to speak to one another thus in the way
of so great familiarity. 2, I did not think it would work well for
brethren and sisters in service to speak thus to their master and
mistress, especially if it should happen that the mistress was an
unbeliever, and therefore not in fellowship with them, and a sister
were as a servant to say to her master "Thou." 3, I thought it would
not work happily and healthfully for a very young brother and sister
to be expected to call aged brethren and sisters "Thou," as if on
terms of great familiarity, from the moment they were baptized and
thus received among them into fellowship. 4, But that which far more
strongly operated upon my mind than any of the previous reasons was
this, It seemed to me to substitute an outward form for the inward
power and reality. I stated to them, That if the calling one another
"Thou" were the result of realizing that all the children of God have
one and the self-same Father in heaven, that they are really, and not
nominally only, brothers and sisters of the same heavenly family, and
heirs of the same precious inheritance, and bought by the same
precious blood of the Lord Jesus; if it were the result of these
truths being enjoyed and realized within, I should see not the least
reason against it, in general; but I feared that it was merely an
outward thing, judging from the fact, that however it might have been
with a brother and sister previously, the moment they were baptized
they were called "Thou" by every one of their number, and they were
expected to call every one "Thou" in return. And I judged it to be a
pernicious thing, if thus the "Thou" was forced upon persons; for on
the part of those who were comparatively high in life it would be
considered sooner or later an unpleasant burden, and on the part of
the poorer classes it would lead to carnal gratification in being
able to treat those in the way of great familiarity who were
considerably above them with reference to this life. The thing
itself, then, if done from right motives, from the entering into our
position as saints with reference to God and to each other, would be
most precious; but the thing done, merely because it was customary
among them, and observed in order to keep up uniformity, would work
most perniciously.--In reply to my remarks of this kind, it was
stated, that the use of the word "Thou" was scriptural, that in the
Holy Scriptures we never read, when one single person is spoken to