xvin SAMUEL EMLEN 245 



America with a sense of a completed work. " The Lord 

 hath set before me an open door amongst this people, and 

 they know I have not flattered them, nor coveted any 

 marks of their regard. " "I never knew deeper poverty, nor 

 more glorious riches, than in that land." On the voyage 

 home he was accompanied by Samuel Emlen, a young 

 Pennsylvanian who had been impressed by his message 

 and who looked up to him as to a father. S. Emlen 

 became himself a minister : he was a man little of stature, 

 frail and singular, but his mind was enlarged and culti- 

 vated, his sympathy with sorrow was deep, and he had 

 a prophetic spirit : a Nazirite, " the pattern of innocence, 

 wisdom and simplicity," so wrote Dr. Fothergill. He was 

 well known and loved in the society for many years on 

 both sides of the ocean. 1 



After his return home in 1756 Samuel Fothergill led 

 at first a quiet life, hearing but seldom from his friends on 

 the other side, and suffering from the depression which 

 often follows much mental exertion. He felt himself to 

 be " a disbanded soldier " : he sat alone, in poverty and 

 leanness ; there were only " glimmerings of the Master's 

 countenance," but he was content it should be so. In 

 the following year he had a severe illness, probably gout 

 affecting an exhausted nervous system, and although he 

 recovered it was not to his former strength. He continued 

 to attend meetings diligently and to preach, and his 

 repute was now such that he was much sought after and 

 listened to. At St. Ives, Cornwall, he spoke to above 

 3000 people gathered on the sea-shore. It is said that at 

 a Quarterly Meeting at York Friends were pressing upon 

 him and urging him to further service, when an aged 

 woman from the country took him aside and quoted 

 these words : When Jesus perceived that they would 

 take Him by force to make Him a king, He departed into 

 a mountain Himself alone. Samuel Fothergill accepted 

 the warning, sought his horse, and rode quietly homeward. 



S. Fothergill was one of a small circle of gifted Friends 



1 See also [Nathan and W. Kite] Biographical Sketches & Anecdotes of 

 Friends, Phila. [1870], p. 46. 



