The Express.
London, England, 1850-05-23 00:00:00

what the spirit leads as le do. This I do with she more
ecafideses bemuse I bakes yea hays me ear to Mar what
Me Lard may au wish yes through him that Welk yea.
Yes sentiment your desks whey, • settlemeat of yesr pro-
perty sputa yourself. This I emend yes would be eery
agreeable to as, %dims, sad is as still ; bat last evealag,
enditiag es God, this nutter, quite waespeetedfy, was
brought Ware me. I had sanely pat is away ken my
theaghts, leaving it le take its cease as yes MI& he led to
mat, bat God will net Mee it M. H. shows me that the
plan* is satiesiy matron to Gad word, sad aIto-
=WIMIMM with that eselidence which is to exist
us, whip an me spirit. This Enke on your pert
game he abeadened, gin it up to God sad Mew that yea an
Mist his sad 1 ease mean yea the contidesee
avid I haw Mamas *lntrust in Bins
"I
raPii.
ill
111. wlk
" b.
dies" sated.
evlerk.weasir eGvodr,
be esalemeded. Ho nu bath es ear to hair, let MIS i
i1er..d.,.. promise yes Inds your punts, I would
es Mat my premise made ekes you Were uncon.
wed whin was not is esseretame with the weed of
Gad paean ast head, midthre would it be right in you to
adhere ta. I mast bid you farewell, sad believe me to
abide to man lee.—Year's effeminately, la the everlasting
eareatn, Baereasa Tetuan."
" The t aflame will be pecelaimed is Adana
a liaselay. 1451x5 sad Corm lie are la • mash more happy
ogee. pea ft ebeartem his faithfulness to them."
line tab mparalieket penasesace failed to open the
lady's isnie sad her marriage taking plus out the 9:b of
July, 1615, Ma to became annexed by as additional tie to
the snail or suite of " the servmt of the Lord." The
tells sad bekkensom visited various places from the time of
thick marriage for more than half a year. Daring the latter
part of that time they were at Weymouth, sad lodged at •
boats when the " servant of the Lord" also was living, sad
bete Mrs. Thomas appears to have mode, d (I regret so say)
from bee hubaad, sad not from him atom, • treatment, os
mare than ewe cemaiou of • wane, hush and unmanly
aeseriptioa, which was not (If it could have beim)
la any manner d ed. Is January 1546 " the
servant of the Lard," sad some of his followers and
associates, went, I believe profeseiosally, to Bridgwater.
laving Mr. sad Mrs. Thomas behind at Wientouth. Bosse
of Men, including Mr. Themes, but not his Ink, were soon,
it seem, seat Mr. The ininnoss, which profeseed, I believe,
to be • call to attend • spiritual tea pry at Bridgwater,
4
was t ed. Oa the 2nd of February, 1846, Mr. Thomu
frogs Weymouth, leaving his wife there, and pro
or expecting to return in two dn.. Mrs. Thomas
was t ea, to his knowledge, is or near to the Sth or Bth
mouth ot her pregnancy with her tint sad only child,
the infeet now Were the calm This her state
was learned by " the servant of the Lard" for
the first time, at Bridgwater, and he seems to have re-
mon.rated with Mr. Thomas, who, instead of returning to
Weyeson.e, sea: there for his clothes, which bit wife packed
up and *remained to Bridgwater accordiagly. Having re
calved them, he wrote on the 7th of the same February, and
dispatched to her this indnaibable columniation i
" Saturday night, Bridgwater.
"My ber.Butorrd—l herewith enclose you a small portion ;
eat, drink ; yes, drink abundantly, and let your soul delight
is fatness. Let the will of 03d be your home and realise-
place. Oat of hie will them can be no happineri. Bat in
kis will then is Life, and joy, sad peace. The servant of the
Lord told me that you would not be in your present state
tabs yen had rebelled months am ; and thus you will suffer
for it, in not being able to go about with as,, as you other-
wise would. But when I see yea I will tall you
isll about it. For the present abide quietly where you
see. and go on as if I were with you. 1 have seen all the
ricks you sent in my portmanteau. I found much plea-
sure is koking at all the little things you had packed np ; I
do hen yeu more than I can tell. We are parted out-
wardly, but we shall meet the closer as the consequence. We
ate separated now, but we are not severed; we use each
otbn sot, but yet we are me. For the pretest, farewell ;
let Monist cad ChM have as much love from me as I can
offer alter that I give you. I abide, di crest, the same, your
;imbuing and affectionate BitOTHSZ TSIOWAS."
Whoa it was knows that the writer of this letter did not
return to Weymouth, bu: that his departure from her on the
2nd of February was the commencement of • total equa-
tion, which has ever sine continued—a s. aeration equally
wilted sad stesseens on his part—such a composition wmq
seem 'to be is the last degree perplexing. But when It
is Mia that by the passage, ' The servant of the Lord toll
me you would not be in this state news you had re-
belled," the writer referred to the fact that his wife, the
pones addressed, to whom he had not lona married more
than seven month'', was then with child ly
him, one is drives with shame and indignation
to hope that there may not be • woad human
Mice capable of such (=ravager.; indecency. On the 2nd of
February, 1846, this mediae and unoffeuding woman was,
without the slighted jartilication, apology, or excuse, de-
emed and abandoned—wilfully, completely, and finny de-
serted and ab indomd—bLaber husband, in the state which
ir.e been assatiesed. He never since visited tumor spoken
to her, or Was during his attempts is the epriag ot the pre
sent year to gals peened°, of the person of her child, or by
Mailman iato It r house, sees her. I say " her" house,
because it shelters her: it is, M fact, the house of Mrs.
Nottidge, when Mee. Thomas and her son for the Met three
years mad mere have mead that protection and that hems
which it. father el the child had refused to gin P._ It must
lint its inferred that Mr.Thomea left his enlisted child to starve
or t 3 be dem:AM on bounty merely ae parisk Mkt It is
right to say that is has from time to time transmitted, or
permitted to be paid to her, the income or part ot the income
arising from the property which he acquired In her right by
Isermadiag her of the impiety of the marriage settlements.
The entire income of the property, supposing it received by
her, was aot, I collect, to an amount mon than sutheient, it
setendese, for the proper maintesanee of herself and child,
both of whom have been (as to her ever sines the 2nd of
Kbrosey, 1810, and as t) the child always) left by the
ht.snand without provision (except as I have stated), and
wni.lly witliout protection, can, and help. I do not,
in cod, I repeat, believe that so fu Si money is
ac:ceraed he t. 441, or has, except from her property, that is
the property acquired by his marriage, the Malls of main-
tain or contributinee to the meintenonce of either.
Thoug informed of tee birth of Lan son immediately, or
villa a popes time atter the event, and asked before the
thristentag what should be the aunt, he dose not appear to
have :.eknowledged :he communicatioa, or to have exhibited
any feeling of knew concerning the child, or indeed, until
the attempt at carreinje him away forcibly or clandestinely
from his mother, in Much, in the present year, • "Leh to
ges him. Such& course of conduct teems inexplicable, except
upon some supposition that I desire to think inadsaissible
ter the supposition that the iatiamm sad ascendancy of thi;
siren Cilium himself -'the servant of the Lord" have
been exerted Lad prevailed over "Brother Thomas" as
stroarly as they did at one time over hie wife. 1 collect
that, after the lamas'', she exhibited symptoms of insubor-
(Bastion, sot towards her hasband, but tot/tied, the " ser-
vant of the Lord ;" attempted to shake her husband's alik-
eness towards him, aid was found out ; to which grin
muses was added satiniegly this—that either a prophesy or
• behest had Bien coatravessd by her being in the family
way. However, upon these or no more iust strounds, the
" sernat of the Lord" took • dislike to Mn. Thomas after
the mark's, sad did mainly it sot solely infanta her
hummed% Mad in his ill-treatment, his unmanly treatment
of her, and contributed to the separation, if it did not Caul*
it. Nor ought it probably to be ascribed to Mr. Theme's
spontaaeous feelings that he wrote to her that coarse snd
Masten' letter, barter it seems probable, some reference
to an action between JOka Ripley and one of his sisters—
(a witness on this combat for the respostisat)—whin was
kited the 2nd November, 1849, and was I. these terms :
"TM Agapemone Nov. 2,1848.
" Agme-Whilst I thought you followed your unhappy
course quietly, I did not feel diepeu .4 to intakes with you;
but stage it his come to my knowiego that you have spoken
wickedly of God's holy truth, and dsnlared gross and scan-
dalous hes of those I most Mane, love, and esteem, I have
maned to adopt • different coarse towards you. How
wretched is your soonaitioa given you to your own wicked
hart; you love and mike a lie and drink in as
swat food for your malice the vilest and most diegusiug
suicidal. shame on you • it is out of tie abundence
of your own carnal heart that your mouth speaketh.
0, Agnes, what have you lost! Hoene?, I write merely to
inform you of my determination concerting you. God is—
..
I know him—deep, pure, ueiy, patio, love. lau his and I
he is mine; you are mine, and I am naked to use ,no
authority which God has given me to pat • stop to your
lying shandies; and fee this purpose I can and will compel
you to live where and how I please, and subject to nay will
and authority. Through God's pure love to as. and in me,
I have hitherto yielded to you the greatest intiukence, si
you have abused the liberty and independence I trusted you
with, as you have abased your other blessing'. I have
therefore felt the Necessity of making you aware that
I CIA CDC will direct your life l and Odd I will
cause you to know by my actions, sad aot only by my
words. Should you write again oe speak so knowingly con
' Mary to my wishes and to the truth, I will immediately re-
move your residence, and take the child ender my own eye,
and superintend the expenditure of the matey for God's
glory. Ido aot know that under my circumstances I shall
wok over your gross and selfish abuse of my forbearance
towards you. Concerning*, child, learn that I will do
with it as God shall gu.de me; God, who is love, holy,
undefiled love, but who could wither the pride and inde-
pendence of your heart is one moment. As to my immediate
conduct towards you personally, it will depend on yourself ;
for be sure I will do what I may deem good alter this warn-
ing without giving you further notice. Blest beyond your
conception by the knowledge of God in his holy, pare, an
Unchanging love had truth, I abide,
" BactraxaTlLOWAs."
The power of the "servant of the Lord" over Mr.Themu's
mind seems to hue continued sad to continue undiminished,
although Mrs. Thomas appears to have been cured. It is is
such • state of things that Mrs. 'Tomas has within the last
three months been endeavouring, and still avows an inten-
tion, to acquire the possession and custody of the person of her
son, which would, of course, involve the care sad direction
of his education. Now considering the boy's age, the re-
spectability of the Maim that shelters him, sad tbs seas
aside, which he is, I am not sure that if there were whin
is the case but these and the other facts that I have men-
tioned, it would be proper to dismiss the petition, especially
as it k probable that a sufficient provision will be made far
the maintenance and education of the petitioner,independeatly
of any anemia from his father. But there are other facts
of importance, before proceediag to which I would ask specie
tieap, how, it the father shall nave the perm and ditties of
ianship, is be from his lemma to provide properly for
child's maintenance and 'dunks. This question, whim
the wife's unquestionable title toalintosy, and her husband's
einamelmen are remembered, mast probably be of very
dank solution. Nor indeed, perhaps, has he thought
mask if at all, about the matter. To what abode IS be to
take the child ? To none, suggested, except to the somewhat
spilertons esiablkiment so oftea mentioned dating the
ammo% sad la On affidavit of which it Haas necessary
to my akm war 1. It appean_that Ike "went of the