Madeley, June 1, 1818.
THE honour which my dear friends have conferred upon my unworthy name
affected me greatly, and the more so, as within three or four weeks of
the time your letter reached me, two other similar instances of the very
great affection of my friends here had occurred. Unknown to me, many of
them put their contributions together, and forwarded them to the Church
Missionary Society, for the support of two African children, to be named
after myself and my dear Mary; and a young man among the Quakers, to whom
the Lord has made me (his most unworthy servant) a channel of good, has
likewise taken my name. What shall I say to these tokens of love? I
know not what to say—but that I am ashamed and confounded before God, to
think that any mark of love and respect should be shown to me whom _He_
sees as so abject and polluted; and as to my dear friends, all I can say
is, the Lord reward them a thousand fold for all that their hearts
contrive, and their loving conduct so fully expresses.