appetites: and if our society as some other bodies corporate, was mainly supported by money, I believe sooner than be at any considerable expence in supporting it they would let the testimony of truth fall to the ground and sink into oblivion, as they now trample upon and dishonour it by their lives and conversation.

LETTER XXXVI.

12th Mo. 1763.

I NOTE thy remarks, and acknowledge the justice of them: this wrath of man (of which, pride, imperiousness, self-will and caprice are branches) neither wills nor works the righteousness of God: it does no good: it weakens the reason, lessens the authority, and exposes the nakedness of all who are possessed by it, and act under its influence : they are men of low degree, and (in my opinion) if they will not submit to a proper subordination, and quietly learn of wisdom and her children, they had better be passed by as improper to be confederated with: they will then indulge their own private spleen and rancour; and they will need no other chashis own back. Not only in the present case, but in most cases affecting the society, we find the middling or lower class most willing to bear the burthen, to conform to discipline, and come into method unitedly for carrying matters into execution; the rich have money and many of them hardly any other qualification of value: if some of them had given something considerable towards this work, perhaps the opposition which they would therefore think they had a right to make to some salutary schemes for establishing and promoting it, would do more hurt than their money would do good. It requires, dear friend, much of that wisdom which dwells with prudence to treat with these rich men ;to petition them (as it were) to give some of their substance towards the conservation of the society, when we know their lives are opposite to the true interests of it, and that they are unfit to communicate with us;-to seem to want their money, and to treat with them for that, when it is themselves we want, and earnestly desire that they themselves may come into and be cherished by the warm bosom of the church. So that, (only that we are all in general so little) I would choose that those who are least, rather than ambassadors

of the first rank from Christ Jesus to his people, should be put upon the office of soliciting for money from them for the contingent expences of society.

LETTER XXXVII.

3d Mo. 1766.

I SEE more and more that I was not cut out to be a man for this world, not one of the wise ones and the great ones of the earth; nor since my thoughts took a religious turn, did I ever expect, or desire it. I can honestly say, that the greatest delight and satisfaction that I ever have in present possession, is to feel the baptism of the spirit to wash my heart, and unite it to the seed in the bitter sense of suffering; and the most pleasing contemplation that I have in future prospect in this life, is to see the prosperity of truth and to be favoured with liberty and capacity to serve the cause thereof in my generation. And for the integrity of this declaration I dare appeal to the searcher of all hearts, who hath even now tendered my spirit in humble prostration before him. And I am glad to feel a renewal of this sacred baptism, (which first cemented our early acquaintance, and I trust

will preserve our fellowship unbroken to the end,) while I thus converse (without any premeditation) with thee.

LETTER XXXVIII.

6th Mo. 1771.

I

I SEEM not to have any repository of my own, from whence I might impart any good thing. So far from it, I am so exceedingly reduced, so complete a bankrupt in my spiritual circumstances, so poor, so beset and embarrassed on all sides, that I never knew, heard, or read of any one like me. am, or at least feel to myself, so weak at times, that I seem as if I could hardly hold together. Such is the person to whom thou unbosomest thy griefs. Perhaps this short recital of my own state, compared with thy own feelings, may administer some species of relief when thou finds that others are afflicted, tossed with tempests, and not comforted, as well as thyself. Thou rightly, and I doubt not experimentally, remarkest, that effectual relief must come from the Father who seeth in secret. He made us externally and visibly what we are, and endued us with our several organs of existence and preserva

tion. It is he who (if we be passive under his hand, forming our minds, as we were under the same hand fashioning our bodies, of which we cannot make a single hair white or black) will construct, unite, confirm, and strengthen in his own time the various parts of our inward man; and will endue the same with those spiritual senses necessary for its preservation, and for its ability to act properly in the service of its great Creator. O my friend, wonderfully are we made. My spirit, as is I doubt not thine and thy beloved consort's, is often deeply bowed in humble petition, that Divine Providence may so steer and pilot our several barks through the danger. ous seas of life, that whatever wind from external circumstances blows, whether high or low, prosperous or adverse, whether the waves be rough or smooth, whether storms or calms, betide us, we may, enduring all with patience, waiting with quiet submission, not without at times a hope and expectation, be conducted safe at last into the harbour of eternal rest. Should every thing in the voyage be quiet, easy, commodious and agreeable to our wishes, we might perhaps grow presumptuous, and by the interfering of our own carnal wills and wisdom take our bark