he had than I into all divine truth; and not he only, but others to whom I alluded; and that if I was in error, I only desired to be taught more truly; and either with him, or at his feet, to learn of God.  He replied, to my amazement and distress, in a letter of much tenderness, but which was to the effect,—­that if I allowed the Spirit of God to be with him rather than with me, it was wonderful that I set my single judgment against the mind of the Spirit and of the whole Church of God; and that as for admitting into Christian communion one who held my doctrine, it had this absurdity, that while I was in such a state of belief, it was my duty to anathematize them as idolaters.—­Severe as was the shock given me by this letter, I wrote again most lovingly, humbly, and imploringly:  for I still adored him, and could have given him my right hand or my right eye,—­anything but my conscience.  I showed him that if it was a matter of action, I would submit; for I unfeignedly believed that he had more of the Spirit of God than I:  but over my secret convictions I had no power.  I was shut up to obey and believe God rather than man, and from the nature of the case, the profoundest respect for my brother’s judgment could not in itself alter mine.  As to the whole Church being against me, I did not know what that meant:  I was willing to accept the Nicene Creed, and this I thought ought to be a sufficient defensive argument against the Church.  His answer was decisive;—­he was exceedingly surprized at my recurring to mere ecclesiastical creeds, as though they could have the slightest weight; and he must insist on my acknowledging, that, in the two texts quoted, the word Father meant the Trinity, if I desired to be in any way recognized as holding the truth.

The Father meant the Trinity!!  For the first time I perceived, that so vehement a champion of the sufficiency of the Scripture, so staunch an opposer of Creeds and Churches, was wedded to an extra-Scriptural creed of his own, by which he tested the spiritual state of his brethren.  I was in despair, and like a man thunderstruck.  I had nothing more to say.  Two more letters from the same hand I saw, the latter of which was, to threaten some new acquaintances who were kind to me, (persons wholly unknown to him,) that if they did not desist from sheltering me and break off intercourse, they should, as far as his influence went, themselves everywhere be cut off from Christian communion and recognition.  This will suffice to indicate the sort of social persecution, through which, after a succession of struggles, I found myself separated from persons whom I had trustingly admired, and on whom I had most counted for union:  with whom I fondly believed myself bound up for eternity; of whom some were my previously intimate friends, while for others, even on slight acquaintance, I would have performed menial offices and thought myself honoured; whom I still looked upon as the blessed and excellent