus/ the 
 soul rises from one degree of perfection to anoth- 
 er, until it attains to a foretaste of the joys of 
 that kingdom, ' of the increase, government and 
 peace of which there shall never be an end." 
 
 Gambling a prominent evil at St. Thomas. 
 
 u Gambling, which is one of the most detesta* 
 ble vices, and a snare in which the feet of many 
 an inexperienced youth becomes entangled, is, 
 unhappily, too fashionable in this place ; and 
 strangers visiting here from different parts of the 
 world, unless they are established against such 
 practices, are in great danger of losing not only 
 their money, but their character also. Gambling 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 139 
 
 has many concomitant vices, and he who be- 
 comes a victim to them may rest assured that he 
 is on the downward road to ruin. He may be- 
 gin by thinking himself secure, but he gradually 
 loses his integrity, and step by step he recedes 
 from the path of virtue, till he loses all sense of 
 moral and religious refinement and drowns his 
 wretchedness in the labyrinths of despair. An 
 instance was related to me here, of a young man 
 who came to St. Thomas, with a large amount of 
 funds to conduct a mercantile business ; but in- 
 stead of resisting 'the temptations which the 
 gambling table presented, was captivated by the 
 prospect of amassing sudden wealth ; and enter- 
 ed into this school of fraud and villainy with a 
 reputable character and a very large sum of 
 money at his control ; but alas ! his money was 
 very soon placed beyond the reach of recovery ; 
 he acquired habits of intemperance by comming- 
 ling with those who made themselves his friends, 
 until by their superior skill they had rendered 
 him penniless ; when he was left friendless, and 
 abandoned himself to the forlorn hope of drown- 
 
140 MEMOIR OF 
 
 ing his sorrows by a resort to other vices, which 
 soon terminated his existence in despair. This 
 little history, I have no doubt, is only one of thou- 
 sands similar to it that occur among gamblers, 
 and ought to be a lesson and a warning to all 
 those who suffer themselves to be captivated by 
 the alluring prospects of gain held out before 
 them ; but who unhappily look not at the rock 
 upon which they will inevitably be wrecked, un- 
 til it is too late for them to escape the danger to 
 which they have exposed themselves. If men 
 would only acquaint themselves more fully with 
 human nature, they would find that man loses 
 his innocency by gradual steps ; and by looking 
 at the termination instead of the beginning of a 
 career of vice, they would learn the absolute ne- 
 cessity of guarding the avenues of their minds 
 against the first presentation of evil. Then, when 
 temptation presents dangers which it promises 
 its votaries shall shun, but never aids them to 
 avoid, it would be resisted. The cunning of the 
 serpent would be detected, and man would not bo 
 beguiled by its evil suggestions," 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 141 
 
 Of Cuba and the slave trade there is the fol- 
 lowing brief record : " For two days we were 
 in sight of the island of Cuba ; but the dangerous 
 navigation along its coast, and a wreck on its 
 shoals, warned us to keep at a respectful distance 
 from the shore, and the wind being in our favor, 
 we took a northward course that we might soon- 
 er get into the Gulf Stream. A deep sense of 
 the unutterable horrors of slavery filled my mind 
 as I reflected upon the wretched condition of the 
 inhabitants of this large island. Subjected by 
 the strong arm of oppression to innumerable tor- 
 tures, their physical condition is miserable in the 
 extreme. Their moral condition is also propor- 
 tionably degraded ; neither is there a prospect to 
 human vision of a mitigation of the evils arising 
 out of this cruel and barbarous traffic in human 
 flesh. The demand and high prices given for 
 slaves, is such as to offer inducements to unprin- 
 cipled men to import human cargoes from the 
 coast of Africa ; and it is believed that more are 
 annually imported into Cuba now, and under 
 
 more cruel circumstances, than at any former pe- 
 12* 
 
142 MEMOIR OF 
 
 riod. About 60,000 are annually brought from 
 the coast of Africa to this island alone. The 
 amount of human misery occasioned by this cruel 
 traffic can scarcely be imagined." 
 
 Extracts from Letters. 
 
 " In our spiritual journey, there is great need 
 that we gird ourselves about with the mantle of 
 patience and put on the shield of faith. With 
 truth's weapons, which are i mighty through God' 
 to accomplish the work of our warfare, we shall 
 assuredly gain the victory and an establishment 
 in that state of righteousness which consists of 
 peace and quietness here, with the full assurance 
 that these shall continue, even when time to us 
 shall be veiled in eternity. Although we may 
 sometimes feel we are far separated from this 
 happy condition, and have been carried away 
 by doubts and discouragements, yet, even in 
 this state, we may be instructed ; for such is the 
 goodness of our heavenly Father that he will not 
 leave nor forsake us here. See how it was with 
 the prophet when he sat among the captives by 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 143 
 
 the river of Chebar; it was there the heavens 
 were opened and he beheld the visions of God. 
 Our confidence must be firmly fixed upon Him 
 who knoweth our frame, and who is ever willing 
 to teach his dependant and dedicated children, in 
 order that they may be established upon that 
 foundation which can never be moved. W e shall 
 know as we are willing to trust to his holy aid, 
 that as certainly as He nerved the arm of David 
 to smite the champion of the Philistine host, He 
 will as certainly strengthen us by his power to 
 put to flight all the enemies of our soul's peace. 
 We have no cause then to be discouraged, for 
 while we rely upon Him, we shall know a con- 
 tinual advance in the light, because His heaven- 
 ly illuminations will become brighter and bright- 
 er, until the meridian splendor of the Lord's day 
 bursts forth upon the soul ; and whatever may 
 be our situation in life, if patience be allowed to 
 have its perfect work, nothing shall be able to 
 deprive us of this enjoyment. Though John 
 was an exile upon Patmos, yet, he was permitted 
 to be in the spirit on the Lord's day, and there 
 
144 MEMOIR OF 
 
 to enjoy those glorious revelations concerning 
 which he was commanded, * write these things 
 in a book/ that a memorial might be kept of 
 them. Well, the same things may be experienced 
 by us, and often are realized ; and could we ever 
 bear them in remembrance as the mercies of God, 
 as the overshadowings of his goodness, we would 
 often be willing to erect a little Bethel in com- 
 memoration thereof.'' 
 
 " It has been my desire for thee my dear 
 friend, that thy experience may become perfect- 
 ed in the light by thy obedience and dedication 
 to all its manifestations. I am persuaded it has 
 shone in thy mind with a heavenly lustre, and 
 in its brightness thou hast desired to make thy 
 covenant with the God of thy life, and hast been 
 ready to say with the patriarch formerly, l Sure- 
 ly the Lord was in this place and I knew it not/ 
 May est thou ever remember that ( in Him there 
 is no darkness at all/ and as thy confidence is 
 centered here, and thy spirit's chamber dedicated 
 to his holy name, thou shalt become clothed with 
 that spirit of discernment which will enable thee 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 145 
 
 to behold the workings of the divine hand, in 
 those baptisms through which thou mayest have 
 to pass in thy journey towards Mount Zion, the 
 city of the saints' solemnities. 
 
 " It is good for us to feel the turnings and 
 overturnings of the hand of a merciful Father, to 
 contemplate the workings of his power in bring- 
 ing us out of darkness into his marvellous light ; 
 therefore, however deep our provings, they 
 should be endured with this sentiment ever be- 
 fore us, l Though he slay me, yet will I trust in 
 him/ Such an entire confidence would enable 
 us to pass through the depths of Jordan, to stand 
 as with our feet in the bottom thereof, and bring 
 up stones of memorial, precious in the sight of 
 our heavenly Father. When we contemplate our 
 want of qualification to advance the Lord's cause, 
 do we not feel the necessity of washing seven 
 times in that river which has healing virtues ? 
 And yet, we may be secretly looking towards 
 Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, with 
 desires to wash in them and be clean ; we would 
 rather choose for ourselves the medium of res- 
 
146 MEMOIR OF 
 
 toration. But, my dear friend, thou knowest 
 this will not do, thou knowest our own wills 
 must be slain, and all brought into obedience to 
 Christ. Do not shun this cross, but rather be 
 willing to take it upon thee, and thou will find in 
 thy own experience the truth of the declaration, 
 1 my yoke is easy and my burden is light/ Such 
 is the experience of all who become the followers 
 of Him who is meek and lowly of heart." 
 
 " Could the conviction that we are born for a 
 higher destiny and more glorious inheritance 
 than that which we now realize, arouse every 
 dormant energy of the mind in the morning of 
 life, how many dangers might we shun, how 
 might we be enabled to baffle temptation, and 
 guard against the snares in which the feet of the 
 inexperienced traveller often become entangled ! 
 Mayest thou place a proper estimate upon an 
 early sacrifice. The cross of Christ is the armor 
 of the child of God ; thou wilt find it an all-suf- 
 ficient shield in every approach of the enemy of 
 thy soul's peace and happiness. In this day 
 there is need of valiants in Christ's army, that 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 14? 
 
 the aliens may be put to flight which have de- 
 fied the armies of the living God. Thou art no 
 doubt sensible of this, for I believe thou hast 
 felt many testimonies dear to thy best life." 
 
 " In the journey thou took with thy valued 
 parent?, to the southern part of our country, thou 
 had an opportnnity of witnessing the desolation 
 of moral principle and violation of human rights, 
 which are sanctioned by the laws of the land, 
 regardless of the laws of Him who made of one 
 blood all nations of men that dwell upon the 
 earth. With all our boasted claims to the name 
 of a benevolent and upright nation, the declara- 
 tion of the prophet is applicable to us, ' Justice 
 is trampled under foot, mercy is slain in the 
 streets, and equity cannot enter/ When I con- 
 template this state of things among a people pro- 
 fessing to be the followers of Jesus Christ, my 
 soul has often to go mourning on its way, because 
 there are so few who are willing to be mouth for 
 the dumb, 
 
 u We as a religious Society have placed our- 
 selves before the world in the attitude of the 
 
148 MEMOIR OF 
 
 friends of the oppressed, and it is the prayer of 
 my heart that as a Society and as individuals we 
 may embrace every right opening to plead their 
 cause. 
 
 " I believe, as faithfulness is abode in, on the 
 part of those upon whom the Lord has been 
 pleased to place the ark of this testimony, the 
 day will come when the bonds of the oppressed 
 shall be loosed, and Ethiopia shall availingly 
 stretch forth her hands unto God." 
 
 The following letter is in reply to one received 
 from S. M., not a member of our Society, who was 
 concerned on account of J. J. considering water- 
 baptism and the ordinance of bread and wine 
 non-essential. This person and her husband 
 both became interested in Truth's testimonies as 
 held by Friends, and the latter regularly attends 
 Friend's meetings. 
 
 " Sharon, 2d. mo, 1838. 
 
 u Dear Friend,— 1 received thy letter, and 
 after giving it a careful perusal, could not ques- 
 tion the sincerity with which it was written, be- 
 lieving it to proceed from the kindest feelings 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 149 
 
 of gospel love, under the influence of which we 
 can speak to each other, and desire for one 
 another an establishment on the true foundation, 
 Christ Jesus, the spiritual head of the Church. 
 The substance of thy concern for my advance- 
 ment in the knowledge of divine things appears 
 to be, that I should be found in the observance 
 of some of those outward ceremonies which thou 
 believest are very essential, and by so doing put 
 on the c whole armor of God/ Although thou 
 art a stranger to me, the expression of thy kind 
 concern for my welfare is grateful to my feelings ; 
 and in answer to the query, i why tarriest thou V 
 I am willing to give thee my views upon the 
 subjects to which thou hast alluded. 
 
 " While I do not desire in any way to inter- 
 fere with the religious opinions of others, or call 
 in question the sincerity with which they adhere 
 to their peculiar forms of worship or views of 
 1 faith in Jesus/ yet I have not so learned Christ 
 as to be unable to give a reason for the hope 
 that is in me, and of that faith in him which I 
 desire to hold fast unto the end without wavering. 
 13 
 
150 MEMOIR OF 
 
 As regards myself, I have never felt the neces- 
 sity of turning to the t weak and beggarly ele- 
 ments' to witness that cleansing of heart which 
 is necessary to sanctification, and that redemp- 
 tion from sin, which is followed by a communion 
 of the soul with its Divine Author, believing that 
 Christ has not called us to these, but to l glory 
 and to virtue.' The apostle has declared that 
 as we give l all diligence, to add to faith virtue, 
 to virtue knowledge, to knowledge temperance, 
 to temperance patience, to patience godliness, to 
 godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly 
 kindness, charity/ that l an entrance shall be 
 ministered unto you abundantly into the ever- 
 lasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
 Christ.' This kingdom I believe to be a state of 
 inward spiritual communion with God; it cometh 
 not by observation ; * neither shall they say, lo 
 here ! or lo there ! for behold the kingdom of 
 God is within you.' 
 
 " I have an unshaken confidence in the all- 
 sufficiency of the spirit of Christ, as it becomes 
 in us ( the resurrection and the life,' to effect our 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 151 
 
 redemption from all iniquity, and the suffering 
 consequent upon a separation from the divine 
 harmoDy, to put us in possession of the joys of 
 holiness in this life, and a well-grounded hope 
 of a blessed immortality. And in order to ac- 
 complish this great work, I believe it is essential 
 to be baptized. But there is no evidence to my 
 mind, either from the convictions of truth or the 
 testimony of scripture, that the baptism of water 
 is the one saving baptism enjoined by our blessed 
 Master, or enforced by his apostles. John the 
 Baptist, in the comparison he made of his mission, 
 which was distinguished by the observance of 
 this ordinance, with the mission of Christ, de- 
 clared, c He must increase, but I must decrease. 
 He that cometh from above is above all. He 
 that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the 
 earth/ * I indeed baptize you with water unto 
 repentance : but he that cometh after me is 
 mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy 
 to bear : he shall baptize you with the Holy 
 Ghost and with fire/ The baptism of John was 
 but an outward ceremony of a decreasing nature, 
 
152 MEMOIR OF 
 
 which, like the ceremonies of the law, was typical 
 of a more spiritual dispensation, but made not 
 the comers thereunto perfect, as c pertaining to 
 the conscience/ Whereas, the baptism of Jesus 
 Christ is of a spiritual, increasing and heavenly 
 nature, and does not consist in the putting away 
 of the filth of the flesh, but the 'answer of a good 
 conscience toward God by the resurrection of 
 Jesus Christ/ 
 
 " This I believe was the baptism which Jesus 
 embraced in his great commission to his disciples, 
 1 Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing 
 them in the name of the Father, and of the Son 
 and of the Holy Ghost ; teaching them to observe 
 all things whatsoever I have commanded you. 
 And lo ! I am with you always even unto the end 
 of the world/ He did not say baptize them 
 with icater, but in i the name of the Father and 
 of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.' It is this 
 spiritual baptism that is essential to wash away 
 the sins of the soul, and it was no doubt this 
 that was alluded to in the command given to 
 Saul. ( Arise and be baptized and wash away 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 153 
 
 thy sins, calling upon the name of the Lord/ 
 For he declared in his epistle to Titus, ( It is 
 not by works of righteousness which we have 
 done, but according to his mercy he saved us, 
 by the washing of regeneration and the renew- 
 ings of the Holy Ghost/ Thus plainly setting 
 forth the insufficiency of carnal ordinances, the 
 performance of which constituted the righteous- 
 ness of the law, and placing their hope of salva- 
 tion upon the l mercy of God, the washing of re- 
 generation and the . renewings of the Holy 
 Ghost/ As the apostles witnessed this effectual 
 baptism, they could declare, ' as many of us as 
 were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized 
 into his death. Therefore we are buried with 
 him by baptism unto death, that like as Christ 
 was raised from the dead by the glory of the 
 Father, even so, also, we should walk in newness 
 of life/ i For as many as have been baptized 
 into Christ, have put on Christ." 
 
 " The apostle Paul has also declared, there is 
 unto us but ' one Lord, one faith and one baptism/ 
 This one baptism, then, is not an outicard ordi- 
 13* 
 
154 MEMOIR OF 
 
 nance, but an inward spiritual cleansing, effected 
 by the c washing of regeneration and the renew- 
 ings of the Holy Ghost." 
 
 et I am satisfied that I have not followed cun- 
 ningly devised fables, in placing nay hope of 
 sanctification here, believing this to be the bap- 
 tism of Christ, and the ground taken by the 
 primitive believers. And am also well satisfied 
 that were I to turn from the i cloud of witnesses' 
 which have surrounded my mind, of the suffi- 
 ciency of this baptism, to the observance of an 
 outward ceremony, I should justly deserve the 
 reproof given by Paul to a people formerly, * 
 foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you/ &c. 
 (see the Epistle to the Galatians.) 
 
 u It was, no doubt, the baptism of the Holy 
 Spirit that the three thousand souls were bap- 
 tized with, by which they were introduced into 
 membership with the church of Christ, on the 
 memorable day of Pentecost, when the powerful 
 appeals of the apostle Peter awakened in them 
 the inquiry, i men and brethren what shall we 
 do to be saved/ We may remember the apostle 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 155 
 
 exhorted them to l repent and be baptized every 
 one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the 
 remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift 
 of the Holy Ghost.' On another occasion the 
 same apostle declares, that whosoever ( believeth 
 in Christ/ shall receive ( remission of sins/ thus 
 shewing that this saving baptism is one and the 
 same thing with a belief in Christ. I think it 
 evident from the testimony of scripture that in 
 the latter periods of the apostolic age, the use of 
 water decreased, because they had experienced 
 its inefficacy, and were made living witnesses of 
 the powerful baptism of Christ, under the influ- 
 ence of which they could say, c By one spirit 
 we are all baptized into one body, whether we 
 be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, 
 and have all been made to drink into one spirit/ 
 It is also evident that water baptism became a 
 fruitful source of contention, as will be seen by 
 Paul's first epistle to the Corinthians, where he 
 speaks of it in such a way as to give reason to 
 believe, he was prepared to lay it aside, for he 
 thanked God that he had baptized so few, saying, 
 
156 MEMOIR OF 
 
 6 Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach 
 the gospel/ 
 
 " As regards that ordinance called the sacra- 
 ment of the Lord's Supper, as it is observed by 
 modern professors, it appears to me to be a con- 
 tinuation of a Jewish ceremony under a new 
 name. For I think the testimony of all the 
 Evangelists informs us, that it is not an institu- 
 tion of Christ, when they tell us that Jesus kept 
 it as the i passover.' * The feast of the passover' 
 and l The feast of unleavened bread." 
 
 u It was not consistent with the nature of the 
 spiritual dispensation which Jesus Christ came 
 to introduce, that any outward rite could be es- 
 sential to divine communion. It was the object 
 of his mission to put an end to sin, by laying 
 the axe at the root of every corrupt desire and 
 inclination of the heart, and to bring in ever- 
 lasting righteousness, a work too momentous to 
 be effected by any outward forms. Hence it be- 
 came necessary that he should i blot out the 
 hand-writing of ordinances, nailing them to the 
 cross/ and instruct them in the knowledge of 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 157 
 
 the kingdom of God within them, where his 
 appearance should be known by an inward and 
 spiritual communion, a participation in which 
 is the only true supper of the Lord. ' Behold 
 I stand at the door and knock, if any man will 
 hear my voice and open unto me, I will come in 
 and sup with him and he shall sup with me/ 
 
 " The blessed Jesus frequently instructed his 
 disciples in the knowledge of divine truths, by 
 the aid of figures, well knowing they were un- 
 able to comprehend the fulness of the gospel 
 day at once ; and we find on the last occasion 
 when he kept the ceremony of the ( Passover/ 
 in which he took bread and blessed, and broke 
 it, and gave it to them, saying, ' take eat this is 
 my body/ he wished to impress their minds 
 through the medium of this interesting figure, 
 that as this ceremony had been kept in com- 
 memoration of the deliverance of that people 
 from Egyptian bondage, so it was a type or 
 figure of the deliverance of the soul from the 
 bondage or thraldom of sin, which was to be 
 kept in commemoration of its redemption through 
 
158 MEMOIR OF 
 
 Christ, i the wisdom and the power of God.' He 
 further told them, c verily I say unto you, I will 
 drink no more of the fruit of the vine until that 
 day when I drink it new with you in the king- 
 dom of God/ Thus showing them that the ob- 
 servance of the type was to end, that it was ex- 
 pedient he should go away, but giving them the 
 blessed promise that he would appear a second 
 time without sin unto salvation, and be with his 
 faithful followers and disciples l alway even unto 
 the end of the world/ Jesus commanded his 
 disciples and the people not to l labor for that 
 meat which perisheth, but for that meat which 
 endureth unto everlasting life/ 6 1 am that bread 
 of life/ i Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of 
 Man and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. 
 Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood 
 hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the 
 last day ; for my flesh is meat indeed and my 
 blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh 
 and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I 
 in him. As the living Father hath sent me and 
 I live by the Father, so he that eateth me, even 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 159 
 
 he shall live by me. This is that bread which 
 came down from heaven : not as your fathers 
 did eat manna and are dead : he that eateth of 
 this bread shall live forever.' 
 
 u The disciples did not perceive the mystical 
 meaning of these sayings, but the blessed Jesus 
 did not leave them to conjecture; for when he 
 found they were offended at what they had heard, 
 he told them, ( It is the spirit that quickeneth, 
 the flesh profiteth nothing; the words that I speak 
 unto you they are spirit and they are life/ Thus 
 shewing them that under the figure of his flesh 
 and blood, he was speaking of his spiritual mani- 
 festation, in which he will become ' Christ in us, 
 the hope of glory/ ( the resurrection and the 
 life/ As we are made witnesses of this resur- 
 rection we can in truth say, ' I know that my 
 Redeemer liveth, and because he lives I shall 
 live also. Then shall we know that it is his 
 life and not his death, that becomes a propitia- 
 tion for our sins, agreeably to his own promise, 
 1 1 will give my life a ransom for many/ And 
 as we are clothed upon with the life of Christ 
 
160 MEMOIR OF 
 
 we come to put on the c new man, which after 
 God is created in righteousness and true holi- 
 ness/ and are raised above carnal performances 
 and dead works, to serve the living God in new- 
 ness of life." 
 
 " The apostle Paul assures the believers that 
 'meats and drinks, and divers washings, and 
 carnal ordinances/ were only to continue till the 
 1 time of reformation/ and this ' time of reforma- 
 tion/ he says, was the coming of Christ by the 
 establishment of a 'greater and more perfect 
 tabernacle not made with hands/ an inward and 
 spiritual temple, where the true worshipper might 
 worship God, not in form and ceremony, but ' in 
 spirit and in truth/ However this kind of 
 worship may be overlooked or neglected, it re- 
 mains to be the blessed medium through which 
 the soul finds access to the throne of grace, and 
 knows its communion to be with God in the 
 ' silence of all flesh.' 
 
 " As every reformation is gradual, and as 
 many of the early converts to Christianity had 
 been taught from their infancy to reverence the 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 161 
 
 ceremonies of the law, we cannot suppose they 
 would at once abandon them • but as they took 
 heed unto that light, or 6 manifestation of the 
 spirit, which is given to every one to profit 
 withal/ their views of divine truths became 
 clearer and clearer, till at length they considered 
 that righteousness which stood in the observance 
 of the ceremonies of the law as 'filthy rags/ 
 
 " Whatever may have been the practice of 
 the apostle Paul in the beginning of his ministry, 
 we find, thirty years after his conversion, in the 
 maturity of his religious experience, he drew a 
 boundary line between the dispensation of the 
 law, and the spiritual dispensation of the new 
 covenant, (of which the other was only as a 
 schoolmaster to lead unto ;) and in view of the 
 sufficiency of the grace of God to bring salvation, 
 he cautioned the Hebrews after this manner : 
 i Be not carried about with clivers and strange 
 doctrines ; for it is a good thing that the heart 
 be established with grace ; not with meats, which 
 have not profited them that have been occupied 
 
 therein." 
 
 14 
 
162 
 
 MEMOIR OF 
 
 " Happy would it have been for the human 
 family had this admonition of Paul been attended 
 to ; but how soon after the days of the apostles 
 was the sufficiency of this grace of God to effect 
 salvation questioned, the church turned again 
 to the weak and beggarly elements, and brought 
 in bondage to a mercenary priesthood. The 
 civil and ecclesiastical powers were blended • men 
 became the advocates of Christianity, more from 
 the pecuniary interest with which it endowed its 
 possessor, than that love of souls which dis- 
 tinguished the labors of the primitive followers of 
 Jesus. In consequence of this unhallowed union, 
 the church lost her purity. Mystery Babylon 
 bewitched her with the love of 'filthy lucre.' 
 The use of many carnal ordinances increased, 
 every effort was made to cloud the simplicity of 
 Christianity, and to render that obscure and dif- 
 ficult to be understood, which was easily compre- 
 hended by the illiterate fisherman of Galilee, and 
 which was seen in prophetic vision to be so plain, 
 that the ' way-faring man though a fool cannot 
 err therein/ And had not God in his mercv 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 163 
 
 preserved a little remnant, who, like the seven 
 thousand in the days of Elijah, could not bow 
 the knee to Baal nor worship his image, the 
 church would have become an utter desolation. 
 But truth triumphed over error, the light of the 
 gospel has been shining with increasing bright- 
 ness, opening to the obedient soul the simplicity 
 and purity of the religion of Jesus. Should we 
 not then desire, that the church may come still 
 more fully out of the wilderness, and that she 
 may indeed be clothed with the sun of righteous- 
 ness, Christ Jesus ? That the fulness of the 
 gospel day may be witnessed, in which the de- 
 claration of the prophet shall be fulfilled, 6 They 
 shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and 
 every man his brother, saying know the Lord, 
 for all shall know me from the least to the great- 
 est of them/ When there shall be no need to 
 depend upon the arm of flesh, the cry of lo, here 
 is Christ ! and lo, he is there ! will cease ; for the 
 Lord's children, being all taught of the Lord, 
 will speak the same language, and mind the same 
 thing. Then may we not hope for the coming 
 
164 MEMOIR OF 
 
 of that day in which all the disputes and conten- 
 tions which have so long distracted Christendom, 
 and divided it into sects and parties, will be at 
 an end, and the professors of religion be able 
 to labor harmoniously together for the universal 
 establishment of the Redeemer's kingdom ? 
 
 " With sincere desires for thy advancement in 
 the knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus, 
 " I am thy friend, 
 
 John Jackson." 
 
 To S M . 
 
 Dear Friend:— u When I read thy letter in 
 which thou mentioned some of the conflicts of 
 spirit which thou hast had to witness, there came 
 to my remembrance a scripture declaration which 
 I am willing to mention for thy encouragement; 
 1 It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps, 
 but the good man's steps are ordered of the 
 Lord/ Being a firm believer in the truth of 
 the testimony that 'the manifestation of the 
 spirit is given to every man to profit withal/ and 
 that it will, as we are obedient to its unfoldings, 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 165 
 
 direct our steps in the path of diviiie appoint- 
 ment; I commend thee to the teachings of this 
 divine gift, with sincere desires that thou may- 
 est be so guided by it, as to give daily demon- 
 stration of thy love for the truth as it is in Je- 
 sus, and thus become an humble follower of Him 
 who is meek and lowly of heart. I have no 
 doubt but thou lovest Christ, and desires with an 
 honest zeal to follow him, because thou hast 
 found by so doing thou canst only have a peace- 
 ful mind ; therefore keep thine eye single unto 
 him, that thy ' whole body may be full of light/ 
 Then thou will see clearly the path of duty, and 
 be able to distinguish between the voice of the 
 c true shepherd 7 and the voice of the ( stranger.' 
 Thou wilt find that the voice of the former is an 
 inward, spiritual voice, which, like the 'still 
 small voice' that spoke to Elijah, the prophet, 
 speaks to our souls as we continue to dwell 
 in our own tents, enwrapped in the mantle of 
 fervent prayer, until the earthquake, the whirl- 
 wind, and the fire have passed by. x\nd as we 
 are willing to wait in quietude and in confidence 
 14* 
 
166 MEMOIR OP 
 
 for the teachings of the Holy Spirit, we shall 
 know this 'still small voice' to 'teach us as never 
 man taught/ 
 
 Whatever may be the conflicts" and trials of 
 our spirits, in which we may have to feel the ne- 
 cessity of a spiritual baptism, if our desires are 
 sincere, these will work together for our good, 
 and lead us to contemplate the testimony and 
 promise of the blessed Master, ' In the world ye 
 shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I 
 have overcome the world/ and 'To him that 
 overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my 
 throne, even as I also overcame and am set down 
 with my Father in his throne. 3 
 
 Thou sayest it was a great trial to go to some 
 meetings where thou apprehended thy duty call- 
 ed thee, in consequence of meeting with some op- 
 posing brethren. Perhaps as thou wert made 
 willing to do what thou thought required of thee, 
 thou wilt not feel bound to visit them again. 
 "We do not serve a hard Master, but one ' whose 
 yoke is easy and whose burden is light/ All 
 who are qualified by the Divine Master to go forth 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 167 
 
 as the messengers of his truth, must be c wise as 
 serpents and harmless as doves/ and bear in mind 
 the command which he gave to his disciples when 
 he sent them to proclaim the glorious doctrine, 
 that the ( kingdom of God is come nigh unto 
 you :' < Whosoever shall not receive you, nor 
 hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the 
 dust under your feet for a testimony against 
 them/ 
 
 If thou believest it to be thy duty to speak a 
 word of encouragement in season to the travel- 
 lers Zion-ward, or to testify unto others of those 
 things which < thine eyes have seen and thine 
 hands have handled' of the goodness and mercy 
 of the great Shepherd of Israel, either among thy 
 own people or among others, 1 would say, i mind 
 thy calling/ and I believe if thou art faithful 
 and obedient to the light that is in thee, thou 
 mayest become instrumental in the divine hand 
 in calling sinners from darkness to light, and 
 from the bondage of transgression to the blessed 
 liberty of the children of God. But in order to 
 labor successfully in this great work, (the object 
 
168 MEMOIR OP 
 
 of which is to call men to the kingdom of God 
 within them, or i the kingdom of God nigh unto 
 you/ as Jesus instructed his disciples) we must 
 experience the same overshadowing of the Holy 
 Ghost, or baptism of the Holy Spirit, which en- 
 abled the apostles and primitive believers to 
 preach repentance and amendment of life as the 
 medium of salvation, and to return in peace, with 
 this language, i Lord even the devils are subject 
 unto us through thy name/ and also to receive 
 from him their reward, which was the bless- 
 ed assurance, that they might rejoice be- 
 cause their names were written in heaven. Now 
 as this qualification to preach the gospel is not to 
 be acquired in the will and wisdom of man, but 
 by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit, so neith- 
 er can a gift or commission of it be exercised in 
 our own will or wisdom, or even in our own time. 
 We must wait in all humility until the c spirit 
 giveth utterance/ whereby we may speak under- 
 standing^ or baptizingly unto others. This kind 
 of ministry is calculated to gather souls to Christ ; 
 convert sinners unto righteousness. Not to make 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 169 
 
 proselytes to any sect, but to the Church of 
 Christ. Because if we once get hold of the sub- 
 stance of religion, which is practical righteous- 
 ness, we shall worship 6 the Father' by the holi- 
 ness of our lives. We shall find that he is no 
 respecter of persons, but that all of every sect of 
 professing Christians i who fear him and work 
 righteousness are accepted with him/ and con- 
 stitute the members of the true church. 
 
 If we examine the ground on which we stand, 
 and believe we have received the command with 
 the necessary qualification, we have nothing to 
 fear. Conflicts of spirit may be necessary to 
 deepen us in the truth; we must endure them 
 patiently, calmly, quietly ; for was not the cap- 
 tain of our salvation made perfect through suffer- 
 ing ? And can the servant expect to fare better 
 than his Lord ? No ! We must be willing to fol- 
 low in his footsteps, and then we shall receive 
 our reward, not from man, because anything that 
 man can give is but a poor compensation for a 
 servant of Christ, whether it be praise or censure, 
 or gifts of silver or gold. i Thy money perish 
 
170 MEMOIR OF 
 
 with thee/ was the sharp rebuke given by the 
 apostle Peter to one Simon, who thought he 
 eoulcl purchase the gift of God with silver or 
 gold. Peter knew that this gift was a free gift 
 of Christ, and he may have remembered the 
 command, ( Freely ye have received, freely give/ 
 In obedience to this injunction the disciples went 
 forth faithfully discharging their duties as good 
 stewards of the household of faith. We should 
 strive to follow them as they followed Christ, 
 that by a life of continual obedience we may hap- 
 pily reap the rich reward of knowing that our 
 names are written l in the Lamb's book of life/ 
 May our steps be so directed in this state of 
 probation and trial as to secure to us permanent 
 and eternal joys, is the prayer of thy friend and 
 well wisher. John Jackson." 
 
 Letter to P E * 
 
 Dear Friend: — " Although some time has 
 elapsed since I received thy acceptable letter con- 
 taining an invitation to visit your country, yet 
 
 * Of Illinois ; not a member of the Religious Society 
 of Friends. 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 171 
 
 owing to absence from home on account of my 
 health, and my numerous duties and cares, I have 
 not replied to it at an earlier period ; nevertheless 
 I appreciate thy kind offer, and if it should ever 
 be my lot to visit the Western States, and should 
 any labor be assigned me in your part of the 
 vineyard, I hope I shall be prepared for it and 
 engage in it with a willing mind. While I do 
 not claim to be a sectarian in my views and feel- 
 ings, but fully believe that i in every nation he 
 that feareth God and worketh righteousness is 
 accepted with him/ yet I cannot help believing 
 that the principles and testimonies of the Society 
 of Friends, constitute the testimonies and princi- 
 ples of every good man ; let his name to religion 
 be what it may. As a Society we do not con- 
 sider that religion consists so much in opinions 
 or forms of worship, as on those divine instruc- 
 tions relating to man's duty and happiness, which 
 are revealed within by the law of God written 
 on the heart, and which are intended to be obeyed 
 and carried out in practice. We hold that religion 
 consists in being good and doing good. Its plain- 
 est injunctions are l love to God and love to man/ 
 
172 MEMOIR OF 
 
 Its effects are everywhere the same, producing 
 6 peace on earth and good will to men.' We 
 have never attempted to bind the human mind 
 by creeds, made up of the opinions and doctrines 
 of men, because we maintain that it is perfectly 
 consistent with the economy of divine Providence 
 gradually to unfold to the understandings of his 
 intelligent creatures, more and more in its ful- 
 ness, the beauty, sublimity and eternal excellence 
 of that kingdom, of which it was said in pro- 
 phetic vision, ( of the increase thereof, there 
 shall never be an end/ We therefore commend 
 all men to that inward manifestation of light 
 and truth alluded to by the apostle when he said, 
 6 ye have an unction from the Holy One/ and 
 1 ye need not that any man teach you, save as 
 this anointing teacheth you of all things and is 
 truth/ that they may obey its teachings and by 
 it be led in the way of life and salvation, from 
 one degree of experience to another in the things 
 which 'the eye hath not seen nor ear heard, 
 neither hath it entered into the heart of man to 
 conceive/ even the good things G-od hath in store 
 for them that love him. 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 173 
 
 It seems to me, my dear friend, that human 
 experience fully accords with and amply confirms 
 the testimonies of the righteous of every age, 
 concerning the nature of pure and undefiled re- 
 ligion ; and that from our own experience we 
 learn that whenever we have felt its salutary 
 influences, it has been the result of obedience to 
 the manifold dictates of divine truth in our own 
 souls ; and that it is not produced by our name 
 to religion, or the form under which we have 
 been led, either from education or conviction, to 
 worship the Almighty. Under these views and 
 feelings I can give the right hand of fellowship 
 to every one, who, from inward conviction, is en- 
 deavoring to fear God and work righteousness, 
 let their name to religion be what it may. But 
 I can see with thee, that in the midst of the high 
 profession to religion which so much abounds,there 
 is often the absence of practical righteous- 
 ness, and the observance of that gospel injunction, 
 * Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto 
 you, do ye even so unto them/ The gospel of 
 Christ is of heavenly origin, and its tendency is 
 15 
 
174 MEMOIR OF 
 
 to produce a heavenly state. If men would em- 
 brace it in its purity how soon would it convert 
 the moral wilderness of this world into an Eden, 
 and cause the desert places thereof to smile and 
 i blossom as the rose, joy and gladness would b e 
 found therein, thanksgiving and the voice of 
 melody/ 
 
 What a scene of moral beauty would take the 
 place of the present state of anarchy and confu- 
 sion ; human wretchedness would be unknown ; 
 the ' sword would be beaten into a ploughshare, 
 and the spear into a pruning hook, nation would 
 no longer lift up sword against nation, neither 
 would men learn war any more/ How much 
 more delightful would it be, to behold righteous- 
 ness, order and peace springing up among the 
 nations of the earth, than to have the pages of 
 human history filled with the recitals of war and 
 bloodshed. How much better to hear of the sub- 
 jugation of depraved and angry passions, than 
 the conquest of states and empires. How much 
 better to hear of deeds of charity and works of 
 benevolence and love, than of the crimes and 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 175 
 
 cruelties which are the legitimate consequences 
 of i man's inhumanity to man/ I contend for 
 nothing more than that the professors of religion 
 should carry out in their lives and practice the 
 principles and precepts of the gospel, and I am 
 sure that the desolating scourge of war, with all 
 its accumulated miseries, would be banished from 
 the world forever. Men would see that every 
 system of war and oppression is at variance with 
 the precepts of Jesus, the attributes of God, 
 and the best interests of man. 
 
 In the moral government of the Ruler of the 
 universe, no such inconsistencies or irregularities 
 can ever be sanctioned. 
 
 It is for this reason that we have a testimony 
 against wars and fightings ; but it is far from be- 
 ing new or peculiar to us; it is as old as the gos- 
 pel, and the gospel was preached to our first pa- 
 rents in Eden. So it will be found of all the 
 other testimonies which we profess to bear ; they 
 are not ours, but the testimonies of truth ; and I 
 cannot but believe that the spreading of them 
 will tend to enlarge Christ's kingdom in the 
 
176 memoir or 
 
 earth, and thus promote the best interests of the 
 human family. It is but little that we can do 
 of ourselves towards the furtherance of these great 
 objects, but if we are faithful in our day to the 
 light and knowledge with which Divine Goodness 
 is pleased to furnish us, our feeble efforts, like 
 the widow's mite cast into the treasury, gain for 
 us, when called upon to give an account of our 
 stewardship, this reward, c Well done, good and 
 faithful servant, thou hast been faithful in a few 
 things, I will make the ruler over many things, 
 enter thou into the joy of thy Lord/ 
 
 That this may be our experience, is the sincere 
 desire of thy friend, 
 
 John Jackson/' 
 
 We might have properly mentioned ere this 
 that the constitution of our friend, which had 
 never been robust, seemed undermined by a 
 severe illness of several weeks previously to his 
 leaving home for the West Indies. During his 
 sickness, his friends were apprehensive that he 
 would not get well, but he felt impressed with 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 177 
 
 the belief that he would accomplish the religious 
 visit he had in prospect, and return in safety to 
 his family. With the increase of physical de- 
 bility there were no marks of wasted mental 
 energy, or a disposition to seek rest from continu- 
 ous labor. He appeared ever mindful of the 
 apostle' s inj unction to his brethren, "To be diligent 
 in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord/ 7 
 The influence which he possessed in his neigh- 
 borhood, was an evidence of the good effects re- 
 sulting from a mind habitually clothed with the 
 heavenly attributes of justice, mercy, and hu- 
 mility. Persons, of both low and high degree, 
 acknowledged its power, and he was thus enabled 
 at times, by a seasonable word of caution and 
 counsel, to prevent the chords of harmony being 
 broken, and in cases where they had been des- 
 troyed, to act the part of a peace-maker. 
 
 Among the many means which he employed 
 to benefit himself and others, was the use of the 
 compass. In this way he was particularly use- 
 ful, by settling disputed claims in property. The 
 confidence reposed in his judgment and integrity 
 15* 
 
178 MEMOIR OF 
 
 by all parties, generally enabled him to effect a 
 satisfactory decision. We have said he was 
 diligent in business ; he seemed to act upon his 
 early conviction, that with a rightly balanced 
 mind there is time for the fulfilment of every 
 duty. First, towards Him unto whom we owe 
 all things ; and secondly, unto our neighbors and 
 ourselves. 
 
 We cannot but hope that the vast amount of 
 labor upon scientific subjects which he has left 
 in manuscript, will be placed in a form by which 
 it may benefit others. Astronomy was his favorite 
 study. A love for it was engendered in early 
 youth, no doubt, from his reverence for the great 
 Creator of the starry hosts, by whose wisdom and 
 power they are sustained and made to revolve in 
 their respective orbits in perpetual grandeur and 
 harmony. To his contemplative mind this 
 opened a wide field of enjoyment, in which new 
 wonders and beauties were continually presented 
 to his view. At the silent hour of midnight, 
 after having disposed of the duties of the day, as 
 well as at early morn ere the beauties of the 
 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 179 
 
 niglit were eclipsed by the beams of the rising 
 sun, he was often to be found in the observatory. 
 His astronomical observations are interspeVsed 
 with reflections which prove that his mind 
 was wont to soar above the heavens, and dwell 
 upon the Supreme Intelligence by which they 
 were framed. The last of these, made but a 
 short period before his decease, is here appended. 
 (t What scope of the imagination can embrace 
 the extent of the universe, when so many worlds 
 are seen to exist within the narrow limits of ap- 
 parent vision. In contemplating thy works, 
 Illimitable Creator, I learn at every step some 
 lesson of thy unmeasured greatness, some addi- 
 tional conviction of thy unbounded beneficence, 
 and some striking illustration of the littleness 
 and frailty of man. How humbling to human 
 pride is the thought that the globe on which I 
 dwell, on which so many millions are striving 
 and contending for dominion, as though the 
 possession of its atoms of dust were the whole 
 aim and object of existence, is but itself an 
 atom of thy material empire, and is almost lost 
 
180 MEMOIR OF 
 
 sight of amidst the contemplation of creation's 
 immensity as it is here revealed before me," 
 
 In" his concern for the advancement of truth 
 and righteousness in the earth, he labored not 
 only orally, but with his pen. An address to 
 the members of his own Quarterly Meeting on 
 subject of "Divine Spiritual "Worship," was issued 
 in 1837. And a pamphlet containing " Con- 
 siderations on the impropriety of Friends parti- 
 cipating in the administration of political govern- 
 ment," was printed and circulated among our 
 members in 1840. So thoroughly was his spirit 
 imbued with the peaceable nature of the Chris- 
 tian religion, that it may_be said that, " in season 
 and out of season," he was prepared to bear an 
 uncompromising testimony against war and blood- 
 shed, believing it to be one of the greatest evils 
 in the world. A little work entitled "Peace and 
 War/' was an exposition of hisserious convictions 
 on the subject. Unpleasant, as it ever is, to 
 dwell upon or even allude to differences among bre- 
 thren, we feel that we would not be doing justice 
 to the duty we have undertaken, if we did not here 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 181 
 
 notice the fact, that this production gave un- 
 easiness to some Friends, because of expressions 
 contained in it which they thought undervalued 
 the Scriptures. It is not our business nor our 
 aim to enter upon the point of controversy? 
 further than to say, that our personal knowledge of 
 the writer forbids us to believe that he was want- 
 ing in respect for this volume, which he highly 
 prized, and had so frequently read in his family. 
 It was his sincere belief that those parts of it 
 upon which some professors of Christianity are 
 wont to found their arguments in favor of war 
 and slavery, being simply of a historical char- 
 acter, were likely to exhibit the peculiar or edu- 
 cational views of those who penned them. The 
 respect with which he treated those who differed 
 from him in opinion is worthy imitation. He 
 considered liberty of conscience as one of the 
 choicest boons of Heaven, and was ever willing 
 to grant to all, what he asked for himself, a free- 
 dom to exercise it. This enabled him to extend 
 the hand of friendship even to those who were 
 disposed to look upon him with coldness and dis- 
 trust. 
 
182 MEMOIR OF 
 
 la Friends' Intelligencer of 7th mo. 2d and 9th, 
 1853, there appeared Essays on the Death Penalty, 
 which were written by him at the suggestion of 
 our beloved friend, H. J. Moore. The interest 
 which they both felt in this subject is well known 
 to many, and we would that their faithfulness in 
 the advocacy of the blessed principle of love to 
 Grod and good will to men, might act as a stim- 
 ulus to those who are continued a little longer 
 on this stage of action, to work " while it is 
 day;" that when the closing period of this life 
 shall draw nigh, like our departed friends 
 they may be able to adopt the language, "I 
 have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished 
 the work which thou gavest nae to do/' 
 
 A few months before his death, he pub- 
 lished his views on " The Christian Minis- 
 try, — A free ministry- — Objections to a theo- 
 logical education for the ministry, &c." Our 
 testimony to a free gospel ministry is strong- 
 ly advocated therein, and the simplicity of 
 the religion promulgated by Jesus, is contrasted 
 with that which is exhibited by many of its pro- 
 
JOHN JACKSON, 183 
 
 fessors at the present day. In this work, as in 
 the one before alluded to, there are some senti- 
 ments with which all Friends do not unite. But 
 from the calm serenity of our friend's latter days, 
 and the joy with which he anticipated the period 
 when his spirit should be freed from the frail 
 tenement that connected him with this transitory 
 scene, we may infer, that whatever may have 
 been his views, they militated not against him 
 in the near approach of his dissolution. He felt 
 an assurance of acceptance with his heavenly 
 Father, whom he had endeavored to serve with 
 singleness of heart, by acting out the law of the 
 spirit, which " sets free from the law ef sin and 
 death. " It was his often expressed belief, that 
 opinions were as nothing, in comparison with 
 that faith which leads to a perfect fulfilment of 
 the commandments upon which the blessed Jesus 
 declares " hang the law and the prophets," which 
 would lead into the exercise of those virtues, that 
 are acquired by keeping the eye single and th« 
 heart pure, by which the selfishness of human 
 nature is overcome, and we are enabled to say^ 
 
184 MEMOIR OT 
 
 u do with me Lord, as seemeth good in thy 
 sight." 
 
 " He is a Jew, who is one inwardly; and 
 circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, 
 and not in the letter ; whose praise is not of men 
 but of God." 
 
 The health of our friend continued to decline, 
 and although it sometimes cost him considerable 
 effort he was faithful in the attendance of meet- 
 ings both for worship and discipline. His gos- 
 pel labors for the welfare of the body, when thus 
 assembled, were often accompanied by an energy 
 which his friends would have deemed his frail 
 tenement incapable of exhibiting; but the spirit 
 rose in dominion, and proved " strength in weak- 
 ness and a present' help in the needful time." 
 Thus labored till the close of the day the sub- 
 ject of this feeble tribute, whom we have followed 
 in part from his infancy to the period when his 
 work being accomplished, u the mortal" was 
 about " to put on immortality," and " death was 
 to be swallowed up in victory." In tracing the 
 leading characteristics which embellished his life, 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 185 
 
 we have been far from desiring to exalt the crea- 
 ture, but rather, to offer the homage due to the 
 great Creator, that in having constituted man 
 a twofold being, He has rendered him capa- 
 ble, through obedience to the manifestations of 
 the divine will, of maintaining the dominion 
 u over the beasts of the field, the fowls of the air, 
 and the fishes of the sea," by which the spiritual 
 life is exalted, and he retains the noble and dig- 
 nified position designed for him by his Creator. 
 The scripture testimony is, that he who is thus 
 found governing his own house, ruling his own 
 spirit, " is better than he that taketh a city." 
 
 He was confined but a short time to his cham- 
 ber, during which he appeared to have nothing 
 to do, but to bear with patience and resignation 
 the sufferings consequent upon disease and dis- 
 solution. The bonds to earth were broken, and 
 his spirit seemed enwrapped with joy ineffable; 
 the bright visions of which he had had a fore- 
 taste, were about to be opened more fully unto 
 him, and in his parting salutations to his be- 
 loved and stricken family, he could point them 
 16 
 
186 MEMOIR OF 
 
 to the happy flight that spirit takes, whose trea- 
 sures are garnered in heaven. 
 
 On the 14th of 4th mo. 1855, the immortal 
 part was released from its house of clay, which 
 on the 17th was followed to the place of its in- 
 terment in Friends' burial ground at Darby, by 
 a great concourse of his friends, over whom the 
 feeling of solemnity appeared to prevail in a re. 
 markable manner. 
 
 Thus passed into the eternal world, one whose 
 chief concern had been faithfully to fulfil his 
 mission on earth, that he might be prepared for 
 a higher and more exalted state of being ; who, 
 even in childhood, watched the dawning of that 
 light, which in the obedient soul shines " brighter 
 and brighter unto the perfect day/' and who 
 continued to testify to the end, of the univer- 
 sality of the Father's love, and of the joys of His 
 kingdom inwardly revealed to the dedicated mind. 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 187 
 
 The following address is the one alluded to in 
 the Memoir of John Jackson, as having been 
 printed and circulated in the Danish Colonies. 
 
 AN ADDRESS TO THE INHABITANTS OF ST. CROIX. 
 
 We, the undersigned, members of the Reli- 
 gious Society of Friends, commonly called Quak- 
 ers, from Pennsylvania in America, now engaged 
 in a mission of Gospel love to the West India 
 Islands, with the approbation and unity of our 
 brethren and sisters in profession with us, hav- 
 ing requested of the Governor permission to hold 
 religious meetings on this Island, and having by 
 his note, bearing date "Dec. 5th, 1840/' been 
 forbidden to appoint such meetings, deem it re- 
 spectful to explain more fully the object of our 
 visit than we have been permitted to do by per- 
 sonal intercourse amongst you. 
 
 The Society of Friends have, from their ear- 
 liest rise, maintained as a fundamental point of 
 doctrine, that a measure or manifestation of the 
 spirit of Christ, the true light that lighteth every 
 man that cometh into the world, is given to all 
 
188 MEMOIR or 
 
 men, to lead and guide them in the path of duty. 
 That this is the appearing of " Christ within/' 
 which the Apostle declared to be the " hope of 
 glory," Col. i. 27, and the same Divine Power 
 which the blessed Jesus alluded to, when he gave 
 this command to his disciples, " Go ye, there- 
 fore, and teach all nations, baptising them in the 
 name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
 Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things 
 whatsoever I have commanded you; and lo, I am 
 with you alway, even unto the end of the 
 world." Mat. 28: 19, 20. 
 
 This Divine principle or light of Christ within, 
 is that to which our worthy predecessor, George 
 Fox, called the attention of the people, as an ef- 
 ficacious teacher and spiritual guide to salvation, 
 and all the consequent joys connected with the 
 soul's redemption ; that they might, by their 
 obedience to its blessed teachings, conform their 
 lives to the example and precepts of Jesus 
 Christ, and thus find peace with God their Crea- 
 tor. Hence it is declared by Win. Penn, one of 
 the most distinguished writers in our Society, in 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 189 
 
 his account of this rise and progress, that a be- 
 lief in " the light of Christ within, as God's 
 gift for man's salvation/' is their characteristic or 
 main distinguishing point or principle of doc- 
 trine. And in relation to those whom it pleased 
 the great Head of the Church to call to the work 
 of the ministry under our name, the same writer 
 asserts, " These experimental preachers of glad 
 tidings of God's truth and kingdom, could not 
 run when they list, or preach, or pray, but as 
 Christ their Redeemer prepared and moved them 
 by his blessed spirit, for which they waited in 
 their services or meetings, and spoke as that gave 
 them utterance." " They went not forth in their 
 own will nor time, but in the will of God, and 
 spake not their own studied matter, but as they 
 were opened and moved of his spirit, with which 
 they were well acquainted in their own conver- 
 sion. They directed people to a principle in 
 themselves, though not of themselves, by which 
 all they asserted, preached or exhorted others to, 
 might be known in them through experience to 
 be true." — Rise and Progress, doc, 
 16* 
 
190 MEMOIR OF 
 
 Although many of the wise builders of sys- 
 tems of religion have rejected this revelation 
 of Christ, or manifestation of his spirit in 
 man, for a foundation, our forefathers pro- 
 fessed to build upon it, — as a rock immova- 
 ble — as " the corner stone, the tried stone, elect 
 and precious, " which the Lord's prophet declared 
 should " be laid in Zion." Isa. 28 : 16. They 
 doubtless were sincere in their convictions of the 
 duties of religion, when under the influence of 
 the Holy Spirit, they went forth as the servants 
 of Jesus Christ, visiting the nations of the earth, 
 to call men from darkness to light, and from 
 under the dominion and power of transgression 
 into the glorious liberty of the children of God; 
 for they manifested their attachment to the prin- 
 ciples thus professed, and the various testimonies 
 to practical righteousness which these principles 
 taught them to maintain, by a willingness to 
 suffer persecutions for Christ's sake and the Gos- 
 pel's. Fines, imprisonments, the deprivation of 
 many earthly comforts, and even the loss of life 
 itself, were inflicted upon them, because they 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 191 
 
 could say with the apostle, when he was arraign- 
 ed for his faith before Felix, to answer the 
 charges brought against him by his accusers : — 
 " This I confess unto thee, that after the way 
 which they call heresy, so worship I the God of 
 my fathers, believing all things which are written 
 in the law and in the prophets. Acts 24: 14. 
 The spirit of persecution drove many of them 
 from the shores of Great Britain to seek a refuge 
 and a shelter among strangers in a strange land. 
 In the wilderness of America they found an 
 asylum, where among the aborigines of the forest, 
 they could enjoy that religious liberty and toler- 
 ation which had been denied them by the more 
 enlightened professors of their native land. The 
 Indian opened to them his lonely wigwam, and 
 in some instances they consecrated the caves and 
 holes of the earth to the worship of the Al- 
 mighty. There the enlightened Penn founded a 
 colony which still retains his name, where the 
 privilege of worshipping God according to the 
 dictates of conscience was granted to all. There 
 the tree of religious liberty was planted; under 
 
192 MEMOIR OF 
 
 the shade of which, the persecuted of all nations 
 were permitted to repose with safety, and many 
 generations have already partaken of the fruits 
 that grow upon its goodly branches. 
 
 We are unshaken in the religion of our fath- 
 ers ; like them we believe in the light of Christ 
 within, as God's gift for man's salvation — like 
 them, we believe that the Head of the Church 
 is as able now as formerly, to make use of the 
 weak things of this world, to advance his cause. 
 He set us the example by choosing some of the 
 illiterate fishermen of Galilee, to be among the 
 first promulgators of his Gospel. And we be- 
 lieve that the learning and wisdom of man, are 
 not an essential qualification for a minister of 
 Christ ; neither do they receive a true qualifica- 
 tion from the ordinations of man, or by virtue of 
 an appointment from royal authority, or the con- 
 sent of human governments, for they are the 
 servants of Christ only, whom he, by his Holy 
 Spirit, calls to the labor he hath assigned them, 
 and they only are truly qualified to testify the 
 gospel of the grace of God, who can say with 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 193 
 
 the apostle, " I certify you, brethren, that the 
 gospel which was preached of me is not after 
 man, for I neither received it of man, neither 
 was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus 
 Christ" — and whose preaching is, not as Paul 
 said, " in words which man's wisdom teacheth, 
 but as the Holy Ghost teacheth." 
 
 Without assuming to ourselves any thing more 
 than belongs to the very least of the family of 
 Christ, we unhesitatingly assert, that we believe 
 that our Divine Master, whom we desire to serve, 
 liath required at our hand the religious service 
 in which we are engaged. It is not our mission 
 to teach for doctrines the commandments of men, 
 or to call them to absurd opinions and speculative 
 theology ; but it is to invite them to embrace 
 those principles of practical righteousness, which 
 will lead them to a knowledge of pure and unde- 
 filed religion. We dare not preach nor pray in 
 our own wills ? nor in our own time, only as 
 Christ, our heavenly Shepherd, is pleased to ena- 
 ble us, poor instruments, to proclaim the glad 
 tidings of the gospel. We covet no man's silver 
 
194 MEMOIR OF 
 
 or gold — we are not in pursuit of any earthly 
 treasure — we seek not the praise of men. But 
 the love of Christ constraineth us, and for the 
 spreading of that religion which breathes " glory 
 to God in the highest, on earth peace and good 
 will to men," we have left the endearments of 
 home, to encounter the many trials and respon- 
 sibilities connected with a gospel mission among 
 strangers in a strange land. Whatever may be 
 the opinions of men concerning us, God is a wit- 
 ness, that it is the religion of Jesus, which em- 
 braces the present and eternal welfare of our fel- 
 low heirs of immortality, we desire only to pro- 
 mote. We have nothing but love for all men. 
 Our request to mingle with you in religious fel- 
 lowship, was, because this benevolent feeling in 
 our hearts extended towards you, and we are 
 conscious of having acted consistent therewith, 
 in making the attempt we did, to discharge a 
 duty we feel we owe to you, and to Him who is 
 the Searcher of Hearts. We desire not to pay 
 any disrespect whatever to the powers that be, 
 remembering the Divine Master not only com- 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 195 
 
 manded his disciples to be " wise as serpents/' 
 but " harmless as doves." Therefore we are wil- 
 ling patiently to bear our burden — hoping that 
 the day may speedily arrive, when the feet of 
 those who are commissioned to publish the glad 
 tidings of salvation, may be permitted to tread 
 upon all the high places of the earth, to proclaim 
 unto Zion, "Thy God reigneth." And while we 
 are willing patiently to suffer in spirit with the 
 seed of the Church, we do not hesitate to express 
 our conviction that the exercise of human autho- 
 rity on the consciences of men, is utterly at va- 
 riance with the benign religion of Jesus Christ. 
 We are well aware that nations have not unfre- 
 quently assumed the right to exercise this au- 
 thority, by establishing what is called the reli- 
 gion of the country, over which such authority 
 has sway, and which is either directly or re- 
 motely supported by the sword. The subjects of 
 such governments are required, in a greater or 
 less degree, to conform their views of worship- 
 ping their Creator to the standard thus set up 
 for them, and they who may honestly and con- 
 
196 MEMOIR OF 
 
 scientiously dissent therefrom, are subjected to a 
 spiritual bondage. We believe this has ever 
 been detrimental to the interests of Christ's 
 kingdom. 
 
 This religion can never be forced upon men. 
 They can only be induced to embrace it, as the 
 effectual working of the Holy Spirit leads them 
 to see the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and as 
 they behold the excellence of a life of holiness 
 before God, exhibited in the daily walk of its 
 professors. 
 
 Nor are the ministers of Christ's church ex- 
 clusively confined to any particular sect, nation, or 
 part of the great family of man. For it is em- 
 phatically declared that " God is no respecter of 
 persons, but in every nation he that feareth him 
 and worketh righteousness, is accepted with 
 Mm." 
 
 If in the exercise of worldly power, men pre- 
 sume to deny to even the least of Christ's mes- 
 sengers the liberty wherewith he hath made them 
 free, upon them must devolve the awful respon- 
 sibility of rejecting Christ himself, according to 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 197 
 
 his own declaration : — u He that receiveth whom- 
 soever I send, receiveth me." And again : — " In- 
 asmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of 
 •these, ye did it not to me." We speak these 
 things plainly, without any desire to offend those 
 who bear rule over you, because they are our 
 conscientious convictions. We secretly hope the 
 cause of religious liberty and toleration may ad- 
 vance, and the professors of the Christian name 
 everywhere unite in pulling down the high walls 
 of sectional prejudice, which have been built up 
 between them in the will and wisdom of mac, 
 that professing to worship the same common 
 Father, and aiming for the same heavenly inher- 
 itance in the world to come, they may strive to 
 know that unity of spirit upon earth, which is 
 to bind the redeemed of all generations together 
 in " the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and 
 Saviour, Jesus Christ." 
 
 Then might we hope that the day will come 
 when the declaration of the Prophet will be ful- 
 filled : " The mountain of the Lord's house shall 
 be established upon the top of the mountains, 
 17 
 
198 MEMOIR OF 
 
 and exalted above all the hills, and all nations 
 shall flow unto it." Isaiah 2 : 2. 
 
 In conclusion, we take leave of you in the 
 language of Paul to his brethren, u Commending 
 you to God, and to the word of his grace, which 
 is able to build you up, and to give you an in- 
 heritance among all them which are sanctified." 
 
 George Truman. 
 
 John Jackson. 
 
 Thomas B. Longstreth. 
 St. Croix, 12th mo. 7th, 1840. 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 199 
 
 Allusion having been made in the foregoing 
 pages to J. J.'s connection with the u Delaware 
 County Institute of Science," this tribute from 
 that Association is here appended. 
 
 A MEMOIR OF JOHN JACKSON. 
 
 BY JAMES ANDREWS. 
 
 Read before the Delaware County Institute of Science, 
 1856. 
 
 The announcement of the close of the mortal 
 career of John Jackson, on the fourteenth of 
 Fourth month, 1855, awakened a feeling in the 
 community which demands a tribute to his 
 memory — an acknowledgment of his claim upon 
 the respect, the confidence and the affections of 
 his cotemporaries. In his widely extended 
 public and social relations, his benevolent spirit 
 was ever actively seeking to promote the public 
 good, the individual happiness and highest inter- 
 ests of the whole people. These efforts were 
 gratefully appreciated by us, among whom he 
 was born, lived and finished his work on earth ; 
 and in holding up his life of practical usefulness 
 
200 MEMOIR OF 
 
 as' an example to others, we evidence that he was 
 not only esteemed, but " honored in his own 
 country." 
 
 His parents, Halliday and Jane Jackson, 
 settled near the village of Darby, in 1800. — 
 There, on the 25th of the Ninth month, 1809, 
 the subject of our memoir was born. The home 
 of his birth ever continued to be the home 
 of his life. He was one of the ten children who 
 arrived at an age to " arise up and call their 
 parents blessed," in commemoration of the wis- 
 dom with which they guarded their childhood, 
 and of their counsels, which proved a light to 
 his pathway in the journey of life. To his early 
 intellectual and moral training, he ever recurred 
 with filial gratitude. 
 
 Whether we regard him as a man of science 
 and of literature, a philanthropist, an humble 
 Christian, an eminent minister of the Gospel of 
 the Society of Friends, illustrating and adorning 
 the principles he professed by his upright and 
 exemplary walking among men — the conclusion 
 is irresistible, that he was what he was by self- 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 201 
 
 culture — most emphatically was he a self-made 
 man. In tracing back his career to the simple 
 life of an active boy, we remember him, not as 
 one gifted above his playmates with remarkable 
 talents. We remember him but as a sportive, 
 kind, industrious child, loved by the young and 
 the old, ever seeking to promote the pleasure 
 and happiness of those with whom he mingled. 
 His opportunities for acquiring a scholastic edu- 
 cation, were very limited, compared with his ex- 
 tensive acquirements in science and literature. 
 From an early age he was a pupil in the village 
 school until his seventeenth year, which he spent 
 at West Town Boarding School. During that 
 year he was earnest in study, and devoted his 
 hours of relaxation chiefly to the reading of his- 
 tory and biography. The impetus to cultivate 
 Jiis mind by reading and scientific research, led 
 him to the utmost industry in all his agricultural 
 pursuits, that he might have time for intellectual 
 culture. The necessity for him to " earn his 
 bread by the sweat of his brow," he accepted as 
 a blessing of greater value to him, than a larger 
 17* 
 
202 MEMOIR OF 
 
 patrimonial inheritance. In winter, he was 
 found lighting his lamp long before the dawn of 
 day, for uninterrupted study ; while in summer 
 he spent his seasons of recreation in pedestrian 
 excursions among our hills and streams, led 
 thither by his love of the natural sciences, of 
 Botany and Mineralogy. These, so peculiarly 
 fitting for an agricultural life, were pursued with 
 an interest that only gave way to his ardent as- 
 pirings for astronomical knowledge. The powers 
 of his intellect, thus expanding by vigorous cul- 
 tivation, he continually sought new accessions of 
 knowledge by tracing out that exquisite connec- 
 tion of the physical sciences, which prove that 
 " All are but parts of one stupendous whole, 
 TThose body nature is, and God the soul." 
 
 In his own language, " Every page of the great 
 volume of nature is full of living and instructive 
 truth. There is a beautiful relation between 
 mind and matter, between the works of God, 
 and our capacity to contemplate them. Our in- 
 tellectual nature is as much a gift of God, as the 
 gift of Grace, and we are as responsible for the 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 203 
 
 culture and improvement of the one, as of the 
 other. I have no idea that so noble a talent is to 
 be buried in the earth, that it is to be employed 
 merely in procuring food and raiment for these 
 frail temples, which are soon to moulder in the 
 dust. Far otherwise ! Placed in the midst of a 
 beautiful creation, we are invited to meditate on 
 the workmanship of its Author. Such an exer- 
 cise of the intellect is profitable to us, for it leads 
 to humility, and while it makes manifest the 
 feebleness of man and our comparative nothing- 
 ness, amidst the immensity of creation, it exalts 
 our views of the wisdom, goodness and power of 
 the Creator." With religious enthusiasm, then, 
 he continued through life, to cultivate his love 
 of the study of nature, as compatible with true 
 devotion to God. 
 
 He became a member of this Institution in 
 1834, a few months after its establishment; and 
 although his multifarious duties, and delicato 
 health, for many years prevented his regular at- 
 tendance of our meetings, yet his presence had 
 always a cheering effect, towards inspiring us in 
 
204 MEMOIR OF 
 
 the cause in which we are engaged. In the same 
 year he became a minister of the Gospel. At 
 the age of twenty-five, he was united in marriage 
 with Rachel T., daughter of Isaac Tyson, of the 
 city of Baltimore, whose education and taste 
 favored his scientific and literary pursuits. Two 
 years after this period, they apprehended that 
 an institution was needed in this county, wherein 
 females might have an opportunity of acquiring 
 extensive instruction in various departments of 
 science and literature ; and the establishment of 
 Sharon Female Seminary was the result of this 
 conviction. The cause of universal education 
 was dear to his heart, and he urged its claims 
 through the press ) for the advancement of it, he 
 labored earnestly, not only in the institution that 
 he founded, but he sought to diffuse knowledge 
 by courses of popular lectures on Philosophy, 
 Chemistry, Geology and Astronomy. His ex- 
 tensive cabinet of minerals and fossils, his as- 
 tronomical observatory were alike open to all, 
 who desired to visit them and to be instructed 
 thereby. A.t the time he imported his large 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 205 
 
 equatorial telescope from Munich, he was the 
 only individual in the United States who had 
 so large and expensive a refracting telescope. 
 These facts are here related, as evidences of that 
 largeness and liberality of soul that influenced 
 him through life. He grasped after intellectual 
 treasure, not for the happiness that it would 
 bring to himself alone, but that he might obtain 
 the means for diffusing blessings around him. 
 
 In his intercourse with the world, his ear was 
 ever open to the cries of the poor and the needy ; 
 he lifted his voice for the oppressed ; he was 
 most emphatically the peace-maker wherever he 
 saw the elements of strife were at work. Es- 
 pecially in his profession of Land Surveyor, he 
 often reconciled contending parties, and pre- 
 vented litigation by prevailing on them to sub- 
 mit their mutual claims to his compass and 
 judgment. 
 
 Since the landing of William Penn on our 
 shores, the Society of Friends have probably 
 never known one among their number, who more 
 resembled their illustrious predecessor, in his 
 
206 MEMOIR OF 
 
 enlarged philanthropy, without regard to sect, in 
 his advocacy of the rights of conscience, restrict- 
 ing religious liberty only by obedience to the 
 teachings of the Holy Spirit in every soul. Again 
 and again did he visit the wigwam of the Indian 
 in the forest, did he meet them in council, and 
 go with them to plead their cause and present 
 their grievances to our Government. All the 
 endearments of home he left, and braved the 
 perils of the ocean, in a Gospel mission to the 
 inhabitants of the West India Islands, encounter- 
 ing many hardships and privations that he might 
 discharge what he considered his duty to master 
 and slave in the Spanish Islands, and to the 
 emancipated and the emancipator in the British. 
 Except in the political arena, from which he ever 
 kept aloof, he was associated in all the varied in- 
 terests of the community in which he lived. 
 
 The indomitable energy and industrious per- 
 severance which marked his career in early life, 
 characterized his entire course. Pie had for 
 years regularly contributed his astronomical ob- 
 servations to the Smithsonian Institute at Wash- 
 
JOHN JACKSON. 207 
 
 ington, and received on behalf of the astronomer 
 of the Coast Survey, an acknowledgment of the 
 aid derived from the list of transits he had fur- 
 nished to the department. Six weeks before his 
 transition from earth, is the date of the last use 
 of his Transit Telescope — he was at the time so 
 feeble as to need assistance in ascending to the 
 Observatory. About this time he finished read- 
 ing the proof sheets of his last literary effort, a 
 work on the " Christian Ministry," and had the 
 satisfaction of receiving from the publisher the 
 first edition, and expressing his joy that the 
 work was finished. So long as the world con- 
 tinues to be divided into sects, it is not possible 
 that a uniformity of opinion shall prevail ; hence, 
 whatever may be our individual bias on the sub- 
 ject, on which the author treats, none can lay 
 down the volume without admiring the beautiful 
 chaste diction, or being impressed with the 
 earnest, gentle and loving spirit that pervades 
 its pages. During the last fourteen years of his 
 life, his physical strength gradually gave way, 
 without acute suffering, yet all the while his in- 
 
208 MEMOIR OF 
 
 tellectual and his spiritual being seemed to ac- 
 quire new energy of purpose and action. This 
 freshness and vigor of spirit gave beauty to his 
 life of love and truth, until at the age of forty- 
 five, the worn out working garment was laid 
 aside. 
 
 Thus lived and passed onward, our excellent 
 friend and lamented fellow-member of the In- 
 stitute. He needs not the meed of praise from 
 the living, he needs not this brief tribute to his 
 worth from us, but we owe to posterity the duty 
 of perpetuating the example, the history and 
 beauty of his life, that it may be as a beacon and 
 incentive to the young " to go and do likewise," 
 and to awaken among us the inqury whether we 
 too are fulfilling our mission. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 022 216 753 A