Page:Lettersconcerni01conggoog.djvu/33

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8
Letters concerning

time said Thee and Thou to thee. However, thou appearest to me too well read, not to know that in Christ's time no nation was so ridiculous as to put the plural number for the singular. Augustus Caesar himself was spoke to in such phrases as these, I love thee, I beseech thee, I thank thee; but he did not allow any person to call him Domine, Sir. 'Twas not till many ages after, that men wou'd have the word You, as tho' they were double, instead of Thou employ'd in speaking to them; and usurp'd the flattering titles of lordship, of eminence, and of holiness, which mere worms bestow on other worms, by assuring them that they are with a most profound respect, and an infamous falshood, their most obedient, humble servants. 'Tis to secure our selves more strongly from such a shameless traffick of lies and flattery, that we thee and thou a king with the same freedom as we do a beggar, and salute no person; we owing nothing to mankind but charity, and to the laws respect and obedience.

Our apparel is also somewhat different from that of others, and this purely, that

it