6th Mo. 12th.  Had a note from ——­ of kind spiritual interest; but I think she mistakes my want, which is more of practical than of theoretical faith.  Have ventured to tell her, in a note, what I feel and have felt.  I think many who have left Friends, and become more decidedly serious since, remembering that when Friends, the gospel was not precious to them, fancy it is undervalued by the Society.  My note is as follows:—­

My dear —–­ will, I hope, believe that I was not disposed to receive her affectionate lines in any other than that spirit of love in which they were written, and in which, I am persuaded, it is the will of our blessed Saviour for His disciples “that they all may be one.”  Yes, my dear ——­, I believe there is not a sentence in thine in which I do not heartily join; and while we are both seeking to believe, as thou says, “with the heart” in Christ our Saviour, “in whom we have redemption, through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins,” let us say not only, “Here is a point on which we can unite,” but here is the one bond of fellowship, which unites the whole ransomed Church, throughout the world, and especially those who love each other, as I trust we do.  If we were more willing to let Christ be our all in all, surely we should more realize this blessed truth.  Disputations on theoretical differences seem to me like disputes on the principles of a fire-escape among those whose sole rescue depends on at once committing themselves to it, since the most perfect understanding of its principles is utterly in vain if they continue mere lookers-on; while others, with perhaps far less head-knowledge, are safely landed.  This, it seems to me, is the distinction between head-knowledge and heart-knowledge, between dead creed and living faith; and every day, I think, more convinces me that it is “with the heart that man believeth unto righteousness.”  As thou hast so kindly spoken of myself, and thy kind interest for me, may I add that what I have known, small though it be, of this faith, has been all of grace; nor do I hope or wish but that it may be, from first to last, of grace alone.  If I love Christ, it is because He first loved me:  because God, who is rich in mercy, has shown me the great love wherewith He loved me, when I was dead in sins; nor should I have had one glimpse “of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ,” had not God, who “commanded the light to shine out of darkness,” shined into my heart.  And dark and sad has ever been the view of myself bestowed by that grace which brings salvation, long shining as it were to make my darkness visible; but this do I esteem one of His rich mercies, who will have no rival in His children’s hearts, and teaches us our own utter depravity and sinfulness; that we may, without any reserve, fly to Him, “who has borne our sins in His own body on the tree, that we might be saved from wrath through Him.”  And if it