Your esteemed Friend,

Absalom Jones

LETTER FROM AN AFRICAN MINISTER, RESIDENT IN PHILADELPHIA ADDRESSED TO DOROTHY RIPLEY

Philadelphia, 24th, of 6th mo. 1803.

Friend Ripley,

I Received thy epistle, dated New-York, 26th of 5th month, with much joy, thanks and satisfaction; and am thankful for thy kind spiritual advice, and grateful for thy concern for me and my people.

With the assistance of the good Spirit, I will attend to thy serious admonitions in the Lord, and listen to the small still voice of Christ within, as thou dost observe in thy epistle, for it is He that must enable me to observe his holy law written on the heart by his Spirit.

I wish to take thy sisterly counsel; but O! my abounding weakness.  I wish to be more sensible of it, so that I alone may feel it.  I would hide it from my friends, but they are too eagle-eyed not to discover it; yet they have the charity to bear with me.—­I often bow at the foot-stool of divine mercy, that I may obtain strength to overcome corrupt nature.—­None knows but myself my strivings to walk in the narrow way, in which the poor worm has no desire to rob God of his honor.  I see the beauty of nakedness to be far superior than to be clothed with rags of self-righteousness.

Thou enquirest how many communicants there are in our church.  The precise number of my communicants is 457.  All our members are communicants.  There is a communion of saints which exceeds all formality, and which even the Apostles were ignorant of, when they gave an account to their Master, on their return from their mission, and told him, “We saw men casting out devils in thy name, and we forbade them, because they followed not us.”  Yet I still continue of the same mind, that it would be best for thee to be a member of some religious society.—­The teachings of Priscilla and Aquila have been found profitable to the eloquent and wise.

The members of the African Methodist Episcopal church (called Bethel) live in love and harmony with each other.

My fellow laborer, Absalom Jones, joins me in a salutation of love to thee, with desires for thy growth and increase in the favor of God:  He says he would have written to thee, had he known of thy continuance at New York.

Praying God to bless and make thee instrumental in promoting his glory and the good of souls, I remain, thine, &c.

Richard Allen

LETTER FROM AN AFRICAN, RESIDENT IN PHILADELPHIA, TO DOROTHY RIPLEY

May 17, 1803.
Respected Friend,