On the 22nd. Instant I was honored by the Receipt of your Letter of the 18th. Inst.,1 addressed to me as “Vice Presidt of the American Bible Society;” and upon perusing it I felt very great Concern to find it contained a Request that I would announce to the Managers your Resignation of the important Station of its endeared Head.

This unwished for Communication and Request I know to be so contrary to the Wishes and repeated Declarations of our mutual and much lamented Friend, the departed Clarkson,2 and also of the other Officers, and many of the Managers of the Society, who had in Conversation repeatedly expressed to each other, their Hopes and Wishes, that, like your venerable Predecessor,3 You would continue the President of the Society, until it should please the Almighty Disposer of Events, to call You hence to enjoy a better World, where Sin, Sorrow, Disease or Infirmity never enter, to disturb or distress its happy Inhabitants; That I considered it a Duty due to You as well as to some of your acting Friends in the Society, to impart to them, in Confidence, the Contents of your Letter to me. This I have done to the following Gentlemen, to wit, the Revd. Doctors Milnor & Mc.Auley, Dr. John Pintard, William W. Woolsey and John Nitchie, (Coll. Troup being absent at the Board of Regents at Albany).4 We met together at the Societys House in Nassau Street on Saturday last ^to consider^ of, the to us important Subject of your Letter; And upon full Consultation and Deliberation I was requested to say to You, that it is their undivided Wish and Request that I do not present your Letter to the Board of Managers at their next stated Meeting, as there will be yet Time enough before the Anniversary for any Definitive Act on that Subject; And they moreover requested to present to You their most respectful Regards and Sentiments of Condolence on the declining State of your Health; And also their unanimous and anxious Wish and Desire that You will be so good as to withdraw your Letter of Resignation from my Hands, and that You will be pleased to continue your Name as the Head of the “American Bible Society,” as long as Almighty God shall be pleased to let You live on Earth; that at the Close of your Earthly Carreer, among other Blessings, You may receive the Benedictions of that Society, of which You have been considered so efficient a Member and Officer, & that your Grave may be covered with the Mantle of its deserved Respect.

Permit me, my dear Sir, to remind You that at the Time of your being, by the unanimous Voice of the Managers,5 appointed President, the Board were fully advised of your advanced Years and delicate and declining State of Health, and that You would, in all Probability, not be able ever to come down to this City, to preside in Person, or to do more than occasionally to furnish to them with an Annual Address: but Sir, they were also well informed of your pious Example and imposing Influence on many of that Denomination of Christians, with whom You and your respected family Connexions have been uniformly connected; and they duly estimated the very sound, able and useful Counsel You would be at all Times willing to impart to them, in any Difficulties or Discouragements, which might occur in their arduous Duties and Attempts to diffuse the Word of Life throughout our happy & very extensive and rapidly extending new Settlements.

I am also requested to intimate to You that your Resignation, at this Time particularly, may have an unhappy Influence upon the Interests of the Bible Cause, and in that View be inexpedient. The Selection of a suitable and popular Character to fill the Office, to be thus made vacant, presents many Difficulties. Our Clarkson is in Mercy to himself called to a more exalted State: To him many of us had looked up to fill the Chair, to be vacated by your Death only. Judge Washington,6 the next senior Officer, is so much involved in his Judicial Concerns, as will make his Acceptance very uncertain; and who is there in the List of Junior Vice Presidents that would be acceptable to the various Denominations of which the Society is composed? I wish to postpone the Evil Day.

Permit me, my dear Sir, for my seeming Importunity, on the independent Feelings of a Gentleman of your extreme Delicacy, in my thus freely expressing my own Feelings and supposed Duty; & the anxious Wishes of your other Friends, whom I have confidentially consulted. May I hope for an Answer favorable to our Wishes & the known Sentiments of others? You know Sir, that I will obey your Orders, altho to me unpleasant.

I beg Leave to conclude, by Wishing and praying that the few remaining Years of your Earthly Pilgrimage may be as serene and undisturbed by any Events, as the more ^than^ to me known fifty Years of your Life have been honorable and in the first Degree useful to your beloved Country, your Friends and your fellow Citizens; and that ^hereafter^ You may enjoy a happy, very happy Eternity, in the Bosom of that Saviour and Friend, whom it has been your distinguished Lot to serve in this World of Woe. I have the Honor to subscribe myself, with Every Sentiment of Affection and Respect, Dear Sir Your most Obedt. & very humble Servt.