nature become subjected to the guidance of those pure childlike, innocent



Letters from 1858 to 1861 119

principles, which, as it is suffered to rule, becomes to us the Wonder-
ful Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of
Peace, and herein man acts towards his fellow man in and under that
highest virtue, Charity, in that he fulfills the command as laid down by the
Blessed Jesus, " Love thy neighbor as thyself."

Oh high attainment and yet within our reach, and it is the earnest
desire of the writer for himself and for all his fellow men that it may be
our happy experience.

When we reach this state of attainment we have arrived at that millen-
nial condition so beautifully described by the prophet — wherein " The lion
shall lie down with the lamb," etc., and how clear is the conclusion that if
every mind was earnestly striving to arrive at this condition there would
be no room for strife nor contention, and hence as the spirit that leads to
war and fighting would be checked at the root, so would they cease from
among the nations of the earth.

Believe me, dear friend, this is no studied effort under which I have a
desire to teach or instruct thee, but I have simply penned that which
has arisen since I commenced, for I knew not the direction I should be
led when I took the pen, and some of the expressions used I do not re-
member as ever having occurred to me before. I sometimes think when
the mind is properly qualified an interchange of views in this manner
between those who feel their spirits cemented together in the Savior's
love may be useful to encourage and to provoke one another unto good
works.

There are many seasons of proving and stripping experienced in the pro-
bationary journey of those who are endeavoring to follow the leadings of
the Divine Master, and especially those who are called to publicly labor
in His cause. And I feel to say to thee hold fast thy faith without
wavering, continue in seasons of deep poverty wherein the Lord seems to
have withdrawn the light of His countenance for a season, to keep the eye
steadfastly fixed on the attainment of that high standing of a pillar in the
Church of Christ that shall no more go out, and in due season the light
will again break forth refreshing and reviving thy spirit. And again when
in seasons of great abounding, wherein thou may be permitted, as it were,
to ride the King's horse, beware of being elated, but return like humble
Mordecai to the King's gate, to the Master's feet — satisfied with the re-
ward of peace, with the language " I have done what thou gavest me to do.
What more hast thou for me, for the crown is Thine." The power and
ability is from Thee, and unless Thou command, open the way and afford
the ability to labor, all my efforts are in vain.



120 Autobiography of John J. Cornell

And now, dear friend, in that love which reaches unto all and which
binds and cements into a true unity of feeling, I bid thee affectionately
farewell, and remain thy truly attached friend.

John J. Cornell.

Mendon Center, Eleventh month 23, 1861.
To L. B. :

Esteemed Friend. — Thy sweetly affectionate epistle of the Thirteenth of
last month was duly received, warmly welcomed, and truly appreciated, for
I regard these missives, when emanating from hearts in which dwell those
desires whose teachings have in view the highest and best interests of
mankind, as contributing to brighten the chain of affection and strengthen-
ing the bonds of union which bind kindred spirits. I have apprehended
under this feeling that I might safely commence a reply and in that ability
which may be afforded me, while I proceed I hope to write so as it may
prove interesting to thee, though I do not feel that mine is the experience
of the mature man, but on the contrary I am still in the youthful state,
if indeed I have advanced much beyond that of the lisping babe. So I
would not have thee place an overestimate upon my views and opinions
nor accept anything as truth because my pen has traced it, but only receive
it as such when it meets the leadings of that witness in thy own heart
whom no sophistry can remove, or no efforts of our own can thwart.

In regard to the query, "What are the avails of prayer one for another or
in temporal matters for ourselves?" Perhaps the first important considera-
tion is, to come to a correct and true understanding of what prayer
that is availing consists. Now, according to my understanding, true avail-
ing prayer is the desire of the heart, for what it really and truly stands
in need of, for itself and for others, for what they also are in need, and
which they have not of themselves, neither can it be obtained without the
intervention and assistance of that Being who is everywhere present, know-
ing all things and possessing all things.

Hence if this be a correct definition of true availing prayer, he or she who
is engaged to offer it must have a confidence in God, a firmly established
belief that He is able to grant what is asked for; but then there arises this
query, " If we are to pray for that we have not, neither can have except
through the interposition of our Heavenly Father, how do we know what
to ask for and how to ask for it ? " As this view revolves in the mind and
we become conscious of our inability to peer into the future or to fathom
the results of the present, so as to really and truly understand what we
stand in need of that will best promote our happiness, or enable us to walk
in the path designed for us by Illimitable Wisdom, we are brought to the



Letters from 1858 to 186 1 121

conclusion that none but an omniscient and omnipresent power can know
what we stand in need of, and what we should ask for. And so only that
power can acquaint us with the needs and instruct us what to pray
for for others. But if we consider our own experience and what has passed
and is passing before our observation, I think we will find that in this as in
most other matters pertaining to religion and religious affairs and ceremo-
nies, man is wont to move in his own strength and ask for that in his short-
sighted vision he thinks he really needs, when often, if the petition was
granted, it might prove a deep affliction. Therefore, it becomes a nice point,
to judge between the promptings of our own desires and the openings of
Divine Wisdom, and this distinction can only be clearly made by retiring
into a state of quietness in which all anxiety is laid aside either for our-
selves or others, and we may then lean in confidence on the arm of our
God with that true state of resignation in which we are prepared to adopt
the language, " Not my will but Thine, O God, be done." And here we have
arrived at that teachable state in which if there be anything necessary for
us to pray for it will be unfolded to us and we instructed how to pray.

But this brings us to the consideration of some doubts which appear to
have arisen in thy mind as they have also arisen in others. If God alone
knows what we stand in need of, and He alone can assist and aid us in
asking for that need and He alone can answer our petitions, what need is
there for man to pray?

This appears to me to be one of the means adopted in the wisdom and
goodness of God to keep man in that dependent, childlike state, wherein
he can be led by an obedience to the instructions of Divine Wisdom from
his state of innocency in which he is ushered into the world to the over-
coming of temptation, whereby he attains to that state of virtue wherein
he is fitted to enjoy uninterrupted bliss in that eternity which is his allot-
ment when done with time.

In relation to temporal as well as spiritual matters the Almighty has
established general laws, which if disregarded or wilfully disobeyed, pro-
duce suffering as a penalty, and no amount of prayer will avail to screen us
therefrom ; nor do I believe that if we gather into that condition in which
as I have stated He will unfold unto us what to pray for we will find any
necessity to pray either for ourselves or for others ; although we as
creatures prompted by desires to have all our wishes gratified, or in our
affectionate feelings as creatures may desire that others may be relieved.
We may be prostrated by physical suffering and may desire in the movings
of our nature to be relieved, but that would by no means be the warrant
to offer a petition to Jehovah for relief, yet the time may come when this
affliction may have performed its errand — that we may be rightly author-
ized to pray for relief. It may be we have not fully confided in the power



122 Autobiography of John J. Cornell

of the Most High and this has been the means adopted by Him to bring
us to a sense of our dependence. Then when the way is opened we feel
clearly the need and necessity to ask for relief, if yielded to we shall be
relieved, and thus our prayer will prove availing, but if we do not yield
we cannot have any confidence that the desired relief will be obtained,
and this course of reasoning will be also applicable in regard to the
prayers we may offer for others.

Hence I am brought to the conclusion that prayer can only be availing
when it is offered under the instruction and direction of Divine Wisdom,
and when so offered is always availing, for I cannot conceive it to be pos-
sible that God would require men to ask of Him anything but that which
they really needed, and if He required man to ask for it, that He would
then deny giving it, for that would be wholly incompatible with what I
understand to be His nature and attributes.

This brings me to the subject to which thou hast alluded, and which I
will briefly advert to. That is in relation to the decrees of Providence.
I am aware that we gather the impression from some source that the de-
crees of the Almighty are irrevocable, and this I think arises in part from
not fully understanding them. While there are some that are irrevocable,
others and those most intimately connected with our best good, are condi-
tional. As, for example, the soul that sins it shall die. Thus far this is
irrevocable and will always be carried out, but this death is not one of
annihilation, but only of alienation and separation from that communion
with God whereby it may enjoy true peace, but when after suffering the
pains of this death it repents, the decree here ends and the soul is again
brought into life and experiences a resurrection.

Thou can make thy own application from these few hints regarding
the subject under consideration.

I have thus written out these views as they have presented themselves
while I was writing. There may be some inelegancies of expression
which I desire thou may not too closely criticise.

We too are looking forward toward the approaching Yearly Meeting to
he held in Pickering, and if agreeable to you, and we are permitted to
come, will again be glad to find a home under your hospitable roof. And
now, dear friend, in conclusion, I feel to remark that I would that thou
be not discouraged if in the revolvings of thought when subjects are
brought before thee and many doubts arise and for a time thy mind may
seem as it was wrapped in a labyrinth of confusion. When these seasons are
thy experience, cover thy face as it were, with a mantle, or shut out all
these perplexing presentations and retire into the calm stillness as of the
cave, and after these convictions have passed by the still small voice will be
heard in thy inner consciousness, and it will scatter these doubts and open



Letters from 1858 to 186 1 123

to thy understanding the depths of the riches of the Kingdom of God and
thus will thou be prepared for the work that lies before thee, which thy
Heavenly Father has for thee to do.

I remain thy attached friend,

John J. Cornell.

Mendon Center, Second month 8, 1862.
To H. D. :

Esteemed Friend. — Thine of the Second inst. was duly received and read
with much interest, and I feel that it may be right for me to thus early
respond thereto. Though feeling that my experience and situation thus
far in life have not qualified me to rightly judge what may be the best
course to adopt under such circumstances as thine, and therefore while I
may in the course of this writing offer some suggestions they will only
be those which appear to me to be the right application of general
principles.

I am far from believing it to be necessarily essential for the salvation
of the immortal soul that we must be in connection with some organized
religious association, and hence amid the difficulties which surround thee
in that respect, I would not counsel that it would be best, for, except
thou clearly saw that it was necessary to thy peace of mind, that through
a clear conviction of duty in that respect in such a case it could in my
view be clearly and unequivocally essential that thou would yield. I can
fully agree with thee as regards the care necessary to be observed that
we take not the vagaries of our own imagination for the revelation of
the Divine Word, and I know that it is often a nice point to distinguish
which is the true and which the false, and I am also sensible that it is
very difficult to convey by human language the modus operandi by which
we come to the conclusion which is the true or which the false, and yet
it seems right for me to express to thee in as clear a manner as I am
capable of, how I form my conclusions.

When a subject is presented to my mental vision and appears to be ac-
companied with a sense that there is something for me to do in relation
thereto, if after endeavoring to reason it away, or by seeking to bring the
mind to reflect upon other subjects and I succeed in erasing the impres-
sions I then feel that it proceeded from my own imagination; but, if,
notwithstanding all my efforts to throw it off the impression still is vivid
and clear, I always find it the safest and best to attend to it, and though
in so doing it seemed to me as though I was leaping into an abyss whose
bottom I could not see, I have ever found that my peace or reward was
after a time furnished in many cases with the outward evidence of the
correctness of the impression.



124 Autobiography of John J. Cornell

With regard to thy situation with your children I feel it to be a subject
requiring great care and caution before moving, and one in which thy
mind should become firmly established beyond the shadow of a doubt,
before taking the step to which thou alludes, not that I have any doubts
but what those who are concerned to faithfully fill all their obligations as
far as they see will be accepted, no matter under what forms they may
offer their oblations, but because it seems to me that a mind that is
bound by externals, that looks to man as a dispenser of spiritual knowl-
edge, must become at least somewhat dwarfed in its growth, and come
short of that blessed experience which is realized in that sweet commu-
nion of the spirit with its author.

Would it not then be better that thou should suffer them to go with
their mother to her meeting, and when thou hast opportunity to take
them with thee when thou art able to mingle with those, with whose views
thou art in accord, being careful in your religious teachings to inculcate
general principles such as will occasion no jar, will bring out no con-
flicting views before them, ever cultivating a true charitable feeling for
each other's view. I think you can agree first in seeking to indoctrinate
their minds with a love and reverence for their Creator, to teach them
to do right from the love of right and because of the happiness such a
course will bring, to act unselfishly towards each other, and their fellows
with whom they may mingle, and when these principles are firmly estab-
lished in their minds and from them springs their religious actions, I
think it will make but little difference in the end whether they worship
according to the liturgy of the church or in the silence of a Friends'
meeting. With these principles firmly established I think you need not
fear to suffer them to choose their own path when they have attained to
a sufficient age to make a choice.

But I am aware that these principles are more easily inculcated by ex-
ample than by precept, and also I believe that, however strict parents may
be in their religious devotions to the principles above alluded to, if such
are not manifested in their every day life before their children, that precepts
however good in themselves will have but little effect — yet, dear friend, I
would not deter thee by the presentation of these views from following
out that course which is clearly indicated to thee will be right ; nor do
I ask any to be guided by anything which may drop from my lips or pen
unless it corresponds with the evidence placed within themselves that
they are true.

I come now to the consideration of the last subject named by thee,
which is in relation to war and how far a man may be justified in claim-
ing protection from a government he is unwilling to sustain by the use
of the sword. In the first place thou readily admits the correctness of



Letters from 1858 to 1861 125

the principle as advanced by me in that address, but thy difficulty seems
to lie in reducing or bringing that principle into practice. I know that
all outward governments that have yet existed, save that established by
William Penn, and maintained for seventy years by Friends in Pennsyl-
vania, have been founded on and sustained by the arbitrament of the
sword, but I cannot see as that by any means holds that such a course is
necessary, but on the contrary I am fully persuaded were the so-called
Christian nations to carry out in full that which we understand their
profession requires — that wars would be done away with. And to bring
the matter still closer, I also believe that such is the mighty influence
which is swayed by those men called ministers of the Gospel of Christ, did
they unitedly hold forth the principles of peace and resolutely turn their
faces against countenancing war it would soon be banished from the earth.
But as regards civil government I have no idea but that man constituted
as he is will require the authority of some form of civil government to
restrain and to restore, but I very much question whether the present
form of government is calculated to restrain from the commission of
crime or to better the conditions of the human race, indeed, I sometimes
think it would be better if we had no criminal jurisprudence than to
continue the form we have.

If my observation be correct the feelings which seem to actuate those
having authority, as well as those delegating authority to punish for the
commission of crime, are those of retaliation instead of reclamation, and
I believe it is generally acknowledged that a term served in our penal
institutions fits for the commission of deeper crimes and unfits one to be-
come a useful member of society, while it appears clear to me that the Chris-
tian era requires a different treatment and would be productive of far better
results, but I am aware that reforms of this magnitude are of slow
growth, that they must be commenced and maintained by individual
effort and that too, amid much opposition and ridicule. I fully believe
that in every human being, no matter how degraded, there is some particle
of good left, and that we are much more easily led by kindness and love
than driven by force, and hence I am brought to the conclusion that the
present form of civil government is not the sort adapted to even the pres-
ent condition of the human family, but as my lot has fallen among a
people possessing such laws and such a form of government, I believe
my duty as a member of the human family is, by living up to the dic-
tates of the higher law to give my brethren no cause of offence, by
transgressing their outward laws save those which conflict with my
conscientious convictions of duty to my God, and then to seek in the
ability afforded by my Heavenly Father to exert an influence to better the
conditions of those around me, cheerfully bearing my proportionate ex-



126 Autobiography of John J. Cornell

pense of carrying on the government under which I live, even when it
is exerting its efforts and wielding its power to destroy human life, and
patiently submitting to the distraining of my property if such should bz
the event of such a course.

I believe that laws are necessary for the government of men, but I alsu
believe that those laws should be founded upon Christian principles in-
stead of on the brutal instincts of the animal nature, and I am firm in the
belief that were they thus founded we should witness a far different state
of things among the human family.

If the premises herein stated be correct, shall we then, because we stand
almost alone, hold our peace or conclude that the sublime, beatified
principles of Christianity cannot be reduced to practice, and are beyond
the reach and comprehension of the human family?

Whatever course may do for thee to adopt, it will not do for me, and
if no other result flows therefrom, if I have faithfully borne my testimony
and have endeavored to exemplify it in my daily walk, of this I am as-
sured that my peace will be secured while here, and then, when done with
time, I have a confiding hope that my spirit will be ushered into the
mansions of joy and bliss, I crave no higher bourne than this for myself,
nor do I covet more for others.

I find I have written much and with the hope that it may not prove
uninteresting to thee and in much love to thee and thy family in which
my wife joins me, I remain affectionately thy attached friend,

John J. Cornell.



CHAPTER VII.
Ministry and Travels and Incidents Connected Therewith.

In the preceding chapter I have introduced a correspondence
which was conducted at intervals between the time of my first
appearance in the ministry, and that when my ministry was
acknowledged by the Monthly Meeting. This correspondence
presents my views on the several subjects referred to at that time,
and while at this period of my life I might change the form of
expression I would not the principles or line of thought then
given. During the latter part of this period I made occasional
visits away from home under an apprehension of duty, one of
which is noted in that correspondence. Another was in the win-
ter of 1861, when with the consent of the Elders of Farmington
Quarterly Meeting, in company with my wife, I attended Scipio
Quarterly Meeting, held near Poplar Ridge, Cayuga county, New
York, which visit was very satisfactory to vis and appeared to be
to the visited, as a very warm and close feeling of fellowship
was then established with the friends of that meeting, which con-
tinues unbroken, as far as I know, to the present time.

In the fall of i860, while in my field cutting corn on the day
of the Meeting of Ministers and Elders, I was suddenly and
deeply impressed that the proper time had arrived for the acknowl-
edgment of my ministry, accompanied with a clear sight of a field
of labor into which it would be my place to enter when that event
had taken place, and I subsequently learned that about that hour
the subject was under consideration in the meeting, but was in-
definitely postponed, for what reason I never knew, nor did I feel
it my place to enquire.

While I clearly saw the time would come when the acknowledg-
ment would take place, although I was under the exercise



128 Autobiography of John J. Cornell

regarding the visit above referred to, yet I felt no anxiety about
it. I did not feel it was especially my business to be concerned
about the matter, but that it was the business of the ministers and
elders of the Monthly Meeting. All I had to do was to be faith-
ful to my gift, bear my testimony and leave it there. I was aware
I was led in a different manner from many others in the ministry,
and as I had taken an active part in meetings of discipline, and
having naturally a positive manner of expression it had created in
some minds a prejudice against my ministry, and with some mem-
bers of the meeting had it not been for that portion of my gift
by which I was led to speak to the conditions of many present.
I have often thought my acknowledgment would have been much
longer delayed. I was at this time placed in the responsible
position of Clerk of the Yearly Meeting, and this tended to
increase a feeling in one or two members of my own par-
ticular meeting, that in after years was shown more
distinctly and which culminated disastrously to them. In the
Seventh month, 1862, the Monthly Meeting was informed
that the Preparative Meeting of Ministers and Elders were united