{"id":60,"date":"2025-10-21T13:27:31","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T13:27:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/eal\/?post_type=chapter&#038;p=60"},"modified":"2026-01-06T19:59:38","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T19:59:38","slug":"chapter-4-6-the-subject-of-my-call-to-preach-renewed","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/eal\/chapter\/chapter-4-6-the-subject-of-my-call-to-preach-renewed\/","title":{"rendered":"Chapter 4.6 \u2013 The Subject of My Call to Preach Renewed"},"content":{"raw":"From this place I next went to Dennis Creek meeting house, where at the invitation of an elder, I spoke to a large congregation of various and conflicting sentiments, when a wonderful shock of God\u2019s power was felt, shown everywhere by groans, by sighs, and loud and happy amens. I felt as if aided from above. My tongue was cut loose, the stammerer spoke freely; the love of God, and of his service, burned with a vehement flame within me\u2014his name was glorified among the people.\r\n\r\nI had my little son with me, and was very much straitened for money\u2014and not having means to procure my passage home, I opened a School, and taught eleven scholars, for the purpose of raising a small sum. For many weeks I knew not what to do about returning home, when the Lord came to my assistance as I was rambling in the fields meditating upon his goodness, and made known to me that I might go<span class=\"x-ebookmaker-pageno\" title=\"[21]\" id=\"pgepubid00024\"><a id=\"Page_21\"><\/a><\/span><span>\u00a0<\/span>to the city of Philadelphia, for which place I soon embarked with a very kind captain. We had a perilous passage\u2014a dreadful storm arose, and before leaving the Delaware bay, we had a narrow escape from being run down by a large ship. But the good Lord held us in the hollow of his hand, and in the afternoon of Nov. 12, 1821, we arrived at the city.\r\n\r\nHere I held meetings in the dwelling house of sister Lydia Anderson, and for about three months had as many appointments as I could attend. We had many precious seasons together, and the Lord was with his little praying band, convincing and converting sinners to the truth. I continued in the city until spring, when I felt it impressed upon my mind to travel, and walked fourteen miles in company with a sister to meet with some ministers, there to assemble, from Philadelphia. Satan tempted me while on the way, telling me that I was a fool for walking so far, as I would not be permitted to preach. But I pursued my journey, with the determination to set down and worship with them. When I arrived, a goodly number of people had assembled, and no preacher. They waited the time to commence the exercises, and then called upon me. I took the 3d chapter John, 14th verse for my text. I had life and liberty, and the Lord was in the camp with a shout. Another meeting was appointed three miles from there, when I spoke from Psalms cxxxvii, 1, 2, 3, 4. My master was with me, and made manifest his power. In the County House, also, we held a meeting, and had a sweet waiting upon the Lord. I spoke from Hebrews ii, 3, when the Lord gave me peculiar liberty. At a dwelling house one night I spoke from John vii, 46, when six souls fell to the floor crying for mercy. We had a blessed outpouring of the spirit among us\u2014the God of Jacob was in our midst\u2014and the shout of heaven-born souls was like music to our ears.\r\n\r\nAbout the month of February my little son James, then in his sixth year, gave evidence of having religious inclinations. Once he got up in a chair, with a hymn book in his hand, and with quite a ministerial gesture, gave out a hymn. I felt the spirit move me to sing with him. A worthy sister was in the room, who I asked to pray for him. I invoked the Lord to answer and seal this prayer in the courts of heaven. I believed He would and did, and while yet on our knees I was filled with the fulness of God, and the answer came. I cried out in the joy of my heart\u2014\u201cThe dead is alive\u201d\u2014and ran down stairs to inform a neighbor. Tears ran down the cheeks of my now happy boy, and great was our rejoicing together. He had been the subject of many prayers, and often had I thought I would rather follow him to his grave than to see him grow up an open and profane sinner like many children I had seen. And here let me say, the promise of the Lord is, \u201cask and ye shall receive.\u201d Dear parents; pray for your children in childhood\u2014carry them in the arms of faith to the mercy<span class=\"x-ebookmaker-pageno\" title=\"[22]\" id=\"pgepubid00025\"><a id=\"Page_22\"><\/a><\/span><span>\u00a0<\/span>seat, and there present them an offering to the Lord. I can say from my own experience, the Lord will hear prayer. I had given James the Bible as Haman gave Samuel to God in his youth, and by his gracious favor he was received. For the further encouragement of fathers and mothers to engage in this blessed work, let me refer them to Ecclesiastes xi, 6: \u201cIn the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thy hand, for thou knowest not whether shall prosper either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good.\u201d\r\n<div class=\"poetry-container\">\r\n<div class=\"poetry\">\r\n<div class=\"stanza\">\r\n<div class=\"verse indent0\">\u201cSow it in the youthful mind,<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"verse indent2\">Can you have a fairer field?<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"verse indent0\">Be it but in faith consigned,<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"verse indent2\">Harvest, doubtless, it shall yield,<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"verse indent0\">Fruits of early piety,<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"verse indent2\">All that God delights to see.\u201d<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div>\r\n\r\nIn November I journeyed for Trenton, N. J. At Burlington I spoke to the\r\npeople on the Sabbath, and had a good time among them, and on Monday the\r\n12th, in a School house. Sister Mary Owan, who had laid aside all the\r\ncares of the world, went with me. We had no means of travelling but on\r\nfoot, but the Lord regarded us, and by some means put it into the heart\r\nof a stranger, to convey us to the Trenton bridge. We fell in with the\r\nelder of the circuit, who spoke to me in a cold and formal manner, and\r\nas though he thought my capacity was not equal to his. We went into the\r\nsister\u2019s house, where we expected to stay, and waited a long while with\r\nour hats and cloaks on, before the invitation to lodge there was given.\r\nIn the morning I had thought to visit Newhope, but remained to discharge\r\nmy duty in visiting the sick and afflicted three or four days in the\r\nneighborhood. I was invited to a prayer meeting, and was called upon by a\r\nbrother to speak. I improved the offer, and made some remarks from Kings\r\nxviii, 21. One of the preachers invited me to preach for them on sixth\r\nday evening, which I complied with before an attentive congregation, when\r\nGod followed the word with much power, and great was our joy. On the 17th\r\nI spoke in the morning at 11 o\u2019clock. I felt my weakness and deficiency\r\nfor the work, and thought \u201cwho is able for these things,\u201d and desired to\r\nget away from the task. My text was Timothy vi, 2-7. The Lord again cut\r\nloose the stammering tongue, and opened the Scriptures to my mind, so\r\nthat, glory to God\u2019s dear name, we had a most melting, sin-killing, and\r\nsoul-reviving time. In the afternoon I assisted in leading a class, when\r\nwe found the Lord faithful and true\u2014and on the same evening I spoke from\r\nHebrews ii, 3.\r\n\r\nThe next day, sister Mary Owan and myself set out for Newhope, where\r\nwe arrived, after walking sixteen miles, at about six o\u2019clock in the\r\nevening. Though tedious, it was a pleasant walk to view the high mountain\r\nand towering hills, and the beauty and variety of nature around us,\r\nwhich powerfully impressed my mind with the greatness and wisdom of my\r\nMaker. At this place I stopt at the house of the gentleman with whose\r\nwife\u2019s mother I was brought up, and by whom we were agreeably received.\r\nThe next evening we called upon brother Butler, where I addressed a small\r\ncompany, and God, through his words, quickened some. The next night I\r\nspoke in an Academy to a goodly number of people, from John iii, 14. Here\r\nI found some very ill-behaved persons, who talked roughly, and said among\r\nother things, \u201cI was not a woman, but a man dressed in female clothes.\u201d\r\nI labored one week among them, and went next to Lambertsville, where we\r\nexperienced kindness from the people, and had a happy time and parted in\r\ntears.\r\n\r\nI now returned to Philadelphia, where I stayed a short time, and went to\r\nSalem, West Jersey. I met with many troubles on my journey, especially\r\nfrom the elder, who like many others, was averse to a woman\u2019s preaching.\r\nAnd here let me tell that elder, if he has not gone to heaven, that I\r\nhave heard that as far back as Adam Clarke\u2019s time, his objections to\r\nfemale preaching were met by the answer\u2014\u201cIf an ass reproved Balaam, and\r\na barn-door fowl reproved Peter, why should not a woman reprove sin?\u201d I\r\ndo not introduce this for its complimentary classification of women with\r\ndonkeys and fowls, but to give the reply of a poor woman, who had once\r\nbeen a slave. To the first companion she said\u2014\u201cMay be a speaking woman\r\nis like an ass\u2014but I can tell you one thing, the ass seen the angel when\r\nBalaam didn\u2019t.\u201d\r\n\r\nNotwithstanding the opposition, we had a prosperous time at Salem. I\r\nhad some good congregations, and sinners were cut to the heart. After\r\nspeaking in the meeting house, two women came up into the pulpit, and\r\nfalling upon my neck cried out \u201cWhat shall I do to be saved?\u201d One said\r\nshe had disobeyed God, and he had taken her children from her\u2014he had\r\ncalled often after her, but she did not hearken. I pointed her to the\r\nall-atoning blood of Christ, which is sufficient to cleanse from all\r\nsin, and left her, after prayer, to his mercy. From this place I walked\r\ntwenty-one miles, and preached with difficulty to a stiff-necked and\r\nrebellious people, who I soon left without any animosity for their\r\ntreatment. They might have respected my message, if not the poor weak\r\nservant who brought it to them with so much labor.\r\n\r\n\u201cIf they persecute you in one city, flee into another,\u201d was the advice I\r\nhad resolved to take, and I hastened to Greenwich, where I had a lively\r\ncongregation, had unusual life and liberty in speaking, and the power of\r\nGod was there. We also had a solemn time in the meeting house on Sabbath\r\nday morning, and in a dwelling house in the evening; a large company\r\nassembled, when the spirit was with us, and we had a mighty shaking among\r\nthe dry bones.\r\n\r\nOn second day morning, I took stage and rode seven miles to Woodstown,\r\nand there I spoke to a respectable congregation of white and colored,\r\nin a school house. I was desired to speak in the colored meeting house,\r\nbut the minister could not reconcile his mind to a woman preacher\u2014he\r\ncould not unite in fellowship with me even to shaking hands as christians\r\nought. I had visited that place before, when God made manifest his\r\npower \u201cthrough the foolishness of preaching,\u201d and owned the poor old\r\nwoman. One of the brothers appointed a meeting in his own house, and\r\nafter much persuasion this minister came also. I did not feel much like\r\npreaching, but spoke from Acts viii, 35. I felt my inability, and was led\r\nto complain of weakness\u2014but God directed the arrow to the hearts of the\r\nguilty\u2014and my friend the minister got happy, and often shouted \u201cAmen,\u201d\r\nand \u201cas it is, sister.\u201d We had a wonderful display of the spirit of God\r\namong us, and we found it good to be there. There is nothing too hard\r\nfor the Lord to do. I committed the meeting into the hands of the elder,\r\nwho afterwards invited me to preach in the meeting house. He had said he\r\ndid not believe that ever a soul was converted under the preaching of a\r\nwoman\u2014but while I was laboring in his place, conviction seized a woman,\r\nwho fell to the floor crying for mercy. This meeting held till 12 or 1\r\no\u2019clock. O how precious is the sound of Jesus\u2019 name! I never felt a doubt\r\nat this time of my acceptance with God, but rested my soul on his every\r\npromise. The elder shook hands, and we parted.\r\n\r\nNov. 22, 1822, I returned to Philadelphia, and attended meetings in and\r\nout of the city. God was still my help, and I preached and formed a\r\nclass, and tried to be useful. The oppositions I met with, however, were\r\nnumerous\u2014so much so, that I was tempted to withdraw from the Methodist\r\nChurch, lest some might go into ruin by their persecutions of me\u2014but this\r\nwas allowed only to try my faithfulness to God. At times I was pressed\r\ndown like a cart beneath its shafts\u2014my life seemed as at the point of the\r\nsword\u2014my heart was sore and pained me in my body. But the Lord knows how\r\nto deliver the godly out of temptation, and to reserve the unjust till\r\nthe day of judgment to be punished. While relating the feelings of my\r\nmind to a sister who called to see me, joy sprang up in my bosom that I\r\nwas not overcome by the adversary, and I was overwhelmed with the love\r\nof God and souls. I embraced the sister in my arms, and we had a melting\r\ntime together. Oh how comforting it is to have the spirit of God bearing\r\nwitness with our spirits that we are his children in such dark hours!\r\n\r\nWhen Satan appears to stop up our path,\r\nAnd fill us with fears, we triumph by faith;\r\nHe cannot take from us, (tho\u2019 oft he has tried,)\r\nThe soul cheering promise the Lord will provide.\r\nHe tells us we\u2019re weak, our hope is in vain,\r\nThe good that we seek we ne\u2019er shall obtain;\r\nBut when such suggestions our graces have tried,\r\nThis answers all questions, the Lord will provide.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>","rendered":"<p>From this place I next went to Dennis Creek meeting house, where at the invitation of an elder, I spoke to a large congregation of various and conflicting sentiments, when a wonderful shock of God\u2019s power was felt, shown everywhere by groans, by sighs, and loud and happy amens. I felt as if aided from above. My tongue was cut loose, the stammerer spoke freely; the love of God, and of his service, burned with a vehement flame within me\u2014his name was glorified among the people.<\/p>\n<p>I had my little son with me, and was very much straitened for money\u2014and not having means to procure my passage home, I opened a School, and taught eleven scholars, for the purpose of raising a small sum. For many weeks I knew not what to do about returning home, when the Lord came to my assistance as I was rambling in the fields meditating upon his goodness, and made known to me that I might go<span class=\"x-ebookmaker-pageno\" title=\"[21]\" id=\"pgepubid00024\"><a id=\"Page_21\"><\/a><\/span>\u00a0to the city of Philadelphia, for which place I soon embarked with a very kind captain. We had a perilous passage\u2014a dreadful storm arose, and before leaving the Delaware bay, we had a narrow escape from being run down by a large ship. But the good Lord held us in the hollow of his hand, and in the afternoon of Nov. 12, 1821, we arrived at the city.<\/p>\n<p>Here I held meetings in the dwelling house of sister Lydia Anderson, and for about three months had as many appointments as I could attend. We had many precious seasons together, and the Lord was with his little praying band, convincing and converting sinners to the truth. I continued in the city until spring, when I felt it impressed upon my mind to travel, and walked fourteen miles in company with a sister to meet with some ministers, there to assemble, from Philadelphia. Satan tempted me while on the way, telling me that I was a fool for walking so far, as I would not be permitted to preach. But I pursued my journey, with the determination to set down and worship with them. When I arrived, a goodly number of people had assembled, and no preacher. They waited the time to commence the exercises, and then called upon me. I took the 3d chapter John, 14th verse for my text. I had life and liberty, and the Lord was in the camp with a shout. Another meeting was appointed three miles from there, when I spoke from Psalms cxxxvii, 1, 2, 3, 4. My master was with me, and made manifest his power. In the County House, also, we held a meeting, and had a sweet waiting upon the Lord. I spoke from Hebrews ii, 3, when the Lord gave me peculiar liberty. At a dwelling house one night I spoke from John vii, 46, when six souls fell to the floor crying for mercy. We had a blessed outpouring of the spirit among us\u2014the God of Jacob was in our midst\u2014and the shout of heaven-born souls was like music to our ears.<\/p>\n<p>About the month of February my little son James, then in his sixth year, gave evidence of having religious inclinations. Once he got up in a chair, with a hymn book in his hand, and with quite a ministerial gesture, gave out a hymn. I felt the spirit move me to sing with him. A worthy sister was in the room, who I asked to pray for him. I invoked the Lord to answer and seal this prayer in the courts of heaven. I believed He would and did, and while yet on our knees I was filled with the fulness of God, and the answer came. I cried out in the joy of my heart\u2014\u201cThe dead is alive\u201d\u2014and ran down stairs to inform a neighbor. Tears ran down the cheeks of my now happy boy, and great was our rejoicing together. He had been the subject of many prayers, and often had I thought I would rather follow him to his grave than to see him grow up an open and profane sinner like many children I had seen. And here let me say, the promise of the Lord is, \u201cask and ye shall receive.\u201d Dear parents; pray for your children in childhood\u2014carry them in the arms of faith to the mercy<span class=\"x-ebookmaker-pageno\" title=\"[22]\" id=\"pgepubid00025\"><a id=\"Page_22\"><\/a><\/span>\u00a0seat, and there present them an offering to the Lord. I can say from my own experience, the Lord will hear prayer. I had given James the Bible as Haman gave Samuel to God in his youth, and by his gracious favor he was received. For the further encouragement of fathers and mothers to engage in this blessed work, let me refer them to Ecclesiastes xi, 6: \u201cIn the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thy hand, for thou knowest not whether shall prosper either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"poetry-container\">\n<div class=\"poetry\">\n<div class=\"stanza\">\n<div class=\"verse indent0\">\u201cSow it in the youthful mind,<\/div>\n<div class=\"verse indent2\">Can you have a fairer field?<\/div>\n<div class=\"verse indent0\">Be it but in faith consigned,<\/div>\n<div class=\"verse indent2\">Harvest, doubtless, it shall yield,<\/div>\n<div class=\"verse indent0\">Fruits of early piety,<\/div>\n<div class=\"verse indent2\">All that God delights to see.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>In November I journeyed for Trenton, N. J. At Burlington I spoke to the<br \/>\npeople on the Sabbath, and had a good time among them, and on Monday the<br \/>\n12th, in a School house. Sister Mary Owan, who had laid aside all the<br \/>\ncares of the world, went with me. We had no means of travelling but on<br \/>\nfoot, but the Lord regarded us, and by some means put it into the heart<br \/>\nof a stranger, to convey us to the Trenton bridge. We fell in with the<br \/>\nelder of the circuit, who spoke to me in a cold and formal manner, and<br \/>\nas though he thought my capacity was not equal to his. We went into the<br \/>\nsister\u2019s house, where we expected to stay, and waited a long while with<br \/>\nour hats and cloaks on, before the invitation to lodge there was given.<br \/>\nIn the morning I had thought to visit Newhope, but remained to discharge<br \/>\nmy duty in visiting the sick and afflicted three or four days in the<br \/>\nneighborhood. I was invited to a prayer meeting, and was called upon by a<br \/>\nbrother to speak. I improved the offer, and made some remarks from Kings<br \/>\nxviii, 21. One of the preachers invited me to preach for them on sixth<br \/>\nday evening, which I complied with before an attentive congregation, when<br \/>\nGod followed the word with much power, and great was our joy. On the 17th<br \/>\nI spoke in the morning at 11 o\u2019clock. I felt my weakness and deficiency<br \/>\nfor the work, and thought \u201cwho is able for these things,\u201d and desired to<br \/>\nget away from the task. My text was Timothy vi, 2-7. The Lord again cut<br \/>\nloose the stammering tongue, and opened the Scriptures to my mind, so<br \/>\nthat, glory to God\u2019s dear name, we had a most melting, sin-killing, and<br \/>\nsoul-reviving time. In the afternoon I assisted in leading a class, when<br \/>\nwe found the Lord faithful and true\u2014and on the same evening I spoke from<br \/>\nHebrews ii, 3.<\/p>\n<p>The next day, sister Mary Owan and myself set out for Newhope, where<br \/>\nwe arrived, after walking sixteen miles, at about six o\u2019clock in the<br \/>\nevening. Though tedious, it was a pleasant walk to view the high mountain<br \/>\nand towering hills, and the beauty and variety of nature around us,<br \/>\nwhich powerfully impressed my mind with the greatness and wisdom of my<br \/>\nMaker. At this place I stopt at the house of the gentleman with whose<br \/>\nwife\u2019s mother I was brought up, and by whom we were agreeably received.<br \/>\nThe next evening we called upon brother Butler, where I addressed a small<br \/>\ncompany, and God, through his words, quickened some. The next night I<br \/>\nspoke in an Academy to a goodly number of people, from John iii, 14. Here<br \/>\nI found some very ill-behaved persons, who talked roughly, and said among<br \/>\nother things, \u201cI was not a woman, but a man dressed in female clothes.\u201d<br \/>\nI labored one week among them, and went next to Lambertsville, where we<br \/>\nexperienced kindness from the people, and had a happy time and parted in<br \/>\ntears.<\/p>\n<p>I now returned to Philadelphia, where I stayed a short time, and went to<br \/>\nSalem, West Jersey. I met with many troubles on my journey, especially<br \/>\nfrom the elder, who like many others, was averse to a woman\u2019s preaching.<br \/>\nAnd here let me tell that elder, if he has not gone to heaven, that I<br \/>\nhave heard that as far back as Adam Clarke\u2019s time, his objections to<br \/>\nfemale preaching were met by the answer\u2014\u201cIf an ass reproved Balaam, and<br \/>\na barn-door fowl reproved Peter, why should not a woman reprove sin?\u201d I<br \/>\ndo not introduce this for its complimentary classification of women with<br \/>\ndonkeys and fowls, but to give the reply of a poor woman, who had once<br \/>\nbeen a slave. To the first companion she said\u2014\u201cMay be a speaking woman<br \/>\nis like an ass\u2014but I can tell you one thing, the ass seen the angel when<br \/>\nBalaam didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Notwithstanding the opposition, we had a prosperous time at Salem. I<br \/>\nhad some good congregations, and sinners were cut to the heart. After<br \/>\nspeaking in the meeting house, two women came up into the pulpit, and<br \/>\nfalling upon my neck cried out \u201cWhat shall I do to be saved?\u201d One said<br \/>\nshe had disobeyed God, and he had taken her children from her\u2014he had<br \/>\ncalled often after her, but she did not hearken. I pointed her to the<br \/>\nall-atoning blood of Christ, which is sufficient to cleanse from all<br \/>\nsin, and left her, after prayer, to his mercy. From this place I walked<br \/>\ntwenty-one miles, and preached with difficulty to a stiff-necked and<br \/>\nrebellious people, who I soon left without any animosity for their<br \/>\ntreatment. They might have respected my message, if not the poor weak<br \/>\nservant who brought it to them with so much labor.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf they persecute you in one city, flee into another,\u201d was the advice I<br \/>\nhad resolved to take, and I hastened to Greenwich, where I had a lively<br \/>\ncongregation, had unusual life and liberty in speaking, and the power of<br \/>\nGod was there. We also had a solemn time in the meeting house on Sabbath<br \/>\nday morning, and in a dwelling house in the evening; a large company<br \/>\nassembled, when the spirit was with us, and we had a mighty shaking among<br \/>\nthe dry bones.<\/p>\n<p>On second day morning, I took stage and rode seven miles to Woodstown,<br \/>\nand there I spoke to a respectable congregation of white and colored,<br \/>\nin a school house. I was desired to speak in the colored meeting house,<br \/>\nbut the minister could not reconcile his mind to a woman preacher\u2014he<br \/>\ncould not unite in fellowship with me even to shaking hands as christians<br \/>\nought. I had visited that place before, when God made manifest his<br \/>\npower \u201cthrough the foolishness of preaching,\u201d and owned the poor old<br \/>\nwoman. One of the brothers appointed a meeting in his own house, and<br \/>\nafter much persuasion this minister came also. I did not feel much like<br \/>\npreaching, but spoke from Acts viii, 35. I felt my inability, and was led<br \/>\nto complain of weakness\u2014but God directed the arrow to the hearts of the<br \/>\nguilty\u2014and my friend the minister got happy, and often shouted \u201cAmen,\u201d<br \/>\nand \u201cas it is, sister.\u201d We had a wonderful display of the spirit of God<br \/>\namong us, and we found it good to be there. There is nothing too hard<br \/>\nfor the Lord to do. I committed the meeting into the hands of the elder,<br \/>\nwho afterwards invited me to preach in the meeting house. He had said he<br \/>\ndid not believe that ever a soul was converted under the preaching of a<br \/>\nwoman\u2014but while I was laboring in his place, conviction seized a woman,<br \/>\nwho fell to the floor crying for mercy. This meeting held till 12 or 1<br \/>\no\u2019clock. O how precious is the sound of Jesus\u2019 name! I never felt a doubt<br \/>\nat this time of my acceptance with God, but rested my soul on his every<br \/>\npromise. The elder shook hands, and we parted.<\/p>\n<p>Nov. 22, 1822, I returned to Philadelphia, and attended meetings in and<br \/>\nout of the city. God was still my help, and I preached and formed a<br \/>\nclass, and tried to be useful. The oppositions I met with, however, were<br \/>\nnumerous\u2014so much so, that I was tempted to withdraw from the Methodist<br \/>\nChurch, lest some might go into ruin by their persecutions of me\u2014but this<br \/>\nwas allowed only to try my faithfulness to God. At times I was pressed<br \/>\ndown like a cart beneath its shafts\u2014my life seemed as at the point of the<br \/>\nsword\u2014my heart was sore and pained me in my body. But the Lord knows how<br \/>\nto deliver the godly out of temptation, and to reserve the unjust till<br \/>\nthe day of judgment to be punished. While relating the feelings of my<br \/>\nmind to a sister who called to see me, joy sprang up in my bosom that I<br \/>\nwas not overcome by the adversary, and I was overwhelmed with the love<br \/>\nof God and souls. I embraced the sister in my arms, and we had a melting<br \/>\ntime together. Oh how comforting it is to have the spirit of God bearing<br \/>\nwitness with our spirits that we are his children in such dark hours!<\/p>\n<p>When Satan appears to stop up our path,<br \/>\nAnd fill us with fears, we triumph by faith;<br \/>\nHe cannot take from us, (tho\u2019 oft he has tried,)<br \/>\nThe soul cheering promise the Lord will provide.<br \/>\nHe tells us we\u2019re weak, our hope is in vain,<br \/>\nThe good that we seek we ne\u2019er shall obtain;<br \/>\nBut when such suggestions our graces have tried,<br \/>\nThis answers all questions, the Lord will provide.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"menu_order":14,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-60","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":20,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/eal\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/60","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/eal\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/eal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/eal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/eal\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/60\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":206,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/eal\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/60\/revisions\/206"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/eal\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/20"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/eal\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/60\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/eal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/eal\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=60"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/eal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=60"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/eal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=60"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}