family. To what extent, and in what manner, he participated in the contests of the times, cannot now be accurately ascertained. It is fair to presume, however, that he exceeded the bounds which limited his brethren in religious community; for in the year 1717 they were induced to disunite him from membership among them, and as no charge of immoral conduct was ever preferred against him, this measure is probably to be attributed to the part which he took in the controversies just mentioned.
As he approaches nearer to us by the lapse of time, traits of his character are developed, which establish the belief that he was one of those extraordinary men, whose career through life excited observation and alarm. If the comparison be admissible, he appeared rather like the comet, which threatens, in its irregular course, the destruction of the worlds near which it passes, than as one of those tranquil orbs which hold their accustomed place, and dispense their light, in the harmonious order of heaven.
