TO THE

REV. MR. WESLEY.

HONOURED AND VERY DEAR SIR,

PERMIT me to lay at your feet the first Publication of any magnitude that I have ventured to offer to the public Eye. In you I have for thirteen years found a Father and a Friend, and feel a peculiar happiness on every opportunity afforded me of expressing my obligations to you.

I know you hate Flattery, and therefore I must avoid all panegyric. To say but little of you, would derogate from your due; and to do you justice, would offend you. I must therefore only subscribe myself, with very great respect,

Dear Sir,

Your dutiful, affectionate, and

Most obliged Son,

THOMAS COKE.

THE

THE PREFACE.

THE

very favourable reception my little Journals have met with, demonstrated by the rapid sale of the former editions, induces me to publish the whole of them collectively; and to add thereto an extract of the Journal of my first visit to America, which was never printed before. Two things only I can venture to mention in their recommendation, They have been written with artless simplicity, and with truth. If the account which I have given, of the infant work of God among the poor Negroes in the West Indies, and of the more established work on the Continent of America, administer not only pleasure but profit to the Readers, the highest ambition of the Writer will be gratified, and to God be all the glory.

City-Road, London,

Jan. 25, 1790,

AN

AN EXTRACT

OF THE LATE

REV. DR. THOMAS COKE'S

FIRST JOURNAL

ΤΟ

NORTH-AMERICA.

AT ten

SEPTEMBER 18, 1784.

T ten in the morning we sailed from King-Road for New-York. A breeze soon sprung up, which carried us with the help of the tides, about a hundred leagues from Bristol by Monday morning.St. Austin's Meditations were this day made no small blessing to my soul.

Sunday 19.-This day we intended to give two sermons to the company, but all was sickness: we were disabled from doing any thing but casting our care upon God.

Wednesday 22.-I passed a night of trial. The storm was high: the sea frequently washed the deck. My thirst was excessive, and all the sailors were at work upon deck, except a few that were gone to rest: sleep had forsaken me, but my trust was truly in the Lord.

Thursday 23.-This and the three former days we lost several leagues, being now nearer Bristol considerably than on Monday morning. The storms were high and frequent, and the ship obliged to tack backwards and forwards every four hours be

tween the coasts of England and France. It appeared doubtful some time, whether we should not be obliged to take refuge in the port of Brest.— For the five last days, my brethren and myself tasted no flesh, nor hardly any kind of meat or drink that would stay upon our stomachs.

Friday 24.-This morning I was hungry, and breakfasted on water gruel. I now begin to recover my strength, and employ myself in reading the Life of Francis Xavier. O for a soul like his! But, glory be to God, there is nothing impossible with him. I seem to want the wings of an eagle, and the voice of a trumpet, that I may proclaim the gospel through the East and the West, and the North and the South.

The wind has veered from North-West to SouthWest, and our ship sails from three to five miles an hour towards America.

I enjoy one peculiar blessing-a place of retirement, a little secret corner in the ship; which I shall hereafter call my study. It is so small that I have hardly room to roll about, and there is a window in it which opens to the sea, and makes it the most delightful place under deck. Here, God willing, I shall spend the greatest part of my time.

Saturday 25.-We have now sailed one hundred and fifty leagues towards America. My brethren and myself are tolerably recovered. May we im. prove this time of rest to the profit of our souls and the preparation of them for the work of God. A sailor dangerously ill, affords us an opportunity of visiting the crew in the steerage, and preaching to them through him the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Captain of our ship, I believe, never swears; nor does he suffer any of his men, as far as he can prevent it, to game or get drunk. And though the men are, I find, like the rest of their brethren, profane to the last degree, yet when we are on deck, there is seldom an oath to be heard.

Sunday 26.-This day we performed divine service both morning and afternoon, and the sailors, except

except those on immediate duty, attended. A French ship passed us with her colours hoisted, and of course expecting the same compliment from ours, whilst I was enforcing the history and example of the trembling jailor converted by Paul and Silas; which much interrupted us. The little congrega tion appeared, indeed, to give close attention to brother Whatcoat in the afternoon, while he explained to them, the wages of sin, and the gift of God. But, alas! I am ready to despair of our do ing them any essential good.

Tuesday 28.-For the two last days the winds were contrary, and we hardly gained a league; but they are again favourable, and we are come two hundred and fifty leagues from Bristol. The sailors now attend us daily at morning-prayer. For these few days past I have been reading the life of David Brainerd. O that I may follow him as he followed Christ. His humility, his self-denial, his perseverance, and his faming zeal for God, were exemplary indeed.

This morning a whale played round the ship for an hour and a half: it was a noble sight! And after him an innumerable company of porpoises. How manifold are thy works, O God!

Friday, Oct. 1.-I devoted the morning to fasting and prayer, and found some degree of refreshment, and a sacred longing after more fervency and activity in the service of my God.

Saturday 2-Hitherto the wind had not blown from any one of the sixteen eastern points of the compass; but now a brisk gale from the East carries us directly to our point. We are about three hundred and fifty leagues from Bristol, but probably have not sailed in all fewer than seven hundred. I am entering on the works of Virgil. Indeed I can say in a much better sense than the poet,

"Deus nobis hæc otia fecit,

Namque erit ille mihi semper Deus."

E 2

Sunday,

*Which may be thus translated: "God has provided for us these sweet hours of retirement: and he shall be my God for ever."