Supreme with but the one talent, while others have the two, the three
or the five, and we also find among those who have but the one talent are
infants in the occupancy of (hat talent; while others have become as strong
men, and so in relation to those who have the five. Now we cannot
expect the infant of the one talent to see things in the same clearness
as will the infant with the five, nor the strong man in the occupancy of
the one as the strong man in the occupancy of the five. Hence these
different degrees of growth in experience and in the knowledge of the
Kingdom of God, though they are designed for one and the same great
end, will not admit of those in whom the work is carried on viewing
all things alike.

And here we may discover why the Apostle designates charity as the
greatest of the virtues, for though we may have that faith which is the
gift of God to us, and that hope which is the result of walking by that faith,
yet if we have not that charity which will accord to a brother or sister the
same sincerity which we claim for ourselves they will profit us nothing
for under such a feeling we would debar them, if it were in our power,'
from an entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven, because they see not as
we do.

Thus, dear friend, thou will see some of the reasons from which I have
drawn my conclusions and which lead me, the more my view is enlarged,
in the mysteries of my Heavenly Father's kingdom, to get away from
the seat of judgment, to seek first by an obedience to manifested duty
to know my heart to be filled with love and that love to flow hence to all
the children of our common Father, to be content to do my own duty
and leave them to His care, believing that He can best carry on His own
work, and that it is sufficient for me to work out my own soul's salvation
under His direction.

My loved companion joins me in much love to thee and your family,
under which feeling I bid thee affectionately farewell, and remain thy
friend and well-wisher on thy journey towards the Heavenly Canaan.

John J. Cornell.



76 Autobiography of John J. Cornell

Mendon, Fifth month 3, 1859.
To Elizabeth Kirk :

Much Esteemed Friend. — My mind has oft been drawn forth in feeling
to address thee through the medium of the pen, but from some reason
its accomplishment has been delayed. I have often recalled those hours
we spent together while you were here in the performance of the work
allotted you in the vineyard of the Lord, and more especially do I
recur to the interview we had the last evening you were at father's. I
think I never met with any strangers to whom my affections have gone
out so closely and with so strong a bond of unity as with your little
band. Perhaps it was the peculiar mission on which you were sent, as
well as my own state of mind. Be that as it may, one thing is certain:
I feel that we are bound to each otber in that love which emanates from
the Divine Source and Fountain, and there is unity of feeling because
the same wisdom is requiring us to work in the same vineyard, though
different duties are allotted us.

Oh this precious unity, which those who are making it their chief
object to become the children of God feel for each other. How it leads
to the exercise of charity for one another in their different allotments, and
confident I am that were these on the watch at all times, no jealous or
envious disposition would be permitted to arraign a brother or sister
because they had a different or a deeper work to do than was allotted
them. And then, too, if it seemed best in Divine Wisdom to open
some views which are new to us or different from such as were gen-
erally held by those with whom we were accustomed to mingle, we would
be careful not to raise that desolating, party-creating cry, "Unsound,
unsound," but would turn inward for strength and wisdom and watch
the fruits of those who differed from us, and if we find them correspond-
ing to the teaching and example of the Blessed Master we would wait in
patience until we are afforded sufficient evidence by the light within us
that they are truth, and then we can accept them as our own.

I find myself somewhat peculiarly situated in regard to all these out-
ward instrumentalities on which mankind so much rely. It seems as
though almost everything of that kind is becoming more and more as a
sealed book to me and I am forced to stand on that independent ground
which dear Elizabeth Newport pointed out for me, independent of all
else save the immediate teachings of my Heavenly Father. It sometimes
seems to me that all this was to prepare me for some future service.

As my understanding becomes enlarged I sec that many, very many
of our Society are relying on the traditions of the fathers, and that
there will be dedicated servants called into the field of labor to combat
this state of things and who will be required to hand forth from the



Letters from 1858 to 1861 77

Lord's treasury things that are new. as well as to open more clearly things
that are old, and these will have to bear buffetings and reproaches, they
will be called unsound and their testimonies will be rejected by some, even
as the Blessed Jesus was rejected, but O, saith my spirit, may these deeply
baptized children of the Lord hold fast their integrity and confidence in
His power and wisdom.

Nor do I believe that this held of service will be left to those who
may be called to vocally espouse the cause of truth, but there will be those
to whom will be committed the duty to hold up the arms of some Moses
until the going down of the sun, that the armies of Israel may prevail. I be-
lieve, dear friend, from my present impressions, that thou hast known
something of this kind of service and of the baptisms these devoted
children have to experience.

Why I should be led to write thus to tb.ee I know not, but such are
the views and feelings that arise while my pen is recording them; there-
fore, believe me, this is no studied effort, for when I commenced I had
scarcely a sentence in my mind to write.

Thy epistle to father was indeed cordially welcomed by us all, its
breathing of comfort and affection were peculiarly grateful, coming as it
did, when the mantle of affliction had enveloped us. Yes, dear friend,
one of that band to whom ihee sent thy love lay in the house cold in
the embrace of death. Our much loved Charlie has passed to that bourne
from whence no traveler returns. He was attacked some four weeks since
with typhoid fever, and though we did all we could, it was so ordered by
Divine Goodness that we should part with him, and on the night of
the Third inst. his innocent spirit left its frail tabernacle to repose in the
kingdom of the pure and holy saints in the presence of God. While we
feel it to be a severe trial, yet we are desirous to bow in resignation to the
Divine Will and to endeavor to feel that although we are unable to see
why it should be so, that it is undoubtedly the best for us as well as for
him, for when we consider the many temptations that surround our
pathway through life and the close trials and deep baptisms the best
of men have to undergo we cannot wish him back, but feel that if prepared
to receive the glorious crown of immortality a few fleeting days of joy
intermingled with many of sorrow are not to be taken into account with
that unalloyed bliss of which the purified souls partake throughout the
endless ages of eternity.

Thou enquired in relation to H. Q. There is but little apparent change
in him save that he has occasionally attended meeting, and I hear less
of his saying anything about his peculiar views. Thou art aware that a
few years are but as a moment in the eye of the Lord and it may be that
the seed sown may lie dormant for some time and finally sprout, take



yS Autobiography of John J. Cornell

root and become a fruit-bearing plant, and I do truly desire that it may
be so in his case, for his talents, when directed by Divine counsel, would
qualify him for much usefulness.

Thy deeply attached friend,

John J. Cornell.

Mendon, Seventh month 24, 1859.
J. H. Andrews:

Dear Friend. — A day or two ago I remarked to my wife that thou
would probably be thinking it was time that you received a letter from
me and I thought to have written soon after our yearly meeting, but my
time on First-days has been occupied in various ways, and on week-days
the business of the farm has engrossed my attention, and thou knowest
the evenings are short. Well, methinks I hear thee say the apology is
long enough.

My thought is oft turned towards you in that land and though no way
opened to attend your yearly meeting, still I feel that I must come, and
yet the reason will query, what can thou, a mere stripling, do when
there are so many gifted ones and where they have so much talent? Still
the burden remains and at times it seems as though the period was not far
distant when I should be liberated, and at others all seems dark, and so I
find the need of patience.

I know my Heavenly Father has been good to me, and I can add my
testimony to the thousands of others who have lived before me that
ability has been amply furnished for every service required. How often
have the poor servants to depend upon faith alone, and particularly when
they are baptized into the condition and states of those by whom they are
surrounded, and having experienced some of those deeply trying seasons I
believe I can apreciate the sacrifice that must be made when a mission
is laid upon any such as was your lot while in this land.

Oh how oft does the creature desire to be led in more pleasant paths;
how oft is the aspiration raised that we might be permitted to choose
our own field of labor. Yet when such thoughts have been presented to
my mind I find an immediate check, accompanied with the command,
" Thou must hold thyself in readiness to do whatsoever I require of
thee."

Verily it is true that the Lord's servants must become blind to all that
may be seen with the outward eye and deaf to all that may be heard
with the outward ear, as relates to these missions among the children
of men.



Letters from 1858 to 1861 79

In this state their whole dependence is upon God and thus they thereby
become humble and willing to be taught. When the eye of the mind is
single and the whole body is full of light by which is revealed the knowl-
edge intended for us and the duties required of us, and is careful
to abide here it would do away with the controversies among the mem-
bers of our Society, all being fed from the same table we would be
careful not to condemn the food that was given to another because it
differed from that which was given to us, for we would see that it
came from the same hand and that all are not able to bear strong meat,
and all do not need milk. O how my spirit is often led to mourn over
the disposition I see manifesting itself to decry all as unsound that meets
not or corresponds with what we have seen. Where is the true spirit of
charity in such a disposition ? How my soul is poured forth at seasons
when this subject is brought before me in petition to my Heavenly Father
that all might come to experimentally know that " He is indeed no respecter
of persons," and that it is not those who are sound in theory, but they
who love God and work righteousness that are accepted of Him.

It is no evidence to me that because a theory is revealed unto another
that is hidden from me, that what is thus opened to them is not true,
nor because men held certain views as correct for a long period of time
that a clearer view and a more practical adaptation of them may not be
opened to some in our day or at some subsequent period. We may be
permitted, in Divine Wisdom, to embrace certain views in relation to
things non-essential, even as the Jews were permitted to have an outward
law, and the time may come when it will be necessary that our attention
should be called away from those peculiar views we had imbibed to some-
thing more essential, and it may please Divine Goodness to empower and
qualify some instrument for that purpose. Here, then as our own depend-
ence is wholly on the revealings of the Christ within instead of trying
the message of the instrument by our own preconceived notions or ideas,
we will try it by the evidence afforded by the light of the present
revelation, and hence we would come to a correct judgment, and be pre-
served from being barred by reports which might reach us. And thus
would all be kept in perfect harmony, unity and love, because Christ is
our head, and we should feel that we all were brethren and had been fed
by the same hand and led by the same spirit, though, perhaps, in different
paths.

In the severe dispensation which has been meted out to us in the re-
moval of little Charles it seems difficult for dear mother to be reconciled,
yet I trust her Heavenly Father will come to her help after He has suf-
fered her to wade long enough in the deeps, as it were.



80 Autobiography of John J. Cornell

I think I may say the rest of us have been enabled to see in it the
wisdom of the Most High in removing him from the evil to come, and that
while we miss his company, his innocent spirit is enjoying unalloyed hap-
piness in that state where no temptations assail, where no sorrows come.

I have extended this to a far greater length than I expected and have
penned the views as they have arisen in that freedom which those who are
closely linked in love feel toward each other, trusting if there be any-
thing in them that burdens thy mind or that strikes thee unpleasantly
thou will not hesitate to chide or counsel one who feels his experience to
be but small and who is willing to listen to the counsel of the experienced
in the school of Christ.

Write soon, for thy letters are always warmly welcomed by thy much
attached young friend,

John J. Cornell.

The following letter was written to a friend in England, with
whom I had opened a correspondence in regard to a paper I had
prepared at the suggestion of some of the members of the Repre-
sentative Committee, in reply to a leaflet sent out by London
Yearly Meeting to all who bore the name of Friends. The Rep-
resentative Committee not deeming it best to take any official
action some of its prominent members advised that it should be
forwarded on my individual account, which was done through this
friend and by him introduced into their Representative Commit-
tee, and I was officially informed that inasmuch as London Yearly
Meeting had entered upon its minutes that it could not receive any
communication from those styled Hicksites it would be im-
proper to lay it before that meeting. But the friend to whom
this letter was written had it inserted in the British Friend, and
so its object was largely obtained :

Mendon, Eighth month 31, 1859.
To William Bennett, England:

Dear Friend. — Thine of the Fifth month and the different packages of
papers have been duly received, and I feel to acknowledge my appreciation
of the friendly interest thou hast manifested toward me and in further-
ing the concern in relation to the epistle. From accounts I perceive that
it is likely to have a much wider circulation than I had anticipated, and



Letters from 1858 to 186 1 81

while I feel that my part of the labor has been performed, I yet earnestly
desire that it may accomplish that for which it was called forth.

I have long felt that our principles have not been understood by the
body of Friends in England, and I am confirmed in the view by a remark
in the British Friend of the Eighth month in an article signed An Over-
seer, in which the inference to be drawn is that so far as those called
Hicksites removed from a state of acceptance with God " that though their
teachers might claim to be brought to Christ, that they were deceived,
and such could not be the case wink they differed from Friends of your
Yearly Meeting." Now it appears clear to my view that a mind that
thus feels must either be under the influence of prejudice or in want of
proper information, or else clouded by bigotry, and when I behold such
state of mind my heart is drawn out in love and my sympathy for them
accompanied with the desire that they may, like Peter, be enabled in the
visions of light to perceive that of a truth, God is no respecter of persons,
but that in every nation they that love Him and work righteousness are
accepted of Him ; not they who assent to or believe in this, that or the other
doctrine or peculiar view, but they that love God and work righteousness,
and by doing righteous works I understand doing that which is required
at our hand by the Divine Will as revealed to us by the witness for God,
Christ within, the babe born in the heart who is to be called the Immanuel
and on whose shoulders the government is to rest.

If this epistle shall be the instrument of removing the prejudice from
one mind only I shall feel amply rewarded for all the sacrifices I have
made in relation to it.

I believe it will be right for me to refer to a remark thou makest in
relation to my departing from scripture language when referring to the
indwelling principle. Now I do not know of any just reason why I
should follow the language thus recorded unless I am making a quota-
tion therefrom. When a truth is opened to my understanding and I
clearly comprehend it, I cannot see what difference it makes what words
I clothe it with if I am fully understood, and as thou art probably aware,
at least from the tenor of the epistle, that I acknowledge but one author-
ity (and that the light within) for direction in spiritual matters, thou
may see that while I acknowledge the Scriptures to be a corroborative
evidence of the truth as it is revealed by the light within, I cannot feel
bound to adopt its peculiar phrases, any more than the apostles when
writing to the primitive churches felt bound to adopt the phraseology of
the prophets.

While we as a Society differ from your body in relation to what con-
stitutes the atonement for sin and cannot see because we lack the evidence
to convince us, how that wicked act of the Jews in crucifying that pre-

6



82 Autobiography of John J. Cornell

pared body, in which dwelt the Son of God, was necessary that ITe might
become a propitiation for our sins. I in humility ask if it would not have
been far better, more in accordance with the doctrine of Scripture, more
in unison with the revelations of the Divine Mind, instead of denunciation
and coolness, instead of assuming the seat of judgment, to have sought to
win back, to have preserved an affection toward us that would have en-
abled you to have maintained an influence over us for good, and to have
indulged a hope that while we acknowledged a dependence upon the
fundamental principles on which George Fox relied, that we might be
afforded as clear a light as yourselves.

Now I have no desire to open anything of a controversial character, and
will remark that whatever I have penned is the conviction of my own
mind, and I alone am responsible for it. In my early years, while en-
gaged in obtaining what of a scholastic education I have, I was taught
to regard former revelations as sound and that I must receive them as
they were interpreted to me. I cculd not reconcile this view with the im-
pressions made on my young mind, and yet I was inclined to look up to
those who professed to be mouthpieces for the Lord to the people, and to
such an extent did indulge this inclination that when I had reached to
nearly manhood I thought it was hardly possible for them to err, but the
time came when some of these dependencies on which I was leaning were
tried and I found them frail and finite, and when I was thus cut loose,
as it were, and left alone the tempter whispered in my spiritual ear, that
this Divine revelation which they and others had claimed as a guide
was all a farce, and while thus discouraged and tempted for want of
care the little light I had became dim. and other doubts came until I
could even doubt the existence of a Supreme Being and the darkness of
atheism covered my soul. But blessed, forever blessed be the name of
Israel's unslumbering Shepherd He did not leave me thus, but after
allowing me to suffer the horrors of this dark state, though I was still
justifying my position because of faults and frailties of others He con-
descended to meet me and speak to me in intelligible language and with
a power that fastened it upon my understanding, so that it will not be
effaced while memory occupies her thror.e, and which convinced me
whence it emanated. " Though all men else forsake my law, that will not
excuse thee," and here at one lesson I was convinced beyond cavil that
there was a God, and that He did reveal himself to man, and not only
himself, but His will concerning man, and then I was enabled to see
clearly that this deep trial and season of proving was to shake my de-
pendence on all outward instrumentalities, and that whatever course
might do for others, as for me I must depend alone for my guidance
and instruction upon what was immediately revealed to me, and as I



Letters from 1858 to 1861 83

have endeavored to live in obedience to the light thus given me I have
found peace, and while I have been concerned to recommend my fellows
to this light as a sufficient governing principle and leader, I have felt
no disposition to lightly esteem or discard those rerelations of the same
light contained in the Scriptures, but have found the openings made upon
my mind to coincide with and corroborate those records as far as I have
progressed, and while there is much that I cannot reconcile in its literal
rendering, I feel not to be concerned about it, but wait in patience until
it shall please Him who is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent to open
it unto me.

I have thus written in relation to my spiritual experience and travail
to show thee that I have reason to confide in the immediate teachings
of the Divine Spirit, because I have found it to be a Savior indeed in the
hour of need, and I can add my testimony that as its monitions are listened
to and obeyed we shall know first of being restored from our former sins
and then preserved in present and future hours of temptation.

I have ever regarded it as the peculiar trait in the character of the
Blessed Jesus, and which constituted his spiritual food, that he implicitly
obeyed every direction of His Father, and it is my firm belief that it is
in this that we are called to be His followers and that these directions
are as clearly manifested to us as they were to Him. Yet in consequence
of our neglect or wilful disobedience He sends forth His instruments to
sound the alarm to call us to a sense of our neglect, and to stir up the
pure mind by way of remembrance that we, through obedience to His
will, may become the children of God.

I cannot feel easy to close this without giving some reasons why I wish
to avoid everything like a controversial spirit. I have long since become
convinced that nothing was gained by mere disputation, and that we could
not convince each other in relation to spiritual concerns; that there was
but one Power that could afford sufficient evidence upon which to base a
belief or to come to a judgment, and that while we might in love hold up
our views for the consideration of others we must leave it to the di-
rection of Infinite Wisdom to furnish the necessary evidence to con-
vince; therefore I feel I have no business to assume the judgment seat
to condemn my brethren because they see things differently from what
I see them, but feel bound to accord to them the same sincerity I claim
for myself and to endeavor to cultivate that disposition that breathes
" peace on earth and good will to men," that will enable me " to love my
enemies, to do good to those that hate me, to bless them that curse me
and to pray for those who dispitefully use and persecute me," that I may
be found a child of my Father who art in heaven.



84 Autobiography of John J. Cornell

Under a feeling of love with which my spirit is clothed, and which flows
forth to all men, wherever and however situated, I bid thee affectionately
farewell and should be glad to hear from thee again if way opens, and
remain, I trust in truth, thy friend,

John J. Cornell.

Mendon, Ninth month 19, 1859.
To C. R.:

Dear Friend. — Thine bearing date of Twenty-second of Seventh month
last was duly received, and would have been answered ere this had I felt
sufficient ability, when I had the time, but during my moments of leisure
my mind was either occupied with some other duties or not drawn enough