|
A
remarkable circumstance happened just as I was leaving Philadelphia. When I went
to the inn where my horse was, and had just entered into the yard, I observed
a man fixing his eyes upon me, and looking earnestly until be seemed ashamed,
and blushed very much. At length he came up to me, and abruptly said,
"Sir, I saw you in a dream last night. When I saw your hack, as you came
into the yard, I thought it was you; but now that I see your face, I am sure
you are the person. I have been wandering up and down this morning until now
seeking you." "Saw me in a dream," said I "what do you
mean?" "Sir," said he, "I did. I am sure I did. And yet I
never saw you with my bodily eyes before. Yesterday in the afternoon I left
this city, and went as far as Schuylkill river, intending to cross it; but
began to be very uneasy, and could not go over it: I therefore returned to
this place, and last night, in my sleep, saw you stand before me; when a
person from another world bade me seek for you until I found you, and said
you would tell me what I must do to be saved. He said also that one particular
mark by which I might know you was, that you preached in the streets and
lanes in the city." Having spoken this, he immediately asked,
"Pray, sir, are not you a minister? (By which name they frequently call
the preachers in America.)
I said, "Yes, I am a preacher of the Gospel; and it is true that I
preach in the streets and lanes of the city, which no other preacher in Philadelphia does. I
preach also every Sunday morning at nine
o'clock in Newmarket." I
then asked him to step across the way to a friend's house where I asked him
from whence he came. He answered, "From the Jerseys." I asked, had
he any family. He said, "Yes, a wife and children." I asked, where
he was going. He said he did not know. I likewise asked, "Does your wife
know where you are?" He said, "No. The only reason why I left home
was, I had been very uneasy and unhappy for half a year past, and could not
rest any longer, but must come to Philadelphia."
|
|
I replied,
"I first advise you to go back to your wife and children, and take care of
them by obeying God in the order of His providence. It is unnatural to leave
them in this manner; for even the birds of the air provide for their young.
Secondly, you say you are unhappy: therefore the thing you want is religion,
the love of God, and of all mankind righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy
Ghost. When this takes possession of your heart, so as to destroy your evil
tempers, and root out the love of the world, anger, pride, self will, and
unbelief, then you will be happy. The way to obtain this is, you must forsake
all your sins and heartily believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. When you return
to the Jerseys, go to
hear the Methodist preachers constantly, and pray to the Lord to bless the
word and if you heartily embrace it, you will become a happy man."
|
|
While I
was exhorting him, the tears ran plentifully from his eyes. We then all
kneeled down to pray; and I was enabled to plead and intercede with much
earnestness for his soul, and to commend them all to God. When we arose from
our knees, I shook him by the hand: he wept much, and had a broken heart; but
did not know how to part with me. He then set out to go to his wife in the Jerseys;
and I for Baltimore,
in Maryland:
and I saw him no more; but I trust I shall meet him in heaven.
|
|
I cannot
but remark here, that God sometimes steps out of the common way of His
providence to help some souls; especially a poor ignorant person, who wants
to serve Him, but knows not how, and hath a degree of His fear. When such
persons pray sincerely to the Lord, He will direct, by His providence, to
some person or book, to some means or other, by which they may be instructed
and brought to the knowledge of the truth.
|
