We got home the day after we left you, a little after four o'clock; the roads were good, and our journey as pleasant as the severe season would admit; but what reconciled every thing to me was, that my mind was favoured with sweet peace, as, through great mercy, I had been made willing to do what I believe the blessed Master bid me do, without attempting more. Surely we do not serve a hard Master! Many, many times, from early age, hath my heart been filled with this acknowledgment. There never was so good a Master; who gave such excellent wages for such imperfect work; who is not watching over us for evil, but for good; not taking occasions against us, but forgiving, pitying, helping us, again and again; for there is no end of His compassion, let the devil say what he will; raising us up, and bearing up our heads above the troubled waters, and encouraging us to persevere. This He doth, ever being "touched with the feeling of our infirmities," blessed be His holy name for ever! for such a High-priest became us. Oh! was He not exactly such a Saviour, what should we do? Surely, my dear friend, this is not the language of the barbarian to thee.

I had little expectation of expressing myself thus; but my heart was moved with gratitude to our most gracious Helper, and I felt the springing up of that Love, which had no beginning, reaching towards thee; and, under its influence,

99

I wish thee "to thank God and take courage.' Fear not, saith the Lord, "for I am with thee." In every permitted trial, He will be near thee to support thee. Therefore, my dear friend, be humbled in His presence; put thy whole trust and confidence in God thy Saviour; bow in gratitude before Him, who hath done great things for thee; lift up thy head in hope, that He, who hath been thy morning light, will be thy evening and thy everlasting song. And I believe it right for me to add, that "although thy house be not so with God; yet He hath made with thee an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and

sure."

Present my dear love to thy wife, whom I love for the truth's sake, which dwelleth in her. Oh! how beautiful is that saying of the apostle, and how deeply instructive, "God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him." Please to give my love to Sarah Allen, and tell her, I wish her to remember, with frequency and gratitude, that interesting declaration of the apostle : "Ye are not your own; for ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's."

I look back with pleasure on my winter visit, and feel grateful for your kind attention. I am, with true love, and best desires for thee, thy affectionate friend,

JOHN THORP.

Dear Friend,

Letter XXXIV.

To

Manchester, 11th Mo, 20, 1802,

Thy letter, dated 11th Mo, 24th, I received duly; and as it appears to have been written in a good degree of candour and unreserved freedom, I feel disposed, under the influence of sincere good-will, and (if I am not mistaken) a disinterested love to the ever-blessed Truth, to make thee some reply.

And first, I do not blame thee, circumstanced as thou professest thyself to be, that is, having little or no unity with Friends, either in faith or practice, for withdrawing thyself from them. I do not see how thou couldst, with any degree of honesty, have acted otherwise; but whether thou actedst wisely, with proper reverence, fear, and care; whether thou tookest counsel of God or of an enemy; whether thou didst not admit these differences of opinion on important points, on ground too superficial, though with some uprightness of intention, and probably with some expectation of being an instrument of further reformation, for I am not ignorant of satan's devices; whether thou mayst not have suffered thyself to be too hastily moved to give in to new opinions, perhaps from a variety of motives,—

I am indeed disposed to doubt. Time and consequences will show whether, in these movements, thou hast been building upon the Rock or on the Sand.

The charges of superstition and formality, which you bring against the Society you have left, appear in my view rather the effects of prejudice than a well-informed judgment. Such an application of the words superstition and formality is, I think, unprecedented. There is perhaps as little of formality amongst us, as can be made to consist with regularity and order; and I do expect, that experience, in time, will convince some of you of the necessity and benefit of this. I know of nothing in the discipline recommended and practised amongst us, as to the substance and material parts of it, which hath not evidently its foundation in Divine Love, and in that sympathetic, brotherly affection, and watching over one another for good, which the religion of the gospel requires. But if this discipline, and these forms, are moved in, and maintained in a dead and lifeless manner, (and yet one can hardly suppose this to be the case without exception any where; but admitting it is) the fault is not in the form or in the rules of our discipline, but in the want of humbly seeking after and waiting for the influence of that Divine Love, which would enable us to move in these

forms, and put in practice this discipline, to our mutual edification.

The offence which some of you have taken, and the strictures which thou hast published on the manner of our marriages, really seem to me quite childish. No doubt, some part of our proceedings in order to marriage, which once were necessary, may now be spared. It appears that Friends have thought so, and accordingly have now made the way less tedious; and probably, when the Society shall see the propriety of it, as some of its members now do, the manner of our proceedings may be still more simplified; but any how, as it hath been practised at any time amongst us, there hath been nothing in it that I could have believed a man of thy talents and understanding would have stumbled at, or been offended with.

Thy definition and ideas of revelation, human reason, and conscience, appear to me confused and indistinct. Surely there was a time when thou couldst better have distinguished between human reason and Divine revelation. Thy remarks upon the Scriptures I heartily disapprove. There are, I think, very few of thy observations on that subject, that would meet the approbation of any man, who would make a right use of his reason; they are far from being new, or new to me. I have read, with pain, many such things in the works of unbelievers; but I wish thee to consider