MEMOIRS, &c.

CHAPTER I.

1653: RISE OF THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS IN SCOTLAND-THEIR FIRST MEETINGS AND MINISTERS-1662: ALEXANDER JAFFRAY AND OTHERS AT ABERDEEN JOIN THEM-MEETINGS ESTABLISHED AT INVERURY, ARDIHARRALD, AND KINMUCK— GEORGE GRAY-16634: IMPRISONMENT OF RICHARD RAE, GEORGE KEITH, AND PATRICK LIVINGSTON-ALEXANDER JAFFRAY SUMMONED BEFORE THE HIGH COMMISSION COURT, EXAMINED BY ARCHBISHOP SHARPE, AND FINED, &c.

In the preceding division of this Work, has been disclosed the religious Diary of an individual, whose allotment and avocations in life gave him occasion to mix freely with most classes of his fellow-men. We have now followed him in his career, nearly through the space of half a century. Thus far, then, we have been very intimately made acquainted with the character of Alexander Jaffray.

Amidst all the vicissitudes of his day, we have beheld the earnest exercise of his spirit, in a search after substantial good; he has laid open before us, in a vivid and most ingenuous manner, his longings for complete deliverance from the malady of our species; and he has described some of the steppings of his soul in its progress heavenward. We may have noticed, what great cause of humiliation he found on account of his early deviations from "the path of life;" long afterwards, also, had he to pine over the too many successful attempts of our deadly enemy. But it was within the scope of that gracious Arm of power, on which he depended, to heal all his backslidings, to bruise Satan under his feet, and fully to

bring about within him the new creation in Christ Jesus. As a part of this great work, he found that the very bias and tendencies of his nature were gradually to be dislodged, together with all those views and attachments, to which by education or custom we are every one of us variously bound, so far as these were clearly seen to be at variance with the rule of gospel light. On our approach towards the close of the Diary, we must have especially marked that excellent position, towards which the mental eye of the writer so constantly turned, and on which it was becoming more and more intensely fixed; a state of pure and full reliance upon the Lord's direction, of simple, quiet resignation unto the Lord's disposal in all things, according as his will and power should be made known in the secret of the heart. This state of mind has been abundantly held up to us in various parts of the Sacred Records,—as a rest which remains for the people of God, into which the true believer, while in this state of existence, is permitted to enter,— even all such as come unto Christ spiritually, that is, receive him into their hearts, learn of him, and take his yoke upon them :-these find rest to their souls.

But Alexander Jaffray was not without his companions in this description of pious dedication. What therefore remains to be offered to the reader, of his history and religious course, is now to be produced connectively with that of some of those Christian people, in the north of Scotland, unto whom, henceforward, he became firmly linked in the fellowship of Christ.

In the south of Scotland, as in the north, there were individuals, whose minds had been for some years more or less similarly affected. Weary and heavyladen under a sense of their own manifold short-com

ings, they yet believed there was to be known, a more purely spiritual way of worship, and of life and conduct, than that which they, or any with whose profession they were acquainted, had arrived at. Deeply burdened with the formality, superstition, and willworship prevalent around them, and under which the various public preachers too generally detained their hearers, these serious inquirers had separated from the several congregations of the people; and at length some of them began to meet together by themselves, waiting upon God in a holy silence and awful humility of soul, for ability to draw nigh unto him in true spiritual worship. On these occasions, they were at times made sensible of the quickening virtue, power, and life of the Holy Spirit, enabling some of them to speak forth the praises of the Almighty, and from an inward experience of his goodness, to extend instrumentally a hand of help to others.

Such religious meetings in the south of Scotland, after the manner of the people called Quakers, appear to have been held at a place called Drumbowy, and also at Heads, as early as the year 1653; and the first experimental preachers, in this manner raised up from among them, were William Osborne, a colonel in the army, Richard Ree, or rather Rae, and Alexander Hamilton. It is distinctly stated, that these meetings had been established for the full space of a year, before any in connexion with the Friends found them out and visited them. So that if, as it would seem, James Nayler had preached in Scotland at least two years earlier than this date, it must be concluded that he did not fall in with this little flock. SEE APPENDIX, A. They had not then, as yet, been recognised by the Society of Friends in England, nor had they received instrumental encouragement, except

from those of their own number, to persevere in the course so remarkably opened before them.

Very soon, however, were the feet of several gospel messengers from England turned in this direction; as, Christopher Fell, George Wilson, John Grave, George Atkinson, Sarah Cheevers, and Catherine Evans. In the year 1654, Miles Halhead and James Lancaster travelled into Scotland; and in the succeeding year, William Caton and John Stubbs. George Fox was at Edinburgh in the year 1657; and, in company with Robert Widders and Alexander Parker, passed through the adjacent country in several directions, "sounding the day of the Lord, preaching the everlasting gospel of salvation, and turning people to Christ Jesus who died for them, that they might receive his free teaching." G. Fox's Journal, 3rd edit. p. 255.

It does not appear that any of these dedicated labourers, unless it were John Grave and George Atkinson, advanced so far as Aberdeen; nor did Stephen Crisp, who, in the year 1659, being then recently come forth in the ministry, left his home in Essex, in order to bear witness to the Truth of Christ, in Scotland. His own account of this undertaking, although affording no additional particulars on the subject immediately before the reader, contains so fair an illustration of the grounds and motives of the early ministers of this Society, in their religious embassies, that it is thought well to give it a place in the Appendix to these Memoirs. SEE APPENDIX, B.

Nearly a year prior to this, John Burnyeat of Cumberland, was engaged in a similar concern; and he being the first who makes mention, though very briefly, of Aberdeen, in the account he has left of his visit to that nation, it will be proper to detain

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the reader by an extract from his published Journal.— Now, while I was in prison, [in the common gaol of Carlisle,] something came upon me for Scotland; but, I being a prisoner, and not yet deeply acquainted with the way and work of the Lord's power and Spirit, as in relation to such a service, great was the exercise of my spirit that I went under; and, for want of experience and a clear understanding, I was swallowed up, and for a time quite lost in the deep, where, great was the distress of my soul, beyond utterance! But, the merciful God, by his powerful arm, and healing, saving Word of Life, did restore and bring up my soul out of the deep, where it was for a time buried, and renewed life and understanding, and caused the light of his countenance to shine, and the sweetness of his peace to spring; so that I may truly say, he caused the bones that he had broken to rejoice. And then, when he had thus crushed, and humbled, and let me see how he could make all things become as nothing again, and so hide all glory from man,—then, in His goodness, he revealed his glory, and power, and presence, and reviving life, and so opened to my understanding his good pleasure; which, with all readiness and willingness of mind, I gave up unto, in my heart and spirit. After my being kept about three and twenty weeks in prison, I had my liberty; and so came home, and followed my outward calling that summer; and grew more and more into the understanding of the mind and will of the Lord, in that which I had a sight of, while I was in prison. And so, keeping to meetings, and waiting upon the Lord, in a true travail of spirit after more acquaintance with him, and more enjoyment of his power and word, I grew, not only into an understanding, but also into a degree of strength and