vestigation, he would probably
find it one of considerable interest.--He would learn that some years
before the call of Thomas Clarkson in his early manhood, by a series of
distinct and remarkable Providences, into this field of labor, this
Society in America had been pervaded by a noiseless agitation on the
subject of slavery, which resulted in the abandonment of the
slave-trade, in the liberation of their slaves, and in the adoption of a
rule of discipline excluding slaveholders from religious fellowship; so
that for many years past, the sins in question have been not so much as
to be named among them, or the possibility of their commission hinted
at, by any one bearing the name and professing the principles of a
"Friend." The change described, was effected, not by "pressure from
without," but by the constraining influence of the love of Christ. The
chief instruments in the hands of Divine Providence in bringing about so
remarkable a reformation, were John Woolman and Anthony Benezet, of whom
the former was the earlier in the field and broke up the fallow ground,
under circumstances of the greatest discouragement, of which the
instance above related is an example.

The life of this ever-memorable man was a pattern of apostolic
Christianity--pure, patient, self-denying, meek. Love was the element he
breathed. His heart not only yearned towards the oppressed of the human
family, but his compassion extended to the brute creation, under whose
sufferings in the service of man, to use his own expression, "creation
at this day doth loudly groan." Though dependent on his own labor for a
livelihood, he was careful in a most exemplary degree, "not to entangle
himself with affairs of this life, that he might please Him who had
called him to be a soldier;" and the reader of his life will find that
this unworldly man took similar pains to avoid wealth, which others do
to acquire it. Perhaps I may be excused for dwelling a moment on this
theme, when I state that one of the latest public acts of my beloved and
lamented father-in-law, James Cropper, was to cause John Woolman's
auto-biography and writings to be re-edited, and a large and cheap
edition to be struck off, which has appeared since his decease.[A] This
work is well known to the Society of Friends, but should any other
reader be induced by these desultory remarks to peruse it, he will find
himself richly repaid. In the picturesque simplicity of its style,
refined literary t