To claim a worldly distinction for those whose endea-
vour it ever was — "to do justly, and to love mercy, and



BLENDED NARRATIVE. 5

walk humbly with their God" — would be to act in con-
flict with the spirit that actuated their lives. Acting
solely in obedience to their apprehension of duty to man
and his Creator, such a pretension would be rebuked by
the recollection of that self-watchfulness that ever
guarded them against the weakness of human vanity, and
accounted all that was good and excellent as emanating
from a Divine Source ; the merit of which man cannot
rightfully claim as his own. Yet all of their history that
may be useful to others, in precept or example, it is a
duty to rescue from forgetfulness and loss ; and to per-
petuate it, is in perfect consonance with their sentiments
and character. If their lives were rightfully devoted, the
record of the testimony of that devotion cannot fail to be
useful ; and faithfully to portray, is unavoidably to com-
mend, — for the facts speak praise : But praise cannot
reach " the dull cold ear of death," — and their offspring
cannot share it but by a like deserving.
The plain and simple memoirs of Philip and Rachel
Price will readily and harmoniously blend in the narra-
tive. United early in life, they lived together in cordial
affection and harmony of views for more than half a cen-
tury. Born and educated in the Society of Friends, and
both at an early age brought under that Divine iniiuence
which alone can constitute them truly its members, they
devoted their protracted lives faithfully to the duties
which its discipline, its testimonies, and its faith enjoin.
1*



6 BIRTH AND PARENTAGE.
