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of any who thought they had done too much good; that they had sympathized too much with their brethren in a low estate, and been too attentive to the wants and sufferings of their fellow-creatures; and that they had taken too much care and pains to endeavour to relieve them. Perhaps I have said too much, but knowing that thou art wise to discriminate, I have no fear of misleading thee, either into right or left-hand errors; so, wishing thee the glorious reward of good labours, I remain, thy sincerely affectionate friend,

JOHN THORP.

Letter XLIV.

To RICHARD REYNOLDS.

Manchester, 12th Mo. 25, 1804.

My dear Friend,

I will relate to thee, at this time, a short anecdote which I had from James Thornton, of America, one of the first of the first

rank who have visited us from that quarter of the world. He said, when Anthony Benezet was in his last illness, and very near his death, he went to see him. Anthony had been long distinguished, as a lover and benefactor of mankind; but when James came into the room, he said he never had been more deeply impressed, with a sense of spiritual poverty, than he was at that time; and as he sat under these feelings, a view opened, how little all the merits of good works can avail, or be relied on, at such a time, or any thing short of our holy Redeemer. He took leave of him under these impressions, and the good man died I think very soon after, and James attended his burial; but, he said, when he entered into the house, it felt to him as if it were Divinely perfumed; something so like the opening of heaven, and a sense of the Divine Presence, as he had at no other time experienced. What a striking conformity between the death of this good man and that of his blessed Master! I thought this little story deserved to be remembered.

With the salutation of love, in which I

wish us both a continual increase, I am thy

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I received thy letter duly. If thou and I saw things through the same medium, and from the same point of view, it could hardly be that we should see them differently; yet so it is, that, with all the deference due to thy superior powers, and the regard that I willingly pay to the uprightness of thy intention, and fruitfulness of thy understanding, I am apprehensive it will be found that, on some religious subjects, we do not think the same thing.

I do not see what can be done for those friends in who have separated themselves from their former brethren; they must be left to inherit the lot which they have

chosen, and which, I believe, they never would have chosen, if they had not first departed from true humility, and from that love which beareth all things. Palliatives will not do; "can two walk together, except they be agreed;" nay, was it possible to bring all these back again to our meeting, and that both parties were willing that they should be acknowledged members, what confusion would arise from their diversity of sentiment on the most important subjects? They would be like the iron and clay, in the feet of Nebuchadnezzar's image; they might seem to adhere, but they never would incorporate. "Jerusalem is as a city that is compact together;" but a church made up of members, of religious sentiments so various and inconsistent, would be much more like Babel-a confusion of one language into many, than the bride, the Lamb's wife, to whom the Lord hath again restored a pure language, for the language of the Spirit of God, the true original, is one. I am sorry for these people, because I am so fully persuaded they have departed from the way of peace and usefulness, and that he who be

guiled the woman in Paradise, hath beguiled some of them, who may have been instruments in deceiving many others. However, circumstanced as they are, and under their present professions, I know of no better counsel than that of Gamaliel : "Refrain from these men, and let them alone; for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought."

On the subject of education, I never was an advocate for ignorance; I contend against the acquisition of no kind of knowledge, but that which cannot be purchased but by the expense of innocence. I should never discourage my children, at a proper age, from acquainting themselves with the religious systems and practices of any professors of the Christian name; but where parents themselves have been so happy as to buy the truth; to find "the way of peace;" to have learned, in the school of Christ, the precepts of His holy law written in their hearts; who know the voice of the true Shepherd, and are concerned to follow Him, (turning from the voice of every stranger ;) who know His ways to be " ways of pleas

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